Book Review: Saved to Sin No More by Brad Wetherell

The Christian life is one of joy. We are set free from our sins, and our joyful response is to obey the Lord in everything we do. Yet there are days where we feel defeated or we are not doing enough. This is a constant battle for Christians especially in the area of holiness.

We are dead to sin, the book of Romans tells us, yet we are still prone to it. We fight the indwelling sin still in us and the temptations that come with it. It is an ongoing battle day and day out. 

We have joy in Christ knowing that we are saved by Him even as we battle the flesh. This is what Brad Wetherell communicates in his book, Saved to Sin No More: How Union with Christ Empowers a Life of Holiness.

This book is mostly based on Romans 5:12-6:23 with the exception of the last chapter and conclusion. This is book is about our union with Christ and how that union leads us to holiness. We are reminded that we are dead to sin and it is not our master because we are under grace. We are reminded that we are slaves to righteousness and that we should give our members (parts of our body) as instruments of wickedness.

We are called to remember what God has done for us in Christ and why we obey Christ which is not get saved but because we are saved. Christ has saved us from sin and the wrath of God; therefore, we must fight our sin. We also must remember why we are saved. We are saved because God sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins on the cross. 

The final chapter address our need for the body of Christ. Based on Ephesians 4:4-6 which Wetherell has titled the chapter, "Saved Together." The Christian life is not meant to be a solo ride. We need each other. We need one another to serve the Lord and each other as well growing in our Christian walk. Yes, we have been saved by God individually, but those who have been saved are brothers and sisters in the Lord. They are the family of God, the body of Christ, the Church of the Living God. They are fellow believer who struggle in their fight against sin just as you are.

A couple of things in this book that I want to mention that did not set well with me. Wetherell stated that when we are united with Christ, His story becomes our story. How is that possible? Is my story of one where I become the perfect Son of God because of my union with Christ? Do I perform miracles like Jesus did (Can anyone say New Apostolic Reformation)? 

The other place I had a problem with was when Wetherell mentioned when we have peace, we have access to him, which led him to say, "We don't need to fear that God is greater than us." Yes, we do. God is greater than us. We do come to Him in Holy reverent fear. He is greater than us because He is the one by whom "we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28). 

Overall, this was a decent book on sanctification and holiness with the exception of the two area mentioned above. 

I received this book from Crossway in exchange for an honest review.

Paul Washer: Is It Well with Your Soul?

Ryan Day: The Greatest Christmas Gifts

An Article from Ligonier on Lordship Salvation

The Lordship Controversy occurred in the last two decades of the twentieth century. It was a debate largely between dispensational theologians regarding the nature of salvation and the place of repentance in the life of true believers. On one side of the Lordship Controversy was a company of “Free Grace” theologians who denied that repentance and obedience are necessary in the Christian life. On the other side of the controversy was a group of Calvinistic theologians who taught that although salvation is based only on God’s sovereign grace, God requires the evangelical response of repentance and faith in our reception of the gospel. 

The latter emphasized the importance of the lordship of Christ in reaction to the denial of the need for repentance and the fruit of obedience in the teaching of the proponents of the Free Grace movement. By undermining the place of repentance and good works in the life of a believer, proponents of the Free Grace movement essentially advanced an antinomian view of justification. Although there was enough uniformity on each side of the debate to label these two different positions, there were also nuances in the way in which individual figures articulated the dynamics of both the Free Grace and the Lordship Salvation approach to the doctrine of salvation.

Read the entire post here.

Experimental Knowledge of Jesus Christ

If we want to grow in grace and have more hope, we must seek a more experimental knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. How little do we know of Him! Our cold affections toward Him are a witness against ourselves. If our eyes were more open to what He is and does for us, we would love Him more. There are some Christians whose minds seem ever running on the doctrine of sanctification to the exclusion of everything else. They can argue warmly about little points of practice; yet they are cold about Christ. They live by rule, they walk strictly, they do many things, they fancy in a short time they shall be very strong. But all this time they lose sight of this grand truth that nothing is so sanctifying as knowledge of the Lord Jesus and communion with Him. "Abide in me, He says Himself, "and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me" (John 15:4). Christ must be the spring of our holiness as well as the rock of our faith. Christ must be all in all.

