Well, okay, it now looks like I need to offer a brief comment on the FV critics’ espionage network. Here’s the deal. Jim Jordan is the main dude at a ministry called Biblical Horizons. That ministry includes a private list discussion group, to which I belong. The list requirements concerning confidentiality are quite strict — …
Prayer for the Latter Rain
Recall that we are in the midst of the first great oracle in the latter portion of Zechariah. In this oracle thus far we have considered the rise of Alexander, the contrast of that evil man with Christ, and the triumph of the Maccabean resistance to Greek oppression. In this portion we see how the …
And That Means Preaching Through Leviticus
“We would give every portion of Scripture its fair share in our heart and head. Doctrine, precept, history, type, psalm, proverb, experience, warning, promise, invitation, threatening, or rebuke — we would include the whole of inspired truth within the circle of our teachings. Let us abhor all one-sidedness, all exaggeration of one truth and disparagement …
The Lord Against the Greeks
The prophet has given us a glimpse of the conquest of Alexander. In the midst of this vision, he jumps ahead so that we might see the character of another kind of conqueror, our Lord Jesus Christ. And then in this portion of Scripture, he returns to the scene established by the wars of Alexander, …
Taking Aim From the Pulpit
“God’s truth is searching: leave it to search the hearts of men without offensive additions from yourself. He is a mere bungler in portrait painting who nees to write the name under the picture when it is hung up in the family parlour where the person himself is sitting. Compel your hearers to perceive that …
The Just Shall Live By Faith
Okay. Faith and works. We will have to roll up our sleeves on this one. In this chapter Piper interacts with Wright’s assertion that our final justification is on the basis of the “complete life lived.” Wright says, and Piper agrees, that “the attempt to shore up justification by faith by saying that the life …
Declaration and Doing
Chapter Six of Piper’s book is about whether or not justification determines our standing with God, or whether, as Wright argues, it is God’s formal declaration that this standing has already been established. According to Wright, the declaration of the gospel of Christ’s kingship is “very much the means” that God uses to transform individuals, …
Push Back
One evening a father was sitting in front of the television, watching the evening news. His teenage son happened to walk through, and stopped for a moment. A commercial came on, and so the son said, “Dad, how can you bear to watch that stuff?” His father looked up. “Well, otherwise I would not know …
Humility Reigns
Recall that the last section of Zechariah consists of two great prophetic oracles. The first is found in chapters 9-11, and the second is 12-14. We come now to a glorious prophecy of the coming Christ. “The burden of the word of the Lord against the land of Hadrach . . .”(Zech. 9:1-10). The human …
Sermons Should Be Tailor-Made, Not Fetched Off the Rack
“Consider what sins appear to be most rife in the church and congregation — worldliness, covetousness, prayerlessness, wrath, pride, want of brotherly love, slander, and such like evils. Take into account, affectionately, the trials of your people, and seek for a balm for their wounds” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 87).