The first deceit of repentance is legal terror. If pain and trouble were sufficient to repentance, then the damned in hell should be most penitent, for they are most in anguish. Repentance depends upon a change of heart.

The “change of heart” he alludes to here is not what we intend when we say, “I was ready to quit my job, but had a change of heart.” No, this is a change of nature.

Another deceit about repentance is resolution against sin. Resolutions against sin may arise:

1. From present extremity; not because sin is sinful, but because it is painful. This resolution will vanish.
2. From fear of future evil.
3. The leaving of many sinful ways. Sin may be parted with, yet without repentance.

He concludes the discussion with this gem:

True leaving of sin is when the acts of sin cease from the infusion of a principle of grace, as the air ceases to be dark from the infusion of light.

How about that?

There are three things necessary to the well-being of a church, and which are most considerable in the constitution of it. Those are doctrine, worship and discipline; where the truths of Christ are professed and taught, the ordinances of Christ administered and observed, and due care taken to put the laws of Christ in execution among all who profess themselves his subjects, and this under the conduct and inspection of a gospel ministry; there is a church.

Are you a part of such a body of believers?

(As quoted in Family Religion, 2008, Christian Focus Publications.)

I shall not dispute the priority, whether faith or repentance goes first. Doubtless repentance shows itself first in a Christian’s life. Yet I am apt to think that the seeds of faith are first wrought in the heart. As when a taper (candle) is brought into a room the light shows itself first, but the taper was before the light, so we see the fruits of repentance first, but the beginnings of faith were there before.

That which inclines me to think that faith is seminally in the heart before repentance is because repentance, being a grace, must be exercised by one that is living. Now, how does the soul live but by faith? ‘The just shall live by his faith’ (Heb. 10:38). Therefore there must be first some seeds of faith in the heart of a penitent, otherwise it is a dead repentance and so of no value.

Whether faith or repentance goes first, however, I am sure that repentance is of such importance that there is no being saved without it.

I am so moved by Watson’s simple style of communicating profound truths, as demonstrated here. Next up, the good pastor teaches us what are the hallmarks of counterfeit repentance.

The speakers for the plenary sessions were John MacArthur, Tom Pennington, Rick Holland, Al Mohler (pictured above), Steven Lawson, and Phil Johnson. You can access free audio from all plenary sessions, as well as the breakout sessions, by joining the Shepherds’ Fellowship (free to join) and adding the free downloads to your media library.

I’ll share a few quotes from the introductory Epistle to the Reader here:

The two great graces essential to a saint in this life are faith and repentance. These are the two wings by which he flies to heaven.

Repentance is never out of season; it is of as frequent use as the artificer’s tool or the soldier’s weapon.

How happy it would be if we were more deeply affected with sin, and our eyes did swim in their orb. We may clearly see the Spirit of God moving in the waters of repentance, which though troubled, are yet pure. Moist tears dry up sin and quench the wrath of God.

I’ll write more on this book as I continue to read it. If you are so inclined, find yourself a copy and read along. You won’t regret it.

A calfskin Bible, given reasonable care, will survive frequent use while just getting softer with time. I’ve not had the chance to look one over very much, but the ESV Study Bible has been very positively received.

Today heresy and orthodoxy have changed roles. It is fashionable, not dangerous, to be a heretic, and dull, if not unsafe, to be orthodox.

(As quoted by Dr. Albert Mohler. At 16:35 in the sermon.)

You may listen to or download audio recordings of the conference messages here.

Deliberate avoidance or not, I wanted to point you to this column by Pat Buchanan. The issue he addresses cuts across any perceived divide between presidential politics and religion. I always appreciate the perspective of history that Pat brings to bear in his columns - it is too often lacking in our national discourse.

(h/t: Justin Buzzard)

Tiger seemingly guards details of his private life with meticulous care. In fact, one of the more prominent theories as to why he split with his former coach, Butch Harmon, about four years ago was that he had grown weary of Harmon’s penchant for acting as an unofficial spokesman for Tiger in the media. One part of his life I had never seen addressed was his faith. Well, it would appear that the root of his faith is Buddhism, which he learned from his Thai mother. It is not the focus of the interview, but one of the things he talked about in this article.

I would not be surprised if the result of this disclosure were a renewed commitment to privacy, as I suspect Tiger is going to be hearing a lot from the Christians in his life in the months to come.

It surprises me now, looking back on that, that I have allowed my own children, who are now aged 6 and 8, to attend children’s church up to this point. I was directed last week to an article that brought those events of my childhood to mind, and I have decided that my wife and I should change our Sunday routine to include taking our children into the service with us from now on. They are certainly old enough to sit through the service, though they may find the adjustment difficult for a time.

The article I read was written by John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church of Minneapolis, MN. While it is not new, the issues involved have certainly not changed much if any in the 13 years since it was originally published.

