The lovingkindness of God

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised” (Ps. 48:1). The words are familiar to us. He is great. We do praise Him. But do we think on Him in ways that are fitting of Him? Do we consider His character and His activities and recognize them as the facets of greatness that they […]

The flesh is weak

The crucifixion of Christ would occur within hours. So Jesus went to the garden to pray and asked the three disciples in the “inner core” — Peter, James, and John — to also pray (Mk. 14:32-42). These were not immature or ungodly men. They loved Christ. Peter had just professed that he would die for […]

Sunday Leftovers — The Supremacy of Christ

Christ is supreme over all things. He always has been. When creation began, He was already in existence, co-eternal with God the Father. He was, in fact, the One who created all things. And one week after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He demonstrated that supremacy for all men to see with His resurrection. That […]

God, our refuge

While redeemed from sin, no believer in Christ lives perfectly. Every believer knows the daily (hourly? minute-by-minute?) battle with the flesh. Paul knew it (see Romans 7:14-25) and so do we. How can a believer stand more effectively? What will transform our hearts and change the way we live so that we are more like the […]

Unless the Lord had shortened the days…

Psalm 1 says it about as simply and clearly as it can be said: “the wicked will not stand in the judgment” (v. 5). But few believe it. Ask an unbeliever about hell and the judgment of God and he will characterize them as a debauched party with friends or something severe, but manageable — […]

What belongs to God?

In the final days of Jesus, His opponents used various means to attempt to discredit His teaching and malign His character. The questions they asked were not genuine desires to learn from Him or to clarify their understanding; the queries were not-so-cleverly disguised attempts to trap Him into saying something unintended that would make Him […]

Hope in God

Three times the Psalmist says in Psalms 42-43 that he should hope in God. He says this as a reminder to himself because he is in despair. He is discouraged and distraught — even brought to tears (Ps. 42:5) by a variety of pressures and burdens: attacks from critics who deny the reality of God […]

He came in the name of the Lord

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, and this morning’s Scripture reading (Mark 11) recalls the event of Christ’s ride into Jerusalem. There was much joy that day and declarations from the Psalms of Praise were sung as shouted as Jesus and the crowds processed into Jerusalem. One statements that was called out was, “Blessed is He […]

The innumerable works of God

Of all the attitudes that might be cultivated towards God, one of the most dangerous is complacency. Because God is majestic and supreme to be bored with Him is sin. Because God is infinitely gracious to all mankind and particularly gracious towards those who belong to Him, to take His work for granted is an […]

Is death reason to doubt God?

This morning I read this sentence from J. I. Packer: “It has become conventional to think as if we are all going to live in this world forever and to view every case of bereavement as a reason for doubting the goodness of God.” And then I read this sentence from Jesus (John 11:14-15): “Lazarus […]

Sin speaks

We are familiar with the truth of 2 Corinthians 4:7 — “…the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” But reading that verse, we might wonder, “Christ is so […]

Praise is becoming

One of the most common commands in Scripture is, “Praise the Lord” (or some derivation of that imperative). The follower of God is to give worship to and find joy in God in all things and at all times. Sometimes, the God-follower is simply commanded to praise God, and on other occasions, as in Psalm […]

The work of the Word

This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrine is holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to […]

Those perplexing brackets in the Bible

The account of the adulterous woman at the beginning of John 8 has created no small amount of interpretative challenges. Two questions will help us sort out some of the basic issues and facts. 1. Why are there brackets around this story? The story (7:53 – 8:11) is bracketed because there is a question whether […]

George Herbert — The 23rd Psalm

The God of love my shepherd is, And he that doth me feed: While he is mine and I am his, What can I want or need? He leads me to the tender grasse, Where I both feed and rest; Then to the streams that gently passe: In both I have the best. Or if […]