Also available, Sermons on Job, Volume 1 (eBook only) and Sermons on Job, Volume 2 (eBook only)

Endorsement

‘Dr Rob Roy McGregor’s translations of Calvin’s sermons have been received with great enthusiasm and gratitude.’ — DEREK THOMAS

Book Description

THE name of John Calvin (1509-64) is justly renowned in a number of contexts. The Reformation’s greatest systematic theologian, he was also a Christian strategist and transformer of society, as his enormous correspondence and his influence in Geneva bear witness. A prolific scholar, well-versed in the Latin of the academics, he also worked hard at communicating to ordinary men and women in his native French language.

Above all, Calvin was a pastor. Indeed, it has been said of him that he became a theologian in order to be a better pastor. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in his sermons.

In 1549, the Campagnie des Étrangers, refugees who thought highly of his ministry, employed a professional scribe, Denis Raguenier, to record and translate Calvin’s sermons.

Thanks to the foresight of these sixteenth-century Christians we can still read the 159 sermons Calvin preached on the Book of Job on week-days in 1554-5. They abound in faithful and lively exposition, and remain one of the finest examples of evangelical preaching – faithful to the biblical text and thoughtfully applied to the individual and society.

In 1993 the Banner of Truth Trust reprinted a facsimile edition of Arthur Golding’s 1574 translation of Calvin’s sermons on Job. At that time the publisher expressed the hope that ‘Perhaps one day the massive work of retranslating Calvin from the original French into modern English will be done.’ That day has now well and truly come! Several new translations of Calvin’s sermons have recently been published (on Ephesians, Galatians, 2 Samuel 1-13, Acts 1-7, Gen. 1-20, The Beatitudes, Luke 1-2, etc.), and a new translation of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 ed.) has also recently been added to this impressive list of volumes. Now, thanks to Dr Rob Roy McGregor, all of Calvin’s 159 sermons on Job have been translated into modern, colourful, and vigorous English.

This third volume covers Calvin’s expositions of Job chapters 31-42.

About the Translator

Dr Rob Roy McGregor is a graduate of Erskine College and Columbia Theological Seminary, and was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1958 by Second Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Dr McGregor taught English, French, German, and Latin at Boys High School and Hanna High School in Anderson before earning the MA degree in French from the University of South Carolina and the PhD in Romance Languages from the University of Georgia. He is Professor Emeritus of French and Latin at Clemson University, with publications on Jehan Froissart, Albert Camus, Voltaire, Charles Baudelaire, and Jean Genet.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Sermons on Job Volume 3 (eBook) appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Book Description

The name of John Calvin (1509-64) is justly renowned in a number of contexts. The Reformation’s greatest systematic theologian, he was also a Christian strategist and transformer of society, as his enormous correspondence and his influence in Geneva bear witness. A prolific scholar, well-versed in the Latin of the academics, he also worked hard at communicating to ordinary men and women in his native French language.

Above all, Calvin was a pastor. Indeed, it has been said of him that he became a theologian in order to be a better pastor. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in his sermons.

In 1549, the Compagnie des Étrangers, refugees who thought highly of his ministry, employed a professional scribe, Denis Raguenier, to record and translate Calvin’s sermons.

Thanks to the foresight of these sixteenth-century Christians we can still read the 159 sermons Calvin preached on the Book of Job on week-days in 1554-5. They abound in faithful and lively exposition, and remain one of the finest examples of evangelical preaching – faithful to the biblical text and thoughtfully applied to the individual and society.

In 1993 the Banner of Truth Trust reprinted a facsimile edition of Arthur Golding’s 1574 translation of Calvin’s sermons on Job. At that time the publisher expressed the hope that ‘Perhaps one day the massive work of retranslating Calvin from the original french into modern English will be done.’ That day has now well and truly come! Several new translations of Calvin’s sermons have recently been published (on Ephesians, Galatians, 2 Samuel 1-13, Acts 1-7, Gen. 1-20, The Beatitudes, Luke 1-2, etc.) and a new translation of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 ed.) has also recently been added to this impressive list of volumes. Now, thanks to Dr Rob Roy McGregor, all of Calvin’s 159 sermons on Job have been translated into modern, colourful, and vigorous English.

The post Sermons on Job appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Book Description

George Smeaton (1814–1889) was for over thirty years Professor of New Testament Exegesis at New College, the Edinburgh seminary of the Free Church of Scotland.

This collection comprises various printed sermons, lectures, and other shorter writings covering the whole period of his ministry and professorial work.

The collection is wide-ranging in its content and in one respect or another reveals the characteristics of an exercised man, whether speaking, or writing, for ministers, divinity students, or the general reader.

His sermons ‘were full of Christian fervour, and were characterised alike by purity of diction and breadth of scholarship.’ Smeaton was ‘a scholarly devout soul,’ said one former student, ‘whose earnest prayers brought the heavens near.’

It is the hope of the publisher that these sermons and addresses will prove to be as edifying, challenging, and stimulating to this present generation as they were to Smeaton’s own.

The post Sermons and Addresses of George Smeaton appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

More than anything else, Richard Sibbes (1577–1635) was a great preacher. He never lost sight of the fact that the best Christian counselling is done by the Holy Spirit through the patient and lively exposition of God’s word. Sibbes excelled as a comforter of the troubled and doubting. But he also possessed a rare gift of illuminating every passage of Scripture he handled by drawing out its significance for his hearers and readers.

These features of Sibbes’s ministry figure prominently in The Glorious Feast of the Gospel. Sibbes takes for his text Isaiah 25:6-9 in order to display ‘Christ’s gracious invitation and royal entertainment of believers.’ The subject-matter is a perfect blend of rich doctrine and practical application. Here is an ‘admirable feast indeed … Jesus Christ is the master of the feast, and the cheer and provision too.’

If you have lost the ‘spiritual relish of savoury practical truths,’ these sermons, if read prayerfully, will help you recover it.

‘Now, I will shew why Christ, with his benefits, prerogatives, graces, and comforts, is compared to a feast…’

— RICHARD SIBBES

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To call the arrest, trial, scourging and crucifixion of Jesus Christ a miscarriage of justice is true as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. Christ’s death on the cross was not an accident but, as his resurrection attests, was accomplished according to the sovereign, loving will of God, by which sinners can be reconciled to the One who made them, and can pass by grace from death to life.

In this memorable set of sermons which date from 1557 to 1558, Calvin, chief pastor of the Genevan church, offers a sensitive reading of Matthew’s account of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. The preacher’s focus, however, is not so much on the events themselves as on their significance, on what he calls the fruit and efficacy of Christ’s redemptive work. What, in practical terms, is the import of the Easter message for the life of faith? Calvin’s answer has vital implications not only for what we believe but for the way we live, serve, worship and pray.

Newly translated from the French of 1558 by Robert White.

