7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.  Ephesians 1:7-12 (NASB) Read verses 11 & 12 on the site.

A proper study of the doctrine of Penal Substitution will reveal that it is actually a line of contention, or line of demarcation if you will, that divides Orthodox Christianity from those forms whose advocates have in some way come up with their own version of the Gospel…. Continue reading →

22 “And therefore, you now have grief, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and no one takes your joy from you.” John 16:22 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

According to my stats page, What is Joy?, is by far my most popular post. It was also one of the first ones I wrote when I started this ministry in 2006 and its focus has been the focus I have attempted to maintain since I started, which is the edification of the Body of Christ by pointing all to the true source of our joy instead of what the world attempts to sell us as a replacement, which is just temporal happiness…. Continue reading →

16 They profess to know God, but by their works, they deny Him, being detestable and as to every good work, unfit. Titus 1:16 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

In Puritan Matthew Mead’s The Almost Christian Discovered we find the very definition for what is plaguing the visible church in the 21st Century.  If Pastor Mead was alive today preaching as he did in the 17^th Century, he would be quite controversial, but isn’t that what we who are called of God to stand for His truth in the lost and dying world supposed to do?… Continue reading →

6 In this you greatly rejoice, for a little while now, if it is necessary, having been grieved by various trials, 7 that the tested genuineness of you faith—infinitely more valuable than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6.7 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

There are some who insist that the doctrine of imputation will create antinomianism because we will not “work out our salvation,” since we have been declared righteous, we can live any way we want. However, that “charge” is unbiblical for another very large and important doctrine, the doctrine of regeneration…. Continue reading →

41 And having sat opposite the Treasury He was observing how the crowd put copper coins into it; and many rich people were putting in much. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins which is a penny.  43 And having summoned His disciples He said to them, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow put in more than all the others who put into the Treasury; 44 for everyone else put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

In the passage above the word “poverty” translates the Greek noun ὑστερήσεως (hysterēseōs) the genitive, singular, feminine case of ὑστέρησις (hysterēsis), which means, “need, poverty.”…. Continue reading →

4 But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, Ephesians 2:4 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

God’s love (ἀγάπη (agapē)) is often viewed today as some sort of shallow sentimentality, but God’s love is deeper than we can even begin to comprehend. When the average person today says “love,” they do not even know what they are saying because they do not mean “self-emptying self-sacrifice.” Love today is more “self-gratifying” than “self-emptying.” Continue reading →

34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. John 3:34 (NASB)

In John 3:1-21 our Lord spoke the words of God to “a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” In this passage our Lord clears the table and tells it like it is. He tells Nicodemus in v3, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Of course, Nicodemus doesn’t “get it at first and asks, “How can a man be born when he is old?…. Continue reading →

13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Matthew 25:13 (ESV) 

Just a few days before his crucifixion, our Lord spent some very valuable time with His disciples, pouring Himself into them, preparing them for the time when He would no longer be physically with them. In Matthew 25 we have some of what He gave them. Much of the apostasy we are witnessing in our time in the visible church is a direct result of its mishandling of or forgetting of these things…. Continue reading →

12 in whom we have the boldness and access in confidence through our faith in Him. 13 Therefore, I ask you not to give up over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory Ephesians 3:12-13 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

In this post let us look at an important word from Ephesians 13 which many Bible translations render as ‘faint,’ ‘discouraged, ‘ or ‘lose heart.’ The words “not to give up” above translate μὴ ἐγκακεῖν. Μη (mē) expresses absolute denial. Paul is expressing his desire to the Ephesians that they DO NOT do something…. Continue reading →

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. Colossians 2:8-15 (NASB) Read verses 13-15 on the site.

The more I deal with professing Christians, no matter how conservative they may be, it can be somewhat trying at times to encounter the growing nature of Christ in some of them…. Continue reading →

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4 (NASB) 

Depending upon a given context, world (κόσμος (kosmos)) can mean several things: earth, human race, et cetera. In some 188 occurrences, however, it usually speaks of the “world system” or “world order,” that is, the values, pleasures, inclinations, philosophies, goals, drives, purposes, attitudes, and actions of society. This system is totally man-centered and is quite vivid in the humanistic and relativistic society of today. Continue reading →

37 The one who  loves a father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me and the one loving a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And the one who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. 39 The one who has found his life will lose it and the one who has lost lost his life because of me will find it. Matthew 10:37-39 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

When we say, “The Cross,” we state the very focal point of history. The Old Testament points to it, the New Testament presents it, and the Christian proclaims it. It is the cross that is our salvation, not religion…. Continue reading →

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21 (NASB) 

Our English word idol is derived from the Greek εἴδωλον (eidōlon). Homer used eidōlon for phantoms and apparitions. In later Classical Greek, it carried the other non-religious meanings of picture, copy, or “any unsubstantial form, an image reflected in a mirror or water, an image or idea in the mind.”

