Look at the Book

Philippians 4:4–7, Part 3: How Is the Lord’s Coming ‘at Hand’?

25 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

“The Lord is at hand.” The apostle Paul wrote that more than 2,000 years ago, so why hasn’t Jesus come yet?

Philippians 4:4–7, Part 2: Gentleness Exposes Our Prayer Lives

22 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Let people hear your gentle responses. Let God hear your cries for help.

Philippians 4:4–7, Part 1: Can Anyone Really Rejoice ‘Always’?

18 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How could we possibly, in our world full of sin and death, “rejoice always”?

Matthew 11:25–30, Part 7: Is His Yoke Really Easy?

15 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Countless ways exist to ruin your eternity and go to hell. Only one Way leads to eternal life: Jesus Christ.

Matthew 11:25–30, Part 6: What Kind of Rest Does Jesus Give?

11 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sin’s burden breaks the soul’s back. Jesus’s burden strengthens the soul and leads to rest.

Matthew 11:25–30, Part 5: The Sweetest Invitation in the New Testament

08 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Christ invites you to lay down self-sufficiency and come find rest for your soul in him, a rest that can never be taken.

Matthew 11:25–30, Part 4: We Cannot See Jesus Without God

04 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Thousands saw Jesus, but did not see him. Millions read the Bible and do not worship Jesus. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Matthew 11:25–30, Part 3: Only God Can Reveal God

01 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The pride of man is eternally humbled by the simple fact that unless God reveals himself to us, we could never have repented or believed.

Matthew 11:25–30, Part 2: God Must Give Spiritual Sight

28 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If God does not reveal himself to us, even the wisest, the strongest, the richest will not find him.

Matthew 11:25–30, Part 1: God Hides Salvation from the Proud

25 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

God has hidden works from some that if performed would have caused them to repent. Why?

Matthew 11:20–24, Part 2: Will Hell Be Worse for Some?

21 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Some cities, Jesus says, are worse than Sodom. How they responded to him increased their judgment.

Matthew 11:20–24, Part 1: Miracles Are Meant to Drive Repentance

18 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Even healing can be dangerous, if we do not reckon with the purpose of our healing: repentance.

Philippians 4:2–3, Part 4: Why Does It Matter That Their Names Are in the Book of Life?

14 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The frustrations and grievances we carry against other Christians would feel different if we could see their names written in the book of life.

Philippians 4:2–3, Part 3: Eight Ways Paul Encourages Euodia and Syntyche to Come to One Mind

11 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Pastors are not called to create unity in the body of Christ. They are called to help their people maintain it.

Philippians 4:2–3, Part 2: The Bible and the Sermon Are Not Always Enough

07 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Reconciliation between believers in our churches will require more than the pastor’s preaching or our private Bible reading.

Philippians 4:2–3, Part 1: How Pervasive Is Paul’s Concern with Conflict in the Church?

04 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Christians share more than the same worldview. They share the same heart, the same mind, the same body, and the same Savior.

Micah 5:2, Part 4: How the Priests and Scribes Abused the Bible

31 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Some people who teach the Bible should not be teaching the Bible. Here is an example from the Bible.

Micah 5:2, Part 3: The Global Majesty of the God-Man

28 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jesus is not a small Savior for small sins against God. Jesus is the global Savior for a world full of children of wrath.

Micah 5:2, Part 2: The Lowly, Ancient Origins of the King

24 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From the small and lowly city of Bethlehem came the great ruler of the whole world.

Micah 5:2, Part 1: How Did Prophets See the Future?

21 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The prophecies of the Bible can be confusing. One way to help us interpret them is to understand how prophets saw the future.

Isaiah 9:1–7, Part 4: God’s Zeal to Enthrone His Son on Earth

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If men and women and children could see rightly, they would fall over themselves to enter the kingdom of a King like ours.

Isaiah 9:1–7, Part 3: What Kind of Government Will God Bring?

14 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Only he whose hands bear the scars of nails, hands strong enough to bear our wrath, can hold the scepter over the redeemed people of God.

Isaiah 9:1–7, Part 2: Yoke Broken, Joy Soaring, Enemies Serving

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When God came to conquer his enemies, he prevailed so thoroughly that they became useful for his purposes and our good.

