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Category Archives: Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Perfect Slavery = True Freedom (1 Peter 2:16)
If you looked in your bulletin tonight, perhaps the sermon title may have caught your eye: “Perfect Slavery = True Freedom”? At best, it sounds like a paradox and at worst, an absurd proposition. I mean, really, can the words … Continue reading
Two Important Works on the Bondage of the Will
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged bondage of the will, inability, john calvin, martin luther, total depravity
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Charles Hodge: A Cold-Hearted Rationalist?
One of the most well-known but now well-debunked caricatures of the Old Princetonians was that they were cold-hearted rationalists. But it is probably safe to say that many who caricature the Princetonians as rationalists have probably never read them, such … Continue reading
The Value of Systematic Theology
Before discussing the value of systematic theology, it needs to be said up front that systematic theology is not done because of the practical benefits derived from doing it. As Van Til writes, When we speak of the value of systematics, or, … Continue reading
“Decorpulated” Christianity? (Ephesians 4:1-3)
Here is the audio/video link to the sermon I preached yesterday from Ephesians 4:1-3 entitled “Decorpulated” Christianity?
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics, The 21st Century Church
Tagged church, ephesians, father, sermon, son, Spirit, trinity, unity
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True Diversity in the Church
I am preaching from Ephesians 4:1-16 (primarily verses 1-3) this upcoming Sunday on Paul’s appeal for unity in the church. As I worked through the Greek, it became readily apparent that there are four divisions in this text: The Plea … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics, The 21st Century Church
Tagged church, diversity, ephesians, ethnic, paul, spiritual gifts, unity
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The Whole Sweep of Scripture
The Whole Sweep Of Scripture from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged bible, n.t. wright, new testament, old testament, redemption, scripture, story
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The Tyranny of Anarchy and the Freedom of Slavery
I spotted this message spray painted on a sidewalk at the Rafina port in Athens, Greece. And yet, as I began to mull over this message, the thought occurred to me: throwing off the yoke of authority, such as the … Continue reading
Posted in A Call to the Unconverted, Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged anarchy, bible, Christianity, free, freedom, humanity, judges, slave, slavery
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Responding to Grace (Eph. 2:18)
This past Sunday night we observed from chapter 1 in the book of Ephesians the way in which we receive our Triune God’s grace of salvation: from the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. We saw that … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged christian, ephesians, God, prayer, trinity, worship
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Receiving Grace (Eph. 1:3-14)
Tonight, I want to ask you the following question, “Why are you a Christian?” Or to state it another way, “How did you receive God’s grace?” If I were to sit down with each of you and listen to your … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged christian, ephesians, God, grace, paul, redemption, salvation, sin, trinity
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Contemplating the Human Condition
Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of the others; those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows, and looking at each … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged blaise pascal, death, hell, judgment, pensees, sin, total depravity
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Three Men, Three Crosses…
Three men, Three crosses, One hill. One man cursed, One man prayed, One man promised. One died condemned, One died forgiven, One died innocent. One died in sin, One died to sin, One died for sin. One was held by … Continue reading
The Triune Security in Salvation
As this grace descends to the sinner from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit, so again it ascends through the indwelling of the Spirit, by faith in Christ the Son, to be presented blameless and without spot … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged benjamin morgan palmer, godhead, grace, prayer, salvation, trinity, triune
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Christianity and Culture
Following up from my previous post, check out this article written by J. Gresham Machen. It is excellent.