‘If we seek for salvation, the name of Jesus alone teaches us that it is in him. … If we desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we will find them in his anointing. If we are looking for strength, we have it in his lordship…If we ask for redemption, his passion provides it. In his condemnation we have our absolution. If we want pardon for sin’s curse, that gift lies in his cross. Atonement we have in his sacrifice and cleansing in his blood. Our reconciliation was effected by his descent into hell; the mortification of our flesh lies in his burial, and newness of life in his resurrection, through which we also have the hope of immortality.’ –JOHN CALVIN

Reviews

Book review by Aaron Lee.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Crucified and Risen appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

• Sermons on 1 Timothy
• Sermons on 2 Timothy
• Sermons on Titus

Want to learn more about each title in this set? Click on the related items below to read in depth about each title, however, remember to add the ‘Calvin’s Sermons Set’ to your cart if you want to receive the set.

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‘Hodge’s method and matter make him doubly useful in commenting. He is singularly clear, and a great promoter of thought. . . The more we use Hodge the more we value him.’ — C. H. SPURGEON

‘One always turns to Hodge’s commentaries with great confidence, for in him there is that perfect blending of theology, scholarship and a devotional spirit which are the prime requisites of a commentary.’ — D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES

Book Description

This book has two parts, both of which contain material not previously published.

The first part contains Charles Hodge’s exegetical and expository notes on the letter to the Hebrews. These date from 1821, the year of his ordination, and 1842, when he delivered a series of lectures on Hebrews at Princeton Theological Seminary. Like his other published commentaries, this is an exegetical exposition, following Calvin’s pattern of brevity and simplicity. Hodge skilfully engages the Greek text in a way that enhances the reader’s understanding of the details and flow of the whole. Those familiar with Hodge’s commentaries on other New Testament epistles will immediately recognize his style and method. Broad themes and fine points merge together in a coherent whole, as the commentator allows the text of Scripture to speak for itself.

Also among the archival collection of Charles Hodge’s manuscripts at Princeton are a series of sermon outlines, and some full manuscript sermons, on passages from the letter to the Hebrews, most of which were never published. In 1879 A. A. Hodge included four of these as part of a wider collection of sermon outlines which were published following his father’s death as Princeton Sermons. These four sermons, along with all of Hodge’s other manuscript sermons on Hebrews are brought together for the first time in this volume.

The sermons on Hebrews in Part Two supplement the commentary in Part One, providing the reader with a more expansive exposition and application of numerous key sections of Hebrews. A few are more text-topical in their orientation, revealing Hodge’s masterful ability to communicate the rich themes of biblical and systematic theology with earnest clarity and simplicity. Others are more exegetical and expository, with application aimed at growth in Christian living. Together they display Hodge’s ‘adoring love for Christ,’ and even more, Christ’s love for his church.

WILLIAM VANDOODEWAARD on HODGE’S EXEGETICAL LECTURES AND SERMONS ON HEBREWS

Interview with the editor

• Interview with William VanDoodewaard from Three Guys Theologizing

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Preaching is the lifeblood of the Christian church. In every age God has used the proclamation of his word to bring men and women to repentance and faith in Christ, and to help them grow in grace.

Throughout his long ministry in Geneva (1536–38, 1541–64), Calvin was a tireless preacher. He spoke of course to a specific congregation and at a particular point in time. Even so his sermons have travelled well across both time and space. God’s word is not bound by history or geography, and Calvin’s French has a robust plainness and directness which allows it to cross barriers of language and culture with relative ease.

Of the 101 sermons which the Reformer preached in 1554–55 on the Pastoral Letters, thirty, on Paul’s second letter to Timothy, are presented here. They have been newly translated from the original French. They offer a clear, forthright exposition of the biblical text, but also challenge the reader to live out the truths taught, since to be profitable God’s word must transform the way we think, feel and act. In Calvin’s hands the sermon is an instrument of real and lasting change.

This volume completes the translation into modern English of Calvin’s Sermons on the Pastoral Letters of the apostle Paul. The companion volumes of Calvin’s Sermons on First Timothy (2018) and Calvin’s Sermons on Titus (2015) are also available from the Trust.

What the Pastoral Epistles meant to Calvin may be seen from the unusually frank comment which he makes when introducing his sermon series on Second Timothy:

‘If we read this letter carefully, we will see that God’s Spirit there reveals himself with such power and majesty that we cannot avoid feeling thrilled. For my part, I know that this letter has done me as much good as any book of Scripture. Every day there is something of value in it. I do not doubt that those who closely study it will feel the same. If we want the kind of testimony to God’s truth which will pierce our hearts, we can do no better than tarry here.’

Reviews

• Review by Jimmy Reagan

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	Introduction	ix
	Calvin’s Outline of Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy	xvii
	Sermon One: Loved by God (2 Tim. 1:1-2)	1
	Sermon Two: Remembered in Prayer (2 Tim. 1:3-5)	15
	Sermon Three: Fanning the Flame (2 Tim. 1:6-8)	33
	Sermon Four: Called and Saved (2 Tim. 1:8-9)	47
	Sermon Five: Why Election Matters (2 Tim. 1:9-10)	61
	Sermon Six: Guarding the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:13-14)	77
	Sermon Seven: Steadfast, Come What May (2 Tim. 1:15-18)	91
	Sermon Eight: God’s Strong Arm (2 Tim. 2:1-3)	107
	Sermon Nine: Present Toil, Future Fruit (2 Tim. 2:4-7)	123
	Sermon Ten: Risen in Glory (2 Tim. 2:8-9)	137
	Sermon Eleven: God Ever Faithful (2 Tim. 2:10-13)	153
	Sermon Twelve: Rightly Handling the Truth (2 Tim. 2:14-15)	169
	Sermon Thirteen: How to Combat Error (2 Tim. 2:16-18)	185
	Sermon Fourteen: A Sure Foundation (2 Tim. 2:19)	199
	Sermon Fifteen: Fit for God’s Use (2 Tim. 2:20-21)	213
	Sermon Sixteen: Striving for Maturity (2 Tim. 2:22)	227
	Sermon Seventeen: The Lord’s Servant (2 Tim. 2:23-25)	241
	Sermon Eighteen: In and Out of Satan’s Snare (2 Tim. 2:25-26)	253
	Sermon Nineteen: Hard Times Ahead (2 Tim. 3:1-5)	267
	Sermon Twenty: Always Learning, Never Knowing (2 Tim. 3:6-7)	279
	Sermon Twenty-One: God Vindicates His Own (2 Tim. 3:8-9)	295
	Sermon Twenty-Two: Forewarned and Forearmed (2 Tim. 3:10-13)	311
	Sermon Twenty-Three: God’s Word Makes Us Wise (2 Tim. 3:14-15)	327
	Sermon Twenty-Four: The Uses of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17)	341
	Sermon Twenty-Five: Pressing Home God’s Word (2 Tim. 4:1-2)	355
	Sermon Twenty-Six: Deceivers and Deceived (2 Tim. 4:2-4)	371
	Sermon Twenty-Seven: Taking Leave of Life (2 Tim. 4:5-6)	387
	Sermon Twenty-Eight: The Victor’s Crown (2 Tim. 4:7-8)	401
	Sermon Twenty-Nine: Hands Across the Sea (2 Tim. 4:8-13)	417
	Sermon Thirty: Who Is on the Lord’s Side? (2 Tim. 4:14-22)	433
	Prayers Before and After the Sermon	449
	Index of Scripture References	453
	Index of Subjects	459

