Sermons and Biblical Studies

The effort to be forgiven by works is one that can never be completed because no one knows or can know how much is enough to cancel out the offense; so the seeker must go on year after year paying on his moral debt, here a little, there a little, knowing that he sometimes adds … Continue reading “FAITH:
AND WORKS; SALVATION: BY FAITH ALONE”

The truth is that faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin and are always found together in the Scriptures. As well try to pry apart the two sides of a half-dollar as to separate obedience from faith. The two sides, while they remain together and are taken as one, represent good sound … Continue reading “FAITH:
AND WORKS; OBEDIENCE: NEED FOR”

That many of our hotly defended beliefs are no more than reactions to what we consider false doctrines would not be difficult to prove. The doctrine of justification by works (itself a serious error), for instance, has driven some teachers to espouse the equally damaging error of salvation without works. To many people the thought … Continue reading “FAITH:
AND WORKS; GOSPEL: MORAL IMPLICATIONS”

I don’t think you can be a Christian without being a disciple. The idea that I can come to the Lord and by grace have all of my sins forgiven and have my name written in heaven, and have the Carpenter go to work on a mansion in my Father’s house, and at the same … Continue reading “FAITH:
AND WORKS; DISCIPLESHIP”

The supreme purpose of the Christian religion is to make men like God in order that they may act like God. In Christ the verbs to be and to do follow each other in that order.… Rightly understood, faith is not a substitute for moral conduct but a means toward it. The tree does not … Continue reading “FAITH:
AND WORKS”

You may not be feeling well physically today. Have you learned to be thankful anyhow and to rejoice in the promises of God? God’s eternal blessings do not depend on how you feel today. If my eternal hope rested on how I felt physically, I might as well begin packing for a move to some … Continue reading “FAITH:
AND FEELINGS; PROMISES OF GOD”

When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us, for it is written that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth. The sweet language of experience is “Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:13). When the eyes of … Continue reading “EYES
OF GOD”

It has always seemed to me completely inconsistent that existentialism should deny the existence of God and then proceed to use the language of theism to persuade men to live right. The French writer, Jean-Paul Sartre, for instance, states frankly that he represents atheistic existentialism. “If God does not exist,” he says, “we find no … Continue reading “EXISTENTIALISM;
ACCOUNTABILITY; ATHEISM; SARTRE, JEAN-PAUL”

It has been obvious to me that almost every sin is but a natural good perverted or carried to excess. Self-respect is turned into pride; natural appetite becomes gluttony; sleep goes on to become sloth; sex goes awry and turns to sodomy; love degenerates into lechery; praise sinks to flattery; determination hardens into obstinacy; a … Continue reading “EXCESS;
SIN: GOOD PERVERTED”

Were I to select a word which I felt best described the modern American temper that word would be excess. Almost everything we do, we overdo. We are forever creating monstrosities. If it moves, it moves too fast; if it is high, it is too high; if it makes noise, the noise is ridiculously loud; … Continue reading “EXCESS;
AMERICA: EXCESS”