Luke 23:27-48

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 4:17-32

We must spend another day considering whether or not it is a condition of our salvation that we first forgive those who have sinned against us. We said yesterday that to believe this contradicts the teaching that we are saved by grace, through faith. What, then, is Scripture getting at when it seems to encourage us...

The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary; the house of consolation is built with the wood of the cross; the temple of heavenly blessing is founded upon the riven rock-riven by the spear which pierced his side. No scene in sacred history ever gladdens the soul like Calvary's tragedy.

"Is it not strange, the darkest hour That ever dawned on sinful earth, Should touch the heart with softer power, For comfort, than an angel's mirth? That to the Cross the mourner's...

Amid the rabble rout which hounded the Redeemer to his doom, there were some gracious souls whose bitter anguish sought vent in wailing and lamentations-fit music to accompany that march of woe. When my soul can, in imagination, see the Saviour bearing his cross to Calvary, she joins the godly women and weeps with them; for, indeed, there is true cause for grief-cause lying deeper than those mourning women thought. They bewailed innocence maltreated, goodness persecuted, love bleeding,...

Among other interpretations of this suggestive question, the following is full of teaching: "If the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus, what will be done when the sinner himself -the dry tree-shall fall into the hands of an angry God?" When God saw Jesus in the sinner's place, he did not spare him; and when he finds the unregenerate without Christ, he will not spare them. O sinner, Jesus was led away by his enemies: so shall you be dragged away by fiends to the place appointed for...

Sometimes an illustration is the best commentary on a verse.

Captain Mitsuo Fuchida was the Japanese pilot who directed the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He sent back the message, "Tora, Tora, Tora," indicating the complete success of his mission. But World War II was not over. As the conflict raged on, the tide of battle turned until finally the United States was victorious.

During the war, the Japanese executed an elderly missionary couple in the Philippines. When...

Luke 6:27-38

There is a great similarity between the discourse in Luke - and that given in Matthew. There are also such marked differences that many writers think they were spoken at different times. It matters not, for our purpose, whether they are the same or a different sermon.

The law of love...

Matthew 27:33-50

Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. § Whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.Jesus of Nazareth … went about doing good. § Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.The meekness and gentleness of Christ. § In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. § Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in...

Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. § Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have...