Where Mercy and Justice Meet
When justice is what we deserve, mercy pardons.
“What does the Lord require of us? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.” (Micah 6:8). Here justice, mercy and humility are all introduced as the Lord’s requirement. Picking and choosing our preference is not presented as an option. We’ve all seen it. Two believers squaring off... Continue Reading
Making Use of the Visible Signs
Just as one couldn’t sacrifice a heifer himself in the backyard in the OT, it’s not right to take communion in your living room in front of the TV.
When it comes to the sacraments there are a few things necessary, including faith, to bring the full measure to bear on your soul. First of all you need to have a lawfully called minister of the gospel applying the visible signs of God’s covenant blessings. This year at Synod the ARP Church made it clear... Continue Reading
Reading the Bible as a Covenantal Document
Meredith Kline argues that biblical canon must be read holistically as a treaty-canon.
It can be seen that the foundational treaty form which was adopted in the Mosaic covenants anticipated in its composite pattern the subsequent development of the Old Testament. The treaty form was a remarkable documentary epitome of the whole covenant relationship. One of the prominent features of contemporary historical criticism is to dissect the... Continue Reading
Romans 8: Christ is Our Life
We cannot lose our salvation and we cannot lose the presence of the Holy Spirit. To have the Spirit dwell within you means to have Christ forever!
Though our outer-self is wasting away, our bodies decaying and dying, nonetheless in Christ we have true life, life everlasting, and unending spiritual life. God has not left us for dead but has sent his Son to enter into death on our behalf, and in his resurrection, pull each of those for whom he has... Continue Reading
Letters to the Seven Churches: To the Church in Ephesus
Yes, remain faithful to the truth, but don’t lose the depth of your first love for Jesus.
When someone loses a loved one, do they get calls and cards of sympathy? Are meals prepared and baby-sitting provided when someone gets sick? When someone loses a job, do people in the church help them find a new one? When someone stops attending church, do they get calls from concerned members who miss them?... Continue Reading
Conservatism and the Reformed Doctrine of Covenant
Broad Conservatism, at the human level, encapsulates the attitude of one who believes he has something, deeply tied to his identity, that is worth defending and holding fast to.
The best of Conservatism has a place for the family and of the families’ education as a principle mechanism of the conservation of the good and the transmission of knowledge. Reformed Theology, likewise, maintains that the children are a vital part of the covenant life who are members being trained up for the conservation of the... Continue Reading
I Remember Your Name in the Night, O Lord | Psalm 119:55
We ought to have God’s name in mind whenever we are most alone.
We ought also to remember God’s name whenever night falls upon the soul, whenever sorrows or trials seem to have obscured the very light of God’s face. In such moments, we are to remember God’s character as expressed by His holy name. Today, we are to remember particularly that we now call God our Father because of... Continue Reading
Shepherding with Hospitality
3 benefits come to the congregation when its pastors and elders open their homes to the flock.
Hospitality furnishes family. In this broken world of ours, the poor, the stranger, and the widow often live in isolation. When elders provide hospitality to folks such as these, they learn that they are truly regarded as brothers and sisters in God’s house. All Christians are to practice hospitality (Heb. 13:2). But elders are... Continue Reading
Be Gone gods of Wood and Stone!
Seeing Rest and Peace in the One and Only Living LORD
We desire power. Authority. The right to determine that which is good and holy. Problem is that this belongs to One, the One. Try as we may to rest it from Him it’s like a short man trying to punch a tall man. As long as the reach factor exists the vertically challenged individual will... Continue Reading
Salt
Words seasoned with salt never compromise the truth because they preserve and reflect the purity of the gospel, but they need not be harsh, strident, or unkind.
In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus urged His disciples to have salt in themselves (Mark 9:50). This exhortation occurs at the end of various warnings about sin and temptation that conclude with the solemn reminder that a day of judgment lies in the future when “everyone will be salted with fire” (v. 49). Christ’s followers... Continue Reading
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