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The fourteen sermons contained in Saved By Grace Alone were preached in Westminster Chapel, London, on Sunday evenings between 15 April and 15 July 1956. They are a fine example of preaching evangelistically from a consecutive passage of the Old Testament. While they are firmly based on the meaning of the Scripture text in its original setting, they are not overloaded with historical or exegetical detail. The larger themes of Ezekiel’s message to the people of his own day are kept prominently in view.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a preacher who focused on the unchanging, recurring needs of human beings and the everlasting good news of God’s grace.

He dealt plainly with the reality of sin as disobedience to God’s law, but he also exulted in the tenderness and abundance of God’s salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. It was his emphasis on this crucially important gospel truth—that we are ‘saved by grace alone’— which made his preaching, and these sermons on Ezekiel 36, truly timeless.

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Calvin’s expository sermons to the great congregation of St Peter’s, Geneva, taken down in shorthand and then published across Europe, were among the most sought-after volumes of the sixteenth century. In the late 1570s, translated from the French, these bulky volumes flowed through London’s bookshops and none was more popular than the ‘One hundred Sermons on the Epistles of St Paul to Timothy and Titus’ which appeared for the first time in 1579. The public demand was understandable. First, Calvin ‘opened the Scriptures’, not in these volumes for students only, but for the whole church. Second, the sermons were preaching in the full New Testament sense of the term, that is, proclamation and persuasion, with power and conviction.

These sermons are new translated from the French of 1561 by Robert White.

Robert White formerly taught in the department of French Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia, and has a specialist interest in the Reformation in French-speaking areas of Europe. He is the translator of Calvin’s Sermons on the Beatitudes, Songs of the Nativity, Faith Unfeigned, A Guide to Christian Living, and The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 edition), which are also published by the Trust.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

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Also available, Sermons on Job, Volume 1 (eBook only) and Sermons on Job, Volume 3 (eBook only)

Endorsement

‘Dr Rob Roy McGregor’s translations of Calvin’s sermons have been received with great enthusiasm and gratitude.’ — DEREK THOMAS

Book Description

THE name of John Calvin (1509-64) is justly renowned in a number of contexts. The Reformation’s greatest systematic theologian, he was also a Christian strategist and transformer of society, as his enormous correspondence and his influence in Geneva bear witness. A prolific scholar, well-versed in the Latin of the academics, he also worked hard at communicating to ordinary men and women in his native French language.

Above all, Calvin was a pastor. Indeed, it has been said of him that he became a theologian in order to be a better pastor. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in his sermons.

In 1549, the Campagnie des Étrangers, refugees who thought highly of his ministry, employed a professional scribe, Denis Raguenier, to record and translate Calvin’s sermons.

Thanks to the foresight of these sixteenth-century Christians we can still read the 159 sermons Calvin preached on the Book of Job on week-days in 1554-5. They abound in faithful and lively exposition, and remain one of the finest examples of evangelical preaching – faithful to the biblical text and thoughtfully applied to the individual and society.

In 1993 the Banner of Truth Trust reprinted a facsimile edition of Arthur Golding’s 1574 translation of Calvin’s sermons on Job. At that time the publisher expressed the hope that ‘Perhaps one day the massive work of retranslating Calvin from the original French into modern English will be done.’ That day has now well and truly come! Several new translations of Calvin’s sermons have recently been published (on Ephesians, Galatians, 2 Samuel 1-13, Acts 1-7, Gen. 1-20, The Beatitudes, Luke 1-2, etc.), and a new translation of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 ed.) has also recently been added to this impressive list of volumes. Now, thanks to Dr Rob Roy McGregor, all of Calvin’s 159 sermons on Job have been translated into modern, colourful, and vigorous English.

This second volume covers Calvin’s expositions of Job chapters 15-30.

About the Translator

Dr Rob Roy McGregor is a graduate of Erskine College and Columbia Theological Seminary, and was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1958 by Second Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Dr McGregor taught English, French, German, and Latin at Boys High School and Hanna High School in Anderson before earning the MA degree in French from the University of South Carolina and the PhD in Romance Languages from the University of Georgia. He is Professor Emeritus of French and Latin at Clemson University, with publications on Jehan Froissart, Albert Camus, Voltaire, Charles Baudelaire, and Jean Genet.

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The post Sermons on Job Volume 2 (eBook) appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

On the night of his betrayal, Jesus Christ revealed the deepest concerns of his heart to his disciples. The hours he spent that evening, with his disciples in the upper room, left an indelible impression on the apostle John. Thereafter he never ceased to be amazed by the fact that ‘our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ’.

Nowhere in Scripture is this privilege more fully expounded that in Chapters 13 to 17 of John’s Gospel. John’s record of Jesus’ words and actions takes us into the inner sanctuary of the Christian’s relationship to God. We hear of the mystery of the Trinity, the reality of union with Christ, and the glory which belongs to the Son. Here, in the time of crisis, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ shines forth in all its glory.

In these pages, Charles Ross (who belonged to the same school of Scottish evangelicals as Robert Murray M’Cheyne and the Bonars) shows how all of God’s wisdom and knowledge are revealed in Jesus Christ. The Inner Sanctuary is a little known treasure of biblical exposition and an outstanding aid to increased devotion to Jesus Christ.

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The post The Inner Sanctuary appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Book Description

Calvin’s expository sermons to the great congregation of St Peter’s, Geneva, taken down in shorthand and then published across Europe, were among the most sought-after volumes of the sixteenth century. In the late 1570s, translated from the French, these bulky volumes flowed through London’s bookshops and none was more popular than the ‘One hundred Sermons on the Epistles of St Paul to Timothy and Titus’ which appeared for the first time in 1579. The public demand was understandable. First, Calvin ‘opened the Scriptures’, not in these volumes for students only, but for the whole church. Second, the sermons were preaching in the full New Testament sense of the term, that is, proclamation and persuasion, with power and conviction.

For the first time in more than 450 years, Calvin’s Sermons on Titus have been translated afresh into English. These sermons are not merely an updating of the language of Laurence Thomson’s 1579 English translation (which, along with Calvin’s Sermons on 1 and 2 Timothy, was previously reprinted in facsimile by the Trust in 1983). Robert White’s new translation goes back to Calvin’s original French, and the result is a fine modern English translation that will make the reader feel something of the excitement of those Elizabethan Christians who so prized their own contemporary English version of Calvin’s sermons on this pastoral epistle.

