Peeking Into the Devil’s Playbook
To expose Satan's tactics with regard to temptation is to win half the battle.
Spiritual warfare (correctly understood) is warfare that takes place largely within a person’s soul. Satan tempts me to sin, while God’s Word and God’s Spirit call me to faith and obedience. We must recover this sense of daily spiritual warfare, or we will not recover daily biblical holiness. Temptation is an issue that Christians... Continue Reading
God’s Good Pleasure in Election
God is gracious to me in order to reward One who does deserve a reward—His only begotten Son.
When the New Testament speaks of election and predestination, it always speaks of our being elect, or chosen, in the Beloved, in Christ. Ultimately, the New Testament tells us that people are chosen for salvation so that God the Father can bestow His glory, love, and affection on God the Son (Eph. 1:3–6). Ultimately, we’re... Continue Reading
Lessons from the Life of Jude
In addition to being saved, we also see him serving.
He called himself a slave of his half-brother Jesus who he identified as Lord, Master, and Christ (Jude 1, 4). He had an eagerness to speak of salvation in Him (Jude 3) and readily warned the church about false teachers (Jude 4–16). What follows below is an attempt to piece together the life of... Continue Reading
Reading Without Seeing
How not to study the bible.
We do not glorify God in our Bible reading when we stack up flash cards of memorized verses, but our memorization never helps us run to God for refuge when trials come. We do not read the Bible to the glory of God when we seek knowledge about God, but we never meet God — when... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Rewardingly Read the Book of Job
How to read Job with profit.
It’s been said, “The traditional phrase, ‘the patience of Job,’ might better be [stated] as ‘the patience of the reader of Job.’” Maybe there’s truth to that. Reading Job is hard, but it can be immensely rewarding. Here are five pointers to help you mine its rich treasures. Editors’ note: Take part in TGC’s Read... Continue Reading
The Dominion of Drunkenness
Drunkenness isn’t exercising dominion over creation it’s being brought under its enslaving power.
Why is drunkenness sinful? That’s a fair question. Sometimes, I think we view the commands of God like that cranky dad who barks out an order: “Just do as I say!” without any rhyme or reason. We need to remember, however, that the law of God is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). Did you... Continue Reading
Tried With Fire: Finally: Mystery
Job did not need to understand his circumstances. He needed to know God, for God is worthy of trust.
When Job understood the wisdom, power, and care of God, he no longer required any explanation of his circumstances. Quite the opposite: Job realized that he had tried to criticize God in ignorance, and now he repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:1‑6). The book of Job makes sense to us readers because we... Continue Reading
Ten Mangled Words: Hate
Scripture clearly has kinds of hatred that it commends, and kinds that it condemns.
As long as you do not oppose any of the popular positions held by the left elites, then you believe in love. If you actively or passively oppose those positions, then you believe in hate. And haters don’t deserve civility. That is, haters should be hated. The childish partiality of this use of “hate” is transparently... Continue Reading
The Problem of Spiritual Pride and Self-Admiration
We have nothing but what we have received.
For those who confess themselves to be ‘sinners’, and therefore deserving of nothing but misery and wrath, to be proud of those peculiar blessings which are derived from the gospel of God’s grace, is a wickedness of which even the demons are not capable of! Among the many general causes of decline in grace,... Continue Reading
What’s To Be Done? Potentially, Nothing Else.
The church doesn’t exist to meet every felt need or address every possible gap in ministry.
Sometimes, we have to recognise that there isn’t anything specific for the church to do. Sometimes, the right answer is to say there is nothing for us to do. Or, at least, there is nothing more we can do. We have a tendency to expect the church to fix every possible problem. We can... Continue Reading