Truth Unchanging

Someday my wife and children will thank me for being so easy to shop for. While some people make the selection of presents very difficult, I make it very simple. The decision can be made with one word - BOOK.

Tamra gave me A Team of Rivals, a book about President Abraham Lincoln and his administrative genius. Katie presented me with a book about J. Gresham Machen, the fundamentalist theologian of the early part of the 20^th century. J. Dwight, announced, “now you don’t have any excuses,” as I opened a copy of a book on strategies for successful deer hunting. My favorite in-laws (I only have one set and they are my favorites!) opted for books by John MacArthur and D. James Kennedy. To top it all off, I took some of the cash gifts that people have given and bought a number of good books including 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever and Commentaries on Ephesians by Harold Hoehner and Peter O’Brien. (Lord willing, that’s where we are going to turn on Sunday Evenings after we complete our study of Hebrews).

I have not added up the total number of pages on my “to read” list but a safe guesstimate would be around 3,500. When I told one friend about the book gifts, he thought it was punishment - not presents.

Something that comes to mind when I wade through these great works is the fact that truth does not change. The Savior of whom J. Gresham wrote nearly 100 years ago is still the same. The message of the Book of Ephesians the Dr. Hoehner comments on is the same as it was when the ink flowed from the pen of the inspired Apostle Paul 1,945 years ago. The characteristics of the healthy church are the same in the post modern world of 2006 as they were when Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones wrote in 1950, as they were when Richard Baxter wrote in the 1600’s, as they were when Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus in the first century.

Indeed, our world is changing. Praise God the truth is unchanging. Let’s be Pastors, Deacons, Teachers, … who are committed to the uncompromising preaching, teaching, and practicing of the Scriptures - Because Truth Matters