I doubt not He is precious to you that believe. Precious He ought to be because of His offices, and precious because of His work. Precious He ought to be for what He has done already. He has called us, quickened us, washed us, justified us. Precious He ought to be for what He is doing even now: strengthening us, interceding for us, sympathizing with us.

Precious He ought to be for what He will do yet: He will keep us to the end, raise us, gather us at His coming› present us faultless before God's throne, give us rest with Him in His kingdom. But oh, reader, Christ ought to be far more precious to us than He ever has been yet!

Nothing else will either save, satisfy, or sanctity a sinful soul. We all need a more experimental knowledge of Christ!

Adapted from Our Great Redeemer: 365 Days with J. C. Ryle

Seven Steps to Die Daily

What then are the best means of preserving in a believer's heart that lively sense of justification which is so precious to the soul that knows it? I offer a few hints to believers. I lay no claim to infallibility in setting down these hints, for I am only a man. But such as they are l offer them.

1. To keep up a lively sense of peace, there must be constant looking to Jesus. As the pilot keeps his eye on the mark by which he steers, so must we keep our eye on Christ.

2. There must be constant communion with Jesus. We must use Him daily as our souls physician and high priest. There must be daily conference, daily confession, and daily absolution.

3. There must be constant watchfulness against the enemies of your soul. He who would have peace must always be prepared for war.

4. There must be constant following after holiness in every relation of life, in our tempers, in our tongues, abroad and at home. A small speck on the lens of a telescope is enough to prevent our seeing distant objects clearly. A little dust will soon make a watch go incorrectly,

5. There must be a constant laboring after humility. Pride goes before a fall. Self-confidence is often the mother of sloth, of hurried Bible reading, and sleepy prayers. Peter first said he would never forsake his Lord, though all others did; then he slept when he should have prayed; then he denied Him three times and found wisdom only after bitter weeping.

6. There must be constant boldness in confessing our Lord before people. Those who honor Christ, Christ will honor with much of His company. When the disciples forsook our Lord, they were wretched and miserable. When they confessed Him before the council, they were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

7. Last, there must be constant jealousy over our own souls and frequent self-examination. We must be careful to distinguish between justification and sanctification. We must beware that we do not make a christ of holiness.

Adapted from Our Great Redeemer: 365 Days with J. C. Ryle

Derek Thomas: Justified by Works?

Marks of a Forgiven Soul

 Let me set down in order the leading marks of a forgiven soul,

1. Forgiven souls hate sin. If you and sin are friends, you and God are not yet reconciled. You are not fit for heaven; for one main part of heaven's excellence is the absence of all sin.

2. Forgiven souls love Christ. This is that one thing they can say, if they dare say nothing else, they do love Christ. His person, His offices, His work, His name, His cross, His blood, His words, His example, His ordinances—all, all are precious to forgiven souls. The ministry which exalts Him most is that which they enjoy most. The books which are most full of Him are most pleasant to their minds. The people on earth they feel most drawn to are those in whom they see something of Christ.

3. Forgiven souls are humble. They cannot forget that they owe all they have and hope for to free grace, and this keeps them lowly. They are brands plucked from the fire, debtors who could not pay for them-selves, captives who must have remained in prison forever but for undeserved mercy, wandering sheep who were ready to perish when the Shepherd found them! We have nothing we can call our own but sin and weakness. Surely there is no garment that befits us so will as humility.

4. Forgiven souls are holy. Their chief desire is to please Him who has saved them, to do His will, to glorify Him in body and in Spirit, which are His. Pardon of sin and love of sin are like oil and water; they will never go together. All who are washed in the blood of Christ are also sanctified by the Spirit of Christ.

5. Forgiven souls are forgiving. They do as they have been done by. They look over the offenses of their brethren. They remember how God for Chris's sake forgave them and endeavor to do the same toward their fellow creatures. Surely we know nothing of Christs love to us but the name of it if we do not love our brethren.

