God’s wisdom and the cross

He was just another New York City drunk. Found in a Bowery flophouse naked and with a deep gash in his throat, he was taken to the hospital where he languished for three days, unable to eat. He had lived to drink, and now he had died by the drink. A friend found him in […]

Meditate on the love of Christ

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is from The Christian on the Mount. Christ is as full of love as He is of merit. What was it but love that He should save us and not the fallen angels? Among the rarities of […]

Union with Christ

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Sermons of Thomas Watson. …our being with Christ is not only local, but conjugal: we shall so behold him, as to be made one with him. What nearer than union? what sweeter? Union […]

Sermon: The Victorious, Resurrected Christ

“The Victorious, Resurrected Christ” John 16:25-33 March 27, 2016 Author Sidney Sheldon and Groucho Marx were close friends and neighbors for a number of years. As Groucho got well into his 80s, he started a daily habit of visiting Sidney’s house each afternoon for a snack of an apple and a piece of cheese. “It […]

Let us prize Christ

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. As we would prove to the world that we have the impress of godliness on us, let us be prizers of Jesus Christ; he is elect, precious. Christ is the […]

Do we esteem Christ highly?

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. Is it the sign of a godly person to be a Christ-prizer? Then let us test our godliness by this: Do we set a high estimation on Christ? Question: How […]

A godly man esteems Christ precious

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. ‘Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious’ (1 Pet. 2:7). In the Greek it is ‘an honour’. Believers have an honourable esteem of Christ. The psalmist speaks like one […]

A godly man is a lover of the Word

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. ‘O how love I thy law’ (Psa. 119:97). A: A godly man loves the Word written. Chrysostom compares the Scripture to a garden set with knots and flowers. A godly […]

He came with peace

The following is a manuscript of the Christmas Eve message I gave tonight. You may also download a PDF, video, or audio of the message. Perhaps you heard about the massive headline on the front page of the New York Daily News the day after the shootings in San Bernardino, CA. A page-long headline surrounded […]

Learn humility from Christ

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from A Body of Divinity, and is a meditation on the incarnation of Christ. See here the wonderful humility of Christ. Christ was made flesh. O sancta humilitas, tu filium Dei descendere fecisti in uterum, […]

Why Christ took on flesh

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from A Body of Divinity, and is a meditation on the hypostatic union of Christ – answering a number of questions about His incarnation. Q. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist? A: In his being born, […]

Sermon: One Grateful Man

“One Grateful Man” Luke 17:11-19 November 22, 2015 It’s one of my (several) favorite Peanuts cartoons: Linus is shown sitting at a table, pencil in hand. In the second panel the paper he was writing on is crumpled with his expected exclamation, “Rats!” In the third panel we see a trash can surrounded by numerous […]

The first privilege of being with Christ

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Sermons of Thomas Watson. Here we enjoy Christ by letters, and that is sweet; but what will it be to enjoy his presence in glory? Here is that which may amaze us, we […]

Q & A: Christ’s heavenly throne

Following Sunday morning’s sermon, I had the following email interchange to clarify one point from the message on Romans 1:4. The essence of the question is, “just what does it mean that Christ was “declared [a better translation is “appointed”] the Son of God with power?” Q: I wanted to ask you for a bit […]

Sermon: Paul, God, and the Gospel (Pt. 2)

“Paul, God, and the Gospel” Pt. 2 Romans 1:1-7 May 24, 2015 A few years ago I saw a book in the bookstore and was curious about the title and book, Jesus, Life Coach, so I looked it up online and found this description from the editors: There was a time when only athletes had […]