One spring day in 1998, as an 18-year-old college freshman, I understood marriage in a way I never had before. I had signed up for a Bible study taught by my college pastor, “Preparing for Marriage.” That day, Pastor Doug Busby gave me and all of the young men in the room an assignment that... Continue Reading

They have lost in battle. They are suffering. They are being taunted. They are even being slaughtered. I think they could stomach that if they were being ungodly or idiotic. But they aren’t. They are being faithful to the covenant, and what’s really unsettling. Bad things are happening to good people.   I’ve preached through Romans... Continue Reading

When you hear the word addiction, think enslavement. The difference in wording is crucial—you can be freed from enslavement, but you cannot ultimately be freed from an addiction. Why? Because as the world so joyfully and pessimistically exclaims, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Once addicted to pornography, always addicted to pornography. But that’s just not true.   You’re not going... Continue Reading

Such a theory of the atonement as is advocated by Professor Barclay: ‘He died to show men what God is always like, not that he should threaten us into a prudential response, but that at the sight of him we should be moved and compelled to love him as he first loved us. Jesus came... Continue Reading

Romans 7 is, of course, the chapter to which most theologians appeal in discussions about the apostolic teaching on indwelling sin. Though there has been plenty of debate about whether Paul was speaking of himself prior to his conversion or in the place of Adam, the “indwelling sin in believers” interpretation of this passage is... Continue Reading

The good news is that God comforts His own (Isa. 40:1–5). Jesus fulfills these promises (61:1–4), as He declared in His sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16–21). God’s comfort is complete in Jesus the Good Shepherd (John 10:1–21).   How well do you suffer? I am God’s adopted child, but I’m not good... Continue Reading

Going along with the crowd is a natural temptation when we face hard situations. We do not want to be ugly. We do not desire to stir up trouble. It is just easier to quietly submit. Giving in to our desires to avoid a problem is not what we are called to do. We are... Continue Reading

The more your teenager knows God, the better she should know how to love and obey him. The more she understands herself, the more she should appreciate God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice for her sin. Because God is good and kind, merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, the study of this good... Continue Reading

What?! Someone like Jesus is not ashamed to associate with people like us? Why professional athletes want to associate with other profession athletes makes sense. Why kings wish to associate with other kings is easy to understand. What is unfathomable beyond all things unfathomable is why the Sovereign King of kings would want to associate... Continue Reading

Theologians have considered the essential unity of all God’s attributes under the heading of His simplicity, though the idea here might seem to be anything but simple. The point is not that this idea is easy to communicate or comprehend (after all, it is God we are talking about), but that God’s attributes do not... Continue Reading