Sermons – Covenant Grace Baptist Church: Recent Episodes
Covenant Grace Baptist Church
Covenant Grace Baptist Church is a Reformed Baptist church located in the town of Timaru, New Zealand.
This evening we are talking about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And to start off I want you to think about this question: What would it take to convince you to follow and obey God? I am talking about conviction such that you would be willing to give up your life for him. What would it take? Maybe a voice from heaven? You think to yourself: “If only God spoke to me, I would be convinced…” Maybe an answered prayer? That might do it. Maybe if you saw a miracle with your own eyes. And so what if God talked to you. And what if, in order to talk to you, He chose to become a human. And what if God, in human form, told you he would show you a miracle in order to convince you. But not a small miracle like healing pain in the toe or curing a supposed back pain. What if he told you he would die and then three days later he would come back to life?Source
The doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints is a misunderstood doctrine, but is central to the book of Hebrews. When many hear that Reformed folk believe that a true believer cannot lose his salvation but will persevere to the end, they miss what is being emphasized. Many wrongly conclude that we are promoting a ‘once saved always saved’ notion. That you pray the sinners prayer, get your ticket to heaven, now no matter how you live, even if you backslide and live in sin until you die, you will still go to heaven. No, that is not what we believe, the bible clearly promises judgement and death for those who sow to the flesh. No the perseverance of the saints has an important emphasis found in that word perseverance. We do believe that God saves you when He justifies you; your judgement day verdict is brought forward, there is no more judgement day wrath to be dealt out to your sins, past, present or future because Jesus has paid it all. Many wrongly conclude from this that this gives us a license to sin, and that holiness does not matter. Wrong.Source
Have you ever been terrified while you help your mum weed her garden? There is the garden bed it is full of plants. You know most of the plants are weeds and must be pulled out. But some of them are your mum’s precious flowers. And those must not be pulled out. You uproot them at your peril. To your untrained eye, the weeds and the flowers look the same, and so weeding becomes a terrifying job… But once you know what must be killed and what must be kept, you can work without fear and you become productive, and weeding becomes a joy. Sometimes you can have that same terror as you look at your life as a Christian. You know there are many weeds, many sins, in your life that must be killed, but you also have a sense there are good plants that must be nurtured and kept.Source
Last week we examined the carrot, Why should you hold fast to Christ? Well, based on the amazing results of His sacrifice and priesthood we should draw near in faith because of the access He has made; hold fast to the hope which is guaranteed; and stir one another up in love by meeting together. Today we examine the stick, What will happen to those who forsake Christ, rejecting the gospel for something else? The answer is judgement! Our verses are the 4th of five warning passages in Hebrews, 2:1-4; 3:7-14; 6:4-8; 10:26-31, and 12:25-29. If Hebrews 6 are the most worrying because they talk about not being renewed to repentance, apostasy being a sin that some wont come back from; then these in 10:26-31 are the most terrifying for their clear promises that God will judge those who despise the gospel of His Son. This is a message that every Christian must take to heart. God has given His best in His Son, and to pour scorn on His best guarantees final judgement. There are many positive incentives in the Christian life. There is more grace and beauty in God to satisfy our sinful heart and even our glorified hearts for all eternity. But at times we don’t guard our hearts; we don’t turn them to the ravishing glories and beauties of the gospel. So, if the sweet honey of the goodness of God in the gospel does not catch your attention God in His kindness has firmer methods to bring you to your senses. Sometimes the Lord disciplines us. Or as here in these warning passages we hear the Lord’s parental warnings underscored with the power of His promises. We have three points as we look into these warnings of judgement for those who despise the gospel by...
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There is a story of a man who had an only son, he loved his son dearly, but his son was in very poor health. The father was a rich man and had a faithful butler look after his son. The father was also a collector of rare and expensive works of art. His son died and not to long after he died too. And he wrote in his will that all the family should get together and hear the reading of the will and to see who will get the rare and expensive works of art he had collected. But he had written in his will that before any of the major art works were sold, there was a sketch of his son, on a piece of paper that was to be the first item to given away was a picture of his beloved son. So the lawyer asked if anyone would like to have this rough sketch of the son. There was no one in the family that was interested in that little sketch except one man, the faithful butler who had tended to the son as if he were his own. The family despised and rejected that little sketch but to him it was precious, and he asked for it. It was then that the proceedings was brought to an end to the surprise of all the family, and the lawyer revealed that it was written in the will that whoever took the little rejected picture of the son, who was so loved by the father, that that person would get everything.Source
There are two types of motivation in the Christian life, the carrot and the stick. Today as we enter the section of Hebrews that has done with doctrine and moves to doing; moves from creed to conduct, we come first to the carrot in v19-25; and the stick in 10:26-31. Before the author launches into the warnings about what a dangerous thing it is to abandon the truth after having come to know it—the stick. He first quickly summarizes the work of Christ for us, and encourages us to three important activities. The portion before us is very important because after several chapters of doctrinal explanation in the face of terrible persecutions, and you finally come to the point of telling people how to live in light of these truths, what do we need to do in light of such profound truth? What would you say? Each of the three things stated here have already been stated, but here we have a concentrated action plan for what to do when we face life and death issues like this church. As you look down you will see that the author uses the words ‘let us’ three times; v22,23,24. These alert us to the important actions we must be taking during difficult times. We should draw near to God; hold fast to our confession; and stir one another up. You will notice that the triumvirate of faith, hope and love are present, we are to draw near in faith; hold fast in faith; and stir up in love.Source
If you could bottle the secret to growing love you’d be a millionaire, given the endless shelf of books promising to revive love between husband and wife. Consider Peter’s actual prescription: a love purified by obedience to the truth and nourished by the pure milk of the word.Source
This reaches the end of the doctrinal section of Hebrews, the long argument for Jesus as a greater high priest offering a greater sacrifice under a greater covenant. Consider the crescendo of that argument before the book turns to its final section of exhortation.Source
Consider Peter’s call to conduct ourselves with reverent fear during our time as exiles here, grounded not in terror but in the reality of what it cost to ransom us.Source
What do we actually need that Christ’s sacrifice provides? Picking up Hebrews’ long list of benefits flowing from a better covenant and better promises, consider what a once-for-all sacrifice secures that the old repeated sacrifices never could.Source
Working out the right reasons for obeying God takes real thought, since motives matter as much as actions. Consider Peter’s call to holiness, grounded not in fear or duty but in the grace we’ve already received.Source
Imagine being told you’re in for a huge inheritance, lawyers specializing in unclaimed estates tracking you down, with over a billion pounds sitting unclaimed in Britain. Consider Hebrews’ teaching on the blood that actually secures our inheritance, sealed by a death that makes the will valid.Source
Have you ever played the game where you consider which time in history you would most like to live in? I know a few people who would live back in the Victorian era just for the fashion style. For others it would be the Middle Ages with knights, castles and Princesses to rescue. I mean I know some people who do full on enactments, with chainmail, medieval weapons and medieval attire. For others, they would go all the way back to the early Greeks and the age of the ancient philosophers. But maybe when you play this game, you throw a curveball and say you would want to live in the future. In the age of flying cars. Or in the age of space habitation, or whatever else you can imagine. In this passage, we learn that the prophets of the Old Testament played this game in a way, and they longed for the future. They knew God was undertaking a work of salvation. They were writing about it, and other prophets had written about it too, but this work salvation was not clear and they longed for that clarity. If you asked them which time in history they would want to live, they would have said: When this salvation is made clear. They knew God would save, and they even hoped in that salvation, but salvation was not clear. Today we are in the future they hoped to see. We are in an incredibly privileged position. A position of clearly knowing Salvation God orchestrated.Source
Do you think Christians are strange? Plenty about the faith looks absurd if Jesus didn’t actually rise from the dead. Consider James 4 as part of a short apologetics series, showing how suffering has a way of revealing what someone actually believes.Source
One of the greatest arguments for Christianity is the Bible itself, as Immanuel Kant, no friend to Christianity, once called the Bible’s existence among ordinary people the greatest benefit the world has ever known. Consider why the Bible’s own authority still stands regardless of who’s citing it.Source
Picking up right where last time left off, this continues in 1 Timothy, working through Paul’s warning about Hymenaeus and Alexander, who made shipwreck of their own faith.Source
In the late 1700s, as the British empire pushed further into new territory, one image became a picture of Christian ministry: some are called to go down into the pit, into danger and sacrifice, while others hold the rope through prayer and support. Consider Philippians 2 and Paul’s own partnership with Timothy and Epaphroditus as a model of both callings.Source
Consider the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw studying the stars as an act of worship: the heavens sing His praises. That’s the spirit of Psalm 148, which calls all of creation, from the highest heavens to the smallest creatures, to join in delighted praise of its Maker.Source
Rejoice always might be one of the hardest commands in the Bible, even though it should be one of the easiest. Consider Peter’s picture of joy that coexists with real grief, grounded in a salvation nothing can take away.Source
The blood of Christ runs through so many of our favourite hymns, even though it’s a doctrine many today find revolting rather than precious. Consider Hebrews’ teaching on why Christ’s blood actually cleanses the conscience in a way animal sacrifices never could.Source
John Denley was stopped and searched on his way to visit friends, and the authorities found his written confession of faith, the story of a Marian-era martyr. Consider Peter’s own praise for a salvation kept safe in heaven, worth that kind of cost.Source
It’s easy for us on this side of the cross to underestimate the Old Covenant, since we’ve already tasted the far greater goodness of Christ. Consider Hebrews’ description of the tabernacle to see just how limited, and how carefully designed, that old fellowship with God really was.Source
We live in the age of identity politics, with competing definitions offered by the woke left and its critics on the right. Consider Peter’s opening address to scattered, persecuted believers, and the identity that actually holds regardless of politics.Source
The main difference between the old covenant and the new comes down to this: God does not divorce his people under the new covenant. Consider Hebrews’ quotation of Jeremiah’s new covenant promise, contrasted with the old covenant Israel broke.Source
A truth lands differently depending on who says it: a wealthy man telling you to trust God for your needs carries little weight, but someone who has actually suffered saying the same thing carries far more. This opens 1 Peter, a letter written by a man who knew real suffering, to a scattered, suffering church.Source
Closing out the DISTINCT Family Conference, we learn how to lead our children through a screen-shaped world.Source
From the DISTINCT Family Conference: Parenting little hearts using Biblical means. Considering Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”, showing that Christian parenting is meant to be shaped by gospel promises, not bare rules.Source
From the DISTINCT Family Conference: Preparing our children for adulthood while preparing our hearts for the change.Source
Continuing the DISTINCT Family Conference, this session examines how we can reclaim the centrality of the local church in raising our children, and takes questions from parents and opens up discussion on the practical challenges raised by the weekend’s teaching on parenting.Source
Opening the DISTINCT Family Conference, this introduces the weekend’s theme of parenting, setting the stage for the sessions to follow.Source
This opens Ephesians 3, Paul’s own prayer for the church at Ephesus, that they would be strengthened with power through the Spirit and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.Source
Imagine a first-century conversation with a concerned Jewish relative trying to talk you into abandoning Christ and returning to Judaism, especially around the time of year when Jewish men would travel to Jerusalem for the feasts. Consider Hebrews’ case for why Christ’s heavenly priesthood makes that return unthinkable.Source
Do you actually know peace, real peace in your soul, the kind that lets you sleep without worry and wake up excited rather than dreading the day? Consider why the gospel, not techniques or self-help, is the only real solution to anxiety.Source
This reaches the climax of the argument that Jesus is the superior high priest, after a whole chapter rallying evidence from every possible angle. Consider Hebrews’ final proof: an oath-sworn, permanent priesthood that never needs replacing.Source
The Christian’s great question isn’t whether God can save, it’s am I actually saved. Consider the confession’s teaching on the assurance of grace, God’s own provision for that anxious, recurring question.Source
One striking verse in Acts is 6:7, a great many priests became obedient to the faith, a single line hinting at untold stories behind it. Consider Hebrews’ argument for why the old Levitical priesthood had to give way to a new and better one.Source
Blood libel is a term now associated with anti-Semitism, and Easter itself was historically a season when persecution of Jews would spike. Consider Peter’s own answer in Acts 2 to who is actually responsible for the death of Christ.Source
No event in history rivals the resurrection’s significance, two thousand years of societies and nations shaped by it. Consider Luke’s account of the empty tomb on this Easter Sunday, and why the first witnesses’ own dismissal of it as an idle tale makes the record more credible, not less.Source
Coming to the foot of the cross is one of the most precious places a believer can stand: the place of rescue, where the unworthy are ransomed, healed, and adopted. Consider all seven of Christ’s last words from the cross.Source
Long-distance runners live by a mindset: if you’re not running, you’re walking, if you’re not walking, you’re crawling, but you get to the finish line no matter what. Consider the confession’s doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, the promise that genuine faith finishes the race.Source
The author of Hebrews already told us back in chapter 6 what the easy and the deep truths of the faith are. Consider the mysterious figure of Melchizedek, priest and king, as one of those deeper truths pointing straight to Christ.Source
Good works may be one of the most controversial subjects in all of Christianity, going back to Jesus’s own rebukes of Israel’s man-made, selective obedience. Consider the confession’s careful balance: works that can never save us, yet are still the necessary fruit of real faith.Source
We’re wired to be creatures of hope, as Proverbs 13:12 puts it, hope deferred makes the heart sick, and the sobering scale of suicide worldwide proves what happens when hope runs out. Consider Hebrews’ anchor of hope, God’s own unbreakable promise and oath.Source
Say you’re sorry, parents tell their kids, and we all remember mumbling the words without meaning a bit of it. Consider the confession’s chapter on repentance, and what it looks like when sorrow for sin is actually genuine.Source
God wants every believer to know they’re truly his child, not left wondering whether they’re loved or provided for, any more than a good father would leave his own children in doubt. Consider Hebrews’ call to the full assurance of hope, and the diligence that keeps that assurance alive.Source
No one comes to the Father except through me, Jesus says in John 14:6, a claim the world finds increasingly offensive, as a Phil Donahue Show clip once illustrated. Consider the exclusivity of Christ as the way, addressing pluralism and secularism head on.Source
I think I’ve committed the unforgivable sin, is a fear more than one young Christian has voiced, and a fear plenty of believers have wrestled with themselves. Consider Hebrews’ hard warning about apostasy, and why genuine, persistent faith is proof you haven’t committed it.Source
Faith gets associated with irrationality, a leap off a ledge despite what sound reason tells you. Consider the confession’s teaching on saving faith as something profoundly reasonable, grounded in real evidence rather than blind hope.Source
Have you heard of the anonymous Christian? The idea traces back to Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner and into modern Catholic teaching, that someone can be saved without ever consciously believing in Christ. Consider Hebrews’ call to move on from elementary teaching to maturity, without ever leaving those basics behind.Source
Last week’s lesson gave a great explanation of the confession’s positive view of holiness; this follows up with the errors most of us have probably run into. Consider Keswick holiness and other flawed views of sanctification the confession rules out.Source
Think of how strange it is to give your all to something while knowing the actual results don’t come from your effort, like gardening. Consider Philippians 2 and the confession’s positive account of sanctification, working out what God is already working in.Source
There’s a TV show about a grown man who spends hours each day dressed as a baby, sleeping in an adult-sized crib, a jarring picture of arrested development. Consider Hebrews’ rebuke of believers who should be teaching others by now but still need to be fed spiritual milk.Source
Paul writes to a church under real pressure, in a city devoted to the emperor cult and to the worship of Diana. He opens with a sweeping vision of salvation: planned by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and secured by the Spirit. Trace that Trinitarian shape of our eternal salvation against the Ephesian scene it was written into.Source
The history of Israel’s high priests is as mixed as the history of her kings, Aaron himself building the golden calf. Consider Hebrews’ argument for why Christ’s priesthood succeeds exactly where Aaron’s line, however faithful in flashes, ultimately failed.Source
How do you begin a five-day hike? The old proverb says a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and continues the same way. Consider the confession’s teaching on perseverance, that the faith and repentance which begin the Christian life have to continue it too.Source
Today is a baptismal service, and the joy of hearing God’s grace at work in these believers’ lives as they’re added to the visible church. Consider Paul’s call in Ephesians 4 to walk worthy of that calling by pursuing unity in the local church.Source
Luther was terrified of the judgment of God, and the more he studied the Psalms and Romans under his mentor’s orders to find peace, the worse his terror got. This continues the confession’s treatment of justification, working through the very texts that finally broke Luther’s terror into gospel joy.Source
If you had to pick one character trait to excel in this year in order to please God, what would it be? This new year opens with that question, working through 2 Corinthians 5 and the contrast between pride and humility as the trait worth pursuing.Source
Say the word Christmas and most of us think of Santa, stockings, reindeer, and a large family dinner. Consider the actual, humble circumstances of Christ’s birth in Luke 2, and how little it resembled anything we’d call festive.Source
Christmas is an occasion of great joy, and this carol service opens straight from the angel’s announcement in Luke 2. Consider why the birth of the Saviour is genuinely good news of great joy for all people.Source
We have no idea how unworthy we actually are to stand in the presence of a holy God, and yet we often act as though God should be grateful we believe in him at all. Consider Hebrews’ invitation to draw near boldly anyway, because of our great high priest.Source
The church stands or falls with this doctrine, Martin Luther said, and Calvin called it the hinge on which all religion turns. This opens the confession’s treatment of justification, the article of faith the Reformation was fought over.Source
God’s word is like a Swiss army knife, a tool fit for every purpose, breathed out by God and profitable for every situation life throws at us. Consider Hebrews’ picture of that word as living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword.Source
Have you ever wondered about all the other religions in the world, and whether the good they do counts for something? Consider the confession’s hard teaching on the exclusivity of the gospel, and why sincerity in a false religion still isn’t enough.Source
We talk a lot about justifying faith, receiving Christ’s righteousness as a free gift, but not nearly as much about persevering faith, the faith that keeps enduring. Consider Hebrews’ warning not to fall short of God’s promised rest through unbelief.Source
This is a personal question for many: do babies who die go to heaven? Consider what the confession, and Scripture, actually say about infant salvation.Source
At the heart of what sin actually is, is lawlessness, refusing our creatureliness and God’s right to rule. Consider Hebrews’ warning against an evil, unbelieving heart that hardens itself against God through sin’s deceitfulness.Source
Imagine twin siblings, raised in the same Christian home, same parents, same church every Sunday. Why does one believe and the other doesn’t? Consider the confession’s doctrine of effectual calling to answer it.Source
The cure for apostasy is considering Jesus, which means the cause of apostasy is the opposite: taking our eyes off him and putting them somewhere else. Consider Hebrews’ call to fix our attention back on Christ.Source
This returns to the 1689 at chapter 9, a chapter that sits at a critical hinge point as the confession turns to the doctrine of salvation. Consider the confession’s careful account of free will, what it means and what it doesn’t.Source
Some truths are inconvenient but absolutely necessary to our salvation, believed not because we’re gullible but because Scripture reveals them clearly. Consider Hebrews’ insistence that Christ had to become fully human to save fully human sinners.Source
If you learned you’d be burned at the stake tomorrow, what would your first response be? Dread, fear, sorrow, anger at the injustice? Consider James’s closing call to prayer as the church’s actual response to suffering and sin.Source
This opens a short series tackling the hard questions unbelievers raise, turning to Jeremiah’s prophecy of judgment and exile. Where is God in suffering? And why is the God who judges nations still the God worth trusting through it?Source
What is patience? Start with the dictionary definition: bearing provocation and misfortune without complaint. Consider James’s call to wait patiently for the Lord’s coming, like a farmer waiting on the rain.Source
Why do people today find it impossible to believe in Jesus? Common stumbling blocks range from a literal Adam and Eve to Jesus’s own teaching on hell. Consider Hebrews’ unflinching claim that God himself willed the Son’s suffering to bring many sons to glory.Source
How much thought have you actually put into how you use your money? It’s an awkward subject precisely because it’s a window into the heart. Consider James’s condemnation of wealth hoarded and gained through injustice.Source
Suffering, with all its raw nerve endings, is one of the most common things that causes believers to doubt, partly because pain demands all our attention. Consider Hebrews’ call to see Jesus, crowned with glory through his own suffering, as the answer to that doubt.Source
Living like God isn’t real is the default setting of every sinful heart, what could be called practical atheism: serving our own will and calling our own thoughts truth even while claiming to believe in God. Consider James’s warning against planning our futures as though God doesn’t factor in.Source
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, as the hymn Come Thou Fount puts it. Consider Hebrews’ first warning against drifting away from what we’ve heard, addressed to a fickle, wandering human heart.Source
If you found out you had a life-threatening disease, what would you be willing to pay, or walk, or sacrifice to get better? Consider James’s call to humble ourselves before God, the only cure for a soul-threatening disease far worse than any physical one.Source
Last Monday was Michaelmas on the Catholic calendar, the feast of St. Michael and all angels. Consider Hebrews’ argument for why the Son, not any angel, is the one worthy of our worship.Source
Are you governed by the spirit of the world or the Spirit of God? Consider James’s blunt binary choices, wise or foolish, righteous or unrighteous, and his warning against friendship with the world as enmity with God.Source
Who is Jesus? Competing answers abound: a prophet to Islam, the archangel Michael to Jehovah’s Witnesses, an enlightened teacher to the New Age movement. Consider Hebrews’ own answer, the exact imprint of God’s nature, sustaining the universe by his word.Source
How do you act when you’re positive you’re right, whether about parenting, finances, or politics? Consider James’s contrast between wisdom from above and the earthly, selfish wisdom that just wants to win the argument.Source
Every book of the Bible is a joy to preach, but some are especially daunting and rewarding at once, and Hebrews is one of them. This opens a new series in Hebrews by tracing how God has spoken finally and fully through his Son.Source
Think of all the good the tongue can do: worship God, speak truth, share the gospel, encourage the young. Consider James’s warning that the same tongue capable of all that good can also set a whole life on fire.Source
A good sermon’s conclusion draws everything together into short, memorable statements, and Paul’s own parting words to the Corinthians work the same way. This closes out 1 Corinthians by walking through Paul’s final exhortations and farewells.Source
How do you know if someone’s claim is actually true? Picture a wannabe cook boasting about a dish he’s never actually made. Consider James’s teaching that faith without works is exactly that kind of empty boast.Source
We call someone driven and focused a man on a mission, and Paul is the quintessential example, except his mission is God’s. Consider Paul’s travel plans as he closes 1 Corinthians, a small window into what single-minded gospel ministry actually looks like.Source
There are two kinds of religion: one that saves and one that doesn’t, one with all the right external markers and one marked by a real inward work of grace. Consider James’s warning against a faith that talks mercy but practices partiality.Source
Early Christianity changed the world partly through its generosity to the poor, the Jerusalem church selling possessions so no one went without after Pentecost. Consider Paul’s instructions for the Corinthians’ own collection for the saints.Source
Your actions betray you: what we do reveals what we actually believe far more than what we say. Consider James’s rebuke of a church showing favoritism to the rich while dishonoring the poor.Source
The best news the world ever had came from a graveyard, as someone once said, meaning the resurrection. Consider Paul’s triumphant conclusion to his resurrection chapter, the last trumpet and death swallowed up in victory.Source
James addresses the sins of religious people, a different target than Corinth’s idolatry and immorality but no less dangerous. Consider James’s test for true religion: a bridled tongue, care for orphans and widows, and a life unstained by the world.Source
Have you ever felt your sins are so bad God couldn’t possibly save you, or swung the other way and assumed grace means your sin doesn’t really matter? Consider Paul’s own testimony as the foremost of sinners to show how grace marks the difference between both errors.Source
When the going gets tough, the tough get going, though we’re always quicker to think of ourselves as the tough ones. Consider James’s warning against being a hearer only, someone who looks in the mirror of God’s word and walks away unchanged.Source
The damage of using God’s word wrongly is devastating: it destroys families, destroys churches, and keeps people on the road to hell, even though that same word is good and life-giving when used rightly. This opens 1 Timothy 1 with Paul’s warning against false teachers, and what actually produces real love instead.Source
How should we respond to trials? With cool heads and open hearts to God’s word, which is exactly the opposite of our instincts under pressure. Consider James’s call to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.Source
The Hebrew mind was already prepared for bodily resurrection, pointing back to Enoch, who walked with God and simply was not, because God took him. Consider Paul’s teaching on what kind of body we’ll actually have in the resurrection.Source
Have you ever felt hurt and confused when friends seemed to be excluding you, keeping secrets, making plans without you? Consider James’s reminder that every good gift comes from a Father who does not change, especially when our trials tempt us to doubt that.Source
How would you live today if you actually believed everything the Bible says is true? Consider Paul’s argument that the resurrection isn’t just a doctrine to affirm, it’s meant to change how the Corinthians live right now.Source
Clear thinking is one of the first things to go when we’re being tested, especially under grief, loss, or hardship. Consider James’s careful distinction between trials God sends and temptations that come from our own desire.Source
A sermon usually asks how a truth applies to the believer’s life, but this one works differently, tracing the cosmic sweep of Christ’s resurrection before it ever gets to application. Consider Paul’s vision of the end, when Christ hands the kingdom to the Father and God is all in all.Source
Why is money so hard to talk about? James says it’s because money is a window into the heart: it shows what we really trust and treasure. Consider James’s warning that riches fade like a flower in the field, and how God means to use money as a tool of sanctifying grace rather than a source of anxiety.Source
Ligonier’s state of theology survey turns up shocking answers from self-identified evangelicals. Consider Paul’s own argument for why, if the resurrection isn’t true, our faith and our preaching are worthless.Source
But I don’t know how, is the obvious objection to James’s opening call to count trials as joy. Consider James’s answer: ask God for wisdom, and ask in faith without wavering.Source
There but for the grace of God go I, the English martyr John Bradford reportedly said watching criminals marched off to execution. Consider Paul’s own testimony as the least of the apostles, saved entirely by grace.Source
Whenever pain becomes an excuse to sin, the whole point of this life gets forgotten. Consider James’s teaching on trials, and why testing is meant to produce steadfastness rather than an excuse to indulge ourselves.Source
How can we actually know Jesus rose from the dead? Consider the strongest kind of evidence the ancient world could offer: multiple eyewitness reports. Paul’s list of resurrection appearances stands as historical evidence, not just theological claim.Source
James was known to his friends simply as the Just, murdered for loving and upholding God’s law. This introduces the letter of James by way of the man’s own reputation for taking God’s word seriously.Source
He is risen, he is risen indeed, was how the early church greeted each other. Consider 1 Corinthians 15 and Paul’s reminder to a church that believed in Christ’s resurrection but had started doubting their own.Source
What is Pentecost actually about? It’s often hijacked as a prooftext for a required second baptism in the Spirit, or ripped out of its redemptive-historical context altogether. Consider Acts 2 to recover what Pentecost actually accomplished.Source
Even in marriage, selfishness creeps in, and asking forgiveness only makes the relationship stronger. Consider Romans 6 and what it means that someone united to Christ by baptism simply cannot go on living in sin.Source
How many of us love the satisfaction of finishing a project we started? Consider John 10 and the confession’s teaching on particular atonement, Christ finishing exactly what he set out to do for exactly the people he died for.Source
Spirituality outside the church has become self-help ideology dressed up in New Age language. Consider Paul’s instructions for orderly worship in 1 Corinthians 14 to recover what worshipping in spirit and truth actually looks like.Source
Two questions remain before we leave this chapter on Christ the Mediator: not just what Christ did, but who he did it for. Consider the confession’s teaching on definite atonement and how Old Testament believers were saved by a Christ not yet come.Source
Forty years ago Neil Postman warned that television was turning our brains to mush, training us to prefer entertainment over substance. That same caution applies to the Corinthians’ obsession with tongues, a gift Paul insists has to serve the church’s understanding, not just its excitement.Source
Think of the comfort of knowing a friend is praying for you, really taking the time to understand what you’re facing. Consider the confession’s teaching on Christ’s ongoing intercession for his people, a far greater comfort than any human friend’s prayers.Source
This is an exciting season for the church, growing not just spiritually but in number, to the point of needing more chairs and more communion cups. This inauguration of new deacons works through what the office is actually for.Source
Every week at the Lord’s Supper we look back to the cross, but the confession pushes us to also look at what the ascended Christ is doing right now. Consider the ongoing, present ministry of Christ from heaven.Source
Common sense says choose the reliable car with a full service record over the flashy one with 300,000 kilometres on the clock. That same common sense applies to Paul’s argument for why love outlasts even the most impressive spiritual gifts.Source
We all hope to achieve something great in life, something that outlasts us. Consider 1 Corinthians 15 and the confession’s teaching on Christ’s resurrection as the Mediator, the achievement that actually secures everything for his people.Source
Omnia vincit amor, love conquers all, a phrase traced back to Virgil in 37 BC and forward through centuries of songs, tattoos, and paintings. Consider Paul’s claim that real love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things, a love far sturdier than the sentimental version the world has borrowed the phrase for.Source
There’s so much we could say about our Savior, but none of it means anything if we don’t speak about his cross, the central thing Jesus came to do. Consider all seven of Christ’s sayings from the cross as a window into the heart of the atonement.Source
The word love has become nearly meaningless in our post-Christian age, stripped of any objective standard to define it. Continue through 1 Corinthians 13 to recover what love actually means when it’s anchored in truth rather than sentiment.Source
How big a deal is obeying God: just beneficial, or a matter of life and death, heaven and hell? Consider the confession’s distinction between Christ’s active obedience, keeping the law for us, and his passive obedience, bearing its penalty for us.Source
One of love’s greatest enemies is anger, and our world runs on it, road rage and online tribalism everyday examples. Consider Paul’s claim that love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing but in the truth.Source
Peter has gone back to fishing, and caught nothing all night, when a familiar figure calls out from the shore on this Easter Sunday. Consider John 21’s account of a failed fisherman restored, and what Jesus’s threefold question to Peter actually accomplishes.Source
Jesus appeared to people at least eleven separate times during the forty days between his resurrection and ascension, from Mary Magdalene onward. Consider the doubting apostle Thomas, and what it took to move him from skepticism to worship.Source
Imagine what a condemned man faces the night before his execution, alone in his cell, waiting for the sun to rise on his last day. Consider Jesus’s own agony in Gethsemane on this Good Friday service, facing a death infinitely worse than any human execution.Source
The SAS are renowned not just for skill but because they’re fully furnished for their task through gruelling training. Consider the confession’s teaching on how the Spirit equipped Christ himself for his office as mediator.Source
Cure selfishness and you have replanted the Garden of Eden, as one commentator put it. Continue through 1 Corinthians 13 to Paul’s claim that love isn’t self-seeking, tracing how the fall contracted hearts that were once generous into hearts that grasp.Source
Strange things get said, and even believed, about Jesus over the years, the natural result of the human mind trying to explain a mystery as deep as the incarnation. Consider the Council of Chalcedon’s careful definition of how Christ’s two natures relate in one person.Source
Pride is a wrecking ball, and Proverbs 16:18 proves it again and again: pride goes before destruction. Continue through 1 Corinthians 13’s definition of love, now landing on its refusal to boast or be arrogant.Source
We’ve all faced a moment at work where our decisions get questioned and criticized by someone with authority over us. This opens 1 Timothy by introducing Paul’s own authority as an apostle, writing to steady a young pastor facing exactly that kind of pressure.Source
2025 is a special year for the whole church universal, marking exactly seventeen hundred years since Nicaea in the year 325. Consider why that council’s creed still matters for how we confess who Christ is today.Source
It’s easy to find envy creeping in when you study it closely, as the Roman poet Ovid once described it, creeping on the ground like a serpent. Consider 1 Corinthians 13’s claim that love doesn’t envy, and what it actually looks like to delight in someone else’s good instead.Source
The Marian dogmas usually mean four specific Catholic teachings: Mary as Mother of God, her immaculate conception, her perpetual virginity, and her bodily assumption. Consider each claim against what Scripture actually says about Mary.Source
Caesar Augustus used myths of miraculous birth to legitimize his own rule, part of how he built the Pax Romana. Contrast that manufactured myth with the confession’s teaching on Christ’s actual, historical virgin birth.Source
What is love? Picking up 1 Corinthians 13 after establishing love’s supremacy last week, this begins working through Paul’s specific definition, verse by verse, starting with patience and kindness.Source
There was a day when kings led their armies into battle themselves, their whole credibility resting on it. Consider Hebrews 2 and the confession’s teaching on Christ’s full humanity, the King who didn’t just command the battle but entered it himself.Source
And the greatest of these is love, as 1 Corinthians 13’s famous conclusion puts it. Even the Beatles agreed love is all you need, but what actually is it? Paul’s great chapter on love shows why nothing else, not even the most spectacular gifts, matters without it.Source
God becoming man: it’s possible to say those words so often that we stop being amazed by them. Consider the confession’s careful statement of the incarnation, a truth we sing about far more easily than we understand.Source
Plenty of people say they follow and love Jesus, but which Jesus do they actually mean? Consider the confession’s affirmation of Christ’s full deity, the non-negotiable foundation for any Jesus worth following.Source
Three voices shape how we see ourselves: what we say about ourselves, what others say about us, and what God says about us. Consider Paul’s picture of the body of Christ to see why every member matters, whichever voice we’re tempted to listen to most.Source
What’s humanity’s biggest problem? Run through the usual suspects, hunger, war, inequality, corruption, before naming the real one underneath them all: sin. This opens the confession’s teaching on Christ’s threefold office as prophet, priest, and king as God’s answer to that deeper problem.Source
Sinful humanity’s default is to divide, from nations down to families, left versus right, one faction against another. Consider Paul’s teaching on baptism in the Spirit as the one thing that actually unites believers across every other divide.Source
This comes to one of the greatest chapters in the whole confession: Christ the Mediator. Consider the covenant of redemption, the eternal agreement within the Godhead to save a people through the Son.Source
This comes to the first of Paul’s lists of spiritual gifts, diving into the specifics of gifts the Corinthians were apparently already familiar with. Consider the variety Paul names, and what unites such a strange range of gifts.Source
We’re all in love with love: it’s no accident the Bible opens with a wedding and closes with one too. Consider Psalm 45’s royal wedding song as a picture of Christ and his bride, the church.Source
Say the words spiritual gifts and people think of very different things, from the charismatic movement to the New Apostolic Reformation. This lays out the basics of what Paul actually means before the specifics come later in the chapter.Source
Theodicy comes from two Greek words meaning to justify God, and today’s question is whether God can be justified in a doctrine as hard as hell. Consider why a good and loving God can still righteously judge.Source
Spiritual gifts, like most of God’s good gifts, get dogged by problems in the Corinthian church, problems that look a lot like our own: excess, self-promotion, division, a taste for the spectacular. This opens Paul’s teaching on the gifts by addressing those distortions head on.Source
Who doesn’t love a good riddle, or a detective story where the clues slowly add up to a solution? Consider Psalm 110’s mysterious portrait of a king who is also a priest, a riddle that only gets solved in Christ.Source
If someone told you they loved their spouse but never spoke to or listened to them, would you believe it? Consider Peter’s call to add to our faith, and why growth in Christ is the evidence that our profession is real.Source
We all know the stereotype of the rebellious teenager, finally old enough to make their own choices and fed up with the rules. Consider Psalm 2’s picture of the nations raging against God’s anointed King, and why that rebellion is ultimately futile.Source
The Bible pictures our relationship with God many ways, sheep and shepherd among them. Consider 2 Corinthians 5 and Paul’s picture of Christians as ambassadors carrying the King’s own message of reconciliation.Source
The Christmas story can be viewed through two lenses: first the sheer physical hardship of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, then the far greater humiliation behind it, God the Son descending to take on flesh.Source
Unto you is born this day a Savior, opening straight from the angel’s announcement in Luke 2. Consider what it means that Jesus is specifically named Saviour at his birth, not just a teacher or example.Source
The Lord’s Supper is central to the Christian faith, one of only two ordinances Christ gave his church, alongside baptism. Consider Paul’s correction of the Corinthians’ disorderly, self-centered practice of the Table.Source
It’s amazing what someone will do with the right motivation. Consider 2 Corinthians 5’s question of what actually motivates the Christian life and ministry.Source
This may be one of the most offensive, and most needed, passages in 1 Corinthians for the 21st century, in an age where gender itself is treated as a social construct. Consider Paul’s teaching on male headship and head coverings.Source
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It’s the cry Jesus himself took up on the cross. Consider the story of a Korean pastor’s family, buried alive by their communist captors rather than deny Christ, and a hard question: does suffering ever really mean God has forsaken us?Source
We tend to think we know what Jesus came to do, but the answer shapes everything about how the church is meant to live. Consider Luke’s account of Jesus reading from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue, the moment Christ himself defines his own mission.Source
Jesus appeared to his disciples over 40 days after the resurrection, but Matthew’s gospel chooses to record just one of those encounters: the Great Commission. Consider Christ’s final instructions to baptize and make disciples as the church prepares to baptize more of its own.Source
In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in their own eyes, the verse that sums up the whole book of Judges as it reaches its final chapter. Judges stands as a picture of life without King Jesus, and what religion looks like when it’s severed from him.Source