Isaiah 9:1–7, Part 1: Gloom to Glory by a Great Light

07 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Bible is beautifully coherent. Join John Piper as he studies the great prophecy given of Jesus in Isaiah.

Four Obstacles in Bible Reading, Part 4: ‘My Emotional Response Is Weak’

03 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you read the Bible and don’t feel anything, cry out to God, “Satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love.”

Four Obstacles in Bible Reading, Part 3: ‘I Am Distracted and Divided’

30 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We are so prone to distraction. Has the prayer “Unite my heart to fear your name” ever been more relevant?

Four Obstacles in Bible Reading, Part 2: ‘I Don’t See Wonders’

26 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God must give us both eyes to see his glory in the word and hearts to love that glory.

Four Obstacles in Bible Reading, Part 1: ‘I Don’t Want to Read the Bible’

23 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What can I do when I don’t want to read my Bible?

2 Timothy 2:1–7, Part 4: Single-mindedness, Integrity, and Diligence Through Grace

19 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When Paul thought of Christian ministry, he thought of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. Do you?

2 Timothy 2:1–7, Part 3: Teaching the Bible Takes Supernatural Strength

16 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

You do not need new curriculum to disciple someone in the Bible; you need supernatural strength from God.

2 Timothy 2:1–7, Part 2: Grace Is Power, Not Just Pardon

12 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you think you have received grace but have no new power to seek God and kill sin, you may not have received God’s grace.

2 Timothy 2:1–7, Part 1: Is Spiritual Insight a Product of Thinking or Praying?

09 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Those who expect to have spiritual insight without thinking hard do not know how God gives understanding.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 11: God Glorified, Man Satisfied

05 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you desire God to get glory from your life, take your joy in him very seriously.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 10: Love for People as the Overflow of Joy

02 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Pursuing greater, deeper joy in God increases, not diminishes or hinders, our love for other people.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 9: Joy in Suffering Shows the Worth of God

29 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Suffering with joy in this world is one of the greatest advertisements for the reality of the next.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 7: The Severing of Boasting and Self-Pity

22 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Joy in Christ is not passive or timid. It severs, with holy aggression, all boasting and self-pity still within us.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 6: Is Joy Essential to Saving Faith?

19 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If our faith in Jesus does not involve an enjoying of Jesus, it is not saving faith.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 5: Conversion to Christ — and Joy

15 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The essence of genuine conversion to Christ is awakening to Christ as supremely valuable.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 4: What Is the Essence of Evil?

12 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We should pursue our fullest and most lasting satisfaction in God because to find that satisfaction anywhere else is the essence of evil.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 3: If You Refuse to Be Happy

08 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It is our duty, not just our opportunity, to pursue God. And he underlines this reality by threatening judgment if we will not seek happiness in him.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 2: God Demands Our Delight

05 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God cares more about your happiness than you do. He is so serious about your joy that he threatens hell if you refuse to find it in him.

Foundations of Christian Hedonism, Part 1: The Duty of Delight

01 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Christian Hedonism: A life devoted to pursuing the fullest and longest pleasure in God through Jesus Christ.

Philippians 4:1, Part 4: Stand Firm in the Strength of God

28 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God does not call us to stand firm in our own willpower, relying on our own strength. He calls us to stand firm in the Lord.

Philippians 4:1, Part 3: What Crown Will Christians Receive?

24 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Other Christians will stand as evidence on the last day that you truly loved the Lord Jesus during your lifetime.

Philippians 4:1, Part 2: Can We Love Christians Too Much?

21 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How can the apostle Paul call other believers “my joy” when he just said that he counts everything as loss compared to knowing Christ?

Philippians 4:1, Part 1: Love and Long for One Another

17 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The apostle Paul expressed a deep love and longing in his letters. How often do you express that kind of love to other Christians?

1 Corinthians 10:13, Part 2: What Is the Way of Escape in Temptation?

10 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How can God say he will provide us with an escape in our tests and trials while also saying he will help us endure them?

1 Corinthians 10:13, Part 1: Is Every Temptation a Test from God?

07 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Don’t limit the word “temptation” to something that lures us into sin. Anything that tries to pull us away from God is a temptation. Anything.

Philippians 3:18–21: Our Bodies Will Shine Like the Sun

03 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When this life comes to an end, when our frail bodies sputter for the last time, God will raise us from the dead and give us glorious bodies.

