I explained in yesterday’s post about Puritan spirituality that it was the conviction of the Puritans (as well as my own) that the inherent righteousness of every believer was to be shaped by the Ten Commandments, the moral Law of God. This is because the Puritans rightly understood that the moral law provides the Christian with both light from heaven to expose his sin and truth from God to guide his feet in righteousness. Continue reading “The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality, Part 2”
Getting victory over your sin
Jesus tells us to watch and pray in order that we might not enter into temptation (Mt 26.41). So why does it so often happen that we watch and pray and then still find ourselves falling into sin? The answer is because we’re watching and praying against the sin and not against the temptation. We’re on guard against the sin but not against the temptations which give rise to it. Continue reading “Getting victory over your sin”
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No longer a slave to sin, Part 2
In yesterday’s post I explained from Rom 7 that in regeneration believers are freed from the dominion of sin as a law over them. They are now placed under the law of the Spirit of life, by which they delight in good (6.17-18) and desire to do good (7.18, 21). And the discovery of the opposition and resistance of sin in them when they would do good (7.21-23) is actually an encouraging sign of grace. Continue reading “No longer a slave to sin, Part 2”
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Keeping the heart
What is the greatest business of the Christian life? According to Prov 4.23 it is to keep the heart. It is the Christian’s chief concern to keep his heart from sin–since this disorders it from godly conduct, and in turn to keep his heart in a godly and gracious frame–since this alone fits it for a life of communion with God and for the doing of all his deeds to the approval and glory of God. Several points can be offered in support of this. Continue reading “Keeping the heart”
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No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus
I’m sure you’ve read Romans 8.1-3 countless times. It’s one of those passages in Scripture that we never tire of reading. “…no condemnation…set you free…from the law…he condemned sin in the flesh…” It’s rich from start to finish, full of soul-gladdening truth.
But it’s one thing to know the truth and it’s another to be comforted by it. I want to encourage you to look briefly at this text and to walk away from it with the comfort God intends you to have by it. Let’s walk through it together. Continue reading “No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus”
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Confessing our sins to our loving Father
One of the greatest struggles Christians have is against their own legalistic tendency to see our loving and merciful Father as a wrathful Judge when we’ve sinned against Him.
It is of course true that we Christians do sin. We sin everyday–to our grief and shame. But we no longer sin as a criminal in Adam before a Judge in God. Instead, being in Christ (Col 1.13-14), we sin as a child of God before a God in Christ. Continue reading “Confessing our sins to our loving Father”
