Sunday Leftovers: Be sure you’re secure

Many people struggle with assurance that they are secure in Christ’s salvation. There are many reasons why that may be (Don Whitney has an excellent chapter detailing some of those reasons in How Can I Be Sure I’m a Christian?). But as we near the end of our study of 1 John, there is one […]

Sunday Leftovers: What God Desires in His People

God desires that His people submit to Him and obey Him. So Peter reminds his readers, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Pet 5:6). Because God is the sovereign King, His people are to submit to His authority and follow His dictates […]

Sunday Leftovers: what in the world is the Holy Spirit doing?

In one of his books, R. C. Sproul quotes a portion of Martin Luther’s final sermon — something preached just days prior to his death in 1546. Among those final words, Luther said: In times past, we would have run to the ends of the world if we had known of a place where we […]

Sunday Leftovers: the gifts of the Holy Spirit (tongues)

This morning we considered the sign gifts — the gifts given by the Holy Spirit that were to authenticate the apostolic and prophetic message and messengers — and particularly the gift of tongues, which is the most commonly practiced sign gift today. It is impossible to consider all the biblical teaching on the subject in […]

Sunday Leftovers: Distinguishing the works of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is a member of the Trinity, fully God, co-equal with the Father and the Son in essence, though differing in function. And the Spirit was sent by the Son to indwell believers after the Son ascended to Heaven after His resurrection (Jn. 16:7). Those truths are (generally) affirmed by all believers today. […]

Sunday Leftovers: Don’t be surprised when the world hates you

The churches in Asia Minor had been infiltrated by false teachers that were leading them astray about the relationship between the believer and sin. The result was that some who were genuine believers became unsure about their salvation. In addition, these false teachers were not only indulging in their licentious sins but they also were […]

Sunday Leftovers: the believer with Christ

The New Testament speaks in many ways about our identification with Christ — our unity with Him. Considering only the words “with Christ” and “with Him,” Constantine Campbell notes the many ways the Epistles way we are unified with Christ (other words used are ones like, “in Christ,” “in Him,” “placed into Christ,” “abide in […]

Sunday Leftovers: When people leave the church

The apostle Paul spoke for all pastors when he reminded the Corinthians of the difficulty and burden of his ministry — imprisonments, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, long journeys, robbers, and hard work. Yet the greatest source of his concern was “the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my […]

Sunday Leftovers: Worldly desires

“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.” John (1 Jn. 2:15) could not be more clear. The things that are in the world, and all that the world produces from its ungodly system are deadly for the godly man when he lives for them and not for Christ. The believer should […]

Sunday Leftovers: Your strength

A number of years ago, Sports Illustrated profiled arm wrestler Dave Patton. At the time, he hadn’t lost an arm wrestling match in 12 years, even though he only weighed 160 pounds. His secret was his training. He would train up to four hours each day, including 756 bicep curls during each session. Though often […]

Living like Jesus lived

Many years ago, many Christians began sporting rubberized wrist bands with the initials WWJD — What Would Jesus Do? In one sense it’s an irrelevant question — Jesus is the Son of God, the third person of the Trinity, perfect in all His attributes and actions, completely sinless. I can’t do what He would do. […]

Sunday Leftovers: the believer’s security

The security of the believer is the objective reality of what God has done to save believers and keep them saved. It is different from the believer’s assurance, which is his subjective experience of his salvation. A believer’s security is unchanging. Despite what he feels about his salvation, once his name has been penned in […]

Sunday Leftovers: Fighting against sin

In 1 John 2:1, the apostle declares, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” He is telling his readers — believers in a group of churches in Asia Minor who had been taught by a group of heretics that sin was irrelevant and that one could be in good […]

Sunday Leftovers: marks of repentance

The believer is to forgive anyone who comes to him for forgiveness — and whenever he comes to him for forgiveness (Lk. 17:3). Yet it is always easier to forgive someone who is repentant and broken for their sin. But what does repentance look like? The apostle Paul commends the Corinthians for their repentance and […]

Sunday Leftovers: more on confession and 1 John 1:9

In 1 John 1:9, the beloved disciple reminds believers that “If (when) we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Most believers are quite familiar with this verse, but what does it really mean to confess our sins? What is confession? What should […]