Proverbs & Short Articles


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If you want to preach accurately, read your Bible. If you want to preach powerfully, pray.

The infidel’s idea of God’s love is amiability about sin.

They put a reed in the Lord’s right hand, and He held it (see Matt. 27: 29). He, in grace, allowed their mockery of Him, the Creator of the universe.

Talking of faith is all very well; living by faith is what counts.

How quickly we slip into thinking of the rapture as merely a doctrine to be believed. It is a hope that ought to thrill the soul and govern the life.

You can only be disappointed with yourself if you have believed in yourself.

Conviction about what we believe, leads to courage in telling others what we believe.

It is mercy we seek but it is grace we receive.

If I realise that I am neither Jew nor Gentile in the eye of God, I shall not claim to be Jew or Gentile on earth.

We are not looking for something to happen but for Someone to come. Christ, not signs, is our hope.

Adam’s Sin

Adam was never placed in a position where he was at liberty to disobey God. Genesis tells us that “Jehovah Elohim commanded Man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou shalt freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt certainly die” (Gen. 2: 16-17, my emphasis). This word commanded is not about choice, but direction. It is an order or a charge from a superior. Adam was not presented with options, but one path onlythe path of obedience to God. The same language is used in Gen. 3: 17, where the true assessment of Adam’s sin is presented (in contrast to the defective version in v12): “Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it”. God gets to the nub of the problem: Adam hearkened to another voice other than God’s. God never presented Adam with options; it was Satan (through the woman) who did that.

The Breaking of the Bread

Scripture attaches no importance to the person giving thanks and administering the bread and wine at the Lord’s supper, and therefore neither should we. Those who insist it ought to be done any sort of ‘official’ person are adding to the Word of God. There is not a shred of evidence that in apostolic times the apostles or elders officiated. Nor is it the leading of the Holy Spirit for the assembled company to wait for an important visitor to carry out the act, or for such a visitor to feel obligated to do so. This is making a focus of the servant at the supper of the Lord. There is one person only who should have the sole stand-out place at the Lord’s supper and that is the Lord. It is His supper.

The Servant's Burial

At the funeral of a well-known servant of the Lord, a brother in Christ read from Matt. 27: 57-60 and in a few words pointed out the contrast between the burial of the Master and the burial of a servant. To the few around the Master’s grave it must have seemed that all their hopes had been cut off (compare Luke 24: 21). How different it is today for Christians in committing the body of one of the Master’s servants to the grave! On account of the death and resurrection of the Master (see 1 Cor. 15: 20), such a servant can be buried in hope. Therefore, a Christian funeral congregation is not assembled for the purpose of eulogising the departed servant, but to hear about the Master and to make much of Him and His work. Would that more funerals were like this!