Highly recommended: Fighting for the Faith radio programme

21 September 2009 – 4:54 pm

I consider Fighting for the Faith to be essential listening. Chris Rosebrough, the show’s host, examines the trends and fads of today’s church, comparing what people say in God’s name with what is taught by Scripture.

Although entertainingly polemical, Chris doesn’t just poke holes, but equips his listeners to defend against error, giving clear correction from the Bible and always directing us towards the true Gospel of Christ crucified for sinners. He faithfully handles the Word of God, properly understanding the distinction between law and Gospel. He uses the law to crush us, and calls us to repentance, but never neglects to offer the forgiveness of sin through trusting in Christ’s death on the cross.

A highlight of most programmes is the sermon review — after listening to Fighting for the Faith for a few weeks, you’ll perhaps never listen to a sermon in the same way again.

As with Issues, Etc (mentioned in my last post), Chris is coming from a Confessional Lutheran background. Don’t let that put you off, even if you are from a different tradition. There is gold here.

If you find yourself listening to Fighting for the Faith regularly, don’t forget to support the work by making a donation!

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Audio, Christianity, Religion, Resources | Leave a Comment

How to diagnose a sermon

21 September 2009 – 4:12 pm

The excellent Issues, Etc* radio programme has this very handy diagnostic for reviewing sermons:

  1. How often is Jesus mentioned? Keep a simple running tally. It’s a problem if He is mentioned only a few times, or tucked in at the beginning or the end. If He is mentioned, even only once, go on to step 2.
  2. Is Jesus the subject of the verbs, the one doing the action? If He is, go on to step 3.
  3. What are the verbs? What is the preacher telling you what Jesus did, does, and will do for you? Is the Jesus that is presented one of pop therapeutic deism, who helps, inspires and gives examples? Or is He instead the Jesus of Scripture who lives, suffers, dies and rises again, all for you?

I find this to be a very helpful tool for evaluating the sermons that I hear week by week. Perhaps you will too.

* Disclaimer: the Issues, Etc programme has a Confessional Lutheran perspective. I am not a Confessional Lutheran and would differ from the show’s position on a number of important doctrinal points. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the hosts properly distinguish between law and Gospel, and faithfully proclaim the true Gospel of Christ crucified for sinners and raised from the dead. I am therefore happy to commend the programme.

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‘The Calvin I Never Knew’ seminars by Dr Frank A. James III (audio)

26 April 2009 – 9:16 pm

I’d like to share with you another gem on iTunes U from the Reformed Theological Seminary. Dr Frank A. James III gives a refreshing, and perhaps unexpected, perspective on John Calvin. If you have iTunes installed, you can find the seminars here. Give them a try — you’ll be captivated.

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Audio, Christianity, Religion, Resources | Leave a Comment

Does God have two wills?

22 March 2008 – 4:25 pm

If it is true that the Bible teaches that God unconditionally (i.e. not on the basis of foreseen faith) chooses those who are to be saved, and it does, does the Bible contradict itself when it says that God ‘desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Timothy 2:4)?

Put another way, if God really desires all men to be saved, why does He only choose some of them actually to be saved, while eternally condemning others?

In his article, Are There Two Wills in God? John Piper addresses this apparent problem head-on. He gives a cogent and coherent Bible-based explanation of how divine election and God’s desire for all to be saved are two harmonious and consistent truths.

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Articles, Bible, Christianity, Religion | Leave a Comment

Paul Washer on the True Gospel

22 March 2008 – 3:35 pm

Crosstalk has a radio broadcast of a talk by Paul Washer, given in February 2008. Paul, in his usual uncompromising and clear way, presents the essence of the True Gospel of Jesus Christ. Well worth a listen.

The Crosstalk site also offers this broadcast in RealAudio and Windows Media formats.

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Audio, Christianity, Religion, Salvation | Leave a Comment

Free Bible reading chart: keep track as you read through the Bible

4 February 2008 – 10:05 pm

You want to read through the Bible methodically, but it can be hard to keep track of what you’ve read, right? Here is a simple solution, without the restrictions of traditional Bible reading plans: the BetterThanSacrifice.org Bible Reading Chart! It lists every single chapter of the Bible; simply cross-off each one as you read it.

Download either of these files, then print using the Acrobat Reader:

Did you know that you can complete the whole Bible in a year if you read just 3 chapters each weekday, and 4 on Saturdays and Sundays?

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Bible, Christianity, Religion, Resources | Comments (4)

‘History and Theology of the Puritans’ lecture series by J I Packer (audio)

5 January 2008 – 1:14 am

My wife and I have recently finished listening to Dr Packer’s lectures on the Puritans, recorded about 20 years ago at Reformed Theological Seminary. The Puritans did not conform to the misleading stereotypes that we have of them, but had a zeal for making the most of life by putting into practice what they found in Scripture. Dr Packer is engaging on this important subject, and we give the series our wholehearted recommendation.