How do you actually make a good decision? This closes out Paul’s three-chapter section on food offered to idols. Consider the Corinthians’ latest poor choice, made on the back of just enough knowledge to be dangerous.Source
The first sin after the fall led straight to the first murder, brother against brother, and James 4 tells us our own wars and fights come from the same source. Consider the horrifying civil war that closes out the book of Judges.Source
What does the Lord’s Supper actually mean to you? Consider the contrast between the Catholic view of the mass as a repeated sacrifice and what Paul actually teaches, and Paul’s warning against idol feasts as inseparable from a right understanding of the Table.Source
How bad can human beings get without God? Judges 19 answers in full, horrifying detail. Consider one of the darkest chapters in the Bible as a picture of what happens when everyone, including God’s own people, does what’s right in their own eyes.Source
There are two opposite wrong postures toward sin: overconfidence that breeds callousness, or despair that gives up the fight entirely. Consider Paul’s warnings from Israel’s wilderness failures as a corrective aimed at both.Source
How does a whole group of God’s people slide into apostasy? This chapter is deliberately placed out of chronological order to make its point land harder. Consider the tribe of Dan’s slow drift into idolatry.Source
What would you be willing to do to save someone else’s soul? Consider Paul’s own radical flexibility, becoming all things to all people, so that some might be saved.Source
Some of us love danger, the thrill of climbing, guns, mountain biking, while others just endure necessary risks like driving or crossing the road. Consider Jesus’s closing parable of the Sermon on the Mount, the wise and foolish builders facing a storm neither of them can avoid.Source
Ever known someone who went hypothermic? The body starts shutting down, stops feeling the cold, and just wants to sleep. That picture of numbed need opens Jesus’s teaching on praying for daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance.Source
Pulling weeds for hours in a childhood vegetable garden, especially the notorious dock weed that always seemed to come back, is a fitting picture for Jesus’s command not to be anxious, and how worry keeps growing back if we don’t deal with its root.Source
Imagine you’re captaining a boat with your child aboard when a storm hits and another vessel signals distress. That impossible choice frames what it means to pray first for God’s name, kingdom, and will rather than our own agenda.Source
What would you be willing to do for a million dollars? Consider how much we’re prepared to sacrifice, time, relationships, integrity, for something we treasure. Then turn to Jesus’s teaching on storing up treasure in heaven instead of on earth.Source
How do you approach someone with real authority over you, someone with the right to take everything you own, even your life? That question opens the Lord’s Prayer, setting up just how remarkable it is that we’re invited to call this God Father.Source
Will-worship is an old Puritan term for worship aimed at God but shaped by human will rather than his own instructions, and the Reformation was fought largely over exactly this question. Consider Judges 17 as an early Israelite case study in worship gone wrong.Source
We’re fascinated by motivated people, the single-minded focus of an Olympic athlete the kind of drive we all admire. Consider what actually motivated Paul to preach the gospel free of charge.Source
Pride comes before a fall, and God gives grace to the humble, both truths borne out in Samson’s final chapter. Consider Samson as a picture of Israel itself, a people set apart for God yet unfaithful.Source
This may be one of the most challenging chapters in the New Testament for anyone tempted to think they’re doing fine spiritually. Consider Paul’s willingness to give up his own rights as an apostle for the sake of the gospel.Source
God draws straight lines with crooked sticks, and last week’s chapter proved it: God’s purposes weren’t frustrated by Samson’s sin, they were accomplished through it. Consider another chapter of Samson using his gifts for all the wrong reasons, with God still somehow at work.Source
Part of parenting is training children to make wise decisions, weighing not just what’s technically permissible but what’s actually wise. That same logic applies to Paul’s teaching on becoming a stumbling block to a weaker brother’s conscience.Source
The last chapter ended on real promise, with the Spirit beginning to stir Samson toward his calling. Consider the disappointing reality of who Samson actually turns out to be, a man of great gifts and poor character.Source
Why can’t a Christian drink, vape, get a tattoo? Fill in the blank with whatever debated practice comes to mind. Consider Paul’s teaching on food offered to idols as a case study in how knowledge and love have to work together.Source
Of all the judges, Samson stands out most clearly as God’s own appointment, marked from birth by a miraculous announcement and evident gifts to deliver Israel. This opens the account of a judge whose story will prove as tragic as it is remarkable.Source
Attitudes toward singleness today swing between apathy, applause, and outright antagonism, in a generation marrying later than any before it. Consider Paul’s counterintuitive counsel that singleness, far from being a lesser calling, can be a real gift.Source
Gifts and graces are two very different things: gifts are unconditional, given at birth, while graces have to be nurtured and grown by depending on God. Consider Jephthah’s leadership to see which one actually marked his life.Source
For many of us, getting saved was the single most revolutionary moment of our lives: a change from death to life, from self-rule to being ruled by God. Consider Paul’s counsel to stay put in the situation you were called in, rather than assuming conversion requires upending your whole life.Source
Judges tells the story of a nation sinking ever deeper into sin, using each new generation of rulers to show what life without God actually looks like. Meet Jephthah, the outcast who becomes Israel’s unlikely last resort.Source
Last week ruled out what’s sometimes called the Catholic view of divorce, no remarriage under any circumstance. This continues through Paul’s answers to the Corinthians, now addressing marriages between believers and unbelievers.Source
Where is God when things go badly wrong? Judges 9 is the perfect chapter to wrestle with that question. Consider the dark, self-serving reign of Abimelech, a stain even within a book already full of moral decline.Source
The hardest topic in pastoral theology often isn’t election or the lapsarian debates, it’s marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Consider Paul’s own pastoral answers to the Corinthians on divorce.Source
One of the most dangerous temptations we face is success itself: once people start approving of us, we start believing our own opinions matter more than they do. Consider Gideon’s fall from humble deliverer to something far less admirable.Source
Error tends to fall into one of two ditches: legalism or license, asceticism or antinomianism, and Corinth had both at once. This begins answering the Corinthians’ own questions about singleness, marriage, and sex within it.Source
Paul’s thorn in the flesh, the weakness God refused to remove so his power could be seen instead, frames Gideon’s own army: whittled down from thousands to three hundred so the victory could only be credited to God.Source
Nancy Pearcey argues in Love Thy Body that it’s actually secular ethics, not Christianity, that ends up anti-body. Paul’s theology of the body in 1 Corinthians 6 shows why what we do with our bodies matters eternally.Source
The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson’s poem about a sinner running from God only to be persistently run down by him, frames Gideon’s own reluctant, roundabout conversion.Source
Is the world actually a dark place? The facade of goodness falls away quickly under scrutiny. Consider John’s picture of a light entering a world that would rather stay in the dark.Source
How does a nation respond when it’s called to war? The range of modern reactions since Vietnam, from protest to willing service, frames Deborah and Barak’s very different response when God calls Israel to fight.Source
Christians are saved from the power of sin, not just its guilt. Consider Paul’s list of besetting sins in Corinth, pressing home the disconnect between claiming Christ and refusing to actually turn from sin.Source
The whole storyline of the Bible turns on one idea: man is a lost sinner in need of rescue, and God graciously provides a man to fight and save him. Consider the first of Israel’s judges as an early, flawed picture of that promised deliverer.Source
By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another, Jesus said. Paul’s rebuke of Corinthians taking each other to secular courts exposes a failure of that very love meant to mark them out.Source
Nothing is more frightening than thinking you’re saved when you’re not, believing you’re destined for heaven while actually on the road to hell. Consider Paul’s warning in Colossians 1 about the necessity of continuing in the faith.Source
Romans 6 paints a stark picture of two masters and one slave: one cruel and deceptive, working his slaves to nothing with empty promises. Consider Paul’s call to serve the true Master instead, the one who actually keeps his promises.Source
Judges 1 left us scratching our heads, with an underwhelming conquest that seems to put God’s own faithfulness in question. Trace how Israel’s half-hearted obedience leads directly to being handed over to their enemies.Source
Don’t judge is the golden rule of our relativist age, where objective truth has given way to competing personal truths. Consider Paul’s teaching on judgment within the church, and why refusing to judge at all isn’t actually loving.Source
We tend to read Judges as a book of heroes. Its real purpose is almost the opposite: an apologetic for the kingship of David, showing again and again what happens when everyone does what is right in their own eyes. This opens the book with Israel’s incomplete conquest of Canaan and God’s own verdict on it.Source
In the world but not of it is a good summary of Paul’s point as he wraps up his teaching on church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5. Consider the difference between how the church should relate to sin inside its walls versus outside them.Source
Continuing the preview of the Impact conference material, this picks up the same-sex desire question from where part one left off, working further into what evangelicals actually disagree about and why it matters.Source
The church has to be welcoming to sinners without being welcoming to sin: gentle with people, hard on sin itself. Consider Paul’s image of a little leaven working through the whole lump, and what that means for tolerating sin within the church.Source
This is a message previewed to the home congregation ahead of the Impact conference: is same-sex desire itself sinful, not just acting on it? Three views currently compete for that answer inside evangelicalism, and the differences matter more than many realize.Source
The Reformers argued fiercely over what actually makes a local church a true church: is it a pope, seven sacraments, apostolic succession? Consider Paul’s own answer in 1 Corinthians 5, where church discipline turns out to be one of the marks of a real church.Source
This is the final installment in the confession’s overview of the covenants, tracing the promise of salvation from its first announcement to Adam through to its full revelation in the gospel.Source
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of single-parent homes in the developed world, second only to Lithuania. Against that fatherlessness crisis, Paul’s own spiritual fatherhood toward the Corinthians stands as a model worth recovering.Source
Genesis 3:15 is the backbone of the Bible, and every other covenant is a rib added onto it. Consider God’s covenant with David, and how a king’s failed dynasty points forward to the true King who wouldn’t fail.Source
Paul has just spent three chapters defending his apostolic ministry against the Corinthians’ criticism. Now he turns the tables: their real problem is pride, traced back to its roots as, in Augustine’s words, the mother of all sin. The apostles modelled the opposite instead, a humility forged through suffering, hunger and public contempt.Source
This is the covenant most people get wrong, with real consequences when they do. Trace the Mosaic covenant’s place within the larger covenant of grace, and why it was never meant to stand alone as a way of earning favor with God.Source
Fallen humanity tends toward one of two sicknesses: pride on one side, insecurity on the other, both trying to heal themselves through boasting. Consider how right thinking about ourselves and our leaders is what actually stops church divisions before they start.Source
Genesis 3:15 is the promise of salvation that begins the covenant of grace, and the rest of the Bible simply shows how that single promise gets fulfilled. God’s covenant with Abraham is the next major installment in that unfolding story.Source
We will all give an account to God for what we’ve done, as 2 Corinthians 5:10 puts it. Paul warns the Corinthians about building the church on the right foundation, and what happens when the materials we build with won’t survive the fire.Source
Is it sinful for Christians to live in the city, or to do business with unbelievers? The confession’s teaching on common grace, God’s kindness extended even to those who reject him, shapes how Christians engage a fallen world.Source
In Reformed circles we talk about remembering your baptism: when you doubt, when you’re tempted, even on your deathbed. Romans 6 shows baptism as a visible sermon, a sign of what God has actually done for us.Source
Ask the average Christian for a quick summary of the gospel, and the cross gets a mention nine times out of ten, the empty tomb almost never does. Paul’s tight argument connects Christ’s resurrection directly to our own justification.Source
He is risen, he is risen indeed. But what actually makes the resurrection different from any other significant date on the calendar, like ANZAC Day or the moon landing? Paul’s answer comes in Colossians 2.Source
The last 24 hours led to Jesus standing condemned and beaten before Pilate, before the brutal, unjust scene of the crucifixion itself on this Good Friday service.Source
How can people in the Old Testament be saved if Jesus only died in the New? A sweeping new section of the confession on covenant theology opens by listing the hard questions it has to answer, from infant baptism to the nature of Adam’s headship.Source
The personality cult is a familiar modern instinct, the same propaganda that built savior-figures around tyrants like Hitler. Paul’s corrective addresses a Corinthian congregation building cults around Paul and Apollos instead of God.Source
Am I a sinner because I sin, or do I sin because I am a sinner? The confession’s account of original corruption presses into just how deep sin actually runs in us, whether any part of us is left untouched.Source
Are you actually spiritually mature, or do you just think you are? The Corinthians assumed they’d arrived, thanks to their impressive knowledge and spiritual gifts, while Paul’s letter shows just how far from mature they really were.Source
The doctrine of imputation was central to the Protestant Reformation, a pillar Luther championed to explain how we’re justified by faith alone, through the imputation of a righteousness that isn’t our own.Source
Ever come away from an argument with someone smarter than you feeling humbled and bamboozled? Paul’s claim is that the gospel operates on an entirely different kind of wisdom than the world’s cleverness.Source
Why do we die, why do we sin, why do we suffer? These are the questions forced out of every human heart by grief, cruelty, and loss. The confession traces how sin’s effects and guilt are transmitted from Adam to the whole human race.Source
Every generation feels pressure to reshape the gospel and its methods to suit the times, and Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson’s Hollywood-era showmanship is a cautionary example. Paul refused to preach with anything but the plain word of the cross.Source
Continuing the same lesson from last week, turn to its second half: the church’s historic, and contested, distinction between mortal and venial sin, and what it means for how seriously we take our own sin.Source
The gospel is like a Swiss army knife, useful for whatever situation you’re in. Struggling to believe God loves you in your suffering? Go back to the gospel. Paul’s reminder of what God’s calling looked like for the Corinthians still means the same for us.Source
Before continuing through the confession’s account of the fall, dig into the essence of sin itself: the different ways theologians have tried to define it, the Bible’s own vocabulary for sin, and the historic, and contested, distinction between mortal and venial sin.Source
Christianity isn’t symbolized by a manger, an empty tomb, or a basin of water. It’s the cross, with all its terrible connotations, that sums up the heart of God’s saving act. Paul’s account of the cross is both foolishness and the very power of God.Source
Last week covered the covenant of works and mankind’s original integrity to keep it. Now turn to the historical roots of sin itself, in the very first temptation, tracing how the doctrine of original sin flows from that moment.Source
Calling adults childish usually means sulking, pettiness, jealousy, and dividing into rival gangs behind competing leaders. That’s exactly the picture Paul confronts in a Corinthian church splitting into factions around different preachers.Source
The confession’s treatment of hamartiology, the doctrine of sin, works through the basic questions everyone eventually asks: what is sin, where did it come from, why do we die, and how is a sinful nature passed from one generation to the next.Source
Have you ever had to scramble to find something nice to say about someone? Despite all of Corinth’s dysfunction, Paul still finds real grounds for gratitude in what grace has done in them.Source
Bringing God’s word to a culture that doesn’t want to hear it is never easy, but God prepares his servants for exactly that task. Isaiah’s famous throne-room vision is the prophet’s own call to ministry.Source
Every church has its problems. We’re not in the new creation yet, so every church is still under construction, with all the universal weaknesses that come with that. Consider how Paul addresses a famously troubled church as 1 Corinthians opens.Source
This whole series in Esther began as a study of the providence of God, and now, at the story’s climax, we see how thoroughly God has brought his purposes to pass, through miracles, through ordinary means, even through the sins of both believers and unbelievers.Source
How do you live as the church in a pagan, pluralistic culture? A new series in 1 Corinthians opens by first turning to Acts 18, where Paul actually plants the church in a city not unlike our own.Source
Every December brings the same question everyone asks around Christmas: what do you want, what do you need? John 3:16 turns that ordinary question toward the far greater gift God gave because of what we actually need.Source
If Christmas came down to one word, it would be Immanuel, God with us. Isaiah’s prophecy shows how Christ reveals God to us, becomes our substitute, and saves us, all in his incarnation.Source
Haman is defeated, but the work of saving God’s people isn’t over yet, rather like the long ending of The Lord of the Rings that always seems to drag on. Esther and Mordecai still have to secure an irrevocable decree to save their people.Source
A message for the new year, and one worth needing as much as anyone: growing in the fear of the Lord in an age that’s already full of fear and anxiety about everything except God. Psalm 130 paints a picture of a healthy, saving fear.Source
An unlikely comparison: the providence of Esther and the rules Chuck Jones set himself for drawing Wile E. Coyote cartoons, where the villain is always undone by his own devices. Haman’s plot finally catches up with him at the queen’s banquet.Source
This is a missions Sunday, introducing a partnership with Christian Compassion Ministries as the answer to a long-prayed-for opportunity. The appeal is grounded in James’s own definition of pure religion: caring for orphans and widows in their distress.Source
Christians are often guilty of a headline mentality about providence: judging whether God’s plan is on track by how the news looks that week. This almost comic chapter, where a sleepless king’s insomnia becomes the hinge of Israel’s deliverance, says otherwise.Source
Every branch of the church practices communion, but few agree on what it actually means. Consider a biblical theology of the Lord’s Supper, addressing the different views Christians bring to the table from their own backgrounds.Source
Pride goes before destruction, but humility comes before honor, as Proverbs 16 puts it, opening Esther 5. After the tense exchange between Esther and Mordecai in chapter 4, this chapter plays out exactly what that proverb warns and promises.Source
This is a sermon preached as much to the preacher’s own heart as anyone else’s: we lose sensitivity to sin over time and become hardened to it. Consider Jeremiah’s call to break up the fallow ground of a heart grown hard.Source
Why do we so often need hard times before we get serious with God? C.S. Lewis’s image of pain as God’s megaphone to a deaf world sets up the decision Esther now faces: whether to risk her life for her people.Source
Every culture has its own way of saying goodbye, and the New Testament takes those ordinary customs of greeting and farewell and fills them with gospel meaning. This closes out Philippians with Paul’s final farewell to the church.Source
Mordecai does the right thing, uncovering a plot to assassinate the king, and gets nothing for it. Haman’s malice is promoted instead, an uncomfortable parallel with the apostle Paul’s own thankless labours, before showing where God’s providence was quietly at work all along.Source
Real conversion always produces fruit: the gospel reprograms our priorities and frees us to give and serve in ways we never would have before. Paul himself, and the Philippians’ own generosity toward him, are living proof.Source
God’s ways are not our ways, as Isaiah 55:8 puts it. Esther’s rise to become queen is every girl’s storybook dream, but her own version of it is anything but a fairy tale.Source
We already know how Esther’s story ends, which is exactly what makes rereading it so rewarding: apparently random events turn out to be essential parts of God’s unfolding plot. This opens the account of Esther’s unlikely rise toward the palace.Source
Even in first-world comfort we swing between anxiety and discontentment. Paul’s hard-won secret of contentment was learned not from comfort but from having known both plenty and need.Source
The book of Esther is ultimately about how God preserved the bloodline of the Messiah by stopping a genocide against his people. Consider the almost comic account that follows: a king who cannot control his own wife or his own kingdom.Source
How do we stand firm in a world set against us? Paul’s closing exhortations in Philippians 4, on unity, joy, gentleness, prayer, and gratitude, draw together into a single practical picture of what standing firm looks like.Source
Why preach through Esther? Because it’s God’s Word, but also because the book is a masterclass in providence, showing how God brings his good purposes to pass even when his people are downtrodden and evil seems to be winning.Source
Anxiety rose sharply during the first year of Covid, and it remains one of the most common mental health struggles we face. Paul’s command not to be anxious about anything is a genuinely pastoral, not merely academic, answer.Source
Divine providence isn’t just a private comfort. It’s a necessary truth that flows both from logic and from how Scripture itself speaks about God’s ongoing rule. This extends the doctrine of providence over sin into its implications for the church and the wider world.Source
What does the world actually think of Christians, and what should it think? Recent bad press, like the storming of Capitol Hill by self-described Christian nationalists, sharpens Paul’s call for a gentleness the watching world can see.Source
Continuing from last week, press further into how God upholds and governs even sinful acts without being their author. This second half of the lesson works through the harder edges of the doctrine.Source
Our strength is directly tied to our joy, as Nehemiah 8:10 puts it. Consider Paul’s command to the Philippians to rejoice even while facing real hardship, and what that kind of joy actually looks like.Source
God is in control of everything, not just nature but sin itself, without being its author. Picking up where last week’s lesson on providence over creation left off, this works through how the confession holds these two truths together.Source
A united church is a resilient church, and unity is the weapon Christians need most when facing persecution and temptation. Paul’s appeal to two women in conflict at Philippi is a case study in what real unity costs.Source
The shortest paragraph in the confession so far, on miracles, still carries real weight. Consider what it means that God ordinarily works through means, yet remains free to work without, above, or against them.Source
Paul has been modelling Christian maturity in his own life, and now gives the Philippians practical direction for the walk itself. Trace his contrast between two kinds of walk, two kinds of guide, and two kinds of citizenship.Source
Having established that God sustains and governs all things, consider the harder question of how that actually works without turning God into the author of sin or reducing us to puppets. The confession’s careful distinctions map out the mechanics of providence.Source
The gospel of free grace is always flanked by two opposite errors: thinking we can save ourselves, or concluding that grace makes effort pointless. Paul’s own example of straining forward toward the goal shows how grace and striving fit together.Source
The confession’s treatment of providence is a doctrine too easily neglected, especially for anyone shaped by post-Enlightenment assumptions about a world that runs on its own steam. Consider why Christians need to recover a robust doctrine of God sustaining and governing his creation.Source
You’ve probably heard the pushback before: I am a good person. Paul’s own resume of Jewish credentials in Philippians 3 shows why external righteousness, however impressive, can never be the ground of our standing with God.Source
It is hard not to get angry at the way the world is going today. As Christians we know what the truth is; we know what right and wrong are; we know how people are to live their lives as married couples, parents, in holiness and truth. We know that God is to be acknowledged and worshipped. We know what the laws of the Land ought to be when it comes to things like homosexual marriage, euthanasia, abortion, etc. But what are we seeing? The Christianity that used to shape our society is now marginalized, no worse than that it is blamed for all sorts of problems and perceived problems in the past, it is aggressively rejected. In fact anyone who associates with it becomes part of the problem and public enemy number one. More than that we are seeing big government; big education; big pharma; big business; big tech; big social media; big main stream media; big Hollywood; big sports all leaning in a leftist direction. We are seeing the influence of critical theory, transgender ideology, soft forms of communism and many other insidious ideas take over the voices that are heard in the public square and worse than that are now after our children. It is very hard not to get angry in a world like ours.Source
The book of Acts give us some wonderful stories of individuals who encounter Christ and get saved. The story of the Philippian jailor is unique because we have for the first time someone who has no acquaintance with the synagogue or the Jews coming to faith in Christ. The Ethiopian Eunuch was visiting Jerusalem and reading the Jewish scriptures; Cornelius was a Godfearer and worshipped the God of the Bible; even Lydia who is saved earlier in this chapter attends a Jewish prayer meeting. But here we have a true unassociated convert. Jailors were typically retired and returning soldiers. Here is man who has faithfully served Rome in its various wars. As a reward for service he is granted land to settle down, and he has settled in Philippi, or ‘Little Rome’, a place wildly loyal to Rome and Caesar. Imagine a man who has had to fight Rome’s wars at a time before the Geneva convention where soldiers would commit various atrocities and have a lot of PTSD from the things they had done, seen and experienced. You have to imagine that a man who is able to run an ancient jail with its harsh punishments, hard conditions, who has to be able to endure the begging of the prisoners. This is not likely a job that any old person could do. This is the man we meet in our portion.Source
It is hard not to get angry at the way the world is going today. As Christians we know what the truth is; we know what right and wrong are; we know how people are to live their lives as married couples, parents, in holiness and truth. We know that God is to be acknowledged and worshipped. We know what the laws of the Land ought to be when it comes to things like homosexual marriage, euthanasia, abortion, etc. But what are we seeing? The Christianity that used to shape our society is now marginalized, no worse than that it is blamed for all sorts of problems and perceived problems in the past, it is aggressively rejected. In fact anyone who associates with it becomes part of the problem and public enemy number one. More than that we are seeing big government; big education; big pharma; big business; big tech; big social media; big main stream media; big Hollywood; big sports all leaning in a leftist direction. We are seeing the influence of critical theory, transgender ideology, soft forms of communism and many other insidious ideas take over the voices that are heard in the public square and worse than that are now after our children. It is very hard not to get angry in a world like ours.Source
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, CBT, is a modern method used in psychology to treat things like anxiety and depression. As with any school of psychology, there is a lot of truth in it. Anytime, anyone studies God’s world, they will inevitably see true things about it. It is true because God made it to be so; all truth is God’s truth. Yet also with the various schools of psychology, because they are not working within the framework of the Biblical worldview they will get many things wrong. In fact any truth embedded in a false worldview becomes an untruth. CBT explores the relationship between what we think, how we feel, and how we act. It understands the fact that thinking right can make us feel good and act constructively; and how good behavioral patterns can impact good feeling and thinking. These three aspects are interrelated. From a pastoral point of view I have seen some of the value in these things, but when presented in a godless worldview, when we are merely reducing these truths to techniques that are not done in the context of glorifying God, or in light of the reality of our sinfulness or our fallen world, and with no dependence upon the Spirit, it can become a deceptive counterfeit that draws people from God not to Him. because from a theological perspective self-improvement is a contradiction in terms, we can only be improved by God. What is so wonderful about the psalms is that an exploration of the mind and emotions and actions of a human being are put on display. They predate our schools of psychology and anticipate the various techniques that people come up with today, but in the right worldview. And instead of a cold and abstract technique of pushing buttons to get right...
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I can remember those times as a young Christians when I was confronted with cults like theSeventh Day Adventists; and the International Church of Christ, how unsettled I felt whenall that I thought to be true was being challenged. The teachings of these groups made itfeel like the salvation that I was thought I had was not real. Did I have the 666 of the bookof Revelation because I did not keep a Saturday Sabbath; did I need to get rebaptized withtheir baptism so that I could be truly saved? I did not yet have a full understanding of howGod saves us by grace alone; through faith alone; in Christ alone. I did not have the joy ofmy salvation that comes from the assurance of my salvation. At times I would believe thepromise that if I believe I have eternal life but there was so much I did not know and sowould flounder. I was wide open to be intimidated and manipulated through guilt and mydesire to be saved. I would read their books, listen to hours of their teaching, and would bewilling to do all sorts of things just to get the salvation I longed for. I have since learnedthat the greatest defense against false teachings and false gospels is the joy of my salvationthat comes from a proper grasp of the gospel of grace. The joy of salvation is our greatestdefense against temptation; against trials; and false gospelsSource
500 slaughtered for their faith in Nigeria ( www.persecution.org/slaughter/ , accessed June 10, 2010). On the 21 st of January 2010, “A crowd of at least 1000 people burned down two Protestant churches last night in Sibuhuan (district of Padang Lawas, North Sumatra). The blaze was the culmination of tension between the faithful and the local Islamic community, tired of seeing ” too many faithful and too many prayers ” in a place not registered as a church.” ( www.asianews.it/news- en/North-Sumatra,-two-Protestant-churches-burnt , accessed June 10, 2010). On the 9 th of January 2010, ‘The Australian’, reported that 3 Malaysian Churches were attacked with petrol bombs. ( www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/malaysia- churches-burnt/story , accessed June 10, 2010). On and on we could go giving stats about the Church being persecuted, added to that we could give a long list of anti- Christian legislation that has been gaining ground in the area of prayer in schools, abortion, censorship, homosexuality, and many other topics. For example, on the 18 February 2022 the NZ government passed the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022. We could speak of the growth of Islam as the fastest growing religion in the world at the moment according to birth rates, and the cults. The increase in sin in society for example, for the first time in NZ history more babies were born to unmarried parents than married in 2022; the weakness of the Church where only 9% of the NZ population go to Church. By all appearances Christianity is losing its influence, under attack, and on a seeming retreat. What is our response to all this?Source
Soldiers returning home from the battlefront can be a time of conflicting emotions. There is the joy of having loved ones back, but there are also a number of other issues. Is a soldier returning under a cloud like so many American soldiers after Biden basically pulled out the American forces from Afghanistan, 73% felt betrayed by their country; and 67% felt humiliated. 1 If they return home early before their tour is up is it because of injury or have they disgraced themselves. Many soldiers have risked their lives and those back home are unaware of their sacrifice and they can feel disconnected and unappreciated; not to mention the PTSD that many soldiers experience. Homecoming can be difficult. Epaphroditus is a returning soldier who has risked his life on the front line. He has represented those who sent him and is now coming home early. He has been injured in the line of duty and rumours of his death were rampant. Paul, the field general is sending Epaphroditus home and the verses before us give an outline of his service record and the reason for the home assignment. 2:25-30, ‘I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all...
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We are continuing on with our study of anthropology from the 1689, and today I want to direct your attention to what it says about us being made in the image of God. ‘After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, rendering them fit unto that life to God for which they were created; being made after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness.’ I am passing over the immortality of the soul for now to direct our attention to the info on the image of God. Let’s begin with an exercise. Let us answer this question, in what way are we made in the image of God? I have written three umbrella categories on the whiteboard, Constitutional (what we are); functional (what we do); relational (who we relate to). I will ask you to call out any number of characteristics that you think make up the image of God and you will see that they will likely be able to be put in one of these categories.Source
The church is saved by the service of a sacrificial Savior; and the church flourishes and grows by the service of sacrificial saints. When we love one another in the way we have been loved by Christ; when we serve one another in the way in which we have been served the church will be healthy and effective. This is the basic principle that Paul has been pushing throughout this book. Selfishness has gotten hold of the Philippians church and is causing damage, self-preservation in the face of persecutions; and self-interest towards the saints. Paul has called the Philippians to walk worthy of the gospel that has saved them, and this means dying to self and living the crucified life in the same manner our Savior did. In particular Paul has been dealing with the matter of selfless humble service and using Christ as the ultimate example. But Paul also multiplies the examples of selfless service using himself as an object lesson, and now in the verses we want to consider Timothy, v19- 24; and Epaphroditus, v25-30. V19-24, ‘I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.’Source
‘2. After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, rendering them fit unto that life to God for which they were created; being made after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfil it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change. 3. Besides the law written in their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which whilst they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures.Source
Stop your grumbling and arguing with God and each other; be children of God who shine as lights in this dark world; and lean into suffering service for others with joy. These are the exhortations that Paul gives to the Philippian church in 2:14-18, ‘Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.’ Today we come to that part where Paul is talking about suffering, v16-18, but notice that Paul talks about his own suffering. The Philippian church is suffering persecution, we see this clearly in 1:29-30. They are discouraged because their favourite apostle is in prison, the gospel seems to have ground to a halt, and they themselves are in the thick of it with persecutions, false teachers and divisions. Life is hard and like so many of us, when life is hard we are not able to be joyful, hopeful, full of faith and trust in God. One of the things Paul does throughout this letter is put a Christian perspective on suffering.Source
In practically all the older systematic theology textbooks on anthropology there is little to no discussion on the differences between male and female. Even our own confession only gives a passing glance at it, ‘After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female.’ The rest of the paragraph emphasizes mankind in God’s image and in covenant with Him. What the confession takes for granted without explanation we must take the opportunity to stop and expand on. Historically we would have spoken about the sexes, male and female; today we talk about gender, what’s the difference? Here is one attempt at definitions: ‘Sexuality refers to God’s anthropological design and pattern for the procreative relationship between male and female and to the experience of erotic desire within that design. Gender refers to biological differences in male and female embodiment and the different cultural ways in which the creational distinctions between male and female are manifested. The creational narrative of Genesis 1–2 provides the Christian with the foundational truths behind these distinctions: God created humanity, male and female, in his image for one another. To deny any part of this teaching is to subject God’s purposeful design to the desires of humanity. While much of modern culture desires to deny these distinctions and to untether gender from sexuality, the New Testament reaffirms the Old Testament’s teaching on this topic and brings the male-female distinction to its culmination in the Christ-Church relationship.’ 1 Sex tends to describe our biological realities, gender the expression of them. And we are seeing an untethering of gender from sex, so that gender is now being defined without reference to biological sex. Gender is seen as a social construct placed upon an incidental biological reality. We have seen a radical shift in how sex and...
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If I had to say to you, go work out your salvation in the 3 following ways; what three things would you put on your list? Depending on the situation there may be different things that would come to mind. If you lived in the Ukraine right now taking care of those who have been affected by the war would be near the top of the list. Today we get to listen in on Paul telling a Church that is struggling with persecution from without and divisions from within what they should emphasize as they work out their salvation. Phil. 2:14-18, ‘Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.’ Paul reminds the church of their purpose as lights in this world and calls them to act appropriately. He addresses three major areas. These will be our three points, in v14 he addresses their speech; in v15-16 he talks about their witness; and in v17-18 he talks about their suffering. Today we will be dealing with verse 14-16.Source
Several years ago now I was on a panel of pastors for a Q&A, one of the questions that was asked was what is the next major area of doctrinal controversy that will arise? The history of the church has seen disputes in the area of the inerrancy of Scripture, the doctrine of Creation, the doctrine of justification, the doctrine of the Trinity. My answer was that the next major area for controversy was the doctrine of anthropology. With challenges in the area of theistic evolution denying the biblical Adam; egalitarianism denying male headship; homosexuality denying God’s view of marriage; abortion denying human beings made in the image of God; transgenderism denying God creating a binary reproductive pair of male and female; the purpose of marriage being to bear children being challenged by people opting to sterilize themselves to preserve the environment; the basic goodness of humanity and a denial of our inheriting of original sin from Adam. And there is more, I do not see myself as a prophet but I nailed that one, we are in a crisis of anthropology today. This is the next topic we turn to in our confessionSource
The issue that confronts us as we go into this next section is the matter of our doing. We can have heads full of orthodoxy, where we can know all the technical terms and the careful scholastic balancing acts as we hold certain biblical truths. But knowing and doing are two different things. There are many who thrive on collecting information, of comparing views, of developing an encyclopedic library of books, but whose lives are all learning and no living. Depending on your personality type and gifting you may not err on the side of orthodoxy but orthopathy, the Greek word ‘pathos’ referring to emotion. While the music is playing the tears are flowing; while the preacher is waxing lyrical your heart is soaring; while someone shares a sad story you are able to commiserate, and as soon as it is done you pull out your phone get distracted and all that emotion amounts to nothing. Being emotional can be mistaken for action. What we want is orthodoxy, orthopathy, and orthopraxy, a right practice. Where head, and heart and hands are all engaged.Source
We come now to the exciting section of the 1689 that deals with the external works of God. We have been studying theology proper as we have looked at the attributes of God, as well as the Trinity. We have looked back into eternity past as it were into the mind of God as He made His plan for all things the centerpiece of which is saving a people for Himself in Christ. Forgive the language but we step outside of God and into time to witness what the Bible says about the creation of all things. The teaching of the confession follows a literal reading of Genesis 1 and 2. As with the doctrine of God’s Decree the focal point of the doctrine of Creation is the creation of mankind and their place in God’s world. ‘In the beginning it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, to create or make the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.Source
In Christianity we have become accustomed to the surprising and paradoxical ways of God. It is more blessed to give than to receive, how happy are those who mourn, those who are poor will gain a rich inheritance, the meek not the mighty will one day rule the earth; satisfaction comes in desiring holiness not in satisfying sinful desires. In the portion before us we are confronted with another one of the paradoxical ways of God, those who humble themselves will be exalted. We come to consider this matter as Paul is writing to the Philippians about the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, v9-11, ‘Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ Paul is dealing with a unity problem in the Philippian church; this is a problem that requires humility to solve. Paul has no better cure than to take us to Christ that in beholding the glory of His humility we will be changed from one degree of glory to another, becoming more like Him towards one another. Perhaps like me you have felt a bit disoriented as you have worked through this text. On the one hand we are dealing with the mundane and every day problem of people not getting along; and then we shift gears to gaze upon the infinite glory of God in a multitude of mysteries. We move from people grumbling and complaining and building up resentment; only be blinded by the most selfless act beyond our ability to comprehend. We move from our petty grasping for...
