Yesterday I spoke on Colossians 1:3-8. This passage focuses on Pauls thanksgiving for the Colossians who he’d never seen and on the reason he gave thanks for them. His reasoning was based on the hope that they had in Christ which had given them a love for all the saints. This hope had come through the “word of truth, the gospel” through which they had “heard and understood the grace of God in truth”. Read more »
Category Archives: Theology - Page 2
Our need to see our sin
Posted by darryl
on April 18, 2010
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In my last post I mentioned that we need to have a greater understanding of our own sin and depravity. Its only when we see this that we will see our need for salvation, but it also will illuminate the depth of Gods grace and may lead us to a deeper worship of God. Read more »
The gospel in Spurgeon’s Ministry
Posted by darryl
on April 15, 2010
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When C.H. Spurgeon examined 20 years of his sermons being published and read and considered why it was that people not only bought them but also read them. The only thing that stood out to him as to why was the centrality of the gospel. Read more »
How to find the truth
Posted by darryl
on December 13, 2009
1 comment
I came across this comment on this thread. I’ve come across it a bit recently, so I thought I’d post on it here. Read more »
Dealing with Arianists
Posted by darryl
on May 18, 2009
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This follows this post and this post dealing specifically with Jehovah’s witnesses. Read more »
Jehovah’s Witnesses – The new world translation
Posted by darryl
on May 17, 2009
12 comments
This post follows my previous one which focuses on who Jesus claimed and demonstrated himself to be. Read more »
Jehovah’s Witnesses – Jesus is God
Posted by darryl
on May 16, 2009
4 comments
A couple of nights ago, I went to see a couple from our church to talk with them about a Jehovah’s Witness friend they have who has been trying to convert them to their church (or rather their cult or religion). We talked at some length and looked at a number of scriptures and I thought I might record some of what we talked about here. Read more »
How do you describe conversion?
Posted by darryl
on April 13, 2009
1 comment
I was just reading A H Strongs Systematic Theology and struck the passage quoted below.
If you are saved by Gods grace through the justification that is given by trusting Jesus Christ for salvation – how do you describe your conversion?
Here’s what A. H. Strong said:
Arminian converts say: “I gave my heart to the Lord”; Augustinian converts say: “The Holy Spirit convicted me of sin and renewed my heart.” Arminianism tends to self-sufficiency; Augustinianism promotes dependence upon God. (Strong, A. H. (1907, 2004). Systematic theology. p605)
Many people I know fall into the first camp. However, scripture says clearly that “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Rom 3:10) – therefore the work of salvation must by necessity be entirely the work of the Lord on the heart of a believer and all be for His glory.
Martin Luther on Open Theism
Posted by darryl
on March 4, 2009
1 comment
As previously noted I’m reading through Martin Luther’s Bondage of the will at the moment.
Along the way several of his thoughts have jumped out at me on various subjects (not the least of which is his stinging assessment of Erasmus’s book (Bondage of the will was written as a response to a book by Erasmus).
If you don’t know what Open Theism is, it essentially states that God doesn’t know the future. Here is what Luther said to Erasmus when he said that God doesn’t know the future:
…If you doubt, or disdain to know that God foreknows and wills all things, not contingently, but necessarily and immutably, how can you believe confidently, trust to, and depend upon His promises? For when He promises, it is necessary that you should be certain that He knows, is able, and willing to perform what He promises: otherwise, you will neither hold Him true nor faithful, which is unbelief, the greatest of wickedness, and a denying of the Most High God!
(Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, p37)
Grace abounds
Posted by darryl
on February 20, 2009
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The law brings the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). But this is not the message of the gospel. Knowing about the law (and sin) is simply a means to the end. The end is to know Jesus Christ.
Rom 5:20-21 is an amazing statement. It reads:
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
While the more we know of the law, the more we realise we have broken it. However, the more sin there is, the more the grace of God grows. We can see this today in an age where arguably there is more sin than ever before, yet the end has not yet come – Gods grace abounds all the more. Why?
The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9)
Grace abounds today and indeed exceeds the sin around us, because Jesus is still seeking those who would be saved.
Rather than the message of Christianity being about condemnation by the righteousness and holiness of God, God desires that none perish, and that all reach repentance.
The message of Christianity is abundant grace, justification and forgiveness. No strings attached.
If you haven’t reached out to Jesus for this forgiveness that comes through his death, do so today – now is the favourable time; now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2).
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