“The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.'” (John 1:29)
John the Baptist’s description of Jesus to his disciples and the crowd at the Jordan River that day is amazingly rich: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” “The Lamb of God”: that one little phrase conveyed so much. Continue reading
Adoniram Judson was born in 1788, and grew up in Massachusetts as the United States was in its infancy. He graduated as the valedictorian of his class at Brown University, and after graduation wrote 2 books, one on grammar, and one on math. Not long after, Judson was saved, and felt the call to go overseas on mission, and he sailed to India, where our Brother Ray Miller is right now, as a missionary.
But on the boat ride over, an extraordinary thing happened. Judson was translating the Bible from the original language, the Greek New Testament, into the language of the Indian peoples he wanted to minister to. But as he translated and studied the scriptures, he began to see that the meaning of the Greek New Testament word for baptism, and the clear practice of New Testament Christianity, was that baptism was by immersion — dipping under water. In one of the most courageous acts of conviction in religious history, Judson wrote back to the mission agency that was supporting him, and told them that he had to resign, because they believed in baptism by sprinkling, and that was no longer his belief. In India, Judson found Baptist missionary William Carey who baptized him and his wife. But now he and Ann were stranded, without any human means of support, in a huge, foreign land. Ann wrote back to a friend, “We feel that we are alone in the world, with no real friend but each other, no one on whom we can depend but God.” But their hearts were at peace, because they knew they were right before God — and the Lord would bless that conviction, and use Adoniram Judson in an amazing way: using him to translate the Bible into the language of Burma, and start 100 churches with 8000 believers there before his death.
I dare say that most of us today have not heard of Adoniram Judson. We don’t know his story; and we don’t have his convictions. But we would do well to rediscover both. Judson had strong beliefs regarding baptism, but he got them primarily through his study of scripture, supplemented by what he read in church history. Baptism is one of the most important elements of Christianity; it is one of its two ordinances, and it is the rite of initiation into the Christian Church. And we find the example of One greater than Adoniram Judson, in the Person of Jesus Christ, here in Matthew 3:13-17:
“Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by Him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answering said to him, ‘Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permitted Him. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.'” Continue reading
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The Messiah when He came to live among us, John wrote, was “full of grace and truth.” This particular combination of qualities is significant: Continue reading
“The young lions roar after their prey
And seek their food from God.” (Psalm 104:21)
Many of God’s people have way too narrow a view of His Providence. They consider that what God provides for them will just “fall into their lap” in a miraculous way. And indeed, scripture does indicate that God sometimes manifests His Providence through sudden, miraculous gifts of bounty. But it also teaches us that He often provides in much less dramatic ways: through our own work. Continue reading
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12)
What does it mean to “receive Jesus”? The scripture makes an amazing promise here, that as many as “receive Him”, God would give the right to become His children. But what does it mean to “receive” him? Sadly, many have cheapned the word to mean something that the Lord never intended. Continue reading
I saw a very interesting chart the other day that listed dozens of media outlets by how conservative or liberal they were: on the left of the chart were the most wacko liberal news outlets, and on the right, the most staunch conservative. And most were somewhere in between: moderate, pretty conservative, or a little liberal, etc.
But there are some things about which there is no “spectrum”; there is no “in between.” Someone has said you can’t be “a little bit pregnant”; you are either pregnant or you are not! You are either dead or you are alive. There is no in between. You are one or the other.
There are a number of areas in life like that — and despite the way that some people try to live, it is that way spiritually as well. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “He who is not with Me is against Me.” There is no “in between.” You are either a genuine Christian, and you belong to Him — or you do not. And one day soon, Jesus Christ will reveal which you are.
Last Sunday we saw how John the Baptist said that Jesus, when He came, would bring the very presence of God Himself into the lives of His followers through the Holy Spirit. But that is not all that Jesus came to do, John said. In verse 12 he described His ministry further, saying:
“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Continue reading
“… and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
Why there is any controversy among supposed Bible-believing people concerning the Deity of Jesus is puzzling. The scripture makes it so clear: “and the Word was God”! The first verses in the Book of John clearly indicate that Jesus is fully God. Continue reading
“For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.” (III John 7)
Here in an often overlooked letter, we find a little verse which succinctly defines and prescribes the work of the missionary and missions support: Continue reading
“In Your righteousness deliver me …” (Psalm 31:1b)
As David calls out to the Lord for deliverance in Psalm 31, this is an important little statement because of its correct perspective about our prayers and what we “deserve.” David asks God to hear and answer because HE is righteous (“In YOUR righteousness”); not because David himself is. We see the same thing a bit later in :3, when he says: “For YOUR NAME’s sake lead me and guide me.” He is asking God to do something for him which he knows that he does not “deserve”.
We need to be careful when we are praying for people — I have heard people do this, and I have to admit that I have been tempted to do the same sometimes — Continue reading
“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.” (III John 11)
Here John encourages his readers to imitate those who do good. It is instructive that this exhortation follows his description of Diotrephes, “who loves to be first among them” (:9) and who made false accusations against John and the other apostles, and did not support the traveling evangelists (:10). THEN, Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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