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Controversy surrounds the doctrine of election so the confession ends with a very pastoral note. Deeply aware of how this doctrine is able to stir up difficulties we have a rare pastoral addendum added. This paragraph is found in the WCF; Savoy and 1689 showing that this advice is held to be important by all those who hold to the Reformed understanding of these matters. ‘The doctrine of the high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men attending the will of God revealed in his Word, and yielding obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election; so shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God, and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel.’ This paragraph lays out how we ought to handle the doctrine and the benefits we can derive from it. These will be our two headingsSource
It is hard to know how to approach the portion of scripture that we now have before us. In just a few verses we have the central mysteries of our faith densely put. One theologian reflecting on this passage spoke well when he called it a ‘singularity.’ 1 Do you know what a singularity is? Here is one definition: ‘A singularity refers to a place in the universe where our laws of physics simply break down.’ 2 I do not subscribe to the big bang theory as an alternative to Creation, but that alpha point where all of the universe was squeezed into an infinitesimally small point from which the universe supposedly exploded and expanded into its present form, that little speck that deified all the laws of gravity, that is thought of as a singularity. Something that shouldn’t exist but does exist and breaks the categories of everything we know, that sums up well what we are looking at as we look at Phil. 2:6-8, ‘who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.’ We are confronted here with two impossible things, God becoming man, and God becoming sin (2 Cor. 5:21).Source
One of the great concerns that people have whenever we talk about God’s planning the end from the beginning, especially as it relates to salvation, is the problem of how God saves us. If you say that God elects us unto salvation, a number of practical questions usually arise, so am I born saved? Am I saved no matter what? Do I even have to hear the gospel to be saved if God simply elects me? Won’t this encourage people to neglect holiness because I am saved by God’s unconditional election and nothing else? Paragraph 6 of the chapter on God’s Decree takes up this matter and puts forward the biblical teaching on how God implements His decree to save. You will remember that semi-colons introduce new ideas, so here we see two major ideas being put forward. Firstly, we see that God not only appoints the end but the means to the end, ‘As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so he hath, by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained all the means thereunto;’ Secondly, we see that salvation is not only something determined in eternity but worked out in history in various steps, ‘wherefore they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ, by his Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power through faith unto salvation; neither are any other redeemed by Christ, or effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.’ Because God elects us to salvation does not mean that God saves us apart from the implementation of means; nor the implementation of important steps in our salvation. These will be our two pointsSource
The last 20 years or so has seen a real rise in what is called Christ-Centered Preaching. In addition to an emphasis on expository preaching, the goal in Christ-Centered Preaching is to ensure that Christ as the heart of the gospel is found in every sermon. The goal is of course to preach Christ as the Savior of sinners so that unbelievers will be saved. But there is also a deep conviction that Christians need to get back to Christ and the gospel for motivation and instruction in the Christian life. This is not just a clever strategy that modern preachers have come up with but the shape of preaching utilized in the Bible. For example when Paul wants the Corinthian church to excel in the grace of giving he points them to the example of Christ, 2 Cor. 8:9, ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.’ Or when Paul wants to encourage husbands to love their wives he talks about how Christ loved the church, Eph. 5:25, ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.’ Or when Paul calls the Ephesians to walk in love towards one another, 5:1-2, ‘Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.’ Not only does what God did for us in Christ dying on the cross for our sins save us, it also instructs us. We have in Christ the greatest example of love, of service, of holiness; and for our purposes today as we look at Phil. 2:5-8, of humble...
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One of the Solas of the Reformation is Sola Gratia, by grace alone. As we come to chapter 5 of the chapter on God’s Decree, we come to consider the positive position on how God decrees to save His elect. We have considered the general characteristics of God’s plan, that it is eternal, unconditional, immutable, universal and impeccable. We shut the door on any notion of middle knowledge where God looks down the corridors of time and orders His will around some hypothetical willing on our part. We noted the difficult doctrine of double predestination in angels and men and looked at the asymmetry in salvation and passing over. Then last week we had to shut another door on the Socinian and Open Theist view of God. Finally now in paragraph 5 we come to a positive explanation of how God decrees salvation for His elect. As already stated the thread that we will see woven throughout this paragraph is that we are saved by grace alone. Not only in the way God comes to us in time and works by His power to draw and keep us; but also in how He originally chose us as His elect. Works are denied a determining place in our salvation either in time or in eternity; in the application of redemption or in the planning of salvation. We are saved by grace alone. As we go through this paragraph we will look at it in two parts, the first part of the paragraph considers the positive part of how God elects to save us; the last part of the paragraph looks at how God did not elect us to salvation.Source
I am sure you will agree with this statement: as human beings we struggle to be in unity. This moment in particular is marked by tribalism. Once upon a time people would have a sense of solidarity because they came from the same town or country or language group; now there are so many different tribes, where even families and churches are now divided against themselves. Our sinfulness is on full display. And now add to that instant communication; 24 hour global news; inflammatory reporting by the media; the ready rage that is now weaponized to respond to any issue; anonymous trolling; a default state of judgmentalism; we have given ourselves permission to be triggered; paint ourselves as victims of prejudice and microaggressions; etc. We struggle and are struggling deeply with unitySource
What are the temptations that the church faces when it undergoes persecution? We could probably predict that we would be faced with the temptation to water down what we stand for. There have been many who when put under pressure have given up their commitment to the supremacy of Christ, to the exclusivity of the gospel. In this situation we can become vulnerable to false teachers who offer us a nicer set of teachings that would help us fit in better. Even today we are facing constant social pressure to be nice and accepting and to take the strong truths we believe, and the high view of holiness we hold to and make it more PC, more inclusive, more loving, etc. We could probably predict that some of us would be really discouraged and even begin to question God and start doubting His reality or whether He is good for allowing such bad things to happen to His people. But there would also be some of the surprising temptations that we would not expect to face like turning on one another. Persecution like we see in the early church can either unite us, or it can turn us against each other. We can begin to blame each other for what is happening, we can strongly disagree with each other about how to proceed, in instances of an authority vacuum strong personalities begin to clash for prominence. As people begin to be put under pressure and suffer losses they can either support and help each other or start reacting and taking it out on each other. Under this pressure some will give up and walk away; some will compromise; some will become judgmental; some will try and stir up a political response, some will begin to criticize the leaders and gather...
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We come now to the most controversial part of the chapter where paragraph 3 takes us into the territory of double predestination. ‘By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace; others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of his glorious justice.’ This is the next necessary step in working out the doctrine of God’s plan of all things. We have seen who God is; and in light of who God is His decree must have certain characteristics being eternal, unconditional, immutable, universal and impeccable. Because of this we had to deny certain things last week. We had to show that God could not have done things in a certain way closing the door on middle knowledge. God does not look down the corridors of time to a situation that He has not willed and react to what we would do. Having stated things generally the 1689 is now ready to apply this biblical teaching of God to how God planned salvation, and this brings us face to face with the dreaded doctrine of double predestination.Source
You have heard that there are three types of people, optimists, pessimists and realists. Paul, because of the truths of the gospel and his priorities blows these categories out of the water. Because of God’s work in the gospel we are now more than conquerors through Christ; God is able to work good from bad; we are now able to rejoice in our sufferings; death which is supposed to be the greatest defeat is turned into Christ into our greatest victory, and much more. Paul, we have seen is full of rejoicing. We have seen his gospel- centered rejoicing as we have seen him rejoicing in prison because people are hearing the gospel; because Christians are emboldened to preach; and despite some doing it from bad motives, the word of Christ is getting out there. Paul’s impervious joy continues in our section, v18b, ‘Yes, and I will rejoice.’ Paul turns his attention from helping the Philippians see how God is using his imprisonment for His glory to Paul’s perspective on his future and his views on life and death. A fear of the future; a fear of missing out on life; a fear of death, these fears often grip us but because of the gospel and Paul’s priorities we are going to see how gospel equips us to face these fears with joy.Source
In a philosophy of history you are answering the question, how did things come to be the way they are, what are the driving powers that make things as they are? There are various answers to this question. Firstly, there is the atheistic and naturalistic view that sees nature as the source of all things. That creation sprung into being itself, and through various forces plus chance all that is exists. Evolution is a major cog in this system giving an explanation for how things are what they are. In this view there is no plan just evolution. There is a baptized version of this called Deism which sees God as the great watchmaker who makes creation, winds it up, and throws it out to fend for itself and never gets involved. Secondly, there are various God and human models; a mix of human will and God’s will. These synergistic models would include Pelagianism; Arminianism and Molinism. These views all have the idea that God looks into the future to truly free acts of creatures and those actions influence how God wills history to come to pass. Then there is the third view and the view of the 1689 and we believe the Bible. This view teaches that God’s decree, His plan for all things is dependent on nothing outside of Himself, that it is free from outside influences.Source
Your priorities will determine what gives you joy and what makes you sad. Many of our joys lie in in those things God made to be important to us like family and work. But sin is an opportunist that is always looking to distort things, and this is often revealed in our joys and our sadness. Because we love things inordinately, in other words we love the wrong things or in the wrong way or to the wrong extent, we have our joy and sadness in the wrong things. Because we put our treasure in the wrong place we can become terribly depressed when our dreams are crushed. Too often we find ourselves incapable of coping with life’s difficulties because of what we look to for our ultimate satisfaction, and we are crushed when it is taken away. This is one of the reasons why I have been looking forward to preaching on Philippians. Here is Paul a man in prison who has suffered more than any of us will on our lifetimes, yet he is joyful. 2 Cor. 11:23-28, ‘with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is...
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Your prayer life is a measurement of your spiritual life. Not whether you pray, for all believers pray, but how well you pray. One commentator puts it this way, ‘The measure of a person’s spiritual maturity is not how well he or she conforms externally to the command to pray. The issue is how internally constrained that person is to pray by a strong love for God and others. The truest longings of the heart will come out in prayer. A selfish and superficial heart, focused primarily on personal problems, struggles, and interests, will produce selfish and superficial prayers. A heart focused on the glory of the Lord and His people will produce prayers focused on God’s glory and others’ needs. A strong sense of duty cannot compensate for a cold heart or produce fervent prayer.’ 1 Whenever I come to any of the prayers of Paul I am tremendously challenged. Here is a man who has Christ’s own affections for the church, and pours out intercessions and thanksgiving for the church. His is a heart gripped with a fervent concern for the church and this shows in his prayers. As Christians we need regular instruction in the school of prayer.Source
We come now to our final look at the seven deadly sins from proverbs, and we have left lust for last. Traditionally lust was the obvious deadly sin and things like greed and envy and sloth had to be spelt out. But as culture and its idols change lust is no longer a taboo subject, nor seen as a deadly sin. Since the sexual revolution of the mid twentieth century we have seen the steady eroding of the biblical definition of lust as a sin. Virginity is no longer a gift you give to your spouse on your wedding night but an embarrassing indicator of a lack of desirability or personal progress. Marriage is no longer seen as the God-given way to nurture love but a foible of those ‘traditional’ types who are struggling to adapt to our new world. Where once upon a time the laws of the land reflected at least some sort of agreement with biblical norms in that divorce was not easy and homosexual relationships carried consequences. The situation is now reversed. Incest laws are being dropped around the world, so called same sex marriages are being acknowledged, and even recently sanctioned to be blessed by the Church of England. What was once frowned upon adult entertainment, shows involving transvestites, are now forms of education where public readings for primary age children by transvestites are common fare. Children who were once protected from sexualized material are now inundated by once trusted family friendly entertainment companies like Disney. What was once hidden is now public, what was once shameful is now celebrated, what was once forbidden is now forced upon our children.Source
Background: The eleven disciples probably felt a lot like Frodo did inRivendell as Jesus was giving them the great commission. They arelittle peoplewith simple backgrounds and no formal education. Andworse yet they are painfully aware that theyall just abandoned Christin his time of need at the crucifixion. Some of them, like Peter,haddenied knowingJesusall together. Butin our passage,Jesusgathersthen togetherand sends them onan epicmission.Source
Background: The pivotal issue for the book of Mark is the author’s demand that the reader figure out an answer to the question: “who is this?” The central question of the whole book is given in chapter 4, describing the experience of Jesus disciples. Jesus Calms the Storm: • Jesus suggests that the group head to the other side of the lake on their fishing boats • While they are on the way, Jesus d ecides to take a nap in the back of the boat in the stern. • Then a huge storm comes, water starks entering the boat, and disciples are afraid. So the disciples become very perturbed. . . in fact, they are terrified. • I am guessing after some deliberation; th ey decide to wake Jesus. They wake Jesus and immediately he speaks to the storm, and it calms down. • And in the resolution of this story — after the storm has abated and the problem is over — the disciples are filled with wonder, awe and fear. And they whisper to each other: “who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41).Source
Our next deadly sin is the sin of anger or wrath. Evolutionary science tells us that our anger is something that was once beastly that has become something beautiful. That we had a fight of flight reflex that was used to defend ourselves; or a hunting instinct to hunt and overcome our prey for survival; or a territorial aggression that preserved our pack, and now as ‘evolved apes’ we have to reign it in and make it useful to the community. This is exactly backwards. The bible teaches that our anger was once something beautiful that has become beastly. We are made in the image of God, God is said to have righteous anger. The NT does have two different words for God’s wrath, one scholar describes them this way, ‘God’s anger ( thumos ) is his vehement fury or boiling rage. His wrath ( orge ) is his settled indignation or his settled anger. In other words, in God’s anger the emphasis falls on the emotional, boiling intensity of it. And in God’s wrath the emphasis falls on the controlled, settled, considered direction and focus of its application. But we dare not draw a hard line between them.’ 1 It is a wrath that is revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodliness, Rom. 1:18. It is because of God’s character as righteous and His role as judge that He is righteously angry, Ps. 7:11, ‘God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.’ God is only angry against that which is sin, evil, unjust and wrong, against that which is contrary to His holy will. God is not volatile, He is slow to anger, Nahum 1:3, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty....
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Some of the most stirring things have been written by saints who have been in prison for Christ. Scottish Puritan Samuel Rutherford who was imprisoned for his stand against the divine right of kings wrote once, ‘I am well. My prison is a palace to me, and Christ’s banqueting-house. My Lord Jesus is as kind as they call Him. Oh, that all Scotland knew my case, and had part of my feast! I charge you, in the name of God, I charge you to believe. Fear not the sons of men, the worms shall eat them. To pray and believe now, when Christ seemeth to give you a nay-say, is more than it was before. Die believing, die with Christ’s promise in your hand.’ 1 The spiritual classic Pilgrim’s Progress written by John Bunyan was written while he was in prison. Paul was another author who wrote from prison and out of the sweet comforts that Christ gave him we have some very famous verses that have sustained us through many difficulties. 1:20-21, ‘as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ 1:29, ‘For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.’ 2:12-13, ‘Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good...
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Last week we began our look at the deadly sin of Greed. We spent most of our time looking at definitions for greed, the problems it creates and warnings against it. Greed we saw is not only a rich person’s sin but a heart problem we all have where we psychopathically and self-destructively idolize the gifts at the expense of worshipping the Giver. A problem where we look for the satisfaction we can only find in God from those things that are intended to direct us to Him. Today we want to look at an action plan in tackling greed and our text to help us with this is Paul’s teaching in 1 Tim. 6:6-10; 17-19Source
‘Thank God that I am not a gentile, a woman, or a slave.’ This was a common prayer that was once prayed in the synagogue and I believe that it is even being revived today. 1 Luke who is showing how the gospel is the gospel not just for the Jews, but a gospel that goes from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and even to the ends of the earth; shows us in the church in Philippi how God is building a people from all people and places. Jesus is the King of the Universe and not just Israel; the Saviour of all peoples and not just the Jews, this is graphically illustrated throughout the book of Acts and especially in the birth of the church in Philippi. In Acts 16:11-40 we have the gospel impacting the lives of a woman; a slave; and a gentile jailer. As we begin our series on Paul’s letter to the Philippians we will familiarize ourselves with how the church was born.Source
One of the audiobooks I listened to last year was the book Affluenza How overconsumption is killing us and how to fight back. Here is how one reviewer summarizes the problem being addressed in this book, ‘When was the last time you bought something? Probably today, or at least in the last couple of days. But here’s a better question: when was the last time you bought something you didn’t really need? Let’s face it, most of us buy non-essential items fairly regularly. In fact, the average American spends about $18,000 a year on nonessentials. Ouch. Why do we spend so much on stuff that doesn’t really matter? Probably because we have a false notion that it will make us happier. But in truth, our addiction to consumption is ruining our relationships and sending us into debt. And it’s ruining our planet.’ 1 The book has strengths and weaknesses. It is good in that it is correctly highlighting our over consumption. It is weak in that its highest goals are to improve our relationships, get better control over ourselves, and have a cleaner planet. No doubt these are good goals but they do not get at the heart of what we are wanting to touch on—Greed as a deadly sin. In typical fashion it outlines personal techniques not conversion to bring about personal change, and promotes left wing political solutions and systemic changes as the hope for the future not Christ building His kingdom. Today we want to look at what the Bible says about greed. Our two headings are the sin of greed, and the cure for greedSource
We live in the age of deconstruction, where long understood concepts and ideas are being redefined and overturned. Marriage, justice, a man, a woman, truth, beauty, goodness, these were all once understood. Two of the great truths that have fallen on hard times are the truths of sin and forgiveness. In a world of no absolutes and personalized truth there can be no one definition for sin. Sin which was once an act against God has been trivialized and misappropriated to speak of acts against nature, self, and other things that are not God. With sin redefined human beings being seen as sinful is an alien concept. We live in a world where we are basically good, and with a sense of entitlement that God ought to be doing more good by us, seeing all the bad things that happen to us through a victim mentality. Forgiveness is no longer the most important thing that we need from a holy God but something that everyone owes to themselves. Self-acceptance has replaced acceptance with God. Something as central as the gospel, the truth of a holy but loving God saving sinners through the substitutionary work of Jesus on our behalf is no longer simple or uncontested. So this morning I would like us to go back to the Word of God to bring clarity at a time of uncertainty.Source
1 in every 5 NZ adults has a hazardous drinking pattern. ‘Note: ‘Hazardous drinking’ refers to an established alcohol drinking pattern that carries a risk of harming the drinker’s physical or mental health or having harmful social effects on the drinker or others. It is determined by using the World Health Organization’s AUDIT checklist – a score of 8 or more indicates hazardous drinking.’ 1 1 in 3 between the ages of 18-24 drinking in a dangerous way. 1 in 3 men and 1 in 5 women in this age range will binge drink once a week. This is a deeply worrying set of statistics, 20% of our nation abuse alcohol. 1 in 10 between the ages of 15- 17 likewise drink hazardously. Last week we spoke about the sin of gluttony, sins related to excessive eating. And we saw how the sin of drunkenness was often hitched to it. Drunkenness is not technically one of the seven sins, but to my mind it qualifies as a gateway sin, a sin that leads to many other sins. Christianity differs from the other major religions in that alcohol is not seen as sinful in itself. Islam forbids the drinking of alcohol. Some sects in Hinduism forbid it. Likewise the official teaching of Buddhism denounces ingesting intoxicating substances. Christianity how ever does not see alcohol as something sinful in itself. So I will in two parts go through the blessings of drinking and the sins of drunkenness.Source
I will not be with you at New Year so I would like to preach to you today, my New Year Sermon. We are looking at Psalm 67, what is otherwise known as the missionary psalm. This is a psalm written at harvest time, written during a time of blessing, a psalm that reflects on God’s goodness and the purpose of God’s goodness. We come to the end of 2022 and look forward to 2023. There have been many difficulties that have been experienced of late, some have experience sickness, or injury, or loss. But the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning. As we sit here today we need to remember that we are a blessed people. Not only has God given us His best in His Son He has also with Him freely given us all things. We ought to look back over this year with great gratitude for the Lord’s goodness to us. Today I would like us to explore why we are blessed, to what end do we receive the blessing of God, how should our hearts respond to these blessings, what should we want to gain by these blessings? This psalm will help us to do this under two headings, looking at v1-3 we will see that we are to seek God’s glory; and the second half of the psalm points us to seeking the joy of the nations.Source
The deadly sin we want to consider today is the sin of gluttony. This comes from the Latin word which means to swallow or gulp down. The idea of there being 7 deadly sins is not an inspired one, and it is at this point that I would contend that gluttony is probably not a valid candidate for even the traditional definition of a deadly sin that of being a gateway sin, a cardinal sin, and therefore one of the deadly sins that leads to other sins. It is true that the first sin in the bible was a sin related to food, but it was not the sin of gluttony but the desire to be like God that lay at the heart of it. In my research of the roots and development of this sin it seems clear to me that there was an outside influence of asceticism that informs the choice of gluttony. The early church was not always able to disentangle itself from some of the baggage of Greek philosophy and other bad thinking. This was especially true as it related to matters of the body. Greek philosophy usually saw a human being as a mind/soul trapped in a body, the body was not good though fallen it was all bad; it was the job of the mind using the will to rule the body and not vice versa. Beastliness and therefore to be sub-human was to be driven by these natural drives and not by the pursuit of virtue and the intellectual leading of the mind. Giving into desire in general was weakness, this led to all sorts of caricatures like women being weak because they are the more emotional sex, and men being strong because they are the more intellectually detached. This bled into Christianity...
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Legalism, one of our best dressed but most dangerous sins. It is one of the two paths to hell, one is antinomianism/law breaking; the other is legalism. Our relationship with law is a very uneasy one. As human beings we are born in Adam, we are born into a covenant of works. Adam was put under probation and under law, by obeying the law of God He could have won for Himself and the human race the right of access to the tree of life and God’s Sabbath Rest. Instead He condemned instead of saving us, and we were cast out of the garden and into sin. As human beings we all still have the law of God written on our hearts, this means we know what the right thing is to do; but because of Adam’s failure there is this this drive in all of us to work for our salvation woven into the desire to pursue the good. The law of God which represents God’s righteousness is on the one hand the proper path that defines the good and we know we ought to pursue it, this unfortunately is undermined by our sinful hearts who seek to throw off God’s authority and live by our own authority; and yet on the other hand law becomes a terrible yolk that we afflict ourselves and others with. The law is something like nuclear fusion, something that we can use for great good and great evil. Legalism is our misuse of this law. Legalism is especially a pet sin for the religious. Legalism is able to dress up and look like false religion. It always wins when the contest is between sin and a man-made set of rules seeking to honor God and find salvation. It is the wrong way of...
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When I say the word witness what comes to mind? Maybe at first it is the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Or maybe you think of evangelism and witnessing. Perhaps you think of the Great Commission and recognize the call to be witnesses to all nations. I am sure that some of you even think of the legal aspect of being a witness, as bearing testimony to historical realities. Some with a little Greek might even know that the Greek word for ‘witness’ is martureo from which we get our English word martyr. Today as we continue looking at Jesus Great Commission in Luke’s gospel we want to note two aspects, firstly we want to go to the OT and look at the biblical background to this concept of what a witness is for. We will see how this will give us focus as we go about being witnesses. Secondly, we want to recognize that the Spirit has been given to empower our witness. So our two points are God’s purposes for witnesses; and God’s empowering of witnessesSource
The bible often surprises us when it addresses our sin. We often dress it down, underestimate it, and make out that it is a failing of the weak. The Bible exposes each one of us to be a sinner, and of a dark and perverse kind. Take envy, when we think of envy we think it is a manageable and small sin, something that you would find among the immature on the playground or in the nursery where we think of children fighting over a toy. But when the Bible talks about envy it reveals that we all have a heart problem that is fatal unless attended to. The same Hebrew word meant positively qana can mean to be zealous; but meant negatively means to be jealous/envious. This reminds us of the nature of sin, it highjacks something good in us, a large capacity of heart given to us by God to pursue Him and His will, and sin comes in and turns it into something self-serving and destructive. Source
Each of the four gospels end with the great commission, and it is reissued again in Acts. 5 times in all we have Christ appearing to His disciples and telling them what to do now that He has died and been raised from the dead. What is expected of us now that Jesus has risen from the dead? This is the question that is answered by our portion today in Luke 24:44-49. Our purpose, our identity, our mission it is all summed up in this one idea of being witnesses. A witness is a legal witness who bears testimony to certain facts. A witness is someone who speaks, someone who tells the truth, someone who bears testimony about certain historical realities, someone who talks about what they have experienced. In v48 Jesus calls the disciples ‘witnesses of these things’ namely the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ and what it means for the world. In Acts 1:8 Jesus calls them ‘my witnesses.’ The original apostles were the original witnesses but because their witness is written down and it is the churches job to be witnesses for Christ to all nations, to the ends of the earth, we as the church pick up the mantle and take the apostolic message forward in each generation. Because we too are witnesses we need to listen closely to the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples after He resurrected.Source
What is envy? Envy is a sin of the heart. It is strongly associated with the sin of coveting and the tenth commandment, that is illicit longing; as well as jealousy, longing to have what is another’s. Historically it has been seen as responsible for the depression that comes from others having and not you; as well as the resentment we have towards other because they have and we do not. Envy has been a strong contender for the title, Mother of all sins. Because of 1 Timothy 6:10 which translated literally says that the love of money, a form of coveting, is the root of all evil, not all kinds of evils, many have argued that envy could be the mother of all sins. I will not take you on a side path to show you how interesting and profitable this discussion is, all you need to know is that Pride took the honor of the title. Envy has not only been seen as a mother-sin but also a fruit of lovelessness. Dante Alighieri the medieval Poet who authored The Divine Comedy looks at all 7 of the Capital sins as a form of disordered love. Lust; Gluttony, and Greed are disordered loves to the gifts of sexual intimacy; food and wealth. Wrath; Envy, and Pride are the opposite of loving our neighbor in seeking their harm. And Sloth is the lack of love towards others evident in inertia.Source
We live in a world that is fixated on the here and now. We live in what Charles Taylor called an Immanent Frame, a view of existence that is cut off from any sense of transcendence. This is all there is. Because there is no certainty of hope there is an intense desperation that infects life in the West. If this is all there is, then this will deeply impact how you live. If this is the only life you have, why work at a marriage that is hard? If this is all there is why die a lingering death, just end your own life quickly with assisted suicide. If this is the only world we have then we had better go about some very strict measures trying to salvage it, and limiting how many people populate it. If this is the only life you have to make your choices then don’t let anything restrict them. If this is the only life you have to express yourself and fulfil your desires then don’t let anyone deny you. Living well in an immanent frame is not measured by your conforming yourself to God’s will and image, not it is measured by whether you have mastered self-help techniques to make your life more self-fulfilling. The orientation of all of life is around this life not the next. Have you noticed how everything has become political? Now that God is out of the picture government has moved in to take His place. Because we no longer serve God’s will and human beings are now the center of the universe, to preserve freedom for people to live before God with a liberty of conscience is no longer the priority. Governments now feel themselves justified in being heavy handed as they force our own good...
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OUTLINE Union Communion INTRODUCTION Today we want to conclude our look at the doctrine of the Trinity. There are many aspects of the doctrine we have not explored. This is indeed one of the deepest doctrines we could ever hope to encounter as we are dealing with the triune nature of God. There are complexities here which can occupy the Christian for eternity. But we want to look at the practical value of this doctrine before we leave it. The doctrine of the Trinity is not just a mystery to occupy the intellectually curious, not it is the very heart of our faith and worship. Many people who don’t like history or technical discussions may feel put off thinking about the Trinity, but we must think on the Trinity and how God being one God in Three modes of subsistence impacts on our lives. The Savoy Declaration and the 1689 have a phrase that the WCF does not have at the end of paragraph 3, ‘which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on him.’ One of the key framers of the Savoy was John Owen, a Congregationalist and probably the best theologian among the Puritans. He is likely the author of this addition. He wrote a book called ‘Of Communion With God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Each Person Distinctly in Love, Grace and Consolation, or The Saints Fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Unfolded.’ This book is considered one of the great classics of Christian devotion. If anyone is interested in reading it I have a free pdf of an up to date English translation I can email to you. In this book Owen explores how the Christian is saved by and worships God as Father,...
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OUTLINE The name of the Son The Begotten-ness of the Son The descriptions of the Son INTRODUCTION As we are coming to grips with the confessions teaching on the Trinity, we have had to go back in time to the councils of Nicea and Constantinople. We have had to learn about Arius and Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers and the Pneumatomachians. We have had to learn some big words like homoousios meaning same substance. The 1689 which is the longest statement on the Trinity in the 17th century has packed all the good stuff from these early creeds into one paragraph. Last week was an overload of words and concepts as we tried to take in a large period of time and the various twists and turns in conversation as the Church articulated its biblical understanding of the Trinity against its attackers. I promised you only one more technical message so that I do not burden you so today I am going to take a look at the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son. There is a wonderful statement in the middle of paragraph 3 which remains unchanged through the WCF, the Savoy, and the 1689, ‘the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son.’ These relations of the persons of the Trinity we have learnt are called modes of subsistence, or eternal relations of origin. The key thing to note is that coeternality of the Son and Spirit, the coequality of the Son and Spirit, rest on the relations of begottenness or procession/spiration. Because the Son is consubstantial by virtue of eternal generation; because the Spirit is consubstantial by virtue of eternal procession, they are therefore fully God as three persons in...
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OUTLINE The loss of hope The return of hope The response of hope INTRODUCTION I have been thinking a lot about hope lately. In part because of the three funerals that we have recently had, and the wonderful way in which the hope of resurrection, of our loved ones being the presence of God, and a promised end to pain make our present sufferings more tolerable. But also because I get to see into a lot of people’s lives, and every one of us has a pool of tears, and my job is to point each one of us to the hope that God provides us in Christ to keep our faith in Him strong, to give us endurance through our trials, even joy in our sorrows, magnifying the glory of who God is and the gracious superabundance of all that He has accomplished for us in Christ. When hope fails, strength fails, when hope is strong, we can endure. Prov. 13:12 says, ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.’ As we come to our portion in Luke we are coming across one of the biggest losses and restorations of hope in the bible, the death and resurrection of Christ. This is the most detailed narrative in Luke’s gospel, the pace slows right down; and Luke with a master story teller’s skill develops the drama and tension of these events until the big reveal and twist in the end. Luke really wants you to pay attention here, and rightly so. We are observing one of the biggest existential crises a person can face, in the minds of these two disciples they are undergoing a massive challenge to faith as the promises of God appear to fail. What they thought was going to...
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OUTLINE Nicea Constantinople INTRODUCTION For those who suffer from technologophobia (the fear of technical terms); or those those who suffer from disconeologophobia (the fear of learning new words); or who have Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (the fear of long words), today is going to be a living nightmare. We come to one of the most important teachings in the Bible, the Trinitarian nature of our God and this is an area where we are stretched to the ends of human language and conception to articulate what we understand the bible to be saying. I know there is a reactionary attitude that thinks that technical terms are somehow bad when it comes to Christianity. I suspect that this has something to do with the laziness we have embraced in our thinking, we look to people with strong opinions to combatively state what we ought to instantly believe in slogan type statements and give us an enemy to hate; we are suspicious of anything to do with the past considering ourselves smarter and better than those who have gone before us. Anti-institutionalism, anti-traditionalism, individualism, a hermeneutic of suspicion, and many other things make teaching on these matters very difficult. Now we must begin by admitting a most important problem, modern evangelicalism is either ignorant of how the church has confessed the trinity up until around the 1700s; or rejects it for modern reconstructions that are seriously at odds with the traditional view. The 1689s doctrine of the Trinity is what we call a catholic doctrine, Catholic with a small c meaning simply, universal. It repeats and identifies itself with the long standing view of the Trinity that has been held by all orthodox Christian traditions. It is the view held by the Pre Roman Catholic Church, the RCC, the Orthodox Churches, Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed and...
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OUTLINE The witness of the tomb The witness of the angels The witness of the women INTRODUCTION On March 28th 1980 the so called family tomb of Jesus was found, also called the Talpiot Tomb. There were nine or ten ossuaries (bone boxes used for second burial). These had names written on them, Jesus son of Joseph; Miriam/Mary; Judah son of Jesus; Matthew and another Mary. The theory claims that Jesus married Mary, had children, and that this was his family tomb. A book was subsequently released with a foreword given by James Cameron the director of Titanic and Avatar; along with a documentary. This theory has had some popularity among those who want to believe it but it has been debunked as pseudoarcheology in the likes of The Da Vinci Code. We however have a sure testimony to the veracity of Jesus bodily resurrection. Paul writes, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 ‘[3] For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. [8] Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.’ And these are not all the witnesses to the truth of Christ’s resurrection. Today we come to what started off as the darkest of days for the disciples and ended as the best of all days, the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. There are...
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OUTLINE The divinity of the Son The divinity of the Spirit INTRODUCTION We continue with the doctrine of the Trinity. Last week we made a beginning at looking at the biblical data establishing that in both the OT and the NT there is a very clear plurality of persons that is presented to us in the form of progressive revelation. We recognized that the Bible does not present the evidence of God’s nature in a textbook form but because each part is God’s word and we cannot make God a liar who contradicts Himself we take all the data and assimilate it in order to make it agree. So far we have been able to agree that there is the insistence of there being only one God but that this God is presented as three persons. Our job today is to consider some of the evidence that shows the divinity of these other persons, namely the Son and Spirit. Source
OUTLINE The fact of Jesus death and burial The significance of Jesus death and burial INTRODUCTION ‘I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.’ These words are from the Apostle’s Creed, one of earliest and most widely held Christian creeds. Part of what we confess we believe is not only that Jesus is our Lord, not only that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. We confess that He suffered, that He was crucified, that He died and was buried. All of these facts are central facts to the gospel, to deny any one of them is to undo the gospel. Paul says as much in 1 Cor. 15:3-4, ‘For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.’ We have been focusing on the crucifixion of Christ and witnessed His death. We come now to the burial of Christ. As with every other part of the truth of Christ’s work for us the fact of Christ’s death and burial are also disputed. Two types of errors have arisen around these events, some are additions and some are denials. In the additions you will be familiar with the Deposition of Christ or the Descent from the Cross...
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OUTLINE Plurality of persons Divinity of persons INTRODUCTION We come now to the glorious doctrine of the Trinity. The 1689 out of the 3 confessions of this era is the fullest in what it says. ‘In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on him.’ The WCF has 55 words in their paragraph to the 1689s 109. There are no fundamental disagreements the additions are clarifications and expansions of the orthodox view of the Trinity. Our approach to this doctrine is twofold. Firstly, we want to familiarise ourselves with the Biblical data of that facts that there is one God in three persons. Secondly, we will look at the historical development of the doctrine. So today we want to do the biblical mining and discover in God’s own word about Himself how He has chosen to reveal how God is both one and three. Source
OUTLINE The darkness The curtain The cry The centurion INTRODUCTION What is the significance of the death of Christ? What is accomplished in the death of Christ? Luke answers these questions for us as he retells the story of Christ’s death on the cross picking out significant details which answer these questions. In our section there are four things that happen which underline what the death of Jesus accomplishes. The darkness indicates that Jesus took the curse and judgement of God; the temple curtain tearing indicates that Jesus has opened up the way to God; the cry of Christ ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,’ indicates the reconciliation of the Son to God; and the confession of the Centurion indicates that Gentiles can become the people of God. These then will be our four headings, the darkness, the curtain, the cry, the centurion. Source
Immensity/omnipresence Last week we spoke about God’s infinity, this is a quality that defines every perfection in God. He is infinitely powerful, infinitely majestic, infinitely wise. We come now to the last two incommunicable attributes that we will be dealing with and these have to do with God’s infinity in relation to space—omnipresence; and His infinity in relation to time—eternity. We are continuing to look at the phrase, ‘who is immutable, immense, eternal.’ Dealing with the incommunicable attributes we must remember that the same qualitative distinction not merely quantitative distinction exists between our experience of space and God’s immensity; our experience of time, and God’s eternity. We as creatures as subject to past, present and future; height, length, and depth; God is the Creator of these conditions and is not contained or defined by them. Source
OUTLINE Judas’s kiss Peter’s zeal Jesus’s rebuke INTRODUCTION We come to the story of the greatest betrayal in history, the betrayal of Judas. Judas’s act was so wicked that his name is now a proverb, when someone betrays us we call them a ‘Judas’. Despite this section describing the worst act a human being has ever done against the Savior, we are not viewing Christ as a victim but as the God appointed Suffering Savior. Someone has asked the question: if Christ only needed to die for our sins, why then did He have to be arrested, tried, tortured as well as killed as a criminal? I love how Hugh Martin helps us to see what we are looking at here: ‘The anger of the invisible God against the invisible soul of the man Christ Jesus could not be beheld by mortal eye. But [that] the world might be constrained to behold it as in a glass. And hence, to set it forth as if in unmistakable and terrible sacramental signs and seals, in and with which to the experience of the soul of Emmanuel the unseen process of His Father’s wrath was being carried on, the Father wielded at His pleasure, in infinite holiness, the official authority of those in high places of the land; put in requisition all forms of competent and legal order in criminal procedure; sacramentally, as it were, prosecuted the surety by awaking and employing against Him all the constituted functions of “the powers that be” and which are “ordained of God,” every one in his place the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath.” Hence the oracle which we hear resounding both at the commencement and the close of this process we ought to accept as justifying and explaining all that takes place...
