Nicea comes before Chalcedon

Here’s a christological motto to live by: Nicea comes before Chalcedon.
What do I mean by this?  I’m glad you asked.
It’s common in christological debates to begin by thinking of the Council of Chalcedon, 451 AD (btw I’m not guaranteeing the quality/accuracy of the wikipedia links).  There a two-nature christology was hammered out in which
We confess that [...]

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Revelation 19

Preached on Revelation 19 tonight.  Really enjoyed it.  Jesus is always more than we can grasp…
He has a name written on Him that no-one knows but He Himself (Rev 19:12)
Here’s the sermon (audio now uploaded).
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The Me Monster

My wife has long taught Sunday school children that sin is a power called the ‘Me Me Monster.’  But I’ve never seen it expounded so hilariously…
 
H/T Justin Taylor

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Christ in the Old Testament 14

The End?
Ok time to bring these thoughts to a close (for now).
For links to the 14 posts in this series go here.
For the full text of the 14 posts go here.
Let me finish with a plea from the heart of true doctrine…  Jesus is the Word of God.  He is not the best Word.  He is [...]

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Some more sermons

Here are some more Revelation sermons I’ve preached recently.  
Revelation 13-14 (recorded afterwards at home)
Revelation 15-16
Revelation 17-18 
I’m preaching the last four chapters in the next month (So all you pre and post millers have about a week to convince me before I preach chapter 20!)

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God and Money

Preached on money on Sunday.  Here’s the sermon – Matt 6:19-24 was the text.
 Here are some other sermons on money that have helped me.  Check them out, but be warned:
These sermons could seriously harm your wealth (i.e. your earthly treasure !)
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Mark Prentice on Matt 6:19-24 (seriously awesome)
John Piper on Matthew 6:19-34 – part one and part [...]

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Baptism

Baptism strikes me as a good instance of how we all need to have a rich and deep theology.  To answer the question ‘Should I baptize my child?’ will require some pretty serious considerations of the nature of faith and salvation and church and covenant and OT/NT relations etc.  I hazard to suggest that those [...]

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Christ in the Old Testament 13

Ok, let’s continue with this issue of the NT’s handling of the Old. 
If we take the reformation cry of sola Scriptura at all seriously we must allow the Bible to interpret the Bible. Historical-grammatical hermeneutics, archaeology, even the most careful exegesis conducted by the best scholarship must all bow to God’s own word.  He determines [...]

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Christ in the Old Testament 12

By the way, I’m collecting all the posts in this series into one page – Christ in OT.
Now I’d like to share one more reason why I think this stuff matters . It’s this:
When we see that the OT is already a witness to Christ before and even without the NT then we see that [...]

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Christ in the Old Testament 11

Quotes from Church History continued…

JOHN OWEN
 
 
Genesis 3
… a revelation was made of a distinct person in the Deity, who in a peculiar manner did manage all the concernments of the church after the entrance of sin. (Works, vol 18, 216)
 
He by whom all things were made, and by whom all were to be renewed that [...]

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Christ in the Old Testament 10

Quotes from Church History continued…
 
 

MARTIN LUTHER
 

All the promises of God lead back to the first promise concerning Christ of Genesis 3:15.  The faith of the fathers in the Old Testament era, and our faith in the New Testament are one and the same faith in Christ Jesus…  The faith of the fathers was directed at [...]

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Christ in the Old Testament 9

Here are some now updated quotations about Christ in the OT from heavy-weights in church history.  In this post we’ll look at Justin Martyr and Irenaeus.  Next post we’ll look at Luther and Calvin, then finally John Owen and Jonathan Edwards.  I’ve been very selective, not wanting these posts to go on too long.  There are [...]

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Christ in the Old Testament 8

Ok, here are 10 11 reasons this matters.  (Dev’s reminded me of an absolutely crucial one).  I’m not going to spend very long elucidating any of them.  I’m sure they’ll become rants of their own in future posts:
 
Why it’s important to see the Hebrew Scriptures as already and inherently a messianically focussed trinitarian revelation:
 

To make sense [...]

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Ascension sermon

Download this sermon.  Close your eyes, raise your hands and worship the ascended King of Glory!
By the way if I die, I want all my blogroll entries to be replaced by Dev’s blog – it’s brilliant stuff.  Go check it out.
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Christ in the Old Testament 7

Might be worth a little mini-post on Psalms.
It would be tempting to highlight “particularly Messianic” Psalms and say “There, see, Jesus is spoken of here and there in the psalter.”  But I’m not sure that’s right.  I once told a friend I was helping preach through an 8 week series called “Jesus in the Psalms”.  He said [...]

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Christ in the Old Testament 6

Ok lets look at a few more key OT passages. 
Here’s a favourite of a friend of mine who uses it on Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Genesis 19:24
Then the LORD rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of the heavens.
This even works in the New World Translation:
Then Jehovah made it rain sulphur and [...]

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