Seven minute video clip
With many different Christian denominations, and many different, contradictory messages being preached (even within the same denomination) how can someone work out who’s telling the truth about what Jesus actually taught? If the Bible is, as Christians profess, the Word of God then it’s obviously of vital importance to understand what that word is actually saying, but how can you distinguish Biblical Christianity from false teaching? Continue reading
Charles Spurgeon Sermon
Exodus 17:9 (King James Version)
9And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. Continue reading
C. H. SPURGEON
Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, March 29th, 1891,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”—Romans 6:4.
I HAVE AFORETIME preached upon the whole verse,* so that this morning I shall take the liberty to dwell chiefly upon the latter part of it—”Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
The idea that the grace of God should lead us to licentiousness is utterly loathsome to every Christian man. We cannot endure it. The notion that the doctrines of grace give license to sin, comes from the devil, and we scout it with a detestation more deep than words can express. “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
On our first entrance upon a Christian profession, we are met by the ordinance of baptism, which teaches the necessity of purification. Baptism is, in its very form, a washing, and its teaching requires cleansing of the most thorough kind. It is a burial, in which the man is viewed as dead with Christ to sin, and is regarded as rising again as a new man. Baptism sets forth, as in a picture, the union of the believer with the Lord Jesus in his baptism of suffering, and in his death, burial, and resurrection. By submitting to that sacred ordinance, we declare that we believe ourselves to be dead with him, because of his endurance of the death penalty, and dead to the world and to the dominion of sin by his Spirit; at the same time, we also profess our faith in our Lord’s resurrection, and that we ourselves are raised up in union with him, and have come forth through faith into newness of life. It is a very impressive and vivid symbol, but it is without meaning unless we rise to purity of life.
“Charity . . . thinks no evil.” — 1 Corinthians 13:5
Having remarked how charity, or Christian love, is opposed not only to pride and selfishness, but to the ordinary fruits of these evil dispositions, viz. an angry spirit and a censorious spirit, and having already spoken as to the former, I come now to the latter. And in respect to this, the apostle declares, that charity “thinketh no evil.” The doctrine set forth in these words is clearly this:
THAT THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY, OR CHRISTIAN LOVE, IS THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT
or, in other words, it is contrary to a disposition to think or judge uncharitably of others.
Charity, in one of the common uses of the expression, signifies a disposition to think the best of others that the case will allow. This, however, as I have shown before, is not the scriptural meaning of the word charity, but only one way of its exercise, or one of its many and rich fruits. Charity is of vastly larger extent than this. It signifies, as we have already seen, the same as Christian or divine love, and so is the same as the Christian spirit. And, in accordance with this view, we here find the spirit of charitable judging mentioned among many other good fruits of charity, and here expressed, as the other fruits of charity are in the context, negatively, or by denying the contrary fruit, viz. censoriousness, or a disposition uncharitably to judge or censure others. And in speaking to this point, I would, first, show the nature of censoriousness, or wherein it consists; and then mention some things wherein it appears to be contrary to a Christian spirit. I would show, Continue reading
William Tyndale was the Captain of the Army of Reformers, and was their spiritual leader. Tyndale holds the distinction of being the first man to ever print the New Testament in the English language. Tyndale was a true scholar and a genius, so fluent in eight languages that it was said one would think any one of them to be his native tongue. He is frequently referred to as the “Architect of the English Language”, (even more so than William Shakespeare) as so many of the phrases Tyndale coined are still in our language today.
William Tyndale (1494-1536) Biblical translator and martyr; born most probably at North Nibley (15 miles south-west of Gloucester), England, in 1494; died at Vilvoorden (6 miles north-east of Brussels), Belgium, Oct. 6, 1536. Tyndale was descended from an ancient Northumbrian family, went to school at Oxford, and afterward to Magdalen Hall and Cambridge.
John MacArthur
Those who are familiar with my ministry know that I am committed to expository preaching. It is my unshakable conviction that the proclamation of God’s Word should always be the heart and the focus of the church’s ministry (2 Tim. 4:2). And proper biblical preaching should be systematic, expositional, theological, and God-centered.
Such preaching is in short supply these days. There are plenty of gifted communicators in the modern evangelical movement, but today’s sermons tend to be short, shallow, topical homilies that massage people’s egos and focus on fairly insipid subjects like human relationships, “successful” living, emotional issues, and other practical but worldly—and not definitively biblical—themes. These messages are lightweight and without substance, cheap and synthetic, leaving little more than an ephemeral impression on the minds of the hearers. Continue reading
Updated 28/03/2012
Also a Transcript done for our reader who requested so, this was my first attempt to do a transcript and I hope it meets the readers approval.
If You Love Jesus Christ, You Defend His Doctrine Regardless
So if you want to get an idea of how sincere and genuine your love for Jesus Christ really is, then set aside for the moment the Christian cd’s and the walks in nature and the “what would Jesus do” bracelets, the fish symbols on your car and just ask yourself how much do I love the Scriptures , which bears Christ’s image upon them. Surely you can see that your answer testifies that either in favour a strong love for Christ or a heart that runs cold towards Christ. It either speaks of hypocrisy and merely the outward empty shallow of hypocritical religion, or it speaks of the fact that you have a true and genuine spiritually alive relationship with God.
