Dr Paul Allen

A dear friend of mine who loves Christmas music had it playing in the background a few days ago while he was packing up his house for a move. Over the past few weeks, he’s been driving one hundred miles between his new job and his old one, finishing applications for his kids to enrol at a new school next month and searching for a new home while showing his current one. My friend has even taken two spills down the stairs while carrying boxes. This has been one of the most stressful seasons ever for him and his wife. As his stress levels climbed, the Christmas station began an old favourite—“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Normally, this song would bring cheer, but not this year. The pressures had overwhelmed any delight. Unable to take it, he rose from packing a box, descended the stairs, and shut down the song before it could pummel him with “happy. . . happiest season of all.” Sometimes Christmas is, and sometimes it isn’t, the happiest season of all. In my years of pastora...

  “And you are to give him the name JESUS; because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21, capitalization added). Thus the angel of the Lord informs Joseph about Jesus, His name and His mission. Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name “Joshua” meaning “Jehovah is salvation.” Jesus means “Savior,” aptly describing His work of saving men from their sins (Luke 19:10). The title Christ or Messiah means “anointed one.” It designates Jesus as the fulfilment of the Messianic hopes of the Jews in the Old Testament. The name Jesus Christ means that He is the Messiah who came to earth to save lost mankind. I. Jesus, the Son of God The logical question that follows is, Who is this Jesus, this Messiah? Many answers have been given. Some of the Jews thought Him to be Mary and Joseph’s son (Mark 6:3; Matt. 13:55). Others called Him a “deceiver” (Matt. 27:63). Still others thought Him to be a prophet (John 6:14). Some people today say that He is just a man except that He l...

Few people understand the extent of sin and the doctrine of total depravity. Paul summarizes our sinful condition by combining several Old Testament texts: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:10–18) This is what it looks like to be “dead” in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). All sin is rooted in failing to glorify God as “the true God and our God” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 47). It is bad to be sinners before a holy God, but it is even worse to be unaware of who we are and why we need Christ to save us. However, the Bible not only tea...

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” ( Jude 1:24-25 ) This beautiful benediction is quoted at the end of many worship times because it summarizes both the core promises and the foundational authority of “the only wise God our Saviour.” He is able! The precision of the Holy Spirit ’s inspired words is always perfect. The ability of the only wise God is not only omnipotent but omniscient as well. The Greek word dunamis signifies not only sufficient innate power to accomplish the task, but also the knowledge to perform the job correctly. The leper said, “ Lord , if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean” ( Matthew 8:2 ). He is able to “keep you from falling.” Again, the word choices are absolutely wonderful. God’s ability is used to provide a place of safe custody sufficient to stop any e...