Category: Mankind’s Problem

Vox | “Sense the Time, Settle Up”

In this passage from Luke 12:54-59, Jesus basically scolds his hearers for being so dull. Now, Jesus is never needlessly harsh. But sometimes we are so thick that we need to have a friend slap some sense into us!

Jesus is that Friend—a far better friend than anyone we could have in this world. “No one has a greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends.” He did just that! He loved His friends so much that he surrendered his life!

But if you would take Jesus’ friendship, you’ve also got to take His rough words, His humbling you, and His exposing your folly. Let’s wake up! Let’s silence our phone, let’s unplug—and plug into the Wisdom of God, Jesus Christ. Let’s learn to discern the times from the perspective of Heaven. Let’s make peace with our fellow man and bury the hatchet, while “it is still called today.” And let’s follow Jesus safe and sound through an evil, perverse age into heavenly glory.

Join us for our afternoon service at 4:00 p.m. this Lord’s day (Sunday) when we will treat this passage at the Presbyterian Reformed Church, located at 1870 Route 50, in Tuckahoe. And please feel free to stay after for a shared supper around 5:30 p.m. We would love to have you there!

Crime, punishment, and escape | Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 82-85

Photo courtesy of Peter Rivera

Q. 82. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
A. No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.

Ecc. 7:20; 1 John 1:8, 10; Gal. 5:17; Gen. 6:5; Gen. 8:21; Rom. 3:9-21; Jas. 3:2-13.

Q. 83. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.

Ezek. 8:6, 13, 15; 1 John 5:16; Ps. 78:17, 32, 56.

Q. 84. What doth every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.

Eph. 5:6; Gal. 3:10; Lam. 3:39; Matt. 25:41.

Q. 85. What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.

Acts 20:21; Prov. 2:1-5; Prov. 8:33-36; Isa. 55:3.

Vox | “Clean Outside, but Filthy Within!”

In this short passage from Luke 11:37-44, our Lord Jesus Christ condemns the religious “elite” of his day, the Pharisees, who were hypocrites through and through. He doesn’t pull punches on these notorious hypocrites. Do His words strike you? Do they resonate and penetrate? If so, perhaps the Holy Spirit is striving with your soul.

No sign—except the sign of Jonah

“And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas [Jonah] was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve [Nineveh] shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here” (Luke 11:29-32).

Jesus will soon come in the clouds to judge the nations. He will come to judge you and me, and we will all stand before Him. But though He came so many years ago to show mercy by dying on the cross, suffering the wrath of God for sinners, yet as the great Prophet, He powerfully denounced His generation and threatened fearful judgment. They had received so much, but had proven so unworthy of their blessings!

What is Jesus’ verdict on our generation? Will He acquit? Or will Jesus call witnesses against us?

Join us for our afternoon service at 4:00 p.m. this Lord’s day (Sunday) at the Presbyterian Reformed Church, located at 1870 Route 50, in Tuckahoe. And please feel free to stay after for a shared supper around 5:30 p.m. We would love to have you there!

The Creaking on the Stairs

Just finished listening to this audiobook, The Creaking on the Stairs: Finding Faith in God Through Childhood Abuse. Very highly recommended. Rosaria Butterfield says in the forward, “The most disturbing book that I have ever read, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.” While I can’t say it is the most disturbing book I’ve ever read, the subject matter is beyond doubt extremely disturbing … and yet heavenly at the same time, which is why I heartily second Rosaria.

Continue reading “The Creaking on the Stairs”

Let the ‘Prophet’ prophesy!

Matthew 26:67-68, “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?”

Calvin: “The object of all these expressions of contempt was, to show that nothing was more unlikely than that he should be a prince of prophets, who, in consequence of being blindfolded, was not able even to ward off blows. But this insolence was turned by the providence of God to a very different purpose; for the face of Christ, dishonored by spitting and blows, has restored to us that image which had been disfigured, and almost effaced, by sin.”