Being a human is difficult today. The older I get, the more sympathetic I am to such statements. I used to think our technological advancements meant we have it easier today than ever. In a way, it is true. Nowadays, we no longer need to wash clothes manually, endure days of delay for postal messages, … Continue reading God’s Law as the Answer to Modern Guilt
When his wife found him, he had only been dead for a couple of hours, and there was a look of terror on his face. The night before, he had been reading an anthology of short horror stories. The first several he read were unimpressive. They all involved the typical horror clichés: murders, monsters, and … Continue reading The Horror Story: A Short Story
What is the conscience, and, most importantly, how can a guilty conscience be cleansed? We live in a culture of therapy. Guilt and anxiety run rampant, and many people are trying to find relief in ways that will only make things worse. This sermon, preached at First Artesia CRC, looks at Hebrews 9:1-14. After exposing the insufficient remedies for guilt, it points to the one true fountain, where the conscience can be washed clean. -CLICK FOR MORE.
Guilt has a way of remaining long after our transgressions have passed. The question is, "what are you going to do with it?" Lingering guilt is what Herod, the tetrarch, was experiencing when he heard about Jesus and the miracles he was working. Herod was sure it was John the Baptist who had come back to life. There is an aspect of this story that we often miss, but before I address it, I need to give a little more context to the passage.
You have done all the evil that you could. Sure, there is more you could have done, but you pushed your sinning as far as you were comfortable. There were still certain family and societal structures in place you were afraid to defy. Even in sinning, cowardice can hold sway. In it all, you polluted … Continue reading Returning to God After a Time of Sin
Contrary to popular opinion, you will never find freedom living for yourself. Since many people believe a self-centered life of unrestrained desires is the only way to freedom, they then postulate that Jesus’ teaching about the narrow way indicates a life of oppression. This idea could not be further from the truth. The narrow road … Continue reading The Narrow Road is a Wide Place
Attentively observe the instructive similitude: our sins are like a cloud. As clouds are of many shapes and shades, so are our transgressions. As clouds obscure the light of the sun, and darken the landscape beneath, so do our sins hide from us the light of Jehovah's face, and cause us to sit in the shadow of death. They are earth-born things, and rise from the miry
To the atheist, the conscience is the end product of a long line of evolutionary and social conditioning, so when it bothers them, they are not really guilty of anything. As James Sire puts it, they are really only guilty of guilt. Feelings of guilt are the problem, not a violation of moral principles. This … Continue reading Empty Deceit and “Christian” Self-Help
"Yet return again to Me, says the Lord."--Jeremiah. 3:1 Could there be a more touching "Thus says the Lord" than this? The voice of Jesus, as it echoed over the mountains and along the valleys of our unregenerate distance from God, seeking and finding and bringing us home, was inexpressibly sweet and irresistibly gracious. But, … Continue reading Wayward Christian: The Lord Wants you to Come Home
Here is a sermon I preached recently which looks at the typology of Joseph's brothers who came to buy grain from him in Genesis 42. Like the brothers, even when it seems God is against us, we must remember that He will supply our need. There is grain in Egypt -In times of famine -In … Continue reading There is Grain in Egypt [Sermon]
The Fight of Faith 