Adapted from Our Great Redeemer: 365 Days with J. C. Ryle

Kevin Hay on Going to Church

Jesse Randolph on Why We Need Reproof

Brad Klassen and Jonny Ardavanis Discuss the Battle for Your Thoughts

Costi Hinn: What Are You Living For?

This message is from the Not of This World Conference: 

Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Fight Like a Man

This message is from The War on Men 2025 Conference from Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, AZ:

The Preservation of God and the Perseverance of the Saints

Personal assurance is not as simple as “once saved always saved,” although that is certainly true. An individual truly converted by the redeeming grace of God can never be lost to the clutches of sin and death. However, the security of salvation does not automatically grant assurance that we are saved—it only guarantees that those who believe in Christ will be fully and finally saved. There is a difference between the doctrine of eternal security and the reality of assurance in the life of a believer. Eternal security teaches that salvation is eternally secure for the one who believes in Christ. This security rests on the promise of God’s faithfulness, the securing power of God’s grace, and the sovereign glory of God in salvation. Assurance, on the other hand, is the firm conviction that God’s grace has saved you, which grows with Christian faithfulness, manifests itself by increasing holiness, can be shaken by a violated conscience, and will wane with patterns of neglect and rebellion. 

From a theological perspective, the security of the believer and personal assurance are best understood as the difference between the preservation of God and the perseverance of the saints. The Scriptures repeatedly and clearly call the believer to a faithful obedience and an enduring devotion to Christ. Behind such a call, however, is the related but distinct promise of God’s preservation of the saints. On the one hand, believers are commanded to strive in obedience if they want to enjoy the comforts of full assurance, yet security is never ultimately grounded in personal effort, but rather in God’s gracious work. God is the One who secures salvation, and, by His grace, saints are empowered to persevere in salvation. Thus, the grounds of personal assurance rest on both divine preservation (objective) and diligent perseverance (subjective).

Adapted from Free to Be Holy: The Liberating Grace of Walking by Faith by Jerry Wragg and Paul Shirley

Jonny Ardavanis on How to Renew Your Mind

Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect." We know what is being said in this passage, but some Christians struggle with how renewing their minds. What does that look like?

In this video, Jonny Ardavanis discusses how Christians can achieve a renewing of the mind.

Book Review: Impossible Christianity by Kevin DeYoung

Is Christianity Impossible? Are the commandments hard to follow? We know from 1 John 5:3 that God's commandments are not burdensome yet many in the church have made it hard to follow God.

Many Christians have put too many man-made rules for following God. Some have even made it hard for people to accept they are prone to stumble from time to time. Some Christians have said you have to live a life to turn the world upside-down to be used of God in His kingdom.

Kevin DeYoung, in his latest book, Impossible Christianity, wants his readers to know that yes, we can follow God, but do not have to be extraordinary to be used by Him. So, off the bat this book is the opposite of David Platt's Radical, which says we must be something to change the world. 

DeYoung addresses Paul's teaching the Christian life is a race where we all run as to get the prize and the end. We are to run with perseverance as the Bible states, but it does not have to be in front of a sold-out crowd or in a room full of skeptics. We can be followers of Christ as we live our day-to-day lives for the glory of God.

There are some misconceptions in the Christian life that DeYoung attempts to clear up. The one I will address is in Acts 2 where the church had everything in common and sharing their possessions. Many have looked at this as the Bible advocates for communism, which it does not. The Apostles never commanded them to share their resources with one another as what they did in the early church.

In the rest of the book, DeYoung addresses not feeling guilty when we fail because Christ has redeemed us. As well as being relieved if we do not do great things for God. In the Christian life, we are called to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. That does not always mean doing something extraordinary for the kingdom of God, but it does mean we follow Christ as we live in this world. DeYoung does a decent job communicating that in this book.

I received this book from Crossway in exchange for a review. 

Don't Avoid Leviticus

Most Christians started a new Bible reading plan in the beginning of the year. Most Bible reading plans begin with the book of Genesis and why not. It is the first book of the Bible after all. They make it through with no problem. 

Then they get to Exodus where we see God raising up Moses to set the Hebrew people from the oppression of the Egyptians. We make it pass the parting of the Red Sea to the Golden Calf along other laws Yahweh made to the people regarding worship. All good so far.

