Introduction: We have emphasized before that the psalter is not just a collection of songs, but it is also a model for prayer. We do not ever want to get our prayers to the point where they are “holier” than the prayers offered up in the Bible. And we should not forget to mention that …
Love and Liberty
The theme we have been developing is that self-government is the ground of all other government. Men and women who cannot govern themselves will in fact be governed by others. The less government they have at home, in the heart, the more government from the outside will necessarily be imposed. This liberty we are speaking …
Perfect Fellowship
In order for this to be a meal of true fellowship, it must be a meal of perfect fellowship. God is the God of all perfections, and He cannot look upon evil. He cannot fellowship with sin, or countenance iniquity. How then is possible for us to be here? We are fallen, sinful, and corrupt. …
The Peril of Zero Sum Counseling
Introduction: Given the times we live in, and that fact that it is an evil day, I believe it is necessary to explain and defend a particular assumption that should under-gird all pastoral counseling, particularly marriage counseling. I first learned this assumption from my father decades ago, and it has been an integral part of …
Eighth Decade of Psalms: Psalm 73
Introduction: Asaph was an important singer in Israel, and this is the second psalm composed by him. In addition, it is the first of eleven in a row by him. We do not have any details of his biography, as we do with David, but we (possibly) learn a great deal about his personal piety …
Grace and Gospel Down in the Bones
Without self-government, no other form of righteous government is possible. The only way to balance form and freedom in any larger society is when the individuals in that society know how to balance form and freedom in their own lives. The framework of structured liberty is freedom from vice on the individual level. Those who …
At Home in Your Perplexities
When we come to commune with the Lord here, we are coming as we are. We have confessed all known sin at the beginning of the service, but as we come here to fellowship with the Lord, we still have all our difficulties, all our sorrows, all our troubles, and all our perplexities. In other …
Being Careful on the Trinity
If you travel the same web byways that I do, over the last week or so you may have noticed that a ruckus over the Trinity erupted. The occasion was the fact that some complementarians have wanted to ground the submission of a wife to her husband in the “eternal subordination” of the Son to …
Eighth Decade of Psalms: Psalm 72
Introduction: There are two psalms attributed to Solomon. This is one of them and Ps. 127 is the other. Some have been baffled by the reference here to David in v. 20, but this likely refers to the conclusion of the second book of psalms, and not to this individual psalm. Solomon’s psalm was included …
Two Birds With One Stoner
We have been looking at self-control as the foundation of all civic and political liberty. Living as we do in a time when such liberty is eroding at alarming rates, we need to make sure that when we run our spiritual inventories we do not do what sinners always love to do, which is to …