Save Me from Evil Me

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Psalm 141. Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” or, “the evil one,” and David's prayer in this psalm anticipates and maybe even prefigures obedience to that command of Jesus to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Last week, when we were looking at Psalm 140, we said that Psalm 140 was a prayer for the Lord to “save me from evil men.” Now this psalm is too, but it adds another dimension to the prayer that we studied in Psalm 140. It adds a plea not simply for God to save us from evil men but for God to save us from evil me. That is, David realizes that the pressure that he is under from evil men tempts him to some things that are his own problems. The problems…

Living in Light of Jesus’ Return: A Parting…

The Lord's Day Morning August 26, 2012 “Living Life in Light of Jesus’ Return: A Parting Request, Greeting, Charge, and Blessing” 1 Thessalonians 5:25-28 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. As we come to the end of this letter, we've studied it all along under the rubric of “Living Life in Light of the Return of Jesus” and now in the final few words the apostle Paul is going to give us again important counsel and exhortation and encouragement for the living of the Christian life. Next Lord's Day, God willing, we will begin a study of 2 Thessalonians under the rubric of “Enduring Trials in Light of Jesus’ Return.” And so Paul picks up on some of the themes that we've…

2012 Convocation on Covenant Theology

Covenant Theology August 22, 2012 2012 Convocation Reformed Theological Seminary Jackson, Mississippi The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III It's a joy to be with you, friends. This is a formal academic occasion and perhaps calls for a more formal academic address. My address will be somewhere between an academic address and preaching; I will be unable to resist drifting into preaching as we tackle this subject. I thought it might be encouraging to you at the outset of this new semester and for some of you at the outset of your theological education, to be reminded of a central commitment of this institution and of reformed Christianity from the very beginning, and that is the commitment to classic covenant theology. And I want to briefly make a case for classic covenant theology,…

Save Me from Evil Men

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Psalm 140. We’re with David and in trouble again. In this psalm, and it's a lament, David is lamenting a specific situation or set of situations in which he finds himself. There are men who have evil in their hearts, who intend malice towards him, who are slandering him, who are endangering him, and he's crying out to God for help. In the course of doing that, if you’ll following along — in verses 1 to 5 he acknowledges…

Living in Light of Jesus’ Return: A Benediction…

The Lord's Day Morning August 19, 2012 “Living Life in Light of Jesus’ Return: A Benediction for Sanctification” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We’re going to be looking at verses 23 and 24 together. You may want to look back at verse 22 because it will help you understand what Paul is doing in this passage. If we were to devote ourselves to verse 23 alone, you would…

Living in Light of Jesus’ Return: A Timely…

The Lord's Day Morning August 12, 2012 “Living Life in Light of Jesus’ Return: A Timely Incitement” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We’ll begin at verse 16 as we continue our way through this short letter, perhaps the first of the New Testament, the first of Paul's letters. In this passage, Paul is going to give us a list of eight dos and don'ts for the…

Pastors and People

The Lord's Day Evening August 12, 2012 “Pastors and People” 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III I'd invite the rest of you to turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. As we were looking at this passage a couple of weeks ago, I knew that this is exactly where I wanted to come again for this service and so I skipped over my first point in that sermon pretty quickly because there were some things that I wanted to save and say tonight. It's…

He Knows Me, and Still Loves Me

Turn in your Bibles if you have them, with me, to Psalm 139. I too have been looking forward to this psalm but also in some sense dreading it. It's hard to live up to Psalm 139. It's so exalted; it's very precious in our hearts. We just had a funeral here this last week and one of the verses out of this psalm was the family verse of that sister in the Lord who went home to heaven. Perhaps there are many of you who have a particular verse in Psalm 139 that speaks deeply to you,…

Living in Light of Jesus’ Return: A…

The Lord's Day Morning August 5, 2012 “Living Life in Light of Jesus’ Return: A Pastor's Exhortations” 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We’re going to be looking at four brief verses today, from verse 12 to 15, of this passage. John Stott, in his wonderful commentary on this passage in The Bible Speaks Today series, calls this section, running from verse 12 down…

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