Reformation? I hear a lot about “reformation” in our day. There are reformed churches, reformed doctrine, reformed preachers and reformed believers, everything seems to be “reformed.” The word “reform” means to “improve or to make better.” If “reformation” means to improve myself or make myself better, then, I do not need reformation! What I need […]
Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity Ps 119:37 Dear friends, do not gaze upon any sin . . . for looking breeds longing, and longing begets lusting, and lusting brings sinning! Keep your eyes right — and you may keep your heart right. If that first woman had not looked upon the forbidden tree and seen “that the tree was good for food, and that […]
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:for I am God, and there is none else. Isaiah 45:22 Octavius Winslow A true spiritual beholding of the Lord Jesus, in the great matter of our eternal salvation, requires that we look from every other object that would divide our attention, to Him alone. We must look […]
Coming up from the wilderness (J. C. Philpot, “Coming up from the Wilderness” 1857) Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?Song of Solomon 8:5 To come up from the wilderness, is to come up outof OURSELVES; for we are ourselves the wilderness.It is our wilderness heart that makes the worldwhat it is to […]
Who cares for pebbles — when jewels glitter before him? (Charles Spurgeon, “Flowers from a Puritan’s Garden” 1883) “To rule a kingdom, is a nobler matter than to play with marbles.” What, then, is the folly of the worldling’s choice, when he prefers to be contending among men for earthly toys — instead of seeking […]
“Where Is He?” John 7:11 Everyone knew that the Lord Jesus would be at Jerusalem during the feast of tabernacles. The whole city seems to have been buzzing with this question. Some sought him to kill him, others to make him a king. Some were curious about him. Some wanted to see his miracles, some […]
“Where Is He?” John 7:11 Everyone knew that the Lord Jesus would be at Jerusalem during the feast of tabernacles. The whole city seems to have been buzzing with this question. Some sought him to kill him, others to make him a king. Some were curious about him. Some wanted to see his miracles, some […]
“We Love Him” 1 John 4:19 We readily acknowledge that God’s love for us precedes our love for him. “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3). His love is without beginning, without cause, without change, […]
Adam, the First and the Second We fell in the first Adam through no fault of our own, we rise in the second Adam through no merit of our own, so we rise in the same manner as we fell, only in a different person. It is the Free Grace of God that we are […]
WE HAVE AN ADVOCATE And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1). This scripture recognises our frail, sinful, human nature. A believer does not love sin, does not excuse nor justify sin, but grieves over sin and desires to be without sin. Yet he owns […]