We would imagine Luke’s gospel – an account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus – to begin with the story of Christ’s birth. However, Luke does not start with the announcement of the coming Messiah, but with the announcement of the coming messenger, John the Baptist: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare […]
“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness” (Ps. 51:14). As we conclude this beautiful psalm of confession and repentance, we come finally to see the result of forgiveness: worship. David humbly acknowledges his sinfulness and rebellion against God; he understands the cost of his forgiveness as […]
Having confessed his sinfulness and rebellion against God, David continues to fall upon the mercy of God now in supplication – asking the God would purge him from his iniquity and cleanse him from all unrighteousness. But why does David so desperately seek forgiveness? Why does he repeatedly entreat God to wash him, to create […]
Having preached and defended the gospel of grace – “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Rom. 3:22-26) – Paul has been laboring to articulate the life of freedom that God’s children may now experience. This new life that we have been called to is one characterized by, submitted to, and controlled by the Spirit. […]
“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). The story of the repentant thief who was crucified alongside of our Lord provides one of the most stunning pictures of sovereign grace, human inability, regeneration, and justification by faith alone in the […]
Evangelical Christians today boldly profess that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law (Rom 3:28). Yet many believe that in order to keep our right standing before God, to remain “saved”, we must continue in faithful obedience as if it is our own law-keeping and good works that merits righteousness before God! However, Paul is adamant […]
In Zechariah 12:10-13:1, God declares: “I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over […]
The northern kingdom of Israel experienced the judgment of God for their idolatry and was destroyed. Jeremiah now prophecies to the southern kingdom of Judah, proclaiming that God’s judgment would likewise fall upon them for their similar sin of idolatry, their failure to worship God as he deserved, and rejection of his laws. But what has […]
Isaiah 66:1-2 paints a beautiful picture of our eternal, sovereign, omnipotent God – the creator of all things. Yet this text informs us that, ultimately, it is not tabernacles or temples made by human hands that God looks upon with favor, or looks to dwell within; rather it is “he who is humble and contrite in spirit and […]
Many inspiring sermons have been preached on Isaiah chapter 6, most concluding with a call to respond like Isaiah did: “Here I am! Send me.” Yet, these types of sermons fail to explain the nature of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry, that he was to “make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see […]
The conclusion to the book of Jonah presents us with two responses to the grace. On the one hand, Nineveh, a pagan Gentile city, turns to God in repentance upon hearing of impending judgment (unlike Israel or Judah at that time, who continued doing evil in God’s sight), and God graciously spares them. Yet on the other hand, […]
As we concluded the book of Proverbs in our daily, chronological readings of the Bible, we then came upon one of the most tragic sections of the Old Testament: “For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was […]
The temple was a special sign of God’s presence among His people, of God’s covenant promise to dwell with them and be their God . Yet, in Solomon’s prayer of dedication upon its completion, he poses a profound question in view of the transcendence and holiness of their eternal God: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth?” In […]
Jesus, in his dialogue with Nicodemus, reveals the purpose of this particular incident in the Israelites’ history as a preface to arguably the most well-known verse in all of Scripture: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” […]
As we look into the life of Jacob in the book of Genesis, we find that the meaning of his name is the overall theme of his life: “deceiver.” Throughout his youth, his relationship with his family, and his laboring for a wife, Jacob is always trying to do things on his own, apart from […]
