Posts by Jeremy Walker

How John Owen Prepared Sermons

Aug 23, 2022

I once spent a cracking day at the Evangelical Library in London, attending a "Reading John Owen" conference. Those lectures (including Nigel Graham's exceptional popular introduction to the life of Owen) left me hungry to do more reading and re-reading of John Owen. I was reminded, by my own...

Making Much of Men

Feb 27, 2020

Whether we are prepared to admit it or not, most of us have 'celebrity pastors,' or at least people to whom we offer a measure of unqualified and uncritical appreciation (or even adulation). We go beyond that properly Berean spirit which "received the word with all eagerness, examining the...

The Unforgetting God

May 26, 2018

I go there from time to time. The lady I visit is the wife of an old friend from another part of the country. He went to be with the Lord several years ago. Even then, she had begun, as the British can affectionately say, “to lose her marbles.” Since then, in God’s kindness, she has been moved to a...

Borrowed Conviction

Dec 28, 2016

It has happened a few times before. It happened again recently. Someone without a good church gets in touch, referred by a mutual friend. Or someone drops an email asking for advice. Or there is a conversation at a conference with someone who has come looking for help, counsel, refuge. Somewhere...

Keeping Our Commitment

Nov 17, 2016

It is Friday. You are going to the doctor for an inoculation, and you turn up for your appointed meeting, and the receptionist informs you that, “Sorry, but I am afraid that the doctor was a little bit tired today, and wasn’t able to come in. End of a long week, you know.” You...

Preparing Sermons with John Owen

Oct 24, 2016

After a cracking day at the Evangelical Library in London on "Reading John Owen" (opening, it has to be said, with Nigel Graham giving what may be one of the finest popular introductions to the life of Owen that it has been my privilege to hear - lively, careful, engaging, insightful), I want to do...

Masculinity and the Priority of Love

Oct 17, 2016

If you were asked to identify the primary quality which defines a true man of God in his specific relation to a true woman of God - distinctively within the marriage relationship - what one-word answer might you give? What if the opposite question were asked: what single quality ought to...

Faithfulness and Fruitlessness in Ministry?

Jun 2, 2016

A couple of weeks ago a friend asked a question: "How would you encourage a faithful brother who had been pastoring for several years and has not, in that season, seen a conversion directly from his preaching, though the church is growing and health with saints being built up and believers joining...

"Respect the Authorities": Specific Counsels 3 and 4

Jul 24, 2015

Introduction Scriptural framework A proper subjection The prayers of the saints A godly life Respond prayerfully Our heavenly hope Summary thoughts Specific counsels Remember the distinction and recognize the appointment Appreciate the protection and use the freedoms Then we should appreciate the...

"Respect the Authorities": Specific Counsels 1 and 2

Jul 11, 2015

Introduction Scriptural framework A proper subjection The prayers of the saints A godly life Respond prayerfully Our heavenly hope Summary thoughts Almost nothing agitates Christians as much as discussion of the relationship of the church to the state. Some seem to imagine that theological and...

"Respect the Authorities": Summary Thoughts

Jul 4, 2015

Introduction Scriptural framework A proper subjection The prayers of the saints A godly life Respond prayerfully Our heavenly hope Summary Thoughts In relation to the civil magistrates whom God has appointed, the Lord's pilgrim people live in the space between our Christ's declaration that His...

"Respect the Authorities": Scriptural Framework #5 ~ Our Heavenly Hope

Jul 3, 2015

Introduction Scriptural framework A proper subjection The prayers of the saints A godly life Respond prayerfully Our Heavenly Hope For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to...

"Respect the Authorities": Scriptural Framework #4 ~ Respond Prayerfully

Jul 2, 2015

Introduction A proper subjection The prayers of the saints A godly life Respond Prayerfully So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David...

"Respect the Authorities": Scriptural Framework #3 ~ A Godly Life

Jul 1, 2015

Introduction A proper subjection The prayers of the saints A Godly Life Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works...

"Respect the Authorities": Scriptural Framework #2 ~ The Prayers of the Saints

Jun 30, 2015

Excerpted from the book Passing Through: Pilgrim Life in the Wilderness ( Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Westminster Bookstore or RHB ). - See more at: http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2015/06/respect-the-authorities-script... Excerpted from the book Passing Through: Pilgrim Life in the Wilderness...

"Respect the Authorities": Scriptural Framework #1 ~ A Proper Subjection

Jun 29, 2015

Following on from the introduction , here is the first element of a scriptural framework helping us through the issue of respect for civil authority. A Proper Subjection Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist...

"Respect the Authorities": introduction

Jun 27, 2015

It was recently my privilege to have published a new book with the title, Passing Through: Pilgrim Life in the Wilderness . The fundamental premise of the work is that the church needs to recover its pilgrim identity, and from that work out its pilgrim activity, cultivating simultaneously a holy...

