Articles

It is beyond question that God wants ‘clean hands and a pure heart.’ What God desires is not one or the other, but both – doing the right thing for right motives. However, when we do what is as right as best we know it with as sincere hearts as we are able, we, our […]

Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently, and cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood (Jeremiah 48:10). Jehovah speaks through Jeremiah the prophet to Moab, a wicked idolatrous nation to the east of Israel, which had a long history of causing God’s people trouble. He pronounces woes upon them, […]

Joel Beeke, what three books have been most helpful to you as a Christian and as a minister? The first book that comes to mind is the Letters of Samuel Rutherford, which I kept on my nightstand for decades. Whenever I was discouraged, I would sweeten my mind with a morsel of Rutherford before I […]

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Paul’s marvellous proclamation is most often terribly misunderstood. I have been guilty of misunderstanding it myself. Romans 8 is not grounded in justification but sanctification. (If you would rather not follow this technical language then skip down to paragraph three). […]

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth . . . (James 5:19). Perhaps you have a loved one who has left the faith. You are fearful, anxious, hurt, dismayed, and perhaps even angry. What can I write from God’s Word to encourage you? Why does this happen? What should you do? How […]

The word Puritan was originally a nickname, applied to those who, in the late sixteenth century, were anxious to have the Church in England further purified, in the light of Scripture. The name continued to be applied to their spiritual successors down to the end of the following century; among the best known of them […]

A musical celebrity once visited our school. The girls listened spellbound to her talented performance. Then as the final applause died away there was a sudden rush towards the platform as dozens of us swarmed forward, autograph books opened, anxious to obtain the signature of so notable and gifted a musician. At that same moment […]

Paul must have been an unsettling companion. For Paul, the Christian life could never be lived with half measures. He was an all or nothing man. The gospel of God’s grace in Christ had not only captured him, it had captivated him. He counted everything (yes, everything) as loss ‘because of the surpassing worth of […]

Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals1, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9b-10.) A professing Christian husband and father leaves his wife of thirty years for a young woman the age of his daughter. […]

I spoke on the phone yesterday with a south London vicar whose parish had been hit by rioters. Actually, ‘rioters’ is not quite the word. The disorders straight after the death of Mark Duggan may have been riots with the associations of protest that brings, but by now a better word than rioters is looters, […]

In his address to the 1960 Synod, ‘John Knox: Central Figure of the Reformation’, Rev J P MacQueen said:1 It is to be feared that his reputation as one of the most powerful and eloquent preachers of his day, with the fruit of widespread revivals, the edification, comfort and establishment of believers, and the salvation […]

A sermon preached in the chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary, on Sunday morning, March 10, 1929 by Rev. Professor J. Gresham Machen, D.D., Litt.D. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7) Fight the good fight of faith. (1 Tim. 6:12 [part]) The […]

At my first defence no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s […]

The first meeting our church had more than thirty years ago was a Saturday night prayer meeting. A core group of several individuals met to pray for the infant mission work that was in due time to become Immanuel Presbyterian Church. Yet, the group prayed not only for embryonic Immanuel but also for their brethren […]

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may follow all the words of this law. In this chapter God is reminding the people that they are in covenant with him. He is their God and they […]

The England riots are not just a breakdown of law and order, they are the consequences of a breakdown of morality in our society. We have all been appalled to see the shocking absence of respect for human life, for lawful authority and for private property. Why are these values so absent? In what social […]

And he gave some as evangelists.’ (Ephesians 4:11) There are a plethora of good Bible teachers and preachers in the Reformed denominations of our day, and for this we ought to be thankful. We tend to attract men who love the Bible and theology and who, consequently, are gifted in communicating both. As important as […]

. . . to be cast into the eternal fire. (Matthew 18:8) One of the big questions today is this, ‘Does God send people to hell? Why would a loving God do that?’ How should you respond to such a question? First of all, since the Bible is God’s inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word, it […]

Donald Charles Edward Wheatley, a member of the church at Zoar Chapel, Dicker, for 30 years and deacon for 26 years, passed peacefully away on December 16th, 2010, aged 82. He was born on September 18th, 1928. He was the first child of godly parents, Benjamin and Ivy Wheatley, who put up many prayers for […]

Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? (John 21:15) One of the more glorious promises in Scripture is John 10:28-30, And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater […]

Some verses in the Bible are deeply disturbing, and unexpected. As Paul commends Timothy to the church in Philippi, he tells them, ‘I have no one like him (of like soul), who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare (Phil. 2:20). So far, so good. But then Paul continues, ‘For they all seek their own […]

Cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. (Isaiah 58:1). The kind of preaching done by Jesus, his apostles, the prophets who preceded them, and the great preachers who have succeeded them is sadly lacking in […]

Victor Atallah, General Director of Middle East Reformed Fellowship (MERF), writes: The Republic of South Sudan just divided from the north to become the newest African nation. Hundreds of thousands there are recent Christian converts from tribal animism. Bibles are few. Pastors hike long distances to minister to many villages. Since 2003, Reformed pastors and […]

Iain H. Murray, born in Lancashire, England, in 1931 was educated in the Isle of Man and at the University of Durham. He entered the Christian ministry in 1955. He served as assistant to Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel (1956-59) and subsequently at Grove Chapel, London (1961-69) and St. Giles Presbyterian Church, Sydney (1981-84). […]

Long-time readers of this magazine1 will have noticed that comment on church conditions in Scotland is almost non-existent in these columns. One reason for that has been the complexity of the situation. It is far easier to see the providence of God in events that happened many years ago than it is to understand our […]