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INTRODUCTION Let me begin by reading chap. 2 para. 1, ‘The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and withal most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.’ Source
OUTLINE Christ warns us of satanic testing Christ prepares us for new ministry conditions Christ interprets for us His coming death INTRODUCTION If you have ever gone away and had to leave your kids on their own, you will know the type of preparations you made for them. You will have done a final clean of the house; you will have left a list of instructions, and contact details on the fridge; you will have pre-cooked and frozen some meals just in case; you will have stocked the cupboards; you will have got some friends to pop in on them to make sure everything is ok. What preparations does Christ make for His departure as He prepares His disciples not only for His departure, but a new era? We have noted the many things that Christ does in preparing His disciples. He washes their feet; institutes the Lord’s Supper; gives final instructions; gives promises and hope; gives warnings; prays for them. All of this takes place in the upper room. We are looking at Luke’s upper room preparations and we noted that Jesus focuses on several things they need to prepare for before He departs. He warned of a disciple’s apostasy; he outlined a disciple’s paradigm for ministry—servanthood; He spoke of coming rewards for faithful ministry. We pick up on the second part of Christ’s preparations in v31-38. There are three more things Jesus has to prepare His disciples for. Firstly, Christ warns us of satanic testing; secondly, Jesus prepares us for new ministry conditions; thirdly Christ interprets for us His coming death. We will be looking at verses 31-34 under three headings, the testing of satan; the ministry of our Savior; the self-confidence of Peter. Source
OUTLINE Exposing a false disciple Explaining true discipleship Encouraging faithful disciples INTRODUCTION If you knew you were having your last meal with your loved ones before you died, what would you say to them at this meal? We know of several things that happened at Jesus’s last meal with His disciples. We know that Jesus washed the disciple’s feet. We know He gave the new Commandment. We know that He instituted the Lord’s Supper. In John’s gospel we have what is called the Upper Room discourse where Jesus lectures on many deep and wonderful topics including the coming and ministry of the Holy Spirit. We know He prayed what is called the High Priestly prayer in John 17. As Luke reports the last meal of Jesus with His disciples, as he records the final words spoken. Luke focuses on matters related to preparation and discipleship. As you look at the remaining section from v21-38 you can see at least five things that relate to discipleship. V21-23, Jesus again speaks about His betrayal by a false disciple; in v24-27, Jesus maps out servanthood as the paradigm for leadership; in v28-30, Jesus encourages the disciples with a promise of their final reward and reign; in v31-34, Peter is singled out and warned of his pending testing; and in 35-38, Jesus warns of the coming difficulties for ministry. All of these things had a direct bearing upon the original twelve but have relevance for us as well. We will be dealing with the first 3 of the five matters raised under the headings, exposing a false disciple; explaining true discipleship; encouraging faithful disciples. Source
OUTLINE Translation Interpretation Arbitration INTRODUCTION Roman Catholicism hated John Wycliffe translating the Bible into the common language of English. The Roman Catholic system was built on the idiosyncrasies of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation. For example, what we know as the word ‘justified’ which means to legally declare one righteous implying a new legal status was translated into the Latin as ‘make righteous’ not ‘declare righteous.’ Wycliffe’s English Bible cut the throat of Rome’s hold on the common mind by his translation. He translated the word ‘presbuteros’ as elder not priest highlighting that there is no NT warrant for a priesthood. He translated ‘ekklesia’ as congregation not church recognizing and legitimizing local churches as churches not the monolithic church of Rome. He translated ‘metanoeo’ as repent and not do penance making forgiveness a direct exchange between the believer and God and not depend upon following stipulations laid out by the church. He translated exomologeo as acknowledge/admit and not confess to show that the Bible did not intend one to go to a confessional and obtain forgiveness from a priest but obtained it directly from God. The word of God in the common tongue is a powerful tool that can bring about personal and societal transformation. We are looking at the 1689 chapter 1 paragraphs 8-10 and we have begun to stress the importance of translation. We have noted the historical resistance to the effort, and the insistence on the Bible being able to be understood and being reliably transmitted down to us. Today we continue looking at this point and others. In paragraph 8 the emphasis on the word of God being given in the Hebrew and Greek was not an attempt to undermine translations but a recognition of the faults in the Vulgate which Erasmus and others had highlighted. It...
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OUTLINE Final Passover First Communion INTRODUCTION We come to the celebration of the Passover in the Upper Room, and what is the last Passover, will become the institution of the first Lord’s Supper. What would have been merely another Passover for the apostles, is the penultimate Passover for Christ. What would have been a quirky and idiosyncratic Passover for the disciples was in fact the beginning of a new institution, marking the beginning of a new age, and a new practice for a new people of God. What was thought to be the remembrance of past deliverance was in fact the announcement of a coming and greater deliverance. As we come to Luke 22:14-20 we come to a portion of scripture that can be disorienting because as we stand in the disciples shoes and look through their eyes our eyes are cast backwards, we think of Egypt, of bloody Passover lambs, of Moses and deliverance from slavery to become a nation. But as we listen to Christ and understand what He is saying and doing our minds are forced to consider the typological meanings behind those OT events, and cast forward to the fulfillment that will brought about by Christ dying on the cross. As we go through these verses we will attempt to view both perspectives. Our headings for this section are last Passover; first communion. Source
OUTLINE Clarity Reliability INTRODUCTION How many of you have heard of The Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647? ‘Massachusetts passed the Old Deluder Satan Act in 1647, laying the basis for public schools in America. The Puritans valued literacy highly; they believed all individuals should be able to read and interpret the Bible for themselves. In 1642 Massachusetts had required parents to ensure their children’s ability to read, and five years later, in this act, the state mandated community schooling.’ 1 This Act was made law in order to prevent satan from deceiving young people. This conviction that the Bible should be read by all, led to America being a very literate and educated nation, at least for a while. There is little biblical literacy to speak of in America as well as what was once called Christendom today. ‘A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. We are in big trouble.’2 The Puritan forefathers of America were of the Protestant conviction that everyone can and should read their bibles. Given this history of education in America and other Western countries you can see why taking Bible out of schools is a denial of these roots. They believed that they could be understood. This is what lies at the foundation of our next section, chapter 1 paragraphs 7-8. Paragraph 7 talks about how the Bible can be understood and gives rise to the doctrine of the clarity/perspicuity of scripture. Paragraph 8 talks about how the Word of God...
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OUTLINE The timing The plotting The planning INTRODUCTION We enter now into the last 24 hours of Jesus life before His death on Friday at 3pm in what are called the Passion narratives. I feel a great weight of responsibility as we enter this section. I am deeply aware that everything in the Bible leads to and from the moment of Christ dying on the cross. Thousands of years of expectation, with prophecies and promises and types are all pointing to this moment. Pray for me as we proceed that God will give me the ability to bring the weight of these things to bear. As we look at Luke 22:1-13 a good question to begin with is who killed Jesus? This question forces us to reckon with who is in control of what is about to unfold. There are many people involved and many forces at play, there are the religious leaders acting like politicians who are trying to make the practical choices that will secure their own and Israel’s future, as well as the people of Israel themselves. There is Judas who is driven by his own vices. There are the 12 disciples. There is Pilate, Herod, those on the Sanhedrin like Nicodemus who do not want Jesus to be killed. Of course under it all there is satan; and there is Jesus Himself and God. The complexity of people, ambitions, desires and agendas remind us of the complexity of the world that we live in. We can feel overwhelmed as we observe the unifying march of Leftist ideology, the desperate and scrambling attempt of conservatives to resist, we see those grabbing for power, for influence, for wealth. We see false justice, no justice and little true justice. With situations like the present war in the Ukraine and...
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OUTLINE The witness of God The witness of evidences The witness of the Spirit INTRODUCTION By what authority do we accept the Bible to be the word of God? This is the question that the 1689 is addressing in Ch. 1 para. 4-5. This may sound like a strange question to you but it is an important one. At the time of the Reformation a major part of the disagreement between the Protestants and the Catholics was over authority. The Reformers were saying that the Scripture alone is our authority as it is the Word of God; the Catholic Church would respond by saying, but the church came before the Bible, gave birth to the Bible and decided which books should be in the Bible, so the Church has an important authority that cannot be denied. A famous quote from Augustine was often used by the Catholics in this discussion, ‘For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.’ You can feel the dilemma, if you admit that the Catholic church has the authority to decide which books are the word of God and can determine what the Canon of scripture is, then you must accept the authority of the church when it comes to interpreting the word as well and submit to its teachings and not those who are outside the church like Luther and Calvin. The point of these paragraphs was to show that the Bible is not the word of God because the church says so but because God says so. These two paragraphs take up the two types of ways in which the Bible establishes its authority. Paragraph 4 has to do with the Bible’s testimony of itself, its objective authority. Paragraph 5 has more to...
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OUTLINE The response of creation The response of the unbeliever The response of the believer INTRODUCTION We move from the third worst judgement in history, the fall of Jerusalem described for us in v20-24; to the second worst judgement in history, the Second Coming of Christ Luke 21:25-28. When we come to the cross we will come to the worst judgement in human history. How can the cross, where only one man was judged for sin, be worse than the end of human history where every sinner who has not trusted in Christ will be cast into eternal damnation? A million universes of sinners receiving what their sins deserve are nothing in comparison to the God-man, our Creator, who is infinitely worthy of praise suffering on the cross for our sins. We who know and love God count it a greater horror that God should take my sins and be punished for them than that worthy sinners be judged. But for those who do not love God the second coming of Christ will indeed be the worst day in human history. Last week things got heavy as we looked at the fall of Jerusalem, well today we must continue looking at this difficult theme of judgement as we consider Jesus talking about His second coming. The portion we are looking at is known as the Olivet discourse. Mark 13 and Matthew 24 are the parallel accounts of Jesus teaching here. You will remember that the disciples had been bragging about the temple which prompted Jesus to foretell its destruction. The disciples assuming Jesus was describing the end of the ages asked questions about when the temple would be destroyed and when the end of the age would be. Matt. 24:3, ‘As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples...
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OUTLINE OT NT INTRODUCTION 2. The Holy Scriptures, or the Word of God written, consist of all the books of the Old and New Testaments. These are: THE OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. THE NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation. All of these are given by the inspiration of God to be the standard of faith and life. 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Tim. 5:17-18; 2 Pet. 3:16. 3. The books commonly called the Apocrypha were not given by divine inspiration and so are not part of the canon or standard of the Scriptures. Therefore, they have no authority for the church of God and are not to be recognized or used in any way different from other human writings. Luke 24:27, 44; Romans 3:2. God has recorded the saving knowledge of Himself in a book, we call it the Bible, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the 1689 are concerned with the question, ‘Which books should and shouldn’t be in the Bible?’ Paragraph 2 states positively those books which should be considered the Word of God in both the Old and New Testaments, and paragraph 3 states negatively those books that should not be considered part of the Canon of Scripture. Once again the 1689, although addressing historical issues, namely the Roman Catholic Church and its endorsement of the Apocrypha as the Word...
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The warning to flee the city The reason for the fall of the city INTRODUCTION If you visit Rome today, among the many sites you will is see the Arch of Titus, an honorific arch built by the emperor Domitian in 81 AD in honour of his older brother Titus and his father Vespasian and their victory in conquering Jerusalem in 70 AD. There is a famous carving of the plunders of war including items of furniture from the temple. Most famous is a depiction of the Menorah, the 7 stemmed candle from the Holy Place, the design of which was used for the emblem of the modern state of Israel. The Chief Rabbi of Rome forbade any Jew walking under the arch because of what it portrayed, the plundering of the temple, the fall of Jerusalem and one of the most terrible events to happen to Jews. This ban was only lifted in 1948 with the birth of the modern state of Israel. Today we continue looking at Jesus answering the question about when the temple will fall, we will be looking at the details of Titus’ war against Jerusalem and its fall in Luke 21:20-24. As I come to this particular judgement in the Bible, I am overwhelmed with a seriousness and solemnity because of it. God’s judgement on Israel, with the destruction of the temple is the third most serious judgement in the Bible. The judgement of Christ on the cross and the final judgement because the first and second. This judgement is more serious than the flood, more serious than Sodom and Gomorrah, even more serious than the Babylonian invasion of Israel and the first destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Why is it so serious? Firstly, Israel was always a microcosm of humanity. Just as...
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OUTLINE The insufficiency of general revelation The necessity of special revelation The consequent necessity of inscripturated revelation INTRODUCTION Why do we need a Bible? At the time of the Reformation not everyone believed that we needed a Bible. On the one hand you had the Anabaptists who believed in the ongoing gift of prophecy and saw themselves not needing a Bible. On the other hand was the Roman Catholic Church which was happy to keep the Bible in Latin even killing those who would dare translate it and put it into the hands of the common people. This sentiment is captured well from the familiar story of William Tyndale who had a run in with a Roman Clergyman. ‘Around 1520, Tyndale became a tutor in the family of Sir John Walsh, at Little Sodbury in Gloucestershire. He devoted himself more to the study of the Scriptures and embraced the doctrines of the Reformation. His opinions involved him in controversy with his fellow clergymen, and around 1522 he was summoned before the Chancellor of the Diocese of Worcester on a charge of heresy. This led to his removal to London (about October, 1523), where he began to preach. He made many friends among the ordinary people but none among church leaders. A “learned” Roman Catholic clergyman is said to have taunted Tyndale by saying, “We are better to be without God’s laws than the Pope’s”. Tyndale’s famous reply was, “I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause the boy that drives the plow to know more of the Scriptures than you!”1 The opening paragraph of the opening chapter of the 1689 addresses this very issue. It begins with a statement that is not found in the WCF or SDFO. ‘The...
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Sermon 102: Luke 21:5-19: How to Live in the Last Days OUTLINE Prepare for deception Prepare for upheaval Prepare for persecution INTRODUCTION At the website raptureready.com there is something called the rapture index. This is a measuring device to help you know when the rapture is more likely to be near. In explanation it reads, ‘The Rapture Index has two functions: one is to factor together a number of related end time components into a cohesive indicator, and the other is to standardize those components to eliminate the wide variance that currently exists with prophecy reporting. The Rapture Index is by no means meant to predict the rapture, however, the index is designed to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture. You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we’re moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture.’1 The various measurements are: ‘100 and Below: Slow prophetic activity 100 to 130: Moderate prophetic activity 130 to 160: Heavy prophetic activity Above 160: Fasten your seat belts.’ And where are we today? Well according to the rapture index we are at 187 points, well into the fasten your seatbelt side of things. Things like the oil price, inflation, floods, earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, the potential win by the Democrats in the US, Putin as Gog invading the Ukraine all tally up to raise the number. The end of the world and how can we know it is close is a matter that Christians have thought about throughout the centuries. We come now to that part of Luke’s gospel that talks about the last days and...
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The Answer to a most relevant Question, ‘Wat Should I Fear’. A question we should ask ourselves everyday. Source
INTRODUCTION You have likely heard the statements, ‘No Creed but Christ’ or ‘No Creed but the Bible.’ Firstly, let us consider the good in these statements. I as a younger Christian would have been heard to say such things, and there would have been a good intention in saying them. For many being Protestant and not being Roman Catholic, this means that Sola Scriptura, the Bible alone is our authority. The Roman Catholic Church admits tradition as binding in a way that only scripture should bind us. So many in a Protestant sense, denying the authoritative role of tradition have intended something good by saying, ‘No Creed but Christ.’ Secondly, every century has seen a number of attacks on the Bible, these have often come from the prevalent philosophies and trends in thought at the time. For example some have suggested that we need the help of evolutionary science to help us understand the Bible, or we need the help of the new schools of psychology to help us have a more informed anthropology. The Bible plus science, psychology, economic theory, political theory, critical race theory, etc. are perennial battles that we face. And I can imagine someone recognizing these attacks defending the sufficiency of scripture by saying ‘No Creed but the Bible.’ However, there is also a naïve endorsement of these sorts of sentiments because there have been many enemies of the truth who by using these very sentiments have sought to undermine the truth of the Bible we seek to defend. For example, the early twentieth century saw the rise of the Ecumenical Movement, this was an attempt to unite all Christian Churches in one Christian organization as a show of unity before a watching world. It was believed that a single united church would be so much...
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OUTLINE False religion condemned True piety commended INTRODUCTION There is the religion that God loves and there is religion God hates, and Jesus puts these side by side in a contrast so we could see what they look like. This is what we are seeing as we come to Luke 20:45-21:4. You will remember that Jesus is having a major conflict with the religious leaders. He has answered their attempts to try and discredit Him to get Him killed by the authorities; He has questioned them and exposed their ignorance; and now He will openly criticize their hypocritical religion, while commending the sort of religion God loves. The gloves are off as Jesus is less than 48 hours away from His death. We are about to enter a long section about how God is going to judge Israel, and so Jesus as a prophet now condemns the type of religion that gets Israel into such a judgement. We will look at these verses under two headings: false religion condemned v45-47; and true piety commended, 21:1-4. Source
OUTLINE The end of all things Living in light of the end The prelude to the end INTRODUCTION If you were writing the Bible, how would you end the OT? What would you want to say right here? The OT ends the same way the NT does looking ahead to the great and awesome day of the Lord. Last week we looked at the faithless accusations of those who expected blessings upon their heartless religion, and who accused God of injustice because the evil prospered while the heartless religious languished. Chapter 3 ended with a promise, v18, ‘Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.’ The closing chapter of the OT goes on to describe in detail the lot of those who are godly and the lot of those who are not. So as we look at these verses we will look at them under three headings: The end of all things; Living in light of the end; The prelude to the end. Source
OUTLINE The cynic’s question The Savior’s answer INTRODUCTION Is there life after death? Many Post-Christian Western secular people say, No! But the majority of the world’s population, throughout history have said, Yes! The Vikings had a belief in Valhalla. The Egyptians practiced mummification because of their belief in the afterlife. You have probably all heard people tell stories about NDEs, near death experiences. Despite the best attempts by the new atheists there is a recalcitrant view of life going on after death. In the new religionless West we still hear this basic hope for life to mean something to and for our existence to go on after death. Naturalist attempts at meaning and significance talk about living on in the hearts of our loved ones, but I always think, ‘What if they die, or just forget?’ Others will talk about the atoms that make up our bodies once having been star dust and when this earth disintegrates returning to star dust once again. That is not what we mean when we say at a funeral ‘from dust to dust.’ These naturalistic explanations do not satisfy, the human heart longs for something more. I love the way Woody Allen puts it, ‘“I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don’t want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.”1 As Christians we know why people have this desire, Ecc. 3:11 tells us that God has put this hunger for eternity in our hearts. Now many stand confused today, they may agree that life must go on, but they don’t know who to believe. Do they go with Islam, Hinduism, New Age, or some other belief about the afterlife? Imagine if God came...
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OUTLINE Words of faithlessness Words of fear INTRODUCTION What is the difference between a mercenary and a soldier? A soldier fights for his country; a mercenary fights for himself; the soldier for honor, love of country, to protect loved ones; the mercenary for money. This has given rise to the phrase mercenary spirituality, when your spiritual pursuits are all about you and your interests. The new self-help spirituality of West that is a fusion of New Age concepts and psychology would be a classic example of this. A biblical example of this spirituality is found in the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. There we see a son, typifying the Pharisees, whose obedience to God’s law came with the expectation that if he is good he will get stuff, and by implication those who have been bad should get nothing. Malachi is dealing with mercenary spirituality. We come to the 6th dispute in 3:13-18. These verses are divided into two types of people who speak two types of words. In v13-15 we see God rebuking the Israelites for their faithless words that betray a mercenary spirit. The issue is the traditional problem of why do bad things happen to good people, and why do good things happen to bad people, or alternatively, why don’t religious people get the good they deserve and why do irreligious people not get the bad they deserve. This conundrum is ancient and has led many to doubt God’s goodness or existence. In v16-18 we see the speech of those who fear God, and instead of Malachi recording their words, we have God say things on their behalf. So as we look at these verses we will look at them under two headings, words of faithlessness and words of fear. Source
OUTLINE Rendering to Caesar Rendering to God INTRODUCTION What is the relationship between God and politics? That question will open up a can of worms. And right now in this moment in time when we have been two years under government mandates that have affected various freedoms many are asking this question. We have seen the recent Canadian Truckers Convoy that sparked off other convoys around the world. In our own country we have just seen the end of a 23 day protest outside of parliament. As long as there have been humans who have power over the lives of other humans we have come up against the question of God and politics. Does God expect us to live under tyranny; can Christians engage in civil disobedience and bloody revolution? These questions are not new they were also being asked in the first century. You will remember that the Jews who were God’s people, who had been given the holy land by God and were forced to be under Rome’s authority and put up with their invasive forces monitoring their activities and taking certain rights away from them. There would have been various groups with differing views on how things should work out. There were the Herodians who approved of Israel’s occupation by Rome, who welcomed progress, the legal reforms Rome brought, the improvements to society, and its high culture. Then there were the Zealots who were full of Jewish nationalism and wanted a repeat of the Maccabean revolution. Then there were the Pharisees who saw the Roman invasion as a curse on Israel for her disobedience to God’s law and how a pursuit of holiness who bring about God’s deliverance. Then there were those who were filled with Political Messianism, who were putting their hope in a miraculous military...
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OUTLINE A history of past hard-heartedness A revealing of present priorities A prophecy of future judgement INTRODUCTION We come to the last full parable in Luke’s gospel. There are other parables that are told between now and the crucifixion that the other gospels record like the parable of the virgins and the sheep and the goats. But this is the last parable that Luke tells, and this is for a reason. This parable will be known to us as the parable of the wicked tenants, but I love what one of the commentators calls it: The Parable of the Murder of the Owner’s Son. Jesus is 48 hours away from His crucifixion, He is 48 hours away from being wrongfully condemned and murdered by Israel and her leaders. This parable is a peculiar one in that it is an extended allegory. Where many other parables illustrate an important spiritual truth like the parable of the Prodigal Son that reveals God’s delight to receive penitent sinners, this parable is different. This is a parable that reflects on the history of Israel’s sin, the present rejection of their Messiah and the future judgement that must fall upon them. It has an overview of redemptive history, a messianic claim, and a prophecy of judgement that is coming. Each of the characters in the parable have clear correspondence to understood realities. The landowner is God, the vineyard is Israel, the tenants are Israel’s leaders, the servants are God’s prophets, and the beloved Son is Jesus. On display in this parable we see the grace and patience of God; the hardness of the human heart; and the inevitable judgement upon those who reject God’s overtures towards them. We will look at this parable under three headings: a history of past hard-heartedness; a revealing of present...
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OUTLINE Turning Tithing Testing INTRODUCTION ‘The bible leaves no question about it. God’s people are supposed to be rich…. God’s people are to be rich—financially wealthy and prosperous in every possible way, with plenty of money.’1 That is a quote from Kenneth Copeland. The prosperity gospel is a modern error that abuses many parts of the Bible, the portion before us is one of the most abused portions of the Bible by the prosperity gospel. The teaching on God’s character and grace and our responsibility to repent and to honor Him is overshadowed by a greed that seeks to control God through a mechanistic and formulaic abuse of these verses. We come to the 5th of 6 disputes in Malachi. God turns from the clergy to the laity, from the sins of the priests to the sins of the worshippers. There are various sins that are committed by Israel that they have been rebuked for. These sins have provoked God’s discipline of them and caused the deprivations they are suffering. V5 had listed several sins that they deserve judgement for, but v6-12 focuses on their worship and in particular their practice of tithing. Today as we look at God addressing this matter we will be looking at them under three heading, turning, tithing and testing. Source
OUTLINE The question of Jesus’ authority The question of John’s baptism INTRODUCTION It is Wednesday in the passion week, and this is a day of conflict and controversy. Just look down at chapter 20, notice v19, ‘the chief priests sought to lay hands on Him at that very hour.’ This chapter has several encounters of conflict. It begins with the leaders of the people questioning Christ’s authority, v1-8; v9-18 has the parable of the wicked tenants a hard hitting parable that condemns the rejection of the Messiah and the judgement that will follow; then we see Jesus questioned over taxes in an attempt to ensnare Him; then there is a question to try and catch Him out in His teaching on the resurrection; Jesus responds with a question which none of the leaders can answer and ends the chapter with a scathing denunciation in the hearing of all the people to beware of the scribes. Jesus is questioned about His personal authority; His political allegiances and His theological correctness, and in each encounter Christ proves to be more wise than those trying to ensnare Him. Jesus has just recently resurrected Lazarus from the dead, the popularity of this event led the leaders to conspire to kill Jesus so that the Romans won’t think it another revolt, John 11:45-53. Jesus then rode into Jerusalem like the King of Israel and would not silence the accolades and the praise that announced Him to be so. Jesus we know has just openly countermanded the High priest by driving out those moneylenders and vendors that he had approved, and openly accused him of neglecting God’s purpose of prayer and using the temple for criminal personal gain. The leaders are out for blood, they want to eliminate the problem of Jesus so that they can...
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OUTLINE The accusation The answer INTRODUCTION Sin creates reversals. Marriage as a relationship where we are to serve each other gets distorted into a relationship where we serve ourselves. God’s gifts in creation which are given to us that we might serve Him with them, get turned into gods that we serve as idols. The anger we are given to reflect God’s own passionate hatred of sin gets weaponized and turned against those we love. Another reversal exists in the text before us, the guilty accused make accusations of injustice against the holy Judge. In other words what we have before us is a typical problem of sinners accusing God of injustice because they are suffering. You will remember that Malachi is a Post-exilic prophet. The people of Israel were rightly exiled because of their sins, they spent 70 years in exile and God graciously restored them to the land though He had every right to wipe them out. Upon returning to the land they began to rebuild but many of the old sins began to reassert themselves. We see corruption in the priesthood, apathy in worship, and sin prospering in society. As a result the people of God who were hoping for better days, for God’s blessings, for more food and prosperity, but they were not seeing it. Malachi 2:17-3:6 is the fourth dispute between God and the people, here God exposes this accusation and makes His response. We will look at this section under two headings, the accusation and the answer. Source
OUTLINE Jesus enters the temple Jesus cleanses the temple Jesus’ zeal for the temple INTRODUCTION There are certain texts in the Bible that are pregnant with meaning; they have layers of meaning to unravel. Jesus’ actions in cleansing the temple is one such passage. The birth of Christ, the baptism of Christ, the transfiguration of Christ, these events are multivalent as they bring together several lines of promises, types and prophecies in the OT to a climactic fulfillment in Christ. Although Luke records Jesus cleansing of the temple in very few verses, they are packed full with significance. Today as we look at these verses we will be examining them under three headings: Jesus enters the temple; Jesus cleanses the temple’ Jesus’ zeal for the temple. Source
OUTLINE Children and divorce The heart and divorce Hatred and divorce INTRODUCTION We are in our third sermon looking at the matter of divorce. So far we have looked at the spiritual consequences for those who pursue divorce; what constitutes a marriage and last week we laid out an overview of the Bible’s teaching on divorce. We got as far as looking at Genesis to the teachings of Christ. I wanted to say one last word based on the teaching of 1 Corinthians 7 before we moved on with our exposition of Malachi 2:13-16. I feel that there is a missing ingredient in most discussions around Christians divorcing and it is the reality of membership and church discipline. Jesus told us that God allowed but did not command divorce because of hardness of heart, Matt. 19:8. Jesus helped us see that divorce for any reason is sinful but there are situations that involve sexual unfaithfulness that make it allowable. Paul in 1 Cor. 7 adds to the grounds for divorce including desertion. Paul says that if an unbeliever walks out on an unbeliever then the unbeliever is to be at peace. The Reformed churches have recognized that the innocent parties in these situations are free to remarry in the Lord. This where church discipline and the role of the church becomes so important in any divorce. Contrary to popular belief divorce is not a private matter that is just between the married couple and their lawyers. Every Christian is to be a member of a local church, being shepherded faithfully by elders. So if a marriage between members in the church is heading towards divorce, because hardness of heart, in other words sin is involved, the elders will have to get involved to seek a reconciliation. And if one or...
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OUTLINE The prophet King The humble King The weeping King INTRODUCTION The coronation of royalty has always been a loud and expensive affair. When Napoleon decided to crown himself emperor he got a crown called ‘the crown of Charlemagne’ made; a mantle that weighed eighty pounds and had to be carried by four helpers; he held a scepter that belonged to Charles V and a sword belonging to Philip III. The Pope was dragged into crowning Napoleon giving the impression of the approval of the Roman Catholic Church in an elaborate ceremony in Notre Dame. A hot air balloon with 3000 lights in the shape of the imperial crown was released during the ceremony. The whole affair cost 8.5 million francs. Compare that with the King of Israel coming to His capital Jerusalem in what has traditionally been called, the triumphal entry, Luke 19:28-44. The account of the triumphal entry is found in all four gospels. Jesus wears no crown or royal robes. Jesus has to borrow a colt to ride on. He was wearing all He owned and it would soon be taken from Him and gambled for. All the kings of the earth have delegated authority and power, but here is the one time when the true King walked among us and was received as King. There are two clear perspectives in the event before us, the perspective of the people and the perspective of the King. There was the perception of the people and the King they wanted; and there was the perception of the King and who He really was. Luke portrays for us all the various attitudes, we see the false expectations of the disciples; the rejection of the Pharisees, and the harsh realities of Jesus perspective. As we look at Jesus beginning His passion...
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OUTLINE The King receives His kingdom His servants await His kingdom INTRODUCTION ‘When Herod the Great died in 4 b.c., it was obvious to almost everyone that his son Archelaus would take his throne in Judea. However, there was only one man in the entire world who had the power and authority to crown Archelaus as king: the emperor Caesar in Rome. Although Archelaus began to rule immediately upon the death of his father, his royal title could be ratified only by Caesar Augustus himself. So Archelaus made the long journey to Rome, where he expected to be crowned as king in the temple of the Palatine Apollo. Unfortunately for Archelaus, there was active opposition to his monarchy, and when he arrived in Rome, he discovered that some of his own family members were rival claimants to the throne. Even worse, a delegation of fifty Jewish leaders came from Jerusalem seeking an audience with Caesar and claiming that Archelaus was unfit to govern. During Passover there had been a disturbance at the temple, and soldiers of Archelaus had rashly slaughtered some three thousand worshipers. The delegation from Jerusalem, backed by thousands of Jews who were then living in Rome, petitioned Caesar to liberate them from the authority of Archelaus. The whole business took much longer than anyone expected, but eventually Caesar decided to give Archelaus the opportunity to prove that he was worthy to be the king. Not surprisingly, when Archelaus returned to Judea he executed swift punishment against the men who had rebelled against his rule. He went away as a contender, but he returned as king, ready to exercise his royal authority.’1 These events that happened shortly after the birth of Christ 30 years earlier would be still be etched on the minds of the Jews, and it...
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INTRODUCTION Last week we began to engage with the second problem that Malachi was addressing around marriage in Israel. The Israelites were divorcing their wives to marry idolaters. We have dealt with the issue of being unequally yoked, last week we looked at the nature of marriage, today we continue with a look at the biblical teaching on divorce. Knowing how many questions there are on this matter I have chosen to expand our investigation. At present there are three main views held in the Christian Church. There is the view of acceptable divorce on the grounds of adultery and desertion, but with no remarriage. The second view allows for divorce on the grounds of adultery and desertion, and the right to remarry for the innocent party of these situations. And the third position says that there are many grounds for divorce and nearly all can remarry. I find myself between the second and the third views, for I feel that the only grounds for divorce being adultery and desertion are inadequate, and that there are many other situations where a Christian can remarry, but there are cases where I would also refuse to marry certain people. In our study today we are not going to explore all three of the views and argue theirs various points, the complexity of the views would need several volumes to record. We are going to put forward a particular view, moving from Genesis to the NT. Source
INTRODUCTION Jericho will always be famous for 3 unlikely converts. Firstly, there is the conversion of the prostitute Rahab. At the time of the Exodus she had heard about God rescuing His people from Egypt and giving them victory wherever they went. When the two spies came into Jericho she hid them, saving their lives. Her faith was demonstrated in her brave actions to save the spies. The second we looked at last week, the salvation of an apparently sinful blind man Bartimaeus. We saw someone who would be suspected of great sin seeing Jesus true identity when others did not, we witnessed his determination to be healed by the Son of David, and how he followed Him. Our third unlikely convert is Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector. We have in Zacchaeus a wonderful picture of the conversion of the quintessential sinner. Where Bartimaeus foregrounded faith, Zacchaeus shows us that true conversion includes repentance as well as faith. One of the major concerns to the Jews when they encountered the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith was the issue of holiness. If we say that we are not saved by works and that forgiveness is free that will be a teaching that encourages sin and holiness which is something that every person who loves God should strive for will not be properly motivated. There was a deep suspicion of salvation by grace through faith, especially when you see outcasts and lifestyle sinners suddenly let off the hook and fully forgiven. There is no trial, no window period where they have to prove themselves, upon believing they are fully forgiven. Luke, who is very good as stressing repentance in Luke and Acts, is the only gospel that includes the story of Zacchaeus. His conversion illustrates the power of God to...
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Introduction Marriage in NZ is under attack. 2020 saw some of the lowest amounts of marriages in NZ recent history. There were only 16 380 marriages.1 The statisticians add a further 403 same sex marriages and civil unions, but as Christians who have a biblical view of marriage, we cannot admit the same sex unions are marriage, it cannot be a marriage in God’s eyes unless it is between one natural man and one natural woman. Likewise civil unions are legal realities that defy being defined by the Bible, they refuse to define themselves as a marriage and so do we. That is a dramatic drop off from 2019 which recorded just over 19 000 marriages. Covid 19 caused a 10% drop off in the marriage rate in one year. In 1971, 50 years ago there were just over 27 000 marriages in a population of 2.8 million, that has dropped to 16 380 in a population of 5.3 million. Not only that, marriages are happening later in life. In 1971 the average age for marrying in NZ was 20.8 years for women, and 23 years for men, that has risen to 29.5 years for women and 30.6 years for men. 7,707 couples divorced in 2020, that is more than double the 3,347 in 1971. 5973 children under the age of 17 have been impacted by those 7700 divorces. Here are some stats for America, which set the trend for the Western world: ‘Every 42 seconds, there is one divorce in America, That equates to 86 divorces per hour, 2,046 divorces per day, 14,364 divorces per week, and 746,971 divorces per year There are nearly 3 divorces in the time it takes for a couple to recite their wedding vows (2 minutes). More than 172 divorces occur during your...
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OUTLINE The knowledge of faith The desperation of faith The asking of faith The consequences of faith INTRODUCTION It has been said that Christ’s miracles of healing various disabilities is a deliberate illustration of how Christ heals our spiritual ailments. Christ raising the dead illustrates how Christ is able to give new life; Christ casting out demons illustrates how the devil’s domination of us is overcome; the healing of leprosy shows how Christ can cure the unclean incurables; the healing of lame shows us the liberty we experience in Christ to live for God; the healing of deafness shows how turns us from truth and how God teaches us to listen to His voice. We see in these physical ailments illustrations of our spiritual condition and the sufficiency of Christ to rescue us from them all. The healing of blindness then teaches us about our sin induced blindness and Christ who gives us eyes to see. Today we come to the miracle of Jesus healing the blind man one the road to Jerusalem in Luke 18:35-43. This is an important miracle in the context of the journey to Jerusalem. Jesus has been speaking about who enters the kingdom of heaven and has been reeducating us about who can and cannot enter. The best of Jewish religion, the Pharisee cannot enter; the best of Jewish society, the rich young ruler cannot come in; but the child, the tax collector and now we see the blind beggar can come in. At this Jericho pit stop we will see two important converts this blind man and Zacchaeus, and they will be the last converts until the thief on the cross and the Centurion at Christ’s crucifixion. The lesson of this section is that a blind man sees who Jesus really is, and those...
