- All
- Articles
- Events
- Ligonier Resources
- Reformation Trust
- Tabletalk Magazine
- Ministry News
- R.C. Sproul
- Ligonier Academy
- Book Reviews
Latest from Derek Thomas
-
Your God Is Too Small
from Derek Thomas Apr 11, 2018 Category: Articles
Your God Is Too Small is the title of the book written by J.B. Phillips, and in some ways, the expression reflects the problems that lay behind the plaintive cry of abandonment felt by Judah’s exiles during the sixth century BC.
Keep Reading
-
God’s Sovereignty and Our Responsibility
from Derek Thomas Apr 04, 2018 Category: Articles
God is sovereign in creation, providence, redemption, and judgment. That is a central assertion of Christian belief and especially in Reformed theology. God is King and Lord of all. To put this another way: nothing happens without God’s willing it to happen, willing it to happen before it happens, and willing it to happen in the way that it happens. Put this way, it seems to say something that is expressly Reformed in doctrine. But at its heart, it is saying nothing different from the assertion of the Nicene Creed: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty.” To say that God is sovereign is to express His almightiness in every area.
Keep Reading
-
The Significance of Genesis 3:15
from Derek Thomas Feb 23, 2018 Category: Articles
With the possible exception of John 3:16, no verse in the Bible is more crucial and definitive than Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heal."
Keep Reading
-
The Importance of What We Do in Secret
from Derek Thomas Jan 10, 2018 Category: Articles
According to Jesus, it is what we do in secret that matters most. Jesus is not suggesting that the outward is unimportant—far from it.
Keep Reading
-
The Breath of God
from Derek Thomas Sep 30, 2017 Category: Articles
Expository preaching is a necessary corollary of the doctrine of the God-breathed nature of Scripture. The idea is not so much that God breathed into the Scriptures, but that the Scriptures are the product of His breathing out. Independent of what we may feel about the Bible as we read it, Scripture maintains a "breath of God" quality. Thus, the preacher is to make God's Word known and make it understandable. He is to limit himself to it without adding or subtracting. Keep Reading -
The Need for Perfect Obedience
from Derek Thomas Sep 09, 2017 Category: Articles
There are only two ways of salvation: by the law or by grace. If salvation is to happen by the law, perfect obedience is necessary. There can be no blemishes or shortcomings, for the law will never show mercy. It knows nothing of grace or forgiveness. Keep Reading -
The Cure for a Lack of Fruit in Our Christian Lives
from Derek Thomas Feb 24, 2017 Category: Articles
The Westminster Confession of Faith insists that Christians may be “certainly assured that they are in the state of grace” (18:1) and goes on to assert that this “infallible assurance of faith” is “founded upon” three considerations:
Keep Reading
-
Simple and Straightforward: Martin Luther on Preaching
from Derek Thomas Nov 02, 2016 Category: Articles
According to Fred Meuser, Martin Luther was well liked as a preacher. He "spoke slowly but with great vigor and often had a moving effect upon the hearers." Given what we know about his convictions, it would be hard to imagine that Luther's preaching was dull and devoid of rhetorical passion.
Keep Reading
-
One of the Greatest Questions We Can Ever Ask
from Derek Thomas Jun 25, 2016 Category: Articles
Given the universal, pervasive sinfulness of human beings, how can anyone ever be in a right relationship with God? More particularly, how can a human being ever be in a right relationship with a holy God? More particularly still, how is it possible for a just God to justify a sinner? That is one of the greatest questions we can ever ask. Keep Reading -
The Christian and Joy
from Derek Thomas Apr 29, 2016 Category: Articles
"The Holy Spirit has exhorted the faithful to continue clapping their hands for joy until the advent of the promised Redeemer," wrote John Calvin in a comment on Psalm 47:12. Paul would heartily concur! Writing from a prison cell from which he had no certain knowledge of escaping other than to his execution, joy is what came to mind. Joy is what the epistle to the Philippians is all about. So much is Philippians about joy that George B. Duncan once referred to it as "the life of continual rejoicing." The opposite of joy is misery, and miserable is something we are not meant to be. The Reformers caught the centrality of joy in the affections of Christians when they insisted that our chief goal in life is to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (WSC, Q. 1).
Keep Reading