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics, The 21st Century Church
Tagged Christianity, culture, faith, gospel, intellect, machen, mind, reason
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Head and Heart: The Love for God Fueled by the Love for Truth
The Love for the Mind or The Love for God? Abusus et Desuetudo The question concerning the role of the mind and the Christian faith has often caused the church to vacillate between two opposite errors: the abuse (abusus) or … Continue reading
Posted in Apologia, Rightly Divided Dogmatics, The 21st Century Church
Tagged apologetics, bahnsen, bavinck, Christ, epistemology, evangelical, feel, God, immanuel kant, j.p. moreland, james anderson, love, mcgrath, mind, morality, philosophy, piper, reason, reformed, sire, stott, theology, think, thornwell, Truth, turretin, van til, wood
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Effective Fatherhood
Here are two excellent sermons on Biblical Fatherhood by one of my favorite preachers, Al Martin: Effective Fatherhood – Part 1 Effective Fatherhood – Part 2
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics, The 21st Century Church
Tagged al martin, family, father, fatherhood, parenting
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Sitting Under the Cross: Where Holiness Reigns
He that stands beneath the Cross and understands the scene dares not sin; not because there is a hell beneath him or an angry God above him, but because Holiness is felt to reign there–the ground on which he treads … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged cross, heaven, hell, holiness, j.h. thornwell, sacred, sin, southern presbyterian
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The God of Compassion: A Sermon on the Book of Jonah
If you have grown up in the church, you probably remember hearing the story of Jonah when you were a kid. I remember that I enjoyed the story so much as a child and found the story so intriguing that … Continue reading
The Book of Revelation: The Purifying Power of the Future Made Present
As I concluded my year long goal to read the Greek NT from Matthew to Revelation in 2010, I recall being deeply impacted and moved as I slowly worked my way through the Greek text and message of Revelation, which … Continue reading
Posted in A Call to the Unconverted, Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged babylon, faith, hell, Jesus, john, power, repentance, revelation, sin, whore
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On Theological Writing
A fantastic article over at Katekōmen, the online journal of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, perhaps the finest Reformed, Presbyterian seminary in the United States.
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics, The 21st Century Church
Tagged gpts, greenville, katekomen, mcgraw, presbyterian, seminary, theological, theology, writing
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The Wisdom of God Displayed in the Disappearance of the Autographa
Undoubtedly, at some point a Christian will recognize that God did not originally give the Scriptures to His covenant people by dropping a black leather ESV Bible out of the sky. Rather, He originally gave the Scriptures to them in … Continue reading
Holy Scripture: God’s Gift to the Church
Here is my 8 page outline on the Doctrine of Scripture for a Sunday school class tomorrow morning.
The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology For Pilgrims on The Way
Hot off the press! The publisher has already gone through its first printing!
Living in the Promise of the Future (Isaiah 2:1-5)
In less than a week we will be celebrating the New Year. We all have our own plans, purposes, and goals for the New Year, but what is God’s plan, purpose, and goal for His people in 2011? Watch here.
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics, The 21st Century Church
Tagged church, evangelism, future, goal, gospel, hope, isaiah 2, missions, new years, promise, resolution
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FREE Book: Slave
Grace to You is offering this book for free until tomorrow (December 12th). Click here for the free offer.
The Essence of the Christian Religion
Dogmatics is the system of the knowledge of God as he has revealed himself in Christ; it is the system of the Christian religion. And the essence of the Christian religion consists in the reality that the creation of the … Continue reading
Dogmatics and Ethics
Dogmatics describes the deeds of God done for us, to, and in human beings; ethics describes what renewed human beings now do on the basis of and in the strength of those divine deeds. In dogmatics human beings are passive; … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged ethics, faith, good works, herman bavinck, imperative, indicative, obedience, prolegomena, theology
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Dogmatics and Apologetics
Accordingly, apologetics cannot and may not precede dogmatics but presupposes dogma and now gets the modest but still splendid task of maintaining and defending this dogma against all opposition. It now attempts to do this, not in response to some … Continue reading
Posted in Apologia, Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged apologetics, dogma, dogmatics, herman bavinck, presupposition, presuppositional, prolegomena, scripture, theology
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Dogmatics
The task of dogmatics, however, is always the same. It is and can, from its very nature, be nothing other than a scientific exposition of religious truth, a detailed exposition and interpretation of the Word of God. It is a … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged dogmatics, herman bavinck, prolegomena, reformed dogmatics, theology
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Your Best Life Now
God does not come to improve our life, but to end it; not to transform the ‘old Adam,’ but to kill it and to raise us together with Christ in newness of life (Michael Horton, The Gospel-Driven Life, 60)
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged adam, Christ, Christless Christianity, death, Gospel-Driven Life, michael horton, new life, resurrection
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The Doctrine of the Word of God
John Frame’s fourth and final volume of his Lordship Series is now out! And for a limited time, Westminster Bookstore is offering it at a greatly reduced price! Here are his other three volumes:
Princeton Theology and Theologians
Here are some new (and old) books on Princeton Seminary (before it died in the early 1900’s) and the well known theologians of Princeton: Biography/Analysis: Selected Works:
Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?
