Once there was a pastor who preached a sermon on restitution and inexplicably left out any reference to electronic stealing—downloading music illegally, copying software, and all that. He was asked various questions about this after the message, and as a result he learned his lesson, and will never do that again. There’s the story part …
His Mercy Endures Forever
God is the God of food. He created food, and He created it in order to bestow it on his people. He made a world full of food, and has invited us to partake of all that He has set before us. This is His character; this is what He is like. As it says …
An Anarchic Personality
You know you have hit a real nerve — without necessarily knowing which nerve — when nonbelievers take a deep and abiding interest in the arcane intramural disputes among conservative Presbyterians. But here we are. Nick Gier, who has been one of the chief voices in our local disturbances here in Moscow, has been writing …
Christ the Lord of the Law
What is the relation between the law of God and the believer under the New Covenant? What does it mean to be under grace, and not under law (Rom. 6:14)? What does it mean when we say that Christ is the end of the law (Rom. 10:4)? “Owe no man any thing, but to love …
A Cloak for Shame
The word aischune is rendered as shame every time but one in the New Testament, and that one time it is translated as dishonesty. In Luke 14:9, the man who assumed the highest place was for him is forced to take the lowest place with shame, in humiliation. The crucifixion was a shame that Christ …
Always Consistent, Never Predictable
“Do not say what everybody expected you would say. Keep your sentences out of ruts. If you have already said, ‘Salvation is all of grace’ not not always add, ‘and not by human merit,’ but vary it and say, ‘Salvation is all of grace; self-righteousness has not a corner to hide its head in.’ . …
Angel of Death
“In 1929 we enter what we choose to call the axial decade for the formation of the American monomyth. Here the unknown redeemer on a horse becomes the ‘Masked Rider of the Plains’; his sexual renunciation is complete; he assume the uniform and the powers of angelic avengers; and thus he grows from mere heroism …
Christ the Lord of the Nations
If Jesus Christ is not the Lord of all nations, then He is not the Lord of any nation. If He is not the Lord of any nation, then He is not the Lord of any individual. If He is no one’s Lord, then you are still in your sins. But you are not in …
Crude Talk
The word aischrotes means filthiness, which is how it is rendered in Ephesians 5:4. In this context, it appears to be applied as a sin of speech. In the previous verse, Paul has addressed certain sins of the flesh that ought not to be committed (and therefore not named in their midst), and then in …
Egg the Pudding, But Don’t Overegg the Pudding
“It is well that there should be a goodly number of illustrations in our discourses. We have the example of our Lord for that: and most of the greatest preachers have abounded in similies, metaphors, allegories, and anecdotes. But beware of overdoing this business” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 136).