INTRODUCTION: Confession of sin is a basic activity that all Christians need to understand and practice. It is the most fundamental form of spiritual housekeeping. THE TEXT: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just …
Promise Before Law
We have learned that those who are under the law are under a curse. This is because being under the law does not mean that one keeps the law; rather, it means that one does not keep it, and is therefore under condemnation. How can sinful men be delivered from this state of condemnation? And …
Abraham and the Gospel
We come now to the glorious example of Abraham, and the apostle Paul draws much gold out of the mines of Genesis. We will be occupied with this gold for much of the remainder of the third chapter of Galatians. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye …
Faith Alone, Faith Always
The reason there is a crisis in Galatia is because the saints have given the time of day to a teacher or teachers they ought to have ignored. Paul brings this basic problem home to the Galatian believers in a very pointed way. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey …
The Faith of Jesus
We now come to a discussion of a showdown between Peter and Paul at Antioch. The confrontation, the reasons for it, and the solution to it, are all filled with instruction for us. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that …
Veggie-Tale Eschatology
I tried to post a comment over at Pyromaniacs, but my google password is one I hardly ever use, and it is down at the office anyway, I think, Perhaps. Anyhow, I am driven to comment here. Under the heading of “The Plain Sense Meaning ‘World’ in John 3:16,” my friend Phil Johnson said: “I …
A Good Confession (1 Timothy 6:11-21)
INTRODUCTION: As we conclude our consideration of this epistle to Timothy, we will be reminded of the false teaching that would rob us of our inheritance and of the riches of this world which would distract us from it. We will also be reminded, in a wonderful way, of just how glorious that inheritance actually …
The Root of Contentment (1 Tim. 6:1-10)
INTRODUCTION: We have contrasted the difference between reformation and revolution. When we are confronted with great social evils, the revolutionary response is to attack the evils in such a way as to multiple the evils, and sorrows along with them. Reformation approaches the whole thing with a different heart and a different spirit. THE TEXT: …
Men From James
The ancient church, like the modern church, was not without its tensions and differences. Those tensions existed even among the apostles, and how they were addressed gives us direction and guidance. But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they …
False Brothers
In the Christian faith, particular events, schedules, persons and conversations matter. They matter because we are talking about God’s intervention in history. The gospel is not a detached and abstracted affair—a set of timeless truths in the heavenlies. Particularity matters a great deal. Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, …