For if we seek salvation, the very name ofJesus teaches us that he possesses it.
True discernment means not only distinguishing the right from the wrong; it means distinguishing the primary from the secondary, the essential from the indifferent, and the permanent from the transien...
To become a Christian believer is to be brought into a reality far grander than anything we could ever have imagined. It means communion with the triune God.
Thus, for example, fruitful Christian service will encourage assurance; we recognize the work of the Spirit creating new desires and dispositions. We
Then all my servile works were done A righteousness to raise; Now, freely chosen in the Son, I freely choose his ways.
The human heart wrote Calvin, has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood lurks, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself.
The fallacy here? The subtle movement from seeing forsaking sin as the fruit of grace that is rooted in election, to making the forsaking of sin the necessary precursor for experiencing that grace. Re...
Jesus' sinlessness should not be equated with emotionlessness.
If the benefits of Christ’s work (justification, reconciliation, adoption, and so on) are abstracted from Christ himself, and the proclamation of the gospel is made in terms of what it offers rather t...
Christianity in China from 150 years prior to the time of its inscription, circa 780.
Salvation becomes ours in Christ and not merely through Christ.
When we behold the glory of Christ in the gospel, it reorders the loves of our hearts, so we delight in him supremely, and the other things that have ruled our lives lose their enslaving power over us...
What was injected into Eve’s mind and affections during the conversation with the Serpent was a deep-seated suspicion of God that was soon further twisted into rebellion against him. The root of her a...
Thus the motivation, energy and drive for holiness are all found in the reality and power of God's grace in Christ. And so if I am to make any progress in sanctification, the place where I must always...
The invisible is more substantial than the visible; ?he future shapes the past; The new is more fundamental than the old.
Repentance then is not the punctiliar decision of a moment but a radical heart transformation that reverses the whole direction of life.
In acting, there can be a great discrepancy between the part which is played and the reality of the life which lies behind it. Paul suggests that the same can be true of faith. We can profess much and...
And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son. Therefore, indeed, I c...
The Son of God took our nature and came in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3) in order to exchange places with Adam, so that His obedience and righteousness might for our sakes be exchanged for A...
Pastors need themselves to have been mastered by the unconditional grace of God. From them the vestiges of a self-defensive pharisaism and conditionalism need to be torn. Like the Savior they need to...