Crumbs from the Master's Table

" Peace in the New Testament carries all the dimensions of meaning that the great Hebrew word shalom , to which it corresponds, had co...

Another glorious text highlighting God's glorious governance of all things: 1 Sam. 2:6-8: "The LORD kills and brings to life; he ...

How does Prov. 14:34 fit into American exceptionalism? One might wonder sometimes whether Americans think their dung doesn't stink.  

Joel Belz records this eye-opener in the June 4, 2011 edition of World : Seems strange these days, but in the mid-'70s, Newsweek didn...

"The things of the gospel are depths. The things of the gospel . . . are the deep things of God" (Thomas Goodwin, Works , vol. 4, ...

Here are a slew of texts highlighting God's glorious governance of all things (note the italics): Judg. 10:6-8: "The people of Is...

At Doug Wilson's  Blog and Mablog , you'll find a fine, succinct account of marriage biblically defined. Here's a clipping: A m...

More texts in Judges showing the sovereignty of God everywhere (with comments along the way), which is what Calvinism at its truest and best...

So here begins a series of posts that simply point out the inescapable glory of God's sovereignty everywhere. Repeatedly (and this has h...

Calvinism everywhere. That's my religion. And I'm sticking to it. Why? you ask. Well, because it's biblical, and it's everyw...

"If America was better educated before we established a Department of Education than it has been since, why do we continue to have such...

"There are many knowing souls, but there are but a few wise souls. . . . It is not the most knowing Christian, but the most wise Christ...

"It has been rightly said concerning the first chapter of Genesis that it's impossible to exhaust it in preaching. It's the gre...

Some time ago Carl Trueman posted two helpful posts about Luther's thoughts on what makes a good preacher.  Take a look at  part 1  and ...

Many big fat books pour forth today on interpreting Scripture. Hermeneutics, traditionally described as the science and art of interpretati...

I cite the following approvingly. Don't ever let any Roman Catholic say that works are not essential in Luther, not to mention the Prote...

Is humility obvious? I mean, can we spot it when it's really in someone? We think we know what it looks like, or feels like, or sounds l...

Fasting is good and biblical. And it does not always have to be from food, though that is a good practice for those of us who are almost alw...

It is no news that the NT widely uses the Septuagint (LXX) and that this was the OT of the Church until the Reformation when the Hebrew (Mas...

Perhaps you also have puzzled with me over the common practice (and therefore unquestioned practice) of so many (probably easily the majorit...

Calvin on the prophets speaks powerfully and stirringly. Here's a comment on Hos. 1:2, where it says, "The beginning of the word of...

Martin Luther said many fine and provocative things with which we should disagree. But with the following word about children at the Table o...

Two texts in Deuteronomy have given me pause over the years, even puzzled me. They are Deut. 5:2-3 and 29:1. And the pause and puzzlement su...

In recent weeks, both in sermons and in my reading, I have bumped up against John 3. Or, more aptly, John 3 has met me like a mighty rushing...

Here's a cut-to-the-chase, no-nonsense post  on missions with all sorts of sound thinking (even if offensive). I've thought similar ...

How does one overcome the power of sin, the seduction of Satan, the worldliness of the world, and the onslaught of hell? Thomas Brooks answe...

Here's my last post on Edwards' Resolutions (for now). I love this man's intensity. Oh Lord, give me some of that man's spi...

Usage governs meaning. The semanticists and lexicographers agree. Given that this is so, and given that evangelical no longer means what it...

Rob Bell is a false teacher. He has clearly perverted the Gospel of the grace of God. And this did not start, by the way, with his teaching ...

Yet another round of resolutions from Edwards: 58. Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversa...

Here are two more from Edwards' Resolutions , which devastate me, especially as I consider the way I dishonored my parents as a child an...

I just finished Carl Trueman's book  Republocrat . It's a good book for those who look to Fox News or MSNBC (or the like) for their ...

Doug O'Donnell's exposition of Mt. 19:1-12  last Lord's Day offers exemplary careful and balanced instuction on an emotionally a...

Pastor Jay Thomas has begun a series on  Colossians at his new post, Chapel Hill Bible Church . The sermons flowing from this ministry will...

How are the books of Hosea and Amos related? Both prophets ministered in the eighth century B.C. Both spoke into the northern kingdom a mess...

I'm still enjoying Edwards' famous Resolutions . Here are two more I find stirring: 40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I...

Here's  a biblical take on collective bargaining from Doug Wilson.

From Thomas Brooks' Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices : Self-seeking blinds the soul that it cannot see a beauty in Christ...

Sunday afternoon rest and refreshment often includes some jovial reading in Luther's Table Talk . If for no other reason than that the r...

Here are some of Edwards' resolutions on speech and self-control. First, on speech: 16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so ...

Still more resolutions from Edwards' justly famous Resolutions , which he wrote at age nineteen: 28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures...

"In a calm, prepare for the storm" (Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices , p. 181).

Here now is a stellar exposition of Matt. 18:21-35:  A Heart of Perfect Forgiveness . Stellar, I say, mainly because it simply gets at the h...

From McIntyre's The Hidden Life of Prayer : "Pius IV, hearing of Calvin's death, exlaimed: 'Ah, the strength of that prou...