While the seventeen sermons in this volume were preached by Calvin between August and mid- October, 1555 during the course of his regular pulpit ministry in Geneva, they are far from being mere historical curiosities. Along with concern for irreproachable leadership, faithful teaching and the spiritual well-being of the church’s members, the apostle’s letter to Titus sounds a strongly ethical and evangelistic note in its emphasis on upright living, by which God is honoured and outsiders are drawn to the faith as they witness the power and grace of the gospel.

Accordingly, in these sermons Calvin consistently stresses the centrality of God’s revealed word in the collective life of the church, and the necessity for each believer to conform in holiness and uprightness to God’s standard of purity. A wholesome life is, through the Spirit’s gracious work, both the consequence and the accompaniment of wholesome teaching. Inconsistency of conduct is not, however, easy to avoid, and the world will rightly condemn Christians who say one thing and do another. Transformation into Christ’s likeness is the work of a lifetime. Enrolled in God’s school, believers are urged to profit each day, growing not only in knowledge but also in love, and not for their own sake only but for that of their neighbour, to whom they are bound by ties of humanity and brotherhood. In this way the church is strengthened, its witness is confirmed and tangible proof is given that it is what it claims to be the community of God’s redeemed on earth. The sermons on Titus reveal the heart of Calvin the pastor, the shepherd of God’s flock, whose members are nourished by the word of truth, made one with Christ by the Spirit’s regenerating power, adopted into God’s family and promised a heavenly inheritance which cannot fail.

Robert White formerly taught in the department of French Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia, and has a specialist interest in the Reformation in French-speaking areas of Europe. He is the translator of Calvin’s Sermons on the Beatitudes, Songs of the Nativity, Faith Unfeigned, A Guide to Christian Living, and The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 edition), which are also published by the Trust.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

Reviews

• Review by J. Reagan
• Review by Gervase Charmley

The post Sermons on Titus appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Also available, Sermons on Job, Volume 2 (eBook only) and Sermons on Job, Volume 3

Endorsement

‘Dr Rob Roy McGregor’s translations of Calvin’s sermons have been received with great enthusiasm and gratitude.’ — DEREK THOMAS

Book Description

THE name of John Calvin (1509-64) is justly renowned in a number of contexts. The Reformation’s greatest systematic theologian, he was also a Christian strategist and transformer of society, as his enormous correspondence and his influence in Geneva bear witness. A prolific scholar, well-versed in the Latin of the academics, he also worked hard at communicating to ordinary men and women in his native French language.

Above all, Calvin was a pastor. Indeed, it has been said of him that he became a theologian in order to be a better pastor. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in his sermons.

In 1549, the Campagnie des Étrangers, refugees who thought highly of his ministry, employed a professional scribe, Denis Raguenier, to record and translate Calvin’s sermons.

Thanks to the foresight of these sixteenth-century Christians we can still read the 159 sermons Calvin preached on the Book of Job on week-days in 1554-5. They abound in faithful and lively exposition, and remain one of the finest examples of evangelical preaching – faithful to the biblical text and thoughtfully applied to the individual and society.

In 1993 the Banner of Truth Trust reprinted a facsimile edition of Arthur Golding’s 1574 translation of Calvin’s sermons on Job. At that time the publisher expressed the hope that ‘Perhaps one day the massive work of retranslating Calvin from the original French into modern English will be done.’ That day has now well and truly come! Several new translations of Calvin’s sermons have recently been published (on Ephesians, Galatians, 2 Samuel 1-13, Acts 1-7, Gen. 1-20, The Beatitudes, Luke 1-2, etc.), and a new translation of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 ed.) has also recently been added to this impressive list of volumes. Now, thanks to Dr Rob Roy McGregor, all of Calvin’s 159 sermons on Job have been translated into modern, colourful, and vigorous English.

This first volume covers Calvin’s expositions of Job chapters 1-14.

About the Translator

Dr Rob Roy McGregor is a graduate of Erskine College and Columbia Theological Seminary, and was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1958 by Second Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Dr McGregor taught English, French, German, and Latin at Boys High School and Hanna High School in Anderson before earning the MA degree in French from the University of South Carolina and the PhD in Romance Languages from the University of Georgia. He is Professor Emeritus of French and Latin at Clemson University, with publications on Jehan Froissart, Albert Camus, Voltaire, Charles Baudelaire, and Jean Genet.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Sermons on Job Volume 1 (eBook) appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘Thomas Watson’s deep spirituality, pithy remarks, terse style, impressive depth, and beauty of expression make him one of the most irresistible and readable of all Puritans. This exposition of Matthew 5:1-10 overflows with spiritual instruction. Every family should have a copy.’ — JOEL R. BEEKE

What announces itself as an exposition of Matthew 5:1-10 turns out to be a digest of all the central Puritan teaching on the Christian life. The Beatitudes are treated as mineshafts into the whole economy of grace – as indeed they are . . .

‘Thomas Watson’s A Body of Divinity has already established him as one of Banner of Truth’s most successful authors. This work, first published in 1660, and evidently a further set of written-up sermon notes, shows him once more to be one of the richest and liveliest of Puritan teachers, with a tidy mind, a light touch, a gift for compression, and a vivid imagination.’ — J. I. PACKER (reviewing the Trust’s original 1971 edition)

Book Description

The opening verses of the best-known of all Christ’s sermons were handled by many of the Puritans, for the Beatitudes gave full scope to the combination of sound doctrine, practical wisdom and heart-searching application which characterized their preaching.

To these general Puritan characteristics, Thomas Watson added certain of his own: a master of a terse, vigorous style and of a beauty of expression, he could speak not only to win men’s under-standing but also to secure a place for the truth in their memories. More than most of his generation he sought to follow the example of Christ’s teaching by employing all manner of illustrative material from common life, and with simplicity and charm he spoke words not easy to forget.

Two hundred years after Thomas Watson’s death, William Jay of Bath said that he could go to any one of his books and ‘find it ever fresh, pointed and instructive.’

The Beatitudes, first published in 1660, used to be one of the rarest of Watson’s works. This clothbound edition largely follows the revised format of the Trust’s first edition of 1971, with some additional editorial notes.

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Review

• Review by Terry Delaney

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A companion volume to The Face of Jesus Christ, this new selection of sermons by Archibald G. Brown concentrate on the Bible’s teaching about God as Creator, Judge, and Saviour. Preached during the course of his long ministry in London, these sermons were heard by thousands and then read avidly by multitudes who prized his faithful presentation of the ‘gospel of the grace of God’.

