Jesus prayed

It’s a short sentence almost hidden (you will miss it if you read too quickly) between two accounts of healing by Jesus: “But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray” (Lk. 5:16). Now think about that for a minute. Jesus was a man, but He was also fully God. He had […]

Three portraits of Christ

In John 2, Christ interacts with three different groups of people: His mother and the members of a wedding party, the Jewish leaders in the Temple, and a broader group of people in Jerusalem. [Aside: It’s interesting that the ones who are most prominent at a wedding — the bride and groom — are not […]

The temptation of Christ

Among evangelicals, there are two ways of thinking about Christ and His temptation. No orthodox believer thinks that Christ sinned, but there is debate about whether he could have sinned. The view that Christ could have sinned is termed peccability (“able not to sin”) while the view that Christ could not have sinned is designated […]

Satan and temptation

The temptation of Jesus (Mt. 4:1-11) is often used as an illustration of how Satan attacks believers, or how believers should respond to Satan’s deceptive offerings, or how the Word of God is sufficient for every need, or how Christ is sympathetic to our temptations because He has endured every kind of temptation. All those […]

What shall we do?

I moved to Southern California early in the summer of 1984 — the year the Olympics were held in Los Angeles. Virtually as soon as we arrived, we noted that there was a barrage of information about what to do to prepare for the traffic nightmare that was anticipated to ensue as soon as the […]

He has authority

Writing in World a few years ago, Gene Veith observed that, “People today want to feel moral. But they do not want objective, transcendent absolutes — such as the Ten Commandments — whose authority comes from God.…They prefer to construct an ethical system that does not make them feel guilty.” In general, people want authority, […]

The beloved Son

It seems self-evident that a father would love his child. There are aberrations to that statement, but in general it’s true (as Christ Himself verified, Mt. 7:9-11). Even unredeemed men enjoy taking their sons to the park to throw the ball and are happily willing to sit down with their elementary-aged daughters for “tea.” And […]

This was to fulfill what was spoken…

In Matthew 5, Jesus says, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (v. 17). There might be a temptation to think that His fulfillment of the Law began with His public ministry. Not so. His fulfillment began with His birth, […]

It’s not just a name

When my wife was pregnant with our children, we spent many dinners and evenings reading names to each other from the baby name books. And until we settled on a final name, not wanting to call the baby, “baby,” we came up with interim names — monickers that tickled us as we read through the […]

God’s grace and genealogies

If you haven’t heard it already, probably within the next couple of weeks you will hear read (or read yourself) the genealogy of Jesus. What is one to do with such passages? We are to hear the grace of Christ, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones has noted: The Lord Jesus Christ has manifested his Father, and has […]

May I Go In There?

From Jared Wilson’s blog: This is taken from an illustration in John Phillips’ Exploring Hebrews commentary that has always moved me. Imagine with me a Moabite of old gazing down upon the Tabernacle of Israel from some lofty hillside. This Moabite is attracted to what he sees so he descends the hill and makes his […]

Pleasing God

Martin Luther: Now, we are sure that Christ pleases God, that he is holy and so on. Inasmuch, then, as Christ pleases God and we are in him, we also please God and are holy. Although sin still remains in us, and although we daily fall and offend, grace is more abundant and stronger than […]

Knowing Christ alone in ministry

John Flavel: “I determined to know nothing,” that is, to study nothing myself, to teach nothing to you, but “Jesus Christ.” Christ shall be the center to which all the lines of my ministry shall be drawn. I have spoken and written of many other subjects in my sermons and epistles, but it is all […]

Heaven’s gain

When a believer dies, it is not unusual to hear a response something like, “Our loss is heaven’s gain.” I have always taken such a sentiment to subtly suggest that in some manner, heaven has been deficient until this person has arrived, and that now because of their inherent abilities and worth, heaven has “gotten […]

Christ’s sacrifice

A healthy baby was born in the hospital down the street. Ho-hum. God provided for your basic needs again this week. Yawn. You shared the gospel with someone this week and he trusted Christ. Of course. Your spouse/child/parent/friend loves you. Okay. The extraordinary has become ordinary. It happens in life. And it happens in the […]