Jesus is always the one who surprises. We think we know what piety and devotion are . . . until Jesus tells us to do the opposite. “Then said he unto the disciples, ‘It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that …
Samuel and Saul
INTRODUCTION:We are now introduced to the first king over all Israel, a man who began well and ended poorly. There are signs of trouble from the very beginning, but there is also grace from God that is clearly present. The fact that we know there will be a fall does not prevent the goodness bestowed …
What God Does Every Time
When we come to this Table, we do so as forgiven sinners. Grace has dealt with the past, and has done so in such a way as that the past no longer matters. Under the blood of Christ, God doesn’t care what you have done. As grace has washed away every stain, it follows that …
Contrasts
We gather as one body, but we all different troubles. We gather as one body, but we all rejoice in different bits of news. Some of you suffer strained family relations. Some of you have financial pressures. Some of you have to deal with the grinding ingratitude of others, who should know better. Some of …
Natural Law and the Brownies
Let me see if I can do something to simplify the idea of natural law or, as I would prefer to state it, natural revelation. A couple of boys go home after school, accompanied by a couple of their unbelieving friends. When they get to the house, they find it clean and in good order. …
Sam and Miranda
This is a Christian wedding, a doorway into a Christian marriage. What is it that makes it a Christian wedding? It is not the fact that it is occurring inside a Christian church—because it isn’t. A Christian wedding can occur in a church, of course, but that is not what makes it Christian. Sam and …
An Inept Farmer With a Dull Knife
One of the more striking arguments that David Bahnsen made about Ron Paul was this one. Why is Paul considered a champion of the Constitution when Lew Rockwell, his ideological twin, thinks the Constitution was a statist scam from the beginning? The chances are good that Paul believes the same thing about the origins of …
More on Old School Marriage
My recent post on old school marriage has generated some questions about the biblical necessity of marriage vows. I had argued that a marriage is constituted when two elements are both present — a sexual union and a socially recognized commitment and bond (vows), which result in a particular legal status for that couple. In …
Baptized Into Promise, Not Law
“Circumcision began with the promise, to use Paul’s terms, and not with the law. It is part of the promise to Abraham, and was not instituted at Sinai” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 22)
Preach Biography
“God is the great, original, and continual biographical preacher . . . God did not reveal himself in abstract truth, but in a life — in the life of his son Jesus Christ” (Macartney, Preaching Without Notes, p. 121).