Tony Reinke reproduces a moving section from a Charles Spurgeon sermon (November 2, 1884):

The best preaching is, “We preach Christ crucified.”
The best living is, “We are crucified with Christ.”
The best man is a crucified man.
The more we live beholding our Lord’s unutterable griefs, and understanding how he has fully put away our sin, the more holiness shall we produce.
The more we dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard, where we can view heaven, and earth, and hell, all moved by his wondrous passion—the more noble will our lives become.
Nothing puts life into men like a dying Savior.
Get close to Christ, and carry the remembrance of him about you from day to day, and you will do right royal deeds.
Come, let us slay sin, for Christ was slain.
Come, let us bury all our pride, for Christ was buried.
Come, let us rise to newness of life, for Christ has risen.
Let us be united with our crucified Lord in his one great object—let us live and die with him, and then every action of our lives will be very beautiful.
O that Christians today—that I—would truly get this: Living in union with Christ is the key to holiness.

Reformation Sunday

This Sunday is Halloween. But more importantly, it’s Reformation Day—when the church celebrates and commemorates October 31, 1517. It was on this day (a Saturday) that a 33-year-old theology professor at Wittenberg University walked over to the Castle Church in Wittenberg and nailed a paper of 95 theses to the door, hoping to spark an academic discussion about their contents. In God’s providence and unbeknownst to anyone else that day, it would become a key event in igniting the Reformation. It was an important event that God used to recover the Gospel (the Good News of God's salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone). The gospel is Christ dying for our sins in our place. That truth had been distorted with Christ's death AND good works. Luther had been struck by the truth of Paul's letter to the Romans that salvation (being declared just) was God's work on our behalf through Christ. Luther's theses was the spark that led to a flame that spread throughout the world!
In his letter to the Christians of Colossae, the apostle Paul portrays the gospel as the instrument of all continued growth and spiritual progress, even after a believer’s conversion.
“All over the world,” he writes, “this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth” (Col. 1:6). He means that the gospel is not only growing wider in the world but it’s also growing deeper in Christians.
After meditating on Paul’s words, a friend told me that all our problems in life stem from our failure to apply the gospel. This means I can’t really move forward unless I learn more thoroughly the gospel’s content and how to apply it to all of life. Real change does not and cannot come independently of the gospel. God intends his Good News in Christ to mold and shape us at every point and in every way. It increasingly defines the way we think, feel, and live.
Martin Luther often employed the phrase simul justus et peccator—”simultaneously justified and sinful.” He understood that while he’d already been saved from sin’s penalty, he was in daily need of salvation from sin’s power. And since the gospel is the “power of God for salvation,” he knew that even for the most saintly of saints, the gospel is wholly relevant and vitally necessary. This means heralded preachers need the gospel just as much as hardened pagans.

I love John Calvin... if he had his own cologne line, it would look like this I'm sure! Calvin was a true champion of the gospel and a hero of the Reformation.... without men and women who were brave in the face of diversity we would not have a Bible other than in Latin.
Here is one of my favorite Calvin quotes:

"For all these things which were to be the weapons of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit. If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, O hell, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? it is because by the Spirit of Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that for us the world is no more, even while our conversation is in it; but we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, meat, and all such things.And we are comforted in tribulation, joyful in sorrow, glorying under vituperation, abounding in poverty, warmed in our nakedness, patient amongst evils, living in death. This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father."

From Dane Ortlund:

What is a Christian?
Not what do Christians believe, or how do they behave­—What is a Christian?
According to Jesus’ late-night talk with Nicodemus, a Christian is someone who has been born a second time—what theologians call regeneration. “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “You must be born again” (John 3:7).

Created a second time

Jonathan Edwards explains what happens in the new birth:
"The believer has such a sight and such a knowledge of things that, ever since, he is quite another man than he was before. It has exceedingly altered his internal tempers and disposition. The knowledge that he has is so substantial, so inward, and so affecting, that it has quite transformed the soul and put a new nature into the man, has quite changed his very innermost principles, and has made things otherwise, even from the very foundation, so that all things have become new to them. Yes, he is a new creature, he is just as if he was not the same, but born again, created over a second time."

Niceness does not equal regeneration

It is fantastically easy to smooth over a rotten heart with niceness. The world is filled with nice people who have not been born again—nice, evil people. Niceness and wickedness are not mutually exclusive. They can even be mutually reinforcing (2 Tim 3:1-5).
A converted Christian, according to Edwards, is not the same person who is now really, really nice. They are not an improved version of the same person but a new person fundamentally re-wired. The new birth does not give us a new way to satisfy our old desires. It gives us new desires.
A believer does not differ from an unbeliever like an NFL linebacker differs from an All-American college linebacker—the same innate ability, only ratcheted up to the next level. A believer differs from an unbeliever as any football player differs from a corpse (Eph 2:1, 5). A true Christian has been granted resurrection, not refinement (Eph 2:6; Col 3:1).

A new direction, not perfection

Of course, all football players stumble on the field from time to time. Likewise, the regenerate stumble from time to time. Regeneration does not produce perfection; it inaugurates a new direction. While the effects of this radical change are worked out over a lifetime, the initial change itself is instantaneous, decisive, and permanent.
“The new birth does not give us a new way to satisfy our old desires. It gives us new desires.”
Christianity is not addition, but creation (2 Cor 4:6; 5:17). We can exhort a caterpillar to fly till we’re blue in the face but it will do no good until it is transformed into a new creature. And we can exhort a fallen human being to treasure Christ, love others, and shed niceness for real truth-in-love, but it does no good until that person is transformed and becomes a new creature.

