Category: Reformed Spirituality
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Gospel-Driven Sanctification
by Jerry Bridges Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, “The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct.” Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst. The Bible is far more than a rulebook to follow. It is primarily…
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Dangers of Spiritual Resolutions
I’ve been there. Likely, so have you. The year begins with good intentions, and maybe even a strong start, only to fizzle days later. The Statistic Brain Research Institute reports that 75% of New Years Resolutions are broken within the first week of the New Year. No doubt most of the others go down soon…
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How to Preach the Gospel to Yourself
Paul, in Colossians 2.6, instructs us: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him…” Simple words, but powerfully practical when unpacked. How did we “receive” Jesus? By faith and repentance – or by repentance and faith. We are not quite sure which comes first, but perhaps…
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Spiritual Chrysalis
In preparation for this past Sunday message from Galatians, I again marveled at the insight and passion of Martin Luther concerning our Union with Christ: “So far as justification is concerned, Christ and I must be so closely attached that He lives in me and I in Him. What a marvelous way of speaking! Because…
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Valley of Vision
Having spent the bulk of my years in ministry residing and serving in mountainous regions, this Puritan prayer, from which the Valley of Vision collection takes its title, has always carried deep meaning for me. For not only was it descriptive of my geographic and topographic surroundings, but even now that I am living a…
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Gospel vs. Legalism
What is the difference between legalism and the gospel? Legalism (or Moralism) says God looks at how well we keep the law. The Gospel says we are hidden in Christ. So God sees how well Jesus kept the Law (perfectly), all his works, and his death on our behalf. Consequently, because we are hidden in…
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Gospel Wakefulness
One of the more helpful works I have read concerning gospel-centered Christianity is Jared Wilson‘s Gospel Wakefulness. Perhaps most insightful to me was Jared’s point that gospel-centeredness can be explained but cannot be taught. In other words, it requires a grace of the holy spirit. I do not think this realization moves gospel-centeredness into a…
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Counterfeit Gospels
Having begun a new series of messages at our church, Freedom: A Study of Galatians, I am struck anew by the passion with which the Apostle Paul uncompromisingly declares: “There is NO OTHER Gospel!” What Paul does throughout his letter to the Galatians, and vividly in the opening verses, is to impress that claim upon…
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Seasons of Revival
No matter how many times I have seen them, my bemusement has never seemed to wane. I appreciate the zeal, yet marvel at the naivete’. Signs and banners adorning church doors and properties: “Revival Tonight!” “Revival This Week!” Don’t get me wrong, I long to experience revival – a genuine work of God, an outpouring…
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Inebriated by the Gospel
Great grace laced imagery from Robert Capon: The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievilism, a whole cellarful of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two-hundred-proof grace – of bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God…
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Balance of Faith
A true, vibrant Christian faith is someting akin to a balancing act. In a post this morning, Tim Keller suggested: If we are going to grow in grace, we must stay aware of being both sinners and also loved children in Christ. Keller’s paradigm reminded me of something Edward Payson – “Praying Payson of Portland”…
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Regeneration: A Puritan Prayer
O God of the highest heaven, occupy the throne of my heart, take full possession and reign supreme, lay low every rebel lust, let no vile passion resist thy holy war; manifest thy mighty power, and make me thine forever. Thou art worthy to be praised with my every breath, loved with my every faculty…
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Living Dangerously
One of the dangers of [obedience based Christianity] is that it can lead people to think God owes them a reward for their obedience. Their perspective in life is: ‘If I do certain things, I expect God to come through for me’. And when He doesn’t, they think: What’s wrong? Why isn’t He doing something…
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Appropriating Grace
Here is an important reminder and challenge from Richard Lovelace, from his monumental Dynamics of Spiritual Life: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives… Many… have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their…
