Topic Archives: Theology
It was good to be one of around 150 present at the John Owen Centre, Finchley, to hear this year’s Dr Lloyd-Jones memorial lecture by Philip Eveson on Gospel and Creation – the significance of a theology of creation for preaching. A very full paper, it considered what a theology of creation should include (making […]
ReadThe Son of God came into the world to do the will of God. He did nothing but the will of God. He did all the will of God. His life perfectly conformed to God’s will. Those who follow him will want to know the will of God, and they will want to know it […]
ReadThe sound of the gospel trumpet was first heard in the Garden of Eden when it fell on the ears of our first parents, who by then had lost that communion with God which they had previously enjoyed. With the entrance of sin into the world, they now were to face up to the reality […]
ReadChristianHistory.net recently published this little article of J. I. Packer. God’s Chemo for My Cancered Soul They called it the Victorious Spirit-filled life. You got into it, they said, by total surrender to Jesus Christ (they assumed no one does this at conversion), and then looking to him whenever you felt sinful impulses stirring. He […]
ReadThe Church in Corinth had experienced the ‘weighty and strong’ writings of the Apostle Paul, but the Galatians had even more cause to feel the force of his pen. Their actions brought forth the sharpest response from Paul. His language in Galatians 1:6-9 is as strong as anywhere in his writings. Verse 6: ‘I am […]
ReadI have heard Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees Thee; Therefore I retract, I repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:5, 6) On July 23, 2007 Dr. William Pettit of Cheshire, Connecticut experienced a man’s worst nightmare. On that evening two convicted felons, released two days earlier on parole, […]
ReadHow did awareness of heavenly councils between him and his Father shape Jesus’ sense of earthly mission? Every phase of our Saviour’s life was shaped and styled by his self-conscious sense that he had come from heaven ‘not to do (his) will but to do the will of him who sent (him)’ (John 6:38). Indeed, […]
ReadLuke 6:43-45 ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings […]
ReadWe know the calling of Levi, how he got up and followed Jesus, ‘leaving everything’ (Luke 5:28). If we are skim-reading Luke’s Gospel – not always the most profitable way to read! – we might easily overlook the deep wonder and significance of this issue. A taxman gets up from his desk and goes with […]
Read‘How Liberal Theology Infected Scotland’ is a deeply instructive short article1 written by R. A. Finlayson, the late professor of Systematic Theology in the Free Church College in Edinburgh. Finlayson attributed the nineteenth century infiltration of Liberalism into a confessional Church to wrong priorities by the leaders. He wrote: …not content with opening three colleges, […]
ReadAt a time when Reformed churches are taking the celebration and frequency of the Lord’s Supper more seriously, the question ‘How should I benefit from Communion?’ is timely. I want, however, at the outset to change the title I was given. The change appears minimal, but it is actually profound. I would like to substitute […]
ReadDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed until the day of redemption. [Ephesians 4:30] 1735 was a most remarkable year in the expansion of Christ’s kingdom. In order to appreciate what God did that year, we need to go back to 1662 when King Charles II, in an effort […]
ReadJohn 3:1-8 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” […]
ReadIt was a remarkable testimony that God gave of Enoch: ‘He pleased God’ (Heb. 11:5). Enoch was a sinner and, if God was to mark iniquity against him, he could not stand. At best, his works were imperfect; they could never satisfy the demands of God’s holy law; so he could not earn a right […]
Read[On Saturday 14th June 2008 the graduation took place of the London Theological Seminary, and at the end there was a service of thanksgiving for the retiring principal Philip Eveson who for decades has been the resident tutor at the Seminary, the pastor for years of the adjoining Kensit Church and then for a long […]
ReadTo talk about revival is to talk superlatives, for revival is Christianity taken to a heightened intensity. God never does more for his church than when he revitalises her with the breath of heaven. In the midst of the years he ‘makes known’ (Habakkuk 3:2). We then experience more of his grace and power than […]
ReadWith God nothing has any standing except grace. Grace signifies that favour with which God receives us, forgiving our sins and justifying us freely through Christ. The best and infallible preparation [for grace] is the eternal election and predestination of God. As far as our own abilities are concerned, there is no difference whatever between […]
ReadOn March 11-13, 2008 Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (GPTS) hosted its 11th annual Spring Theology Conference: this year exploring ‘A Reformed View of the End Times.‘ About 420 people attended the conference, held at Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church in Simpsonville, SC. ‘Our Spring Theology Conference aims to equip Christian ministers and lay persons with sound. […]
ReadRudyard Kipling realized that when nations rise to wealth and power, just like ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 8, they are inclined to forget God. He immortalized this reality in his poem ‘Recessional,’ written on the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. Far-called, our navies melt away; On dune and headland sinks the fire: Lo, all […]
ReadA discussion of chapter 3 of The Westminster Confession of Faith, presented at the Theological Conference of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland in December 2007 by Rev Hugh Cartwright. R B Kuiper comments that it behoves us to remember that we are dealing with a profound mystery, that we are here on holy ground […]
ReadWe have received some correspondence regarding the article by Jeremy Walker, ‘John Owen and The Death of Death in the Death of Christ’, posted on the website April 17, 2007.1 The comments received and Pastor Walker’s reply appear below. Dear Editor, I found Jeremy Walker’s supposed review of John Owen’s Death of Death2 to be […]
ReadGrey Hazlerigg once wrote, ‘A truth out of place and out of season may work in Satan’s hands like a lie.’ So Satan has often perverted the truth of predestination and God’s sovereignty to lull sinners into idle slothfulness. Fatalism is evil. God is not in it. There is no purpose, no point, no religion, […]
ReadSeveral years ago while living in Jerusalem I noticed how the Jews kept the Sabbath. Around 3 p.m. on Friday afternoons the weekend rush hour traffic would increase as workers made their way home. Most of the working mothers were trying to arrive at the market in time to buy needed supplies. This frenzied pace […]
ReadOver the past weeks I have been reading through The Letter to the Hebrews. It has, as ever, been a fascinating, sobering and richly encouraging read. The Letter, as you will know, was written to Hebrew Christians who had become influenced by false teaching and were under pressure to give up on Christ and return […]
Read‘Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.’ [Ephesians 5:25-27] For fifty years I have believed that […]
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