Only God

We like stories. Sometimes they are dramatic, sometimes inspiring, sometimes perplexing, sometimes amusing, and almost always entertaining. But we don’t just tell stories to entertain each other. Our stories have purpose; they are designed ultimately to illustrate a truth and instruct the mind and conscience. The writers of Scripture used stories in the same way […]

What grace we have received

John 1:16 has long been one of my favorite verses — “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” The verse is written in the context of the coming of the eternally existing Word — the One who is co-existent with God and is God Himself. The Word, the second member […]

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 […]

Hymn Story — Just As I Am

The backgrounds to many of our hymns and songs provide additional testimony of God’s goodness and grace, expanding the effect of the words we sing. The hymn, “Just As I Am,” is another work that grows in significance when we learn the story of its author, Charlotte Elliott: Just as I am, without one plea, […]

Looking for a truth to stimulate gratitude?

Here is a truth to encourage gratitude this Thanksgiving Day: “There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.” [Richard Sibbes] HT: Of First Importance.

The mercy of sickness

Charles Spurgeon: There is no greater mercy that I know of on earth than good health except it be sickness; and that has often been a greater mercy to me than health. It is a good thing to be without a trouble; but it is a better thing to have a trouble, and know how […]

Why do you enter relationships?

Preparing for my sermon on Sunday, I came across this statement by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp: We enter relationships for personal pleasure, self-actualization, and fun. We want low personal cost and high self-defined returns. But God wants high personal cost and high God-defined returns. And although we frequently disagree with God, his plan is […]

In My Seat

Here is an amazing story of God’s grace and sovereignty from 9/11/01, told by an American Airlines first office, who should have been on Flight 11 that day — the first flight that flew into one of the Twin Towers. (HT: Challies)

Founded on the gospel

I almost missed it. This morning, my Bible reading began in 2 Chronicles. And there, tucked into the account of the construction of the Temple in Israel was a little gem of grace that I just about skipped past. And then my rememberer worked. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in […]

Resources for battling temptation

Though we regularly face temptation and though we sometimes succumb to temptation does not mean we are not in Christ or that Christ is not working in us. John Piper illustrates: Suppose you are in a car race and your enemy, who doesn’t want you to finish the race, throws mud on your windshield. The […]

Violence, again

More than a decade ago, there was a shooting in a Fort Worth church where a number of people were killed by a gunman. That same week, John MacArthur was speaking at a conference I was attending and when he was asked about the event he responded, “The deeper the world sinks into the abyss […]

God’s knowledge: a grace for sinners

Awareness of the knowledge of God is a preventative for sin. But God’s knowledge of us is also a grace to us, as Thomas Watson explains: The infiniteness of God’s knowledge is a comfort, in case the saints have not a clear knowledge of themselves. They find so much corruption, that they judge they have […]

Humbled by grace

Followed relentlessly by police officer Javert, Jean Valjean finds himself with a unique opportunity: another man has been accused of his crimes and is about to be convicted. And if the innocent man is convicted, Valjean will be free. The dilemma is, can he allow another man to be unjustly accused and imprisoned for the […]

God is not like us

I’ve been thinking much lately about how God uses difficulties, trials, and even sin for the accomplishment of His purposes and even for good in the lives of the believers (think Romans 8:28-29). Our tendency is to react defensively and with significant resistance to a statement like that. We struggle to accept that God works […]

A testimony of grace and suffering

This is a five-minute video that is well worth your time. Wrestling With An Angel. My favorite statement in the video: God brings us to the end of ourselves — to the end of our strength, to the end of our wits — He destroys our pride and our self-confidence in order to reveal to […]