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timothy ah koy / unsplash "Sin is the most serious matter that has ever entered into the whole universe. Let me put it like this. The problem of sin is the greatest problem that even Almighty God has ever had to deal with.  "Now, creation is a tremendous matter. There was nothing, and God created. There at a certain point the Spirit broods upon the abyss and the chaos, and God said: ‘Let there be light: and there was light.’ God brought light into being by the mere word of his power, his mere fiat. And God created everything in the same way—a word was enough, such is the power of God. He speaks and it is done.  "But when God comes to deal with the problem of man, and man in sin and rebellion, and man in alienation against himself, a word is not enough.  "God cannot forgive sin just by saying: ‘I forgive.’ If he could, he would have done so. Do you imagine that God would ever have sent his only begotten Son to the cross if he could have forgiven the sin of

shttefan / unsplash "You...are acquainted with all my ways.. .behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. ...  Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!" ( Psalm 139:3, 4, 23 ESV)  "Whoever meditates on the mystery of his own life will quickly realize why only God, the searcher of the secrets of the heart, can pass final judgment. We cannot judge what we have no access to. The self is a swirling conflict of fears, impulses, sentiments, interests, allergies, and foibles. It is a metaphysical given for which there is no easy rational explanation. Now if we cannot unveil the mystery of our own motives and affections, how much less can we unveil the mystery in others? That is, as we look into ourselves, we encounter the mystery of our own, the depths of our own selfhood. As we sing things like 'Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings within and fears without, O Lamb of God, I come.' And having recogn

"Joseph the Carpenter", Georges de La Tour 1645. "Grace restores nature" is summary of Herman Bavinck's view that God's work of redemption does not replace or eliminate the natural order of creation, but rather renews and permeates it.  The redeemed man or woman does not cease to breathe, eat, sleep, work, get married, have families, fulfill their roles, create art, pay taxes, etc. But it is not a mere return -- all things are different, now permeated by grace.  Here are some excerpts from his essay, "Common Grace", which explains this position, and how it differs from others.   "When the kingdom has fully come, Christ will hand it over to God the Father. The original order will be restored. But not naturally, as if nothing had ever happened, as if sin had never existed and the revelation of God's grace in Christ had never occurred. Christ gives more than sin stole; grace was made much more to abound. He does not simply restore us

"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."  (Galatians 6:14 ESV) Here are some highlights from The Cross: God's Way of Salvation (Crossway, 1986), a series of messages by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, preached in 1963 at Westminster Chapel in London.  "The whole of the New Testament is proclaiming the blood of Christ, the death of Christ upon the cross, on Calvary. It is the heart and centre of the Christian evangel, the good news of salvation." "He [Paul] preached the cross because it is the cross that really does this thing that sets us free, and gives us our salvation. This is absolutely vital." "Nothing is more necessary than that we should be perfectly clear about our authority, and there are only two ultimate authorities: the Bible, or anything else you like. There is no other choice...  Everybody bases his opinion either upon this book or els