David Strain, Minister of Main Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus, MS, has a great post over at Letters From Mississippi, on the reason why the Westminster Divines believed images of Jesus are forbidden by Scripture. It is a really quite persuasive argument. You can read it here. I out attempt to honor Jesus by making images of Him we may be dishonoring Him by denying His Person.
J.I. Packer has a section in Knowing God dedicated to the same issue. You can read the section on images of Christ here .
HT: Alex …

J.I. Packer, in his masterpiece A Quest for Godliness , highlights what he believes to be the three major principles of biblical interpretation in Puritan expositions. These are three principles we would do well to imitate:

1. Puritan exegetes…do not bring to the Bible the pervasive sense of difference and distance between cultures and epochs that is so much part of today’s mind-set; nor do they bring with them the imaginative ideas of religious evolution that cripple so many modern biblical scholars and corrupt so much of their expository work. …

The following video was filmed at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. The lecture was given at a special Thursday evening service at PRTS.
The Church That Christ Builds

The Church That Christ Builds

One of the chief promises God made to Abraham was that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand of the sea. The point is not that we try to calculate how much sand there is and then draw a numerical parallel. Obviously there is too much sand on the shore to number. Throughout the period of revelation, from the time of Abraham to Christ, we find hints that the LORD is fulfilling this promise. One such place is 1 Kings 4:20 where we read, “Judah and Israel …

Thanks to James Grant for pointing out these lectures. You will find numerous class lectures, lectures on books of the Bible and Sunday School lessons there. The Sunday school lectures look particularly interesting. I think you will find Dr. Poythress to be a brilliant theological with many thoughts that will help set you off on deeper theological investigation.

There is an interesting structure to the book of Galatians. Paul is, of course, writing this letter because of the threat of the Judaizers who came in to spy out the liberty of the Christians. The Judaizers were saying that one needed Christ and law-keeping (as represented by circumcision) to be accepted by God. The apostle Paul, as you well know, would not tolerate this perversion of the Gospel for even one minute. Therefore, in his defense of the Gospel and it implications he draws several contrasts. They are as …

Here is the audio from the 2009 Next Conference :

The Preeminence of Christ (Joshua Harris)
Christ’s Incarnation (D.A. Carson)
Christ’s Life (Kevin DeYoung)
Christ’s Death (C.J. Mahaney)
Christ’s Resurrection (Sinclair Ferguson)
Christ’s Return (Sinclair Ferguson)

HT: Justin Taylor

The following messages were given by Sinclair Ferguson at the 2004 BASICS Conference:
His Sufficient Word – 2 Tim. 3
His Eternal Election – Ephesians 1
His Transforming Spirit – Romans 8

Here is the most recent article Paul Helm has posted on his blog. It is typical, insightful (and on this occasion, sarcastic) Helm on Christianity and culture.

As a nice addition to the previous Eric Alexander post on “The Cross is the Experience of the Father,” you can now watch Sinclair Ferguson’s message from the 2009 Ligonier National Conference, The Holiness of the Father.
HT: Iain Campbell

Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, and I began interviewing theologians and pastors back in June 2008. Interviewing these men has been an enormous blessing. We have learned a lot and had a great time in the process. Below you will find an index that will be updated from time to time. Thanks for listening:
Lane Tipton “The Theological Contributions of Richard Gaffin”
Lane Keister “The Federal Vision”
Gary Johnson Reforming or Conforming
Drew Dinardo Reformed Church Growth
Mark Garcia Union with Christ and Two-Fold Grace
R. Scott Clark Recovering the Reformed Confessions
J. Ligon Duncan The …

Dr. Jon Payne, minister of Grace Presbyterian Church in Douglasville, Ga, has been bringing in excellent preachers and speakers for the past 5 years for their Reformation Heritage Conference. In 2004, Derek Thomas came and gave a series of lectures on Calvin, Geneva and Reformed Worship. Darryl Hart spoke in 2005 on American Reformation Heritage. Iain Murray came in 2006 and spoke on The Scottish Reformation. In 2007 Carl Trueman spoke on the German Reformation; and in 2008 Michael Horton gave a series of lectures on the Reformation and …

Here is the link to my most recent sermon. It was delivered on Sunday evening, April 19, 2009 at Independent Presbyterian Church. The text was John 4:1-30; the title, “Jesus and the Empty Water Pot.” I was struck several years ago, as I read through the account, by John’s mention of the woman leaving her water pot after her interaction with Jesus.
You can find more sermons I preached over the past two years at Sermon Audio, Monergism, and the New Covenant Presbyterian Church Website. If you know people in the …

James Grant, over at In Light of the Gospel , has pointed out that 16 years of audio from the National Founder’s Conference are now online. As I looked at the various conference themes this one specifically caught my eye. Beeke has three lectures on the Puritans. Errol Hulse also has several. All you Puritan lovers should enjoy these. I have heard two of these lectures by Beeke at different venues and have found them to be very profitable. Enjoy.

