Sermon: Accused and Condemned

“Accused and Condemned” Romans 3:19-20 August 28, 2016 A number of years ago singer Billy Joel talked about his spiritual life: “I wasn’t raised Catholic, but I used to go to Mass with my friends and I viewed the whole business as a lot of very enthralling hocus-pocus. There’s a guy…nailed to a cross and […]

Sermon: The Weightiness of Sin, Pt. 5

“The Weightiness of Sin” Pt. 5 Romans 3:18 August 21, 2016 Unless you are a fan of rock climbing, you likely don’t know the name of Alex Honnold. But among a particular group of climbers — solo climbers — those who climb without a rope or any protective equipment of any kind, and often even […]

Sermon: The Weightiness of Sin, Pt. 4

“The Weightiness of Sin” Pt. 4 Romans 3:15-17 August 14, 2016 Like many of you, I get news updates on my phone; several times a day I’ll get a notification on my home screen about some breaking news event: it’s hot in Texas; it’s raining everywhere but in Texas; someone won a gold medal at […]

Sermon: The Weightiness of Sin, Pt. 3

“The Weightiness of Sin” Pt. 3 Romans 3:13-14 August 7, 2016 A blog that I occasionally read recently published, “50+ Old Fashioned Insults We Should Bring Back.” In the author’s estimation, we have lost the ability to insult others in “clever, nuanced, descriptive, and… amusing” ways. So he made an appeal to reincorporate some older […]

Sermon: The Weightiness of Sin, Pt. 2

“The Weightiness of Sin,” Pt. 2 Romans 3:10-12 July 24, 2016 In 1990, our country was embroiled in a nationwide debate over a decision that had been made in Washington D.C. President George (H. W.) Bush made a decision that not everyone appreciated, but it was one that he had been contemplating for many years. […]

Sermon: The Weightiness of Sin

“The Weightiness of Sin” Romans 3:9 July 17, 2016 Every year for the past four years, Zimbabwe has hosted a most unusual pageant. You know there are beauty pageants for women and there are a few for men, but this one in Zimbabwe is quite different. It has been held now for four consecutive years; […]

Grab bag

Joe Carter asks if there’s even any actual demand for same-sex marriage. David Murray offers a dozen suggestions to stave of Bible reading that’s become boring. I have regularly used a number of these for many years. It’s a very helpful list. I always like to read about what others are reading. Here is a […]

It’s not going to get better. But there is an answer.

In the middle of his second and final letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul writes a sober and startling statement: “But realize this, that in the last times difficult times will come” (3:1). That sentence jars the reader into wakefulness. That is not the kind of sentence that we like to read. Our presupposition is […]

The kinds of men God saves

Jeremiah said that, “the heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (17:9). That statement affirms the doctrine of depravity — a man’s heart might desire sin far worse and far more than one can conceive. Depravity does not mean that a man sins as much as he […]

The Hobbit

While the ratio of reading fiction books compared to non-fiction (and even more specifically, secular to spiritual) has decreased over the years, I still read a few non-fiction works. I read them for pleasure, as well as just exposing myself to good writing and good vocabulary. And sometimes those non-fiction works also have significant spiritual […]

Grab bag

Items of interest with biblical implications from around the internet in the past week: Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the death of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Justin Taylor has compiled short biographical videos and a number of other resources of interest concerning the great preacher’s life. Paul Tripp talks about the grace of confession — “no […]

Good without God? We can be better?

A few weeks ago, the city of Fort Worth created quite a stir when four city buses began carrying an advertisement from the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason stating, “Millions of Americans are Good Without God.” [Fort Worth Star-Telegram.] Negative response to the advertising campaign led to the city quickly deciding that no buses would […]

We are beggars

It’s generally not a welcome sight. And it’s not something that is often seen in my neighborhood, nor probably in yours either. But in the neighborhood where my wife and I had our first apartment, it was not unusual to see a man diving in the dumpster outside our apartment for small bits of edible […]

Sunday Leftovers (8/23/09)

“The greatest thing in the world is to be saved.” Many, obviously, have believed this. But one man spoke that to his pastor even while he was lying on his death bed. And one of the realities that will stimulate us to believe that salvation is great is understanding just how lost we were prior […]

Today’s Quote – Indwelling Sin (Spurgeon)

Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: Watch the twists and turns and singularities of your own mind, and the strangeness of your own experience; the depravity of your heart, and the work of divine grace; your tendency to sin, and your capacity for holiness; how akin you are to a devil, and yet how allied […]