John Woodhouse on 1 Samuel at Christ the Center
Recently Moore College Principal John Woodhouse was interviewed on 1 Samuel for the Christ the Center programme.
It’s at 21MB download – see the small [»] play and [?] download links at the top of this page. Variable audio quality, but well worth hearing.
“Any faithful exposition of God’s word will proclaim Chrust.”
(h/t Faith by hearing.)
Christ Centred Communion – further thoughts (part V)
“…in all future Passover meal celebrations, the disciples could do nothing other than see in such meals remembrance events that focussed on the death of Jesus rather than on the Exodus event.”
– Barry Newman recaps on his earlier posts on Christ Centred Communion.
Barry’s blog is very helpful in encouraging readers to think about the meaning of Scripture.
Why we still need Confession of Sin
It’s become trendy for churches to drop a corporate confession of sin. Kevin DeYoung writes:
“If your church does not regularly confess sin and receive God’s assurance of pardon you are missing an essential element of corporate worship. It’s in the weekly prayer of confession that we experience the gospel. It’s here that we find punk kids and Ph.D.’s humbled together, admitting the same human nature. It’s here we, like Pilgrim, can unload our burden at the foot of the cross.”
– read his full article here. Want some help? One place to start is Better Gatherings.
Expecting what God promises
Richard Baxter:
“What keeps us under trouble is either we do not expect what God has promised [suffering], or we expect what he did not promise [an easy life]. We are grieved at crosses, losses, wrongs of our enemies, unkind dealings of our friends, sickness, or for contempt and scorn in the world. But who encouraged you to expect any better?” (Voices From the Past, 138)
– quoted by Stephen Altrogge at The Blazing Center.
Thomas Cranmer’s ‘True and Catholick Doctrine of the Sacrament’
In 1990, D A Scales wrote a paper for Churchman on Cranmer’s doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Church Society has just republished it.
“The doctrine of the Lord’s Supper was not unimportant in Cranmer’s eyes, because that Sacrament speaks of the central doctrines of the Christian faith—of salvation through the atoning death of Christ. It was instituted, in St. Paul’s words, to proclaim the Lord’s death till he come: right views of the death of Christ and right views of the sacrament will tend to go together; false views of the sacrament will tend to obscure an understanding of our salvation through the finished work of Christ…”
See it here – PDF file.
J.C. Ryle on Success, Humility and Ministry
J.C. Ryle, meditating on Luke 10:17-24:
“We learn, from this passage, how ready Christians are to be puffed up with success. It is written, that the seventy returned from their first mission with joy, “saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through your name.” There was much false fire in that joy…”
– read the full quote, posted by Ligon Duncan, at Reformation21.
Related:
“Even though many of his books are still in print, Ryle seems no longer to be in fashion. This is a pity because his kind of teaching is the answer to the superficial atmosphere in which we live, and in which many who call themselves Evangelicals are hardly distinguishable from those who deny the foundation truths of the Gospel.”
– ‘Bishop Ryle and me’ – David Phipps in Cross†Way (PDF file).
Church, mission, evangelism and programs
“… what has become known as the Knox-Robinson doctrine of the church, or the Sydney doctrine of the church, was never just an idiosyncratic expression of Australian anti-authoritarianism. It arose out of the revival of evangelical biblical scholarship following World War II — Alan Stibbs produced some of his material for Tyndale House conferences in Cambridge and Donald Robinson wrote the article on church for the IVF’s landmark New Bible Dictionary.
Nor was it ever exclusively based on a limited word study of the Greek word for ‘church’ in the New Testament, ekklesia (a jibe still thrown about today)…
The current level of confusion, even among some who consider themselves sympathetic to the basic outlines of this exposition of the doctrine, suggests that there is a need for a fresh restatement of it.”
– ACL President Mark Thompson, at Theological Theology, sees many benefits from taking a closer look at the doctrine of the church.
Providence
“If we are uncomfortable with the idea of providence why is that? One reason is because we are influenced by a scientific worldview which can be presented as supporting a mechanistic understanding of the world…”
– David Phillips writes on the importance of a Christian understanding of Providence, in Cross†Way. (PDF file.)
G W Bromiley on The Resurrection
“Every churchman claims to believe in the resurrection of the dead. In all ages, however, this Christian truth has been both attacked and misunderstood. Probably misunderstanding is the greater danger. It usually has its origin in a deliberate attempt to re-state the Christian teaching in a form acceptable to non-Christian thought.
In the present age there is particular need that Christians should fully understand and fully proclaim the truth of resurrection. There are many reasons why this should be so…”
– Church Society has republished this booklet by Dr Geoffrey W Bromiley.
(Image: by Don Milici via Christianity Today.)
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ – Packer’s introduction
Dr Jim Packer’s introductory essay to The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen remains a classic essay on Christ’s atonement. Written in 1958, it is probably even more relevant now than it was then.
Among other things, Dr Packer gives a helpful introduction to Calvinism. The essay will repay careful reading.
There are several copies of the essay on the Internet – Monergism has one here.
Every good thing is to be found in Christ
“Every good thing we could think or desire is to be found in this same Jesus Christ alone. For he was sold, to buy us back; captive, to deliver us; condemned, to absolve us. He was made a curse for our blessing, sin offering for our righteousness; marred that we may be made fair.
He died for our life; so that by him fury is made gentle, wrath appeased, darkness turned into light, fear reassured, despisal despised, debt cancelled, labour lightened, sadness made merry, misfortune made fortunate, difficulty easy, disorder ordered, division united, ignominy ennobled, rebellion subjected, intimidation intimidated, ambush uncovered, assaults assailed, force forced back, combat combated, war warred against, vengeance avenged, torment tormented, damnation damned, the abyss sunk into the abyss, hell transfixed, death dead, mortality made immortal.
In short, mercy has swallowed up all misery, and goodness all misfortune.”
—John Calvin, preface for Pierre Robert Olivétan’s 1534 French translation of the New Testament. (From Of First Importance.)
Are we still responsible for sins for which we may be genetically predisposed?
Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds quotes these helpful words from Tom Schreiner at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky–
“Even if some sins could be traced to our genetics, it would not exempt us from responsibility for such sins. The Scriptures teach that all human beings are born into this world as sons and daughters of Adam, and hence they are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Read more
The Phantom Menace: Territorial Spirits and SLSW
Church Society has just republished a very helpful ten-year-old article by Melvin Tinker on popular notions of ‘spiritual warfare’.
“The aim of our spiritual warfare is not to disarm principalities and powers, which Christ has already done (Colossians 2:15). That is why he is seated above every rule and authority and why in principle Christians are seated with him in complete security (Eph 2:6). The objective of spiritual warfare is to ‘stand’.”
It’s available as a PDF file from their website.
On related topics, see also Peter Bolt’s Living with the Underworld (Get copies from Reformers, Moore Books) and Christ’s Victory over Evil (Moore Books, Reformers).
Barry Newman on Baptism Revisited — full series
Barry Newman has now completed his series of posts revisiting his earlier series on Biblical Baptism – and he’s made them available as a PDF file at his blog.
Sure to provoke discussion.
Smiting Morality with Gospel Joy
John Piper reads a powerful quote from CS Lewis.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…