Latest Articles on Guard the Deposit
Hoarding the Lent Bathwater
As a follow-up to the article I wrote last week about whether the , I wanted to recommend a fantastic article that Kenneth Stewart of Covenant College has written about the history of Lent in the...
Should We Ask God to Send us his Holy Spirit?
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: [John Owen (1616-1683)] called believers to "ask [for the Spirit] daily of the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. This is the daily work of believers...to ask him of the Father as children do of their parents daily...
Learning God’s Grace Through Fatherly Discipline
Contrary to God's command, Abram went to Egypt to escape a famine in the Promised Land. Incredibly, though, YHWH blessed Abram in the midst of Abram's sin, both to protect Abram's wife Sarai as well as the covenant line that God had promised would come through...
What Does it Mean to Have Communion with the Spirit?
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: Given all the manifold work of the Holy Spirit in God's elect, what does it mean to have communion with the Spirit? What is the essence of His consolation and comfort? The Spirit comforts believers by bringing them into...
Learning God’s Grace Through Unmerited Favor
Although God had sent a famine into the Promised Land in order that Abram might , Abram took matters into his own hands and simply moved down to Egypt. Now, we don't read explicitly that Abram had sinned...
John Owen’s Court of Conscience and Our Assurance
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: One example of the work of the Spirit is His witness in "the court of conscience," testifying that the believer is a child of God (Rom. 8:16). [John Owen (1616-1683)] described this by way of the drama of courtroom...
Learning God’s Grace Through Trials
When we find ourselves smack in the middle of a trial in life, it's easy to find the encouragement of James a bit...well...irritating: 2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3for you know that the testing of your faith produces...
Martin Luther on Two Kingdoms Theology
David VanDrunen develops Two Kingdoms Theology through church history in his book Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms. I quoted from VanDrunen when he identified two important themes of commonality with the world and antithesis...
What are the Works of the Holy Spirit?
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: Though the elect experience the Spirit's regeneration passively as so many dry bones (Ezek. 37:1-14), believers put their trust in the promises of the comfort of the Spirit and pray for Him and His work in them (Gal....
How the Son Leads Us to the Father’s Love
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: But looking to the Son we see the Father, as we see the sun by the beams of light which shine from it. [John Owen (1616-1683)] wrote, "Jesus Christ in respect of the love of the Father, is but the beam, the stream,...
The Missionary Witness of Abraham
Post Series on Genesis 12:1-9: The Missionary Witness of Abraham (Genesis 12:7-9) In Genesis 12:1-3,...
Do You Believe that the Father Himself Loves You?
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: The Father's love is "a love of bounty," but our love for God is a "love of duty." The love of the Father is "antecedent love," always going before ours; our love for the Father is "consequent love," always our response...