Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

The Beatitudes describe the character of those who will receive divine blessings, and they also indicate what the blessings are. In this Beatitude, we are told the characteristic – it is merciful, and we are told what the blessing will be – it is mercy. So we can look at those two details. What does it mean to be merciful? The obvious point to make here is that a merciful person is  Godlike . There are numerous references to the mercy of God in the Bible. Usually it is mentioned in regard to forgiving sinners, but it is not limited to that. God shows aspects of his mercy in providence to numerous people who never hear the gospel. It happens every day through his expressions of common grace. Anything that is undeserved is an expression of mercy, although at times it is temporal, lasting only a short time.. Primarily, the reference is to the pardon of sin. It is an interesting observation that this divine attribute would have remained hidden if we had not sinned. This does...

This letter was written to people who were experiencing profound change in their circumstances. There were at least two changes taking place in their lives. First, they were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus. Second, the religious system that they had been used to was no longer of much use for them, and indeed it was about to pass away shortly when the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed. Those changes had brought about a sense of weariness. After all, persecution would make it difficult for them to provide for their families, to live steady lives, and there would be a real sense of uncertainty.  Troubles don’t always bring spiritual blessings. We have to respond to them by faith, seeking to go through them by faith in the Lord. Yet we also need motivations and reminders to help our faith. So what does the writer of Hebrews do? He points his readers to Jesus. In the previous chapter he had said these words:   ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so g...

Jesus had explained what the significance was for the disciples of him washing their feet. It pictured the ongoing cleansing of sin that believers experience after their conversion. The conversion was likened by Jesus to a bath – an overall cleansing when all our sins are forgiven in the sense of being justified. The washing of feet by Jesus pictures the ongoing cleansing that is part of sanctification. Jesus does not suggest that believers, in the language of the illustration, should give one another a bath. We should not be surprised at that because we don’t play any part in the justification of a believer. But he does say that we should follow his example and wash feet, which could suggest that we contribute something to what we could call mutual sanctification.  Should we be surprised at that suggestion? Consider that the Holy Spirit indwells believers and he wants them to demonstrate holy living from the heart. Does our behaviour therefore affect in some ways the sanc...

‘ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,   for they shall be satisfied. ’ The Bible often uses the experiences of hunger and thirst to describe spiritual needs. For example, the author of Psalm 42 likens his longing for God to that of a deer panting after water. Similarly, in Psalm 63, the author likens his longing for God to a traveller passing through a desert and who is longing for water. In Psalm 107:9, the psalmist says that God ‘satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.’ In Isaiah 55:1-3, the Lord uses this imagery while giving a gracious invitation to sinners: ‘Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, ...

No one knows when this psalm was written, so the background to it cannot be identified with precision. The psalm, however, gives enough details about the trouble for us to appreciate some of the circumstances that the people faced. In verse 8, we are told that God was the One who had brought desolations on the earth. The psalmist urges the people to consider those desolations as ‘the works or the Lord’.   The trouble The desolations were not confined to one area or country. From the psalmist’s perspective, they were happening everywhere. To his mind, they were a  global  phenomenon. Verse 6 says that kingdoms were tottering. Moreover the nations were in uproar. Yet the powerful voice of the Lord in providence reduced their complaints to being like ice when it melts in the hot sun. Is there not something very frightening when God speaks in this way? In addition to the phenomenon being global, it was also  powerful . The most obvious expression of human powe...