Here is a key excerpt from the article:

Catch the Spirit

Parents have the responsibility to teach their children by their own example the meaning and value of worship. Therefore, parents should want their children with them in worship so the children can catch the spirit and form of their parents’ worship.

Children should see how Mom and Dad bow their heads in earnest prayer during the prelude and other non-directed times. They should see how Mom and Dad sing praise to God with joy in their faces, and how they listen hungrily to His Word. They should catch the spirit of their parents meeting the living God.

Something seems wrong when parents want to take their children in the formative years and put them with other children and other adults to form their attitude and behavior in worship. Parents should be jealous to model for their children the tremendous value they put on reverence in the presence of Almighty God.

If you would like to read the entire article, you can find it here. I will try to remember to report back in a few weeks as to how our family is adjusting to this change.

(H/T: Denny Burk)

Justin Buzzard has an account of Tim Keller’s Google appearance on his blog. Google has a huge number of employees with graduate degrees, and would certainly tend to provide a very secular, intellectual audience. If it’s true that the lecture and Q&A will be posted to YouTube, count me among the apologetically-challenged who will be wanting to watch the event.

We should stop preaching sanctification to the world and start preaching the gospel.

How true that is! We either have no gospel, or a works-based gospel (which is as good as no gospel), if we go around trying to “convert” people to a standard of personal holiness with which we are satisfied rather than declaring the truth of Christ on the cross, and His sinless life, as the only means of being found righteous before God.

I’m rooting, and praying, for Ben as opening day approaches.

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When Woodrow Wilson went to Congress to ask for a declaration of war in 1917, the U.S. Army was ranked 17th in the world, behind Portugal.

On Armistice Day, 19 months later, there were 2 million doughboys in France, where they had helped to break the back of Gen. Ludendorff’s theretofore invincible army in its final offensive, and 2 million more in the United States ready to march on Berlin.

No other nation could have done that.

After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, FDR demanded that a disarmed America “build 50,000 planes”—a seemingly impossible number, but one America met and exceeded.

Starting from scratch in 1941, the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos designed, built, tested and detonated three atomic bombs by August 1945 to end the war.

After Sputnik humiliated America, Wernher Von Braun and the boys at Redstone Arsenal had a satellite up in three months. In 1961, JFK declared we were going to the moon and would be there before the decade was out. Cynics scoffed. This writer was at Canaveral to watch Apollo 11 lift off in the summer of 1969.

Whatever became of that can-do nation?

As an American, and as someone who was just barely old enough to remember the first lunar module setting down on the moon, I am filled with pride to read about what our forefathers accomplished. And I am sorrowful, because it appears that our nation today is incapable of truly unifying behind any single cause to accomplish such amazing things in short spans of time.

I don’t pretend to know what event or movement set us on the course to our present state. Maybe it was the war in Vietnam. Some might suggest it was Watergate. Perhaps the stark changes in the attitude and purposes of the press in the last half of the 20th century were the key piece of the puzzle. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that our people are vastly different from the nation that confronted tyrants in the two world wars.

Having said all of that, I must affirm my conviction that the hope of our people is not, or should not be, in our government or some reform of our political system, but in God. Our greatest needs are not temporal, but rather eternal, and no act of a government or ruler can determine our final destiny as individuals. Even our destiny as a nation is ultimately in the hands of God, not in elected officials or appointed judges.

Because our fate truly is in God’s hands, none of these other considerations strip us of the ability or need to uphold our nation and it’s leaders in prayer, seeking His favor for our future as a free and sovereign society. But let us not confuse the source of our hope because of national pride or political furor.

If you wish to read the remainder of Buchanan’s column, you can find it here.

I won’t suggest that Mark Driscoll has many things in common with Hillary, but I do think they share this one. (In reality, they share both of the above distinctions. I highly doubt that I’ll be voting for Driscoll for President this year, either, but for entirely different reasons.) Two recent posts on Tim Challies’ blog dealt with Driscoll and his latest book, Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions. The book review came first, and was followed a day later by another containing both explanation for why the comments on the book review were shut down and a deeper look into Challies’ own take on Driscoll. The book review would perhaps be best described as somewhere between a highly-qualified endorsement and a sometimes glowing advisory to avoid the book. The follow-up post posed and answered a number of questions about Driscoll the man and his use (or misuse) of his position.

Personally, I tend to agree very much with what D.A. Carson said about Driscoll while here in Nashville, which is where Challies rubbed shoulders with him. I am very much encouraged by what I see, from a great distance, of the growth and maturing of Mark Driscoll. Carson called this his “trajectory,” and that is a fittingly Carsonian word choice.

What about you? Where do you come down on Driscoll? Is he a master of keeping the world’s most relevant news relevant to the culture of his day, or is he a master at being repugnant?

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