Written by David S. Steele |
Saturday, July 8, 2023
We also need to become acquainted with the supreme value of Scripture and the benefits it brings to our daily lives. Understanding the transcendent worth of God’s Word not only helps us grow more deeply in love with the Savior; it helps point our generation to the truth that can be found in Jesus Christ alone. 

We are children of postmodernity. The challenges before us may seem daunting. We live in a culture that relies heavily on hunches, intuitions, and feelings. The emphasis on the subjective has led many to deny biblical Christianity and reject any notion of truth. The witty British writer, G.K. Chesterton poetically described the plight of postmodern culture: “Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe nothing; rather the problem is that they will believe anything.”
Given the dismal postmodern attitude toward authority, where are we to turn? Perhaps more than ever, we as disciples of Jesus need a solid rock to stand on or the waves of syncretism, pluralism, and false teaching may sweep us away. We must, therefore, begin and end with the Bible as the source of divine revelation from God.
The Word of God is our highest authority. Therefore, we also need to become acquainted with the supreme value of Scripture and the benefits it brings to our daily lives. Understanding the transcendent worth of God’s Word not only helps us grow more deeply in love with the Savior; it helps point our generation to the truth that can be found in Jesus Christ alone. Consider a few valuable qualities of God’s Word found in Psalm 19:7.
God’s Authoritative Word
First, the Word of God is perfect. Psalm 19:7 plainly says, “The law of the LORD is perfect.” The Hebrew word translated perfect means “complete, whole, or sound.” It is in accord with what is true. So we can confidently approach God’s Word with the full assurance that the truth presented corresponds to reality.
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Written by David S. Steele |
Friday, July 7, 2023
We fail to meet the divine standard. The Divine Representative stands in our defense. All these things clear the path for the divine accomplishment, which John unfolds in 1 John 2:2 – “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). When the gavel falls, a verdict will be rendered. Will you bear the weight of your sin and thus, endure 10,000 degrees of white-hot wrath? Or will you trust Jesus to stand in your defense? 

It has been said that one of the greatest problems that plagues contemporary people is unresolved guilt. Sin squeezes the life out of unwitting victims. Sins of omission, sins of commission, sins of regret, neglect, fear, ungodly anger, broken relationships, and insubordination pose a massive threat to the well-being of well-meaning people.
No one is excluded from this sinful parade. We have all committed sin. We are sinners by nature and by choice – and as a result, guilt rears its ugly head. Sometimes the guilt waits to surface until we’re all alone. For some of us, guilt is a constant note on the musical score sheet of our lives. For others, the only time we feel guilt is when we hear a preacher remind us about our sin.
Here is the problem: Apart from the grace of God, we all stand before the bar of God’s justice – and we stand condemned. Apart from the grace of God – we are guilty.
The sound of the gavel is unmistakable in a courtroom setting. When the gavel falls, it reminds us that a verdict has been reached. It announces the guilt or innocence of the defendant.
In 1 John 2, the apostle John ushers us into the celestial courtroom and answers the question, “What is the greatest need of sinners when the gavel falls?” As we enter the heavenly tribunal, I invite you to encounter the divine standard and the divine representative.
The Divine Standard
If you ever have the opportunity to attend a trial in a courtroom one of the first memories you will have is when the Judge enters the courtroom. The bailiff announces, “All rise!” John the apostle introduces the presiding Judge of the universe in 1 John 1:5. He writes, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
The Presiding Judge of the Divine Standard
He is the majestic God of the universe. The psalmist proclaims, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Ps. 8:1, ESV). Moses says, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Exod. 15:11).
He is the transcendent God of the universe. “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15).
He is the sovereign God of the universe. The psalmist reminds us, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3,).
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Written by David S. Steele |
Thursday, July 6, 2023
The essential message of Psalm 2:1-5 is this: We enter the danger zone when we resist God’s rule and reign in our lives. How then, should people live before God? Psalm 2:6-12 provides an important answer. We will learn that rebels must recognize Christ’s right to rule and respond reverently to his kingly authority. Then and only then, will we find ourselves in the safety zone.

