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A Study of Mark 13:1-37
Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Then the disciples asked Jesus what we might expect. “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?
Many years ago, Henry Ward Beecher, a strong Christian, displayed in his home a beautiful globe depicting the various constellations and stars. One day Robert Ingersoll, a well-known agnostic, was visiting Beecher, and while admiring the globe, he asked, “Who made it?” Beecher seized the moment to attack Ingersoll’s agnosticism, and said, “Who made it? Why nobody made it, it just happened!
Creation, from week one, literally was designed with a built-in rhythm: six days of work followed by one day of rest, six…one, six…one. The Sabbath was another gift from God to man. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk. 2:27). We don’t serve the Sabbath,
it serves us.
In fact, we believe this is the highest level of love, a love that “transcends ephemeral feelings of love.” While I agree that we are to act loving and considerate towards those we don’t like, I do not believe this is the pinnacle of love. I’ll be blunt: such unfeeling love falls woefully short of what God requires, and is actually hypocritical. Allow me to illustrate why I say that,
biblically and practically.
There was a time when Christians in America were known as God-fearing people. Parents made it a priority to instill within their children a healthy fear of God. Today, such parenting is seen as archaic and outdated, if not cruel and barbaric. Why would any loving parent teach his or her children to fear God?
A Study in Courage
David heard God being defied, while the Israelites saw the man. Consequently, we have as expected, two opposite responses: the Israelites ran from the heavyweight champion in great fear; David “approached the Philistine” (vs. 40). The Israelites are thinking, “He’s so big, he’ll kill us.” David was thinking, “He’s so big, I can’t miss.”
Preachers used to have a reputation for denouncing sin. . . And this railing against sin isn’t supposed to be done softly, quietly or timidly in some out of the way corner. Isaiah was commanded by the LORD, “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1).
Philippians describes the beautiful and mysterious process of how we are able to work out our salvation, precisely because God is working in us to bring about obedience—joyful obedience. . . Note that they are commanded to work out their salvation, not work for their salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith, not by works (Eph. 2:8-9). George Muller said,
“We are to work out, what God
in His grace has worked in.”
It’s been said that timing is everything. Sure, timing is important, but it’s a little hyperbolic to say that timing is everything. Nevertheless, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die” (Eccl. 3:1-2). In a universe governed by a sovereign Lord every person lives when, where, and how God decides in
His infinite wisdom.
The following is a true story of sibling rivalry, but the names have changed to protect the guilty. Sally wants to know, “Why doesn’t Johnny have to help clean up?” And Johnny wonders aloud, “Why does Sally get to stay up later?” “Time out!” cry the exasperated parents, as they gather their children, and sit them down for a talk about fairness, comparing, and worrying about yourself. The parents opened the Bible up to John 21:18-22 to teach some valuable lessons.. . .
In his book, The Vanishing Conscience, John MacArthur relayed the following story: “In 1984 an Avianca Airlines jet crashed in Spain. Investigators studying the accident made an eerie discovery. The ‘black box’ cockpit recorders revealed that several minutes before impact a shrill, computer-synthesized voice from the plane’s automatic warning system told the crew repeatedly in English, ‘Pull up! Pull up!’
“The pilot, evidently thinking that the system was malfunctioning, snapped, ‘Shut up, Gringo!’ and switched the system off.
Sometimes seemingly small Christian virtues can have a bigger impact than we may have initially imagined. Peter’s first epistle is designed to help God’s people live holy lives in the midst of suffering. The persecution has been so intense that it resulted in these believers being forced from their homeland. And the persecution is going to get worse, before it gets better. It’s in this context that Peter exhorts the elect exiles to “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:19).
A Meditation on Romans 1:18-32
Why is the wrath of God such a difficult doctrine? Could it be that the teaching of Scripture on this topic is opaque and confusing? I submit to you that it is problematic for exactly the opposite reason—the Bible is all too clear and straight forward in describing God’s wrath. Mark Twain once said, “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” And that is certainly the case here.
As we consider Jesus’ teaching on justification, which Martin Luther called the doctrine by which the church stands or falls, a crucial clarification is in order, namely justification is an inescapable category. Which means it is not a question of whether a person seeks justification, but a question of which type of justification they will seek. Some may protest that I am mistaken, since they have no interest in their standing before God. For the sake of argument, I’ll grant the point, but still assert that one is not therefore immune from this category, it’s just that they have shifted from seeking God’s justification to seeking
the justification of others
A Meditation on 1 Peter 2:13-16
Melville lost patience with King James, though not at all losing courage. At one point, Melville plucks at the king’s sleeve and he calls him “God’s silly vassal.” He then went on to say, “There are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland. There is Christ Jesus the King and his kingdom, whose subject King James VI is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king nor a lord nor a head, but a member.” Melville was putting the king in his place