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The Multi-Layered Story of Our Salvation (John Calvin)
John Calvin says that being a Christian is all about Jesus: ‘our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ.’ In other words, when we become part of the story of Jesus we enter into the multi-layered story of our salvation:
- our salvation— in his very name
- our untroubled expectation of judgment—in the power given to him to judge
- our protection, security, abundant supply of all blessings—in his Kingdom;
- our gifts of the Spirit—in his anointing
- our strength—in his dominion
- our purity—in his conception
- our gentleness—in his birth
- our redemption—in his passion
- our acquittal—in his condemnation
- our remission from the curse—in his cross
- our satisfaction—in his sacrifice
- our purification—in his blood
- our reconciliation—in his descent into hell;
- our mortification of flesh—in his tomb
- our newness of life—in his resurrection
- our immortality—in the same
- our inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom—in his entrance into heaven
Calvin concludes, ‘In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.’[1]
[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (ed. John T. McNeill; trans. Ford Lewis Battles; 2 vols.; Library of Christian Classics 20–21; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960 [1559]), 527-28.
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Living in Christ’s Story (sermon, essay, prayer)
I have posted a new sermon, essay and prayer on my Resources page.
Living in Christ’s Story (Faith & Hope) (1 Corinthians)
MP3 | Read | Summerfest Team Training | 4 January 2010
Cruciformity (The Theology of the Cross and the Christian Life in 1 Corinthians)
Read | Moore Theological College New Testament 3 | 2009
Prayer for Haiti
Read | St Phillips, York Street | 17 January 2010
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Loneliness and God’s Story
Loneliness and God’s Story (Psalm 139) is a sermon I wrote a number of years ago and preached again recently at St Phillips, York Street. You can find it on my Resources page along with a number of other stuff I have shared in the past.