Awestruck by the Sovereign LORD

A good blog entry on false teachers can be found on the 9 Marks blog: Church Matters . On another note, there is a series of ten entries being written on Where'd All These Calvinists Come From? .

All at once, I am set free. Now able to view rightly The Glory shining brightly: Forever with Christ, I'll be. Joy poured forth into my heart, Not a trickle but a flood Of hope, raining in the blood Of Christ, never to depart. Ever increasing love, He Has granted this hateful wretch. Replacing cold stone with flesh, His Holy Fire indwelt me. I wait for the bell's last toll, For eternal rest and peace, That vision that will ne'er cease: Christ's glory gazed upon whole. Now! Cast off death's damning chains! Forever, His Name be sung By every tribe and tongue! Death in subjection, Christ reigns!

John Piper's new book The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright will be published soon. Luther rightly stated that the doctrine of justification by faith alone is "the article by which the church stands or falls." The New Perspectives on Paul (NPP), made popular by N.T. Wright, has challenged this doctrine. Therefore, we thank those who have put pen to paper and responded to this doctrine. If you are interested, this book will be published by Crossway . It will be interesting to see how Piper has written this book. He can write about very academic subjects at an approachable and enjoyable level, e.g. The Pleasures of God . However, The Justification of God shows his ability to write at a (necessarily) high level in order to refute bad theology.

Here are two sermons relevant to Christ as our high priest: The Supremacy of Christ and Joy in a Postmodern World by John Piper The Supremacy of Christ and Love in a Postmodern World by D. A. Carson

“…Luther does not wish to ignore the Old Testament in preaching. In fact, he vehemently opposes those who would reject the Old Testament. He scolds them: ‘What a fine lot of tender and pious children we are! In order that we might not have to study in the Scriptures and learn Christ there, we simply regard the entire Old Testament as of no account, as done for and no longer valid’” (Greidanus, 117-118). Is the Old Testament a valuable resource for the pulpit? Does the one who takes the pulpit to preach only use the Old Testament as a database of quotes and stories? Can a sermon be crafted from the Old Testament to represent Christ using a responsible hermeneutic? For those of us who have heard sermons from the Old Testament (if there are any of us), we have probably heard wonderful sermons from the Old Testament and sermons that lead us down a path of speculation and bad proof-texts. For many of us, the pulpit is bereft of a sermon from the Old Testament, leaving us in ignorance with ...

The doctrine of the Trinity is a difficult doctrine. In fact, it is so difficult that many of us have left it. If asked to explain the Trinity, a large portion of evangelicals would fall into heresy. A distinctive of Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity is a firm foundation for us. True, it is impossible to grasp the infinite nature of the Triune, but we should stretch ourselves. I encourage you to do so and read An Unpublished Essay on the Trinity by Jonathan Edwards.

GOD HAS SPOKEN Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. Hebrews 1:1-2a We hear much today about being in the last days. We hear preachers speak on the Middle East, neutron bombs, and countdowns to a late, great planet. They have large charts with illustrations that are to give us a time table for the end of time and how to understand the hidden meaning of certain biblical texts. It is PowerPoint Prophecy, and it is on every Sunday morning, urging us to hasten the return of the Lord by doing this or that. If they are not talking about the end-times prophecies, then they are urging you to do this and that to hear from God. Words-of-knowledge and individual prophecies are hot commodities in certain congregations. We want to hear something from God, and we will jump through all sorts of hoops to do so. What does Scripture say about this emphasis? Hearing from God For the early converts to Chri...