IsaiahC

Five Stalks of Tulips {6 November 2009}

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:09:00 -0800

R. Scott Clark on What The Bible Is About (HT: Creed:or:Chaos)
Kevin DeYoung has a great post on Prayer -- Prayerlessness is Unbelief. Here's a good quote from the post:

Too often when we struggle with prayer we focus on the wrong things. We focus on praying better instead of focusing on knowing better the one to whom we pray. We focus on our need for discipline rather than our need for God. Almost all of us want to pray more frequently, and yet our lives seem too disordered. But in God’s mind our messy, chaotic lives are an impetus to prayer instead of an obstacle to prayer.

The New York Times actually did a piece on John Calvin. (HT: Heidelblog)
If you've always wanted to subscribe to Ligonier Ministries' TableTalk magazine, but don't have the money to, why not head over to Tim Challies' blog and take part in this week's Free Stuff Fridays? There are 50 (yes, 50!) annual subscriptions to be won, so what are you waiting for?!
If you are a Mac user, you might already have heard of MacHeist. In what seems to be a prelude to their Christmas bundle, MacHeist is giving away 6 applications, worth $154 in total, for free.

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The Background of the Shocking Youth Message

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:26:49 -0800

So, ok, I am not a youth, not even if you discount a decade off my current age, but this particular sermon by Paul Washer is one of a handful that has totally and truly impacted my walk with God.

Here, Paul Washer (thank God for this man!) gives us the background to this (and I don't think I exaggerate when I say this) must-hear message for every Christian.

If you haven't listened to this sermon before, you can do so here:

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Paul Washer's Story

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:44:26 -0700

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Matthew 7:11

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:14:42 -0700

While taking a break from some work I had to get done at a work site this morning, I got to talking with the security guard at the guard house. B (let's call him that) is about 50 years old, Indian, and has just about two teeth between his lips as far as I can tell.

Somehow we got to talking about his children, and he was telling me how proud he was of his eldest daughter for scoring distinctions in her year-end assessments. You could just see the pride twinkling in his eyes. Beaming, he declared how proud he was because he, a "lowly" security guard, has a daughter who can do so well in school.

Then he said something that reminded me (almost immediately) of Matthew 7:11.

Still beaming, B recounted how he took his wife aside just the other night, pressed $100 into her hands, and asked that she bring their daughter to get something nice as a reward for doing well in school. When his wife remarked that they didn't really have that $100 to spare, he told her it was okay. That $100 was what he set aside every month for transport to his work place from the main road which is some distance away.

"Buy the daughter something nice," he told his wife, "I'll just walk."

"Now," he continued, "I don't mind the long walk to and fro work, because every step reminds me that I have a daughter I am so proud of!"

With that, I had to leave to get back to the work site, but not before telling him that he's a good father.

And it was on the way back to the work site that this came to mind:

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:9-11 ESV

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God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:30:00 -0700

As succinctly put by a good brother, Joel Tay, at Facebook:

Man's responsibility and God's sovereignty is not at odds because man's responsibility has nothing to do with free will. Man is responsible because as a creature, he is answerable to his creator, and his creator requires perfect obedience. Whether man can keep the commandments or not is irrelevant.

Moral responsibility is therefore grounded in God's sovereignty and not man's free will (man has no free will).

And it is precisely because God is sovereign, that man is responsible for breaking the commandments.

God's Sovereignty and man's responsibility must go together. If God is not sovereign, it follows that man is not responsible. Therefore, God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is not an unknowable mystery, but a clear logical necessity, flowing from the very nature of God Himself.

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Dr. Kim Riddlebarger on the New Perspectives on Paul

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:15:00 -0700

My thanks to Chris Rosebrough for pointing me to this series of lectures by Dr. Kim Riddlebarger on the New Perspectives on Paul. The first of the series, which I really appreciated for giving a clear introduction on the topic, was played on Chris' podcast Fighting for the Faith Friday, 24 October 2009 (linked below).

You can find the rest of the series, which Chris Rosebrough will be featuring on his radio show (together with his insightful comments) in the near future, at the Academy of Christ Reformed Church.

http://links.christreformed.org/real/20070413a.m3u

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Google Wave Invites

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:43:48 -0700

Google just gave me 20 invites to Google Wave, so if you are just dying to try it out but have yet to be invited, drop me a note at reformedwretch[at]gmail[dot]com, and I'll send you one.

