For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

(1 Corinthians 15:3-7 ESV)

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

(John 9:8-41 ESV)

Mid-Cities Presbyterian Church Adult Sunday School Teacher, Chuck Cain on his next to last lesson through a fifty-two-week study of the book of Exodus! Incredible detail!

“Gagnon’s book powerfully challenges attempts to identify love and inclusivity with affirmation of homosexual practice.”

  

 
If you like Reformed books–and if you follow this blog, you probably do–then you may enjoy following the other blog that’s been dominating all of my blogging energy for the past few months. A deacon at my church asked me to take over our church library when we moved into our new building. More recently, we discussed putting the collection online for the use of members of our church who patronize our library to see what we have, and to serve as a resource to discuss, ask questions, review, recommend or criticize our titles. We thought about a few options, but I settled on using a blog for this purpose, given my nine years of experience at blogging. 

First, you may enjoy reading my introduction to our church library which is posted at my church website. It will then link you to my library blog, Mid-Cities Presbyterian Church Library Blog (or more commonly, MCOPC Library). Even though you are not a member of my church, please feel free to subscribe and comment as you like. Thanks for your interest!

Villainous theology ruining your Christmas? Call the Genevan Help Line!

genevanhelpline@gmail.com

I’m from Geneva, and I’m here to help!

The audio of Dr. Carl Trueman’s three lectures at OPC DFW Reformation Conference 2014 hosted by Mid-Cities Presbyterian Church on Friday, October 10 through Saturday, October 11 are now available on the church’s website. Here are the links to the lecutures:

Why Creeds are Biblical (Friday, October 10, 7 PM)

Survey of Creeds from the Reformation (Saturday, October 11, 9:30 AM)

Usefulness of Creeds for Today (Saturday, October 11, 11:00 AM)

Download and share the above audio files and share as you please.

OPC DFW Reformation Conference 2014 Photo Gallery

OPC Licentiate Robert Mossotti explains how the Bible teaches that baptism replaces circumcision as the sign of the covenant of grace. This lesson was delivered on August 31, 2014 at Mid-Cities Presbyterian Church. Subscribe to Robert’s SermonAudio page for more teaching and preaching.

Read part 1.

Read part 2.

Now let’s talk about whether baptism has replaced circumcision. That’s something that’s batted around between Baptists and Presbyterians, so let’s talk about that for a moment. Before I start dealing with a couple of texts, I would like to pose a couple of rhetorical questions to the group.

What was the sign of entry into the one covenant of grace, into the visible church, in the Old Testament? It was circumcision. What is the sign of admission into the one covenant grace in the New Testament visible church? Baptism. So we believe that if the one rite of admission into the visible church is now in effect, and that the old rite of admission into the visible church is no longer in effect, then the one has replaced the other.

We should also ask, what do these two signs, circumcision and baptism, signify? In short, both circumcision and baptism signify the same thing. Both signify spiritual regeneration, the putting off of the body of sin, of being cleansed, and of belonging to the Lord’s household. A couple of places you can go is Romans 2:29 and Philippians 3:3. They also both signify something that isn’t as obvious, but is, nevertheless a legitimate thing signified, and that is passing under God’s wrath, his judgment ordeal. I would direct you to Meredith Kline’s By Oath Consigned which may be obtained on the internet. This book explains how circumcision is passing under the judgment sword of God, and baptism is passing under the judgment waters of God, as 1 Peter mentions that baptism is analogous to the judgment waters of the flood. Kline draws this out, so I would direct you to that.

The fact that baptism fills the void left by circumcision’s removal, serving the same function of admittance into the visible church, and the fact that both signify the same spiritual realities, we believe that baptism has replaced circumcision. 25:38

The Scriptures also suggest this very thing in Colossians 2. The relationship between the participle and the finite verb is more obvious in the Greek grammar, but we can still talk about it and get the meaning here in English.

In him (Christ) also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead (Colossians 2:11-12 ESV).

The phrase in verse 11 “you were circumcised” is the finite verb. In verse 12, the phrase “having been buried,” is a participle in the Greek, and it relates to the finite verb. So you were circumcised by being buried with him in baptism. That’s what the grammatical shorthand of this is. If I were to say, “I went to the store riding on my bike,” you would understand that the participle “riding” is a participle of means. How did I get to the store? I got to the store by riding my bike. It’s the same in this Colossians passage: “you were circumcised…by being buried…in baptism.” So we believe that the Scriptures tell us in so many words that baptism replaces circumcision.

You are invited to attend my church’s first annual OPC DFW Reformation Conference, Friday-Saturday, October 10-11, 2014. Dr. Carl Trueman will be the featured speaker. His subject will be the role of creeds in the Protestant Reformation. 

Seating is limited, but free. You may register for the conference here. 

The location of Mid-Cities Presbyterian Church is:

1810 Brown Trail

Bedford, TX 76021

I hope you can make it!

 

 

This weekend we are in Boerne, TX with a small band of church friends to attend the Texas Hill Country Bible Conference sponsored by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Today is the first day, and we spent last night in the local La Quinta Inn.

I dreamed that it was Halloween, or as we Reformed folk sometimes refer to it, Reformation Day, and two of my favorite local churches were celebrating the Reformation and promoting their churches by being out and about on their properties to interact with trick-or-treaters and fellow observers of Reformation Day. I have no idea why I’m home and not at church and participating, but the events were covered on the local news, and I noticed in the footage that legendary (in his circles) Reformed theologian and Ligonier Ministries founder, Dr. R.C. Sproul was at one of the churches!

What? I decided to call one of the elders of one of the churches to see if this was still going on so I could come meet Dr. Sproul, but couldn’t reach him! As I prepared to call another guy, my alarm goes off and I’m frustrated because I want to get through to someone!

I didn’t want to get up yet, but I reluctantly succumbed to consciousness. I laid there wallowing in my missed opportunity for a moment, and then I sighed with relief when I realized that it’s okay, because at least today I get to meet the current president of Wheaton College and former pastor of Philly’s Tenth Presbyterian Church, Dr. Phil Ryken.

‪#‎starstruckmuch‬?