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OUTLINE The sin in Israel The sin in the Bible The sin in our experience INTRODUCTION Marriage is an institution created by God and as sinners we reject God’s institutions and sin against them just as we sin against God. In the endless creativity of our sinfulness there are many sins against God’s institution of marriage. We sin against marriage when we do not keep sex for marriage, not seeing it as a seal of the covenant bond, a picture of our union with Christ, an expression of committed love, and the means of bringing children into the protected environment of a committed life long relationship. Pornography, prostitution and promiscuity which take sexual satisfaction and turn it into a personal pastime and a selfish pleasure. Polygamy, where a man has more than one wife, or polyandry where a woman has more than one husband is a defiance of God’s pattern of the two becoming one flesh. Open marriages where you do not have to remain loyal to your spouse; swinging; contractual not life-long covenants; concubinage; homosexual marriage; adultery; divorce; child brides; incest; deliberate childless marriages; cohabitation. I am sure you could add to my list. The portion of scripture that we are dealing with today Malachi 2:10-12 addresses two key areas of marital sin that were deeply impacting on Israel’s holiness and provoking the justice of God—divorce and being unequally yoked to an unbeliever. V10-12 deals with the issue of being unequally yoked and v13-16 the matter of divorce. Today our focus is on the matter of Jews marrying people of other religions. We will divide our message into three sections. Firstly, we will look at this sin in Israel doing a short exegesis of v10-12; then we will look at what the Bible says about this sin in general...
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OUTLINE Birth Nature Ministry Death, burial and resurrection INTRODUCTION I am a fan of science fiction and fantasy, and a common theme in many these genres is the issue of prophecy. Modern fiction thinking reflects modern world views. It too tries to create stories that don’t have God as the Bible describes Him in them. Often you will have a prophecy about someone’s death and this will spark the various characters into having philosophical dialogues. The main problem presented in these dialogues is this one. How can the future be fixed and our choices be free? A common plot twist is where the hero makes their own destiny refusing to be defined even by prophecy. These fictional versions of reality are products of a worldview without God where man writes his own destiny. There is no almighty God causing all things to come to pass according to a predetermined plan. And even if they allow for a God he too can only guess about the future because your choices are not set until you choose them. This fictional view of the universe sits well with our sinful instinct to deny a God over us and to think that we control reality and our own destinies. Source
OUTLINE The unheeding Levite The ideal Levite The wayward Levite INTRODUCTION Robert Murray McCheyne said once that his people’s greatest need was his personal holiness. Why is it that a church’s greatest need is for the minister to be as holy as he can be? I think John Benton said it well, it is rare for the spirituality of the group of Christians to exceed that its leaders. Leaders set the tone for worship, they give direction, they give teaching and instruction and they are supposed to model the Christlike life as Paul does, 1 Cor. 11:1, ‘Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.’ Truth is as much, or perhaps more caught than taught so a leader’s life and teaching is to be guarded closely. This is why Paul says to Timothy, 1 Timothy 4:16, ‘Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.’ It is for this reason that teachers are held to a higher standard of accountability, James 3:1, ‘Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.’ In the portion before us we see God holding the spiritual leaders, the priests accountable for their failure. We see God warning judgement, outlining the ideal priest and naming their failures. Any look at God’s standards for leaders is useful for every Christian because as believers we are to find good leaders in good churches and gladly commit ourselves to submit to their care and instruction. As Christians we are to appoint Christian men who fulfil these requirements to positions of authority. And, if leaders are to live a godly life that we might imitate them, then we need...
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OUTLINE Salvation is impossible with man Salvation is possible for God INTRODUCTION I want you to picture the best human being alive on earth right now. Think of a person who is virtuous, successful, lauded, and loved. Some of you may have pictured a Nobel Prize winner like the late Desmond Tutu who has just died at the age of 90, some may have thought of a family member. No matter who you thought of that person is not truly good, and not good enough to get themselves into heaven. This is the lesson of the next section we are looking at in Luke 18:18-30. We come to the familiar story of the rich young ruler. The context helps us to see why this is here. You will remember that Jesus is dealing with the issue of who can and cannot get into the kingdom of God, who is welcome and who is not, who will be received and who will not. We have seen a Pharisee rejected and a tax collector accepted; we have been told about how we have to come us unentitled, defenseless and needy children. Christ has been turning our world upside down showing us that those who we thought were good and deserved salvation were rejected, and those who we thought rejected are accepted. Christ continues on this note showing how the rich are poor and the poor are rich. The main point of this section is to show us that the best of men are men at best and it takes a gracious and powerful God to save us because we cannot save ourselves. Our portion divides into two section, v18-23 deals with Jesus interaction with the Rich Young Ruler, we will call this point salvation is impossible with man; then in v24-30 we...
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OUTLINE Dishonoring worship Minimalistic worship Lukewarm worship Compromised worship INTRODUCTION How much worship does God deserve? How much honor, reverence, fear, awe, love, obedience, and sacrifice? The truth is we can never worship, honor or revere God too much. If I as a finite creature gave every moment of time to give a constant flow of heartfelt praise, it would never be enough. If every person in all of creation worshipped God for all eternity, even this finite choir could not give God’s infinite majesty the glory it is due. Enter sin into that equation where we worship as sinners, from sinful hearts, in sinful ways, and you can see the many ways in which we sin in our worship. It is this matter of sinful worship that Malachi turns next in 1:6-14. Source
Our Political leaders don’t always act rightly. How should the people of God respond? Source
INTRODUCTION We come to a new section in Luke, 18:15-17, which is of great interest to us because Jesus talks about children. Children play a large part in our lives and are very important to us. The world has many wrong understandings about children that need correcting. Children are viewed as discardable tissue or part of a woman’s body and so can be aborted at their convenience. Others see children as possessions that belong to them to shape and mold as they desire. Many have child idolatry where their sense of identity and purpose is wrapped up in children. Many think that children are angels that are sinless and can do no wrong. Today we are seeing an increase in seeking to make children independent and autonomous as young as possible, the key new role being defined for parents is one enabler, and facilitator of self-discovery and self-definition. The traditional parental role of helping our children to know the truth about God, the world and themselves is now perceived as oppression and an imposition. The Bible of course has always presented God’s view of these things, children are not a mass of tissue, nor even technically part of a woman’s body, they are unique human beings made in the image of God with an eternal soul. Children are not our possessions but gifts from God. They are not our idols but a stewardship that we will have to one day give an account for. They are not angels but sinners in need of salvation in Jesus Christ, and they need the new birth to help them produce Christlikeness. They are not autonomous self-defining deities, they are created beings accountable to God entrusted to the delegated authority of their parents who are obliged by God to love them, model good behavior...
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INTRODUCTION Christmas time is supposed to be a time of great joy. But many people are sad. You have heard of S.A.D., seasonally affected disorder. This usually describes people who react badly to winter weather because there is less sunshine, but many are affected by the approaching Christmas season as well. There are the usual reasons for feeling sad, maybe it is separation from loved ones, or the loss of a loved one. Maybe it is coming to the end of a rough year where many expectations went unmet and many hardships surprised us. There are added troubles this year as we have another Covid Christmas. The world is more joyless than usual at this time. There has been a 28% rise in Covid related depression, 53 million cases. There has been a 26% rise in Covid related cases of anxiety, 76 million new cases. There has been a 15% rise in eating disorders among young people during Covid. There has been an increase in domestic violence. On and on we could go, we live in difficult times. Source
INTRODUCTION Jeremiah 17:9 says of our hearts, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’ Our hearts are self-deceiving, in other words we lie to ourselves. We deceive ourselves about many things but two stand out in our text today. We lie to ourselves about our own goodness; and we lie to ourselves about others sinfulness. We come another famous parable of Christ in Luke 18:9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Jesus has been speaking about how we ought to persevere in prayer, this parable too is about prayer. Jesus here teaches us the proper attitude that makes us and our prayers acceptable to God. Source
INTRODUCTION The Puritan Samuel Rutherford, in a letter to a man who doubted whether he was a Christian wrote this: ‘We being born in atheism, and bairns (children) of the house we are come of, it is no new thing, my dear brother, for us to be under jealousies and mistakes about the love of God.’1 Having atheist hearts that are in disposition contrary to God we call God a liar instead of believing He cannot lie; we believe God vacillates and changes instead of believing that He cannot change; we believe that God is against us when He says He is for us. We credit Him with injustice not perfect justice; folly not perfect wisdom; indifference not Fatherly care. There is no part of God that has not been attacked and doubted by our hearts. Source
INTRODUCTION Prayer is something that every Christian does, but nobody does well. Prayer is the native tongue of faith, but we trend towards doubt. Prayer is the hearts’ expression of love to God, but we are often cold towards God. Prayer is the outlet of holy desire, but we are full of sinful desires. We struggle to pray and we struggle to pray well. This could be because of sin in our lives that we withdraw from God’s searching gaze. This could be because of the business of life where the urgent drives out the important. It could be that our hearts have grown cold as we have binged on things that steal our spiritual hunger. We need to know how to pray like our bodies need to know how to breath. But here is the difference where breathing is instinctive prayer is deliberate. Add to this the fact that the Church and the Christian are often under duress. They experience trials from both within and without. Add to this the fact that God does not always answer prayer when and how we want Him to. This adds extra layers of difficulty to an already difficult task. Source
Overview We come now to the end of the book of Ephesians. This is one of Paul’s denser letters as it focused us on God’s work of building the church. Where Romans is a tour de force of the Gospel, Ephesians is considered Paul’s tour de force of the church. In concluding our sermon series let me attempt to give a view from 30 000 feet. The basic thrust of the letter is God’s work in Christ to make a new humanity for a new creation. Firstly, let me give the large sections that we covered. After the introduction of 1:1-2 we see a description of the new life we have in Christ in 1:3-2:10; then Paul describes the new family that we are in Christ in 2:11-3:21, in particular the idea of Jews and Gentiles in one body; then in 4:1-5:21 that new standards that we are to live by in Christ; 5:22-6:9 describes our new relationships in Christ, and 6:10-20 our new struggle with the devil in Christ. Source
INTRODUCTION We come to the last message on spiritual warfare. We have spoken about the strength that God gives us by His Spirit; and we have looked at the pieces of the armour as the equipment every Christian is equipped with for the fight. But our last message was on one of the most important aspects of our warfare and that is prayer. Prayer is indeed the greatest need of every believer and the greatest need of the church. Prayer is the God given means by which we appropriate all of God’s strength for the fight. Paul spends more time talking about prayer than any of the other pieces of the armour and so I have as well. Today as we end this series we will look at Ephesians 6:18-20 and the call to intercessory prayer, forgive me as I skip persevering prayer, this will be my next sermon next Sunday morning, ‘praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.’ Source
Introduction It has been announced that on the 3rd of December all of NZ will enter the new Traffic Light situation. Along with many mandates affecting all areas of society, the church has not been left unaffected. We have been locked down and unable to meet; we have been told who can and can’t enter our buildings with and without vaccination certificates, and recently it has been mandated that all church staff who are not vaccinated will make the church liable for a $15 000 fine, whether you are asking for certificates or not. Our ability to meet, who we let through the door, and now the basis upon which we call a pastor have all been challenged and rewritten by the government. We are nearing the point of civil disobedience where we have no choice but to obey God rather than men. Source
INTRODUCTION The greatest spiritual warrior to have walked the earth is Christ. He never gave in to one temptation; He faced greater temptations than anyone will ever face, and He is our teacher as we turn from the spiritual armour to the importance of prayer in spiritual warfare. As we read through the gospels we come across a life saturated in prayer. He would get up early and pray, Mk. 1:35; He would pray in private, Lk. 9:18; He prayed at His baptism, Lk. 3:21-22; and before He ate, Matt. 14:19. He prayed all night when facing important decisions like choosing His disciples, Lk. 6:12; He would withdraw in the middle of busy times when people were crowding to see and hear Him, Lk. 5:15-16; and after a very hard day’s work would follow up the day with prayer, Mk. 6:46; He prayed for Peter who was about to go through testing Lk. 22:32; in Gethsemane three times before He faced the cross, Matt. 26:36, and while He was dying, Lk. 23:34, 46. Ephesians 6:18-20, ‘praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.’ Many have thought that prayer is the last piece of the armour, but it has been pointed out that Paul does not call us to put it on. Rather it is to be viewed as something that should attend every other part. That we prayerfully wear the belt of truth, the breastplate, take up the...
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INTRODUCTION What is the meaning of history? Where is everything going? What is it all for? We live in a day of fear and uncertainty. Many are caught up in the fear of a future that is looking very bleak due to the effects of climate change; or a future living in a post-Covid world; or a future controlled by Neo-Marxist governments; or a future of constant digital surveillance. Many have a view of the future that is dark and hopeless. Every generation has lived with the harsh realities of living in a fallen world pressing in upon them. The threat of a nuclear world war 3; the threat of military regimes driven by godless philosophies taking over the world; the threat of AIDS. The Bible has always had a hope-filled view of the future. The Bible is able to explain why we suffer, why we die, why we do terrible things to each other. The Bible promises that the pain will one day come to an end with the coming of a promised Saviour from God. The Jews had set their hope on this day, the arrival of the Promised One. God’s plan, as it turns out has various parts and is not simple. In the section before us, Luke 17:20-37, Jesus first addresses the Pharisees and their question about the kingdom pointing to how His presence among them is an indication that the kingdom of God, the day of salvation has arrived. But God’s plan to make all things new doesn’t happen all at once, we know that there is a first coming and a second coming of Christ. That Christ comes but then goes away and that He will come back again. Last week we spoke about how the OT prophecies often present like a mountain range...
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The truth of God is something that informs every part of the armour of God. The truth of God is our belt that makes us ready for war; the truth of the gospel righteousness we have protects our hearts; the truth of the gospel gives us peace and makes us ready to stand and run; the truth of God’s promises quench the fiery darts of the evil one. As we continue looking at the next two pieces of the armour we see that the truth of God informs them as well. Ephesians 6:17, ‘and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’ Source
In his book called Mere Christianity, in the chapter called hope, C.S. Lewis writes ‘Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hungry: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. … If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world.’ We all long for a world of no pain, a world with no evil, a place where we can live in peace, this is because God has made us to live in His New Creation. God has made us to live in holy happiness in a place of peace where we are free to find the fulfilment of every holy desire in His perfect ways and world. Tolkien, a friend to Lewis and instrumental in his conversion, speaks about our hearts being made for God’s story. He talks about how our hearts resonate with all the major fairytales, where we live happily ever after. Those stories that talk about the prince coming to fight and lay down his life and rescue his bride, those stories that talk about the conflict of the ages resulting in the overcoming of evil. God made our hearts to resonate with His work of salvation and we find ourselves drawn to these great epics as our hearts look for the satisfaction we are made to find in His story. The Bible is the primary place where God made promises and paints a picture of the New Creation that He has made us for. Just after sin enters the world we see God promising a Son who would undo the works of the devil and defeat him...
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What do we need to be effective for the spiritual war we are in? So far Paul has told us that we need God’s truth, this makes us ready, and helps us against the father of lies. We need to guard our hearts with righteousness, firstly with the truth of our justification; and secondly with a love for holiness as we pursue sanctification. Today we want to look at the next two pieces of armour Paul places before us, the shoes and the shield, v15-16, ‘and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.’ The shoes point to the need to standing and mobility, and to prepare us for battle in this way God provides shoes. Are they the shoes of peace or readiness? We see that they are the shoes of readiness, which can also be translated firmness, and this is given by the gospel of peace. It is vital that we understand this connection because it is the gospel which produces peace which produces our readiness/firmness in spiritual warfare. They are the shoes of Gospel peace-readiness. The shoes are essential to help us stand as well as to help us run. Secondly, we need the full body protection of the shield of faith. The Roman shield was a large 4 foot shield that had a metal covering. Enemies would often shoot arrows that were tipped with rags dipped in flammable fluids. If an arrow hit a target there would be a splash of the fluids that were on fire onto the object that it hit, because of the metal covering the Roman shields did not catch alight. Paul...
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(Apologies for the audio cutting off at the 43 minute mark. Please download the sermon manuscript if you want to read more.) On the 21st of October 2021 Jacinda Ardern announced that NZ will be moving away from the Alert Level system to the Traffic Light system. Some of the stated goals by the government are to update the countries response in light of a majority vaccinated population, and to limit lockdown situations to relevant areas and not make them country wide. Our message today is not going to focus on the political, medical or economic logic behind these choices but to focus on how the governments coming imposition will impact our ability to meet as a church. As it stands the traffic light system has a double standard, one for the vaccinated and one for the unvaccinated. At green there are no number limits on those churches that will demand vaccination certificates for access; but churches that do not ask whether you are vaccinated or not will be limited to 100 people, or the maximum that your building can hold with a 1m distance in-between. At orange, there will be no limits on those who require vaccination certificates for entrance; but churches who do not ask for certification, they will only be allowed 50 people at 1m distance in-between. At red, the vaccinated can enjoy 100 people in church 1m apart, but the unvaccinated will be limited to 10. What this will mean for a church of our size is that we would with some careful planning be able to have our regular services during green, we would have to run two morning services in amber, and we would have to divide the church up into smaller groups to meet in each other’s homes in red. Larger churches will...
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The various parts of the armour seem well suited to the parts of the body they attach to. The word of God is well suited to be a sword because of its ability to penetrate the heart. The helmet of the hope of our salvation is well suited to protecting our heads. The gospel of peace prepares us for all of our Christian actions and is well suited to the shoes of gospel peace readiness. The truth makes us well prepared as a belt. And righteousness is well chosen to protect our hearts as a breastplate. Sin is a terrible enemy of our hearts and righteousness is it best protection. Today as we continue thinking about the gospel armour we are looking at the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians 6:14b, ‘and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.’ There are two aspects to the breastplate that must be covered. Some have thought that the breastplate represents the Christian’s commitment to holiness and growth in sanctification; others have thought that it refers to the Christian’s justification and the imputed righteousness of Christ. We see both as part of the armour. These two aspects of the breastplate of righteousness make the Christian ready to meet two of the major assaults of the devil, accusation and temptation. We will look first at the breastplate as referring to our justification and secondly as our sanctification. Source
Today we have the joy of having a baptismal service, we are baptising four believers into the membership of the church. Everyone knows what baptism is, but not everyone is clear on what baptism means. Some of this is due to ignorance; some of this is due to confusion due to disagreement between Christians. Today I am going to do a topical sermon on the issue of baptism. I want to put forward a definition that I am borrowing from Bobby Jamieson, an American Reformed Baptist who is deeply involved with 9marks. And I would like to unpack his definition leaning on his booklet, Understanding Baptism. I will of course be rooting our definition in the Bible, but he is a helpful guide. Let’s look at the definition. Definition: ‘Baptism is a church’s act of affirming and portraying a believer’s union with Christ by immersing him or her in water, and a believer’s act of publicly committing him or herself to Christ and His people, thereby uniting a believer to the church and marking off him or her from the world.’ Source
Holy War means two different things depending on whether you are living in the OT or the NT. In the OT the armies of Israel were God’s rod of judgement putting on an end times display of what the final judgement will look like. The land, which represented the new creation was wiped clean of all idolaters. The Israelites were to take up literal sword and shield and apply the death that sin deserves to all sinners in the land. When anyone attacked God’s land or people, the armies of Israel had every confidence that God would bless their military strength and give them the victory. But in the NT we experience holy war in a very different way. The church is no longer called upon to be a literal army foreshadowing the final judgement; instead the church is called to be witnesses, who take a message of Christ’s finished work offering life not death to any who will repent and believe. We no longer have a land to keep clean and purge with the death penalty, we no longer have a nation state to monitor and enforce laws which speak of new creation realities. Our weapons and our warfare have changed. For this reason we look upon events like the crusades and we can criticise those Christians who have waged the wrong sort of warfare. One day Jesus is going to come again, and it will be His job to judge all enemies, subdue all nations to His will, cleanse all of creation, and keep a new creation clean from all sin and death. We live in a world that hates Christ, that resists the truth, that is influenced by satan, satan’s influences are for the purpose of destroying mankind, but also the church in particular. But God has...
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Many a Christian has come to be grateful for the particular difficulty that led them to cry out to the Lord, and by which they were saved. There are many cries to God during times of need; we tend to pray more when we are in trouble than when things are going well. We have all heard of the saying there are no atheists in foxholes. A saying that reminds us that when we get to the end of ourselves and the reality of death or disaster is around us we finally cry out to God. Many modern day atheists resent the statement and some have publicized the fact that there are many military men who are atheists, even in wartime situations. They quip that the saying points to a reality that makes foxholes the problem not atheism. Many people cry to God in their need, and sometimes God answers, some of those people go on to believe in Him, and others go on putting their emergency faith away and going back to the way they were, ignoring God. We all know the famous story of John Newton who was converted through a storm at sea. Here is how one biographer describes it: ‘He awoke in the night to a violent storm as his room began to fill with water. As he ran for the deck, the captain stopped him and had him fetch a knife. The man who went up in his place was immediately washed overboard (Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 25). He was assigned to the pumps and heard himself say, “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us” (Ibid., p. 26). It was the first time he had expressed the need for mercy in many years. He worked the...
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What is the biggest problem facing the world today? Covid 19? Strong-handed governments who are taking too many of our freedoms to keep us safe? Islam? War with China? Global warming? Critical Race Theory? The new gender ideology? Big Tech? A leftist media? These are big problems but they are only symptoms of the biggest problem that we face, we are in a spiritual battle with the devil. To say this is to provoke laughter from anyone who thinks after the New Atheist school. Here in the West we are afflicted with the problem of naturalism, I don’t mean nude beaches I mean a worldview that does not believe in God, the devil, sin, angels, the soul, the afterlife. On the one hand we have those who don’t take things seriously enough, on the other are those who are fanatics and take things too far. One of the reasons for Conversion Therapy Laws on the horizon is because of those who have believed that every sin and temptation can be traced back to a demonic source, and because they believe that Christians can be demon possessed, you need to cast out the demon of homosexual lust as a way to make people stop being gay. There are Christians view of spiritual warfare that see every problem as having a spiritual warfare solution. Evangelism is done by first binding territorial spirits, counselling is done by casting out demons and inner healing, sanctification is done by casting out demons, and eliminating generational curses; prayer is about gaining knowledge of territorial spirits and rebuking the devil directly, ordering angels around, pleading the blood of Jesus, etc. The Bible gives us the path of sanity between these extremes. Every Christian is caught up in the most powerful struggle in all time and the universe....
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The differences between true religion and false religion are striking. False religion is judgemental, true religion is accepting; false religion is strident and forceful, true religion is gentle and yielding; false religion is critical and harsh; true religion is gracious and encouraging; loveless vs loving; external holiness vs internal holiness; hypocritical vs genuine; we all know the difference between true and false religion. False religion is repulsive but true religion is attractive. Our hearts are by nature religious; that means we are vulnerable to the deceptions and promises of false religion and hungry for true religion. Jesus throughout the gospels is showing how the religion of first century Judaism though it claims to be based on the Word of God and is full of external religiosity is a sham, is hypocritical, is hateful to God, and damning to those who teach and practice it. Jesus has come with the truth, to teach us the truth about God, the true interpretation of God’s word, to show us the true way to serve God, and the true way of salvation. He contrasts the gospel of God’s grace with the manmade legalism of the day. The gospel accounts are full of examples of Jesus putting forward true religion and exposing false religion. The portion that lies before us in Luke 17:1-10 is Jesus stating positively some of the principles of discipleship that stand in stark contrast to the false religion of the day. You will notice in v1 that Jesus is addressing the disciples, that means that the teaching here is directed at them. Jesus covers three areas of discipleship demonstrating how the gospel of grace shapes the way we do religion in contrast the way that religion was wrongly being done at the time. These three areas will be our three points...
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Work is the thing that takes up the largest percentage of our lives. Most of our childhood is spent in school preparing ourselves for our work. Most of our daylight hours are taken up with working. Most of our adult life is spent, working. Many spend more time engaging with their work colleagues than they do with their spouses and families. Many have stopped and thought about this and have sought a dramatic change, some want to see more robots doing more jobs so that we as humans can enjoy our lives more; some have sought to reinvent the work week to less days; some have suggested more work from home; many have encouraged others to change jobs until you find the one that fits. God is a worker who made us in His image to work. And the Bible has much to say about the matter. Despite the millions of people who may be working in difficult situations around the world, the Bible teaches us that work is good. Despite the many evils done in the workplace work itself is a gift of God. In the beginning God made mankind and put them in the garden and they were given jobs. We were put on this earth to take the unformed creation with all of it’s God given potential and shape it into a culture and society that glorifies God. The life of man before sin entered into the work was to be regulated by work and worship. Work has been affected by the fall but did not come into existence at the fall. Why has God made us to be workers? Based on the fact that we are made in His image we can guess that because He delights in work that He made us to delight in...
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We are living in the imaginary world of John Lennon, ‘Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try; No hell below us; above us only sky.’ Unfortunately imagination and fantasy are not reality, and so we are walking around deluding ourselves about the facts. There is a heaven, there is a hell, we have a soul, there is an afterlife and we will face God on judgement day. We live in a dream land where we deny reality, we deny the things that define us, we deny the destiny that inevitably lies before us. We pretend morality is not universal but personal; that biological sex does not define gender but that it is a fluid state of mind that can be guided by choice; that God can be wiped out; that conscience is a relic of a former level of evolution that can be ignored; that souls are the ignorant invention of prescientific people, and on and on we could go. But there are facts we can never escape, we must all die, and we must face the consequences of what we have done in this life. One theologian described death this way, ‘death is the most democratic institution on earth… It allows no discrimination, tolerates no exceptions. The mortality rate of mankind is the same the world over: one death per person.’ Benjamin Franklin said that the two things in life that are certain are death and taxes. That is not technically true, people can avoid tax, but no one can avoid death. We all must die, but death is not the end, we must then go on to reap what we have sown in this life. It is this reality that Jesus places before us in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31. Jesus...
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Last week we began to try and paint the picture of slavery in the OT and the ancient world. The reason we have to do these history lessons is because of the false history that is presented in the present political climate. We live in an age of critical race theory which rereads history as a story of monolithic relationship of race oriented oppression. So the race and slavery question is a heated one that is often skewed. The Bible has become a casualty of the present cancel culture that has declared the Bible a book used as a tool of oppression. The call for slaves to submit to masters is seen as evidence of this. Our job is to interpret the Bible honestly, and demonstrate and defend that it is indeed the inerrant word of God which is sufficient to equip us for life, and is superior to all other worldviews, philosophies, religions or ethics. The Bible alone is the inspired word of God all other belief systems are born of man’s ignorance. The modern concerns over slavery in history are being used as fuel to feed a narrative of racism as the core systemic problem which has given birth to things like poverty, violence, family breakdown, etc. The painting of all slavery as having a racial basis is necessary to feed this narrative. In looking into history are not only able to demonstrate how the Bible saws the seeds of slavery’s destruction but we also have an opportunity to destroy a terrible lie which is even being believed by Christians and introducing racial divisions into the church. For example, we are hearing black Christians in America talk about the systemic racism for which whites must pay compensation and the need for black Christians to separate from white Christians...
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Christ’s teaching on money stands in counterpoint to the heart fixed on money. Christ teaches that everything is God’s and we are stewards. He teaches that money should be invested so as to gain rewards in the New Creation. Christ teaches that we cannot have an idol of money, and challenges those who have this idol to sell all they have and give to the poor. Christ teaches that sacrificial giving is good. Christ teaches that the usual preoccupation with security and possessions can be entrusted to God who loves you as a Father and you can seek first His kingdom and give yourselves to more godly concerns. Christ’s spending plan and saving plan does not agree with any of this world’s wisdom because it works according to different rules. Christ’s teaching generated a radical generosity in the early church as people sold what they had to give to the poor; it generated a radical faith and those who preached the gospel trusted in the Lord to provide for the work; it generated a radical contentment as those who lost the things of this world or had them removed could still be joyful having God as their portion. But to those who are perishing the teaching of Christ is folly, His attitudes and teaching on possessions are scoffed at, and this is exactly what sparks off our next section in Luke 16:14-18. This is a chapter that addresses several matters relating to money. Jesus has given the parable of the unfaithful steward and followed that up with challenges about faithfulness. He ended that section with some very strong words about the love of money, v13, ‘No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one...
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The Western world has fallen out of love with Christianity all the way into being an aggressive prosecutor of it. Today people are not talking about reasons why they don’t believe Christianity as one of many possible truths, it is a case of Christianity being one of the things that is clearly wrong. Many of today’s social evils are laid at the squarely at the foot of Christianity. The suicide of teenagers struggling their sexual identity, lets blame the church who tells them that they are sinning. The abuse of woman by controlling men, lets blame the biblical teaching of male headship. Every instance of parental violence against a child, that is all because the Bible is barbaric and encourages us to apply discipline. War, well all wars have been started by religious people, and let’s point to the wars of the OT and speak about Christianity as a genocidal and bloodthirsty religion. The Colonial impact of the West destroying native cultures, well Christianity is the worst because it comes among other cultures and destroys their religion and cultural norms and forces Western norms on other cultures. Slavery, slavery was enabled by the Bible which encourages slaves to submit to their masters; slavery is not clearly forbidden by the Bible; some of the OT laws even regulated and appear to encourage it; and many Christians owned slaves and fought to maintain the institution of slavery in the American Civil War. Sam Harris, one of the aggressive New Atheists in his Letter to a Christian Nation writes, ‘Consult the Bible, and you will discover that the Creator of the universe clearly expects us to own slaves.’ These are just a sampling of the many assaults against Christianity, and in light of the recent blow ups around race the accusations against Christianity...
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‘Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ (Matt. 19:24) ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ (Luke 12:15) ‘As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.’ (Matt. 13:22) ‘Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.’ (Col. 3:5) ‘But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.’ (1 Tim. 6:9-10). The Bible has a lot to say about our love of money. One commentator points out that nearly 1/3 of the parables deal with money. The parable that we are dealing with today, the parable of the unfaithful steward/manager is one of those, Luke 16:1-13. This has been said to be one of the most difficult parables to understand. Ordinarily parables are easy to grasp as they speak through familiar images about spiritual truths. This one stands out as being different in that Jesus appears to be condoning the dishonesty of the steward. At first it sounds like He is encouraging the pursuit of unrighteous mammon, and appears to speak approvingly of shady business dealings. I remember as a young Christian really struggling with this parable....
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The main parental responsibilities of instruction, love and discipline can be assigned to the ways in which we mediate Christ’s mediatorship as prophet, priest and king. We have looked at our parental responsibilities as prophets and priests, but now we need to turn to the matter of authority and discipline. In saying the word discipline we all have certain pictures in our mind, most people think about spanking or corporal punishment. That certainly is a part of it but not the whole. As we consider our role as God’s representatives in the home and ensuring that His rule is the rule of our homes we must remember that God disciplines us in two ways. We will call these proactive discipline and reactive discipline, one is positive and preventative; the other is negative and restorative. We derive these two categories of discipline by meditating on what the author of Hebrews says about enduring the trial of persecution in Heb. 12:5-11, ‘And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good,...
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The parable of the prodigal son is probably the most famous parable in the gospels. But I think like many that it has been misnamed. Some have thought to call it the parable of the Prodigal Father, this is because the word prodigal means ‘spendthrift’ and the Father who represents God and His restoring grace is so generous. But I think this is a bad title as ‘prodigal’ has many bad connotations. Some have thought to call it the Parable of the Older Brother, this is a good title which is better than the parable of the prodigal son because Christ’s intended target for the teaching of this parable were the Pharisees who were represented by the older brother who refused to accept his brother back. But I have chosen as a title, the parable of the two lost sons, I think this covers the reality that there is more than one way to be separated from God, and in this parable we see the Father being compassionate to both and seeking to restore both. We are looking today at this the third of three similar parables. We have looked at the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin and have seen God’s joy in searching for and saving sinners. Through the pictures of a shepherd enduring a hostile search; and a housewife on her hands and knees combing through dirt all in order to find us. Through these pictures we have learnt about the willingness of our God to save us. The occasion for these parables was the grumbling of the religious leaders who resented the fact that sinners were drawn to Christ and that He was willing to associate with them and minister to them. This third parable has the most detail about the Father’s willing...
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Recently Kevin DeYoung in a blog article called ‘The World is Catechizing Us Whether we Realize It or Not,’ commenting on his recent experience of watching the Olympics he writes, ‘You couldn’t watch two weeks of the Olympics—or at times, even two minutes—without being catechized in the inviolable truths of the sexual revolution. Earlier in the summer, I watched parts of the Euro, and you would have thought the whole event was a commercial for rainbow flags.’ His point is right, we are being catechized whether we like it or know it or not. He issues this pertinent warning: ‘It is worth remembering David Well’s famous definition: Worldliness is whatever makes righteousness look strange, and sin look normal. Here’s the reality facing every Christian in the West: the money, power, and prestige of the mainstream media, big time sports, big business, big tech, and almost all the institutions of education and entertainment are invested in making sin look normal. Make no mistake: no matter how good your church, no matter how strong your family, no matter how gospel-centred your Christian school or home-school, if your children and grandchildren are even remotely engaged with contemporary culture (and they are), they are being taught by a thousand memes and messages every week to pay homage to the rainbow flag. The Christian family, Christian church, and Christian school must not assume that the next generations will accept the conclusions that seem so obvious to older generations. We must talk about the things our kids are already talking about among themselves. We must disciple. We must be countercultural. We must prepare them to love and teach them what biblical love really means. We must pass on the right beliefs and the right reasons for those beliefs. We must prepare our children—and be prepared ourselves—that...
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God loves sinners and He seeks for them to save them. John Stott shares this truth from the experience of Augustine: ‘He was born in North Africa (in what we now call Algeria) in the middle of the fourth century. Already in his teens he was leading a dissolute, even promiscuous, life, enslaved by his passions. He wrote in his Confessions: “Clouds of muddy carnal concupiscence filled the air. The bubbling impulses of puberty befogged and obscured my heart so that it could not see the difference between love’s serenity and lust’s darkness. Confusion of the two things boiled within me. It seized hold of my youthful weakness sweeping me through the precipitous rocks of desire to submerge me in a whirlpool of vice.” Even while half-drowned in sin, Augustine also plunged into study, and his studies took him first to Carthage, and then to Rome and to Milan. A great tug of war was going on in his mind between Christianity (which at this time he rejected) and Manicheism (which he had embraced). In this turmoil of moral shame and intellectual confusion he found himself in utter misery. Yet, through his inner restlessness of mind and conscience, as also through the prayers and tears of his saintly mother Monica, and through the kindly admonitions of Bishop Ambrose of Milan, Jesus Christ was surely pursuing him. As with Saul of Tarsus, so with Augustine of Hippo, the climax came suddenly. He went out into the garden attached to his lodgings, accompanied by his friend Alypius. He threw himself down under a tree and let his tears flow freely, as he cried out, ‘How long, O Lord?’ As I was saying this and weeping in the bitter agony of my heart, suddenly I heard a voice from the nearby house chanting...
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John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, was born in 1725 and at the age of 7 his mother Elizabeth died of tuberculosis. She was sickly the whole of his childhood. One biographer writes: ‘Though Elizabeth was unable to function as she might have wished, she did not squander her days. Knowing that time with her son might be short, she determined to make the most of what remained. She took on the role of teacher and spent hours with John each day. She was a good instructor, and he was an eager, bookish student. He progressed quickly. “When I was four years old, I could read, (hard names excepted,) as well as I can now: and could likewise repeat the answers to the questions in the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism, with the proofs; and all Dr. Watt’s smaller Catechisms, and his Children’s Hymns.” From this list of material we know that Elizabeth consistently trained her son in Reformed theology. John later wrote, “As I was her only child, she made it the chief business and pleasure of her life to instruct me, and bring me up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” As Newton reflected over his life and conversion he credited his mother’s instruction and love. ‘When John Newton looked back on his life, he was quick to give credit to his mother. He knew his eventual salvation was inseparable from the early training he had received on her knee and from the many prayers she had prayed on his behalf. “Though in process of time I sinned away all the advantages of these early impressions, yet they were for a great while a restraint upon me; they returned again and again, and it was very long before I could wholly shake them off; and when the...