The invites will go out on a first-come-first-served basis, and please be advised that it might take some time before the invite drops into your Inbox.

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On the Issue of Tongues

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:38:34 -0700

My grateful hat tip to the Irish Calvinist (@erikraymond) for recommending No Compromise Radio at his blog. Having listened to a few episodes, I'm kicking myself for not discovering this great podcast earlier. Pastor Mike Abendroth (Senior Pastor of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boyleston, MA) is a great teacher, and has a gift for explaining issues Biblically simply and directly that makes these issues very easy for all levels of Christians (in terms of maturity) to understand.

I downloaded a few episodes last night and listened to two on the issue of tongues on the train home earlier this evening. I am sharing them with you here, as I thought it would help clear up a lot of the muddled waters surrounding this issue for many.

Before I leave you to listen to the podcasts on the issue of tongues, I strongly encourage that you visit the No Compromise Radio website to subscribe to the podcast there. And if you are on Twitter, follow @nocoradio.

Part 1:

To play mp3s in your browser, you will need to have Javascript turned on and have Flash Player 9 or better installed.

Part 2:

To play mp3s in your browser, you will need to have Javascript turned on and have Flash Player 9 or better installed.

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The Ice-Cream Man

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:44:17 -0700

When I was growing up in the kampung (village), the sound of the ice-cream man's bell was akin to the announcement of the arrival of heaven itself. True, unadulterated, happiness was had for just a few cents. Reminiscing, we finally realize that life, despite all its highfalutin pleasures that oodles of money can buy, is best enjoyed thus -- in such simple pleasures.

Alas, such vendors became a rare sight along the way, but it seems that they are now making a comeback, perhaps due to the poor economy. What better commodity to sell in hot and humid Singapore than a cool drink or ice-cream!? I've been seeing quite a few new vendors around the neighborhood these past weeks, and decided to photograph one in case they begin to fade away again.

I love that we can re-live a part of the good ol' days, buying an ice-cream from the ice-cream man (or "uncle" as we like to call them here, for they are usually middle-aged or old men), but the carefree life and the friendly smiles of the kampung will, alas, never return...

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Why Did the Lord Put Us on this Earth, to Send Us to Hell?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:49:00 -0700

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Quotes on the Proper Use of the Law

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:17:00 -0700

The law serves a most necessary purpose. They [unbelievers] will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy Law.
Charles Spurgeon

So it is with the work-righteous and the proud unbelievers. Because they do not know the law of God, which is directed against them, it is impossible for them to know their sin.
Martin Luther

The trouble with people who are not seeking for a Savior, and for salvation, is that they do not understand the nature of sin. It is the peculiar function of the law to bring such an understanding to a man’s mind and conscience.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones

In my preaching of the Word, I took special notice of this one thing, namely, that the Lord did lead me to begin where His Word begins with sinners; that is, to condemn all flesh, and to open and allege that the curse of God, by the law doth belong to and lay hold on all men as they come into the world, because of sin.
John Bunyan

I would declare a moratorium on public preaching of the “the plan of salvation” in America for one to two years. Then, I would call on everyone who has use of the airwaves and the pulpits to preach the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, and the law of God, until sinners would cry out, “What must we do to be saved?” Then, I would take them off in a corner and whisper the gospel to them….Such drastic action is needed because we have gospel-hardened a generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved before they have any understanding why they need to be saved.
Paris Reidhead

Grace means nothing to a person who does not know he is sinful and that such sinfulness means he is separated from God and damned. It is therefore pointless to preach grace until the impossible demands of the law and the reality of guilt before God are preached.
John MacArthur

I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law.
Charles Spurgeon

Before I can preach love, mercy, and grace, I must preach sin, law and judgment.
John Wesley

That is the reason we have so many ‘mushroom’ converts, because their stony ground is not plowed up; they have not got a conviction of the law; they are stony-ground hearers.
George Whitfield

Satan, the god of all dissension, stirreth up daily new sects, and last of all, which of all other I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach…that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.
Martin Luther

When 100 years ago earnest scholars decreed that the law had no relationship to the preaching of the gospel, they deprived the Holy Spirit in the area where their influence prevailed of the only instrument with which He had ever armed Himself to prepare sinners for grace.
Paris Reidhead

We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there.
John R.W. Stott

A new and more powerful proclamation of [the] law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour; men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of the law.
J Gresham Machen

I can always tell a man who is near the kingdom of God; his mouth is stopped. This, then, is why God gives us the law. To show us ourselves in our true colors.
D.L. Moody

HT: DefCon

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Ouch! Foot Hurts; Shot Self.