The opening verses of Psalm 2 unveil the rebels who resist the authority of God. This passage reveals the posture of rebels who are poised to dethrone God. These rebels rage against God and plot against him (v. 1). They oppose the LORD and his anointed (v. 2). These rebels make autonomy their ultimate goal (v. 3). They want to be free from God’s demands. They want to be free from God’s laws. And these recalcitrant rebels seek freedom from God’s reign and his rule.
Here’s the fascinating irony: Every rebel who searches for freedom apart from God is in bondage, and will, in the final analysis, be subjected to the almighty wrath of God. When you flee from Christ to be free from Christ you build a self-imposed prison around your life. Stated another way, when you submit to Christ’s lordship, you will rest securely in your newfound freedom.
The essential message of Psalm 2:1-5 is this: We enter the danger zone when we resist God’s rule and reign in our lives. How then, should people live before God? Psalm 2:6-12 provides an important answer. We will learn that rebels must recognize Christ’s right to rule and respond reverently to his kingly authority. Then and only then, will we find ourselves in the safety zone.
Recognize His Right to Rule
God possesses royal authority. He is a transcendent and majestic God who deserves our unhindered reverence and obedience. Notice several aspects of his kingly reign.
The Components of God’s Kingly Reign
First, the installation of the King (v. 6). There is a crucial distinction here between the Father and the Son: “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, on my holy hill.” Note the exalted status of his kingly reign. To set someone in a particular place suggests a unique position.
Christ is presented as his enemies’ King. C.H. Spurgeon says, “What are all the mighty men, the great, the honorable men of the earth to Jesus Christ? They are but like a little bubble in the water; for if all the nations, in comparison to God, be but as the drop in the bucket, or the dust in the balance (Isa. 40:25), how little they must be the kings of the earth!”1 Christ is presented as his saints’ King. Christ rules “over their wills, over their affections, over their judgments and understandings, and nobody hath anything to do here but Christ,” writes Spurgeon.2 Christ is presented as his Father’s King. Christ not only rules in the hearts of his people; he rules over a “providential kingdom, by which he rules the affairs of this world, and so he is the king of nations.”3
Psalm 99:1-5 emphasizes this reign. Indeed, his reign is righteous, sovereign, and omnipotent. His is a just and holy reign. This is the kind of King you would want to serve. This is the kind of King you would want to submit to. This is the kind of King you can find refuge in!
Second, we learn about the position of the King (v. 7). The Son speaks of a decree: “God’s decrees are the wise, free, and holy acts of the counsel of his will, whereby, from all eternity, he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained whatsoever comes to pass in time.”4
The decree tells of the eternal begetting of the Son. The Nicene Creed (revised in 381) confesses faith in “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all time, Light from Light true God from true God, begotten not created.”
John Frame helps us understand the meaning of the term, begotten:
Among human beings, begetting normally occurs in a sexual relationship. It occurs in time so that a human being who did not exist at one time comes into existence at a later time. But eternal begetting is surely neither sexual nor temporal, nor does it bring into existence someone who otherwise would not have existed, for God is a necessary being, and all three divine persons share the attribute of necessary existence.5
Third, Psalm 2:8 describes the inheritance of the King: “As of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” The inheritance of Christ is absolutely comprehensive. There is nothing outside the scope of his sovereign control. That is, his kingly reign knows no bounds. He owns everything; he rules over everything and everyone. He is sovereign over the nations; he is sovereign over rulers; he is sovereign over our decisions; he is sovereign over our wills; he is sovereign over all. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory, forever. Amen” (Rom. 12:36). Abraham Kuyper rightly observes, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”
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Written by David S. Steele |
Sunday, July 2, 2023
May you learn from them, be inspired by them, and be challenged by them.  When you run across a new name, dig in and learn something new about one of the great heroes of the Christian faith. But ultimately, my encouragement is this: Follow the dead guys to the cross.  The cross is where they want us to go! Dead men are talking.

The heroes of church history can rightly inspire us, motivate us, challenge us, and fuel our resolve for living the Christian life.  But in the final analysis, these godly people remind us about the power of the gospel, and in so doing, lead us to the cross of Christ.  “For in the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theater,” Calvin says, “the incomparable goodness of God is set before the whole world.  The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross.”  Nothing would please the French Reformer more than when followers of Christ stand humbly at the foot of the cross.
Every one of the dead guys we have learned about over the last several days lived a long time ago; a time when everything was different.  Cultures were different.  Clothing styles were different. Technology was virtually non-existent, at least by our standards.  There was no internet, no television or radio.  No motor cars or airplanes.  Almost everything was different.
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Written by David S. Steele |
Sunday, June 25, 2023
Bunyan’s pedigree was among the lowest of the low.  Indeed, he was an everyday “Joe!”  But God rescued him from his sin and used the British tinker as a powerful instrument in God’s hands! Who would have thought that as he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress from a Bedford jail that it would become the number two best seller in the world?  