I’m regenerated – so now what?

1. Spend time in hopeful prayer for others. God can bring life out of death in the heart of your next-door neighbor, just as he did for you.
2. Practice sober humility. Those born again did not invite God to bring them to life any more than Lazarus invited Jesus to bring him to life (John 11:43). Our faith and repentance are themselves gifts of grace.
3. Rejoice in calm assurance. Regeneration is irreversible. He started a good work in you, and he’ll see it through (Phil 1:6).

Adapted from A New Inner Relish: Christian Motivation in the Thought of Jonathan Edwards

The Lord is My Shepherd

“He will tend his flock like a shepherd.”  Isaiah 40:11
“Jesus, the good shepherd, will not travel at such a rate as to overdrive the lambs.  He has tender consideration for the poor and needy.  Kings usually look to the interests of the great and the rich, but in the kingdom of our Great Shepherd he cares most for the poor. . . . The weaklings and the sickly of the flock are the special objects of the Savior’s care. . . . You think, dear heart, that you are forgotten, because of your nothingness and weakness and poverty.  This is the very reason you are remembered.”
C. H. Spurgeon, Treasury of the Old Testament (London, n.d.), III:575-576.

I Heart Combovers

The best, most awesome, time tested, hairdo of all time! The combover is the most forgiving of all hairstyles! Makes me wish I had one....

I've already sung the praises of mullets earlier... next I'm going to discuss combovers.... so comb on over to the blog in the next few days and I'll dedicate some posts to the world's most awesome hairdos!

Great post by Ray Ortlund

Found a wonderful post this morning from Ray Ortlund. The Gospel is (or should be) the driving force of all we do as Christians:

Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. The doctrines of grace create a culture of grace, healing, revival, because Jesus himself touches us through his truths. Without the doctrines, the culture alone is fragile. Without the culture, the doctrines alone appear pointless.
The doctrine of regeneration creates a culture of humility (Ephesians 2:1-9).
The doctrine of justification creates a culture of inclusion (Galatians 2:11-16).
The doctrine of reconciliation creates a culture of peace (Ephesians 2:14-16).
The doctrine of sanctification creates a culture of life (Romans 6:20-23).
The doctrine of glorification creates a culture of hope (Romans 5:2).
If we want this culture to thrive, we can’t take doctrinal short cuts. If we want this doctrine to be credible, we can’t disregard the culture. But churches where the doctrine and culture converge bear living witness to the power of Jesus.

Great quote!

“Now suppose both death and hell were utterly defeated.  Suppose the fight was fixed.  Suppose God took you on a crystal ball trip into your future and you saw with indubitable certainty that despite everything — your sin, your smallness, your stupidity — you could have free for the asking your whole crazy heart’s deepest desire: heaven, eternal joy.  Would you not return fearless and singing?  What can earth do to you if you are guaranteed heaven?  To fear the worst earthly loss would be like a millionaire fearing the loss of a penny — less, a scratch on a penny.”
Peter Kreeft, Heaven (San Francisco, 1989), page 183.

Christ crucified

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,  and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.    1 Cor 2:1-5 (ESV)
I love Paul! His desire? - Christ... Christ crucified.  Simple message. Simple language. Paul didn't worry about how he sounded. He didn't spend a lot of time being cute and subversive. He let the Word of God speak. The results? INCREDIBLE!

“Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression?  The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and forever to your past.  Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ.  Never look back at your sins again.  Say: ‘It is finished, it is covered by the blood of Christ.’  That is your first step.  Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression

“But wasn’t the Bible written by drunk monks?”

“But wasn’t the Bible written by drunk monks?”

The Only Clean Hands and Pure Heart the World Has Ever Known

 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart,who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  He will receive blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of  those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.  Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the
King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle
Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this
King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!     Selah    Psalms 24:3-10 (ESV)

Who shall (is able) to ascend the LORD'S hill? - Paul's answer: Romans 10:6-7 . Christ has ascended. The teaching of this Psalm and every Psalm is this: JESUS... He is the ONLY one with clean hands and a pure heart. He is the ONLY one qualified to ascend the LORD'S hill... That's why the gates are told to lift their heads and the ancient doors to the Holy City are to fling wide open... The LORD, strong and mighty, is entering in. He has ascended. When we trust in Christ, we are IN Christ... this means that we have clean hands and a pure heart. This means that we ascend the LORD'S hill. And this means that in Christ, we enter the Holy City.  How is this possible? It's too good to be true;
Again, Paul answers beautifully :  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  He has made my hands clean and my heart pure.... I am in Christ!

Eph 2:1-7 (ESV)

“I came not to call the righteous”

“I came not to call the righteous”

Tony Curtis- movie legend

As you probably have already heard, movie legend Tony Curtis has died at age 85. Great actor. I have a friend I grew up with and played football with named Tim who from Junior High on said I looked like Tony Curtis. You be the judge:

Tony -

                                                                                                       Me -
                                  I guess Tim was right!