Where do I start with Reformed Theology?

This past Sunday, I began preaching on the distinctions of Veritas - trying to answer the question "What is different (not better) about Veritas Church?"  The first distinction had to do with our theological convictions:

Veritas holds to reformed theology.  By this, we mean that we generally agree with the theology that was recovered in the 16^th and 17^th centuries during the Protestant Reformation – we believe the reformers had it right, and recovered the theology of men like Augustine, the Apostle Paul, and Jesus.

Some of you are new to reformed theology and so I promised to post some resources to get you started:

• You can read through the Veritas Church Elder Doctrinal Statement.  We don't require members to hold to everything in this document - but we do require this of our pastors.  

• The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 is one of the best historical articulations of reformed theology.

• If you're struggling to understand the 1689 confession, but want to, buy Samuel Waldron's commentary.

• If you're looking for a good, historical, reformed catechism (summary of theological beliefs in question and answer format) check out the Heidelberg Catechism.

• If you're looking for a book that will be a great primer on reformed theology, purchase R.C. Sproul's "What is Reformed Theology."

• Desiring God has a great booklet available online for free.  It's called "What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism."

• And finally, the best website to find articles and books that will answer your questions biblically is, in my opinion, Monergism.

Book Recommendations following Sunday's sermon...

I didn't have time to rattle off these book recommendations on Sunday.  I preached about a disciple of Jesus being one who knows Him, believes Him, obeys Him, enjoys Him, and proclaims Him to the ends of the earth.  Here are some books I recommend:

Weak in knowledge?
"The Christian Life" by Sinclair Ferguson
"What Does God Want of us Anyway" by Mark Dever

Weak in belief?
"Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller
"Death by Love" by Mark Driscoll

Weak in obedience?
"How Should I Live in This World" by R.C. Sproul (short booklet)
"You Can Change" by Tim Chester

Weak in enjoyment?
"Dangerous Duty of Delight" by John Piper
"The Art of Divine Contentment" by Thomas Watson (Kristen's top pick)

Weak in proclamation?
"Celtic Way of Evangelism" by George G. Hunter
"The Gospel and Personal Evangelism" by Mark Dever

A Cry for Help

The following blog entry is part 8 in a series of blog posts entitled “A Fight Worth Picking,” in which I’m writing about John’s Owen’s Biblical principles for fighting sin in ‘The Mortification of Sin.’  I’ll be referencing Banner of Truth’s 2004 edition, abridged by Richard Rushing.  (If you’d like a detailed outline of Owen’s work, click here.)

If you’ve been following this blog and dealing with your sin, you may be feeling quite desperate by now.  We’ve looked thoroughly and deeply at the dark corners of our lives.  We’ve considered the guilt of what we’ve done.  We’ve considered the danger we’re in.  And we’ve considered the sheer evil that causes our sin to flourish. 

If God’s grace is upon you, Owen’s next step will come quite natural.  If we are in the valley of our sin and we catch a true vision of God our deliverer – We will cry out.  Christian, you know you are sinful.  Christian, do you long for deliverance from your sin?  Christian, look to Christ for your deliverance. 

2 Corinthians 7:11

For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

Only by grace do we even look to God for help.  A proud heart helps itself, while a humble heart recognizes the need for power without to help within.

“Longing, breathing, and panting after deliverance is a grace in itself, that has a mighty power to conform the soul into the likeness of the thing longed after… unless you long for deliverance you shall not have it.”  (page 81).

With Paul, let us cry out

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”  (Romans 7:24-25).

Angry in the Right Way

Christians know to justify their anger by calling it “righteous.”  Righteous anger is a reality, but a rarity.  Usually, there is nothing righteous about our anger - It’s a sinful, Ephesians 4:26 kind of heat. 

When is anger good?

Anger can be good only if it’s anger over right things and angry in a right way.  For example, it’s good to be angry over things like child abuse and murder.  And it’s good to be angry in such a way that spurs us into action.  Does it move us to compassion and pity?  Does it cause us to rebuke a close friend who is hurting himself and others?  Does it lead us into dependency on Christ?  Or...

Does our anger lead to wrath, harshness, yelling, intimidation, or losing self-control?  Whether we’re angry with our employer, spouse, child, president, pastor, neighbor, or brother, we must be angry in the right way. 

In our anger, do we refrain from “corrupting talk” and remain committed to building others up?

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

In our anger, do we sustain a spirit of gentleness?

Galatians 6:1

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

In our anger, do we provoke our loved ones to anger or discouragement?

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Colossians 3:21

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Are we slow to anger and controlled in anger?

Proverbs 16:32

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

In our anger, are we quarrelsome or kind and patient?

2 Timothy 2:24-25

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

Godly anger happens because we are 'like' God (created in His image), while ungodly anger happens because we are like Adam (in a fallen, sinful state).  Is our anger from God or Adam?

There is anger from a fountain of love for God and his creation, and there is anger from a fountain of malice - “I want my way and not God’s way.  And when I don’t get my way… I rage.” 