What is the rationale for unearthing the dead guys?  In his introduction to Athanasius’s masterpiece, On the Incarnation (a book written over 1,600 years ago), C.S. Lewis discusses the propensity of many people to gravitate to the new when all the while neglecting the old: “This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology.”  He goes on to describe the reason he advises people to select the old over the new.  The reason is this: “… He is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet.  A new book is still on trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it.  It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to the light.”  So Lewis essentially argues that most people simply do not have sufficient resources to sift through the sludge of contemporary writing.  Thus, he is vulnerable to worldviews that are spiritually dangerous.
Lewis rightly says that every culture is unique.  Each culture comes with a certain amount of baggage that does not square with Scripture.  So he makes an appeal to old books, what I call reading the dead guys: “We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period.  And that means the old books.”
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Written by David S. Steele |
Saturday, June 24, 2023
The dead guys I’m referring to are the ones who believe in the authority of Scripture and embrace the doctrinal foundations that fuel our Christian lives.  One of those dead men is none other than Charles H. Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) who died over 120 years ago.  He remarked, “I shall live and speak long after I am dead.” John Rogers is dead, yet he still speaks.  So what can the dead guys teach us?  And what is the rationale for learning from these dead guys? 

The smell of burning flesh hung in the air.  The villagers turned their heads and gasped.  Stray dogs fled.  The man’s wife wept bitterly.  His children watched in disbelief.  The stench was a vivid reminder of who sat on the throne.  Mary Tudor ruled with ironclad authority.  Her subjects were obligated to obey.  Any dissenters would pay the ultimate price.  The world would remember her as “Bloody Mary.”
 The day was February 4, 1555.  The man roped to the pyre was known well in the British village.  A man of humble origins.  A man with bold ambitions and simple obedience to match.  A man who dared to challenge the throne with two simple acts – preaching the Word of God and printing the Matthews-Tyndale Bible.  His name was John Rogers.  Pastor, father, martyr.  He was the first Christ-follower to pay the ultimate price of death during Mary’s bloody reign of terror.  He was the first of hundreds who would die at the hands of this blood-thirsty tyrant.
John Rogers stands in a long line of godly men; men who preached the truth, lived uncompromising lives, and finished strong.  Like Rogers, some were martyred.  Others died of old age or were tormented with disease.  Those who stand in the long line of godly men still have something to say.  Their courage emboldens us.  Their lives inspire us.  Their theology instructs us.
Hebrews 11 recounts the stories of some of the godly men and women of Scripture that were people of faith – people who still have something to say.  The Word of God says, “Now faith means that we have full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see.  It was this faith that won their reputation for the saints of old” (Heb. 11:1-2, Phillips).  God’s Word says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, ESV).
The historical figures in Hebrews 11 received their commendation from God – that is to say they were recognized by the God of the universe.  The Bible says they were commended by God for their faith; for displaying remarkable courage under fire, resilience, and soft-hearted obedience.  Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Samson, David, and Rahab were commended through their faith.
Hebrews 12:1 says that these heroes of the faith are a great cloud of witnesses  who surround us – giving us great impetus to “lay aside every weight, and sin which  clings so closely, and run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Here is what’s intriguing.  All of these heroes (with the exception of Enoch) is dead.
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Written by David S. Steele |
Monday, June 19, 2023
God finds happiness in the Son because the Son reflects the glory of the Father (Heb. 1:3). God finds happiness in people, not only because he created them but because, like his creation and like his Son, his people are a reflection of his glory!

Jonathan Edwards helps us comprehend the reality of God’s happiness: “It is of infinite importance … to know what kind of being God is. For he is … the only fountain of our true happiness …”1 Notice, then, several reasons for God’s happiness.
The Reasons for God’s Happiness
God finds happiness in himself
The primary reason for God’s happiness is this: he is God. We find a God in Scripture whose greatest delight is in – himself! So we begin with the doctrine of the Trinity which helps us understand the supreme happiness among the members of the godhead. C.S. Lewis argues, “The words ‘God is love’ have no real meaning unless God contains at least two Persons. Love is something that one person has for another person. If God was a single person then before the world was made, he was not love.”2 Daniel Fuller adds, “God’s love is primarily to Himself … and his infinite delight is in Himself, in the Father and the Son (and the Spirit) delighting in each other … The happiness of the Deity, as all other true happiness, consists in love and society.”3 God has from all eternity been happy in the marvelous fellowship of the Trinity!
God finds happiness in creation
May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works (Ps. 104:31, ESV).
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Written by David S. Steele |
Saturday, June 17, 2023
“It is of infinite importance … to know what kind of being God is. For he is … the only fountain of our true happiness,” writes Jonathan Edwards.”3 Paul refers to “the glory of the blessed God” (1 Tim. 1:11). The same verse could be rendered, “the good news of the glory of the happy God.” The term blessed indicates “supreme happiness.”4 “The gospel … is the gospel of happiness,” writes Spurgeon. 

