The God who created the cosmos will certainly rule it wisely and well and will accomplish his own purposes throughout its existence.  Isaiah 44.23-45.18 This passage, which lies between the first two Servant Songs, focuses on God’s deliverance of Judah from captivity in Babylon and their consequent return to the land. The God who created... Continue Reading

Our justification does not come some day in the undetermined future, based on our own works. Every true believer is declared righteous in Christ and has both legal and relational standing as God’s children. All believers are coheirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Christians not only have the benefit of being justified in Christ, but they... Continue Reading

We have to be careful that what doesn’t matter to us might not be the same for someone else. The best path to follow is to focus on ourselves instead of being preoccupied with how someone else is spending their time and energy.     “I’m not afraid of failure, I’m afraid of succeeding at... Continue Reading

Wherever such people gather in Christ’s name, there is the church. It might be a grand cathedral, a converted warehouse, a school hall, or a living room. The location is incidental. The essence lies in the people themselves: those called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light.     If you ask a group of... Continue Reading

The entirety of Scripture tells the story of God redeeming His people. From Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 to the covenant promises given to Abraham, to Moses leading the people in the wilderness, to Joshua leading them into the promised land, to a nation under the Davidic kingship, and finally to the New Testament... Continue Reading

How does God respond to Isaac’s cowardly, faithless lie? Breathtakingly, God responds with overwhelming, unmerited grace. In a year of severe famine, Isaac plants crops and reaps “a hundredfold.” A hundredfold return is a miraculous, staggering yield. God blesses Isaac so immensely that he becomes a massive economic threat to the Philistines, sparking deep envy.... Continue Reading

As to how holy lives and pure doctrine enable the church to be a pillar and buttress of the truth, consider that there simply is no true church without the faithful preaching of God’s Word. As Paul says in another place, “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received,... Continue Reading

Listen to what he says in his lecture on Paul’s statement in Romans. He says, “The saints in being righteous are at the same time sinners; they are righteous because they believe in Christ whose righteousness covers them and is imputed to them, but they are sinners because they do not fulfill the Law and... Continue Reading

Quit being concerned about what everyone else is doing, and concentrate on what you are supposed to do. This doesn’t mean we can’t talk to a friend when he or she sins. We can, and they can also talk to us when it’s our turn to be corrected (Luke 17:3,4; Matthew 18:15ff). But for our... Continue Reading

What are the signs that counseling might be hurting more than helping? I suspect this problematic dynamic whenever someone insists on meeting but doesn’t do the homework I assign, whenever someone wants to continue meeting beyond the specified endpoint, or whenever meetings continue with no discernible progress in spiritual fruit. In any of these scenarios,... Continue Reading