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The orthodox, historical consensus of biblical interpretation.
Key question: “What is the most widely accepted and historically grounded understanding of this text?”
25,889 sermon illustrations through the Traditional lens
This ancient adversary possesses characteristics we must understand clearly.
All intelligent creatures act from some consideration—money, pleasure, regard for others—yet Christ calls us to a higher ordering of life itself.
The four Gospels contain only five formal discourses—at Nazareth, the Mount, Capernaum, the seashore, and Jerusalem—yet the remainder consists of dialogue and monologue.
Christ teaches that false messiahs will arise, claiming "Lo, here is Christ" or "There!" yet believers possess sufficient tests to unmask pretenders.
Speech may set forth: right views of God as revealed in Psalm 40:9 and John 17:25–26; right views of personal experience as in Psalm 66:16; right estimates of character, requiring great caution in testimonials; right statements concerning the value of...
Exell observed that sleep's dominion is absolute—even the mightiest minds cannot resist it.
For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done ...
The world's policy, like the world itself, fluctuates and deceives—uncertain in both objects and means, it knows nothing of the steadfastness that religious principle imparts to mind and conduct.
This is no arbitrary decree, but a solemn declaration to which all holy spirits give their willing assent—an ordinance whose justice even the excluded themselves shall admit.
If God be for us, who can be against us?
The upright man bequeaths his heirs three precious gifts: (1) His example—a living testimony that sons and daughters may trace throughout their own success.
The Jews employed the pipe (*aulos*) for both marriages and funerals—music for joy and mourning alike.
When Jesus enters the locked room where the disciples huddled 'for fear of the Jews,' He greets them: 'Peace be unto you!' This first peace addresses their terror—the dread that what they witnessed was mere phantom, a ghostly visitation.
Years before, Elijah had anointed him king over Syria—a word that had festered in his ambitious heart while the decrepit Ben-hadad still nominally held the throne.
He does not stand above his audience as one who possesses the message of salvation and dispenses it downward.
The work of Christ in us and for us does not exempt us from work.
The Greek word *skolops* suggests not a splinter but one of those hideous stakes used in ancient impalement—Paul describes himself as "quivering upon that tremendous torture." This is no minor inconvenience but a piercing affliction from God's own hand.
The historical fulfillment is breathtaking: for three days the Cross was the occasion of their panic and despair, the apparent ruin of all their hopes.
These heresy-hunters positioned themselves apart from the crowd at Peter's house, sitting near enough to observe yet far enough to signal their superiority over the provincial peasants.
Surrounded by giant empires wielding brute force—Pharaoh and his kind—David had learned through both experience and divine inspiration that true monarchy operates on different principles entirely.
Christ does not merely teach about divine love—He claims to *be* its Object and its Channel.
Throughout this epistle, Paul has wielded the rod of remonstrance, irony, and indignation.
Where other evangelists might spare us the indignity, John insists on recording Christ's thirst upon the Cross and His weariness at Jacob's well.
Many people attribute their deliverance to fortune or their own skill, yielding only scattered praise to God.