Sublime

• Jesus as High Priest in the Order of Melchizedek (5:5–10) • An Exhortation to Maturity

Pastors, personal holiness begins in the quietude of your study or office or bedside. Holiness begins in your meditation on the written word and supplication to the risen Word. But it is made an example outside the office door.

However, Owen’s doctrine of sanctification is particularly relevant because he thoroughly explained the internal work of the Holy Spirit in making believers holy, as well as how this work manifests both in the internal functions of the heart and in external acts of righteousness. Thus, Owen emphasized the importance of internal motivation and exter

In agreement with the orthodox creeds of the early church, the Reformers maintained that

Faith is convicted trust, not vague belief. Faith is a placing of hopes in such a way that hope gets redefined. In the Scriptures, hope does not have the connotation of “I hope such and such will happen,” as if there is some chance it may not. No, in the Scriptures, hope is an assured trust. Our hope is Christ, and this hope will prove true; it wil

Every week people file into our church services aching for eternity. In our zeal to provide something they may find comfortable and useful and inoffensive, are we offending the God who wishes to offend us in awe of his glory? Are we dismissing our brother Jesus, whose formula for victory includes crucifixion?

Perhaps this is what pastoral ministry is supposed to look like? Maybe applying the gospel to those in the holes they keep falling into is the mission. Or part of it, anyway. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23), so we should expect that every day feels like death an

And I have learned in ministry and out over the last twenty years the secret of pastoral confidence, pastoral competence, and pastoral power: his name is Jesus Christ. I continue to relearn this secret every day.