The Westminster Conference 2015: "The Power of God for Salvation"

Jun 19, 2015

The Westminster Conference will take place later this year, God willing, in central London at Regent Hall on Oxford Street. As usual, there are two days of lectures and discussion, Tuesday 8 th and Wednesday 9 th December. The outline for the two days is below, and the brochure can be downloaded to...

Andrew Fuller (1754-1815)

May 7, 2015

Two hundred years ago today, on the morning of Sunday 7th May 1815 dawned, the sixty one year old Andrew Fuller was grieved that he had not the strength to go and worship his God with his people. As his end approached, so his faith had increased. When his dear friend John Ryland Jr. heard that...

Painful revisiting

May 7, 2015

In the light of recent events at the Thrive Conference involving Mr Driscoll, some readers may be interested in this article from a couple of months ago.

"Unio Cum Christo": a new journal

Apr 17, 2015

Readers may be interested to hear of a new journal, Unio Cum Christo , an "international journal of Reformed theology and life" (because it's important not to undersell yourself). With quite an array of editors, boarders, and contributors, it looks like a stimulating new venture. You will know many...

Promoting Perkins

Apr 2, 2015

I am delighted to get my hands on the first volume of a projected ten-volume set, The Works of William Perkins . Perkins was one of those phenomenal proto-Puritans, in this instance a man often called "the father of Puritanism." While for some that is reason for opprobrium of the nastiest sort, for...

Something positive

Mar 6, 2015

Jeremiah Burroughs, in the book Gospel Conversation , tells us that "the gospel of Christ in general is this": It is the good tidings that God has revealed concerning Christ.... More largely it is this: As all mankind was lost in Adam and became the children of wrath, put under the sentence of...

Making it clearer

Mar 6, 2015

Bruce Baugus has responded carefully to what I had written in reaction to the proposed series on the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT). I thought it might be helpful to expand my initial response, not least lest "brief and rapid" be misconstrued as "...

Missing the point

Mar 4, 2015

I confess to having no clue that Vicar Gatiss was setting out to lampoon my post on Wesley, although I did find the mockery of style confusing. I fear he rather missed the point of my post as much as I missed the point of his. I had no thought of snidely suggesting that the Vicar's previous...

Registering a protest

Mar 2, 2015

For what it is worth, and taking account of the fact that the series has yet to run its course, I would like publicly to distance myself from the stance that has been taken in the recent articles on Evangelicals and Catholics Together over on the corresponding page. I hope that this protest is not...

That reminds me ...

Feb 27, 2015

Ah, yes - the answer! Who said this? 1. All the blessings which God hath bestowed upon man are of his mere grace, bounty, or favour; his free, undeserved favour; favour altogether undeserved; man having no claim to the least of his mercies. It was free grace that "formed man of the dust of the...

Free grace

Feb 21, 2015

Preparing to preach tomorrow, I came across these stirring words in a suprising place: 1. All the blessings which God hath bestowed upon man are of his mere grace, bounty, or favour; his free, undeserved favour; favour altogether undeserved; man having no claim to the least of his mercies. It was...

Disappearing into the sunset of another brave new world

Feb 17, 2015

The credits roll. The hero and/or heroine (fling in a plural or two as appropriate) mount their horses, or link their arms, or climb aboard, or do something else redolent of completion, and disappear into the sunset. Some measure of victory lies behind them, even if more battles might lie ahead. It...

Trueman on Luther

Feb 14, 2015

No, not Carl's triumphant return to provide a window into the mind of "Luther" Levy, but rather the celebrity anti-celebrity's latest offering, considering Luther on the Christian Life (Crossway, arriving later this month). We are promised many good things between the covers of this volume, which...

New lenses

Feb 13, 2015

Returning from labours overseas, especially with limited internet access (and most of that devoted to communication with the family), means returning to Reformation21 with a somewhat fresh perspective. A survey of the material over the past couple of weeks reveals some interesting themes, and makes...

The privilege of dangerous seasons

Jan 26, 2015

You will doubtless have heard on a number of occasions those who bewail the present day. I admit to having limited sympathy with those who argue that we are living in the absolute worst of times. I read of the social conditions, cultural norms and spiritual battles of past days and I sometimes...

Not quite Charlie Hebdo

Jan 23, 2015

It is not particularly surprising but it is disappointing. Furthermore, it is dangerous. It is in some respects the typical kneejerk reaction to current events (by which I mean events over the last few months, even years, rather than merely weeks), and the typical danger that you can never be...

