Topic Archives: Christian Living

Reading the Letters of Samuel Rutherford is to enter a world where love to the Lord Jesus Christ is the absorbing preoccupation. Writing to a lady parishioner in 1637, he said, ‘Christ is a well of life; but who knoweth how deep it is to the bottom? . . . And oh, what a fair one, what […]

. . . they will look on Me whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10). The return from exile, prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10) was a glorious and wonderful occasion for the Jews (Psa. 126:1-3), but it also vividly reminded God’s covenant people of their folly and its consequences. They had gone after false gods and Yahweh repeatedly […]

In August 1969 Dr. Lloyd-Jones was the principal preacher at the summer Institute of Theology in Pensacola. People today who were there still talk of the nine messages they heard him preach. They were the cream of his sermons, messages he had taken with him around the UK preaching to packed churches. They have now […]

. . . Jesus Christ . . . the ruler of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5). Tim Tebow’s recent capitulation at First Baptist Church, Dallas, begging off from his April 28 speaking engagement there, is the latest example of what happens when Christians ‘get off the reservation.’ As you no doubt know, the pro-homosexual […]

It was deeply disturbing for the disciples to realise that their Master was about to leave them. Peter, ever ready to speak out when others might have kept their thoughts to themselves, asked, ‘Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards’ […]

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013, was a very sad day in the history of our nation. Disgracefully, on that day the House of Commons, by a majority of 400 to 175, passed the Second Reading of the bill to legalise same-sex marriages. This is an affront to Almighty God. But not only is it contrary to […]

We should develop the attitude that life is far better if we use our minds actively to whatever degree we are able, and that slothfulness of mind is an unfortunate misuse of the uniqueness God gave men. Consider these reasons for continuing our education through developing a learning posture to life: 1. Learning is exercise […]

. . . they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace (Acts 14:3). Upon Saul of Tarsus’ conversion on the road to Damascus, Ananias was commissioned by the resurrected Christ to go to this persecutor of Christians and to lay hands on […]

Every believer who has ever lived has faced and experienced disappointment. There have been and will be no exceptions. Even the perfect Man of faith, our Lord Jesus Christ, experienced disappointments, difficulties, hardships. As he hung alone and abandoned on Calvary’s cross he cried out, ‘My God, My God, why . . .?’ Woven into […]

You are probably reading this as one year ends and another begins. A new year is a milestone in our lives. And we do well to remember that not everyone who passed the last such milestone has reached this one; similarly not everyone who passes this milestone will reach the next. We are on our […]

Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their ‘earnestness’ makes many think they must be right. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be […]

The following is taken from Puritan Portraits by J. I. Packer, published by Christian Focus (192pp, paperback, ISBN 9781845507008). There are seven Puritan leaders who are evaluated and commended by Dr. Packer in this fine book. The notes have been added. I owe more, I think, to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern, […]

Mary Moffatt was a remarkable woman. Wife of Robert Moffatt, mother-in-law of David Livingstone, she and her husband served as missionaries in Bechuanaland for 45 years. The early years were hard, their labours resulting in not a single convert. Yet Mary was undaunted. When a friend wrote, asking what useful gift could be sent from […]

To be casual today is usually regarded as a good thing; it is cool. To be ‘non-casual’ (stiff? formal? intense?) is not good. You need to chill. One of the first books I read as a Christian was The Best That I Can Be by J. Oswald Sanders. On the front cover is a photo […]

We look at one verse, Matthew 2:15, in three tenses. ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’. With due deference to Mr Charles Dickens, and especial apologies to Mr Ebenezer Scrooge, we will vary a certain well-known Christmas story by entitling our three points ‘The Quote of Scripture Past’, ‘The Quote of Scripture Present’, and […]

It is only too easy for Christians to become daunted and deeply pessimistic. The world we live in is a dark and presently an ever-darkening, place. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is increasingly and publicly mocked and marginalized throughout society, particularly in the media. Our Government passes legislation that defies the living God. […]

Wednesday night I was on my own in London. Such a void in the schedule gives me the chance to taxi in from Chelsea Harbour to Central London to Foyles, my favorite bookstore in all the world. The distinctive, boxy, black London taxi is a masterpiece of western civilization. In no other city can one […]

Introduction Someone once said that, if you want to be eternally relevant, you need to stop trying to say things that are relevant and focus on saying things that are eternal. Some ministers write their sermons according to what has featured in the news that week. When I was training for the ministry, a former […]

‘Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.’ For thus says the high and exalted One, who lives forever, whose name is Holy, ‘I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit […]

My dear mother, Johanna Beeke, aged 92, passed on into the presence of her Saviour at 3:45 a.m. on July 23, 2012. Though words seem hollow right now, I have tried to write a little of the tremendous legacy she left us five children and our spouses. Some of this material I used for leading […]

Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. Psalm 73:25 After John Wesley’s ‘heart was strangely warmed’ at Aldersgate in 1738, he preached and laboured for the gospel, unabated, until his death in 1791. In that fifty-three year period he wrote over two hundred books, compiled dictionaries in […]

Graham Miller was a friend and mentor to many – not least to me – and ‘I thank my God in every remembrance of [him].’ Many will echo this sentiment as they read A Day’s March Nearer Home, compiled from his journals, formed into an autobiography by the Rev Iain Murray, and published by the […]

Let no one look down on your youthfulness. 1 Timothy 4:12a Jesus was thirty when he began his public ministry (Luke 3:23), and Peter must have been close to Jesus’ age when he began to follow him. Some say Saul of Tarsus was in his twenties when he was converted on the road to Damascus. […]

Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there is no more room . . . In my ears the Lord of hosts has sworn, ‘Surely, many houses shall become desolate, even great and fine ones, without occupants.’ Isaiah 5:8-9 By now we all know what happened with the […]

Christianity – Not a Religion of Works, but a Religion that Works ‘By grace are you saved through faith,’ writes Paul, before hastening on to add that we are ‘not (saved) by works, so that no-one can boast’, but then affirming that ‘we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which […]