In the Septuagint, however, eidōlon is used to translate some fifteen Hebrew words and always refers to the images of heathen gods and the gods themselves…. Continue reading →

6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written,“THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” 10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 (NASB) 

I’m sure the title of this post struck some of you in a way hard to explain. When I first started this study, I could not help but think back on an investigation I did many years ago into some false teachings by a man who claimed that his ministry was based entirely “in the deep things of God.”…. Continue reading →

11 And having set sail from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the next day to Neapolis 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a prominent city of the District of Macedonia, a colony, and we stayed in this city some days. Acts 16:11-12  (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

As you know, Paul’s friend and companion Luke wrote the book of Acts in the New Testament. In Acts 16:10, we read that after Paul and seen the vision to leave Asia and come to Europe after seeking the will of God for next focus of his missionary journey, Luke includes himself in the narrative as an eyewitness, therefore, his account of what happened to Paul and Silas in Philippi are given as one who was there. Continue reading →

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-12 (NASB)  Read verses 7-12 on the site.

The key to understanding the passage above is in getting who the “us” is that Paul mentions repeatedly all through it. Whoever they are, they are indeed blessed. Of course Paul is talking about those who are called, those who believe the Gospel and are redeemed out of spiritual death unto eternal life in Christ…. Continue reading →

28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:28-32 (NASB) 

In our 21^st Century languages, the word “mystery” is used as a series of clues to be figured out. However, the Apostle Paul used the Greek word μυστήριον (mustērion) six times in the book of Ephesians, twice in Romans, once in 1 Corinthians, four times in Colossians, and once in 1 Timothy…. Continue reading →

22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:22-25 (NASB) 

There are four things that Christians must do in order to find deliverance from sinful desires in their hearts. These four things should be part of our discipleship in our churches, but they have been forgotten or bypassed in our 21st Century American Christianity…. Continue reading →

10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10 (NASB) 

This walk before our Lord must be by faith, but it is an active faith. This active faith is fulfilled only by being obedient to our Lord’s commands empowered by the Holy Spirit. When we obey Him by keeping His commandments this way then we are abiding in Him…. Continue reading →

16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (NASB) 

15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15 (NASB) 

As Christians we must understand that we are indeed adopted children of God. We were of our father the devil (John 8:44; 1 John 3:8-10). Under him we were indeed, slaves, slaves to sin, under a sentence of death, already dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-3). But we have been adopted into the family of God. We are members of a new family, all the old debts are paid, and we are new people with a new Father. Continue reading →

22 Now be doers of the Word and not only hearers deceiving yourselves. James 1:22 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. James 1:22 (NASB) 

In 1997, about three years before God moved my wife and I from the OKC area to Tulsa, our Pastor contacted me during the week telling me he wanted me to fill in for him on Wednesday night after our weekly meal…. Continue reading →

16 For thus God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that everyone believing in Him may not perish, but have life eternal. John 3:16 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

There are many great truths in John 3:16 such as God’s love (ἀγαπάω (agapaō)) for His own, and the eternal life that comes by faith (πιστεύω (pisteuō)) in Christ, it is strikingly unique because the apostle John is the only Scripture writer who uses the term μονογενής (monogenēs) to describe the relationship of Jesus to the Father. Several modern translations (ESV, NRSV, NLT, CEV, and GWT) replace “only begotten” with “only” or “one and only” (NCV and NIV). Such readings however, clearly do not mean the same thing as “only begotten,” so, which is correct, or does it really matter? Continue reading →

35 Jesus shed tears. John 11:35 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

In the passage I placed above (John 11:35) the words “shed tears” translates the Greek verb ἐδάκρυσεν (edakrysen) the third singular, aorist active indicative case of δακρύω (dakryō), it means to “shed tears” or even “a tear.” This is not the word for “weep” that we saw in Revelation 5:4 the other day in our post The Lion and the Lamb, Here is that verse from the Greek then my translation. Continue reading →

1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. Revelation 5:1 (NASB) 

In the passage above (Revelation 5:1) is the word “book” which translates βιβλίον (biblion). This word is the diminutive of βίβλος (biblos), which refers to a “book, scroll, writing.” Biblos originally referred to the papyrus plant and then its fibrous stem, which was exported to Greece through the port of Byblos in Syria…. Continue reading →