Resources

The seventeenth chapter of John’s Gospel constitutes such a deep and rich passage that no summary of it can ever quite do it justice. It is quite difficult to discern a clear structure in this prayer. It is like a spiral staircase, going round and round, revisiting themes and developing them further. It is true […]

The longing for happiness is etched indelibly in every human heart. We seek for happiness, we ache for happiness and we will do almost anything to secure happiness. Our problem is, however, that most people neither know what happiness is, nor where they can find it. Sin has blinded our minds, corrupted our hearts and […]

Oh that they had such a heart in them that would fear me (Deuteronomy 5:29). On October 23, 1740, after preaching the previous weekend in Northampton with Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, the great eighteenth century evangelist, made his way south along the Connecticut River to Hartford, then Wethersfield, and finally to Middletown. Nathan Cole, a […]

[The second part of a paper given in January 2010. The first part can be found here.] 3. AREAS TO BE GREATLY VALUED BY THE PREACHER. i] There is the utter delight and enormous cost of preaching. There is joy that is unspeakable in exalting God as a congregation listens, magnifying his grace, describing the […]

This paper was given to a gathering of ministers near Cardiff on 18 January, 2010. The topic was requested by the organisers. How infrequently are older men able to learn brand new lessons. Over fifty years ago I learned at a student week-end conference the Scriptures’ teaching of justification by faith. I believe that that […]

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not […]

The Spectator magazine organises monthly debates on social and political issues, and on 2nd March, 2010 organised a debate on the subject ‘England should become a Catholic country again’. The speakers for the motion, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, Piers Paul Reid and Rev Dom Antony Sutch, were all strong Roman Catholics who made their case […]

One of the fullest and most beautiful accounts of the resurrection appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be found in the story of the walk to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Mark refers to the story in one verse, but Luke had other sources of information not available to others. The story is an incontrovertible […]

Many years ago I was taking a class with Dr. R.C. Sproul. He said that most people find their identity either in ‘being’ or ‘doing.’ He pointed to his wife Vesta, who was sitting in the class, and said, ‘If you ask her what she does, she’ll answer, “I don’t do anything, I be.”‘ My […]

Do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5) . . . speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) . . . through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13). The year 1735 was a remarkable one in the western world.1 In January, while her husband Jonathan was off preaching in other places, the Spirit of […]

The Evangelical Library held their first lunch-time meeting in the new building at the end of March 2010. Professor Paul Helm gave a fascinating introduction to a forgotten little work by John Owen called A Brief Declaration and Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity.1 It actually goes on to deal with Christ’s person and […]

It is generally agreed that the two most prominent leaders of the 18th century revival in Wales were Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland.1 They had much in common. They were about the same age; the Lord called them both from darkness to light in the same year (1735); they had a common friend in the […]

The Let’s Study series aims to explain the Bible in a clear and understandable way and then apply it to our lives today. Let’s Study Matthew by Mark Ross admirably fulfils these objectives. Writing from a reformed evangelical perspective, Mark Ross accepts Matthew’s teaching on such doctrines as the virgin birth, Jesus’ divine and human nature, and the reality […]

Sin entered into the world through one man (Romans 5:12). I delight in the doctrine of justification by faith – the marvellous truth that God declares the unrighteous sinner (bound for hell due to his guilt) as righteous, putting him into the category of being righteous through the person and work of Christ. Even the […]

Calvin’s fame as the prince of theologians rests firmly on his ability and wisdom as an interpreter of God’s Word. In his commentaries on the Holy Scriptures we see that God-given skill put to a practical use. Indeed Calvin’s commentaries are still indispensable to serious students of the Bible almost 500 years after their original […]