For all who are unable to attend Greenville Seminary’s Spring Theology Conference on John Calvin this week, the following evening sessions will be offered via a live webcast:
7:00 PM Tuesday (March 10): Dr. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr.: Calvin the Preacher
7:00 PM Wednesday (March 11): Dr. Joel Beeke: Calvin the Theologian of the Holy Spirit

It is probable that the whole of Matthew’s Gospel is a typological fulfillment of Israel’s history. This means, of course, that all of Christ’s life is the chronological anti-type of Israel’s experience. Here is a brief explanation:
Matthew opens with the words: “The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Why only mention David and Abraham? Simply put, they were the two Israelitish covenant heads who were organically related to Christ. Jesus did not come from Moses’ seed, but he did come from …

In our last few posts we’ve been plowing through Bavinck’s analysis of original sin and what was lost by the fall. Human beings did not become ‘sub’ creatures after breaking the covenant or works, but something changed. The original relationship and integrity with God was destroyed when sin took advantage of the commandment. Here is a brief look at Bavinck’s analysis of the nature of sin in what he describes as ‘mystery in variety’.

Revelation 1:5-10 really is the master key to unlock the structure of the book. While the throne of God, the trumpets, bowls, and seals all play a central role in this book, the book would be, as I noted in the previous post, meaningless without its Christological structure. Put simply, the book is about Jesus Christ–specifically with regard to His first and second coming. And is this a surprise to us? It shouldn’t be if we have come to see that the Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ and …

When I was an intern at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, I had the privilege of working with Dr. David Apple and the mercy ministry outreach. From a youth, my dad frequently took me to nursing homes where he would help lead worship services. John H. Skilton, late Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, introduced my father to this great need. John visited almost every nursing home in Philadelphia. He left a testimony of real desire to see the kingdom of God advance in the lives …

William Still, in his short commentary on the book of Galatians, explained–in the most vivid way–the reality of the division God sets between redeemed man and the fallen world on account of Christ crucified. He wrote:
We like to think of the double crucifixion, envisaged here, in theatrical terms. There stand the world, and there stand I, and between us stands the cross. Viewed from the world’s side I am crossed out, because branded with that hateful cross the world has no time for me. Viewed from my side the …

The second introduction, or the second feature of the introduction, of the book of Revelation is actually a Triune salutation. John writes:
“Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits before the throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and freed from our sin with His own blood and has made us kings and priests to our …

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MS has recently added a page where you can download audio files of talks, given over the past 5 years, at the Twin Lakes Fellowship . You can find them here . It looks like they may be in the process of adding more.

Nick Needham, Professor of Church History at Highland Theological College, has a series of lectures on various figures in church history here. Prof. Needham is a very gifted church historian. The following are the lectures available at Monergism:

John Chrysostom #1
John Chrysostom #2
Athanasius on the Deity of Christ #1
Athanasius on the Deity of Christ #2
The Life and Times of John Knox #1
The Life and Times of John Knox #2
Life and Times of John Knox #3
Life and Times of John Wycliff #1
Life and Times of John Wycliff #2
Life and Times of …

Here is the final list of D.A. Carson sermons and lectures. Again, many thanks to P.J. Tibayan for the hard work of gathering these into one place. Some of the titles over at God is Greater Than All are left off since many of the same lectures are given at different locations:
My Lord and My God (John 20:24-31)Streams of Living Water (John 7:37-39)The Pastor as Son of the Heavenly Father(2008 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors)The Pastor as Son of the Earthly Father(2008 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors)The Pastor as Father of His …

We recently had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Peter Lillback, President of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, about his doctoral dissertation, The Binding of God: Calvin’s Role in the Development of Covenant Theology. Dr. Lillback has contributed numerous articles to various publications and journals, and is the author of George Washington’s Sacred Fire and Wall of Misconception. He has set out to offer an objective reading of John Calvin in regard to his view of “covenant” and the role that it plays in theology. The Binding of God is …

For quite some time now I have been recommending a six part series on Baptism by Edward Donnelly. Rev. Donnelly is the pastor of Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church, in Northern Ireland. He is also the Principal and Professor of New Testament at the Reformed Theological College, Belfast. Edward Donnelly is one of the finest preachers alive. If you have not heard him, I recommend every sermon he has at Sermon Audio. But you really must listen to this series on baptism:
Baptism #1
Baptism #2
Baptism #3
Baptism #4
Baptism #5
Baptism #6

C.J. Mahaney, Josh Harris, and Jeff Purswell have begun a podcast where they sit down and discuss topics of interest to pastors. The first four sessions deal with the pastor and his time, the pastor and his joy, the pastor and his soul, and the pastor and his reading. You can listen to the four sessions here.

Here is the link to a great James Boice Sermon on a call for Theology in the church. It is based on Ephesians chapters 2 and 3. Boice affirms David Wells’ concern that the evangelical church has become worldly, and has abandoned God’s word. This is a superb message.

Here is the link to sermons that Dale Ralph Davis preached during his time (1988-1993) at Aisquith Presbyterian Church in Parkville, MD . Currently, Rev. Davis is the Pastor of Woodland Presbyterian Church in Hattiesburg, MS. You can find his recent sermons here. Dr. Davis is also well known for his Old Testament Commentaries, published in the Christian Focus series. The set includes his commentary on Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings. I would also recommend this book for any preacher of …

The three latest Christ the Center programs are now online:
Martin Downes on The Emergind Church and Cultural CaptivityGreg Reynolds on Preaching in an Electronic AgeDavid Hall on The Calvin Quincentenary
You can find the other Christ the Center episodes at Castle Church.