The difference between Heaven and Hell is not a subtle one. When the Almighty God separates the sheep and the goats, at the end of the day, that judgment day, there will be no nuance. Light and darkness are too entirely different sorts of things—and children of light and children of darkness have entirely different points of origin. Children of God and children of the devil have different fathers. This is not an obscure point.
So what is an evangelical? I am not speaking about cultural evangelicals, or nominal evangelicals. What is a true evangelical? In short, an evangelical is someone who knows, on the basis of the substitutionary death of Jesus, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that nobody has God in a box.
James tells us that men have tamed and domesticated all kinds of wild animals. A man can get into a cage with a whip and a chair, and make a lion do tricks. Swimmers can stand on the tip of a killer whale’s nose and amaze the crowds at Sea World. Man can tame all kinds of things. But James goes on to point out that for all his prowess, man cannot tame his own tongue. Because he cannot tame his own tongue, he finds himself proclaiming formulae and composing liturgies which make the implicit claim that mankind knows how to tame God.
But God is the living God, and can be tamed by no one. Jesus became one of us, and knows exactly how we feel—He tamed restless humanity. He can sympathize with us in our weakness. But we do not tame Him. And that is what makes an evangelical—someone who knows—experientially knows—that because Jesus died, and because the Spirit was given, we can be tamed. We come to this point by repenting of our sins, and by believing in Jesus. (Douglas Wilson, “God Tamers”)
by Stephen Rodgers
So I guess I’m working with a theme this week: a rather long quote for a rather long Weekly Links. I’ll try to keep my descriptions short, and I’ll break them into helpful categories, but I hope that you’ll take the time to seriously consider and avail yourself to the resources below. They’re for your benefit after all. Enjoy!
Holy Week
Over at his blog, Justin Taylor has been posting (re-posting?) a series on what happened on each day of Holy Week:
Easter Apologetic Resources
We did this last year as well, which included linking to Triablogue then, as well as some other resources.
- Triablogue has an updated list of apologetic resources on Easter issues.
- Resurrection scholar Mike Licona has a series of videos on myths about the Resurrection.
Free Monthly Resources for April
Some of these offers expire in April (the audiobook/Logos book), so move fast on them.
- New edition of the 9Marks eJournal: The Underestimated Doctrine of Conversion
- New issue of CredoMag: Make Disciples of All the Nations
- New issue of Themelios: 37.1
- New issue of Tabletalk: The God-Centered Life
- Free audiobook: Road to the Resurrection by Greg Laurie
- Free Logos book: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan
New Resources
Let me highlight a few resources that might be helpful to you:
- Did you know that TGC has a journal published by Matthias Media (The Trellis and the Vine folks) that critiques the secular worldview. It’s called Kategoria, and it looks very well done.
- RC Sproul has a daily broadcast/podcast called “Renewing Your Mind.” Add Mohler and MacArthur to that, and you’ve got a very good day.
- CMI actually makes a number of articles and back issues available for both Creation Magazine and The Journal of Creation.
Music
- So…Sovereign Grace Music has a new website…and it has a large section of free music. If you’re a music minister, it also has simplified licensing info…but did I mention the free music?
- CXVI put out a free Easter album.
Visual Theology
I’ve blogged before about Tim Challies’ “Visual Theology” series; he has a few new ones that I commend to you.
For the Seminarians
DG just completed this very thought-provoking series:
I’ll get the new resources added to the Recommended Resources page shortly.
See you at church tonight!
Pro Rege