What the Resurrection Does

Thirteen points in yesterday’s sermon. Here they are: The resurrection makes frightened cowards bold Apostles; enigmatic mysteries plain teaching (Luke 24; John 20:9); proof against proof for (Acts 2:23–24; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30–32; 10:39–40; 13:28–30); guilty sinners justified saints (Rom 4:25); slaves to sin slaves of righteousness (Rom 6); present suffering hopeful joy (Rom 8:18, 24–25, 34); those who …

Jesus and the Old Testament in John 3:1–15

John presents Jesus claiming to fulfill the Old Testament in dense and various ways in John 3:1–15: He claims to bring in the promised kingdom of God (3:3, 5). He claims to bring the cleansing and renovation of attitude prophesied in Ezekiel 36:24–26 through the new birth (3:5–6). He claims that this renewal partakes of …

Through the Prince Not Proud

The one who gave life, entered into life. The one who spoke the curse of death took the curse of death. The one who defines good and evil, who is nothing but good, took evil on himself. The holy one gave himself for the unholy, The righteous for the unrighteous, The undying for the dead. …

What Jesus Did at the Incarnation

The infinite, unlimited one, became finite and took the limitations of a baby. The immortal, undying one, became mortal and took a body that could die. The omnipresent, everywhere one, located himself in one spot. The invisible, unseen one, became visible and his glory was beheld. The all wise, all knowing one, learned obedience and …

In Houston October 1–6, 2012

My sweet wife grew up in Houston, and then when I finished my PhD at SBTS in 2003, the Lord opened a door for me to teach at the Houston campus of Southwestern Seminary. I had the privilege of teaching there from 2003–2008. In January of 2004 I was ordained to gospel ministry by Providence …

Jeremiah 8:4–9:26, Understand and Know the Lord

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, …

Jeremiah 7: Indictment of Unrepentant Israel (with some temple typology)

As I indicated in a previous post, it seems that Jeremiah 1:18–19 and Jeremiah 6:27–30 are bracketing Jeremiah 2–6 as a unit in which there is a progression from Israel’s sin to Israel’s rejection for their refusal to repent. This would place Jeremiah 7 at a strategic juncture introducing the next section of the book …

Jeremiah: A Type of Christ Who Speaks for God

I’ve argued that Jeremiah was a prophet like Moses, and Jesus is the typological fulfillment of this pattern that began with Moses. Luke presents both Peter and Stephen asserting that Jesus is the prophet like Moses announced in Deuteronomy 18:15–18 (Acts 3:22–23; 7:37), and Matthew, Mark, and Luke are pointing to this in their transfiguration …

Sermons on Mark

There is no book like the Bible. There is no one like Jesus. It’s a mercy to have the Bible in English, a mercy to be drawn to Jesus, to worship him, to trust him, to follow him with brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. Since January we’ve been in the Gospel according …

The Manliest of the Theologies: Mark 15:1–39

I opened my sermon this past Sunday with this quote from Mike Wittmer’s book Christ Alone: Critiquing Rob Bell’s Love Wins, Mike Wittmer writes,  A real rescue beats an imaginary rescue every day of the week, because it involves actual risk. . . . It’s one thing to pretend that we’re drowning or being chased …

Accused, Blasphemed, Denied: Mark 14:53–72

If I said to you that God can relate to you when you feel abandoned, falsely accused, misunderstood, attacked, and denied, would you tell me that God is God and it is impossible for him to relate to these feelings precisely because he has all power, all knowledge, and all authority? Is there any way …

The Failure of the Disciples and the Brothers Karamazov

On the night in which he was betrayed, Judas sold Jesus for money. When they arrived to arrest Jesus, Peter tried to help in a way contrary to Jesus’ teaching (taking up the sword, when Jesus has been teaching he would go to Jerusalem to die). When he was arrested, all the disciples fled. These …

Revelation 19:1–10, The Harlot and the Bride

It was my privilege to preach about the downfall of the harlot Babylon and the readiness of the bride for which Christ died, the bride invited to the wedding feast like no other, on June 19, 2011 at Randolph Street Baptist Church in Charleston, WV: Revelation 19:1–10, The Harlot and the Bride This sermon has …

Justice and Mercy Planned by Jesus and the Count of Monte Cristo

In Alexandre Dumas’s novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmund Dantes is about to marry his beautiful beloved Mercedes. On the night before he is to be married, Dantes is falsely accused by one man who wants his woman, and another who wants his job. It so happens that the judge is implicated in the …

Review of Paul Barnett’s “Paul: Missionary of Jesus”

Paul: Missionary of Jesus. After Jesus, vol. 2. By Paul Barnett. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008, xvi + 240 pp. $18.00 paper. Published in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 15.1 (2011), 112–13. In this book Paul Barnett asks whether the mission and message of Paul the Apostle was the mission and message of Jesus of …

Be on Guard: The Point of Mark 13, with some thoughts on ‘this generation’

Mark 13 is not in the Bible to provoke debates about when all things will be consummated – what Jesus meant by “this generation.” Mark 13 is in the Bible to prepare disciples of Jesus against deception, fear, sleepy inattention, persecution, and uncertainty. In Mark 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem on a colt to cries of …

Tenants, Traps, Teaching, and the Meaning of Melville’s “Moby Dick”

In Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick, a massive white whale named Moby Dick has bitten off Captain Ahab’s leg. In response to this, Ahab commits himself to killing the whale Moby Dick. Captain Ahab bears the name of an idolatrous king of Israel. Captain Ahab refuses to accept what has been done to him by …

No Fruit on the Fig Tree or in the Temple

On Sunday, May 15, it was my privilege to preach Mark 11, “No Fruit on the Fig Tree or in the Temple,” at Kenwood Baptist Church. Jesus is remarkably humble in this so-called triumphal entry. He enters the temple, which essentially belongs to him, and he finds no fruit there. That is, the temple custodians …