Philippians 3:18–21: What Will My New Body Be Like?

31 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Someday soon we get to exchange our crippled and lowly body for a glorious and heavenly one.

Philippians 3:18–21: Live Like You Belong in Heaven

27 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you are Christ’s, you don’t belong here. This is not your home. Your citizenship is in heaven.

Philippians 3:18–21: How to Be an Enemy of the Cross

24 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Even though Paul could outdo every Pharisee in law-keeping, he had no confidence in the law. But he had full confidence in the cross.

Philippians 3:18–21: Two Ways to Oppose God

20 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God’s enemies will face God’s eternal wrath. So who are these enemies of the cross, and how do I know I am not one of them?

Philippians 3:18–21: Two Ways to Nullify the Cross

17 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The cross was designed by God to humble us. It reminds us that we need Christ’s blood to rescue us, and his power to strengthen us.

Philippians 3:18–21: Are You Ruled by Your Desires?

13 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

To love the world and all its riches may scratch an itch for a moment, but it will cost you everything in the end.

Philippians 3:18–21: A Mini-Theology of Hell

10 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As hard as it may be, we must face the reality that hell exists and is promised to all of God’s enemies.

Philippians 3:18–21: Do You Weep Over the Perishing?

06 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God does not call us to learn just from Paul’s teaching but also from his emotions. Do you weep over the lost like the apostle Paul?

Philippians 3:17: The Kind of Person You Should Imitate

03 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The question is not if you are imitating, but who. We either imitate those who walk toward heaven or those who walk toward hell.

Philippians 3:17: Should Someone Imitate Your Life?

30 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God has given you life to honor him, display him, and summon others to follow him.

Job 19:11–42:12: The Lord Gives and Takes Away

27 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Though God may take away, he has made a promise — and sealed it with his Son’s blood — that he will give back more.

Job 2:4–10: How a Fool Responds to Suffering

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We have a refuge in times of trouble, safety amid life’s storms. Only a fool curses the shelter and runs into the eye of the storm.

Job 1:20–2:8: If God Afflicts You, Will You Curse Him?

20 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

No suffering takes God by surprise. He alone is the perfect help in our pain. Should all around our soul give way, he then is all our hope and stay.

Job 1:6–22: How to Respond to Tragedy

16 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We cannot respond however we want when we suffer. Though we can grieve and mourn, if we never get to worship, we’ve stopped short.

Job 1:1–2:3: Who Caused Job’s Suffering?

13 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If God stripped away our gifts — our income, our family, even our own health — would we curse him or bless his name?

Job 1:1–12: Can You Trust God in Your Pain?

09 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Job remained steadfast in his suffering and has left us with a model for how to trust God with our pain.

Philippians 3:15–16: Stages of the Christian Life

06 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

No one starts as a mature Christian. Keep seeking God. Keep laboring to grow. And keep trusting that God will bring about our maturity.

Philippians 3:15–16: How God Changes Our Minds

02 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God changes minds through ordinary means: Our gaze fixed upon his word, our knees bowed in prayer, and our time spent with our eternal family.

Philippians 3:15–16: How to Disagree with a Christian

29 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We cannot disagree with Christians in any way we want. God has given us boundaries and ways forward.

Philippians 3:15–16: What the Mature Think About

25 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A heavenly mindset will not be lofty and self-righteous, but humble and God-dependent.

Philippians 3:15–16: What Does It Mean to Be Mature?

22 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God wants us to grow up and leave behind childish ways. And he has done everything necessary to ensure it can happen.

Luke 6:20–26: Human Praise Is a Cheap Reward

18 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Those who live for riches and the praise of man today will have hunger, mourning, and weeping tomorrow.

Luke 6:20–26: Should I Look For a Reward from God?

15 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Do we err when we love others for the reward God offers us? No. Only those who labor for what God promises are rich enough to love others selflessly.

Luke 6:20–26: How Christians Laugh

11 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Those who follow Christ can weep now, can be poor and temporarily hated now, and yet remain wildly blessed because theirs is the coming kingdom.

Luke 6:20–26: The Kind of People God Blesses

08 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If we are Christ’s disciples — whether poor, hungry, weeping, or persecuted — we are blessed.

Evidence of the New Birth: Living Out Identity in Christ

04 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

All of the New Testament commandments are a call to become in experience what we are in Christ. And what we are in Christ is a new creation.

