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Hope for Prodigal Children
As a pastor, I am often faced with the difficulty of counseling deeply saddened fathers and mothers with prodigal sons and daughters. Parents who enter my study for counsel and prayer are usually trying to come to grips with the …Read More
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Christ Alone
Reformed theology affirms that Scripture and its teaching on grace and faith emphasize that salvation is solus Christus, “by Christ alone”—that is, Christ is the only Savior (Acts 4:12). B.B. Warfield wrote, “The saving power of faith …Read More
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Jesus: The Only Savior
I cannot imagine an affirmation that would meet with more resistance from contemporary Westerners than the one Paul makes in 1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man …Read More
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Why “Let Go and Let God” Is a Bad Idea
What is “let-go-and-let-God” theology? It’s called Keswick theology, and it’s one of the most significant strands of second-blessing theology. It assumes that Christians experience two “blessings.” The first is getting “saved,” and the second is getting serious. The …Read More
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Redeemed by His Blood
Cecil B. Demille’s The Ten Commandments (1956) is one of the most successful movies ever made. At the time, it was a grand cinematic achievement. Its cinematography and special effects wowed the movie world. Everyone marveled, not only at …Read More
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Mercy Triumphs Through Judgment
“Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD , and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an …Read More
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What Is the Goal of Becoming a Christian?
It is my contention that we spend far too little time thinking through issues of teleology, the study of end or purpose or design. We prefer to leave these questions unexamined, and thus move through our lives less than deliberately …Read More
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Our Pasts Don’t Have to Matter
During our election cycles in the U.S., we see a lot of headlines and hear a lot of talk about the past of candidates for public office. We wrestle with and quarrel about the question, Do their pasts matter …Read More
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Christ Our Church
There are a number of Old Testament passages that figure prominently in the New Testament. In Galatians 3:10–14, several of them are quoted by the apostle, and he uses these Old Testament passages as proof texts for the …Read More
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Israel’s Salvation
The eleventh chapter of Romans opens with the apostle Paul, a descendant of Abraham, asking the question: “Has God rejected [ethnic Israel]?” The short answer to this question is given in verse 5: “So too at the present time there …Read More
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Justification by Death?
In the sixteenth century, Christendom underwent one of the most extensive and serious schisms in its history. The chief article that caused the controversy to end in division was the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The Protestant Reformation was …Read More
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A Child’s Call to Conversion: Faith as a Christian Mark
The clear desire of all Christian parents is the spiritual wellbeing of their children. We want our children to be saved, to be part of the company of the redeemed. We yearn for the blessing of God’s covenant grace …Read More
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Faith Working Through Love
Presuming to write about what makes a Christian recognizable to the watching world is fraught with peril. The author might be tempted to simply go with the old adage, “Less is more”: You’re a Christian if you confess with …Read More
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The Many Shades of Calvinism
The term Calvinism was first used by Lutheran theologians to refer to what they regarded as the peculiar views of Christ’s real presence at the Lord’s Supper held by John Calvin and his followers. It is not used …Read More
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It Can’t Get No Worse?
In 1967, the Beatles released their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. One of the classic songs on that album is titled “Getting Better.” Many people are familiar with the catchy, upbeat chorus: “I’ve got to admit …Read More