“Turn away my reproach which I dread, for Your judgments are good. Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me in Your righteousness” (Ps 119:39-40). In the wonderful economy of words that the Spirit uses, the psalmist pleads for God’s undeserved righteousness rather than the dreaded reproach of others, the consequence of his own past […]
“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake” (1 Thess 1:5). What kind of men largely influenced what kind of results came from their gospel […]
CHRIST the INTROSPECTOR: “Jesus…knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (Jn 2:24-25). Says C.H. Spurgeon, “A healthy man hardly knows whether he has a stomach or a liver; it’s your sickly man who grows more sickly by the study of his inward […]
“Grace be with you all. Amen” (Titus 3:15). This lovely benediction, in one form or another, concludes each of Paul’s epistles. The most common form is, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Rom; 1 Cor; Php; 1 & 2 Thes). The most expansive is, “The grace of the Lord […]
I noticed her in the crowd; she looked to me like royalty. When I asked her to tell me her story, she said her father was a drunk and her mother slept to escape. No one cooked or cleaned or cared for the little girl. “One day, a beautiful lady met me on the street […]
CHRIST the FINISHER: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2). The Lord Jesus will finish in us what He began (Php 1:6). On September 4, 1869, at age 37, Hudson Taylor found a letter waiting for him from John McCarthy, a fellow missionary. His life was transformed by the truth […]
“Help me, O Lord my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy” (Ps 109:26). My father’s family lived in coal mining country in Lanarkshire, Scotland. My great-grandfather often brought the gospel into the mines by volunteering to work a shift for one of the miners who was unable to work. I heard of one […]
Sanctification comes from the same root meaning as holiness. In its primary sense, it means to be different, then to be set apart, then to be wholly for God, and finally that process by which those who have been declared right shall be made right. “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering […]
The queen mother may portray redeemed Israel, the mother of the Man-child (Rev 12) and wife of Jehovah. Concluding his portrait of the King-Bridegroom, the psalmist paints in some of the courtiers. “Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; at Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir” (Ps 45:9). Without question, heaven is the […]