Treasures Gained by Wickedness Do Not Profit

   Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,        but righteousness delivers from death. Proverbs 10:2 ESV All people must wrestle to understand the perennial question of why the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. Thankfully, God does not leave us to grapple with that question alone. The Book of Job is the most obvious example. …

Continue reading Treasures Gained by Wickedness Do Not Profit

Question 21: What Sort of Redeemer Is Needed to Bring Us Back to God?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5envUKev3Ayr9b60O79BpG?si=nF4_KAWnQ3m_mO3tdsYXNw In the garden, Adam and Eve needed neither redeemer nor mediator. They were free to bathe in the presence of God and to enjoy the world that He given them to steward. But they rejected their communion with God in a feeble attempt to seize even more power than God had already granted them. …

Continue reading Question 21: What Sort of Redeemer Is Needed to Bring Us Back to God?

O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Jonathan Gibson

Jonathan Gibson's book of liturgies for daily worship, Be Thou My Vision, was my first experience with bringing elements typically associated with corporate worship into my times of private worship, and I have not looked back since. Although devotional time ought to rightly be viewed as time that is explicitly devoted to the Lord through …

Continue reading O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Jonathan Gibson

Consider Jesus

Looking to the Reward | Hebrews 11:23-31

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with …

Continue reading Looking to the Reward | Hebrews 11:23-31

Question 20: Who Is the Redeemer?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1KsMAyIAiPhbYwS6NApizi?si=yAGRzZ36QHi7VdD90uUKFw Although much of the New City Catechism so far has been establishing the reality of our sin and condemnation that makes the gospel necessary, we finally arrived at that good news in the previous question, where we confessed that there is indeed a way for us "to escape punishment and be brought back into …

Continue reading Question 20: Who Is the Redeemer?

Not Ashamed to Be Called Their God | Hebrews 11:16

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:16 ESV With preaching through the entire Epistle to the Hebrews, my thoughts for sermon-text divisions has been to choose large chunks …

Continue reading Not Ashamed to Be Called Their God | Hebrews 11:16

Consider Jesus

The City That Has Foundations | Hebrews 11:8-22

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, …

Continue reading The City That Has Foundations | Hebrews 11:8-22

Consider Jesus

Without Faith It Is Impossible to Please Him | Hebrews 11:4-7

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because …

Continue reading Without Faith It Is Impossible to Please Him | Hebrews 11:4-7

O How I Love Your Law!

Let Your Steadfast Love Comfort Me | Psalm 119:76

Let your steadfast love comfort meaccording to your promise to your servant. Psalm 119:76 ESV As we have already seen, the psalmist is clearly writing from a place and time of affliction. His enemies encircle him like wolves, taunting him. Yet, like Job, he has not cursed God; rather, he has pointedly declared his absolute …

Continue reading Let Your Steadfast Love Comfort Me | Psalm 119:76

Question 19: Is There Any Way to Escape Punishment and Be Brought Back into God’s Favor?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5JdQsZpRhSguoT7EL6Zzyx?si=dcYo3aeeTCOhKcZJSvCX4A The New City Catechism is divided into three parts. The first part focuses upon God the Father, creation, the Fall, and God's law. The second part concerns Christ, redemption, and grace. The third part instructs us on the Holy Spirit, our restoration to God, and our growing in His grace. Although this is the …

Continue reading Question 19: Is There Any Way to Escape Punishment and Be Brought Back into God’s Favor?