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‘Justified By His Grace’
In Titus chapter 3 the Apostle Paul reminds his young friend to ‘affirm constantly’ the doctrine of justification by God’s grace. The free gift of God’s righteousness imputed to sinners is to be faithfully declared and frequently repeated. It is the message we as needy sinners should demand from our preachers, and which we who are preachers should be determined to declare. Being ‘justified by his grace’ is at the very heart of the gospel message. If we are ‘justified by his grace’ there can be no element of our own works involved. Gospel preaching is sovereign grace preaching. If a preacher does not preach free, sovereign grace he is not preaching the gospel. Furthermore, if he does not affirm constantly this message he is…
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The Potter’s House
The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.’ Jeremiah 18:1-6 God sent…
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Is Grace Common?
Do you believe in common grace? To answer this question one needs to be able to define what common grace is. Unfortunately, the term means different things to different people. For some common grace describes God’s good gifts or common provisions in nature such as sunshine and rain. Some see it in terms of talents or gifts that lead to human distinction in art, sport or music. Others discern the restraining hand of God holding back human wickedness by conscience and the structures of law, order and civil government; keeping society from deteriorating into anarchy. All things to all men If this was the extent of common grace teaching we could be content, but it does not stop there. Recently, common grace has taken on…
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Sabbath-Breaking: A Crime Worthy Of Death?
In Numbers chapter 15 an incident is recounted from Israel’s wilderness wandering. It concerns a man who gathered sticks on the sabbath day, and the high cost of his actions. Today, in Britain, we have completely erased capital punishment from the list of possible sentences for wrongdoing. The ultimate act of retribution, the death penalty, is no longer available to judges even for the most heinous of crimes. Sabbath breaking But in Old Testament Israel this was not the case. There were numerous crimes such as murder, adultery and idolatry that earned the punishment of death. However, there were also other crimes such as disobedience towards parents, gluttony, and sabbath-breaking that equally brought down the wrath of the executioner. In our modern culture in which…
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SINAI – The Way Of Death
Sinai is a desert; a barren, desolate, inhospitable and largely lifeless place. How suitable that God should give the law in Sinai. It is the place of death and the killing letter. Here Moses received the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone. Today travellers to Mount Sinai reach the summit along a steep track of 3,750 so-called steps of penitence between two towering walls of solid rock. It is a fitting reminder of how Moses’ two tablets of stone have, by design, shut out the light of grace and weighed down the poor convicted soul. Making it, says Paul “the ministration of death”. How adamant the “killing letter” of the law has proved to be by its relentless condemnation and its barren, fruitless “yoke…
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The Saddest Chapter: Three Curses, Three Blessings And Three Promises From Genesis 3
Genesis 3 has a strong claim to being the saddest chapter in the Bible. With the fall of man begins every sorrow and pain. Here is the source, the genesis and origin of the hurt of every injury, the tears of every hungry child, the suffering of sickness, disease and death in every generation. Man is born to trouble, and nature is red in tooth and claw, because of the events recorded here. More, the souls of countless men and women have been consigned to eternal separation and everlasting punishment because of Adam’s act of disobedience against God. Surely, the depth, breadth and degree of human suffering in both this life and the next that flow from the events recorded here is beyond reckoning. But,…