Then there is Leviticus... (Pause of effect). Most Christians shudder at the thought of reading this book. It is mostly due to the fact that the first seven chapters deal with the sacrifices that God demanded from the people. I am sure Leviticus causes some animal rights group to pop a blood vessel when they read this book. 

For most Christians, they want to avoid Leviticus because they see laws in there that make them wonder does God still demand these commandments to be obeyed, which is a very good question, which is not the purpose of this post for today.

The purpose for this post is not to make you feel guilty if you have skipped Leviticus or never read it. My encouragement for you is read Leviticus without any fear because if you are a Christian, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1). This book of the Bible is God-breathed and is "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). 

The book of Leviticus is a book about God's holiness and His expectations for the Hebrew people to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 11:44-45). God demands absolute perfection from His people. Now I am sure you are saying no one can be perfect and you are correct, which is why we can read Leviticus knowing we do have One who was perfect on our behalf, Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17), which also includes the sacrificial laws found the first seven chapters of Leviticus. My Old Testament professor, Dr. Bob Utley, said if you ignore these chapters, you cannot appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus. 

When Jesus died on the cross on our behalf, He not only demonstrated God's righteousness (Romans 3:26), but He also fulfilled the sacrificial system. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says Christ is our Passover lamb just the angel of death passed over the Israelites who has blood on their door posts as shown in Exodus 12.  

We can rejoice as we look into these seven chapters and realize that we have a Savior that met every one of the requirements for them to be acceptable to God. We do not have to read them and ponder why we do not do them today. We have all of the Bible, in particular the book of Hebrews, explaining why these sacrifices are not made today. Here a couple of passages:

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring you to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit (1 Peter 3:18).

Not sure when you will land in Leviticus in your Bible reading plan. I hope you do not skip it. Read it as the inspired, inerrant Word of God. See why these sacrifices were important and how we can rejoice that our Savior met all of them in our place as our Great High Priest.  

Jerry Bridges on Gospel-Driven Sanctification

Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, "The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct." Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst. The Bible is far more than a rulebook to follow. It is primarily the message of God's saving grace through Jesus Christ, with everything in Scripture before the cross pointing to God's redemptive work and everything after the cross--including our sanctification--flowing from that work. 

There is an element of truth in this statement, however, and the Holy Spirit used it to help me to see that the Bible is not to be read just to gain knowledge. It is, indeed, to be obeyed and practically applied in our daily lives. As James says, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). 

With my new insight, I prayed that God would use the Bible to guide my conduct. Then I began diligently to seek to obey it. I had never heard the phrase "the pursuit of holiness," but that became my primary goal in life. Unfortunately, I made two mistakes. First, I assumed the Bible was something of a rulebook and that all I needed to do was to learn what it says and go do it. I knew nothing of the necessity of depending on the Holy Spirit for his guidance and enablement. 

Still worse, I assumed that God's acceptance of me and his blessing in my life depended on how well I did. I knew I was saved by grace through faith in Christ apart from any works. I had assurance of my salvation and expected to go to heaven when I died. But in my daily life, I thought God's blessing depended on the practice of certain spiritual disciplines, such as having a daily quiet time and not knowingly committing any sin. I did not think this out but just unconsciously assumed it, given the Christian culture in which I lived. Yet it determined my attitude toward the Christian life.

Read the entire post here.

Jeff Johnson: Law and Gospel in Sanctification

Be Open Minded to the Knowledge of Christ

The more our minds are opened to take in the truth concerning the Person and work of the Redeemer, the more is the soul perfumed therewith, and the more are its faculties influenced thereby. A deeper experimental knowledge of Christ enables us to rest upon Him more simply for the whole of our salvation. It is through the truth that we become more firmly persuaded of the Father’s love to us in His Son, whereby is “the heart established in grace” (Heb 13:9). As our first believing of the gospel had a most powerful effect upon the heart, so our continued apprehensions of other portions of the truth produce beneficial results in the soul. It is because we shall have a perfect knowledge of Christ in heaven that there we shall be perfectly holy (1Jo 3:2).

A.W. Pink, The Doctrine of Sanctification