Scripture

As God sends out Christ as the life and delight of the saints—the Bridegroom that the Bride is invited to enjoy—so we send him out in our preaching.

Christians do recognise other authorities; there are other voices that rightly carry weight. But Scripture is always the voice that trumps all other voices. When forced to choose, we will always choose to follow the Bible. That’s what the doctrine of the supremacy of Scripture entails.

The supremacy which God-through-Scripture claims over us is the loving, liberating, life-giving rule of a loving, liberating, life-giving God.

What is the most urgent need of the church today? Better leadership? Better training? Healthier giving? Orthodoxy? Moral integrity? Each of these are undoubtedly needs, but underneath them all lies something even more vital: gospel integrity.

Go deep into who God is. Don’t fear the hard topics of theology but approach it as a worshipful son or daughter of the Father. If your eyes are open, what you see will only make your heart burst with the glory of who God is.

Have you ever thought about “curating” the content you consume? The world plies us with words everywhere we go. Our ever-present mobiles offer a stream of content to fill our commute. And as Christians there’s that pile of books, purchased on sale at the conference bookstall (only me?!) that we’ve started but not finished.

Let us not grow weary in the battle for our minds. Let us not forfeit our stewardship of these supernaturally revealed words from God. Take a stand for your faith, and take a shield for your friends and family, by etching Bible verses upon the tablet of your heart.

The humility we learn at the foot of the gospel, glorying in Christ and not ourselves, therefore turns out to be the wellspring of all evangelical health. When our eyes are opened to the love of God for us sinners, we let slip our masks. Condemned as sinners yet justified, we can begin to be honest about ourselves. Loved despite our unloveliness, we begin to love. Given peace with God, we begin to know an inner peace and joy. Shown the magnificence of God above all things, we become more resilient, trembling in wonder at God, and not man.

“While the law reveals the righteousness of God, the gospel brightens the revelation of his righteousness and adds the revelation of his grace. While the law imprisons the sinner, the gospel liberates him, yet liberates him according to law. While the law shows the malignity of sin and dooms the sinner to death, the gospel assents to both, but conquers the one and counteracts the other.” Christmas Evans

Dan Hames explores the way Old Testament people, events, and practices prefigure and preach Jesus and his work of salvation.