matthew-7:21

1.) What about all that the New Testament teaches about the "father-heart of God"? Jesus called God "Father" over one-hundred times in the Gospel of John. How could our loving heavenly Father be said to hate anyone? The answer is that God is not the Father of everyone. He is only Father of those who... Read More

Imagine a person taking a block of wood and carving it to look like a bearded man in a robe. At the bottom of his wooden figurine, he carves the name "Jesus." Finally, each day he bows before it in worship. Does that make him a Christian? No, that makes him an idolater. He is worshipping something t... Read More

According to the New Testament, the outstanding characteristic of a false teacher is his underrating the necessity of holiness, which is reflected by his teaching and personal life. Numerous scriptures bear this out. For example, consider what Jesus taught about false prophets in His Sermon on the M... Read More

It has been said that if you repeat something often enough, people will start to believe it even if it isn’t true. This certainly seems to be true concerning many oft-repeated Christian clichés about God's love. Consider the following statements that so frequently reverberate within our Christian ci... Read More

Even though he had witnessed the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus at His baptism, John the Baptist---a prophet and the greatest man who ever lived according to Jesus (11:11)---had some doubts as he sat in a prison cell contemplating his possible execution. That makes me feel better, as I've had simila... Read More

Generally speaking, this entire chapter is about holiness. God's call to the world to repent and believe is obviously a call to holiness. It is a call to make oneself ready to stand before King Jesus to give an account. It is a call to be prepared for future life in the heavenly kingdom by living in... Read More

Agnostic and celebrity astronomer Carl Sagan used to keep a framed postcard near his shaving mirror—just so he could see it every morning. On the back was a penciled message to a Mr. James Day of Swansea Valley, Wales. It read: Dear Friend, Just a line to show that I am alive and kicking and going g... Read More

In my article last month, The Limits of God’s Grace, I tried to show how God’s grace is frequently presented in such a manner that it nullifies the numerous scriptures that clearly speak of the absolute necessity of holiness if one is to ultimately gain entrance into heaven. Those scriptures are too... Read More

As people listened to Jesus' new and authoritative teaching and heard Him frequently debate the Pharisees and religious teachers, some may have thought He had come to introduce a brand new religion, abolishing the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets. But nothing could be further from the t... Read More

Like most teachers, Jesus sometimes repeated to one group what He'd already taught another group. Some of what we read today Jesus taught during His sermon on the mountainside (see Matthew 6-7), so we'll only consider what is new to us. Teaching about prayer, Jesus used an illustration about a man w... Read More