God has been kind enough to give us yet another Advent season, and so we should be resolved to live in it as true Christians. This means standing against the spirit of this age. This means learning what Scripture intends when it says that there is a way that seems right unto a man, and …
Becoming Israel
The Lord Jesus arrived in Israel two thousand years ago in order to show Israel a new way of being Israel. Of course this “new” way was the way that God had always intended; the new way was actually the old way. A new commandment I give you, John said, but it is not actually …
False Witness
Introduction: For Christians who want to be biblically grounded, the sin and crime of bearing false witness is a very big deal. It is serious for two great reasons. The first is that it is a violation of God’s holy law, which reflects His character. It was by means of this particular evil; technique that …
The Potency of Right Worship
Introduction: Many of the problems confronting modern Christians is that they diligently try to do the right thing . . . in the wrong categories. They try guitar fingering on a mandolin; they try chess rules on a backgammon board; they apply the rules of French grammar to English. And for us to draw attention …
Start by Dying
The cross of Jesus Christ is the grace of God, extended to the world. When we are given the privilege of being joined to Christ in order to die in union with Him, and to be raised in union with Him, this too is grace. It is liberation from self-absorption. The cruciform life is therefore …
The Kingdom of God is Not Like Crackers
The Supper of the Lord is not simply a continuation of the festival of Passover. It was instituted at that festival, and certain features of that feast are still incorporated in what we do here. For example, this cup is called by the apostle Paul the cup of blessing, which was the third cup in …
Unbelief and Pumpkin Pie
So we have come to Thanksgiving 2017, year of our Lord. On the one hand, we have an enormous amount to be grateful for. Things are still relatively stable. We were able to buy the turkey at CostCo with little difficulty. On the way home, the traffic lights were all still working. The roads were …
On Bear-Hugging Our Troubles
Job tells us that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward (Job 5:7). But there are different kinds of trouble, different kinds of adversity, different kinds of affliction. First there is the kind that we pull down onto our own heads. “For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: And …
The Apostles Creed 19: The Forgiveness of Sins
Introduction: One of the central features of the new covenant is the glorious reality of forgiveness of sins. In Hebrews 8, Jeremiah’s prophecy of the new covenant is quoted at some length (Heb. 8:8-12). But several chapters later, it is quoted again, but this time in abbreviated form. This abbreviation shows what aspects of the …
And There Slain
When envy has you by the throat, what can you do? It might appear to you in virulent forms, or it might seem almost invisible—camouflaged nicely to fit in with what you have come to call the principle of the thing. Envy is one of the hardest sins to admit, and it is one of …