‘Our God is a God of might, and a God of right, and a God of mercy, and a God of truth. On these four attributes, as on four massive blocks of granite, does the soul venture safely to build her eternal hopes.’ — ARCHIBALD G. BROWN

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This scarce volume is another important addition to the Trust’s series of quality facsimile reprints. Sermons on Job will be treasured by preachers, students, scholars, and believers throughout the English-speaking world. — JOEL BEEKE

For those who are lovers of Calvin and familiar with the other volumes of his sermons, those on Job need no recommendation. They bear the same characteristic marks of care, thoroughness, reverence, warmth and extended application. — DAVID CAMPBELL

Book Description

The name of John Calvin (1509-1564) is justly renowned in a number of contexts. The Reforma­tion’s greatest systematic theologian, he was also a Christian strategist and transformer of society, as his enormous correspondence and his influence in Geneva bear witness. A prolific scholar, well-versed in the Latin of the academics, he also worked hard at communicating to ordinary men and women in his native French language.

Above all, Calvin was a pastor. Indeed, it has been said of him that he became a theologian in order to be a better pastor. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in his sermons.

In 1549, the Campagnie des Etrangers, refugees who thought highly of his ministry, employed a professional scribe, Denis Raguenier, to record and translate Calvin’s sermons.

Thanks to the foresight of these sixteenth-century Christians we can still read the 159 sermons Calvin preached on the Book of Job on week-days in 1554-5. They abound in faithful and lively exposition, and remain one of the finest examples of evangelical preaching – faithful to the biblical text and thoughtfully applied to the individual and society.

This quality facsimile edition, which will be prized by students, scholars and Christians in general, is a reproduction of Arthur Golding’s translation of the Job sermons first published in 1574.

Perhaps one day the massive work of retransla­ting Calvin from the original French into modern English will be done, but until then this Elizabethan text provides us with a rare volume, treasured by all who have ever possessed it. The English has the force and colour of the age of Shakespeare and ten minutes reading aloud is generally enough to whet the interest for more.

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En este último volumen de Cristianismo auténtico, el Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones muestra la pertinencia para los lectores modernos de los acontecimientos documentados en Hechos 8:1-35. Aquí vemos como la persecución que surgió tras el martirio de Esteban condujo a una prodigiosa propagación del evangelio por Samaria y, a través de la conversión del eunuco etíope, aun hasta África. De esta forma, las palabras que el Señor había dirigido a sus discípulos, para que fueran testigos suyos “en Samaría, y hasta lo último de la tierra”, comenzaron a cumplírse. Estos sermones, predicados entre octubre de 1967 y febrero de 1968, están repletos de certeros análisis acerca de cuestiones como la necesidad humana del evangelio, la obra del Espíritu, el carácter sobrenatural del cristianismo verdadero, el arrepentimiento y la fe, el peligro de una creencia espuria, y el mismísimo núcleo y corazón del evangelio en los sufrimientos y la muerte de Cristo, tal como los expuso Felipe al etíope.

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The story of Joseph as recorded in the book of Genesis is a vital part of salvation history. Through this one man God kept alive the family from which Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world would be born. It is a glorious story and the one that David Searle tells in his new book.

In doing so the author follows the Apostle Paul who, when writing in the context of our vulnerability to temptation and referring to God’s people in the OT, said ‘These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings to us’ (I Cor. 10:11). ‘Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope’ (Rom. 15:4).

Joseph, His Arms Were Made Strong takes up and illustrates many truths vital for Christian living. It is not only a a good read but will be spiritually beneficial to both young and old. It is relevant to contemporary trends and opinions both in society and the church. It draws upon long pastoral experience and is full of the down-to-earth examples. What is unusual but refreshing about the book is the author’s directness in addressing the reader and his asking some personal questions. This underlines the helpfulness of the lessons drawn from Joseph’s life and makes the reading a stimulus and guide to spiritual growth and personal holiness.

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Review

• Review by Bob Thomas
• Review by Ian Gibbs

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‘These sermons that Edmund Calamy put together, about the Great Ejection, 1662, are powerful sermons. These are pastors, choosing to be on the last day of their ministry, because they can’t in good conscience affirm everything in The Book of Common Prayer, who resign their jobs, lose their livings, generally had to move away from where they were to be faithful — these are their final sermons to their congregations — moving, moving sermons.’ — MARK DEVER

Book Description

A fine introduction to Puritan preaching, this little book also recalls one of the great turning points in English Christianity—for these sermons were preached on ‘the Farewell Sunday’ in August, 1662, when two thousand ministers left the national Church for conscience’ sake. Much has been written on that Great Ejection, but nothing is more important than to hear the ejected speak for themselves. Their watchword was:

I preach as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men.

This new edition of Sermons of the Great Ejection not only commemorates the 350th anniversary of a noteworthy historical event but, more importantly, gives a real insight into the theology, godliness, and preaching of the Puritans. Why is this relevant? For two reasons: (i) as the blurb on the first edition said, ‘such preaching could set England alight again in our own times’; and (ii) the issues of 1662 are directly relevant to the present situation in the church when the emphasis is once again upon conformity and unity at the expense of truth and holiness. May this little book be an encouragement to men of gospel truth and integrity everywhere.

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Reviews

• Review by David Burke
• Review by David Campbell
• Review by Alan Hill

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‘In his masterful translation Dr. McGregor has quite wonderfully brought the preacher back to life and allowed us the privilege of being able, with a little imagination, to take our places in St. Peter’s Church on those cold autumn and winter days with the Reformer himself in the pulpit.’ — J.R. DE WITT

Book Description

Preaching as Calvin undertook to do it extends far beyond the confines of a carefully written manuscript. It is not bound by the niceties of style, sentence structure, and the like. it is marked by an immeasurably greater degree of intensity, by an obvious determination to instruct and persuade, by an astounding capacity to confront hearers both with the truth of divine revelation and with the implications of that truth for faith and obedience. There are distinct advantages, therefore, in having before us these sermons on Genesis precisely as they were delivered. They let us see and hear a man aflame with love for the lord and his Word, a preacher who spent himself utterly in the work of summoning his people to repentance, faith and holiness. The feature that has struck me most powerfully is the sermons’ immediacy. As I have read them, it has quite often seemed to me almost as though I were sitting with the congregation in Geneva and listening to Calvin himself as he opened up the passage, and then carefully, deliberately, and sometimes with painful specificity applied its teaching to those who heard him. In his masterful translation Dr. McGregor has quite wonderfully brought the preacher back to life and allowed us the privilege of being able, with a little imagination, to take our places in St. Peter’s Church on those cold autumn and winter days with the Reformer himself in the pulpit.

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Reviews

• Review by John Brentnall
• Review by Wilfred Weale
• Review by Greg Goswell (page 16)
• Review by Brian Garrard

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At the heart of the Christian faith is the simple truth, yet profound mystery, that ‘Christ died for our sins’. According to the Apostle Paul, Christ dying in our place is the truth of ‘first importance’ in the gospel, apart from which we have ‘believe in vain’ (1 Cor. 15:2-3). And yet it is all too easy for Christians to lose sight of the cross and for things of this world to eclipse the glory of its message.

