Topic Archives: Salvation

This is about the person who has given his name to Christmas, Jesus Christ. It will only take you a few moments to read. A single word— special—sums up why you shouldn’t grudge the time. Special person Had you seen Jesus after he was born in Bethlehem special is not the word that would have […]

The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 2 of Iain H. Murray’s The Forgotten Spurgeon (pages 46–64). Mr Spurgeon is a Calvinist, which few of the dissenting ministers in London now are. He preaches salvation, not of man’s free will, but of the Lord’s good will, which few in London, it is to be feared, […]

The following excerpt is from Chapter IV of Robert H. Ireland’s Light from Calvary: The Seven Last Words of Jesus, first published in 1873 and out this summer in a Banner edition.   And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, […]

The following, which appeared in Issues 611–612 of the Banner of Truth Magazine (Aug–Sep 2014) is from John Angell James, The Anxious Inquirer After Salvation Directed and Encouraged*. We are grateful to Mr Martyn Jolly for bringing this extract to our attention and supplying the text. It may seem strange to some persons, that I […]

The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 2 of Archibald Alexander’s Thoughts on Religious Experience. That conviction of sin is a necessary part of experimental religion, all will admit; but there is one question respecting this matter, concerning which there may be much doubt; and that is, whether a law-work, prior to regeneration, is necessary; […]

The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 2 of Archibald Alexander’s Thoughts on Religious Experience. It is an interesting question whether now there are any persons sanctified from the womb. If the communication of grace ever took place at so early a period of human existence, there is no reason why it should not now […]

To assert that the message of the cross is wholly one of divine love (as some have done) is to destroy its meaning. For it is only in the recognition of the holiness of God that the sufferings of Christ, which brought forth the cry, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me,’ can […]

Think about someone being selected and sent to do an especially difficult job. Some major crisis has arisen, or some massive problem needs to be tackled, and it requires the knowledge, the experience, the skill-set, the leadership that they so remarkably possess. It was like that with Jesus. Entrusted to him by God the Father […]

The following is an excerpt from J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, What Is Faith?, which has recently been reprinted by the Banner with a new, modern typeset and an updated cover. It is impossible to trust God in the Christian sense without holding that he is a free and living person, Creator and Ruler of […]

The following was an address delivered at the “Religious Conference,” held in the Theo­logical Seminary, Princeton, on October 13, 1902. Reprinted from The Princeton Theological Review, i. 1903, pp. 81-92. The article forms a part of Warfield’s Studies in Theology (1932, rep. Banner of Truth, 1988), which is currently out of print. WE may as […]

Recently reading Paul’s Second ‌Letter to the Thessalonians, I was struck by a word that immediately arrested me. Paul has been writing about the ‘coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Thess. 2:1). He assures the church that the Lord had not yet come, and would not come, ‘unless the rebellion comes first and the […]

The story begins like this: on the night that Jesus was born certain shepherds were out in the field, keeping watch over their flock. It was to them first of all that the news of his birth was broken. And by an angel no less! “I bring you good news of great joy that will […]

The following sermon, ‘Christ Crucified’, was delivered on Sabbath morning, February 11, 1855, by the Rev. C.H. Spurgeon, at Exeter Hall. ‘But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of […]

It is something of a commonplace in these days to read about the ‘psychology of conversion’ or the ‘anatomy of a soul’, and often enough what masquerades under such titles is but an onslaught on faith and a denigration of both conversion and the notion of the soul. It is in stark contrast to this […]

The following sermon, ‘The Sin of Unbelief’, was delivered on Sabbath morning, January 14, 1855, by the Rev. C.H. Spurgeon, at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. ‘And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, […]

This review was first published in the 2022 edition of the New Horizons magazine and has been shared with permission. * * * In this pamphlet, OPC pastor Jeremiah Montgomery addresses the often vexing issue of assurance of salvation. Having walked the ‘valley of the shadow of doubt’ for more than twenty-five years, his purpose […]

‘See Mary weeping.’ So runs the invitation in the Townend-Getty Easter hymn, See What a Morning. Mary has come to Jesus’ tomb on the morning of the first day of the week and stands outside it weeping. Why is she weeping? She gives us the answer herself: ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I […]

It was my privilege to grow up in a home with Christian parents. There were things I knew before I truly believed them. And so it was that I sat in the second year of my middle school, probably about nine years old, listening to my teacher tell a joke about hell as part of […]

As Machen lay dying on New Year’s Eve, 1936, he wasn’t thinking about any of his many and considerable achievements throughout his life. He dictated a telegram to his colleague John Murray in which his last words are recorded, ‘I’m so thankful for [the] active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.’

Picture life as a journey, a journey from birth to death. We are born, we live, and we die. That’s how it was for Jesus. Life was a journey for him too. When he made our nature his own, he made our journey his own as well. At both the beginning and the end of […]

This is the second in a series of ‘taster’ articles to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Puritan Paperbacks series. Here, our Book Review Editor provides a flavour of one of the early titles to appear in the series. Heaven on earth! Who would refuse that? But what is it, and where do we find […]

The following is the second chapter of Rhett P. Dodson’s newest title, With A Mighty Triumph! * * * Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not […]

This article is the contents of an address first given in February 2020 at the Westminster Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Newcastle, UK. * * * It is one of the glories of the gospel that it is universal in scope. There is nothing narrow or limited about the good news of salvation. It is, Matt. 28:19, […]

When you’re out for your permitted daily exercise (in the UK) these days, you can’t help noticing the pictures of rainbows children have painted and put up in their windows. The idea started in Italy and spread to many different countries as a symbol of hope in dark times — the message seems to be […]

And all the multitudes that came together to this sight, when they beheld the things that were done, returned smiting their breasts. — Luke 23:48 Six hours our Lord has hung upon the cross. Upon the cross! We are very nearly at the point at which we can no longer contemplate putting even deliberate murderers […]