Scripture teaches us that sin is not just bad, but that it is also deceitful. It masquerades. This is why we must exhort one another. “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). There are many ways this can …
Failure to Feed
When we come to this Table, we are, most of us, coming to it again. God not only feeds us, but He feeds us continually, regularly. And even if you are coming here for the first time, it is the first time of many. God’s purpose is to sustain you. He is the Creator of …
And to Breathe
“Preaching is a speaker-hearer relationship, and the preacher has to learn to give the hearer space to listen” (Motyer, Preaching? p. 11).
The Nature of Natural Law
Yesterday I came home from the Auburn Avenue conference for pastors, which is always a grand time. One thing that happened there was this. During his talk, Jim Jordan spent some time castigating the idea of natural law, and during the Q&A I was asked about it, because I have been making friendly noises about …
The Face of Jesus Christ
We honestly have very little idea what Jesus Christ looked like. We worship Him as the visible image of the invisible Father, and yet we do not know what that visible image looks like. What kind of visible image is that? We know what the paintings of Him look like, and they generally all have …
When Troubles Come Thick
There are times—and this may be one of them for you—when troubles come thick, and there seems to be no end, and you cannot touch the bottom with your feet. Man is born to trouble, as Scripture says, as the sparks fly upward. But here is the encouraging word. “I waited patiently for the Lord; …
Lord, Change Me
When God intervenes to save a people, to restore a culture, He does it in accordance with His good pleasure and by means of His sovereign power. We don’t need to provide anything other than our own helplessness. We cannot make Him do it, and we cannot prevent Him from doing it. The Spirit, like …
Jacob and Rebekah
One of the things that we see throughout all Scripture is how weddings are associated with joy. Before the Fall of our first parents, Scripture opens its pages with a wedding, beautiful in its promise and innocence. At the conclusion of Scripture, in the book of Revelation, we see another wedding, even more beautiful. All …
State of the Church 2014
Introduction It is our custom to have a “state of the church” message every year around this time. Sometimes the message has to do with the church nationally, and other times the point is more local, pertaining to our own congregation. This year I want to focus on this congregation, and the point of this …
Base Line Generosity
Gratitude for God’s liberality toward us is best displayed in liberality toward others. If we think that we can learn gratitude best when buried under a pile of gifts, but that other people need to learn it by husbanding scarce resources, we are demonstrating that we have learned virtually nothing. God does not dispense His …