In the film, Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell is criticized for his desire to train for the Olympic games. In the midst of their discussion, his sister Jennie essentially accuses Liddell of having a problem with idolatry. Liddell utters these words that prove to be the best line in the movie:

God made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure.

To view God as happy has a bearing on our worship; it affects our evangelism; it affects the way we approach Scripture. Indeed, it affects our Christian worldview. Randy Alcorn adds, “I believe it’s vital that we not leave our children and future generations of Christians to figure out for themselves that God is happy. Most never will.”1 Instead of making assumptions about God, we want to see what the Scriptures say about him. Over and over again, we learn that God is a happy God!
In the next two posts, we will come face-to-face with this glorious reality, the happiness of God.
The Reality of God’s Happiness
In 1 Timothy 1, Paul issues a warning against false teachers and those who teach contrary to sound doctrine; doctrine that is “in accord with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God …” (v. 11).
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Written by David S. Steele |
Sunday, June 11, 2023
Many of the pastors and leaders who were trained by Calvin were sent out to plant churches in Europe.  Steven Lawson reports, “Since persecution was certain and martyrdom common for these saints, Calvin’s school of theology became known as ‘Calvin’s School of Death.’” The dead guys serve as heroes to all of God’s people.  They teach us (via pen and through their example) how to endure the trials of life and the flames of persecution.

5. The dead guys enrich us with rich theological treasures
There are many theological treasures that should attract our attention.  I mention only a few in this post.  First, consider the great creeds bestowed on us by the dead guys.  The Nicene Creed (A.D. 325), The Constantinople Creed (A.D. 381), the Chalcedonian Creed (A.D. 451), the Athanasian Creed, the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), and the Heidelberg Catechism.
Second, we can be thankful for the many books that the dead guys wrote for our edification – works from Augustine, Calvin, Bunyan, Spurgeon, Owen, and Edwards.  The list goes on and on and provides a lifetime of godly counsel for Christian pilgrims.
Third, consider the great hymns of the faith.  The dead guys have written literally thousands of hymns to prompt God-centered worship.  I recently read Douglas Bond’s new book, The Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts.  The book describes how Watts penned over 750 hymns, some of them great hymns – like When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Jesus Shall Reign, Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed, and Joy to the World!
The dead guys enrich us with rich theological treasures that inform our Christian lives.  Do you hear them?  Dead men are talking!
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Written by David S. Steele |
Sunday, May 22, 2022
As followers of Jesus Christ, may we cling to the truth, proclaim the truth, and defend the truth. May we stand with the men and women throughout redemptive history who were willing to lay their lives down for the great cause of truth. May the cry of our hearts be, “nothing but the truth!”

Scripture warns, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8, ESV). As followers of Christ, we need to be vigilant, constantly on guard, and discerning good from evil. One of the ways that the worldly system “takes us captive” is by marginalizing truth or eliminating it altogether. It is important to understand that the worldly system militates against the Christian view of truth. Is it any wonder, then, that the importance of truth is highlighted so much in Scripture?
David Understood the Importance of Truth
King David acknowledged that since God is truth, he expects his people to live truthful lives. He writes, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart” (Ps. 51:6, ESV).
The implications of David’s words are massive as we consider our inward motivations, conversations, and the way we conduct our lives. Ask yourself, “Am I a person that is committed to the truth?” “Does the love for truth undergird my life and worldview?”
Paul Spoke Often About the Truth
The apostle begins the book of Titus with these revealing words: “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness” (Titus 1:1, ESV) . Notice the relationship between truth and godliness. Indeed, they are intimately connected. “The truth of the Gospel,” writes Warren Wiersbe, “changes a life from ungodliness.”1 As Christians, we unapologetically adhere to the truth. We must not only adhere to the truth; it must stand at the very center of our lives.
Additionally, Paul referred to the church as ” … a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15, ESV). The church, then, is God’s appointed means of declaring the word of God to the nations.
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