In a recent post I mentioned McIntyre's book The Hidden Life of Prayer : The life-blood of the Christian . Chapter 7 is called "The...

More resolutions from Edwards' Resolutions : 9. Resolved, to think much on all occassions of my own dying, and of the common circumsta...

From Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions : 4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what ten...

Here's a little poem I rather like, recorded in The Hidden Life of Prayer: The life-blood of the Christian , by David McIntyre: Trials...

If you were looking for a pride-flattening message for your swollen self , this O'Donnell sermon  should help you become smaller (as I h...

The following is from Piper's talk on Charles Spurgeon from the 1995 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors. Spurgeon's words are indented...

The child of God ought not to begrudge the sufferings sent by his heavenly Father, nor should the child of God merely endure them. They are ...

As promised, here now are ways two through five that Christians offer up spiritual sacrifices to God according to Edwards' exposition of...

After being laid low with some illness of late and feeling sluggish in my walk with God for some time, I recall a few favorite paragraphs ou...

Edwards' second point (see  here for the first) in explaining the priestly service of Christians is this: " Secondly , Christians ...

Alright! Alright! I repent! I repent! I'll never do  it  again! (Actually, in recent weeks I've been trying to turn from that hide...

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was a great preacher. And his available sermons are a treasure. I'm currently reading one on 1 Pet. 2:9-10....

Last Sunday's New Covenant Church exposition of Matt. 17:1-13, 22-23 by Pastor Doug O'Donnell was a fine exposition. He nailed the d...

As we Christians engage our social, political, and economic landscape, as is right to varying degrees according to gifting, calling, and opp...

Em and I regularly try to do some common reading together for the sake of edifying discussion. This year we're beginning with the Resolu...

Just a reminder (mainly to self) that we are in a cosmic battle, where everything is at stake—including the soul: "Be sober! Be vigil...

I enjoyed reading Piper's thoughts about the leave of absence the Pipers took for eight months. But the portion that left me most encour...

Do you ever find yourself scratching your head about how Matthew uses the Old Testament? It seems to be a common experience. It really shoul...

In addition to regularly reading Scripture together, Emily and I have tried to lay up in our memories portions of Scripture together. So we...

From Jonathan Edwards' sermon on 1 Pet. 2:9-10, Christians are a Chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, a Peculiar People...

Emily and I have now read the Scriptures together at least three times in our shortly more than three years of marriage. Some portions we...

In 1856, Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon the Sunday before Christmas called "Going Home." In it he prepared his growing church ...

Martin Luther was a man who knew how to pray. And so it is good to listen to his counsel on this matter. It is especially good for those of ...

From Dorothy Sayers' The Greatest Drama Ever Staged : "We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers in...

My wife is celebrating that the "Hebrew man" (which name she gave me during intensive Hebrew in the summer) is no more. I've f...

The Bible provides us with many, many models of prayer, which, of course, are aids (for cripples like me) to praying. Here is one I find mys...

That's the title of a comprehensive work on the Holy Spirit produced by John Owen in 1674. I'm beginning to poke away at it, and it ...

Recently I finished up a good book I'd been poking away at for some time (not because it's long, but because I'm slow). It's...

You won't want to miss the NCC sermon from last Lord's Day on Gal. 1:6-9, which may be found at the website . Andrew Fulton preached...

And here's the third and final point of J. I. Packer's three particular points of contrast between Puritan spirituality and American...

Here's the promised second part of Packer's three particular points of contrast between the Puritans and American evangelicals: We...

Last Lord's Day, New Covenant Church of Naperville, our home church, heard the third of three consecutive messages on the church's c...

From time to time I'm overwhelmed with God's grace to me. Frequently this happens as I experience what a gift my wife Emily is. She ...

Yesterday in a tribute to the Puritans and thanks to God I posted that I would be giving three particular Packer-produced points of contrast...

Among the many blessings for which I am thankful today, this Thanksgiving, in the year of our Lord 2010, I'm deeply thankful for the Pur...

Amid our politically charged atmosphere, putting politics in proper perspective is in order. On second thought, putting politics in proper p...

Calvin, commenting on Ps. 29, speaks this wisdom: Philosophers think not that they have reasoned skillfully enough about inferior causes, u...

Following the same vein as the last post, here's another song, this time from Sovereign Grace Praise, that Em and I have been enjoying a...

One of the routines my wife and I have developed is one of routinely considering the pain and suffering coming our way at God's sovereig...

Robert Frost (1874-1963) wrote a famliar poem often seen and quoted.  For example, my wife has routinely heard and seen it in the public sch...

Now two Sundays ago, New Covenant Church Pastor Andrew Fulton  preached on Rom. 15:14-21.  The sermon is titled  Motivated by Mission .  I...

Yesterday I said another word from Owen was forthcoming.  And I said it would address the charge that maintaining the soul in a frame a ...

Among the stances and strategies the disciple must take against sin in the soul is this posture described by John Owen in a little work call...

What follows was swiped from a recent post by Doug Wilson giving writing counsel : In the 18th century, during the ascendancy of the Englis...

Speaking of the high hope of heaven in Puritan spirituality, J. I. Packer speaks thus:  Sustained by such a hope, the believer can and shou...