In seven short studies in the nineteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, Richard D. Phillips encourages the reader to take a fresh look at the amazing story of the death of the Saviour, Jesus Christ the Son of God. Writing with intelligence and pastoral warmth, the author especially delights in drawing the reader’s attention to the small details surrounding the crucifixion that John recorded in his Gospel.

The aim of these studies is to refocus eyes that have grown dim and to stir up a spirit of thanksgiving and praise in the heart of the believer. For it is at the cross, as the author says, that ‘we gaze upon the heart of our Lord with wonder and feel the warmth of his grace in our soul’.

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Review

• Review by Barry Shucksmith
• Review by Bob Thomas

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Los sermones que se incluyen en este libro fueron todos predicados en el Surrey Music Hall (Londres, 1859) y son típicos de los muchos que se predicaron allí. En ellos se encontrará la razón que explica el extraordinario éxito que en todo tiempo acompañó al ministerio de Spurgeon. ¿Qué es lo que reunía y sostenía a una congregación de 8000 almas? ¿Propanganda? ¿ Cultos vistosos? ¿Acompañamientos musicales? ¿Consejeros organizados? No; Spurgeon no tenía ninguna de estas cosas. Pero era el mismo Evangelio que se predica en la actualidad en todas partes, quizá pensará alguien. Ciertamente lo que él predicaba era el Evangelio, pero en la evangelización que tan profusamente se estila en la actualidad, ¿encontramos el mismo Evangelio de Spurgeon? Que el lector de estos sermones – con toda seriedad – responda por sí mismo a esta pregunta.

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‘Alguien dijo que el buen maestro no es el que hace dificil lo fácil sino el que convierte en sencillo lo complicado. Uno de los meritos de Juan S. Boonstra consiste en presenter las grandes verdades biblicas de tal manera que se hacen asequibles a todos los publicos. Pero nos equivocariamos si pensáramos que el estilo fluido, ameno y fácil de leer de este predicador roza en algun momento la superficialidad. En los mensajes de este hombre de Dios encontramos teologia de la Buena, profundamente biblica y, sobre todo, aunada a una gran preocupacion pastoral y evangelistica. Lo que expone y comenta resulta de igual valor tanto para el creyente como para los inconversos.’– Jose Grau, autor Espanol y Catalan, Barcelona, España.

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More than anything else, Richard Sibbes was a great preacher. He never lost sight of the fact that the best Christian counselling is done through the patient and enlivening exposition of the Word of God. Sibbes excelled as a comforter of the troubled and doubting, but he also possessed the rare gift of illuminating every passage of Scripture he handled by drawing out its significance for his hearers and readers. The republication of the Nichol edition of his complete works is a notable event for all who have an appetite for helpful and faithful biblical preaching.

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In this unique account of growth in grace, ‘babes’, ‘little children’, ‘young men’ and ‘fathers’ are the stages through which the learners in Christ’s school pass on their way to the ‘academy of heaven’. While supporting and comforting beginners in the school of grace, Venning encourages all Christians to make further progress towards ‘the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13).

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Richard Sibbes always sought to get under the superficial layer of his listeners’ behaviour and deal with their hearts. He knew that the outward acts of sin spring from the inner desires of the heart. Merely to alter a person’s behavior without dealing with those desires would cultivate hypocrisy, the self-righteous cloak for a cold and vicious heart. Sibbes believed that hearts must be turned, and evil desires eclipsed by stronger ones for Christ.

This book is as relevant today as when it was first published in 1629. Our busyness and activism so easily degenerate into a hypocrisy in which we keep up all the appearance of holiness without the heart of it. Christians even use Christ as a package to pass on to others, instead of enjoying him first and foremost as their own Savior. But true reformation must begin in the heart, with love for Christ. And that can only come when the free grace of God in Christ Jesus is preached.

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Review

• Review by Trevor Kirkland
• Review by Alan Hill

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What can man bring to God which will be excellent and acceptable in His sight? John Bunyan’s answer may surprise us – a broken and contrite heart. This is the ‘acceptable sacrifice’ of the title.

In this moving exposition of Psalm 51:17, the last work which he prepared for the press, Bunyan shows from Scripture why a broken heart is so acceptable to God. He characterizes the unbroken heart of man, showing why it must be made contrite, and explains the nature of the change which is involved. He also guides the reader in discerning whether this change has taken place, and shows how the heart, once broken, can be kept tender.

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All Loves Excelling is Bunyan’s sermon on Ephesians 3:18-19, ‘That ye … may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.’ It was first titled ‘The Saints’ Knowledge of Christ’s Love’ and is worthy of being ranked alongside Sibbes and deals with a much neglected subject area.

FROM THE FOREWORD: This is a new edition of John Bunyan’s treatise on Ephesians 3:17b-19 which he himself prepared for the press. It is taken from the second volume of Bunyan’s works (George Offor edition) which was re-published by Banner of Truth in 1991. The text remains largely unaltered but slight adjustments have been made in order to accommodate the arrangement of the material into chapters. Even these divisions, however, correspond to Bunyan’s own layout of his material. A detailed breakdown of the structure of Bunyan’s meditation on the greatness of the love of Christ is found at the end of this book by way of an appendix.

The subject matter of this work which was first preached, is greatly needed today. On the one hand, experiences of the Spirit are being claimed from which the glory of the redeemer and the wonder of his love are quite absent, while on the other, an almost total attention to the understanding and practising of scripture truth is having the effect of marginalising the experiential element in true, spiritual knowledge.

Bunyan’s description of Christ’s love to believers and how they ought to know it, cuts in both the above-mentioned directions. From some 440 Bible references he shows how knowing Christ’s love is the message of Scripture and also the essence of heaven, partly possessed and expressed on earth. Those who know it are rich beyond measure and they are the people who ‘sweeten the churches and bring glory to God and to religion’.

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‘While the Bridegroom Tarries is a book of sermons by one of the clearest and interesting of preachers in the USA in the 20th century, R.B. Kuiper was the professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary in the years before his retirement. This is a collection of sermons which he preached after the First World War when eschatological speculation about the return of Christ was rampant. What does the Bible teach about the end times and how is it related to Christians today? This is such a good place to begin.’ — GEOFF THOMAS

‘Many Christians today are troubled by rapid changes occurring through international affairs and their own nations’ political transformation. In Kuiper’s day as in ours Christians were finding it difficult to assess disturbing news (or signs) of their times. R. B. Kuiper preached a series of sermons published in 1919, the year the ‘First World War’ ended. Banner of Truth has republished these important sermons under the title While the Bridegroom Tarries. Dr. Kuiper’s aim is to lead Christians to hopeful optimism as we experience dark events of ‘the latter days’.’ — WALTER J. CHANTRY

Book Description

Living in the light of Christ’s return is the duty of every generation of Christians. But, as Christ’s parable in Matthew 25:1-13 warns us, all face the danger of falling asleep on watch: ‘While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept’ (Matt. 25:5). For that reason, everything calculated to keep us spiritually awake should be prized. R. B. Kuiper’s sermons reprinted in this volume were intended to help Christians live in readiness for Christ’s coming. Preached just after the First World War, at a time of considerable optimism for human progress, as well as intense speculation about the ‘signs of the times’, they bear strong and forthright testimony against the dangers of theological modernism and other anti-christian ideas, and for the supernaturalism of faith. They are a call for the preaching of the gospel to all nations and an eloquent appeal for Christian activity ‘while the bridegroom tarries’.

