All Articles For Key, Steven R

And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. II Peter 1:5-9 The gift that God has given us in...

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I...

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. James 4:13-15 As we begin this new year, the inspired James speaks to us. The Holy Spirit sees our need to hear...

Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near to the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. Psalm 107:17-22 God speaks to us in our...

“For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” Deuteronomy 11:10–12 2020! Time speeds...

One of the lesser known yet very important labors of the great Synod of Dordt was to adopt a Church Order to unite all the Dutch Reformed churches. This was done at one of the later sessions of the synod. It was not until the 137th sitting of the Synod, in ear­ly May 1619, that the Remonstrants were finally condemned as heretics and perturbateurs of the state and church. A list of preachers from the Remonstrant camp was drawn up, together with the Formula of Subscrip­tion to which every faithful officebearer would have to subscribe.1 On May 13, 1619, at...

*2018 Pre-synodical sermon, June 11, 2018 Nehemiah 2:1–8 One thing that stands out in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah is Nehemiah’s heartfelt love for God’s cause. Nehemiah received word of the great affliction and reproach suffered by those who had returned to the promised land, and his heart burned within him for grief. But Nehemiah also laid hold of the gospel promise. God had said that He would gather His people from wherever they had been cast and would bring them to the place where He had chosen to set His name. We understand, too, that the promised inheritance...

This is an abridged form of the pre-synodical sermon preached in Hull PRC, June 13, 2016.   “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”  Ephesians 5:32   As the delegates to Synod 2016 gather, we repre­sent Christ’s bride. Ephesians 5:32 reminds us that the most important relationship in life, the most blessed revelation of the covenant into which God has taken us, is found not in marriage, but in that which marriage is to reflect. It is that glorious relationship with Christ that is our only comfort in life and death. In the consciousness...

Previous article in this series: July 2015, p. 425. While the book burning of Acts 19:19 gives one example of how the gospel changed the perspective and worldview of the newly saved saints in Ephesus, there is a second example found in that same chapter. These examples show that the exclusive nature of Christianity can be observed in the lives of God’s people. It is observed especially in their rejection of the idolatry prevalent in their culture. Having seen that Ephesus was a known center for the worship of Diana, and that the worship of Diana had great economic as...

Previous article in this series: March 1, 2014, p. 249. We last saw that the Reformed worldview is one that has us living in willing subjection to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He who has purchased us with His precious blood also owns us body and soul. There is not an aspect of our lives that falls outside the scope of His Lordship. But it is His work of grace in our hearts that brings us into willing subjection to Him. The Lord of glory who owns us also lives in us! He rules over us—not by force, but by...