INTRODUCTION:Although the sin of our first parents had placed us under bondage to the serpent, God very quickly gave us a promise that we would be avenged upon that serpent. He thus established the antithesis and promised a Messiah in the same place. This running battle is seen throughout Scripture, and the obligation to pursue …
Application is Not Legalism
“There are many pastors today who, for fear of being branded ‘legalists’, give their congregation no ethical teaching. How far we have strayed from the apostles! ‘Legalism’ is the misguided attempt to earn our salvation by obedience to the law. ‘Pharisaism’ is a preoccupation with the externals and minutiae of religious duty. To teach the …
The Necessity of Application
“When we proclaim the gospel, we must go on to unfold its ethical implications, and when we teach Christian behaviour we must lay its gospel foundations” (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 157).
The Word Earthed
“This earthing of the Word in the world is not something optional; it is an indispensable characteristic of true Christian preaching” (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 145).
A Father and Brother
INTRODUCTION:In this great passage, we are introduced to David right after we are told that the Spirit had come upon him. We see the work of the Spirit first, and then we learn David’s name. THE TEXT:“And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from …
Do It Right, Not Wrong
“Beware of stuffing the text. And yet it is the true excellence of an exposition to see remote connections. The text should not be evacuated” (John Brentnall, “Just a Talker”: Sayings of John (“Rabbi”) Duncan, p. 141).
Landing the Application
“On the one hand, conservatives are biblical but not contemporary, while on the other liberals and radicals are contemporary but not biblical . . . Is it not possible for liberals to learn from conservatives the necessity of conserving the fundamentals of historic, biblical Christianity, and for conservatives to learn from liberals the necessity of …
Asking Right
“If we become exclusively preoccupied with answering the questions people are asking, we may overlook the fact that they often ask the wrong questions and need to be helped to ask the right ones. If we acquiesnce uncritically in the world’s own self-understanding, we may find ourselves the servants rather of fashion than of God” …
The Preacher As Road Engineer
[Speaking of orthotomeo in 2 Tim. 2:15] “Modern versions prefer something like ‘rightly handling’ the Word (RSV), or handling it ‘correctly’ (NIV), but these are too vauge. For the word has a more precise meaning, namely to ‘cut straight’, and the image conveyed is either that of the ploughman or of the road maker” (Stott, …
Standing With the Text
“If we are expounding God’s Word with integrity and honesty, we can be very bold” (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 132).