Theological Treatises

  How Should We View Our Christian Lives On Earth? The longer I live, the more I think the question (posed in our title), needs to be answered, (as best as we  can  answer it).  Life on Earth, for all of us mortal creatures is extremely tenuous.  We do not ever know if we will draw our next breath, or not.  So, one thing we should face right away, is the fact that there are absolutely no guarantees that our lives will be prolonged; and we *are* assured that they will eventually come to an end in death (unless we are alive when Jesus returns in His last advent).   Now, the way for sincere regenerated Christians to view their lives down here on this fallen planet--in the church militant/the kingdom of God on Earth--is *entirely* through the "lens" of the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.   If  and  as  we do this, we make our existence here not only meaningful; but also, in a v...

  The Joy of The Christian Life The  Joy of the Christian Life,  in  four  words, is,  our   Lord   Jesus   Christ .  No one or nothing else  is  this joy; or can in  anyway  substitute for Him.  The gospel of grace is our "lifeline" to this joy--but the gospel itself, taken in the abstract, is not this joy.  The same may be said about any other aspect of the Christian (church) life.  We delight in spiritual gifts (Rom. 1:11; 1 Cor. 1:7, etc.); we appreciate temporal mercies (1 Tim. 6:17); we cherish worship  with  and the fellowship  of  the saints (Heb. 10:25); we are glad to be in good physical health (3 Jn. 2); and we anticipate the glories of heaven (Titus 2:13)-- but, in all of these cases (and all others), the Holy Spirit "brokers" these blessings through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity . . . .   So,  why  is this...

  Being Real With God Probably the  hardest  thing for us fallen sinners to do, is to be  truly  honest--with others, with ourselves, and (especially) with God.  The very  first  effect of sin on our souls, is to be  dishonest, deflecting, and insecure .  Once Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, they, (and  we,  along with them), were seeking ways to hide from God, make excuses for sin, and race from bush to bush to seek to escape the gaze of the Holy One.   Before we begin to  beat ourselves up  too much over this, which tends to only  add  to our troubles, let us recognize that sin really  does  bring  shame;  and shame is an  appropriate  response (before our pristine Triune Deity).  So, the way to get "real" with God, is to deal with the "shame" issue.  It is a  real  problem, and it must be addressed.  And, the way...

  All Divine Miraculous Healing Is Through Christ When we read the four Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), we are  astounded  at the vast  numbers  of human beings that our blessed Lord Jesus Christ  cured  (of every kind of disease, etc.).  Galilee and Judea were largely made the most physically  healthy  places that the Earth ever saw, following the Fall of Man into sin.   One  could  argue that the hospitals, prompt care units, doctors' offices, counseling centers, and (even) funeral homes were given a respite from their ordinary routines.   Myriads  of people-- all  sinners in Adam-- thronged  around Jesus, to be  relieved  of their blindness, sickness, deafness, dropsy, paralysis, kyphosis, epilepsy, fevers, withered limbs, muteness, leprosy, blood-flows, and demon-possession.  It is astonishing, to think about how  many  bodies and souls were...

  Aliens and Strangers, Yes; But Owners and Stewards, Too Sometimes we hear a lot of good teaching on how the church's saints on earth are "aliens and strangers"; and how we do not really "belong" here, and how we do not "fit in" here.  All of this is pretty much true; and it is important that we know this and believe it.  But, I wonder if sometimes we do not take this concept  too  far, and draw conclusions that are not so savory/good/biblical?   The truth is, we *are* "sojourners and exiles."  The Apostle Peter makes this clear (in 1 Pet. 2:11).  But the true regenerate church also  "owns"  the earth.  It is  ours .  It has been  given  to us by our gracious Lord, King, and Master Jesus Christ.  We have "inherited" it (Matt. 5:5). . . . In reality, the non-regenerate people do *not* own this planet; and it is  they --not  us --who are "squatting" on it. ...

  Thomas Watson One of the great Puritans, Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686), is recently getting some well-deserved attention.  Reformation Heritage Books has just published  The Works of Thomas Watson  in seven volumes.  All I can say, is that I think this is a wonderful development.   Like Dr. Joel Beeke (of Reformation Heritage Books), I  also  came to an appreciation of the Puritans  initially  through Thomas Watson; and, interestingly, also via Watson's  A Body of Divinity . . . . One September day in 2001, a member of the church I was serving unexpectedly showed up at the door of our house, and he handed me a used hard-copy of  Body of Divinity,  published by Banner of Truth.  I had no idea how excellent that book was, till I broke it open, and started reading it.  Since then, I have re-read it.  In my opinion, Watson's  Body of Divinity is the single best "layman's" theology...