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Father’s Day is approaching soon, but it has been called ‘an awkward holiday.’ It will not only be awkward because of the token gifts which seem to trivialize it, as has happened to Mother’s Day. It will not only be awkward because of the many who have toxic fathers who have been a source of trauma and abuse. It will be awkward because of the sexual revolution we are a part of and the attack on the nuclear family. The transgender revolution has created a situation where natural women identifying as men who give birth to children do not fit into the traditional categories. For this reason we are seeing the attempt to change Mother’s Day to Birthing Parent Day; and I guess Father’s Day will become Donating Parent or Impregnating Parent’s Day. The awkwardness created by the ideology driving the transgender revolution continues as we enter our new section in Ephesians 6:4, ‘Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.’ We are taking the opportunity here to drill down and explore some expanded biblical principles on parenting, as we did with children. We have spent some time looking at children and obedience, and now we want to allow this verse to open up for us some of the biblical teaching around parenthood. Some have made the argument that the use of the word ‘father’ here is inclusive of mothers, just as the biblical use of ‘brother’ is inclusive and means brothers and sisters. I think this is less probable and so I want to begin by addressing the matter of fatherhood. Then we will go on to look at the Biblical model of parenting as representing Christ as prophets, priests and kings. Source
The word ‘Nominal’ in nominalism or nominal Christianity means, in name only. It comes from the Latin word nomen which means name. One of the biggest hindrances to Christianity has been nominal Christianity, or cultural Christianity. So many have turned away from Christianity and viewing it as credible because of the hypocrisy of those who call themselves Christians who are only Christian in name. So called Christian countries have engaged in war; colonized other countries; built economies on the backs of slaves, and many other atrocities as so called Christians. Even today many social ills are laid at the feet of so called Christians. Today we are facing anti-smacking laws not because of those diligent and loving parents who are true believers who have applied the rod in love, but because of so called Christians who have vented their anger and abused their kids. We are seeing the biblical pattern of complementarianism in the church and the home eradicated under a barrage of feminism and egalitarianism not because of those real Christian husbands and fathers who used their leadership to serve, but because of the so called Christians who abused this God given institution to serve their chauvinism. Today there are forms of cultural Christianity that are politically violent, that are outwardly abusive towards homosexuals, confuse patriotism with Christianity, who lean on the arm of intimidation and protest not Word and Spirit. For as long as Christianity has been around there have been true disciples and nominal disciples, disciples in name. Today we carry on in Luke 14 looking at 25-35. Jesus has been criticising the false religion of the Jews as loveless, proud and selfish. Despite the very straight message that Jesus is giving there is still a lot of buzz around Christ, there are still huge crowds following...
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Obeying your parents, why should we do it? On the one hand we have the pragmatic view of psychology which has finally admitted the age old wisdom of God’s ways and tells us that every child needs loving parents for various reasons. On the other hand we have evolutionary views that tell us that we should be able to evolve beyond the need to have parents. Parenthood as an institution is no longer seen as sacred, but rather it is tolerated only in so far as it is useful. Today you can divorce your parents; you can legally have yourself removed from the household. Also the state has taken many powers to itself including the power to take a person’s children off them and loan them back to the parents based on conditions formulated by their present philosophical commitments. Another example would be the fact that it is practically illegal to home-school your children in a Christian education in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Sweden. The thinking behind this move on the part of modern states is that a child’s interests are not best served by the parent’s home-schooling a child but the state’s crafted curricula and learning environments. It is the opinion of many of these modern states that the state is best equipped to make an integrated citizen who can function in the present age. As we continue looking at the Ephesians 6:1-4 we come to the child’s responsibility to obey and this obedience is grounded in the authority of God in the fifth commandment, ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honour your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Today...
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We are all familiar with missed opportunities. A most important decision comes along and we don’t grab it, we choose the wrong thing and we regret it. There are many examples of this, here are some well-known examples from the world of business. In the early 2000s the company Yahoo was approached by Google to buy it for 1 million dollars, they rejected the offer and in 2020 Google reached the 1 trillion dollar mark. In 2000 Netflix approached Blockbuster to buy it out for 50 million, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and today Netflix is worth 228 billion. None of these compare to the losses of those who rejected the greatest offer in the universe. The parable we are looking at today, the parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14:15-24, is all about how the religious leaders of the day, and the Israelites who followed them, missing out on the kingdom of God. By rejecting Christ, they rejected any opportunity to enter the Kingdom of God and lost everything including their eternal souls. Our portion picks up in the middle of an awkward dinner party. It is a Sabbath day meal at a religious leaders house. The house is full of important guests and there are lots of people sitting outside the doors and the windows hoping to catch the table talk. Jesus is very confrontational with the religious leaders as He exposes their lovelessness because they are against His healing a man on the Sabbath; He exposes their pride as He remarks on their desire for the best seats and shows how pride people will not go to heaven; He offends every person in the room including the host as He talks about who should be invited to a feast. You could cut the tension in...
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Obeying your parents, why should we do it? On the one hand we have the pragmatic view of psychology which has finally admitted the age old wisdom of God’s ways and tells us that every child needs loving parents for various reasons. On the other hand we have evolutionary views that tell us that we should be able to evolve beyond the need to have parents. Parenthood as an institution is no longer seen as sacred, but rather it is tolerated only in so far as it is useful. Today you can divorce your parents; you can legally have yourself removed from the household. Also the state has taken many powers to itself including the power to take a person’s children off them and loan them back to the parents based on conditions formulated by their present philosophical commitments. Another example would be the fact that it is practically illegal to home-school your children in a Christian education in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Sweden. The thinking behind this move on the part of modern states is that a child’s interests are not best served by the parent’s home-schooling a child but the state’s crafted curricula and learning environments. It is the opinion of many of these modern states that the state is best equipped to make an integrated citizen who can function in the present age. As we continue looking at the Ephesians 6:1-4 we come to the child’s responsibility to obey and this obedience is grounded in the authority of God in the fifth commandment, ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honour your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Today...
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The family today is under attack. This basic building block of society which has everywhere had a basic form of father, mother and children as the inner core and in laws and other extended family beyond that, can no longer be assumed as the norm. Romans 1 tells us what happens when humanity turns its back on God. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. It can be the truth of God’s existence as witnessed in nature, the truth of God’s law as witnessed in conscience, and the truth of our sexuality in our bodies, and the truth of family as expressed in every society. Humanity becomes a law unto itself attacking the very things that define it as the idol of self-invention, self-expression, in the pursuit of the authentic self. Listen to these latest trends taking place in the western world. In 2019 a Canadian father was found guilty of family violence for to the sex reassignment surgery of his 14 year old daughter to become a boy. ‘The mother has decided to go along with the child and with the process of what is known as gender reassignment, but the father has not been willing to go along. Furthermore he’s raised basic questions about the very diagnosis that the medical establishment in Canada has assigned to his child. He has continued to speak of the child according to the child’s birth name and using pronouns that fit the child’s birth sex.’[1] ‘The court there in British Columbia has ordered that a 14-year-old girl receive testosterone injections without parental consent, that is the consent of the girl’s father. The court has also declared that if either of the child’s parents referred to her using female pronouns or addressed her by her birth name, the parents could be charged with family violence.’[2] The...
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We all know that false religion exists. What are some of the facets of false religion? True religion is revealed by God, false religion comes from anywhere else, either from man or worse some demonic source. False religion because of it false view of God comes up with things that they think God will approve like suicide bombing; or because of their false view of salvation come up with strange ways of gaining forgiveness like self-flagellation. Since these false religions are not built on the correctly interpreted truth of God’s word they are full of grand gestures of devotion that God does not require; list of rules that accomplish nothing; they can be full of the trappings of religion like expensive buildings, complicated liturgies, generations of tradition, clerical dresscodes, etc. A classic contrast between true and false religion is found in Micah 6:6-8, ‘With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?’ Notice in v6-7 how those who do not know God’s character and how that shapes what He requires of us think God wants to be worshipped. Ironically we see an increasing of laws God has not required because of our false view of God and a despising of the God of our own making. It is quite common for legalists to quietly hate...
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Good afternoon everyone, it is once again a privilege to open the word for you again, continuing on my two part sermon looking at apologetics, the art and science of explain what we believe and why we believe it. And we have been going through two sermons by Paul in the book of Acts, his sermon to the synagogue in Antioch Pisidan, in modern day Turkey, and in the Areopagus in Athens, in modern day Greece. And we used these two examples to apply to the two different groups that we Christians interact with in today’s society. You have the churched, the Bible-believers, those who have some part of Christianity right, and then you have the pagans, those who have never heard of anything to do with the Bible, God, Jesus Christ and the way of salvation. And when you hear me use that word pagan, don’t assume I’m using it in a derogative or negative sense. G.K. Chesterton said of his friend and debate opponent George Bernard Shaw, an atheist and a socialist, that ‘he is a pagan, and like many other pagans, he is a very fine man.’ So, we learned three key principles this morning, 1, that of respecting the image of God in your hearer, 2, building bridges of parts of truth that you can both agree on, and 3, we looked at the need to understand the values and presuppositions of the one who you are communicating the gospel too. So we will continue looking into these principles of communicating the gospel to help you explain and proclaim the truth faithfully and accurately, for the glory of God and the extension of His Kingdom. Source
Pastor Nick is away in the North Island and so I will be bringing the word to you this morning and this afternoon, and we will be taking a break for Pastors Nicks exposition through the book of Luke and Ephesians. And just like the last time I preached, I will be preaching this morning on the topic of my current course this morning, and when I tell you what it is, some of you will probably inwardly sigh. And the course I am taking is about apologetics. And if you aren’t already jumping out of your seat in excitement already, then we are going to be looking at apologetics by analysing two sermons. Even though it sounds like you’re in for a long and dry morning, do not worry. I am not here at all to give you a lecture, and bore you with a methodology about the four things to say to an unbeliever or the five steps to take to get someone saved. No, I am here to open the Word of God and explain it to you, so rest assured, even though the term apologetics sounds cold and dry and technical, I will do my best to prove it otherwise. Source
We have said many things about marriage, but I am aware that not everyone who hears these messages is married or will get married. So I think it is appropriate that we also address the matter of singleness. Now in announcing that this is the topic of the sermon I am sure that all the singles out there will be squirming because they think that this is a sermon directed at them, but it is a sermon for all. Just as we can all benefit by listening to a sermon addressing those who are married, we can all benefit by listening to a sermon on singleness. We will take a detour from Ephesians 5 and share some thoughts from 1 Cor. 7. Singleness in the ancient world had a stigma attached to it. Many cultures made an idol of marriage and sought wives for breeding an heir. Marriage was an institution used by many not for people to find a life partner who you became one flesh with but was something used to ally families, and ensure heirs. Many men married to produce an heir but also conducted extra marital affairs. Singleness in this culture was frowned upon and was a stain. Even in Jewish culture, if a young man was not married and fulfilling the command to go forth and multiply, he was thought to be violating one of the 613 laws of the Torah. This all changed with the teaching of Christ and Paul. Christ in Matt. 19 after condemning no fault divorces speaks about the possibility of a single life, ‘for the sake of the kingdom of heaven’ v12. This was a radical innovation for the Jewish mind who was preoccupied with marriage and multiplying. It was inconceivable that one would not marry because then they would...
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One of the things that has always set Christianity apart is the fact that it calls us to love our enemies. Over and over again we have models in scripture of those who had a deep concern and compassion towards the undeserving and who prayed for them. Think of Abraham praying for Sodom and Gomorrah, think of Moses praying that God would not forsake a sinful Israel after she had worshipped the golden calf. Think of Jeremiah the weeping prophet who wept as Jerusalem was to be handed over to Babylon for judgement. But none of these can compare to the love of Christ and His compassion towards the unworthy. This compassion is seen in many ways but one of the times we see it most clearly is when Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Twice Christ laments over Jerusalem, here in Luke 13:31-35; and again in His final week before He dies, Matt. 23:37-39. Israel is facing judgement; Christ is the Messiah and her final prophet who has come to bring the hardest word that Israel has ever heard. The end of an era is upon them, a reckoning for sin has come. Christ who has come to be the Saviour of His people must be the one to pronounce their judgement. Jesus has set His face towards Jerusalem, 13:22, this results in some Pharisees warning Him about Herod’s intentions, 13:31. But Christ will not be deterred He has a work to do. So as we move through 13:31-35 we want to explore it under two headings, Christ’s attitude towards death threats; and Christ’s attitude towards stubborn sinners. Source
The Bible often argues from what you are to what you should do. Because you are a new creature in Christ, act in a new way. Because you are in a one Spirit union with believers of other races, put away racism. Because your life is joined to the resurrected Christ consider your life in His and live appropriately. Because you are in a one flesh union with your spouse love them as yourself. What you are, or what realities are true about you imply how you ought to live. This is a basic truth which the bible assumes. But this has been rejected even this basic way of thinking has been challenged. For example, in the existentialist movement in the 20th century we see thinkers like Jean Paul Sartre who rejected this. We believe that our essence determines our identity, and our identity determines our responsibility. This means that if you want to know what you should do you first have to ask what am I? If I am a human being made in God’s image and not an animal this will determine how I should act. If I am a biological male, this will determine how I should act. Putting it in philosophical terms essence determines existence, ontology defines and drives ethics. But the Existentialists hated to be defined by anything but themselves so they rejected the traditional way of existence preceding essence, they reversed it and said that existence defines essence. So I will look inside myself see what I feel, what I desire, see what I am, and define myself on the basis of that not some predefined category like male or female, etc. We on the other hand recognise that we are creatures created by God, that He defines us. We have spoken many times...
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Thanks to Ian Goodman from Wilson Street Baptist for preaching for us this morning. Mark 8:22-30: Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida 22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.” Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ 27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. Source
‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.’ Prov. 18:21. One of the most effective weapons and one of the greatest fertilizers in marriage is our speech. What we say and how talk to one another will either make or break your marriage. James 3:6, ‘And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.’ We can all think of words that have hurt us deeply and words that have lifted our spirits. Husbands and wives and are positioned in one another’s life by God to utilize the tongue for good, but we so often utilize it for evil. Today we want to focus on the power of our speech. In Ephesians 5:26 Paul is dealing with husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church and he outlines how Christ saves us by His word, v25-27, ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.’ Because of the massive impact of our words we will be spending a whole message considering them. God created the universe by His words. Jesus cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead and calmed storms with His words. We are born again when we hear and believe. We are sanctified by the word. The word of God is our sword in spiritual warfare. Words are...
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Who is going to be saved and how many will be there? This is a big question which many have asked. Asking the question today in an age like ours has certain other questions attached to it. We live in a global village and are aware of the billions of people who cling to other religious views; what do we do with all the other religions? Are they right or wrong? What about all the “nones” of our own generation who are post-religious but are opting to be philanthropic, vegan/vegetarian, who are all about social justice for the marginalized and who believe that all traditional religions are systems of oppression? Our evolutionary worldview raises other questions that normally have to be answered first before that sort of question can even be asked. Is there a God, who is holy and who will hold sinners accountable? Do we have eternal souls? Is there life after death? Is there a heaven and a hell? We would answer all these questions with a biblical yes, which brings us back then to the first question, how many are going to be saved? And, will I be one of them? As we move on in Luke’s gospel, this is the very question that Jesus gets asked, 13:23, ‘And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Our portion begins in v22, ‘He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.’ This is the first note about travelling since 9:51, and please notice the orientation of Christ’s compass. He is heading towards Jerusalem. We are only months away from the crucifixion, and the feeling in the air is tense. Jesus has resisted attempts to be made King, John 6:14-15. Jesus has been alienating the religious authorities by...
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When Lynn and I got married we asked for a full sermon to be preached. Our pastor at the time, Leigh Robinson preached a four point sermon on the purpose of marriage. Marriage is for partnership, marriage is for procreation, marriage is for pleasure, and marriage is for perfection. One of the main goals of marriage is holiness. This is a distinct perspective that Christianity brings to the issue of marriage. For many marriage is about not burning, or not being lonely, or having kids, these are true but a major part of marriage is God’s purpose to make us holy. Paul has been describing how a husband should love his wife as Christ does the church. But in typical fashion Paul can’t allude to Christ without extrapolation, his heart is full of the wonder of what Christ has done for us. He not only talks about Jesus sacrificial love in v25, but goes on to describe a love that keeps on giving, not only to save but to sanctify and ultimately glorify His bride, v26-27, ‘that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.’ So today as we continue our series on marriage we have two things to do, we need to stand amazed with Paul at the work of Christ for the church, and then we need to apply this so how husbands should love their wives. Source
‘If Jesus is the King, why doesn’t it feel like He is reigning?’ This discouragement is what many people feel. ‘If Jesus is Lord why is my church so small and struggling so much and all the young people leaving?’ ‘If Jesus is Lord why is sin still so strong in my life and my holiness so weak?’ ‘If Jesus is Lord why is the government allowed to reverse things God has put in nature and make laws that contradict God’s laws?’ Understanding the nature of Christ’s reign, the way in which the kingdom manifests itself, is a problem in all ages. It was also a problem for the Jews when Jesus, their King, came to Israel. The Jews would only accept that Jesus was king if certain expectations were met. In their minds the Messiah and certain things always went together. If the Messiah comes that would mean judgement on all of the enemies of the Jews, especially any who had taken military action against them, like the Greeks and the Romans who had invaded the Holy land. To their minds the coming of the Messiah would bring about a time of world peace and world domination where Israel would be the ruling power over all. The Messiah would bring in a time of prosperity and the nations would bring their riches to Jerusalem, the capital of the new age. John the Baptist arrives on the scene getting everyone excited about the King who is about to come and fulfil all their expectations, saying the kingdom is nigh. Jesus arrives telling everyone that the Kingdom is here but all He does is forgive sins, welcome sinners into God’s people, heal those who in the eyes of the religious Jews had brought cursing upon their heads because of their sins....
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Why do we love? One physicist gives us the evolutionary perspective, ‘Biologically, love is a powerful neurological condition like hunger or thirst, only more permanent. We talk about love being blind or unconditional, in the sense that we have no control over it. But then, that is not so surprising since love is basically chemistry. While lust is a temporary passionate sexual desire involving the increased release of chemicals such as testosterone and oestrogen, in true love, or attachment and bonding, the brain can release a whole set of chemicals: pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin. However, from an evolutionary perspective, love can be viewed as a survival tool – a mechanism we have evolved to promote long-term relationships, mutual defence and parental support of children and to promote feelings of safety and security.’ Evolution teaches us that love is not essential to our humanity but an evolved necessity for survival; Christianity teaches that love, and especially marital love is part of our make up because we are made in God’s image, and God is love, and we are made for marriage. ‘What is love?’ was the most google searched phrase in 2012 and reveals to us that our generation is ignorant to what love is. The rising divorce rate is another testimony to the universal inability of this generation to define love. The definition of love that most people have is totally ignorant. Today, because of the media driven romance culture we live in love is perceived as an emotion but not also as commitment. Real love does not sell movie tickets and keep audiences rooted to their seats and coming back for more. No one would go to a movie about a 60 year marriage as the many boring routines, unemotional interactions, regular small sacrifices, and the...
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The gospels are filled with paradoxical contrasts. We see sinners forgiven and the righteous condemned. The poor have blessing but the rich have woe. Those who mourn will be happy and those who are happy will be sad. Jesus comes and blows our categories out of the water, those people who we thought were good are bad, those who we thought were alive are dead, those who we thought are hated are loved. When it comes to who is a good person, who is the person who is accepted by God Jesus turns our categories on their heads, the first shall be last and the last first. It is often the case in the gospels that we see a clear contrast between two types of people. At first we think that we know who the good guy and who the bad guy is, but Jesus subverts our understanding of things with the truth. Think of John 3 and 4. There we have side by side the two extremes of the social spectrum. In John 3 we have Nicodemus, in 4 the woman at the well. He is a Jew; she is a Samaritan. He is a leader in society, a Rabbi; she is a social outcast. He is religious and moral; she is a lifestyle sinner. In these chapters we see that she is converted as Jesus speaks the truth to her in love; but Nicodemus leaves confused, though he does convert later. There are many surprises as Jesus breaks social conventions to minister to her, and go with her into her village, and as she finds salvation but a religious leader does not. Another famous example is when Jesus is invited to eat at Simon the Pharisee’s house, John 7:36-50. Jesus is feasting with the religious leaders and an...
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When the Bible wants to demonstrate the roles of men and women it does not begin with culture but with creation. The NT regularly references Adam and Eve when it explains the roles of men and women in the home and church, 1 Cor. 11:2-16; 1 Tim. 2:11-15. One of the things that Paul wants to prove by this is the fact that men are to be the head and women the helper. Paul uses phrases like, man was made first, or woman was made for the man. So let’s reflect on the Garden when God created men and women as we begin to establish how the creation account establishes the differences between men and women and in particular that men are to be the head. Gen. 1 begins by giving us some general truths about men and women. That they are both made in God’s image; that they are both over creation; that they are both called to be fruitful and have dominion. Gen. 2:4-25 gives us those details which speak more about their complementarity. There is an asymmetry in their creation which Paul will draw on which highlights the differences between men and women. Adam is created outside the garden; Eve is created inside the garden. Adam is put over the garden; Eve is put under Adam within it. Man is made from the earth and is given the task of tending and keeping it; Eve is made from man and this reflects her main function of filling the earth. A man’s biology by his muscles and strength reflect the physical task that he is called to; the woman by her reproductive ability reflects her calling. Adam was made before Eve, a point Paul highlights, this is not a childish principle of ‘I had it first’ but rather...
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We come now to what is probably the most important portion in the Bible on people suffering and our response to it. We are all familiar with the classic problem, something bad happens and the questions begin to flow, why did a loving God allow this? Why did the innocent suffer with the guilty? Was it God; or satan; or man; or nature that caused this? This is a very large intellectual problem. The dilemma of a good God and evil existing has a long history. Epicurus a Greek philosopher born in in Greece in 341 BC put the problem this way: ‘God either wishes to take away evils, and is unable; or he is unable and unwilling; or he is neither willing nor able, or he is both willing and able.’ This leads to what he thinks are the only four possibilities: ‘if God is willing and unable, he is feeble.’ ‘If he is able but unwilling, he is wicked.’ ‘If he is neither willing nor able, he is not God.’ ‘If he is willing and able, then this leaves the problem of why evil still exists, why has he not removed it?’ This has led many an atheist to set up the traditional false dilemma, that either God is good and not powerful, or powerful and not good, and since the Bible teaches that God is good and powerful, they then in light of the presence of evil that the God of the Bible does not exist. Some of the greatest philosophical minds have felt that this is an irrefutable case against Christianity. The Biblical response to this is very simple, the good and Holy God of the Bible has a morally sufficient reason to allow evil. Simply because we cannot imagine what that purpose would be, does...
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The war of the sexes goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. In Genesis chapter 3 we see the fall of man in sin. We see the first sins of the first husband and wife. Adam tolerated the serpent questioning God, and passively allowed the serpent to mislead his wife failing to defend her. Eve presumptuously taught the serpent taking the lead not deferring to her husband’s authority. Adam failed to lead, teach, defend and punish. Eve failed to get permission, clarification and help. Both wanted to be like God; both questioned God and both abandoned their God given roles. After they sinned they both felt guilt and shame and attempted to cover their nakedness. They sensed the vulnerability and threat where once they had security in one another. They felt alienated from each other and defensive towards the other and no longer felt safe. Both hid from God as they hid from each other. God came looking for the man of the house 3:9 and then confronted and cursed them for their sins. There are so many things in these curses that we have to overlook but let me draw your attention to one verse that foretells the war of the sexes for all of history. 3:16, ‘To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”’ There we see God prophesying the conflict sin will introduce into marriage, the wife will ‘desire’ her husband. To understand the word desire you need to turn to Gen. 4:7 where sin is described, ‘If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door....
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Familiar words from Isaiah 9:6-7: ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.’ We read these words often at Christmas time, the title Prince of Peace stands out to us as a great need in the world given the many wars that have happened in human history. The OT promised a son of David who would come and bring about world peace. This peace would be accomplished through the conquering of Israel’s enemies. So imagine what the expectation was around the coming Messiah in the first century when Jesus, that promised Messiah arrived. They imagined that the Messiah would come with a sword against Rome not Jerusalem. They imagined that He would be united with them in their view of who the real enemy is, the Gentile and not their own sinful hearts. They thought they knew what it meant that the Messiah was the Prince of Peace but they did not. In Luke 12:49-59 we have some very surprising statements from the Prince of Peace. These words come in a section where Jesus is warning the present generation of Jews, the most privileged generation to have ever lived, that they must respond positively to the Messiah. Just have a glance down at 13:1-5 with the warnings to repent or perish, in v28-29 the Jews are warned that they will be...
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What is marriage? One mother says, ‘marriage is just a fancy word for adopting an overgrown male child who cannot be handled by his parents anymore.’ But speaking more seriously, modern views of marriage are descriptive not prescriptive. Here are some suggested definitions, ‘A more or less durable connection between a male and a female lasting beyond the mere act of propagation till after the birth of the offspring.’ Or including polygamy, ‘a relation of one or more men to one or more women that is recognized by law.’ Or more legal definitions, marriage exists to establish a legal mother or father for a child. To give monopoly of one’s sexuality to one’s spouse. To give monopolistic or partial rights to domestic labour or services. To give your spouse total or partial control over property belonging to the other. To establish a fund of property for the benefit of the children. It is merely a tradition handed down from our parents, is it an unquestioned relic that is irrelevant to modern life, it is primarily legal in character, is it man centred and should be arranged according to the purpose of serving man’s happiness, is it a relative social convention that has no rules? Marriage is being challenged and is deeply misunderstood even by Christians so we have to clarify our definition of marriage and the nature of it before we can commit to making our marriages work. Let me give a biblically informed definition: Marriage is a God-wrought, universal, life-long, exclusive covenant between one natural man and one natural woman; a consenting; mutually beneficial partnership with distinct roles and responsibilities for men and women; that exists for the purpose of companionship, procreation, mission, holiness and imaging God’s redemptive grace. Let’s unpack that just a little. Source
We come now to a section which deals with the second coming of Christ. We are in that part of the gospel where Jesus is training His disciples; He has warned them about persecutions; He has warned them about the trap of riches; He has outlined God’s care so that we can live holding loosely to the things of this life, but Jesus also prepares His disciples for His departure. The disciples were not envisaging a coming of the Messiah that involved the Messiah coming and dying and then going to heaven while the gospel went out to all nations, no they thought things would progress to the point that Jesus would raise an army and sit enthroned in Jerusalem. Jesus equips His disciples to seek His kingdom while He is gone; this involves being ready for His return, and being faithful while He is gone. As we move through this section these will be our two headings, we will look at v35-40 under be ready, and 41-48 under be faithful. Source
How do you know your life is controlled by the Spirit? It is not by having visions and dreams, prophecies and tongues, or casting out demons, Judas could do all these and was not Spirit filled. Paul outlines for us in verses 18-21 what a Spirit filled life looks like. The imperative of being filled with the Spirit if obeyed results in us ‘addressing one another in psalms’, in us making melody to the Lord with our hearts, a pervasive atmosphere of thanksgiving arises, mutual submission and reverence. Test yourself to see if you are Spirit filled or walking according to the flesh. Do you seek out the saints to share in your common joy or are you isolated and self-absorbed? Do you find your own spiritual experience echoed in the songs and prayers of Scripture as well as those written by other Spirit filled people and feel the urge to sing or are you empty of joy and filled with the songs about vain things written by unsaved people? Is your heart smitten and in constant song before the Lord or is there an obsession over other things? Are you always grateful for the constant stream of grace that makes up your life and pour out thanks to God or are you covetous? Are you living humbly before others as a willing servant glad to give in any way you can or do you constantly veil your conceit and see others as an inconvenience? Do you live your life deeply conscious of Christ’s presence and will seeking to please Him and fearing to sin or are you indifferent to Christ and live as if God is not real not watching all that you do? In this next section Paul is going to show us what the Spirit filled life...
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There are two hands with which we hold onto the things of this life, there is the hand of greed and the hand of worry. The hand of greed holds onto things out of a desire for them believing the lie that they need them in order to be happy; the hand of worry holds onto things out of a desire to survive thinking that it needs these things for life. Some of us pursue the things of this life because of our insatiable desires; some of us pursue things because of our illogical fear. The iron grip of the hand of desire is loosened by finding our greater treasure in God as we are wooed by a greater affection for Him than the things of this life; the iron grip of anxiety is loosened by the knowledge of His fatherly care for us and the rich provisions laid up for us in eternity. We are in a section where Jesus is addressing our attitudes towards the things of this life. He has given us the parable of the rich fool to warn us off the desire for things that lead us away from God. He has addressed our greed, and now Jesus will address the other instinct that drives us to obsess over the things of this life, our worry, our anxiety, our fear, 12:22-34. Jesus has told us to be rich towards God v21, not only does our greed tremble at the thought of not having what it wants, our worry under the disguise of legitimate concern for security rushes in to talk us off the ledge of radical generosity. Jesus is training His disciples for a life of seeking God’s kingdom, a life of joyful and faith-filled generosity that is able to spend itself in the assurance...
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When I say ‘be filled with the Spirit,’ what comes to mind? You might think of power to do miracles, you might think of having a mystical experience, you might think of the Toronto Blessing. The problem with these conceptions and those like them is that they are extraordinary events that are reserved for the few where the command to be filled with the Spirit is something that is for all Christians to grasp. We continue then this week looking at what Paul means to be filled with the Spirit. Source
There is a sin which every person here struggles with that Jesus addresses next, the sin of Greed/covetousness. On a daily basis we wake up to a heart that is dissatisfied with what it has and thinks that happiness lies in having more. When on the hunt to purchase something we need, for just a few more dollars we get an upgrade with better options. Once we have bought it we get buyers regret because once we get the thing we thought we always wanted it has flaws and limitations and can’t do everything we want. We spend a lot of time thinking about that next great purchase and it feels great when we get it, but then that euphoria wears off and we need something else. Friends we have a heart problem, we have a sinner’s heart that tries to fulfil itself on things in creation instead of finding satisfaction in the Creator and the eternal riches He has in store for us. Every Christian is an heir a guaranteed millionaire but we act like paupers. We come now to the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21. 12:1-12 dealt with the temptation to leave Christ because of persecution, now we come to the temptation to leave Christ because of greed. Both these sins are outlined for us in the parable of the sower. The seed that is sown among thorny ground and springs up but dies with the heat of the sun represents those who become fair weather disciples who fall away under persecution. This section addresses the seed sown among thorns where the cares of this life choke out the seed. We will look at the warning, then the parable, then Christ’s closing lesson. Source
Christians are very divided today over the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Sadly most Christians do not know the difference between the sealing of the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. Today we come to Paul’s command to be filled with the Spirit and to not be drunk with wine. We want to spend some time in deep bible study to understand exactly what it is that required by this. We will being looking at the call to put away drunkenness as a counterfeit spirit, then we will look at the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then finally what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Source
The love of man’s praise and the fear of man’s wrath are the sins that Jesus warns His disciples of in this next section, 12:1-12. Jesus has just painted a target on His back and the back of His disciples by His confrontation with the religious leaders in 11:37-54. He has spoken to the Pharisees about their own sins; now He will speak to His disciples about the Pharisees sins. This next section is all about preparing for persecution. Jesus has kicked the hornet’s nest, they will kill Him, but Jesus has also just prophesied that they will kill and persecute the prophets and apostles that He is sending, 11:49. The rest of chapter 12 can read under the title of Trust and Obey, as Christ calls His disciples to faithfulness in the face of opposition. Today we will be looking at 12:1-12, and we will be dividing this section up under three headings. Each section deals with a command in light of the coming resistance, an evaluation of the sins of the religious leaders, and a reminder of something we find in God to help us resist sin and do our duty. Firstly, v1-3, we are to avoid hypocrisy considering the judgement of God, here Jesus reveals that the sins of the hypocrites will inevitably be judged. Secondly, v4-7, we are not to fear while trusting in the care of God, here Jesus reveals the weakness of the persecutors to do any real harm. Thirdly, v8-12, we are to confess Christ depending upon the Spirit of God, here Jesus exposes the nature of the persecutor’s sin as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Source
The word walk is used several times in the letter to the Ephesians. The word is used metaphorically to indicate a lifestyle, a life direction, a pattern of behaviour. It is used to describe our lives before Christ, 2:2, ‘And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.’ 4:17, ‘Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.’ And in contrast to that we are called to walk in light of God’s work of the gospel in us, 2:10, ‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.’ 4:1, ‘I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.’ 5:2, ‘And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.’ 5:8, ‘for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.’ And again in the verses we are considering today, 15-17, ‘15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.’ Walk in good works, walk in a manner worthy of your calling, in other words a walk of unity, walk in love, walk in the light, and now walk wisely. Paul has been...
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What is a shepherd to do when there are wolves? You might think that the right thing would be to kill the wolves and protect the sheep. When spiritual shepherds are dealing with spiritual wolves our tactics are slightly different. We have to confront the wolves hoping that the Spirit will use the truth to help them see and repent, we long to see the wolves themselves saved and become sheep, but we also have the responsibility of warning the sheep. In this next section as we come to the climax of Christ’s confrontation with the unbelieving crowd, Christ lovingly confronts the wolves, and warns the sheep. We see that Jesus confronts the Pharisees and the lawyers in v37-54, and then we see Him warning the sheep in 12:1. Jesus has been bumping heads with those in the crowd because of their unwillingness to believe, this portion suddenly gets very strong as Jesus is not merely confronting unbelief but the religious teachers of God’s people who have deceived, misled and been responsible for the condemnation of those who have followed their teaching. The gloves are off as Christ rips the sheep’s clothing off of the wolves exposing the true nature of their teachings, practices and spiritual condition. This portion is more than a true teacher angrily castigating false teachers, Jesus is speaking as a prophet as He speaks for God giving God’s perspective on their hearts, actions, and standing before Him. Jesus not only condemns the self-righteous but warns of future judgement and prophesies the fall of Jerusalem. The NT warns time and time again that false teachers are going to try and creep in among us and they will be dressed in sheep’s clothing, and that we must be on alert. Jesus as a prophet and the best analyser...
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We are in the middle of a section that is all about motivation. Why should you live the Christian life? Paul is in the middle of exploring several reasons for why we should be holy. Here they are, V1-2, walk in love because God has loved you; v3-7, walk in purity sexually and verbally because there is a judgement; v8-14, walk in light because of your identity as children of the light; v15-17, walk in wisdom because of the times we are living in; and finally walk in the Spirit. Paul has just spoken about striving after personal purity in the area of lust and greed because of the certainty of the judgement. Today we look at Paul’s next motivation as he calls upon the Ephesians to see themselves as children of light and to have a walk that demonstrates that reality, Ephesians 5:8-14. This is the motivation of identity, to be what you are. We have said it many times but it is worth pointing out again that Paul calls upon us to do what God requires of us, because of what God has done for and to us. Paul roots the imperative of the Christian life in the indicatives of God’s accomplishments. As we move through this section we will look at it under three headings. V8 gives us the motivation to walk as children of light, the why. V9-11, gives instruction on the how of walking the light. And, v12-14 speaks of our impact if we do walk in the light, the results. Source
Perhaps you remember what it was like. Before you became a believer you had a certain set of assumptions about faith and God. We were the arbiters of truth and God had to prove Himself to us. We had confidence in our reason; we were fearless in pouring intellectual disdain upon things so much bigger than us; we were assured of the rightness of our aggression against God. The verdict was out on Him not on us, and the burden of proof for His existence was upon Him not us. This impression is prevalent today, unbelief sits in judgement upon God demanding explanations for why bad things happen; self-assured intellects demand better evidences, and that God jump through all the hoops we set for Him; God is portrayed as the one who needs to court us for our approval; we will only believe in Him on our own terms; He is guilty until proven innocent. And then our eyes were opened. O how arrogant we had been; how high we thought we were, we did not realize how wrong we were. Then we saw the truth of our sin, the truth of His glory, the truth of His love for us in Christ. The Spirit drilled these things into us by His power overwhelming our self-deceptions and convincing us of the truth. The irreverent word games we played; the blasphemous resistance to God’s truth; the culpable denials and deceptions we persisted in. It is this change, the change from an arrogant and culpable and demanding unbelief to true faith that Jesus is seeking to bring about in the portion before us in Luke 11:29-36. Jesus cast out a demon and there have been various responses to His ministry. We have seen those who have blasphemed the Holy Spirit and denied...