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:59:21 -0700

I think some entity just shot itself in the foot.

In a reply to Mr. Low Thia Khiang, the Member of Parliament for Hougang (an Opposition ward), Mr. Lim Yuin Chien, press secretary to the Minister for National Development (Mr. Mah Bow Tan) said:

The will of the people expressed in general elections is to elect a government for the country as a whole; and not to elect separate local governments for each constituency.

Ah, I see.

Now, Mr. Lim, the question I have is this: Why, then, does the PAP government like to dangle the stick of withholding upgrading works to estates held by the Opposition, while offering the carrot of upgrades to those who would vote a PAP candidate in during election campaigns?

I mean, if the PAP government is the elected government by the people for the country, all Singaporeans are entitled to upgrades or other enhancements to their estates regardless of who their elected parliamentary representative is, no?

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Man-Centric Versus God-Centric Evangelism

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:21:12 -0700

Great thoughts from a dear brother:

Approach evangelism from a man sensitive angle; entertain him, and the message won’t matter. Approach evangelism from a God centric angle; convict him, and the entertainment won’t matter.

HT: S.J. Walker

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Five Stalks of Tulips {12 October 2009}

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:17:00 -0700

R. Scott Clark provides a list of online resources on the issue of infant baptism. I know I'll be going through them -- paedo-baptism is an issue that I still quite struggle with.
Over at Dead Theologians, Jared Nelson recommends some Reformed Devotional Helps.
Dr. James White has a fitting response to a off-her-rocker OT scholar's claim that everyone in the past got it wrong re: the Creation account in Genesis.
Ten Reasons Why We Need to be Reminded of the Gospel Everyday.
This is pretty interesting: A summary of the 14 Conceptual and Linguistic Parallels Between Eden and Future Temple/Tabernacle Structures.

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Fairest Lord Jesus

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:50:00 -0700

A hymn for Lord's Day 11 Oct 2009.

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Myths and Urban Legends about John Calvin

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:31:36 -0700

Was John Calvin a tyrannical, sadistic sour puss of a religious fanatic? Michael Jinkins gives some helpful answers.

(via Challies)

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Sermon Jam: Paul Washer on Propitiation

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:25:51 -0700

This is one of the first sermon jams I tried producing a few months back. Good thing I managed to salvage the archive when my old PC finally kicked the digital bucket.

It's been some time since I produced another, but I hope to do so again if people like them, so let me know what you think of this.

To play mp3s in your browser, you will need to have Javascript turned on and have Flash Player 9 or better installed.

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Do Not Flinch, Soldier!

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:24:55 -0700

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the batttle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

Martin Luther, D. Martin Luthers Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Briefwechsel, 18 vols. (Welmar; Verlag Hermann Bohlaus Nachfolger, 1930-85), 3:81.

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Five Stalks of Tulips {8 October 2009}

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:49:00 -0700

Alan Kurschner at the AOMin blog offers Two Quick Apologetic Tips on the Trinity
Over at Parchment & Pen, C. Michael Patton offers a very helpful post Textual Criticism in a Nutshell
My dear friend and brother Nathan W. Bingham has collated a great collection of resources on cessationism. Check the collection out at (where else but) Cessationism.com!
Drs. R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur weigh in on paedobaptism
It's in old English which might require that you read it slowly, but I think it's worth the time: John Knox on Free Will

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Biblical Evangelism

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:49:49 -0700

A great quote from Will Calvinism Kill Evangelism?

The doctrinal foundation for biblical evangelism is as important to the work of evangelism as the skeleton is to the human body. Doctrine gives unity and stability. It is the doctrinal foundation that produces the spiritual strength that enables evangelism to endure the storms of opposition, hardship and persecution that so often accompanies true evangelism and missions. Therefore, the church that neglects the true doctrinal foundation for biblical evangelism will soon find its efforts weakened and spurious conversions will be produced. The lack of a doctrinal foundation will work against unity and will invite error and instability in all evangelistic efforts. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of a sound biblical foundation for true God-centered evangelism.
Ernest C. Reisinger, Will Calvinism Kill Evangelism?

Read the entire article here.

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