You can hear this series for free via RTS on iTunes U. You can access the series here, or, once you’ve managed to get to the iTunes U area in the iTunes Store, navigate to Reformed Theological Seminary > RTS/Virtual Courses in Church History > History and Theology of the Puritans.

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Audio, Bible, Christianity, Religion, Resources | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment

Saying a prayer doesn’t make you a Christian

4 January 2008 – 5:40 pm

A big lie in evangelical circles is that you can be saved by saying a prayer. But it is not what we do that saves us, it’s what God does for us. This is comforting; if our salvation depended upon our work, then we would be lost indeed. Our obedience to God is evidence of our salvation, not the cause of it.

I’ve only recently come across Paul Washer, but I like what I see of him in this video. It’s well worth 59 minutes of your time to watch. Paul isn’t afraid to preach the whole gospel. He is willing to talk about hell, as well as heaven. He understands that the message of the cross doesn’t make sense unless our desperate sinful condition is first explained.

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Articles, Bible, Christianity, Religion, Salvation, Video | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Why ‘Better Than Sacrifice’?

4 January 2008 – 4:11 pm

In 1 Samuel 15, we read God’s instruction to King Saul to punish the city of Amalek by utterly destroying it. Not one man, woman, child, ox, sheep, camel or donkey was to be spared. Saul carries out the command – almost. But, he does not execute Agag, king of the Amalekites, and he spares the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, lambs and ‘all that was good’.

The prophet Samuel confronts Saul with his sin, and pronounces God’s judgment with these words:

Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He also has rejected you from being king.
1 Samuel 15:22-23 (NKJV)

The timeless truth presented in this passage is that God requires total obedience to His commands. This is the demand of the law. Failure to obey justly brings God’s punishment.

It is immediately apparent that such total adherence to all aspects of God’s law revealed in the Bible is impossible for fallen men and women to achieve. We can’t earn God’s favour, because even our best attempts fail to reach His standards and are as filthy rags in His sight. We don’t even want to obey God — like Saul, we rebel against God’s commands and think we know better. We sin because our nature is inherently sinful. We deserve God’s wrath.

We therefore need a Saviour, someone who is able to fulfil the law by keeping it perfectly on our behalf. Jesus Christ, God’s unique son, is that Saviour. Christ received on the cross the punishment that was due to all those who turn away from their sin and believe and trust in Him for the forgiveness of their sins. More than that, Jesus’ perfect righteousness is put to their account. This salvation — the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness — is not earned, but is a free gift given by God. It is the result of His unmerited favour (Ephesians 2:8).

If we are among those who trust in Christ, those who have been forgiven our sins and declared righteous, does this mean that we don’t have to keep God’s commands? Not at all. Christ sets us free from sin — it would be a nonsense for us to continue to submit ourselves to it. We have instead become slaves of righteousness. God’s Word shows us how He desires us to live and every one of His commands was given for our own good (Deuteronomy 10:13). Although we know that obedience to God is not a way to earn God’s favour, the new nature that is now within us yearns to do God’s will — it is our joy and privilege to serve Him and our neighbour. Jesus says:

If you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:15

and

He who has My commandments and keeps them,
It is he who loves Me.
And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father,
And I will love him and manifest Myself to him.
John 14:21

But even as we read these words, we realize that we don’t keep His commandments. Not even close. The more we mature as Christians, the more we realize how sinful we are. There’s not one second of a single day that goes by in which I love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength (Luke 10:27). And I fail miserably to love my neighbour as myself. But our confidence is not in our own law-keeping, but in Christ alone. And so, even as we strive against sin, we daily cast ourselves afresh upon the mercy of Christ, trusting and knowing that even our continuing sinful failure has already been paid for in full by Jesus on the cross — this truly is Good News.

Much of the modern church seems at times to have lost sight of these things. The Gospel is not that Christianity or the Bible offers a better way of living, but that Christ was crucified for sinners and raised from the dead. Paying lip-service to the authority of Scripture is worthless unless we believe and faithfully proclaim its message — Christ crucified for sinners. For fear of giving offence, we too often fail to call people to repentance. For fear of seeming foolish, we neglect to proclaim the forgiveness of sins through Christ crucified on the cross. Yet we are called to be faithful to the Gospel we have received. Let us be doers of the Word, not merely hearers (James 1:22)!

I hope that this blog will be a contribution (if only a very meagre one) to helping us rediscover the riches of ‘the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 1:3) and the joy that is to be found in Christ.

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Articles, Bible, Christianity, Religion, Salvation | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

New year, new weblog

2 January 2008 – 9:52 pm

Yet another blog. An exercise in vanity? Perhaps, but I hope that it will eventually prove to be something a little more than that. Take a look at the this post to find out what this website is all about.

By BetterThanSacrifice | Posted in Articles | Leave a Comment