Forgiving God?
If God deals wrongly with me, God has sinned, and He is no God at all.
I must learn the humility of a creature, that there are many—if not most or all—things beyond my grasp, and that God’s ways and wisdom are not my own. Scripture assures me this King is for me, not against me (Romans 8:31ff), calling me to entrust myself to him amidst the hardest providences. Plans... Continue Reading
Sovereignty and Evangelism
God can give us peace in our hearts as we present the Gospel and trust in the Holy Spirit to do His work.
What a joy it is to believe in a sovereign God. He has not sent us on a fool’s errand. He is faithful. He saves sinners. He uses foolish means to bring people to faith. What a joy it is to serve that type of sovereign King. I recently sat across the table from... Continue Reading
Hey Leaders: Let’s Do Hard (Christian) Things
Real toughness is not about callous bravado, but instead about the ability to navigate difficulty with grace and an unwavering focus on what matters.
The evangelical church over the next thirty years is going to pay the price for paying too much attention to the wrong kind of leadership toughness. It already is. Just read the books that are dealing with the outflow of poor leadership. And it seems to me that at a sophisticated level, there are often... Continue Reading
Spurgeon’s Sermon and My Suffering
It has been my experience that what Spurgeon says, that “We always learn much more by our griefs and woes than by anything else” is true and will be until the final day of this earth, when all suffering will finally cease.
In this sermon, Spurgeon speaks of and to “burden-bearers” of various sorts, comparing them to the Gershonites spoken of and to in the book of Numbers—a family in the tribe of Levi called to bear holy burdens and responsible for the moving of the priestly ornaments. As I’m presently one of these Gershonites—no longer bed-bound,... Continue Reading
The Lamb of Propitiation and Expiation
As a Christian, you have been delivered from from your slavery to sin and from the enslavement that can come as a result of the sins committed against you.
When the Angel of the Lord saw the blood on the houses of God’s people, he “passed over” those houses and all inside the home were allowed to live. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was to serve as a yearly reminder of God’s passing over his people. The blood of the lamb also served as... Continue Reading
His Majesty Lifts the Lowly
The attractive force of God’s mercy.
Behind Psalm 8, the second “song of majesty” is Psalm 145, where we also find “two modes” of divine majesty. The fourth stanza praises God’s regal highness in the more typical terms: glory and power, mighty deeds, situated in “his kingdom,” under his kingly dominion. This is the stuff of natural majesty. Then the fifth... Continue Reading
What Does Psalm 23:1 Mean?
Psalm 23, with its exodus themes of rescue, companionship in the valley, and hosting in the wilderness—all the way to the shepherd’s house—is itself a little Bible within the little Bible of the Psalms.
The beauty of Psalm 23 is that it is so simple and clear that it almost needs no interpretation or exposition. It is short, easily memorized, and it has poetic images and a lyrical tilt which has lodged this song in the collective consciousness of every believer through the ages. But when you unload the... Continue Reading
Jesus Is the Light of the World… and So Are We
Christians are meant to exert their influence so obviously that no matter how far from the light a person might be they can still see it in the distance.
Jesus exposed a lot of things that had been in the dark for a long time. He shined the light on the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of the day. He refused to accept half-hearted devotion to becoming a true follower of God. He called sin “sin” and He extended love and truth with His... Continue Reading
Retrieving Christus Victor
We should preach Christus Victor, since it is both biblical and able to brace believers against the very real evil at work in our world.
It is impossible to ignore the motif of victory in Christ’s work. Therefore Aulén’s contention that Christus Victor has been understated among Protestants is worth consideration. Towards the beginning of his book, Aulén outlines four reasons he believes the classic view has been neglected. One of them is his claim that many moderns find conflict... Continue Reading
The Spirit’s Fruit: Kindness
Kindness is a fruit of the indwelling Spirit because all the redeemed will reciprocate God’s redeeming kindness.
When the children of God show the kindness of the true and living God, the God of all kindness is made known, is glorified, and is enjoyed. What did the world learn from Stephen’s kindness? They learned Stephen was not in the grip of cruelty and animus like they were: “Look how these Christians so... Continue Reading
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