Category: Theology Matters
The Great End of All Theology!
The theological labor of Edwards exhorts us to study for the sake of heartfelt worship and for practical obedience. You recall what Mark Noll said: "Edwards' piety continued on in the revivalist tradition, his theology continued on in academic Calvinism, but there were no successors to his God-entranced world-view. . ." The sweet marriage of reason and affection, of thought and feeling, of head and heart, study and worship that took place in the life of Jonathan ...
The Great End of All Theology!
The theological labor of Edwards exhorts us to study for the sake of heartfelt worship and for practical obedience. You recall what Mark Noll said: "Edwards' piety continued on in the revivalist tradition, his theology continued on in academic Calvinism, but there were no successors to his God-entranced world-view. . ." The sweet marriage of reason and affection, of thought and feeling, of head and heart, study and worship that took place in the life of Jonathan ...
Human Beings Becoming Sovereign…
If we want to recover the doctrine of God we have to recover the attributes of God, and one attribute that is sorely missing in our time is the attribute of God's sovereignty. What happens in the Christian world if you don't give attention to the sovereign God? Human sovereignty comes in to take the true God's place. Idols always replace the true if the true is not kept there. So you have human beings becoming sovereign in ...
Human Beings Becoming Sovereign…
If we want to recover the doctrine of God we have to recover the attributes of God, and one attribute that is sorely missing in our time is the attribute of God's sovereignty. What happens in the Christian world if you don't give attention to the sovereign God? Human sovereignty comes in to take the true God's place. Idols always replace the true if the true is not kept there. So you have human beings becoming sovereign in ...
Forsaking Biblical Reason in Favor of Feelings
Just as many Christians have abandoned a Christian worldview, many have abandoned the doctrines of Scripture. Many Christians have too low a view of the power and uniqueness of the Bible. They have absorbed the culture’s skepticism and disregard for any person or book that claims authority over them. In the last book he completed before his death in 2000, James Montgomery Boice, considered by many to be among the greatest preachers of the twentieth century, ...
Forsaking Biblical Reason in Favor of Feelings
Just as many Christians have abandoned a Christian worldview, many have abandoned the doctrines of Scripture. Many Christians have too low a view of the power and uniqueness of the Bible. They have absorbed the culture’s skepticism and disregard for any person or book that claims authority over them. In the last book he completed before his death in 2000, James Montgomery Boice, considered by many to be among the greatest preachers of the twentieth century, ...
God is in No Way Obligated to Save You!
Divine grace is the sovereign and saving favour of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded from them. Nay, more; it is the favour of God shown to those who not only have no positive deserts of their own, but who are thoroughly ill-deserving and hell-deserving. It is completely unmerited and unsought, and is altogether unattracted by anything in or from or by the objects ...
God is in No Way Obligated to Save You!
Divine grace is the sovereign and saving favour of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded from them. Nay, more; it is the favour of God shown to those who not only have no positive deserts of their own, but who are thoroughly ill-deserving and hell-deserving. It is completely unmerited and unsought, and is altogether unattracted by anything in or from or by the objects ...
Ye Are The Salt!—Not Sugar Candy!
An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, ...
Ye Are The Salt!—Not Sugar Candy!
An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, ...
Whom Did You Think You Were Worshipping?
In any discussion of reformation in doctrine one must come to the realization that the real problem of our time is that there is hardly any doctrine at all to reform. So when we talk about reformation we must focus on a recovery of theology, period. Certainly in the liberal churches there is a lack of exposition of Scripture and sound doctrine, and unfortunately, this is rapidly becoming the case in evangelical circles as well. Now ...
Whom Did You Think You Were Worshipping?
In any discussion of reformation in doctrine one must come to the realization that the real problem of our time is that there is hardly any doctrine at all to reform. So when we talk about reformation we must focus on a recovery of theology, period. Certainly in the liberal churches there is a lack of exposition of Scripture and sound doctrine, and unfortunately, this is rapidly becoming the case in evangelical circles as well. Now ...
Nothing Less Than the Gospel is at Stake.
The gospel can be spoiled, though not objectively, for it is an objective reality. Yet it can be spoiled by us and to us. We can modify the gospel, either deliberately or inadvertently, stripping it of its power and its glory. We can bring to people a counterfeit gospel that is no gospel at all. It is the discipline of discernment that God has provided us to guard the purity of the gospel. Discernment, then, is ...
Nothing Less Than the Gospel is at Stake.
The gospel can be spoiled, though not objectively, for it is an objective reality. Yet it can be spoiled by us and to us. We can modify the gospel, either deliberately or inadvertently, stripping it of its power and its glory. We can bring to people a counterfeit gospel that is no gospel at all. It is the discipline of discernment that God has provided us to guard the purity of the gospel. Discernment, then, is ...
Theology Must lay the Foundation—in Everything.
And, therefore, I shall presume to tell you, by the way, that it is a grand error, and of dangerous consequence in Christian academies, (pardon the censure from one so unfit to pass it, seeing the necessity of the case commandeth it,) that they study the creature before the Redeemer, and set themselves to physics, and metaphysics, and mathematics, before they set themselves to theology; whereas, no man that hath not the vitals of theology, ...
Theology Must lay the Foundation—in Everything.
And, therefore, I shall presume to tell you, by the way, that it is a grand error, and of dangerous consequence in Christian academies, (pardon the censure from one so unfit to pass it, seeing the necessity of the case commandeth it,) that they study the creature before the Redeemer, and set themselves to physics, and metaphysics, and mathematics, before they set themselves to theology; whereas, no man that hath not the vitals of theology, ...
Theology in Gospel Proclamation?!
Pastor Jim put it so plainly in this clip about the importance of theology in Gospel proclamation. Because in the final analysis of the issue, a Gospel call devoid of theological thought, of true Biblical thought, can not help anyone. Can not save anyone. Should it not be the normative Christian thinking to base all things to the Word of God? But why is it, in preaching the most important message in all of Scripture, preaching ...
Theology in Gospel Proclamation?!
Pastor Jim put it so plainly in this clip about the importance of theology in Gospel proclamation. Because in the final analysis of the issue, a Gospel call devoid of theological thought, of true Biblical thought, can not help anyone. Can not save anyone. Should it not be the normative Christian thinking to base all things to the Word of God? But why is it, in preaching the most important message in all of Scripture, preaching ...