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THE URGENT NEED FOR REVIVAL TODAY ‘Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever he seizes him, he throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your disciples, that they should cast […]

The gentleness and patience of God continue to amaze me and fill me with a sense of increasingly profound gratitude. At the same time, I grow weary of my own lack of those tender virtues that are so fitting and essential in relationships with other sinners. It is striking and instructive for us to note […]

We live in what is often called the age of post-modernism. Truth is relative, we are told. Cultures change, people change, and the old ways of thinking need to keep pace with the changes. If churches want to survive in this post-modern age, then they must adapt or die (that is ‘religious speak’ for, ‘Re-interpret […]

So Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor. 7:29). And that brief statement had huge implications for the way that believers in Corinth were to live. It would seem that much of the advice the Apostle gave them in this chapter – for instance, not to marry – was relevant to what he calls ‘the present […]

‘every minister of the gospel should read Smeaton’s two volumes on the atonement . . . an example of the marriage of the best exegetical theology and the warmth of genuine Christian piety. ‘If you want to get a better grasp of the biblical categories, terminology, and texts about the atonement, and if you want […]

On my bed night after night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him but did not find him. (Song of Solomon 3:1) David Brainerd was born in Haddam, Connecticut in April, 1718 and attended church regularly in the local Congregational Church, as almost everyone did in eighteenth century New England. However when […]

It is good for us constantly to recall the truths with which we are familiar – both to promote self-examination as to how these truths are being implemented in our lives, and to stir us up to seek more grace, to be more conformed to them. Paul himself said: ‘To write the same things to […]

These sermons were preached in St Peter’s Church, Geneva, to the citizens there between 4 September 1559 and 23 January 1560. They are numbered 1-49 (though number 27 is missing) and they are here translated into English for the first time by Dr Rob Roy MacGregor. Calvin’s custom apparently was to expound the Old Testament […]

THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF THE WORD I’ve been thinking again about the importance of reading and writing. There are several reasons I write. One of the most personally compelling is that I read. I mean, my main spiritual sustenance comes by the Holy Spirit from reading. Therefore reading is more important to me than eating. […]

In the year 2000 this author’s The Promise of the Future, a hardback volume of over 500 pages, was published by the Banner of Truth. The present book abridges the previous one, intending to whet the appetite for the more substantial volume. Setting out to pursue ‘a disciplined study of what God promises in the […]

1. Singing is the music of nature The Scriptures tell us the mountains sing (Isa. 44:23); the valleys sing (Psa. 65:13); the trees of the wood sing (1 Chron. 16:33). No, the air is the birds’ music-room, where they chant their musical notes. 2. Singing is the music of ordinances Augustine reports of himself that […]

Thomas Scott1, the commentator, that holy man of God, in The Force of Truth2 (which is his personal testimony), says Till the 16th year of my age, I do not remember that I ever was under any serious conviction . . . but about my 16th year I began to see that I was a […]

Back in 2009, Pastor Reggie Weems from Johnson City, Tennessee challenged the men of his congregation at Heritage Baptist Church to buy the entire 14-volume set of Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Romans and commit to reading it, following a reading schedule that he had developed, that would take them through the next 18 months. Now, in […]

An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. (Proverbs 31:10) Richard Baxter, the tireless, heavenly minded Puritan minister of the seventeenth century, was a confirmed bachelor,1 devoting himself completely to the ministry of the gospel in Kidderminster, England. When going there in 1641 the parish was notorious for godlessness and […]

By ‘posture’ I do not refer to the alignment of one’s body when standing. Good posture, of course, is advisable, for one breathes better, projects his voice better and shows respect for the uprightness and symmetry with which God created his image-bearers. No better instruction on this feature of pulpit address can be found than […]