John MacArthur
“Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
– Philippians 2:6-7
Jesus is the role model of the suffering servant.
Jesus not only gave up His divine privileges when He emptied Himself, but He also became a servant. For us, this is the next phase in His supreme example of humility. Paul’s phrase “the form of a bond-servant” can also be translated “the essence of a slave.” Christ’s servanthood was not just external—it extended to the essential, down-to-earth role of a bond-slave doing the will of His Father. Continue reading
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 17, 1875,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“Instead of your fathers shall be your children,
whom you may make princes in all the earth.”
Psalm 45:16.
WERE you ever perplexed by being drawn with almost equal force in two directions? I have been so. There is a bond which reaches from the cemetery which holds me very fast and, therefore, I desired again, this morning, to have made use of the solemn visitation which so suddenly removed one of our friends from us. But this is the beginning of the week set apart for prayer for the young, and I have felt duty bound to take a part in the celebration and to assist to stir up Sunday school teachers and the members of the Church in general to pray for the blessing of God upon the rising generation.
Now these mourning friends expect a consoling word from me—and these children demand that I plead for them, also! I realized the scene in my study. What was I to do? Between two subjects I might arrive at none and that was not a desirable conclusion. I watched, looked and prayed, and at last I resolved to yield myself to both influences, and I have as nearly as possible done so by selecting this text—“Instead of your fathers shall be your children, whom you may make princes in all the earth.” Continue reading
A reader asks: “Can an unsaved man or woman lead someone to Christ? Can you provide any Scriptural evidence on this question?”
First and foremost, we must always remember that the saving of souls is the sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit. He is the One who “convict[s] the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). We also know that God’s ordained means for communicating the Gospel is the preaching of His Word. “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:13-15). Continue reading
“There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”—Proverbs 18:24.Cicero has well said, “Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.” Friendship seems as necessary an element of a comfortable existence in this world as fire or water, or even air itself. A man may drag along a miserable existence in proud solitary dignity, but his life is scarce life, it is nothing but an existence, the tree of life being stripped of the leaves of hope and the fruits of joy. He who would be happy here must have friends; and he who would be happy hereafter must, above all things, find a friend in the world to come in the person of God, the Father of his people. Continue reading
By John MacDuff
“Whenever I bring clouds over the earth — and the rainbow appears in the clouds.” Genesis 9:14
SOVEREIGNTY
“The Lord reigns!” Psalm 93:1
No rainbow of promise in the “dark and cloudy day” shines more radiantly than this. God, my God, the God who gave Jesus — orders all events, and overrules all for my good! “When I,” says He, “send clouds over the earth.” He has no wish to conceal the hand which shadows for a time earth’s brightest prospects. It is He alike who “brings the cloud,” who brings us into it, and in mercy leads us through it! His kingdom rules over all. “The lot is cast into the lap — but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” He puts the burden on, and keeps it on — and at His own time will remove it! Continue reading
Let all the world know that the Lord Jesus will not cast away His believing people because of shortcomings and infirmities. The husband does not put way his wife because he finds failings in her. The mother does not forsake her infant because it is weak, feeble, and ignorant. And the Lord Christ does not cast off poor sinners who have committed their souls into His hands because He sees in them blemishes and imperfections. Oh, no! it is His glory to pass over the faults of His people, and heal their backslidings,—to make much of their weak graces, and to pardon their many faults. Verily, the 11th of Hebrews is a wonderful chapter. It is marvelous to observe how the Holy Ghost speaks of the worthies whose names are recorded in that chapter. The faith of the Lord’s people is there brought forward, and had in remembrance. But the faults of many a one, which might easily have been brought up also, are left alone, and not mentioned at all. Continue reading
By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Feb 14, 2012
discerning of spirits(v.10)—Satan is the great deceiver (John 8:44) and his demons counterfeit God’s message and work. Christians with the gift of discernment have the God-given ability to recognize lying spirits and to identify deceptive and erroneous doctrine (see Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1).
Paul illustrated the use of this gift in Acts 16:16-18, as Peter had exercised it in Acts 5:3. When it was not being exercised in the Corinthian church, grave distortion of the truth occurred (see v. 3; 14:29).
Though its operation has changed since apostolic times (because of the completion of Scripture) it is still essential to have people in the church who are discerning. They are the guardians, the watchmen who protect the church from demonic lies, false doctrines, perverted cults, and fleshly elements. As it requires diligent study of the Word to exercise gifts of knowledge, wisdom, preaching, and teaching, so it does with discernment. [1] Continue reading
PSALM 119
Psa 119:1-176
(1) Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!
(2) Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
(3) who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!
(4) You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
(5) Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
(6) Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
(7) I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.
(8) I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!
(9) How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
(10) With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! Continue reading
For the Love of His Truth 