Sin is a mystery, and it’s a mystery the psalmist wrestles with in Psalm 19. First he looks up to the heavens to delight in the Creator’s handiwork (verses 1–6). Then he looks down to delight in God’s words (verses 7–11). And the next moment he is on his face pleading with God for power for victory over sin (verses 12–13).

¹² Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
¹³ Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

Sin in Two Forms

The psalmist shows us sin in at least two different forms: "hidden faults" and "presumptuous sins." One is like a trapdoor…

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"End times" is a little like "free food" — throw the words in a headline and it'll make you look twice. For many Christians, it's a hot topic. And it does have implications for our lives in this world.

Sam Storms recently discussed the different views of eschatology for a Theology Refresh interview — the podcast for pastors that refreshes important points of doctrine.

Stream or download this 14-minute interview.

Recommended resources on eschatology (or end times):

1. The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views, ed. Robert G. Clouse
2. The Gospel in Revelation, Graeme Goldsworthy
3. The Theology of the Book of Revelation, Richard Bauckham
4. The Returning King: A Guide to the Book o…

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Jesus said, “Woe to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers” (Luke 11:46).

How is Jesus different from that? (Be careful.)

Does he give us no burden to bear? That is not the difference. He does give us a burden to bear.

Is it a lighter burden? The question is ambiguous. Does it mean: Is the burden objectively lighter? Or does it mean: Though objectively heavier, is the burden experienced as lighter?

The latter. The difference between Jesus and the lawyers is that he gives us a heavier burden to bear, and then gives us his own blood-bought strength to bear it. So much so that we experience the bur…

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There is a faith-sustained holiness that Paul wants his converts to have on the day of Christ — the day of his return, when the dead in Christ will be raised (1 Corinthians 15:23). This holiness (which he also calls “blamelessness” and “guiltlessness” and “being above reproach” and “purity”) is certain through God’s faithfulness, contingent on persevering faith, and dependent on human agency.

Certainty

Paul is certain that God will work this persevering faith and holiness in his converts for the day of Christ. This is part of God’s faithfulness.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord …

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Pastor John writes in Future Grace,

There were several tactics in Jesus' strategic battle against despondency.

• First, he chose some close friends to be with him. "He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee" (Matthew 26:37).
• Second, he opened his soul to them. He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death" (verse 38).
• Third, he asked for their intercession and partnership in the battle. "Remain here and keep watch with me" (verse 39).
• Fourth, he poured out his heart to his Father in prayer. "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me" (verse 39).
• Fifth, he rested his soul in the sovereign wisdom of God. "Yet not as I will, but as thou wilt" (v…

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Psalm 142:1–2,

With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.”

To live in this age is to frequently experience trouble. We are troubled within and we are troubled without. Our troubles span the spectrum of trivial to traumatic. And these various kinds of troubles — James calls them trials (James 1:2) — are to be expected. We are not to be surprised by them (1 Peter 4:12).

And to help us faithfully endure these troubles, God gave us a very precious gift: psalms of lament. The Psalms are the prayers and hymns that God chose to teach us how to express ourselves to him in worship. They ar…

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Dr. Ray Ortlund Jr. is an author, pastor and a former seminary professor. He also blogs and tweets regularly. Given his experience, responsibilities, and his devotion to social media, I asked him to explain more about why and how he uses Twitter and blogging.

Ray, thank you for answering some questions. You speak at conferences, write books, and you blog and tweet. You communicate in many various contexts. My questions for you are mostly related to pastoral ministry and social media. As a pastor, how does the rise in social media – blogging, Facebook, Twitter – complement and complicate pastoral ministry.

The media we now have offer us a tremendous advantage for getting the gospel out. I…

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You may have noticed today's Google Doodle commemorating International Women's Day (IWD). It has been celebrated every year on March 8th for almost a century now.

Setting aside a day to more publicly celebrate and honor women, as well as to advocate for more equality in their rights and treatment, is a God-honoring, good thing. But, as Mary Kassian notes in her post today, there is an unfortunate assumption among most advocates of IWD that for women to be treated as equals among men, they must be treated the same. In other words, their roles and responsibilities must be interchangeable.

Mary responds to this assumption with an insightful word for both men and women:

We don’t need w…

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I want to encourage you who are younger in ministry that lean seasons will come, and by grace you can make it through.

A Billy Graham illustration and a personal one.

Sometimes It Rains

We always think of Billy Graham’s crusades as full and successful. It was not always the case. The London Evening Standard recounted “a rain-soaked service on Streatham Common where  Graham’s music director, Cliff Barrows, had to give up trying to play his trombone, and heavier members of the platform party had to move to the center as the stage sank in the mud” (Alister Chapman, Godly Ambition, 48).

If you live long enough, and serve faithfully enough, you will have rain-soaked seasons, and feel you…

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In one of my daughters' favorite books Dr. Seuss tells us, "The more you read, the more things you will know."

True. Reading is thinking is learning — and there are "mountains of treasures waiting to be mined." But this doesn't mean the books we read have to be long. As Pastor John explains,

What I have learned from [years] of serious reading is this. It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. (Quantitative Hopelessness and the Immeasurable Moment)

And sometimes this "sentence or two" is found in a sho…

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