Topic Archives: Theology

John Brown was one of the most illustrious Bible commentators of the nineteenth century. The Banner of Truth publishes his commentaries on Galatians and Hebrews in the ‘Geneva’ series, and his 3-volume work on The Discourses and Sayings of our Lord. Also published by Banner of Truth, but currently out of print, is his 2-volume […]

If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it? (Amos 3:6) The mammoth earthquake, 9.0 on the Richter scale, that struck northern Japan on March 11, and the ensuing tsunami, captured so dreadfully and spectacularly on video, has, […]

Owen’s teaching1is based on Romans 8:13: ‘If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live’, although he also alludes to the other New Testament reference to mortification, notably to Colossians 3:15, where the Apostle Paul exhorts his readers: ‘Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, […]

God expressed the Moral Law in the Ten Commandments. Those commandments list ten specifications of our duty to our redeeming Lord and to our fellow man. When Jesus was asked which of the Ten Commandments should be regarded as the greatest he answered in terms of man’s duty to love the Lord and to love […]

A sermon taken from Assurance: An Exposition of Romans 5,1 a volume in Dr D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ series of sermons on the book of Romans, published by the Trust (pp. 14-29). Dr Lloyd-Jones died thirty years ago today, on March 1 1981. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord […]

An extract from Words Old and New: Gems from the Christian Authorship of all Ages (pp. 140-141).1 1. When we come to be religious, we lose not our pleasure, but translate it. Before we fed on common notions, but now we live on holy truths. 2. The whole life of a Christian should be nothing […]

An extract from Words Old and New: Gems from the Christian Authorship of all Ages (pp. 137-139).1 1. In justification we are liberated from the chains of our sins, so far as they bound us for condemnation, yea, even so far as they held us under the dominion of Satan; and this suffices for its […]

The first part of a paper delivered at the 2009 Theological Conference of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The concluding part can be found here. Attacks upon the doctrine that there are no errors in the Bible are not new. As the history of the Scottish Church in the late nineteenth century demonstrates, they […]

The aim of this book is to show the relevance of the Bible’s teaching on the sovereignty of God to our daily lives. In 10 chapters Fred Leahy shows how the sovereign Lord is the hand that creates, governs, provides, redeems, keeps, guides, chastens, blesses, enables and judges. Mr. Leahy writes in an accessible, yet […]

An extract from Words Old and New: Gems from the Christian Authorship of all Ages (pp. 82-83).1 1. The law sheweth us our sin; the gospel sheweth us a remedy for it. The law sheweth us our condemnation; the gospel sheweth us our redemption. The law is the word of wrath; the gospel is the […]

Watch over your own heart with diligence, for from it flows the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23) I have known men who began well, who began their careers and families with a steadfast commitment to honour God, to be faithful to their wives and children, and to keep a lid on their fleshly desires. Sadly, […]

In Geneva, 450 years ago, a new version of the Bible in English began to come off the printing presses. For the first time, English-speaking people in the British Isles could purchase a Bible in their own tongue translated, in its entirety, directly from the original Hebrew and Greek – a notable milestone on the […]

One of the most sobering verses in the Bible is Hebrews 2:3 – ‘How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?’ The Letter to the Hebrews was written to Christians who were being tempted to turn back to some form of Judaism. Perhaps the pressure and cost of ‘being different’ was beginning […]

I. From the Fathers to the Reformation1 We are familiar with the concise, scriptural definition of The Shorter Catechism: ‘Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone’ […]

You know what Christmas is about. A very special baby was born. That special baby is God himself, the Son of the Father. It’s not about Santa is coming to town, it’s about God is coming to town. Sometimes God seems far off, but he came down to be with us. Isn’t he kind? But […]

. . . often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far). (Rom. 1:13) Steve Johnson, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, dropped five passes recently [Nov 28, 2010] in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The most damaging drop, however, occurred in overtime when he dropped a perfectly […]

Genesis 15:7-21: He also said to him, ‘I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.’ But Abram said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I shall gain possession of it?’ So the LORD said to him, ‘Bring me […]

2 Corinthians 13:5: ‘Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?’ It is much easier and it is certainly more pleasant to judge other people than ourselves. The so-called ‘super-apostles’ were demanding proof […]

I hope never to forget the night the Lord brought my soul out of bondage into the glorious liberty of the gospel. It was on a Lord’s Day evening. I went in the morning to the house of God in a very distressed state of mind, and remained so all day. The preaching only tended […]

The Word of God has much to say to us about ‘the deceitfulness of sin’ (Heb. 3:13). The evil that is sin will do all it can to persuade you to taste its wares, to embrace its offers, to sit at its table and eat its food. I would like in this pastoral letter to […]

The translator’s ‘Introduction’ to Faith Unfeigned – Four Sermons concerning Matters Most Useful for the Present Time with A Brief Exposition of Psalm 871 by John Calvin. The last half-century has seen a steady growth of interest in Calvin’s work as preacher. The Reformer’s sermons place us at the centre of his pastoral and theological […]

Again he measured a thousand cubits, and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water has risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. (Ezek. 47:5) I have travelled countless times over the dam at Jinja, Uganda, the source of the Nile River, on my way […]

This is a marvellous read. Based on sermons given at various conferences by the author, the book focuses on three areas of Biblical truth: the character of God, the salvation of God and the church of God. Each of the 16 chapters is a model of Christ-centred expository preaching. There is a clear structure to […]

There is a God and it is possible for us to know him. But he may be known only because he has revealed himself. He has done so in creation. As we look at the world around us and the heavens above us, we should conclude that it was impossible for any part of the […]

It was about four o’clock one October morning. I had been sleeping well, but was awakened by the sound of a wind such as I had never heard in my life before. From the rooftop of my house, tiles were being blown about and seemed to make a most frightening noise as they came crashing […]