‘A better story’ – 12
Our 'better story' for sex and marriage begins as we are welcomed into God's ...
‘If the church were Christian’ – 2
Philip Gulley puts it like this:- If the church were more Christian, 'affirming ...
‘If the church were Christian’ – 3
By the time we reach chapter three of Philip Gulley's book If the Church were ...
‘Total depravity’ – an historical note
In Evangelical Truth (p87) John Stott highlights a report, commissioned in ...
“This man receives sinners!”
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. ...
2 Corinthians 5:21 – ‘God made Christ to be sin for us’
2 Corinthians 5:21 'God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, ...
A tale of two families – sermon notes
Romans 5:12-21. I wonder how far back you can trace your family tree? Not ...
Adam and Christ – sermon notes
Text: Romans 5:12-21. There are many different kinds of people in the world: ...
Adam and the Fall
Donald MacLeod writes:- Do not forget that God pronounced man, the apex of ...
Ananias and Sapphira – sermon notes
Text: Acts 4:32-5:16 It’s a shocking story. What is our gut reaction? Disbelief? ...
Before and after – sermon notes (v2)
Ephesians 2:1-10 Transformations. DIY SOS, Restorations, Homes Under The ...
Calvin on ‘common grace’
Calvinist theology is beset by some unfortunate terminology, which turns many ...
Can guilt be transferred?
How can it be possible for guilt to be transferred from one person to another? ...
Celebrating the Cross
Reflection on the death of Christ and its achievement, so far from being a ...
Does God hate the wicked?
You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. ...
Donald Macleod on ‘total depravity’
Total depravity (a notorious phrase that invariably raises people's hackles) ...
Genesis 3 – traditional and revisionist readings
I must admit that I'm not sure about where to place Genesis 3 on a scale between ...
God the Judge
J.I. Packer writes: Knowing God, ch. 14.
Is the self to be affirmed, or repudiated?
Christians, no less than many of their critics, can get in an awful muddle ...
Judgment according to works
Recent re-thinking about the doctrine of justification throws up a related ...
Must God punish sin?
Few Christians are willing to do any sustained thinking about sin. Of course, ...
Needed: satisfaction for sin
'With God all things are possible' (Matthew 19:26). 'Nothing is impossible ...
Original sin
Definition 'Original sin', like some other terms ('total depravity', 'unconditional ...
Remedies against Satan’s devices
William Spurstowe (1605-1666), along with other Puritan writers, catalogued ...
Repentance and revival
SENSITIVENESS TO SIN If, as we have seen, a leading feature of revival preaching ...
Rom 7:24 – Who is the ‘wretched man’?
Paul describes, in vv15-24, a high level of emotional turmoil. But who is ...
Ryle on sin
It was no accident that J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) gave the first chapter of his ...
Sin
'If you have not learned about sin,' writes J.I. [...]
Sin and suffering
Human sin is a general factor in explaining the presence of pain and suffering ...
Sin is…
According to the Bible, sin is a rebellion against the divine law, and the ...
Sins of omission
Brian Cosby writes: While sins of commission are often blatant and deliberate—transgressing ...
Steve Chalke on ‘total depravity’
In chapter 13 of The Lost Message of Paul, Steve Chalke asks: Where does the ...
Steve Chalke on the neuropsychology of ‘sin’
One of the strangest chapters in Steve Chalke's The Lost Message of Paul is ...
The medicalisation of sin
D. A. Carson quotes Richard Topping: "Remember we live in a time when six of ...
Unmasking our self-sufficiency
One of the big differences between God and ourselves is that he is self-sufficient, ...
Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?
The account of the ten plagues of Egypt frequently refers to the 'hardening' ...