Jesus and the disciples left the upper room in the early hours of Friday morning. They moved across the Kidron Valley and up the slopes of the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem. There Jesus instructed his disciples to pray so that Satan would not “sift” them. He withdrew to pray by himself. He…
Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) and was resolved to traverse that path to the bitter end. He explained to the Twelve disciples multiple times that a rendezvous with death awaited him in that city. In the sermon text for this Lord’s Day (Luke 18:31-34), Jesus explained this once again, but this…
Due to the remarkable events of this week, we will pause our ongoing study of Luke’s Gospel to consider the Christian’s response to the current pandemic. We will turn to the wisdom provided by James.
In the sermon text for this Lord’s Day, Luke tells the story of the birth of Jesus. He tells it briefly and without fanfare. The Lord Jesus came into the world in a humble estate. Even so, we see the hand of God at work in the simple details.
The angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would miraculously conceive and bear the Son of God. He also informed her of the miraculous conception of her relative, Elizabeth. The young Mary promptly made the arduous journey to visit Elizabeth. Luke’s description of their meeting is filled with signs of the sovereign work of God.…
The last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, foretold the coming of the Lord in judgment and redemption. After Malachi, prophecy fell silent for 400 years. All of that changed in the sermon text for this Lord’s Day. God promised a priest, Zechariah, and his wife a child in their old age. This child would…
Mercy is when you are given something other than, better than what you deserve. What do you and I deserve? Anything that we receive in this life better than hell is more than we deserve. We have offended a holy God, and yet in His mercy He has not given us what we deserve, but…
The gospel turns things inside out. Paul learned that victory comes in defeat, glory in humiliation, and joy in suffering. And so it is with us . . . . Martin Luther put it this way: “God creates out of nothing. Therefore until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.”
Pain and suffering, sickness and sorrow do not happen by accident. They are not caused by lack of faith. They are not meaningless events that must simply be endured. God works through them all. They come to us by his sovereign design. “Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.”
Here is a truth that can transform your entire outlook: every detail of our lives is testimony that God is merciful. You see, we are part of a race of rebels. We deserve nothing from God but scorn and condemnation. As John Kent put it in the marvelous hymn, “Blessed God, How Kind:” Preserved by…