Tag: god
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Thomas Manton on Infant Faith and Infant Salvation
If without faith it be impossible to please God, then childrenmust have some kind of faith, else they can never be accepted to life. Iknow that the apostle doth principally speak of adult or grown persons,men of age, such as come to God, and seek him: but though, however, therule is general, there is no…
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Sermon Transcript: September 24, 2017 Reformation 500 Series — The Absolute Sovereignty of God (Romans 9:1-33)
An AI-produced transcript of my 9/24/17 sermon: 500 years ago, this October, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. And so this is the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation this year. It’s an event in history truly worth celebrating. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Martin Bucer,…
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Antinomianism and Legalism
This is an old Reformation Day X post: A post for Reformation Day: We often think there are two ways to get the gospel wrong: there are legalists who try to earn God’s favor, and antinomians who presume on God’s favor. Legalists try too hard, antinomians are too lax. Legalists are slaves to the law,…
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Some Random Notes on Romans 11, Modern Israel, and the Land of Canaan
“The Church is Israel. This does not mean that the Church replaced Israel, nor does it mean that a natural Jew cannot be grafted back into the true Israel. They can, but only by bending a knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God established Abraham and promised to bless his seed and all those…
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Does Modern Day Israel Have Right to the Land?
Why does the modern nation-state of Israel have a “right” to its land in the present day? Israel has a right to its land because the people who ruled it before them gave it to them. That’s it. That’s the sole rationale. And that’s just fine. All nations have their land based on gift, purchase,…
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More February 2026 X Posts and Other Miscellanies: Creation/Evolution, Spurgeon on Islam, Postmillennialism, Rise of Liberalism/Progressivism, Anti-Semitism, Rights, Drugs, Etc.
“O God, impress upon me the value of time, and give regulation to all my thoughts and to all my movements.” — Thomas Chalmers — “A piety which concerns itself only with man’s soul and leaves the world to the devil is a profane piety” — R.J. Rushdoony — “Faith stands in antithesis to works;…
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Jesus and the Fulfillment of Israel’s Covenant: Holy Land and Holy People
[Another version of this essay was published under the title “The Story of Israel” on the Theopolis website.] Today’s news headlines, popular podcasts, and social media discussions, are dominated with questions about the modern nation-state of Israel and land disputes in the Middle East. Who owns the land, sometimes called the “holy land”? I am…
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Confessions of a Worship Leader
This is an excerpt from an article by Jonathan Aigner, found here: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ponderanew/2022/01/07/confessions-of-a-former-worship-leader-2/. While Aigner ended up Lutheran, classic Lutheran and Calvinistic/Reformed theologies of liturgy largely overlap. The stress is on seeking God where he has promised to be found — in his Word and sacraments, not in our emotions or fluctuating feelings. Whereas the medieval…
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Psalm 72
These notes are based on my sermon from July 19, 2009. Audio available here: Further notes are available here: Psalm 72 presents a magnificent vision of the ideal king and his kingdom. This essay explores the psalm through four key questions: Who wrote it? Who is it about? What does it promise? And what does…
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Liturgy and the Gospel
[This short essay was written for the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin TX. It appeared in the church newsletter sometime in the late 1990s, when I was on staff there.] One of the most talked about aspects of our church is our worship. Considering the centrality of gathered worship in the Scriptures, this is probably how…
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