Bitterness is a terrible thing. It can arise when we think we’ve been wronged by someone or when someone has spoken negatively to others about us. It’s easy to harbor bitterness or resentment toward someone, but even if we’re right in thinking that we’ve been wronged by others, harboring bitterness is never a Biblical option or solution. If bitterness isn’t dealt with Biblically when it raises its ugly head, it can quickly fester and eventually kill our joy and bring us to ruin. Continue reading »

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“He always knew my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.” - C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

Quite unexpectedly, death has been my most recent, obsessive fear. I can’t shake the realization that temporal things like the cars, the crib, our bodies, are all being dissolved as we speak; things are tending toward destruction all around us. Perhaps the thought of the new life with a distinct beginning that God is growing for Heather and I would just naturally lead us to consider a comparably distinct ending, or maybe the thought of receiving such a blessing makes me consider where I may have ended up had I not been saved. But I know for certain that the natural conclusions have pushed me towards the fatal twins: fear and worry. And that’s a problem.

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Hey Everyone,

I have another friend who is going to be joining me in my blogging endeavors here on LBT. I am excited that Matt Priestly will be joining me here soon. This brings the total number of bloggers on LBT to 3 - yours truly, Craig Hayton, and now Matt. I’m looking forward to expanding the authors on my web site and I look forward to some good material from these guys.

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The relationships that the Lord gives us are important and sometimes, how we handle them can make or break us. The way that we handle our relationships can be be a true barometer of our hearts, especially in times of conflict. Conflict or misunderstanding in our relationships will occur but how we deal with the conflict or misunderstanding when it arises is the true litmus test of our love for the Lord. Look at the Lord’s words in the sermon on the mount:

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” Matthew 5:23-26

I want you to see the urgency in the Lord’s words in that passage. When there is a problem with a relationship - I remember that my brother has something against me - I am to seek reconciliation with a sense of urgency. Continue reading »

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Geoff and I and our brides are leaving this morning for a few days in the cool pines of AZ.  It’s been 110 degrees + here for the last week or so, so this is going to be a nice getaway, and much needed!  If I get a chance to blog while there, I will.  Hasta la Vista!

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Some questions came up by way of comments on my last post on TMSJ that I think are important to address, so before going any further in TMSJ, I want to use this post to carefully walk through them and see what Scripture says about each one. All of them center around the salvation of an Old Testament or Old Covenant believer.

Question #1: Was the forgiveness of sin for an Old Covenant believer postponed until the cross?
The first one has to do with the forgiveness of sins and the question is centered on my previous statement, “I simply mean that His atoning death was imputed to an Old Testament Jew before it actually occurred. For an Old Covenant Jew, saving faith was imputed before the moment of actual reconciliation occurred on the cross.” I was asked to give supporting Scripture reference for that statement, so here goes. Continue reading »

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Oxymoron’s In The Bible?

As I drove around town the other day, I noticed cars marked with traditional end of the school year celebration messages…Class of 2008…Seniors Rule…etc. As I think back to my senior year in high school, 15 years back mind you, one memory that stands out in my mind was the amount of oxymoron’s I seemed to think through…I know, not normal behavior. Continue reading »

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I want to introduce you to Craig Hayton, who will be blogging with me on LBT as his time permits. I’ve known Craig for a couple of years now and I’m excited to have him join me in the blog-o-sphere. Craig attends New Covenant Bible Fellowship with us and is a quality guy with many good insights into Scripture and how to apply it to every day life. I’m looking forward to good things from Craig and I think you’ll enjoy what he has to say.

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Before we bid a final farewell to William Barrick’s Essay in The Master’s Seminary Journal (TMSJ), we need to address some misconceptions that he raises about NCT. The first one we need to discuss appears on page 165 of TMSJ. Barrick makes this observation,

NCT holds that the Israelites redeemed from Egypt were physically redeemed, but not spiritually redeemed because the Mosaic Covenant was based on works. This leads to the strange position that OT saints were not saved until after the death and resurrection of Christ. (Emphasis mine) Continue reading »

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I wear glasses. A lot of people do, so at least I’m not alone. You may be reading this through a quality pair of lenses in much the same way that I’m writing it. I’m always a little fascinated by that test my eye doctor does where I look into a dark screen and these tiny lights appear one at a time in random places while I’m told to look at one object straight ahead. Every time I see one of the random moving lights in my peripheral vision, I’m supposed to press a button. They do this to test my vision for blind spots. I think I do pretty good in those tests, but then again, how do I know? Maybe I noticed 50 of those little lights going on one at a time, but what if there were really 75 and I didn’t see 25 of them? That’s a lot of blind spots!

Sometimes we have blind spots in our theology and just like my eye exam, we can assume we’re doing ok when in reality, we’ve either missed something significant or we’re seeing things that aren’t really there. It’s possible to have a hermeneutic (a way of interpreting the Bible) that’s so dependent upon a theological system (such as Covenant Theology or Dispensationalism) that it ends up with a number of blind spots all its own, or occasionally it sees things that aren’t there at all (and it claims to see them clearly) simply because the theological system behind the hermeneutic won’t allow Scripture to independently stand on its own. I can have a system-driven hermeneutic that is plagued by blind spots. I was recently reminded of this in an excerpt from a blog that Jim McDermott sent to me.

The discussion was between Jim and Reformed Baptist and Covenant Theologian, Sam Waldron on the subject of The Lord’s Day. Continue reading »

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I love to read Jerry Bridges. He’s one of my favorite authors. I agree with most of his theology and his books are always a good read and immensely practical. They address issues that are relevant to my life and they are convicting. His latest book, Respectable Sins is no exception and I give it 5 out of 5 stars. Buy a copy and read it and then either pass it along or keep it and read it again 6 months or a year from now. As much as I enjoy reading Bridges, there is one issue in Respectable Sins that I have to disagree with. It has to do with his Bridges’ conclusion that a true believer can at the same time, be unconditionally accepted by the Father (righteous) because of the Jesus’ work on the cross, and ungodly. Let me explain what I mean. Continue reading »

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Hey all,

Sorry for being away so long. I’ve actually been close by - just busy. I hope to get back on track with TMSJ soon. I still have a tiny bit of cleanup on the Davidic Covenant to do. In the meantime, I wanted to let you know that I’ll be opening an online bookstore soon that will be linked off of this site and the In-Depth Studies site. It’s just a personal project that I’ve wanted to do for some time to offer a “one stop shop” for good books from the Reformed and NCT persuasion without having to look all over the web for them. I call it A Glimpse into my Library. Continue reading »

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