The Effort Needed to Fight Sin: Living Out Identity in Christ

01 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Christian’s life on earth will always be walking along the narrow path. Living for sin is easy. Following Christ requires carrying a cross daily...

Be Who You Are: Living Out Identity in Christ

28 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When we read commands and obligations, we are being summoned to become in experience what we are in Christ.

Philippians 3:11–14: Run Hard for Your Reward

25 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We are going to win this race. We are going to get the crown. Not because we are great runners, but because Christ has made us his own.

Philippians 3:11–14: When Should I Forget My Past?

21 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Pursue, strain forward, press on. God wants us to put all energy into making it to the end, not revisiting the life we had before we started the race.

Philippians 3:11–14: The One Reason to Live

18 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Devote your whole life to this one pursuit: attaining the fullest possible experience of Christ imaginable.

Philippians 3:11–14: Can I Really Have Assurance?

14 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God wants to give his children the assurance that they will be saved. But not the kind of assurance that ignores the warnings along the way.

Philippians 3:11–14: Does Paul Think He Could Miss the Resurrection?

11 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The crown of life belongs to those who seek holiness, who hold fast to Christ, who finish the race. The crown of life belongs to Christians.

James 4:13–16: Is God Sovereign over Evil?

07 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We do God no favors by excusing him from being sovereign over evil. But we can steal confidence from his children that nothing happens to them without...

Your Life Is a Mist: James 4:13–16

04 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Planning becomes sinful when we presume whatever we schedule will come to pass. Preface all of life with “If the Lord wills.”

James 1:12–15: Does God Ever Tempt Me to Sin?

30 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God’s sovereignty means he reigns over every trial. And his love means that he intends them all for our good and his glory.

James 1:12–15: Is God Testing Me?

27 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Don’t get discouraged if the fight against sin seems endless. The fight is necessary, the fight is winnable, and the fight will end.

Philippians 3:7–10: Suffering Can Be an Answer to Prayer

23 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Christian, God is working in your suffering. He is working Christlikeness, working trust, working to draw you closer to himself.

Philippians 3:7–10: Where to Turn When Suffering Comes

20 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

God gives us power — not to escape or avoid suffering — but to endure suffering while looking to Christ.

Philippians 3:7–10: The Mark of a True Christian

16 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In this life, we will suffer. And through that suffering, we will know Christ in a way nothing else can provide.

Luke 5:1–11: How a Prosperity Preacher Abuses a Verse

02 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Prosperity preachers not only twist and mangle the Bible’s message. They twist and mangle their hearers.

Philippians 3:8–9: One Way to Know You’re in Christ

19 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Faith is the experience of Christ as our surpassing worth and all else as rubbish by comparison.

Philippians 3:8–9: The Garbage We Bring to God

16 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When we gain Christ, we get a right standing before God that depends upon Christ and not ourselves.

What Christ Might Cost You: Philippians 3:7–8

12 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A Christianity that never inconveniences us, never discomforts us, never costs anything, is not Christianity.

Philippians 3:2–7: Morality Minus Jesus Damns Us

09 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We can feel safe before a holy God and boast of a sure eternity. But we cannot do that by looking to ourselves.

Philippians 3:2–7: Seven Deadly Confidences

05 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The right parents, religious fervor, even good deeds will not save. We could have thousands of confidences, but all will fail unless it is Christ.

Philippians 3:2–7: How to Live in the Flesh

02 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We act out miracles when we do ordinary tasks — attending a work meeting, eating dinner with our family, talking to a neighbor — relying on Christ...

Philippians 3:2–7: Put No Confidence in the Flesh

26 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Paul had an impressive résumé and a lifetime’s worth of accolades — but none of them could save him, and none of them could compete with gaining...

Titus 2:11–14: The Christian Life Is Waiting

23 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A longing for heaven can’t help but eclipse longings for worldly pursuits because a longing for future glory produces in us a pursuit of glory today...

Titus 2:11–14: The Best (and Hardest) Life

19 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Our hope does not rest on ourselves, our neighbors, our politicians, or our kings, but on the one and only true and coming King.

Titus 2:11–14: Cheap Grace Is No Grace

16 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Those who say they know grace while refusing to pursue holiness do not know God’s grace as taught by Paul.