Clearly Reformed Podcast

This episode from Kevin DeYoung features the lecture that inspired the recent article, The Presbyterian Signers of the Declaration of Independence, reflecting on how their belief in the liberty of conscience came to be expressed in America as a zeal for new levels of religious freedom and a passion that the state not interfere in the least with the affairs of the church.

In this episode, Kevin reads his article Did the Jews Kill Jesus?, reflecting on who is responsible for the death of Christ, and how there is more than one true thing we can (and should) say in response to that question.

In this episode, Kevin DeYoung reads his article Did the Son of God Leave Heaven When He Came to Earth?, reflecting how the Son of God descended from heaven in such a way as to still be in heaven.

Kevin DeYoung explains why he agrees with some convictions tied to Christian Nationalism, yet rejects the label and offers a clearer path.

If you want a place with singing, celebration, joy and feasting, then live for the place where you get all those things forever. Christ welcomes you to that eternal home. He goes ahead of you to prepare a place for His disciples. He will take you by the hand and lead you into the promised land. But you have to leave Babylon to get there.“Come out of her, my people,” says the Lord, “lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

Boniface lived a remarkable life (accomplishing much for the gospel) and died a triumphant martyr’s death. It would fall to later generations to convert the heathen peoples of Germany, but the memory of Boniface inspired those efforts. We might say his principal work was reformation and revitalization. He was constantly enmeshed in organizational questions and issues of power-politics. Nevertheless, Boniface bore witness to Christ wherever he could—even at the cost of his life.In the end, for as much as Boniface is chiefly remembered for his axe, it was the many decades of sharing the gospel, discipling Christians, building monasteries and bishoprics, cultivating personal holiness, navigating conflict, and keeping his hand to the plow that made Boniface successful. That is the option Boniface chose for his life and ministry, and that is the option open to all of us.

In this season of political relevance, Kevin outlines key attributes from scripture that individuals in leadership positions should have.

“Man can have no other standard and signpost than things as they are and the truth which makes manifest things as they are; and there can be no higher standard than the God who is and His truth” (40). If Jesus is right, and surely he is, that we are sanctified by the truth (John 17:19), then there is no path to faithful Christian obedience and faithful cultural witness that does not begin in praise of prudence. In Praise of Prudence: What the Cardinal Virtues Can Teach Us About the Splintering of Evangelicalism

One of the first things we learn about God is that he is good. “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food.” Many of us grew up hearing this prayer at the dinner table. It’s good theology—simple and true.It also highlights an attribute of God that is surprisingly hard to define. We think we know what it means for God to be good, until we try to explain it. Then we usually start listing other attributes (God is loving, God is gracious, God is kind) or resort to platitudes (God helps us). It takes some reflection to understand all that we mean—or should mean—when we confess that God is good.

Good preaching should be trinitarian in content and in character. I’ve tried to reflect that emphasis in these three points—the word of the Father, the gospel of the Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Good preaching is not one thing, but many things. It instructs and it heralds; it comforts and corrects. This is the preaching God has always used, and it is still the preaching we need to hear from preachers today. In this episode of the Clearly Reformed Podcast, Kevin reads from his recent article written for Clearly Reformed critical components of effective preaching.

Clearly Reformed Podcast is a collection of original articles produced and read by pastor Kevin DeYoung for the ministry of Clearly Reformed. These articles are aimed at benefiting Christians with Bible truths and good theology presented clearly and applied carefully—to their lives and to the problems of our day.