A musical query

Jan 21, 2015

I have not been really keeping up recently, but I was interested to read Leon's musings on music in the church planting situation. Passing over a number of other stimulating threads, I should be interested to know the answers to a couple of questions, if he has the time. First, how does he square...

Living in Athens

Jan 17, 2015

A couple of times a month, as God enables us, the church which I serve attempts to proclaim the gospel in the centre of our town, preaching in the open air, handing out tract-invitations, and engaging in conversation with those who have a few moments to spare. Today was one of those occasions, and...

Doing and being

Jan 16, 2015

It is too easy to make our witness to Christ programmatic and mechanical. There is no doubt that some measure of order and organisation is often profitable. There are many right and proper endeavours that demand structure, planning and management in order to do them well. People must be gathered...

Shoehorning

Jan 9, 2015

It may have been ever thus, but there seem to be an increasing number of books - often from the fields of biblical or systematic theology - that present themselves as having discovered or provided the overarching theme of the Scriptures as a whole, the lens through which the whole should be read...

A Fuller taste

Jan 8, 2015

This year is the 200 th anniversary of the death of the Baptist pastor-theologian Andrew Fuller, so expect a few bits and pieces coming your way. Here is your starter for ten ... You may be in the sad condition of not really knowing what you are missing by not knowing Fuller. One way to get a taste...

"The Excellent Benjamin Keach"

Jan 7, 2015

Would you allow me to draw your attention to a book? It is my father's work, and concerns a man that you may not know, a seventeenth century Baptist called Benjamin Keach. Keach was one of the movers and shakers of the century, a prominent London Baptist who faced fierce persecution but also saw...

Some clarifications on prayer

Jan 2, 2015

I am delighted to learn that I have managed to awaken Mr Levy from his seasonal slumbers. I am sure that ripples of thankful applause are now washing around the globe from his fans. However, I must admit that I am slightly discombobulated to discover that he now suggests that I have offered what...

Reformation-Resurrection Conference 2015

Jan 2, 2015

Several years ago I had the privilege of preaching in Denmark at the Reformation-Resurrection Conference. The invitation came out of the blue, hanging upon the absence of another brother whose health prevented him from serving. I went a little tentatively, not knowing what I would find, not least...

Praying in four directions

Jan 2, 2015

[The introductory paragraph was originally posted in an unfinished form. Mea culpa . I have not changed the sentiment and substance, but have adapted and I hope improved the tone and the direction. I do not have the original piece, but what follows is close to the original intention. Other...

Shallow and narrow

Dec 30, 2014

One of the joys, if we choose to call it that, of the turn of the year is the "books wot I red" lists that emanate from bloggers left, right and centre. Some of them are simply crass arrogance - the "I read bigger, better, harder, higher, or simply more books than you" approach, a bit like those...

"To Nazareth came Gabriel, a herald of God's love"

Dec 24, 2014

[I probably do not need to inform regular readers of this blog that Christmas is not my favourite season. Nevertheless, I try to take the opportunity to use the occasion. Recently, preaching from Luke 1, I was disappointed with the range of hymns available that focused on the miraculous conception...

Grace and sin

Dec 23, 2014

A number of pastoral issues have arisen recently which have brought home to me some particular truths and some particular emphases arising from them. Many of these situations are on the fringes of church life or outside it (though I sincerely hope that some of them might, under God's gracious...

Walking with God

Dec 22, 2014

A nugget from Robert Bolton's Some General Directions for a Comfortable Walking with God (London, 1626): By walking with God, I mean, a sincere endeavour, punctually and precisely to manage, conduct, and to dispose all our affairs, thoughts, words and deeds; all our behaviours, courses, carriage,...

Tomorrow's promise, today's indulgence

Dec 19, 2014

The new year is not far away. That is when we will being that new regime of diet and exercise, start taking our health more seriously, get a grip on ourselves, whip ourselves into shape, and so on. Tomorrow is always the big day, the start of something good and new? So, today? Well, let's eat,...

"Through the Eyes of Spurgeon"

Dec 17, 2014

Stephen McCaskell's fine biographical film, Through the Eyes of Spurgeon , surveying the life and ministry of 'the Prince of Preachers,' will drop this Thursday (18 Dec) at 12:00am CST, when it will be streamed live here . If you head over to that website , you will find all the information you...

Well, OK, but just this once ...

Dec 17, 2014

Today is almost certain to see the appointment of the first Anglican woman bishop in the UK. Stockport in Manchester look to be the unlucky winners. It has been declared: "The time is right." A break with tradition, we are told, but the only reasonable thing to do. The Archbish has said in that...

A seasonal warning

Dec 12, 2014

You may be planning a seasonal sermon. In a spirit of ministerial solidarity, I would bring to your attention a fell tale from long ago . Be warned, gentlemen, be warned!

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