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Thanks to Jerry Fernandes for preaching for us this Easter. Jerry is from Gracenet Community Church in Wellington. Source
Thanks to Jerry Fernandes for preaching for us this Easter. Jerry is from Gracenet Community Church in Wellington. Source
Thanks to Jerry Fernandes for preaching for us this Easter. Jerry is from Gracenet Community Church in Wellington. Source
What do all these verses have in common? 2 Cor. 5:10-11, ‘For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.’ 2 Pet. 3:11, 14, ‘Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?’ ‘Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.’ 1 Pet. 4:7, ‘The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.’ All of these verses are seeking to motivate Christians to live in light of the end of the world and the final judgement. This is what Paul is doing in Eph. 5:5-7, ‘For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them.’ Paul we began to show in the last message is concerned about our personal purity and is motivating the Ephesians to be pure. He has highlighted the specific sins of sexual immorality, impurity and covetousness as sins which Christians must not be involved in because of their identity of saints. In the verses before us Paul goes on to give another motivation to...
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In 2021 there are about 2.5 Billion Christians in name in the world today. But how many of these Christians in name are Christians in truth? What is the difference between a Christian in name and a Christian in reality? There are all sorts of people who are associated with Christ but who are not believers. There are many who fill out in their funeral forms, or any forms that ask for religious affiliation, that they are Christian. There are those born in a so called Christian country and who have been baptised into a national church but are not believers. There are those who have been brought up in a Christian home, gone to Sunday School, perhaps even a Christian school but who are not truly converted. There are thousands of people who walked an aisle at a youth event, got baptised at a Christian camp, or prayed a sinner’s prayer in a counselling room who now have no resemblance to biblical Christianity. Evangelicalism in the last two centuries has seen a development in evangelism where a push for decisions has led to many false confessions of faith. Charles Finney, the father of the altar call had a ministry in the New York area that became known as the burned over district, it was an area that was saturated in a particular style of evangelism that manipulated many who were not truly converted by the power of the Holy Spirit to come forward. Thousands responded, but because they responded due to the emotionalism of the spectacle produced and the charisma of the speaker, many made responses in the flesh and were not truly converted. Decades after these tours of Finney the area became a seed bed for all sorts of wacky cults and ideas. People became ‘religious’ but because...
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Why should a Christian not have sex before marriage or any other form of sexual sin? Why should a Christian not tell dirty jokes? Why should a Christian not swear? Why should a Christian not be greedy? It is to these questions that we turn as Paul gives the Ephesians motivations to be personally pure. Paul has been speaking to the area of unity, to the area of relationships, and about those sins that we do against each other like lying, stealing, slandering, unforgiveness, etc. But Paul is not only concerned about our unity he is also concerned about our holiness, in particular our personal purity. Put off the old man, not only in how you reacted to others but in how you conduct yourself as well. In Ephesians 5:3-7 Paul moves into the area of personal holiness and gives the Ephesians motivations for personal purity, ‘But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them.’ These verses naturally divide into 2 parts, v3-4, and v5-7. In verses 3-4 Paul calls the Christian to not be associated with certain sins, sexual immorality, impurity, greed, and sinful speech, and he motivates them in this direction by an appeal to their identity as saints, ‘as is proper...
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Imagine being raised in a religion where you were taught that you were right and everyone else was wrong; you are God’s people and everyone else is of the devil; and you have the truth and everyone else believes lies. Then suddenly someone comes along and turns your world upside down and you too are wrong, you too are of the devil, and you too have believed lies. This is the situation we are facing in the next section of Luke which focuses on Jesus conflict with the people and the religious leaders. There are only two sides, those for God and those for the devil; only two kingdoms, those in God’s kingdom and those in satan’s; only two choices, either Jesus is the Messiah or He is not; and there are only two places to stand, for or against Him. In the section before us you will notice that Jesus conflict with the crowd is intensifying. He gets accused of healing by the power of satan, but Jesus calls them out and forces them to decide whether the Kingdom of God is here; whether He is the Messiah; and whether they are for or against Him. This heightened sense of conflict forces one to decide, whose side are you on? In V24 Jesus characterises their religion, the legalistic moralism of the day, as nothing more than a swept house for satan; in v27-28 we see Him challenging their view of religion that lacks obedience to God’s word; in 29-32 He calls evil the generation that will not believe His miracles and demands further signs; in v33 He challenges those who want to follow Him in a quiet and timid fashion; in v37-52 Jesus goes head to head with the Pharisees and the lawyers pronouncing woes upon them and look...
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Motivation is something we have wrestled with all our lives. You will remember when your parents gave what appeared to you to be unreasonable rules and when you asked why you had to do them, and they responded, ‘Because I said so,’ you know how you felt. You might have been willing to obey but you needed to know why, you needed the proper motivation, especially when what was required went against your desires. Paul is the master teacher who tells us what to do and then motivates us to do it as well. The pattern of Paul’s method of teaching is to root the imperative in the indicative, in other words, Paul gives us a long delve into the wonderful truths of what God has done for us in Christ, and then in light of what God has done calls us to what we ought to do. Although it would be appropriate for God to say, ‘Because I said so,’ and we should obey for He is God, and who tells us is enough. God is kind to us in our weakness, He also provides the rationale, the motivation and the enabling power along with the command. The book of Ephesians follows this pattern. The first three chapters are an exploration of our riches in Christ and chapters 4-6 our responsibilities in Christ. The end of chapter 4 the immediate context has given us a number of exhortations with regards to holiness. Don’t lie, v25; don’t lose your temper, v26-27; don’t steal, v28; don’t destroy with your tongue, v29-30; and don’t bear or act out your grudges, v31. Paul ends the chapter with a call to kindness and forgiveness and adds the motivation because God forgave us. This brings us to chapter 5:1-21, the chapter we are beginning today....
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Jesus as the master-teacher on prayer knows that we have more than one problem with prayer, not knowing what to pray for; but we also have a problem in how we pray, our uncertainty in prayer. We all struggle with a lack of faith and that lack of faith will reflect in our praying. Our faith is small because our knowledge of God is small, we do not view Him as generous and willing. Our faith is small because our view of the gospel is small, therefore our sins loom large and we think God is unwilling to hear us, for we are unworthy. Jesus has taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, this is a masterful summary of what to pray for, but merely having the head knowledge of what to pray for does not make you a prayer warrior, so Jesus does not stop His teaching there. Knowing that we are timid in prayer, knowing that we have false views of God, knowing that we may be overwhelmed with our own unworthiness Christ gives further encouragements to pray in Luke 11:5-13. Jesus who knows the Father, who has His own intimate prayer life with the Father seeks to move us not only to prayer the correct things but with the right attitude, with confidence and boldness. This section is divided up into three parts, there is the parable of the friend at midnight, v5-8; this leads to the statements about asking, seeking and knocking, v9-10; and this is followed by a contrast between evil fathers and our Heavenly Father, v11-13. These will be our three points, the parable, the statements, and the contrast. Source
We are all bad at prayer and Jesus is the master teacher when it comes to prayer. No human being has ever prayed more perfectly than Christ. He is sinless; He is divine and He has been in eternal fellowship with the Father. He as God has both received prayer, but also as man prayed. He has both answered prayer and had His prayers answered. So when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, they could ask no better person. We have looked at the first half of the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer outlined for us to help us know how to pray. The prayer opens with a gospel door, by us addressing the holy and infinite God as our Father. Jesus starts us by getting us to behold the infinite majesty of God as it is presented to us in the gospel. He is not only holy but also loving not only transcendent but immanent. Then we were taught to have the right priorities in seeking God’s glory above all other things. Our sinful hearts seek to deny God, we are taught in prayer to acknowledge God and give Him His due, seeking that all might glorify Him. This followed on to God’s reign being realized and prayed for as we acknowledged that the world is fallen and broken and that we should want God’s kingdom to come. We come now to the second part of the Lord’s Prayer, the part where most people begin praying, with our needs. Luke 11:3-4, ‘Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” We are to want his glory, his kingdom and will before we come to ourselves. But that does...
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How can you tell if someone is a Christian? We will not be able to know 100% because we cannot see the hearts of others but there are several tests you could apply that could make an informed opinion. God knows the heart completely; you can know of your own salvation, but knowing about others will run the risk of error. Firstly, there is the test of orthodoxy. If someone is taught by the Spirit they will believe certain truths and reject certain errors, they cannot deny the Trinity, or the way of salvation for example. Secondly, there is the spiritual struggle test. Romans 7 paints the picture of man who is born again but observing his sin through the lens of the law the law exposes his sin all the way to revealing a heart that still loves sin. The believer is tormented by this reality, he hates the fact that he still loves sin and longs for the day when his heart will not betray the God he wants to love. There is the perseverance test. Many can make quick conversions that even appear genuine for a while, like in the parable of the sower, the seed sown on the rocky ground or among thorns. But it is those who persevere in their faith who prove that they are truly believers. There is the spiritual desires test. Do you love God, do you see evidence of the Spirit teaching your spirit to cry out ‘Abba, Father’? Do you seek Him prayer, delight in singing His praises, love to be with His people, hunger for His word? Then there is the assurance test. Have you experienced the Spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God? Have you known the joy that is inexpressible and...
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One of the distinctives of a Baptist Church is that only those baptized by immersion as believers, in other words baptized according to Christ’s command, can become members of a local Baptist Church. We believe that we do not have the right to make baptism into whatever we want it to be, nor decide on any old practice being defined as a legitimate baptism. I am sure you will agree with us that baptism is defined by Christ not us, and we are obliged to practice what He commands and not what we think. Today we are having a baptismal service, and upon their baptisms John, Ian and Margaret will become formal members of Covenant Grace Baptist Church. Why are we doing this? What gives us the right to get people to do things in public which for some are embarrassing; for others culturally strange, perhaps even noxious? We believe that Christ in the Great Commission has given us the mandate to baptize believers as His disciples and incorporate them into the church for the ongoing discipleship they need to serve Him properly. Matt. 28:18-20: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This is a huge text from which we could preach a series of sermons on, but we are going to limit our sermon to a few thoughts that relate to baptism, and even then we will not be able to say all we want to say...
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If I were to ask you ‘why shouldn’t the Christian sin?’, ‘what makes a sin wrong?’ we would likely hear a number of different arguments. Today many feel that a certain action is inappropriate because it is not culturally acceptable, it is a taboo, it is not a societal norm and this is what makes an action wrong. This betrays a more post-modern way of thinking where we are trying to live with the premise that everyone has their own truth and that our morality is a societal construct. You will also hear the more pragmatic view that says we should do those things that work for personal and societal benefit and not do those things that cause harm. Here you can see that the rationale behind the morality is the supremacy of human comfort. In contrast to this is the view the says that freedom is the basis of morality, as long as I choose to do what I want, it does not matter whether it hurts me or not, the point is I chose it. And as long as I don’t stop your choices then all is good. Then there is the Christian ethic, now you might think off hand that this is an ethic that is based on a set of rules, the law of God, and in part this is true for God’s law reflects Him, but Paul gets to the very heart of why a thing is a sin and the ultimate compass for Christian behaviour, Eph. 4:30, ‘And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.’ The rationale behind all Christian ethics is God. In this verse Paul is seeking to motivate the Ephesians to put off those ways that belong to their old...
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We apologise that there is no audio recording for this sermon. There is a repeating pattern in the Bible which trains our hearts and minds to think and want correctly, it is the pattern of God first and man second. Think of the greatest commandments. Matthew 22:36-40, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Think of the Ten Commandments, there are traditionally the two tables of the law, the first 4 commandments of no other gods, no images, not taking God’s name in vain, and keeping the Sabbath all have to do with loving God; then honouring parents, not murdering, committing adultery, stealing, bearing false witness or coveting all have to do with loving our neighbour. God first and then man second. The same pattern repeats in the Lord’s Prayer, that prototypical prayer which should shape all our praying. We see that the first part of the prayer, the address to God as Father, and the 3 requests for His name to be hallowed, His Kingdom come and His will be done, are putting God and His concerns first; then in the second three petitions for provision, pardon and protection concern man. This later version of the Lord’s Prayer is a slightly abbreviated version but it has the same pattern. We see in v2 that this God first man second pattern has not changed, it is part of the basic DNA of how we should pray, ‘And...
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‘There is a story in the Jewish Talmud about a king who sent two jesters on an errand. He instructed them, “Foolish Simon, go and bring me back the best thing in the world. And you, Silly John, go and find for me the worst thing in the world.” Both clowns were back in short order, each carrying a pack-age. Simon bowed low and grinned. “Behold, Sire, the best thing in the world.” His package contained a tongue. John snickered and quickly unwrapped his bundle. “The worst thing in the world, Sire.” Another tongue! (Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopaedia of 7,700 Illustrations [Assurance Publishers], # 6387, p. 1422.)’ This story makes the point well, that the tongue has an incredible potential for good and evil. Life and death, corruption or edification, reconcile or divide; Proverbs 18:21 rightly says, ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue.’ Today as we continue in our look at Ephesians we come to this issue of the double edged nature of the tongue, 4:29, ‘Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.’ Lets remember the context. Paul is talking about being new creatures in Christ. He has told us about how the gospel causes us to be a new person and now in light of that newness we must put off the old man’s ways and walk in the ways of the Spirit. We must no longer walk like the Gentiles who do not know God and have not experienced the resurrection power of Christ in regeneration; we must walk in the power of the Spirit and in the likeness of the new man we will one day be in the...
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We apologise that there is no audio recording for this sermon. Prayer, one of the easiest and the hardest of things to do; one of the simplest and the most theologically mysterious and complex of things. I love what Andrew Murray says about prayer, ‘Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray. Yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the church, for the world, it is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that promises wait for their fulfilment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation.’1 As we continue in Luke’s gospel, we are in the middle of a section where Jesus is intensively discipling His disciples. He has taught them about loving your neighbour, He has taught them about the priority of sitting at Jesus feet and hearing His teaching, another pillar of our discipleship is prayer. Luke 11:1-13 is all about prayer. In v1-4 we have teaching on how to pray; in v5-8 a parable to incentivise us to prayer; in v9-10 we have a memorable statement encouraging us to pray; and in v11-13 an illustration to motivate us to pray. Our text begins with Jesus praying and the disciples asking to be taught how to pray, v1, ‘Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples...
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A big thank you to Ian Goodman from Wilson Street Baptist Church for preaching to us this afternoon. Mark 7:14-23 14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Source
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” What does the birth of Christ mean to the world today? Those who do not believe the Christmas story as teaching that the saviour of the world is born; many still celebrate the story because they believe that it teaches and affirms that the birth of every child is precious. As true as it is that every human life is precious, the remembrance of Jesus in the stable is not a celebration of human life, no matter where it is born. No, the significance of the birth of Christ is one of the most profound moments, ever. In order to get at some of the significance of Christmas we are going to look at the first Christmas Carol ever sung. The setting of our first Carol is an outdoor service in the fields outside of Bethlehem. The MC for the evening was one of the angels, and the choir performing the short carol were the angels of heaven. No doubt no amplification was needed as the Bible speaks in proverbial terms of the ‘voice of an archangel’, and here we see a great host appearing. If you were one of the shepherds, and you were sitting listening, how do you think it would have appeared, the lighting, the volume, the harmonies, the beauty? And how earnest do you think the angels would have been in their praise? It profits for us to reflect on the attitude of the angel’s worship in this carol. When we come to Christmas it is very easy for us to sing without meaning, to sing out of tradition without worshipping. To sing enjoying the camaraderie of the moment without turning our love towards God, enjoying the tunes, the...
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For our new year’s meditation I want to direct you to 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Firstly appreciate the context: Paul warns Timothy about a massive turning away from the truth, v1-7, But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. These descriptions sound just like what we are seeing today. But Paul then reminds Timothy of his good practice in contrast to those who have turned away. In v10-11 he talks about how Timothy has properly followed Paul as he has followed Christ, in v12 he reminds Timothy of this truism that all who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus are in the minority and will suffer persecution suffering ridicule, rejection and more violent treatment. V13 describes the compounding nature of the problem, ‘while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.’ The immorality gains critical mass, and the deceptions pick up supporters along the way. V14-17 are Paul’s encouragements in how to stay true to the truth. We will be looking at this section under three headings, hold to the word, what is the word?, and the sufficiency of the word. Source
We have put off our old ways and put on a new self. We are no longer the person we used to be and we are being made into the person we will one day be. Paul is mapping out this newness in various areas of our lives. He has spoken about how we are new in the way we communicate as we put away lies and deal in truth. He has spoken about the new way we control our anger when dealing with others not giving the devil an opportunity to divide us. Now he is going to speak about the new attitude we have towards work and our possessions and the way in which our selfishness is turned to selflessness, Ephesians 4:28, ‘Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.’ Note the changes: we are changed from stealing to giving; from greed to generosity; from harming others by taking or damaging their goods to benefitting them from our own goods; from laziness to labour; from a criminal to a steward; from takers to givers. As we work through this verse it we will break it up into three parts. Firstly, we will examine the stealing we are to put away; secondly, we will examine the work we were made for; and thirdly, the giving that imitates Christ’s giving to us. Source
Business is an affliction that our age struggles with. Life has accelerated to dizzying speeds and many cannot keep up. Today you will find life skills books and life coaches who teach you about simplifying your life, about finding the calm in the midst of the storm, about finding the art of living in the battle of business. We live in an age where we have to choose between the urgent and the important. We have to attend to our on-line selves and our real-life selves. Having the right priorities in our business is a timeless problem for Christians as well. The urgent pushes out the important; the good crowds out the best; and the bad replaces the good. The portion that we are examining today is about what is most important when the pressure is on. Luke 10:38-42 is about a family that will become very close to Jesus. Lazarus, Mary and Martha are prominent in the gospels and are close friends of Christ. Our focus today is upon the two sisters, Martha and Mary. Luke’s gospel is the only gospel that records this account, but it is a well-known story. We are in that part of the gospel where Jesus is spending more intensive time teaching and preparing His disciples before His departure. V38, ‘Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.’ The village we will learn in John’s gospel is Bethany, just a few kilometres from Jerusalem showing us Jesus circuitous route at this time. This may be the first time that Jesus met Mary and Martha and we soon get to see the differences between these two women. As we go through this section we will look at Mary’s sitting and Martha’s serving. Source
Anger divides! Take one look at our culture today and notice how anger is drawing battle lines, polarizing and tribalizing groups against each other. We see the sides in the culture wars as the left are pitted against the right. Critical theory has divided society up into minority groupings who now interpret all activity towards them in terms of microagressions. They play into a narrative of victimhood and oppression which must now be met with violent revolution. Cancel culture, trolling, and the mudslinging arena of social media are maelstroms of anger. This anger is nothing new, sinners have always been able to gladly and willingly fall into mob anger, prejudice, dissension and the willing destruction of others. What we see today is exacerbated by an educational tidal wave of leftist Neo-Marxist ideology, and media platforms who are sympathetic. The particular symptoms and issues may be different, but the root cause of sin causing anger is still the same. The same root of pride, self-righteousness, perceived slights, exaggerated responses, intimidation tactics, group think, newspeak, self-deceiving hearts, and a devil fanning the flame are always the same. Anger divides! Paul has been addressing the matter of putting off our old ways. The first thing he did was address the matter of our speech talking about how we are to put away all lying and speak truth with one another. Now Paul addresses the matter of the heart as he deals with anger, Eph. 4:26-27, ‘Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.’ We will divide our look into these verses under three headings that follow the three negatives in the text, don’t sin, don’t wait, don’t give opportunity. Source
What do you think is the lesson of the parable of the Good Samaritan? The knee jerk response of most people is that the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us to love our neighbour. This certainly is part of the answer but not all of it. The context of the parable of the Good Samaritan is a conversation between Jesus and a lawyer about the way of salvation. The parable of the Good Samaritan has a double purpose: firstly, it was intended so who a man who thought he was saved by obeying God’s law to love that he is not saved; and secondly, it exposes all our selfish definitions of neighbourly love as it defines love as a compassionate and sacrificial service of all. There is a double surprise here as two powerful truths address two deeply entrenched errors. Firstly, we think we are good and are saved by our goodness, Jesus will show up our lack of love; secondly, we think we know what love is but we always seek to redefine God’s way to suit us. This is a familiar portion of scripture which is both its strength and its weakness; because it is so familiar we already think we know what it means so we often miss the details and how they contribute to its main purposes. But because we know it so well with a proper exposition we can quickly access its intended message. We will divide this portion into two sections looking firstly at Jesus conversation with the lawyer and his understanding of love and how it relates to salvation; in the second part we will tackle the parable itself looking at how Jesus uses the despised Samaritan to define neighbour love. The lawyer’s love and the Samaritan’s love are our two points. Source
A British survey in 2008 reported that people lie on average 4 times a day, which is at least 1460 times a year and 88,000 times in 60 years. In 2002 a study done by a university concluded that 60% of people cannot have a 10 minute conversation without telling a lie, averaging 2-3 in a ten minute period. In a 2014 survey of 1,200 adults 76% said it was ok to lie sometimes. Lying is a destructive sin that dominates the human heart and has been the source of wars, divorce, murder, suicide and many more instances of harm. The impact of lying on human history is incalculable from our point of view. If we had to take every lie ever told from our earliest years to our parents, in school, to our friends, spouses, bosses, etc. The number would be astronomical. As Paul comes to calling us to a new life the first area that he calls us to put off the old and put on the new is in the area of lies and truth, 4:25, ‘Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another.’ As this next section comes into view I cannot help but think that Paul is thinking over the ten commandments as a partial guide in mapping out the new life. Not lying relates to the 9th commandment; not getting angry to the 6th; not stealing and working hard, the 8th, the sexual sin addressed relates to the 7th. But Paul does not merely have the negative approach to holiness in mind but has love which fulfils the law in view as well, 5:2. So as we move forward we will be allowing the Ten Commandments to inform our...
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The Christian life can be depressing at times. Ecclesiastes 1:18 gives us a reason why, ‘ For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.’ The more truth you have, the more you realize how bad things are, and that can be depressing. We can get depressed because of the internal love that we still have for sin and the way we continue to sin. We get depressed because we see so much suffering so much of it self-inflicted as people live without God. We are sad because the God we love is not worshipped and honoured. We get in the dumps when we experience the pains of a fallen creation, a fallen body, a fallen society, and a fallen government. But the Christian life is also a life of irresistible joy. It is to some of these joys that we turn as we watch the disciples return from their mission in Luke 10:17-24. Here we see not only the joy of the disciples but the joy of Jesus as well. Ministry has its own set of sorrows. All Christians minister to others in some capacity and inevitably shoulders the various burdens of others. Joy becomes something that we need to sustain us, to keep our hopes up, to act as fuel for further service, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. ‘Studies show that joyful people have less chance of having a heart attack, maintain a healthier blood pressure, and tend to have lower cholesterol levels. There’s research to prove that joy boosts our immune systems, fights stress and pain, and improves our chance of living a longer life.’ Joyful people are nicer people, easier to live with and easier to work with. Joy puts on display the satisfaction we have in...
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Last week we began to look at Ephesians 4:17-24. We said that this is Paul’s call for the Christian to stop living as though dead but to be alive as they are in Christ. Paul is about to set off on a long list of how to live the new life, in this section he gives us the rationale for that. Because we are not dead but alive, because we are in Christ not Adam, because we are in the Spirit not the flesh, because we have put off the old and put on the new, we must no longer walk like the Gentiles but in newness of life. Last week we had a deep look into what we were and the way sin worked, now we want to look at what we are and why the holy life must necessary follow. Source
We are continuing our look at Jesus sending out the 72 to go preach in Israel. We have seen how Christ has called the disciples and us to exercise trust in the area of prayer, persecution and provision, but central in Christ’s sending out the disciples is their message, what they are to say. We are here reminded of our primary identity and purpose. We are heralds, ambassadors, and witnesses. We are to preach, proclaim, and teach. We are looking at Jesus send out His disciples into the ripe harvest field of Israel, but there are many similarities that we are able to see which apply to our responsibility in fulfilling the Great Commission. We will see that there are three major aspects of their message which are major ingredients in ours as well. Source
Thomas Watson once said, ‘Dead fish swim downstream; living fish swim upstream.’ As Christians we are no longer dead, we can no longer go along with the world. We are no longer what we were so we can no longer live the way we used to. We have life and cannot live like we do not; we have God and cannot live like we do not. This is the heart of what Paul is getting at in Ephesians 4:17-24. We are in the second half of the letter to the Ephesians. Chapters 1-3 are mostly doctrine indicating what God has done for us, and the gospel realities we have been brought into. Chapters 4-6 map out the life that must now flow in light of these wonderful realities. Paul began chapter 4 urging the Ephesians to walk worthy of the call they have been called to, 4:1. There are two things we are called to that Paul maps out in chapters 4-6. We are called to be one, in other words to unity. 4:1-16 dealt with the issue of unity. But we are also called to holiness, and 4:17, pretty much to the end of the book deals with what that holiness looks like. 4:17-24 then play an important role in Paul outlining the gospel realities which ground the new life of holiness we are to live. Paul here tells us of the newness that God has brought about by the gospel which calls for the new life we are to live. In other words, Paul tells us what we are, before calling us to be what we are. You can see that he tells us to put the old away and cultivate the new, and then immediately in v25 he launches into putting of the old actions of lying,...
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Phillip Ryken tells the story of ‘The China Gospel Fellowship—also known as Tanghe—is a large network of Chinese house churches. Early in 1994 the fellowship began collecting donations for a special missionary trip. Since most of the group’s members live in poverty, their giving was sacrificial. People sold their chickens or gave up money they had been saving for marriage. No matter what the cost, they wanted God to be glorified in China. When sufficient funds had been raised, the fellowship held a worship service at which they commissioned seventy young evangelists to go out two-by-two and preach the gospel in the far provinces of China. The missionaries were young and single, some of them still in their teens. Given only enough money for a one-way journey, they were told to trust God to provide for their needs. This trust was well placed, for God was faithful to provide. Six months later all of the missionaries returned home safely, having established new churches in twenty-two of China’s thirty provinces. In sponsoring this mission, the Tanghe were carrying out the Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel. They were also following the example of Jesus Christ, who “appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go” (Luke 10:1).’1 Luke 10:1-16 tells us the story of the second wave of disciples being sent out to Israel, the sending of the 70/72, depending on which ancient manuscript you use. Many like 70 because there are 70 nations in the table of nations in Gen. 10; or because there were 70 descendant of Jacob that went to Egypt when Joseph was 2nd in command; or because Moses appointed 70 elders of the people...
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We come now to the teaching known as the perseverance of the saints. It has been known by other names, the preservation of the saints, once saved always saved, or eternal security. Some of these forms of teaching are associated with teachings we would disagree with, and others depending on how they are defined we would count as biblical. We are happy with perseverance of the saints because it best describes the NT teaching that all those who God elects and draws to Himself are saved, and because the work of grace within them is real they will persevere. What are the reasons why people reject this teaching? Some reject it because of tradition; they have been taught differently by their parents and pastors and cannot imagine having been wrong. I hope that the Bible will be our greatest source of authority. Some reject it because of the difficult passages which seem to teach that a truly born again Christian can lose their salvation. We will see that there is clear teaching that difficult verses cannot be read to contradict lest we make God a liar. Others reject it out of a fear of the antinomianism and immorality that will ensue thinking that such a teaching will embolden people to abuse grace. But not everything that can be abused is necessarily wrong, this is a reaction of fear. Other fears that it will steal our motivation to obey and result in us losing the impulse for holiness. Although fear is used by God as a motivation we believe that grace and the Spirit give us the best motivation. A very common argument is that we have all known people who appeared to be better Christians than us who turned away. We will demonstrate that many people appear saved but who...
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In the West we no longer know what it means to count the cost to become disciples’ of Christ. We live in an age where Christianity has been in the majority, but is now on the decline. This has led to a backlash in trying to market Jesus in a way that He stops losing popularity. We have removed all the offensive elements from the Bible, from our language and tried to sell a Christianity without the cross. Come to Christ to get a life coach who chases all your depression, all your sickness, all your failure away, and who will give you heaven when you die. Come to God to live a life of faith where you can design your own destinies by positive thinking and confession. Repentance is missing; killing sin is missing, enlisting in Christ’s army against a terrible foe is missing, embracing a life of sacrificial service and deprivations is missing. This is why we need to turn again and again to the gospel to hear Christ call disciples to Himself. The section we have been in has been an intensive look at Christ training the disciples. What we have in 9:57-62 is the sobering reminder of the cost we must pay in being disciples’ of Christ. We have three individuals placed before us. The first and third are volunteers, the second is specifically called. Christ knowing the hearts of each lays out what is required in being His disciples. He is not begging for disciples that He is willing to take whoever will go on whatever terms. He is Lord, He must have first place and His will must come first. This is what He pointedly applies to these three men. He places before us the realities and priorities of being a disciple of Christ....
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Imagine with me a set of twins, they have both grown up in a good home where parents have loved them, they have both grown up with Christian parents who have instructed them in God’s word and taken them to church every Sunday. They are of equal sporting ability and both of average intelligence. However, when the Gospel is preached to them, one of them believes and the other does not, why? What has caused these two brothers to differ? The typical answers to this question would be, ‘it was their upbringing’, but they have both come from good homes. ‘It was their personality types,’ but there are believers amongst all the categories of personality types. ‘One was cleverer than the other,’ one might want to say, but there are very clever people who believe and people of simpler minds who believe as well. ‘One was better than the other and obeyed the call to repent,’ or; ‘God looked into the future and saw that one would choose Him and the other wouldn’t.’ All of these explanation try to root the cause in nature, nurture or human will, but we will see that the Bible teaches that the only reason why someone believes is because God enables their faith and repentance. Today in our message we will be looking at an important word in the central verses of Romans 8:28-30, the word ‘called’. We are choosing to look at the doctrine of irresistible grace through the lens of effectual calling. Once again we are faced with a name for a doctrine we would not choose. The grace of God can be resisted and is resisted every day of our lives until the day the Lord has appointed that we should believe, so the name irresistible grace is misleading. Acts 13:48,...
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There is a great struggle in every Christian’s heart, and that is the balance between mercy and justice. Both are commands, we are to be just and we are to be merciful. Both are used by our sinfulness to further our sins. Sometimes we insist on justice because we are nurturing hatred in our hearts and want to see harm come to those who have hurt us or ours. Sometimes we insist on mercy because we have cowardice in our hearts and are unwilling to pay the price to apply what is right in a particular situation. At times it seems that one cannot be true to both but you have to choose, yet God is both merciful and just. We especially struggle to balance these things when we are being unjustly persecuted or treated. When we are in the right our self-righteousness rises up with mighty vengeance and powerfully wields the sword of justice. Because our sinfulness is an expert in seeing others sins and measuring our losses rather than another’s hurts and needs we are more proficient at judging than having mercy. When God deals with sinners His mercy triumphs over judgement, but when we deal with sinners justice triumphs over mercy. This is the problem that we are seeing in Luke 9:51-56 when the disciples want to call down fire upon the Samaritans who have rejected Christ. We are in a section dealing with the immaturity of the disciples. We have seen their lack of faith and understanding, their lack of humility, this section deals with their lack of mercy and how out of step they are with the mission of Christ. So as we look at this section we will look at it under three headings, we will look firstly at the Saviour’s loving determination; then...
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Limited atonement, as has been pointed out by many is an unfortunate name for this point. The name is certainly misleading in terms of what is meant by it. It in no way means that the power of Christ’s sacrifice is limited in its power to forgive sins. Christ’s sacrifice is certainly sufficient for all of our sins, and we reject the notion that we need to add anything to His atonement. What is meant by this phrase is that God was particular in who this redemption was accomplished for. And so it has also been called particular atonement. In this it is meant that it is limited in its intent, but not in its power. Another way of approaching this topic is by stressing that Christ affected an actual atonement, not a provisional one. That when He died He actually paid for the sins of His elect, making the salvation of His elect certain not merely provisional/potential/possible. So we can speak of an actual atonement not merely a theoretical one. The point being that Christ actually accomplished something in His death, not merely opening the door for potential salvation. The opposite view espoused by the Arminians would be universal redemption as opposed to particular redemption; or provisional redemption as opposed to actual redemption. Of all the five points of Calvinism that has been the toughest to swallow, but you will see that it is believed by Reformed believers not because they enjoy philosophical speculation, or deliberately upsetting other Christians. It is because the teaching is profoundly biblical. We will set forth the teaching positively, and then we will seek to engage some of the criticisms. Might I say that all concerns will not be addressed in this lecture, but many relevant aspects will be dealt with in the next...
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Jesus Christ is the greatest example and the greatest teacher of humility in human history. And the disciples like ourselves are in constant need of teaching on the evil of pride and the value of humility. We are in a section that is focusing in on the immaturity of the disciples and Christ’s attention to their discipleship and development. Christ has just addressed them on the matter of their lack of faith, as well as their lack of understanding, He now turns to the area of their lack of humility. If you look up a definition of pride today, you will come across the traditional definition that defines it as a sin, ‘Pride, conceit, self-esteem, egotism, vanity, vainglory imply an unduly favourable idea of one’s own appearance, advantages, achievements, etc., and often apply to offensive characteristics. Pride is a lofty and often arrogant assumption of superiority in some respect: Pride must have a fall.’ But pride has also come to mean something positive, ‘a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.’ And, ‘consciousness of one’s own dignity.’ Or, ‘confidence and self-respect as expressed by members of a group, typically one that has been socially marginalized, on the basis of their shared identity, culture, and experience,’ and so gay pride is a thing. We live in an age that calls good evil and evil good and are in desperate need for God to help us see what pride and humility truly are. The bible teaches us that pride was the first sin of the devil in exalting himself against God, seeking to be God. To deny God His proper place and seek to take His place or act...
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The main reason why people reject the teaching of God’s free sovereign and gracious election, is not so much because God is sovereign in showing mercy, but that He is sovereign not only in election but reprobation as well. Many can see the logic of God’s sovereign mercy for the elect, but the other side of election, the dark side, the side of reprobation, this is the main reason why people reject the teaching altogether. Some will accept single predestination, that God elects to have mercy on some; but will not accept what is known as double predestination, that God also elects to harden the reprobate. One of the key verses which catches in the throat on this issue lies before us, Romans 9:17-18, ‘For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.’ Paul has clearly outlined the truth that God is the one who sovereignly decides who will be saved, and that this salvation is not because of any initiative in man but rests on God’s will. We have seen that this is an act of mercy because there is no human being who deserves to be saved, and any who are saved are saved by mercy. It is time for us to go where others fear to tread as Paul asserts that God is as sovereign in reprobation as He is in election. There is no part of the universe where God is not in control and this includes the eternal destiny of those who are not saved. Paul uses the example of Pharaoh as proof for...
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There is a saying in Christianity: the devil does not attack you on the mountaintops, he is waiting for you at the foot of the mountain. This is literally what happens in this section where Jesus has been on the mountaintop with His inner ring of disciples, and now that it is time to descend, what is waiting at the bottom? A severe case of demonic possession. But not only that the disciples have had an amazing time. They have been sent on their first outreach which resulted in miracles and exorcisms at their hands; they have been stretching their legs in ministry as they preached and baptized. They have been exposed to major revelations of Christ’s person and power, the most recent being Peter’s confession in v18-20, and the Mount of Transfiguration. But we are entering a section that shows up several inadequacies, and the need for the disciples to heed the words they heard on the Mount, ‘Listen to Him!’ V37-43 shows their lack of faith and prayer as they fail to exorcise a young boy; v44-45 reveals their lack of understanding as they again do not understand God’s purposes through a suffering Messiah; v46-48 reveal their lack of humility; v49-50 their lack of a spirit of cooperation; and v51-56 their lack of compassion to racial enemies. And all of these glaring weaknesses on the heels of Peter’s double faux pas in rebuking Jesus that He must not suffer; and failing to grasp the import of the mount of Transfiguration and equating Moses and Elijah with Jesus. We have been looking at many instances of Christ’s person and work being put on display, miracle after miracle has proven the power and majesty of Christ; we come now to a section which puts the weakness of the human heart...
