Preparing for Sunday

This afternoon, going over my notes for tomorrow’s sermon, I was reading a number of things about sin, Satan, and temptation. As is often the case, Thomas Watson had a good word about the subject: What can one do to offer violence to himself in mortifying the flesh? Withdraw the fuel that may make lust […]

Sunday Leftovers (1/9/11)

The story is told about a visit that the 18th century king of Prussia, Frederick II of Prussia made to a prison in Berlin. Expectantly, the inmates all vainly attempted to prove to him their innocence and the injustice of their incarceration. Everyone, that is, with one exception. Seeing that one lone, quiet prisoner, the […]

An encouragement to contentment

A favored lament of children is, “that’s not fair!” While spoken in more sophisticated tones and with a slight measure of less whining, adults have their own versions — “I just want what I’m due. I’ve worked hard.” Or, “Why are things always so hard for me? Why can’t it be easy just once?” Or, […]

Thanksgiving Thinking, part 1

In order to stimulate my own heart towards biblical gratitude this week, I pulled some files last week to remind myself of what Scripture and others have said about thankfulness. Might these next few days be ones in which you and I are genuinely giving thanks to the Lord for all that He is and […]

Stimulants to gratitude

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about gratitude this week. Mostly I’ve considered things for which I am grateful as I consider the work of God in the ministry at GBC (more on that Sunday). But in my contemplation, I’ve also come across two thoughts that should stimulate gratitude in all of us. The first […]

Book Review: All Things for Good

Title: All Things for Good Author: Thomas Watson Publisher: Banner of Truth Trust (reprint), 1986; 127 pp. $8.00 ($6 in the church bookstore) Recommendation (4-star scale): I like to read. Always have. I like to go to bookstores. I’ll leave one bookstore (as I did yesterday), see another bookstore half a mile away, and want […]

How God uses sin for our good

Romans 8:28 is a well-known, often-quoted, hard-to-believe verse. That God uses the beneficent acts of our lives for our good is comprehensible. We do not struggle to understand how God is working good in our lives when we are recipients or instigators of gracious words and activities. But when the worst things in life invade […]

Believers and the omnipresence of God

If a fool has reason to fear the omnipresence of God, then believers have reason to delight in His omnipresence. Thomas Watson explains: If God be everywhere present, then for a Christian to walk with God is not impossible. God is not only in heaven, but he is in earth too. Isa 66:6: Heaven is […]

Fools and the omnipresence of God

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God,’” David tells his readers. The fool denies the existence of God and his empty speculations lead him to acting contrary to God. He will do anything opposed to the will of God. He will not uphold justice. He will follow any evil inclination of […]

Transgression speaks

While there is a new brand of atheism that seems to be gaining a measure of cultural acceptance, there is another kind of atheism that has always existed — a practical atheism that affirms the existence of God with words and denies His existence with actions. Thomas Watson noted the existence of these unbelievers this […]

Book Review: Heaven Taken by Storm

Title: Heaven Taken by Storm Author: Thomas Watson Publisher: Soli Deo Gloria Books, 1992; 129 pp. $17.00 Recommendation (4-star scale): One of my favorite Peanuts cartoons shows a series of panels in which Charlie Brown is seen alternately writing something and then crumpling it up and tossing it into a pile. In the last panel, […]

Study the Bible

Just as we are sometimes reticent to read the Bible, so we are at times also slow to spend labor in the hard discipline of Bible study. To that end, the encouragement of the riches that are derived from that study are worth remembering: There is divinity in Scripture. It contains the marrow and quintessence […]

Read the Bible

Many years ago, one pastor ventured into a land of discovery — his quest was to find how much his people read their Bibles each day. He pastored a godly and effective church, so his expectation was that they read their copies of Scripture more than most believers in most churches. It was a reasonable […]

Think on these things

It has been said of this generation of Christian believers (in America and the West particularly) that our weakness is that we do not think often enough or deeply enough about God. It’s not that we hate God or are angry with God or confused about God — our problem is that we are too […]

God is a delicious good

While thinking about yesterday’s comment from M’Cheyne about trials and the preciousness of Christ, I came across this extended statement by Thomas Watson in his classic work, A Body of Divinity. It comes near the end of his answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “what is the chief end of man?” […]