Kuiper was concerned lest speculative millenarian ideas should obscure the great theme of Christ’s return, but even those who differ from him in their understanding of biblical prophecy will benefit from his clear call to Christian readiness. Here is a timely reminder that wars and disasters here below point to the onward match of the purposes of God and bring us ever nearer to the great consummation of all Christian hopes.

Review

• Review by Alan Hill

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We all want to find happiness in this life, but do we know where true happiness is to be found? Richard Phillips believes the Book of Psalms has the answer to this pressing question. Beginning with ‘The Way of Blessing’ set out in Psalm 1, he takes us on a tour twelve choice Psalms, drawing out many practical lessons aimed at encouraging those who would be better disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Other chapter titles include, ‘How to Praise the Lord’, ‘How to Pray’, ‘From Fear to Faith’, ‘Pathway to Joy’, and ‘Spiritual Recovery’.

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‘Offers the perfect blend of scholarship and inspiration…a truly valuable book.’ — BOOK JOURNAL

Book Description

The Sermon on the Mount answers some of the most pressing questions that every Christian encounters: What is a Christian? Does the law of God still have a place in the Christian life? How can I learn to pray? How can I learn self-discipline? Why am I a prisoner to anxiety?

The Sermon on the Mount deals with these issues in a crisp, concise, and readable way. It provides an ideal introduction to Jesus’ great manifesto for life in his kingdom.

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No Christian can read the biography or Sermons of Robert Murray M’Cheyne without realizing that the true measure of life is not its length but its usefulness. He ministered but a short seven-and-a-half years, and died at the age of 29, yet the fruitfulness of that brief life remains to this day.

Nor does the amount of our activity or our words reflect the true value of our life. Robert Murray M’Cheyne left notes of only some 200 sermons when he died in 1843, but his own counsel to a fellow minister explains why these sermons brought such abundant blessing not only to ‘the noisy mechanics and political weavers’ of Dundee but, later, to all parts of the English-speaking world:

‘Get your texts from God — your thoughts, your words, from God. . . It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear, and your heart full of God’s Spirit, is worth ten thousand words spoken in unbelief and sin’.

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A Commentary on Amos. All round the Near-East the roar of the Divine Lion sounded; Amos heard it and was compelled to prophesy. His words of judgment on the nations and on the professing church echo through the centuries and speak again today with unnerving relevance to contemporary society. Will what we have built in our churches stand the test?

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A friend once said to Archibald Brown that the sermons he found most helpful and enjoyable were simple sermons. ‘What do you mean by a simple sermon?’, his pastor replied. The answer was, ‘One that is all about the Lord.’ This book contains many of Archibald Brown’s outstanding sermons on the Person and Work of Christ. It takes the reader to the heart of Brown’s ministry with an attractiveness and relevance that will never dim.

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Review

• Review by Ben Ramsbottom
• Review by Jeremy Walker

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While Jesus Christ and Him crucified was the theme of James W. Alexander’s ministry in New York, it was at the times of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper that many of his most remarkable sermons on the atoning work of Christ were preached. For these communion seasons he also gave to the world his incomparable translation of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn of praise, O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded, and never was the praise of Christ more abundant in New York than in the closing years of his life which saw the great revival of 1857. His death, two years later, was marked by this commemorative book, made up of a selection of his ‘sacramental discourses’.

Nothing, Alexander believed, can make the contrite happy but the assurance of God’s love. And that love is to be seen in looking to the Saviour and to the cross, of which believers will never cease to sing,

‘These eyes, new faith receiving,
From Jesus shall not move,
For he who dies believing,
Dies safely through Thy love’.

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J. Gresham Machen ‘was one of the most colourful and controversial figures of his time, and it is doubtful that in the ecclesiastical world of the twenties and thirties any religious leader was more constantly in the limelight’. Machen was a scholar, Professor at Princeton and Westminster Seminaries, church leader, apologist for biblical Christianity, and one of the most eloquent defenders of the faith in the twentieth century.

God Transcendent is a collection of Machen’s addresses. It shows, perhaps more clearly than any of his books, why he was such a great man. In these messages, Machen expounds the greatness and glory of God, the wonder and power of the gospel and the exhilaration of serving Christ in the front line of spiritual warfare.They show why Machen fought so tenaciously for biblical truth against error: ‘It is impossible to be a true soldier of Jesus Christ and not fight’.

This series of popular messages, includes Machen’s famous address, The Active Obedience of Christ, delivered only weeks before his death on January 1, 1937.

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Divisions which are deep and wide exist both within and between nations. The greatest of these is probably that between rich and poor because it translates into the gulf between the powerful and the oppressed, the educated and the illiterate, the well-fed and well-housed and the starving of the world’s shanty towns. It creates a happiness on the one hand and a misery on the other. However, there is a division which goes deeper and runs further even than this. It results from the way in which people of all ages and places relate to the Word and Kingdom of God. In terms of it, the rich may be poor and the poor, rich and while gospel riches may not obliterate the wretchedness of life below, they will not result in endless woe in the world beyond but eternal bliss. Are you really rich? Or are you really poor?

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Like many other characters in Scripture, the prophet Habakkuk bore a significant name. ‘Habakkuk’ is a form of the Hebrew word for ’embrace’ and conveys the idea of a wrestler in an embrace with his opponent. As Walter Chantry shows in this absorbing book, Habakkuk lived out his name by wrestling with God in prayer in the midst of a national and international situation resembling our own in many respects. As we read his prophecy, we hear Habakkuk pray, then listen as the Almighty responds. The divine response at first seems overwhelming. Yet at its centre is a glorious revelation of the very heart of the gospel. In this brief exposition, previously published in the Banner of Truth magazine, Chantry draws out themes that are timely, challenging, but ultimately full of comfort.

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It may be suggested that any minister whose preaching and writing provoked so much opposition that his effigy was carried through the streets of respectable Worthing and burnt on the esplanade, must have been a man whose harshness alienated him from the ‘common people’. But in the case of P.B. Power the reverse was the case. For people wrote of his ‘genial humor…tender sympathy… all-pervading desire to lead men to Christ’. In fact it was because Power understood that man’s greatest need was to become aware of his sinfulness and discover Christ as Saviour and Lord, that his life evoked both admiration and hostility. The ‘I Wills’ of Christ explains the dynamic behind Power’s life, because it points us to Christ and to all that he has promised to do. It is these promises which form the foundation of all true Christian experience and provide hope, encouragement and challenge in Christian living. They are the basis for prayer and evangelism, comfort and joy. P.B. Power’s exposition of them is outstandingly valuable.

