Sermons and Biblical Studies

Satan’s first attack upon the human race was his sly effort to destroy Eve’s confidence in the kindness of God. Unfortunately for her and for us he succeeded too well. From that day, men have had a false conception of God, and it is exactly this that has cut out from under them the ground … Continue reading “CONCEPT
OF GOD; GOD: HIS LOVE; COMMUNION WITH GOD”

A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine … Continue reading “CONCEPT
OF GOD; CURRENT CONDITIONS: SHALLOWNESS”

… the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward … Continue reading “CONCEPT
OF GOD”

The question is this: Shall we modify the truth in doctrine or practice to gain more adherents? Or shall we preserve the truth in doctrine and practice and take the consequences?… Actually such a question should never need to be asked. It is like asking, “Should a man be faithful to his wife?” There is … Continue reading “COMPROMISE;
PASTORAL MINISTRY: CONVICTIONS”

There is a great decision that every denomination has to make sometime in the development of its history. Every church also has to make it either at its beginning or a little later—usually a little later. Eventually every board is faced with the decision and has to keep making it, not by one great decision … Continue reading “COMPROMISE;
GROWTH EMPHASIS; CHURCH: NUMBERS”

The rise of a new religious spirit in recent years is marked by disturbing similarities to that earlier “revival” under Constantine. Now as then a quasi-Christianity is achieving acceptance by compromise. It is dickering with the unregenerate world for acceptance and, as someone said recently, it is offering Christ at bargain prices to win customers. … Continue reading “COMPROMISE;
CURRENT ISSUES: COMPROMISE”

The complacency of Christians is the scandal of Christianity.… These Christians know, and when pressed will admit, that their finite hearts have explored but a pitifully small part of the infinite riches that are theirs in Christ Jesus. They read the lives of the great saints whose fervent desire after God carried them far up … Continue reading “COMPLACENCY;
SPIRITUAL GROWTH; LONGING FOR GOD”

Religious complacency is encountered almost everywhere among Christians these days, and its presence is a sign and a prophecy. For every Christian will become at last what his desires have made him. We are all the sum total of our hungers. The great saints have all had thirsting hearts. Their cry has been “My soul … Continue reading “COMPLACENCY;
LONGING FOR GOD”

Every man is as holy as he really wants to be. But the want must be all-compelling. Leviticus 19:2; 2 Corinthians 7:11; 1 Peter 1:14–16; 1 John 3:2–3 Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 38.

Nothing spiritual can be gained in competition.… When two men step into a prize ring they know that only one can win, and whoever wins can do so only by forcing the other to lose. When five men line up on the track for a race they know that only one can come in first. … Continue reading “COMPETITION;
SPIRITUAL WARFARE”