The Ten Commandments: The Third
The third of the Ten Commandments seems simple at first read: we are not to take God’s name in vain. But the more we think about it, the deeper our reflections will become on what it means to honor God…
Tag Biblical Theology
The Ten Commandments: The Second
There’s something of a progression when one moves from the first commandment – “You shall have no other gods before me” – to the second commandment forbidding the making and worship of idols. It’s a move delineating how the one…
The Ten Commandments: Why the Law?
According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, “The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof….neither doth Christ, in the Gospel, any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation” (WCF, 19.5)…
Sanctification and the Holy Spirit
One afternoon a group of bored boys decided to bother an old man working in his yard. After causing the man a little trouble they moved on. However, the town wherein they lived was a small one and so having…
Satan’s Strategy #4: Great Men Sin
Sometimes Satan tempts us to excuse or ignore our sin by showing us the sins of great men. There’s no need to turn to tabloid newspapers to see such sins; the Bible will suffice. Noah got drunk. Abraham lied. Jacob…
Sanctification: Our Speech
My wife and I had the opportunity this summer of visiting Normandy, France. A highlight of our trip was a day spent touring a small section of the D-Day landing beaches as well as the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. …
Christ the ladder
The dual questions of where do we meet God and how do we hear from God are important. And they are also highly relevant in 21st century Christianity. These two questions run like yellow-brick roads throughout Scripture, weaving their way…
The Prototypical Man
Humans have been fascinated by themselves since the earliest times in the history of our race. From the crude stick figures painted on the walls of caves in prehistoric times through to the sophisticated image of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian…
Sure of our Salvation
I heard a comment recently from one of the young men in our church that gave me pause for thought. He said, ‘I don’t think I have ever heard a sermon about assurance.’ My initial reaction was to frantically cast…
Little Greek Gems: God with Us
The opening chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is, for some, like watching paint dry on a wall! Genealogies are not everyone’s thing. But this genealogy ought to be. It’s obviously the genealogy of Jesus. Yet, not so obvious is the Davidic…