False Teachers Out Themselves by Their Way of Life
False doctrine can mean denying true concepts or denying our Master by our behavior
False teachers rise from the church and they bring in destructive divisions (i.e., heresies) which can amount to denying the Master. What does this look like? Peter answers by giving general categories of behavior: “And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed... Continue Reading
Sleep With Your Boots On
You don’t know when the attacks will come; sleep with your boots on and your sword by your hand
“We must wear this armor constantly. We should never take it off. We should wear it to bed as pajamas. We should make sure we’ve got it on first thing in the morning by turning to the gospel as immediately as possible. This is wartime. Don’t take the armor off.” Do you know that... Continue Reading
Where Grace Empowers You
Grace transforms our desires, motivations, and behavior
The gospel is all about God’s grace through Jesus Christ. That’s why Paul calls it “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) and “the word of his grace” (Acts 14:3; 20:32; cf. Col. 1:5–6). The gospel of the grace of God is the message everyone needs. The word of grace is proclaimed from... Continue Reading
Do You Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness?
How could a Christian establish life goals and not have at the top the attainment of righteousness in the sight of God?
Did not our Lord say, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33)? One of the scariest things that Jesus ever said was the warning He gave that “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the... Continue Reading
How Death can Make us Wiser
Even in the matter of death, which all of us need to consider, God offers wisdom, comfort, and hope.
By numbering our days, recognizing how short our time really is, we can increasingly cherish the good gifts that God gives to us today, such as life, family, daily bread, and our local church. The godly contemplation of our earthly exit also helps us to re-evaluate our ultimate loves and hopes, whether they are turned... Continue Reading
“Forgive Us Our Debts”: Getting Specific When Confessing Our Sins to God
I think one of the more difficult parts of prayer is making a serious effort at confessing our sins.
I suspect that most Christians recognize they are sinners—recognition of this fact, after all, is one of the fundamental elements of making a valid profession of faith and joining a church. We have to acknowledge our need of a savior, Christ, which means we are in need of salvation. In simple terms, we are sinners.... Continue Reading
The Great Exchanges of Romans
The gospel of Romans can be summarized in one word: exchange.
In response to the great exchange that has been accomplished for us in Christ, there is an exchange accomplished in us by the Spirit: unbelief gives way to faith, rebellion is exchanged for trust. Justification—our being declared righteous and constituted in a righteous relationship with God—is not made ours by works, ceremonial or otherwise, but... Continue Reading
What God Chooses to Forget: The Greatest Sermon Nature Ever Gave
In the very place God dwells and rules, he has surrounded himself with the rainbow as a reminder of the commitment he made to the people that he loves.
The Bible describes this mighty Christ representative as having “a rainbow over his head” (Revelation 10:1). This should encourage God’s people. Like the story of the exodus, the angel of death has come to judge the world. But because of the blood of the Lamb, because of the rainbow reminder of God’s promise over his... Continue Reading
God Teaches Us The Right Perspective By Teaching Us The Right Questions
God doesn’t just leave us to speculate the proper perspective to have of the Bible; he teaches us what the point is by giving us the questions to ask.
So there is a reason that we don’t move on to new perspectives on the Bible, because God gives us the perspective by giving us not only the right answers, but the right questions to ask. So we don’t need to change the emphasis to a new perspective, or seek to get our joy by... Continue Reading
The Gelding of God
On the authority of the Archbishop, many Christians will today be wondering whether they have been wrong to call God ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ and Jesus their ‘Lord’ and ‘King’.
God is not a Father in exactly the same way a human being is a father. Of course not, for we are the image of God; just as my image as I looked in a mirror this morning was not human, or aged 44, or male, in exactly the same way as I am all those things. But to... Continue Reading