Contemplations
Fortifying Faith
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward You; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) The trials and difficulties believers encounter through the course of life are often well-disguised...
The Glorious Mystery of Christ’s Incarnation
“Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification.” (Romans 4:25) The incarnation of Christ is foundational to the Christian faith, as it is the glorious mystery by which the eternal Son of God took upon Himself true humanity in order to...
Unparalleled Humility
“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” (James 4:6) In a world that applauds ambition and self-promotion, the call to humility stands as a radical counterpoint. Nevertheless, Romans 12:2 urges me not...
The Beauty of Graceful Speech
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29) Song of Solomon 4:3 likens the bride’s lips to “a thread of scarlet” and her speech to something...
The King Whose Enemies Cannot Stand
"The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of His wrath." (Psalm 110:5) Christ, the Mediator and King of His church, never stands alone in the execution of His royal office. As He sits at the right hand of the Father in glory, the government of...
The God Who Cannot Deny Himself
"If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:13) The faithfulness of God rests entirely in His own unchanging nature. He is faithful because faithfulness is His very being. He cannot cease to be what He eternally is. Therefore,...
Our Incomprehensible Portion
"Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: He is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: He will not afflict." (Job 37:23) God is an incomprehensible being. He may be truly known because He has revealed Himself, yet neither man nor angels...
The Greater Glory of the Gospel
"How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?" (2 Corinthians 3:8) God’s law, written and engraved in stones, possessed inherent glory because it came directly from God, revealed His righteousness, and declared His holy will. Yet it was also a...
Chosen and Secure in the Father’s Love
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” (1 Peter 1:2) In the first chapter of his first epistle Peter shares...
The Patience of Christ
"Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." (1 Peter 2:23) The patience of Christ in the wake of the onslaught of His accusers is one of the clearest displays of His perfect...
The God Who Makes All Grace Abound
"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8) The sufficiency of believers flows from the sufficiency of God. Because God makes “all grace abound” toward...
Delivering Grace
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, ‘O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’” (Matthew 3:7) John the Baptist's question recorded here in Matthew 3:7, addressed to those...
The Sovereign Government of God
“For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched...
A Heart Made Willing to Obey
"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." (Ephesians 5:6) Paul urges the Ephesian believers not to be deceived by words that disregard the seriousness of sin by downplaying the...
Strengthened for Holy Perseverance
“I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.” (Psalm 119:106) While salvation is wholly of grace, God’s children are called to diligently follow Christ, obey His Word, and pursue holiness. David's words in this psalm express such a...
Envy That Resents God’s Mercy
"But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12) Christ interjects this warning into the conversation recorded in Matthew 8:12 while answering the request of a Roman centurion to heal...
Fear That Guards the Soul
"Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel." (2 Chronicles 28:3) The valley of the son of Hinnom became associated...
Gratitude for a Perfect Saviour
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” (James 2:10-11)...
Every Deed Accounted For
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God;...
False Peace and True Fellowship
“If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” (1 John 1:6) The human heart possesses a remarkable ability to persuade itself that all is well when all is not well. In fact, one of the most dangerous conditions we read...
Neglecting the Means of Grace
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (Acts 2:42) Those early believers referenced in this second chapter of Acts realized that the ordinances of Christ were essential means through which...
God’s Response to Pride
"And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." (Isaiah 13:11) The dominion of ancient Babylon, referenced often in the Old...
The Greater One Within
“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) The world tends to portray the Christian life as burdensome and restrictive, as though obedience to Christ robs a person of joy...
The Work of God Alone
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Peter 1:23) Just as a newborn infant cannot effect its physical birth, believers cannot effect their “new birth.” Scripture makes it clear that...
The Danger of an Unconverted Heart
“Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit...
Christ Our Unshakable Rock
“He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.” (Psalm 62:2) Throughout Scripture, God is repeatedly referred to as the Rock of His people. He is the refuge to which sinners flee and the sure foundation on which faith rests. Just...
Learning From the Lord’s Rebukes
"Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut...
The Weight of Sin and Need for Satisfaction
"I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?" (Job 7:20) Job’s anguished cry pierces through the centuries and speaks directly to the human condition. When sin is...
The Word That Instructs and Guides
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The sufficiency of...
The Sins God Hates
“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies,...
So Great Salvation
"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." (Hebrews 2:3) The gospel of Christ is the greatest message ever proclaimed because it reveals the eternal love...
Hearing Without Hearing
"Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." (Matthew 13:13) In this verse in Matthew 13, Christ explains that there is a difference between exposure to truth and spiritual understanding....
To the Praise of His Glory
“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:12) The great design of God in saving sinners is not only that they might escape wrath, but that they might live to the praise of His glory. For when God effectually calls a...
Humbled and Lifted by His Grace
“I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.” (Job 42:2) Job, one of the oldest books in the Bible, recounts the life of a godly man by the same name who, after a long period of suffering, questioning, and humbling,...
The God Who Cannot Lie
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” (Titus 1:2) Our hope of eternal life, as this verse in Titus so beautifully reminds us, rests on one of the most comforting truths revealed in Scripture... that God cannot lie. We...
Natural Reason and Spiritual Truth
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14) In the second chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains...
The Power of Hearing
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) Faith is a gift of God, a product of His Word and His Spirit working together in our hearts. This divine process occurs when the Spirit of God plants the truths of God in hearts that are...
The Blessing of Abraham Through Christ
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:14) The gospel fulfills one of the greatest wonders of God's redemptive purpose, which is that the blessing...
Gathered Forever with Christ
"And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matthew 24:31) The return of Jesus Christ is the great hope of every believer, allowing us to direct our...
Not Your Own
“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” (1 Corinthians 3:17) Scripture teaches that all true Christians belong entirely to God. What an amazing truth, indeed, that every Person of the Trinity...
The Gift of the Son
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Among all the declarations of God’s amazing grace found in Scripture, few are as well known or as rich in...
The Kingdom That Sin Cannot Inherit
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor...
The Sanctifier Who Calls His People Brethren
"For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." (Hebrews 2:11-12)...
Living for the Glory of His Name
“For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not...
No Room for Boasting
"Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:9) Paul’s concern in Ephesians 2 is the deliverance of lost and condemned sinners from their natural state into acceptance with God and salvation through Christ. So he begins by describing what sinners are by...
A Call to Persevere
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (Jude 1:6) This passage in Jude is a sober example of what can happen if we do not persevere in...
The Greater Glory of the Gospel
“For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:9) The gospel of Jesus Christ is the clearest and most magnificent display of God's glory ever revealed to mankind. Scripture calls...
Needing the Physician
"When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mark 2:17) Until a sinner fully realizes the weight of his guilt and misery, he will not...
Our Glorious Future With Christ
“Which is his body, the fulness of him that fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:23) Scripture promises believers a most magnificent destiny—an eternity where God’s fullness permeates everything and every facet of existence radiates His glory. On that eternal day,...
Chosen to Salvation Through Sanctification
“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13) The work of salvation begins in the...
The One Who Does All Things Well
"Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" (Matthew 20:15) God possesses absolute sovereignty over all He has made. He tends everything (likened to a wonderful vineyard) with great care. Heaven, earth, sea, and...
The Weight of Eternity
“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) Every person...
Chosen in Christ Before the World Began
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." (Ephesians 1:4) Before the foundation of the world, before any creature had acted either well or ill, God chose His people in...
The Sweet Testimony of a Clean Conscience
“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 9:1-2) The testimony of a good conscience is one of the richest gifts given the believer in this life. When rightly informed by the Word and sanctified by the...