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Every Christian needs to understand Hebrews. If they do not, they will misunderstand the Old Testament and will also fail to fully appreciate what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, what he is doing now, and what he is going to do in the future. As a result, they will remain spiritually stunted.

Over the years, plenty of books have been written to explain Hebrews, but only a few of them have had ordinary Christians in mind. Some of them are so large and so complicated that they appear to be the last word. Experts enjoy books like these, but everybody else is left bewildered.

This book does not pretend to be ‘the last word’ but perhaps, for some, it will prove useful as ‘the first word’. Stuart Olyott explains Hebrews as clearly as the subject matter allows, keeping in mind the advice of Albert Einstein that ‘things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler’. Crystal clear explanation of the text is followed by detailed practical application. Indeed this book contains many applications, some of which are very direct.

Throughout, the aim of the author is to focus our gaze upon Christ so that we might follow him with renewed courage.

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Reviews

• Review by Alan Hill
• Review by Bob Thomas

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The Old Testament story catches the imagination and tells of a prophet who disobeys God and of a great fish which can swallow a man; it describes a city-wide revolt in a pagan country and a wonderfully-sighted prophet sulking in the sunshine. What does it mean?

In Jonah–A Study in Compassion, Dr. O. Palmer Robertson’s masterly knowledge of the Hebrew language, his vivid sense of the grace of God and the twisted state of man’s heart, his ability to retell historical events and see their significance all combine to explain what the message of the book of Jonah really is, and -since there is a sting in the tail- what it means for us today.

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Jonathan Edwards is widely recognized today as perhaps the greatest of all North American thinkers and philosophers. Such was the depth and power of his intellect that annually new books and articles on his work come into print. But Edwards was supremely a Christian thinker. His great goal in life was to know and glorify God through Jesus Christ and to encourage others to do the same. Consequently it is in his sermons that we find the real heart of the man. Here he is thinker, herald, pastor and theologian all in one.

This selection of ten of Edwards’ sermons provides a fine sample of the God-centredness of his ministry. In them he shows the seriousness of man’s sinful condition, the riches of Christ’s grace, and the marvels of the Christian life. To read Edwards is, almost invariably, to be led into the presence of God. That was the great aim of his preaching, and echoes of it will be heard in reading these pages.

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We asked people how reading Edwards had benefitted them; this is what they said …
Here’s What You Said About Jonathan Edwards

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The life of Elijah has gripped the thought and imagination of preachers and writers in all ages. His sudden appearance out of complete obscurity, his dramatic interventions in the national history of Israel, his miracles, his departure from the earth in a chariot of fire all serve to that end. ‘He comes in like a tempest, who went out like a whirlwind’, says Bishop Hall; ‘the first we hear from him is an oath and a threat’. Judgement and mercy were mingled throughout Elijah’s astonishing career.

It is fitting that the lessons which may be drawn from Elijah’s ministry should be presented afresh to our generation. History repeats itself. The wickedness and idolatry rampant in Ahab’s reign live in our gross 21st century’s profanities and corruptions. False prophets occupy large spheres of influence and truths dear to our evangelical forefathers have been downtrodden as the mire in the streets. A.W. Pink clearly felt called to the task of smiting the ungodliness of the age with the rod of God’s anger while at the same time encouraging the faithful remnant. With these objects he undertakes the exposition of Elijah’s ministry and applies it to the contemporary situation.

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Thomas Watson was one of the most popular preachers in London during the Puritan era. His writings are marked with clarity, raciness and spiritual richness. Nowhere is this seen so clearly as in his outstandingly helpful exposition of the Shorter Catechism drawn up by the Westminster Assembly. The three-volume edition (of which this is the third) makes an ideal guide to Christian doctrine and practice and also serves as a wonderful introduction to Puritan literature.

In The Lord’s Prayer Watson analyzes in detail the Preface to the prayer and the six petitions which it contains. His treatment of the words ‘thy kingdom come’ is exceptionally full, illuminating and stirring. Like all great books on prayer it provides practical help because it concentrates on biblical instruction.

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Jonah is not a book about a great fish! It is really a book about God, and how one man came, through painful experience, to discover the true character of the God whom he had already served in the earlier years of his life. He was to find the doctrine about God come alive in his experience. It is this combination of doctrine and experience that makes Jonah such a fascinating, instructive and practical book.

The teaching of Jonah searches our hearts and consciences in a special way because it is the story of a man who was on the run from God. It traces not only the path of his journey, but unravels the inner workings of his heart- his fears, motivations, and passing moods. Christians today still experience these ‘Jonah syndromes’.

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Reviews

• Review by Barry Vendy

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‘Kingdon combines the ability to understand the text of Scripture with the sensitive heart of a pastor well prepared to be our friend and guide in this area of spiritual experience’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

To know that God wisely governs all His creatures and all their actions is one thing, but to apply this truth in our own lives is quite a different matter, especially when our hopes are disappointed and providence seems to frown.

With great insight and pastoral wisdom, David Kingdon helps us to apply lessons from the life of Joseph to our own lives. He shows that God’s people are not lost in a meaningless maze, but are safe in the hands of a loving Father. However ‘mysterious’ His ways seem at present, He has purposed good for His people, and will ‘make it plain’ in His own time. Even when we feel most at a loss about God’s dealings with us, He is teaching us lessons which could be learned in no other way.

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Words from Romans chapter eight feature frequently in discussions of Christian’s favorite texts in the Bible. It contains some of the richest and most encouraging statements in the whole of the New Testament. yet it is not a string of isolated sentences, but a rich mosaic of grace, a tapestry of truth woven together into a magnificent unity. Beginning with the promise of ‘no condemnation’ it moves to a climax in its assurance that there will be ‘no separation’ for those who belong to Christ.

In No Condemnation, once a much-loved study but now long out of print, Octavius Winslow gives an exposition which puts on display the treasures of grace to be found in the letter which Martin Luther once called ‘the clearest Gospel of them all’.

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Eric Alexander’s great concern in this series of studies is that Christians should know how rich they are in their gracious God and Saviour, and in his perfect work of salvation. Each study brings out a fresh aspect of this theme, as we contemplate in turn the character of God, the salvation of God, and the church of God. In words which the author quotes from the works of the Puritan Stephen Charnock: ‘If rich men delight to sum up their vast revenues, to read over their rentals, to look upon their hoards, how much more should the people of God please themselves in seeing how rich they are in having an immensely full and all-sufficient God as their inheritance.’ These warm and pastorally-directed studies will provide satisfying food for the hearts and minds of Christian readers everywhere.

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Reviews

• Review by Alan Hill

The post Our Great God and Saviour appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.