Introduction When God created the world, He immediately set about fashioning the world by means of division. He separated man into male and female, and pronounced it all very good. But He divides for the sake of richer union, and not for the sake of division itself. But what is the principle of this kind …
Imprecatory Prayer/Psalm 28
As the people of God, we must not ever be content with unanswered prayer. We cry out to the Lord, and we do not do this because we merely want to hear ourselves talking in a religious way. We do this because we seek deliverance and salvation. “Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my …
Foundations of Marriage VI
Introduction: What is marriage? On a subject like this, definitions are as important as false definitions are a threat. But as we define, we have to take care that we do not define as good little abstractionists. Biblical knowing, especially concerning marriage, is not a rarified exercise. Text: And the LORD God said, It is …
Inexorable Light/Psalm 27
If God is for us, then who can be against us? This is the fundamental faith of all who have suffered persecution for the cause of Christ. We see it throughout history, and we discover it in both testaments. One man and God outnumber everybody. “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall …
Adultery
We must always remember that sin muddles. Even though we live in a sex-crazed society, it does not follow from this that we understand sex, or sexual morality. The “openness” advocated by so many actually blurs the understanding. In such a situation, God’s law illumines; disobedience results not only in sexual immorality, but also sexual …
Salt and Light
We have been considering the character of the Christian in the Beatitudes. We now come to the effect that believers, who have this kind of character, will have on the world. “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing …
Christmas 2004
INTRODUCTION: On a number of different occasions, we have considered the importance of having our times and seasons defined in relation to Jesus Christ. The only alternative to this is to have them defined in reference to someone or something else, and this is obviously an unacceptable alternative to all faithful Christians. Jesus Christ really …
Judge Me, O God/Psalm 26
Without the confession of sin found in the previous psalm, this psalm taken by itself could be seen as arrogant or self-righteous. We always need the whole counsel of God. But in our day, we are far more likely to ignore the sentiments found here than we are to neglect the sentiments that urge us …
History as Wedding Preparation
We have come to the third Lord’s Day of Advent, and so we continue to prepare our hearts. This is not just a religious festival that we Christians observe. In all that we do in the presence of non-believers, we are making cosmic claims, and we believe them to be true. Put another way, the …
You Shall Not Commit Murder
It would be easy for Christians to assume that there is not much to say with regard to this commandment — God says not to murder people. But as is true with so many other things, we are most prone to error in the things we think we know. The Word of God says that …