Here are 6 six questions to help evaluate your anger:

Am I angry about the right things?  (should be things that anger God)

Am I angry in the right way?  (should be anger that spurs you to holiness)

How long does my anger last?  (should be short)

How controlled is my anger?  (should be very controlled)

What motivates my anger?  (should be God’s glory)

What is the effect of your anger?  (sinful anger creates more problems)

Sanctuaries of Evil

The following blog entry is part 7 in a series of blog posts entitled “A Fight Worth Picking,” in which I’m writing about John’s Owen’s Biblical principles for fighting sin in ‘The Mortification of Sin.’  I’ll be referencing Banner of Truth’s 2004 edition, abridged by Richard Rushing.  (If you’d like a detailed outline of Owen’s work, click here.)

I’ve taken 3 weeks off this blog, but hopefully no one has taken 3 weeks off of fighting sin.  We left off talking about Owen’s first (there are 11 total) particular direction for mortifying sin, namely - to consider the symptoms that accompany your sinful desire.  After an examination of sin’s symptoms Owen now encourages his reader to dwell on the actual sin itself.

He says: “Get a clear and abiding sense upon your mind and conscience of the guilt, danger, and evil of the sin with which you are troubled.  Cause your heart to dwell on them.  Let them begin to have a powerful influence on your soul, until they make it tremble.” (page 65)

Consider the Guilt.

Perhaps a guilty Christian is worse than a guilty non-Christian.  A Christian knows better.  A sinning Christian willingly tramples on grace.  A Christian may be saved from sin, but that does not make a Christian any less guilty of sin.  Don’t tell yourself otherwise.

Consider the Danger.

If sin is left unchecked it can harden someone’s heart so badly that they end up lost forever, happy to continue toward sin and away from Jesus.

Hebrews 3:12-13

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Hebrews 10:38

“…but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him."

As well, If sin is left unchecked a Christian may undergo temporal discipline from God.

Psalm 89:30-32

If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,
31if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,
32then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes.

Consider the Evil.

Considering the danger of sin concerns us with the future.  Considering the evil of sin concerns us with the present.  Don’t just consider what may happen because of your sin.  Consider how evil and hurtful it is right now.  Truly, our sin grieves the Holy Spirit of God, wounds our Lord Jesus afresh, and renders us completely useless.

As Owen says, we should consider these things until we tremble.  That may seem extreme.  In our culture it is.  But it’s also necessary.  The voice condemning our sin must become louder than the popular voice affirming it.

Rob Bell Interview...

Our church is in the middle of a move, and I'm behind on my blog series on the mortification of sin (I plan to write a new entry next week).  But in the meantime, Rob Bell's new book came out.

It's called "Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person who Ever Lived." My copy is in the mail and I plan to read it as soon as I get it (though I expect to be grieved over its contents).  Here's an interview with Bell by Martin Bashir of MSNBC.

How Bad is It?

The following blog entry is part 6 in a series of blog posts entitled “A Fight Worth Picking,” in which I’m writing about John’s Owen’s Biblical principles for fighting sin in ‘The Mortification of Sin.’  I’ll be referencing Banner of Truth’s 2004 edition, abridged by Richard Rushing.  (If you’d like a detailed outline of Owen’s work, click here.)

John Owen gives 11 particular directions for mortifying sin.  His first direction (the subject of this article) is to consider the symptoms that accompany your sinful desire.  As we fight our sin, it is good for us to know what we’re up against by evaluating how bad a state we’re in.  Imagine a sick person sitting before a doctor and asking, “how bad is it?”  We need to ask the same question in terms of our sin, which will help us to (as we should) take our sin very seriously.  Here are 6 questions about our desires that help us to see how deadly our sin may be...

1.  Is it an old, familiar desire?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

“Indwelling lusts grow rusty and stubborn because they have long continued in ease and quiet.  Such a sin will not be easily ejected.  It will never die by itself, and if it is not daily killed it will only gather added strength.” (page 56)

2.  When convicted of sin, do you search your heart to find some evidence of good to ease your conscience?  In other words, when convicted of sin, rather than feeling the weight of it, do you tell yourself what a good person you are and how far you have come?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

3.  Do you give in to the desire frequently?  It’s one thing to have a sinful desire and to resist actually sinning.  It’s another thing to give in over and over again, growing accustomed. If this is the state you’re in, you’re in serious trouble.

4.  Do you agonize more over the consequences of your sin (worldly sorrow) than the sin

itself (godly sorrow)?  Are you more concerned with the personal pain of your sin than the pain it causes (and has caused) God?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

“If you avoid sin due to fear of embarrassment or hell, you are sufficiently resolved to do the sin if there were no punishment attending it.” (Chapter 9)

5.  Has God handed you over to this sin as punishment?  Is it possible that you have persisted so long in this sin that God has handed you over to experience the full weight and consequence of your sin?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

6.  Have you been disciplined by God for this sin and yet persist, hardening your heart?  Think back.  Is it possible that God has handed you over to this sin before… and you just keep on running back to it?  If so, you’re in serious trouble.

This should be our conclusion as we continue this fight against our flesh:  We’re all in serious trouble.

_________________________________________________________

Note:  These are all important steps in fighting sin.  It may seem to some that Owen is not actually equipping us to deal with our depravity, he is just causing us to wallow in it and become more depressed.  You may be thinking, "Enough already, when is he going to tell me how to kill sin!?"  But understand that where we fail most significantly in this fight against sin is in not grasping the full gravity of our condition.  Most of our fight is convincing ourselves how deep a pit we're in.  Don't assume you "get that" because you feel bad over your sin.  When was the last time you wept over it?  This process is painful and good and right.  So, for those of you following this blog and applying it, be encouraged to keep going.