INTRODUCTION How do we as individuals respond to the situation we find ourselves in? How can we be faithful in our generation? These very practical questions, and they require answers that are equally practical. What are we to do? How are we to live? THE TEXTS And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all …
Spiraling Away
I have recently been doing some thinking on Psalm 115. In the eighth verse, the psalmist tells us that men become like the idols they worship. And since he has already explained that all idols–whether formed by the hands or forged in cracked brains–are blind, deaf, dumb and lame, the men who worship them assume …
The Politics of Sodomy: Has It Come to That?
INTRODUCTION Often we confront problems in our individual lives, or in our families, and after we have exhausted all the possibilities in our hunt for a solution, we ask others to pray for us. “Oh,” some might be tempted to think. “Has it come to that?” We must learn to begin where we are sometimes …
Break Their Evil Arms/Psalm 10
As with so many of the psalms, this psalm shows one of God’s saints in great turmoil over the condition of the fat and sassy attitude of those who rebel against heaven. “Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? . . .” (Ps. 10:1-18). In a world …
Poetic Justice/Psalm 9
In this psalm, David recounts his fight with the heathen who had invaded his nation. David writes during the course of a brief respite in the battle. He celebrates a great deliverance in the first part of the psalm (vv. 1-12), and calls for further deliverance in the remainder of the psalm (vv. 13-20). “I …
The Politics of Sodomy: Not Whether But Which
INTRODUCTION In many respects, we are like a man who lives in a house that is increasingly cluttered and trashed. When the day finally arrives when it becomes obvious that he must do something, it is equally obvious at the same time, that he has no idea what to do, or where to start. He …
The Politics of Sodomy: The Real Sin of Sodom
INTRODUCTION What could possibly be meant, “The Real Sin of Sodom?” Isn’t is obvious? The sin of homosexual behavior draws its name from Sodom. What could be more obvious? And should we be suspicious of any attempt to draw our attention elsewhere? As always, the answer to such questions is, “It depends.” THE TEXT Behold, …
Under His Feet/Psalm 8
The eighth psalm is another psalm of David. The import of the psalm is glorious, and the Gittith probably refers somehow to the joyful aspect and nature of the psalm. “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. . . .” (Ps. …
Pleasant Words
INTRODUCTION Messages on the tongue can easily cause every Christian to respond with some sort of uh oh. We all know how readily we sin with the tongue, and if a preacher is aiming for conviction it is fairly easy to hit that target through preaching on “sins of the tongue.” But we all know, …
Suspensions From the Supper
INTRODUCTION The purpose of this message is to explain and defend a certain practice required by our church constitution, and to do so in the only manner acceptable to us, which is through an appeal to the Scriptures. In recent months, we have had a small flurry of suspensions from the Lord’s Supper, which has …