This looks like an interesting book by C. John Collins, due out on May 31, 2011, published by Crossway.
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics, The 21st Century Church
Tagged adam, c. john collins, creation, eve, genesis, myth
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Calvin on Prayer: Six Motivations for Prayer
Calvin offers the following six motivations for prayer (Institutes, 852): That our hearts may be fired with a zealous and burning desire ever to seek, love, and serve him, while we become accustomed in every need to flee to him … Continue reading
Axiom: Singing "Theology That Sings"
A theology that cannot be sung is not worth having (Reggie Kidd, With One Voice, 13). It is not enough to confess our theology or consign the study of theology to be merely a cerebral and intellectual endeavor and discipline. … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged hymns, psalms, singing, songs, theology, worship
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Axiom: On Becoming Like Children
Luke 18:17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. It is easy to become like children. The hard part is becoming like the child God wants. For, … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged child, children, dependent, God, gospels, independent, Jesus, kingdom of god, receive
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Calvin: Predestinarian or Prayer Warrior?
When I was in Geneva, Switzerland back in 2009 (which happened to be during the quincentennial celebration of Calvin’s birth), I was not too surprised to see the obsession over Calvin’s teaching on predestination. During the tour through the special … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged Calvin, election, geneva, institutes, john calvin, lord’s prayer, prayer, predestination, switzerland
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Nothing in My Hands I Bring…
We compare faith to a kind of vessel; for unless we come empty and with the mouth of our soul open to seek Christ’s grace, we are not capable of receiving Christ (John Calvin, Institutes, 733).
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged empty, faith, institutes, john calvin, justification, rock of ages
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Desiring that which kills
For we ought by no means to desire what makes men more miserable (John Calvin, Institutes, 699).
Calvin the Comedian
By nature I love brevity… I found this on PAGE 685 (!) of volume 1 in The Institutes of the Christian Religion.
The Sacramental Treadmill. Or, How to get to heaven the Roman Catholic Way. Or, It’s easy as 1, 2, 3…err…4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc.
Click on the image to see it in full view. HT: Beggars All Reformation
Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism
This latest book by J.V. Fesko will be released in only a few weeks. Here’s the info on what the book contains: Table of Contents: Preface Abbreviations Introduction Part I: The History of the Doctrine Chapter 1: Baptism in the … Continue reading
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged baptism, Christianity, credobaptism, j.v. fesko, paedobaptism, reformed, sacraments, Spirit, water, word
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Christ is All Sufficient and All Satisfying!
We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very … Continue reading
Comfort in the Cross
This is our acquittal: the guilt that held us liable for punishment has been transferred to the head of the Son of God. We must, above all, remember this substitution, lest we tremble and remain anxious throughout life–as if God’s … Continue reading
John Calvin “Tweets” the Gospel
If John Calvin was alive today and was asked to “tweet” the Gospel, what would he say? Maybe this: Condemned, dead, and lost in ourselves, we should seek righteousness, liberation, life, and salvation in him [Christ] (John Calvin, Institutes of … Continue reading
The Hope of Life Everlasting
The Lord held to this orderly plan in administering the covenant of his mercy: as the day of full revelation approached with the passing of time, the more he increased each day the brightness of its manifestation. Accordingly, at the … Continue reading
Every sin is deadly!
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Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged calvin's institutes, death, institutes of the christian religion, john calvin, mortal, sin, venial, wrath
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To Will or Not to Will…That is the Question
Calvin on the will: To will is of man; to will ill, of a corrupt nature; to will well, of grace (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 295).
Posted in Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged Calvin, evil, free will, grace, institutes of the christian religion, sin
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Calvin on Angels
I love Calvin’s rhetoric. It’s quite moving: How preposterous, then, is it for us to be led away from God by angels, who have been established to testify that his help is all the closer to us! But they do … Continue reading
Living in the Promise of the Future (Isaiah 2:1-5)
Here is the sermon I preached last week at Providence Presbyterian Church. Sermon Title: Living in the Promise of the Future Text: Isaiah 2:1-5
Posted in Hebrew in HD, Rightly Divided Dogmatics
Tagged future, glory, isaiah, judgment, nations, preaching, promise, providence presbyterian church, salvation, sermon
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