Why can we not simply feel our way to assurance? Because sin blinds us to ourselves. Scripture says sin is deceitful, and it lies best to us. Every part of us has been affected, including our minds and the way we perceive our own hearts. Jesus said we are experts at...
Picture a courtroom on the last day. The defendant lays out his case: prophecy, exorcisms, mighty works, all of it done in Jesus’ name. Three times he presses the point, in your name, in your name, in your name. And here is what makes this so frightening. There...
Jesus is not saying it is wrong to call Him Lord. It is exactly the right thing to call Him. In the world Matthew first wrote to, confessing that Jesus is Lord was a radical and costly thing, because the accepted confession of the day was that Caesar is lord. To say...
Jesus ends His greatest sermon not with a soft benediction but with a warning meant to unsettle us. Notice carefully who is turned away here. These are not the obvious rebels who cursed the name of God and wanted nothing to do with Him. These are people who call Jesus...
All week we have used this passage as a tool for evaluating others. Before we close, turn it on yourself. Read verse 18 again: a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. A tree does not decide to bear grapes. A tree bears what it...
