The church today is afflicted by a gospel of “easy-believism.” By easy-believism, we do not mean that salvation is not by faith alone. What we do mean is that saving faith is erroneously depicted as residing within the sinner’s capacity. Concerning this easy believism and its noxious fruits, the words of Welsh pastor Howell Harris are even more true today than they were 200 years ago: Churches are filled with folks who have a détente with sin; they are at ease under its dominion. They won’t study the fruits of faith or make their election and calling sure; but turn the grace of God into licentiousness.
Read moreAre we Giving them God?
There is a trend in preaching today to set forth principles, to flood people with hyper-grace comfort and security without actually exhibiting the transcendent holiness of God. What tends to be neglected in these principle-saturated sermons is the setting forth of God Himself in His majesty and holy perfections.
Read morePreaching the God-centered Gospel in a Man-centered World (Part one)
When strolling through a public place we can instantly recognize the behavior of an insolent child. Everything inside of us evokes the conviction that the youngster’s impudence calls for the paddle. But, what we are much less cognizant of is that the life of the unregenerate man is regarded by God as an entire posture of impudence (as revolt, effrontery, and habitual impertinence). For, the natural man, in his love of self, imagines that he exercises the sovereign power to decide what authority he shall be subject to. And, as a studious truth suppressor (Rom 1:18), he fancies himself as the final arbiter of every truth claim, and every claim to authority. His rebellion is made manifest by the fact that his mental powers are employed in explaining away God’s claims upon him (Ps 2:2; Rom 3:4, 10-18).
Read moreGrounding your Disciple in Gospel Realities (Part One)
Gospel faith is not solely our entrance into the Christian life, it is the daily source of our being built up and established in our faith. “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude” (Col 2:6-7). Therefore, in our disciple-making relationships, we must learn to excel at re-speaking the gospel to one another. Bringing each believer to maturity is the corporate task of the body of Christ (Col 1:28-29).
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