Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 ESV What does the final phrase of this verse mean? The ESV footnotes that shadow due to change could also be rendered a shadow of …
The catechism now turns from the disciplines of prayer and Scripture to the sacraments or, as we Baptists most commonly call them, the ordinances. These two practices, baptism and the Lord's Supper, were instituted by Christ Himself and given to His church as what Thomas Watson calls visible sermons that proclaim the gospel. They are …
Continue reading Question 43: What Are the Sacraments or Ordinances?
Now that we have learned how to pray with reverence and confidence. Now comes the question: What should we pray? The answer rightly sets our sights upon the Scriptures: The whole Word of God directs and inspires us in what we should pray. Praying in accordance with God's will ought to be our supreme desire, …
Fools mock at the guilt offering,but the upright enjoy acceptance. Proverbs 14:9 ESV This past Sunday, I preached a sermon over the guilt offering in Leviticus. When preparing to preach, there are always bits left on the cutting room floor that don’t make it into the final cut on Sunday morning. And when I …
Continue reading Fools Mock at the Guilt Offering | Proverbs 14:9
But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” Exodus 6:1 ESV This word of Yahweh to Moses came in response to Moses' lament at …
Continue reading You Shall See What I Do to Pharaoh | Exodus 6:1
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted …
Continue reading Nebuchadnezzar’s New Humility | Daniel 4:34-37
With the season of Advent quickly approaching, I will be giving away two Advent devotionals. The first is my own, and the second is Jonathan Gibson's Advent follow-up to Be Thou My Vision called O Come, O Come Emmanuel, which I am overjoyed to be using this year here at the Newton household! All you …
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 …
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
Having confessed the Ten Commandments as the summary of God's law in Question 8, Questions 9-12 now aim to give us a concise synopsis of each commandment. Here the first three commandments are fittingly presented together, for these first commandments deal directly with how we are to worship and honor God as the only true …
Continue reading Question 9: What Does God Require in the First, Second, and Third Commandments?
B. C. Newton 