Displaying 151 - 180 of 361 in total
The Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s People (June 24)
If we reject "organized" religion, where does that leave the Lord's Supper? Are we really "Christians" today if we don't take seriously an observance that, in the New ...
God’s Grace Is Not 'Irresistible' (June 23)
Creating beings with a free will is exactly what God did when He created us. And the result is that those who accept Him, whether many or few, do so freely and lovingl...
Scriptural Teaching About God’s 'Election' (June 22)
It was surely God who chose whom He would save, but what He chose was a class of people defined by a criterion: the "obedience of faith" (Romans 1:5). This group is op...
The Fallacy of Original Sin (June 21)
To say, as Calvinism does, that even as infants we are guilty of Adam's sin -- and are in a lost spiritual condition because of what Adam did -- is to make a cruel jok...
Lessons from Naaman (June 20)
Naaman's obedience certainly did not "earn" him the cleansing of his leprosy. It had no "merit" that would cure him. Nevertheless, if he had not been humble enough to ...
That Where I Am You May Be Also (June 19)
The hope of the gospel is that in eternity we will be with God. Having lived all our lives in this broken world, frustrated by our inability to have direct, face-to-fa...
A Powerful Clue to God’s Nature (June 18)
Our "personhood" can't be explained from below itself -- its origin can only be from above itself. The non-personal could not have produced the personal, no matter how...
Letting the Scriptures Decide (June 17)
The Scriptures are no ordinary documents. To disregard the authority with which God speaks to us in the Scriptures is to do a very foolish thing. In all the great issu...
Different Soils, Different Hearers (June 16)
In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus used the analogy of four kinds of soil to teach that hearers have different hearts -- just as the seed sown by a farmer doesn't alwa...
An Insurmountable Objection (June 15)
Who's to say what is "impossible"? It's a strange world, is it not? Let us, then, be open-minded enough to admit the possibility that the resurrection COULD have happe...
Assurance That Jesus Will Be Our Judge (June 14)
In addition to being our High Priest and King, Christ is our Judge (John 5:26,27). For those who have accepted the gospel faithfully, the coming judgment holds no fear...
Does Jesus’ Resurrection Really Matter? (June 13)
Either we should accept that the resurrection occurred and obey the gospel that is based upon it -- or deny the resurrection and dispense with the gospel as nothing mo...
The Apostles: Doubters Who Became Evangelists (June 12)
Thomas declared that he would need to see Jesus for himself in order to believe He had been raised from the dead. But later, when Jesus appeared and Thomas was present...
Normative Nature of the Apostles’ Teaching (June 11)
The apostle John wrote to his brethren urging them to ground themselves in what they had been taught by the apostles (1 John 1:1-4; 2:24; 4:1,6). If they left this tea...
The Importance of the Apostles (June 10)
The apostles were eyewitnesses of Jesus after His resurrection. And they were not just disciples of Christ; they were the definitive, authoritative emissaries of Chris...
Saved From, Saved For (June 9)
God's plan is to repair the damage of sin (its "corruption") and transform us into people who think and act as creatures made in His image. In fact, He plans to makes ...
What We Need to Be Saved From (June 8)
Whatever sins we have done outwardly, it is from our hearts that such deeds have come. We need to be saved not just from the penalty for our sins, but from the sinfuln...
From God, for Our Profit (June 7)
God has reached across the gap and reintroduced mankind to the truth about Himself. So the record in the Scriptures of this revelation is extremely profitable to us: "...
Delivered from the Power of Death (June 6)
Christ opened the door to a life much better than what we call "life" right now. Although it is ironic that He gave us this life by dying, that is the good news. He di...
Jesus’ Final Instructions to His Apostles (June 5)
If we follow Jesus, our concern must be for the eternal welfare of people's souls. Let's not lose our focus. By God's grace, let's do what Jesus told His apostles: tea...
Sin Strikes Deeper Than We Admit (June 4)
As Jeremiah said, the human heart is "deceitful above all things" (17:9). So when we find ourselves doing something for multiple reasons, do we have the honesty to ask...
The Incarnate Word (June 3)
The Incarnation was a necessary miracle. Out of all our problems, there is only one that required God to become flesh: the problem of sin. To fix that problem God had ...
Salvation Is Not Earned, but It May Be Forfeited (June 2)
When we are emphasizing the graciousness of God's forgiveness, we may lead people to think that salvation has nothing to do with our conduct. But, in fact, it has very...
The Tempting Lure of 'Self-Realization' (June 1)
If we don't turn around, we're going to spend eternity in a place where, without any hindrance from God, we'll be completely "free to be ourselves." And it will be our...
When the Old Self Is Crucified (May 31)
Becoming Christians, we are crucified with Christ, so to speak. As Paul describes it, the thing that is put to death is our "old self." The "body of sin" is killed, re...
Who Are the 'People of God'? (May 30)
In the widest sense, the words "people of God" apply to every person created by God. But in the Scriptures, the phrase often refers to a subset of the human race: a gr...
From Death to Life (May 29)
The Christian truly has "been brought from death to life" (Romans 6:13). And there is a wonderful irony in this. It was, after all, by dying that Jesus "abolished deat...
A Broken and Contrite Heart (May 28)
As long as we believe that we're doing all right -- and that any remaining problems are within the power of science and psychology to solve -- we will cut ourselves of...
The Honest Acknowledgment of Our Sins (May 27)
I know of no part of the plan of salvation that is any harder than this. It is gut-wrenching. But look at the doors that are opened. Humbled, we are ready to come to t...
Is the Gospel Unlikely? Is the Gospel True? (May 26)
However unlikely, implausible, or even impossible it may seem, the gospel story must be judged on the basis of the evidence. So if our sense of likelihood tells us tha...
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