Reading with M’Cheyne

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (Jam. 1:27). In a sermon preached in 1999, John Piper took this text (James 1:27) to address the issue of abortion. In a powerful...

"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God" (Heb. 13:16) "... that which is pleasing in his sight" (Heb. 13:21) Hebrews 13 alludes to two passages in which Christians are urged to please God. Actually, this emphasis is to be found in many New...

"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..." (Heb 12:1) This is one the greatest exhortations in the New Testament perseverance. Employing an athletic metaphor, the author of Hebrews urges us to run "with endurance... the race." It is important to observe that we are not just...

"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11:1) We are of "those who have faith" (Heb. 10:39). Faith is the Christian's distinguishing mark. But what is faith? Hebrews 11 answers it: "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not...

McCheyne blog "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12) When Christ ascended into heaven, he sat down. This indicates more than one idea: First, it demonstrates that the atonement had been accomplished. It is a...

This chapter stands at the beginning of the central theological argument of Hebrews: that Jesus is the great high priest who is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him. In this chapter, the writer to the Hebrews wants to persuade us that Jesus is a superior priest because "...

"I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment."-Philemon 10 Why would a personal, even private, letter like this be included in the Bible? What was the Holy Spirit doing when he caused this work to be inspired and circulated with the rest of Scripture for the...

One of our favorite family movies was "Up," the wonderful Pixar film that came out a couple of years ago. One of the key moments in the movie came early: after the child Carl meets Ellie, she comes to his room with her adventure book. She made him swear not to tell another person about it: "Cross...

While the end of Hebrews 4 points us to our great high priest Jesus, we learn in the first ten verses of Hebrews 5 that the greatness of Jesus is that he was a priest who cried out. And he cried out not simply because of the pain of his suffering; he cried out because of the problem of his people:...

Most Protestants are not used to thinking about priests and especially about what makes a good or superior priest. And yet, the language of priesthood is all through this letter to the Hebrews to this point (1:3; 2:17-18; 3:1) and will dominate chapters 7-9. The reason we need a priest before God...