Introduction: What does it mean to be pro-life across the board? We know, of course, that abortion-on-demand is a gross violation of the law of God, and we also know that biblical parents are really “into” their kids. But the question is much larger than this, and so we need to consider the politics of …
Deep Lessons for a Shallow People
Israel has already been warned against chauvinism because of their election by God (7:6-10), and against economic smugness because of their coming prosperity (8:17ff). And here they are warned against the moral self-righteousness that afflicts those who are granted military superiority. “Hear, O Israel: Thou are to pass over Jordan this day . . .” …
Some Liturgical Housekeeping
Introduction: As a congregation we have grown a great deal over the years. We are very grateful for what God has given us, and we are even more grateful for what He has taken away from us. By faith, we trust that as the years go by, we will grow our roots even deeper into …
Obedience or Death
Recall that chapter eight of Deuteronomy is structured chiastically. We will now consider the second half of this chiasm. “Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day” (Deuteronomy 8:11-20). Remember the central point of this chapter is …
The Public Cross
Introduction: Jesus was crucified in a public way, and His death necessarily has public ramifications. There is no way to be fully faithful to the message of His death and resurrection in private. Private faith in this public event cannot, in the very nature of the case, remain private. The Text: “For I determined not …
Do Not Forget the Lord
Chapter eight of Deuteronomy (like chapter seven) is structured chiastically. But because of the richness of this material, we will take two sessions to cover the one chiasm. “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land …
Four Men
The task of exegesis is to unpack from the text what is already there. The task is not eisegesis, to import what it would be pleasant for me to find were I to have my druthers. If I go on a trip without my wife, when I get to the motel room, one of my …
Father Hunger
Introduction: We live in fatherless times. The symptoms are marked, and they are everywhere. In some ways, we have adjusted to it, and in others, we in the conservative Christian world have overreacted to this vacuum by trying to manufacture our own solutions to the problem, which invariably make it worse. The Text: “Behold, I …
Constant, Total War
The subject before us now is that of holy war and its relation to the First Commandment. In a pluralistic society, faithfulness to the First Commandment is necessarily a declaration of war. And this in turn leads to a certain lack of popularity. “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither …
A Fourth Decade of Psalms/Psalm 40
Introduction: While all the psalms are messianic, this is a great and glorious messianic psalm. The New Testament plainly declares it to have been fulfilled in Christ, and, given this, we learn a great deal about what Jesus came to accomplish. The Text: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and …