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Thanks to Alfie Orr for preaching this afternoon at our new building at 20 Archer Street, Timaru. Alfie pastored our church from August 1986 – November 1998 when it was still known as Marchwiel Reformed Baptist Church. Today was a significant moment in our church’s history, and to commemorate it, the three previous pastors were able to attend and participate in our services today. Source
Thanks to John Leevers for preaching this morning at our official opening of the new building at 20 Archer Street, Timaru. John pastored our church from December 1998 – October 2006 when it was still known as Marchwiel Reformed Baptist Church. Today was a significant moment in our church’s history, and to commemorate it, the three previous pastors were able to attend and participate in our service today. Source
Thanks to Joe Fleener from Rolleston Baptist Church for speaking to us this afternoon from Luke 10:25-37, on how we make ethical decisions as Christians. 25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to...
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Thanks to Matt Linton for preaching today from Genesis 22:1-14: After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy[a] will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife...
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Most people do not realize this but the doctrine of God’s sovereign grace in election is brought up by Paul in Romans 8-9 to give assurance of salvation. Paul wants to ground the faith of suffering Christians whose lives feel like they are spiralling out of control and implying God does not love them or is too weak. He grounds their assurance by showing how all things including suffering are working together for the good of those God is calling according to His purpose. Paul then reveals that God has a plan that began in eternity past as He predestined for salvation those whom He fore-loved. And all who He fore-loves will be called, justified and finally glorified. There is no uncertainty of a happy ending, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. God is able to perform what He wills, our assurance rests on God’s election. Source
The transfiguration is one of the most important Christological events in the Bible.1 It establishes the identity of Christ as the Messiah and the divine Son, and the nature of the mission that He had come to accomplish. It is a repeat and an expansion on what the baptism of Christ has already revealed. The transfiguration brings to a climactic crescendo a number of OT themes pointing to Christ. The transfiguration reveals Jesus to be the new Moses who ascends the mountain entering the glory-cloud, but instead of receiving the word of the law Jesus is the final word of God. He is the new Moses who ascends the mountain into the cloud to receive the architectural designs for the New Temple the Church. Where the first Moses descended the mountain and failed to lead God’s people into the promise Christ will lead His people to the promised land. In the OT no one could see God’s face and live, there were many glorious manifestations of God’s glory where some saw God’s back, or a representative called the Angel of the Lord, or a vision of God from the waist down. All of these were pre-incarnate manifestations of Christ and now Christ’s true glory as He reveals the Father’s glory is manifested and seen. All of this and more comes to us through this momentous event we know as the transfiguration. The word transfiguration is the English translation of the Greek word ‘metemorphothe’ in Matt. 17:2. We are in that portion of Luke’s gospel which is exploring the identity of Christ. When Jesus calmed the storm the disciples wondered who Jesus was; the demons gave a startling testimony to His identity; Herod asked questions about His identity, the crowds speculated on His identity all leading to Peter’s confession that was...
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I became a Christian in my late teens and had not been brought up in the faith. I came cold to all things Christian and was dependent upon my youth pastor and pastor and bible study leader to guide me in things. Quite early on I heard about these terrible people called Calvinists who taught terrible doctrines like ‘born to burn’ and ‘once saved always saved.’ That they believed in an arbitrary God who was sitting in heaven with a flower pulling out petals saying, ‘elect, reprobate, elect, reprobate.’ I was told about this terrible teaching that would stifle all evangelism and prayer, a doctrine that would breed arrogance because I was one of His favourites; that would breed uncertainty because I would have to have to agonize over whether I was one of God’s elect; that this teaching would result in an antinomian life because I would be complacent because I could never lose my salvation. I didn’t know any better and trusted those who taught me trusting that they knew this Calvinistic teaching intimately and were not presenting straw men to bias my ignorant mind. I accepted this teaching and went on trying to grow as a Christian. It was then that I was confronted with certain verses in the bible which taught election and predestination. And I was shocked that the bible said these things and looked for a way to understand them. I thought I was the first person who had seen it clearly when I read Romans 8:29 and came up with this interpretation. Here is the basic break down of the typical view. Source
Would you become a Christian knowing that it would probably get you killed? Throughout Church history many have had to make the choice to follow Christ knowing that it would possibly result in their deaths. Even today in various Muslim, Hindu and Communist countries conversions result in death. This choice to embrace death as the cost of becoming a disciple is the choice that Jesus put before His disciples when He called them to follow Him. Jesus has just revealed that the Son of Man must suffer. He has revealed that there is coming conflict and those in positions of power will be against Him and will attempt to murder Him, and in fact do so. Now He tells His disciples that to follow Him they have to be willing to walk with Him into the fire. If the world hates Christ it will also hate His followers. To follow Christ is to follow Him into this persecution. How different the call to become Christ’s disciples is from the call that we hear today. Many today are on the defensive as they preach the gospel, so they feel they have to talk about Jesus as a nice guy, the Christian life as the happy and successful life, and try and sell discipleship on the basis of all the benefits you will get. Conversion is presented not as a dethroning of oneself and a turning away from those sins which are contrary to God and Christ had to die to pay for, rather it is presented as a change in self-help programs. The appeal is often made on the basis of self-interest not the glory of God and the seriousness of sin. Conversion is stripped of repentance and conviction of sin. Jesus calls us to follow Him to death. In one way...
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Imagine with me two different religions, but both are called Christianity. One flows from man’s reason, not that Spirit illuminated Bible taught reason but reason driven by man’s sinful self-confident ability to rationalise everything out to the nth degree. The other religion is based upon God’s revelation recognising that our sinful minds need to be taught truth because it is our natural tendency to suppress it. At the centre of the first religion is man, we will call this anthropocentric religion. At the centre of the second religion is God, this we call theocentric religion. In the middle of the first we have man’s free will as the central tenet around which everything is arranged; and in the second God’s free grace. These are two different views of the universe that affect everything. Imagine radiating from these centres various lines pointing the doctrines that are impacted by this central truth. Both these systems will have all the same doctrines, but they will be different because of the relationship they bear to the central concern. So some of the doctrines are election; salvation; sanctification; prayer; perseverance; good works; rewards. The truth is every doctrine is impacted by every other doctrine, it is the job of systematic theology to show the relationship of doctrines to each other and how changes in certain truths will impact the whole system of truth. So think about how these will look in their various systems. In the anthropocentric religion we have prayer. Prayer with man at the centre is something with which man gives God power and permission to work in the world, if we don’t pray things can’t happen. Prayer is the thing by which we change the eternal mind of God, even the eternal plan. If we pray hard enough, believe well enough, persist...
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One of the most important questions we need to answer in life is in this text, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ This is the question that Jesus puts to His disciples. We live in a day and age where many think we cannot answer that question with any confidence. For the more scientifically minded the problem is one of historical distance and having to rely on pre-scientific eye witnesses. For the more sceptical certainty about anything even our own experiences is doubted. But God has given us His word that we can know things truly, though not necessarily exhaustively. In particular the gospels have been given that we can know who Jesus Christ is. John at the end of his gospel writes, 20:30-31, ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ Luke’s gospel on the one hand gives very clear evidence to who Jesus is, while on the other hand documenting the growing understanding of the disciples. One commentator writes: ‘Like the other three historians, Luke clearly records the identity of Jesus Christ. The angel Gabriel said of Him, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (1:32–33). Later in chapter 1, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, testified that Jesus would fulfil all the promises of the Old Testament (1:68–69, 76–79). At His birth an angel said to the...
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There are only 2 miracles of Christ that are recorded in all four gospels, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and the feeding of the 5000. Jesus did many more miracles than the gospels record, but few had such an impact as the feeding of the 5,000. There was another less well remembered feeding of the 4,000 as well, Mark 8:1-9. Here is what John tells us happened after Jesus fed the 5,000, 6:14-15, ‘When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.’ Moses prophesied that The Prophet would come from God, Deut. 18:15; a prophet like him. Moses came to Israel when they were in bondage to Egypt and performed miracles and remember God gave the bread in the wilderness to feed them while Moses led them. Now here is Jesus, they are under Roman oppression, He is performing miracles and now also miraculously feeding them. They were so moved by this miracle that they wanted to make Him king. Imagine it, Jesus would run the perfect welfare state where all sicknesses would be healed so there would be no need for medical aid or long waiting lists for cures; and food could be provided for free. But Jesus did not perform this miracle in order to advance a political or social agenda. What purpose then does this miracle serve? There are three things that we are going to be highlighting from this passage. Firstly, Jesus is still training the twelve, we will see Him teach them lessons about His provision, as well as His provision through them....
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‘Every member ministry.’ Have you ever heard this phrase? This phrase is used to describe a movement in the modern church where every Christian is encouraged to know their gifts and use them in service to God. We welcome such an emphasis as biblical, 1 Cor. 12:7, Eph. 4:16. However, this emphasis has often come at the sacrifice of the formal ministries of the church. If every Christian is a minister then why do we need pastors and preaching? We are in the midst of Eph. 4:11-16 which talks about both leaders and laity, formal gifts and informal gifts, and how the church is grown by God through the working of all the gifts, but each in their place. Church growth has been a buzz phrase in the last half century and many strategies have been announced as to how to do it. Our concern is to answer this question biblically and Eph. 4:11-16 gives us the biblical perspective. Let me outline once again the basic flow of 1-16. Paul has been talking about how we are to maintain the unity God has brought us into by the Gospel, v1-6. However, there is unity but also diversity, this diversity consists of the various gifts that God has given to the church, v7-10. These gifts have a certain shape and purpose. In 11-16 Paul starts off talking about those offices which bring the word of God to the church, the apostle, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. We spent last week looking at a definition for each of these and how each one is related to the ministry of the word and their authority relationships to each other. Now we move into 12-16. These verses fall into 2 parts, firstly, 12-14 indicate how the word based gifts Paul has mentioned in v11 cause...
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We are about half way through Christ’s 3 ½ year earthly ministry. We are in the final stretch of what is known as Christ’s Galilean ministry before He sets His sights on His cross-work in Jerusalem. 9:51 is a turning point in His ministry, ‘When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.’ We are still in the middle of a key section that is putting on display the identity of Christ. We have seen by His miracles that He is the one with authority over nature, demons, sickness and death, but still to come is Peter’s confession, 18-20; Jesus foretelling that He must die and be resurrected, v21-22; and the transfiguration, before this turning point in His ministry comes. But not only are we seeing who Jesus is we are also witnessing the training of the apostles. We have seen them called to be disciples, then called to be apostles, they have been travelling around with Jesus sitting at His feet being taught by Him, and have been able to witness His power, His compassion, and His general way of ministering. They have been taught what to believe but also had their faith refined through things like having to trust in Jesus in the storm. We enter now into a new phase, the next phase in their training. They have come to the end of their learning stage and are now going to go out on their own getting more experience for future ministry. Their training coincides with God’s plan for the nation of Israel. We know that it was Paul’s method to preach to the Jews first and then the Gentiles, the apostles are God’s plan for spreading the message of the Messiah throughout Israel. If they reject...
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I have gone through three paradigm shifts with regards to the gifts of the spirit in my Christian walk. Due to being attracted to the activism and life of the Charismatic church in my earlier years I joined the Charismatic Church at the height of the Toronto blessing. The church I joined was a melting pot of various Pentecostal and Charismatic views, there was no monolithic view held by all. In this first stage, this was the naïve stage of a flat approach where I simply expected everything I saw in the book of Acts to be active today because Jesus promised that those who believe in Him will do greater miracles than He did. I endorsed the Word of Faith ideas; I embraced the New Apostolic Reformation with its emphasis on the need to reinstitute apostles and prophets to see the church grow like it did in the book of acts; there were other ideas floating around where because every Christian could speak in tongues well couldn’t every Christian then also heal the sick, cast out demons, prophesy, get words of knowledge and wisdom, etc.? Then I left the Charismatic Church and joined a Baptist church. I still believed that God was powerful and could do all sorts of miracles so I became a sedate continuationist who believed that all the gifts continued, but we would talk about apostle with a small ‘a’, and prophet with a small ‘p’, allow for tongues but not for all, I would earnestly desire the greater gifts, thinking this more mature than my earlier ignorant zeal. But all this while I was growing more and more Reformed; and then entered into the third stage where I am at now which is called cessationism. Suddenly, various offices like apostle and prophet became very important...
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‘My cup runneth over;’ ‘Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think;’ these biblical phrases remind us that when we bring the thimble of our faith to God, He fills it with the flood of Himself and His gifts. Luke 8:41-56 records the narrative of two people who have faith in Christ, but it is a thimble sized faith and Christ exceeds their expectations. The woman with the issue of blood comes to Jesus believing that He has the power to heal, but she will leave knowing His kindness and goodness as well. Jairus comes with hope for a healing but he comes to believe in the Messiah who not only heals but raises the dead. This part of Luke 8 is all about demonstrating who Jesus is. We see that He is the one who has authority over nature in calming the storm; He is the one who commands demons and they obey; now we will see that He has authority over disease and even death. But there is more than His mere power and authority on display we see Jesus attending upon individuals in the crowd; we see Jesus concerned to see people broken under the effects of sin restored; we see a gentle and compassionate Saviour who meets our weak faith with His power and goodness. We will look at this section in three parts. Firstly, we will introduce ourselves to those who have need in this portion. Then we will look at the woman’s faith and then Jairus’s faith. Source
A big thanks to Trevor & Judy Clarke for speaking at our services today. Trevor is the Director of Ethnos NZ (formerly New Tribes Mission NZ). Source
Paul is a man who loves to contrast things. In Romans 1-3 he gives us the bad news and the good news, the impossibility of sinners being righteous and then using the word ‘But’ talks about the free gift of righteousness that God provides, 3:21-31. In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul talks about how dead in sin we are, then again in v4 beginning with a ‘But,’ God, by His sovereign grace intervenes and makes us alive in Christ. We have another contrast like this in the portion before us. Paul has been talking about unity, unity, unity, ‘BUT’ v7, diversity. Paul has been talking about the gospel realities that have made us one, therefore we are to act as one. Paul, ever the one to teach by contrast, talks now about our diversity. Where our oneness implied the humble, loving, unity we were to pursue; our diversity will imply cooperative service. In Ephesians 4:7-16 Paul outlines 3 things about our diversity. In v7-10 he shows us how Christ has given us diverse gifts, then in v11-16 he looks at the nature and purpose of those gifts. Today we are going to look at v7-10 under two headings looking at the diversity of the gifts, and the Giver of the gifts. Source
We are all familiar with the concept of power, we just have to think of the country of China and we have an immediate picture of power, it has economic power, military might, it represents one 7th of the world’s population. We can think of past powers like the USSR; Hitler; Napoleon; the USA at the height of its powers, but power to do what? Power without goodness is perceived to be a threat. Christ has power and authority, Christ as the vice-regent of God has ascended to the right hand of God and been given all power and authority over everything, but power for what? We are in Luke chapter 8, a chapter that looks at Christ’s identity and His power over nature, demons, sickness and death. These are all enemies that we face that are stronger than we are. This power we will see is a power to save, to liberate, to heal, to restore. Today as we look at Luke 8:26-39 we see a man who is in the grip of satan who is delivered by the power of Christ. Christ encounters a man with multiple demons, in other words, one man Christ stands against an army. The clear purpose of this portion is to show us who is Boss. Christ is the Lord who has all power and authority, and this is clearly demonstrated by the exorcising of the demons. But this is no vulgar display of power; no surge of power without goodness but a picture of Christ’s restorative and healing power that rescues, restores and employs us. It is one thing to say God is powerful, it is another to say that He exorcises His power to save sinners. As we look at Christ’s power exercised to save we will look at it under...
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We have reached the half way point in the letter to the Ephesians and Paul does a typical thing that happens in most of his writings. In chapters 1-3 he laid out the doctrine of the church, now in 4-6 he lays out the proper practice flowing from these truths. This pattern is gospel shaped, it starts with what God has done, and then focuses on what we should do. In technical terms we say that the imperative is rooted in the indicative. Our doing is only possible because of God’s doing. Paul begins the exhortational part of the epistle by reminding the Ephesians of who he is, v1, ‘I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord.’ There is a double reference here. Paul speaks firstly as an apostle, this implies his authority and that they should listen. But he also speaks as a prisoner, a prisoner for God, and in particular for the church. Here is a man who has proven his worth in suffering for the message he preaches, if anyone deserves a hearing it is him. He is not pulling rank and commanding obedience because of his office but asking people to follow his example. Now he starts with a ‘therefore.’ This means that in light of what he has just written he is going to ‘urge’ or exhort them. One commentator summarises the letter up to this point in this way: ‘Through Jesus Christ, who died for sinners and was raised from death, God is creating something entirely new, not just new life for individuals for a new society. Paul sees an alienated humanity being reconciled, a fractured humanity being united, even a new humanity being created.’1 In light of these truths there is a way in which we must now live. In Christianity doctrine must translate...
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There is often a big difference between that first faith by which we are saved and the ongoing faith of the Christian life. Because unbelief is more natural to us than faith; because we are prone to feel first and not to think first; because we often walk by sight and not by faith we stumble at those trials that test our faith. We can be grateful then that we serve a Savior who is both the author and the finisher; the founder and the perfecter of our faith. As we come to this famous portion in Luke 8:22-25, where Jesus calms the storm, we will see Jesus giving His disciples a lesson in faith. Luke chapter 8 is a chapter all about faith in Jesus. The first part of the chapter is all about hearing, believing and obeying His teaching; the rest of the chapter will be acts and demonstrations of power affirming the identity of Jesus. Jesus has called people to hear and believe His word; to shine as lights for Him; and set Himself as the benchmark for inclusion in God’s family, as the fulcrum around which the family of God is defined. Who does this man think He is, the rest of this chapter will demonstrate with acts of power exactly who He is. He is the one with power over nature as He commands the winds and waves, v22-25. He is the one with power over the angelic realms as He exorcises demons, v26-39. He is the one has authority over sickness, v40-48. He is the one who has authority over death, v49-56. The disciples have believed, they are after all disciples of Christ. They have faith but their faith remains untested. This portion is going to us that when the storms come they often...
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Praying when we are in need is easy, we always pray from the heart, but praying for others often deteriorates into shallow requests without heart. We often pray generic prayers for health, provision, and spiritual well-being. Paul in the portion before us prays under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prayers of pastoral care, and prayers that flow out of the realities of the gospel. Paul as a minister of the gospel is not only called to preach the message of Christ to the Gentiles, but to pray for the church as well. Eph. 3:14-21 consists of 2 main prayer requests and a doxology, prayer and praise. These will be the three points of our sermon. The first prayer request is found in v16-17a; the second from 17b-19; the praise is found in v20-21. Both are prayers to receive power/strength but it is not the typical prayers for power that we are thinking of. It is not about power and signs but the power of the Spirit working powerfully in the believer’s life. Firstly, he prays for Christians to be strengthened inwardly by the Spirit so that Christ may indwell us. Secondly, he will pray that we can be strengthened in order to comprehend the love of Christ. This is followed by praise to the God who can answer these prayers. Source
Famous Reformed Baptist pastor Al Martin preached a 16 part series on Luke 8:18, the series is called Take Heed How You Hear. 16 sermons on how to listen to the word of God! He deals with how we should prepare to listen before the sermon, how we should listen during the sermon, and what we should do after the sermon. Many might think that this is overkill, but Jesus Himself in the portion before us continues to talk about how we hear God’s word. The state of your heart, whether you are willing to listen, the consequences of not listening, what will happen if you listen well, what should follow listening; all these things are spoken of by Christ Himself. We have just finished the parable of the Sower which is all about how we listen to God’s word. Jesus described the four different hearts accounting for the four different types of responses to Jesus. The portion we are looking at today, Luke 8:16-21 is directly linked to it. 16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” 19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21 But he answered them, “My...
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One of the most misunderstood, yet one of the most comforting doctrines that we believe in is the doctrine of God’s decree. Just as a builder does not begin to build without the blueprints, God as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe worked out His salvation in history according to an eternal plan/decree. If you will forgive the Freemason associations He is indeed the Great Architect. This plan is freely constructed by God, in other words He did not have to be taught anything or have His arm twisted to make it in a certain way. Everything that we are now experiencing is according to a plan which is from before time, and it is a plan which does not change as if unexpected events could arise. Because of God’s perfections the plan has certain characteristics. God does not learn things, but knows all things immediately. God does not change. God is not weak and His plans overcome so that He has to make constant adjustments. So it is an unchanging all-inclusive plan. This doctrine of God’s decree when taught in the Bible is usually given in the context of comfort and assurance, but inevitably it raises a number of difficult questions. The questions of predestination, the creation of the devil, the willing of the fall, God’s will which includes the millions of sins committed everyday, and the accompanying questions of free will related to these. I would love to get into these questions and spend hours answering them, but this would get us off track. Paul in the context of Ephesians 3 has been discussing the purpose and plan of God. God has been working out His plan to glorify Himself before the angels through the church, and in the verses we are looking at today, v11-13, Paul...
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The parable of the Sower is one of the most important parables because it stands at the head of Christ’s parables in Mark and Matthew, and addresses the issue of how we listen to God’s word. The parable of the Sower has been renamed the parable of the soils, because the focal point of the parable is not the sower of the seed, but it is the four types of soils representing the four types of hearts that receive the word of God. This parable usually stands at the head of Christ’s teaching by parables demanding an answer to this question, what sort of listener are you? The parable reveals to us that the heart plays a key role in how we listen. We are not neutral listeners! You will know what I mean when you think back to listening to your parents advice. Do you remember things they told you and you thought to yourself, ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about,’ but then they proved to be correct. We do not automatically believe the truth when we hear it; we believe what we want to believe. If we have made prejudgements about the source of information, that determines how we hear. If we have already written someone off as stupid or unimportant or an enemy, truth or not we will find fault with what they say. If we want someone’s approval; or think someone attractive; or if we deem them to be important for whatever reason we will prejudice the case in their favour and even defend ridiculous things they have said. The bible teaches us that we have bigger problems than just a few immature biases; the sinful heart is deceitful above all things, Jer. 17:9. How we respond to the word of God reveals the true...
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The Bible is full of little people being given big jobs. Imagine you were Abraham for a moment. God has given you a new name, it means father of nations, yet you have no children. God wants to bless the whole world through the offspring of a couple who cant have children. Or think of Moses, he used to be in favour with the Egyptian court until there was a warrant out for his arrest because he murdered someone. And now God wants to use this man who has been away from Egypt for 40 years to go as God’s mouthpiece and to demand that the entire Jewish labour force be released, talk about economic collapse. Of think of Paul, an enemy and persecutor of the church, someone who had dedicated his life to destroying it, saved by God’s grace to lay down his life for it. And of course there is you, the selfish sinner who has been saved to be a sacrificial servant. All of these examples tell us of small, sinful, weak people who God immerses in His universal, glorious plan. This is the sense we get as we continue looking at Paul explain his ministry as an apostle to the Ephesian church in 3:7-13. The weak become strong, the selfish become servants, the comfort-seeking become suffering-embracing, the outcasts become included; God turns things upside-down when He includes us in His plan of bringing the gospel to the world. Have you ever felt so privileged and blessed you could burst, that suffering can be taken in stride because your cup runneth over? Have you ever felt part of something so important that the pedestrian details of your personal life are gladly surrendered to the massive thing that it going on? This is what we sense as we...
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Today we are in the thick of the gender wars, the last 50 years has seen the rise of feminism which has dismantled biblical and traditional views of male headship in the church and in the home. Egalitarianism, the view that teaches that there are no real differences between men and women has won the culture war and is the dominant perspective today. Added to this we have the transgender war. We moved from the removal of the differences between men and women, to pushing acceptance for homosexual activities and marriage, and this has now taken a third step as all traditional categories of maleness and femaleness have become fluid and several new genders have arisen as equally valid, noted in the LGBTQIA+ label. And it is not only a case of everyone attacking traditional views, there are new divisions. For example, J. K. Rowling the author of the Harry Potter series, who is also a feminist, got into trouble in the media recently because she insists on a biological definition for a woman. This met with intense criticism even from the actor who played Harry Potter who insisted against her that transgender women are real women. Jesus was a revolutionary and controversial figure in His day. He touched the untouchables, He befriended sinners, He was an equal opportunist when it came to accepting invitations to dine, and in the section before is Luke 8:1-3 we see that against the beliefs of the day, Jesus had women as disciples. The reason Jesus was a radical is not because He made an enemy of whatever the present status quo was, but rather because He ignored the status quo. Jesus treated everyone as equally sinful and in equal need of salvation. Whether the person was young or old, male or female, Jew...
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The word mystery has various connotations. If you are a book lover it may cause you to think of a favourite genre of who-done-it crime thrillers. The common English word means something that is difficult or impossible to understand it, it is often used in the sense of defeat: ‘It is a mystery, we will never know.’ In the ancient world there were various mystery religions who had secret knowledge which only the initiated could understand. The mysteries were the secret truths revealed to those who had proven themselves worthy of ascending to being indoctrinated in this higher knowledge. The word mystery occurs 3 times in this chapter in v3, 4, and 9. Paul’s use of the word is different to all of these uses we have outlined. Christianity is not to be taken as one of these mystery religions. When Paul talks mystery in this section he is using it in a very simple fashion, it was something hidden that has now become apparent. It is not something only the clever can understand, nor is it an unintuitive way of knowing and thinking, it is simply things that God had hinted at, and which were very vague in detail in the OT now being made clear. It is not knowledge reserved for the initiated but something openly declared through the preaching of the gospel. In the section before us Paul in describing his ministry as an apostle of the Gentiles describes himself as a steward of this mystery; and also lists the benefits of this mystery. These will make up two heading as we move forward. Source
We have recently experienced something which none of us will have experienced in NZ, the government ordered churches not to gather for worship. Of course, they did not single out religious groups alone to be closed down, but for the first time that any of us have experienced in this context, we were forbidden to meet for worship. Questions arose in our minds about the rightness of this act, and these questions were multiplied as we hit the various alert levels, and especially as we were coming out of the stricter levels into those with more freedom. Questions like does the government have the right to command us not to meet, shouldn’t we practice civil disobedience? Or, if the government is inconsistent in their practice and give more liberties to non-religious groups than religious, are we then allowed to disobey? Or, how long is too long for us not to meet before we decide enough is enough? And when they allowed us to meet, would we allow them to place restrictions upon us like forbidding communion? With Christian examples of some of the early Christians refusing to obey government restrictions to meet under the persecution from Rome, or the examples of early Christians ignoring common sense practices of quarantine during plagues to minister to the sick, some were wondering if we were doing the right thing by not meeting and observing social distancing. Today as we complete our analysis on our experience of Covid-19 we are going to look at what the bible says about the relationship between the Church and State. We will look firstly, at the state’s responsibility, and then secondly, the church’s. Source
At Bible college during one of the chapel services a pastor by the name of Bill Hughes shared with us. He was a very godly man who was serving in a church that wanted to fire him because of His Calvinistic convictions. It was a long a painful process that ended in him resigning to save the church from a split. During the long and painful time of enduring the difficulties Bill struggled to find a reason to get out of bed being extremely demotivated by the ordeal. But he had a faithful wife who put a sign on the bedroom wall that he would see each day giving him a reason to go out and serve that day. The sign had four words, For Him, For them. For God and for His people, this is the very reason why a minister gets up in the morning. And as we come to Ephesians 3:1, this is what we see motivated Paul as well, ‘For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—.’ We have been going through Ephesians very quickly doing massive chunks of it, we are going to slow down now. In the context Paul has been rehearsing the amazing salvation that God has wrought. He has spoken about the double alienation of being separated both from God and His people, and in Christ the double reconciliation to God and to become a part of the people of God. In Ephesians chapter 3 Paul was going to go from v1 to verse 14. He wanted to explain why and what he is prying for them. But at the mention of the fact that Paul is a prisoner for the Gentiles he feels he may need to explain to those who are unfamiliar with...
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The recent pandemic has raised questions over the nature of the church. All over the world governments asked churches to close and many have taken to streaming church, essentially replicating the church service but having online versions of it. There have been some bold statements like, Church will never be the same again, if things like the hug and the handshake have to go, so do various forms of worship like sharing a communion cup, or too much singing because of how much of our germs we are pushing out into the air around us. Some have relished the total shut down and seen it as an opportunity to clean the slate and start fresh without 2000 years of tradition getting in the way. Some are suggesting we just carry on online doing online baptisms, giving, communion, preaching and singing. Depending on the view of what is church some have been very dissatisfied with the fact that we could not meet, others have not mourned the change and see no problem with the shut downs. How has your understanding of the church come through this time? If you have a strong ecclesiology you will come through it unscathed, if you don’t have a clear view of the church the pandemic can happily reshape everything you ever thought about church. My goal in this sermon is simple, I would like to remind us Christ is building His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, Matt. 16:18; and that God’s plan to fulfil the great commission through the local church has not changed. I am very aware of how everything has been subjected to review and many will be in a state of administrative fatigue as they have had to cope with the constantly changing landscape of alert...
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Do all lives matter or do Black Lives Matter? Do we need separate safe spaces for black Christians to worship, or do we need united worship spaces? The problem of unity in God’s people is a perennial problem. The portion before us, Ephesians 2:11-22 speaks to our identity as a united people of God. What defines you and determines your relationship to other Christians? Do we subscribe to modern views that seek to define and relate us as intersecting minorities situated in relation to oppressive structures; or views that divide us by our gender preferences; are we stratified generational groups each having our own truths; do we define ourselves by our cultural and racial identities? Each one of these views is built on a worldview that has implications for how we relate to each other. One of the biggest divisions in the ancient world was the division between the Jew and everyone else, divisions that were built on race, culture, religion, etc. The portion before us shows how Christ has come to a fractured world that has been divided since the tower of Babel and has only driven the wedge of those divisions deeper and how in Christ God is building a new humanity, a united humanity for a future where all divisions will be gone. The church is the community of the new creation exhibiting that future unity now. The Jewish Gentile division is what governs the foreground of our text, but has massive implications for any other divisions. Paul has just told us how the power of God was at work to save us. He painted a picture of universal deadness in sin, both Jews and Gentiles are dead in sin, are by nature children of wrath and are saved, not by works but by a gracious God...
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We are interrupting our series on Luke to do a Christian analysis on Covid-19. Here in NZ we are very blessed to be at alert level 1, but this is still a living reality for many in the rest of the world. My concern in doing this is a pastoral one. More than ever before we have been inundated with the voices of the media in analysing what has recently happened. We have all been tuned into the media and been saturated with their perceptions, judgements, and problem solving principles. We have all learnt new words and concepts and been told over and over again what the right thing is to do. I am concerned that we need a renewing of our minds, if you like a brain wash, where we remind ourselves of the Bible’s perspective on these matters. In times like these we will be made to feel that Christians do not have the expertise to speak to such matters and so we should just do and think as we are told. The Bible is God’s word and equips us for every good work, in other words, there is not a situation that can arise that the Bible does not indicate the clear path for the Christian to walk in. This will be a short series where we will look at 4 aspects of our lives in relation to the Coronavirus. Firstly, we will look at God and Covid-19, what is God doing in this virus? Many questions about His sovereignty and goodness come up which we will seek to answer biblically. Secondly, we will look at the church and Covid-19. With various new technologies and our inability to meet questions about the nature of church have arisen and revisiting what the bible says about the church is...
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‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ This is a well-known statement which recognises that apart from God’s gracious intervention left to ourselves we would be lost. This statement is credited to the martyr John Bradford, once while walking past a gallows and as criminal were being led to be hanged, he looked over at them as said, ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’ It is this grateful recognition that Paul is trying to prompt in the Ephesians in 2:1-10. The body of chapter 1 is only two sentences in the Greek, the first sentence was v3-14 a song of praise for the glorious riches we have in Christ as the Father, Son and Spirit work in the past, the present and the future. V15-23 was a prayer for the Ephesians eyes to be opened to these riches and the victory that we have in Christ. 2:1-10 is another single sentence and think of this as a description or demonstration of God’s power at work, showing how God saves a sinner. Paul prayed that we might know the immeasurable greatness of His power towards those who believe, here is an attempt to help us see. This section has two clear sections. V1-3 tell the story of what we were; v4-10 tells the story of what God’s power and grace accomplish. You get a real sense of these two sections when you look at the beginning of v4 and see those two words, ‘But God.’ We were dead in sins, but God! Our sermon will divide under two headings, firstly, we will look at Paul’s description of our desperate need, and secondly, we will look at God’s gracious provision. Source
When do you know if someone is truly a Christian? This can be a difficult question to answer for on the one hand you and I cannot read the heart of another and so will always have an imperfect ability to make a judgement. However, there is also a call in scripture for us to evaluate a person’s credible confession of faith. The true test of someone’s faith is not the amount of religiosity they indulge in, a person can go to church a lot and not be saved; the amount of theologically correct doctrine we have, for some are blessed with a photographic memory and a head for facts but have no heart for Christ; nor the amount of good works we do, there are many socially active people who love their neighbour but have no love for God; but our love for Christ which is evident in the service we render to Him and others. Love for Christ is the true test. Some might be able to fake the actions that usually flow from love and pull the wool over our eyes for a while, but the true test is the love that is evident in our loves because of the grace of forgiveness we have received. This test will help us navigate the next portion before us. This next section in Luke 7:36-50 focuses on 2 people, a sinful woman and a religious man. This story flows on the heels of the previous passage where Jesus was talking about two types of responses to God’s messengers, those who saw their sin and repented and those who were self-righteous and did not. The last section ended with a proverb, that wisdom will be justified by all her children. This section is rolled out as an example of someone...
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Have you ever been slandered and gossiped about and totally misunderstood? John the Baptist was a faithful servant of God but who had been slandered, in v33 he was even accused of having had a demon. We have been looking at a section where John the Baptist has sent some of his disciples to ask whether Jesus is the Messiah, we see Jesus give a yes answer substantiated by evidence that the promises of God are coming to pass. After John’s disciples leave we are left with Christ talking about John the Baptist before the crowds. Jesus defends John’ reputation and puts his ministry in the clearest light. Remember John was languishing in prison, his public ministry was not always understood as some mistook him for the Messiah, but he has also been a victim of the fickle mass’s swing in allegiance and a slander campaign from the opposition. Two things stand out already as we begin. Firstly, that Jesus rushes to defend a slandered believer, and secondly that Jesus helps us see things more clearly. By clarifying who John is and what he had come to do, we can see Jesus and ourselves more clearly. As believes we often share in John’s experience of being slandered and not being able to set the record straight. Ryle writes, ‘There is comfort here for all believers who are suspected, slandered, and falsely accused. Few are the children of God who do not suffer in this way, at some time or other. The accuser of the brethren knows well that character is one of the points in which he can most easily wound a Christian. He knows well that slanders are easily called into existence, greedily received and propagated, and seldom entirely silenced. Lies and false reports are the chosen weapons by...
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Doubt, it will be our portion as long as we are alive. On account of the fallen nature that still remains within us we are professional doubters who default to doubt at the best and worst of times. We doubt because of satan, we doubt because of sin, we doubt because of ignorance, we doubt because we don’t like the truth, we doubt when we are in pain as a knee jerk reaction against God. The strongest and the weakest Christians have struggled with doubt. Elijah doubted God after the victory over the prophets of Baal; David doubted God fleeing from Saul to the Philistines; Abraham doubted God’s protection and so lied about Sarah being his wife; Adam and Eve doubted God’s goodness in the commands He gave, and on and on we could go. Saints in both the OT and the NT have had wobblies in their faith. John the Baptist was no exception to the rule. John is in prison and has heard the reports about Christ. But he is not sure, he thought he was but not anymore, this section explores John’s doubt as he sends some of his disciples to enquire whether Jesus is the long expected Saviour promised in the OT. This section comes to us in a chapter that has been looking at who Jesus is through the eyes of the believing Centurion; as the Lord of life who raised the widow’s son, and 7:16 shows the Jews drawing some conclusions about who Jesus is that are off the mark. This section will help us see how Jesus sees Himself, how John sees Jesus, how Jesus sees John and how we are to view John, Jesus and ourselves. This is a section where a lot of things get clarified. Jesus gets asked the question,...
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Have you ever heard of the irresistible force paradox? Have you heard the phrase ‘the unstoppable force meets the immovable object?’ Maybe you have heard it in the context of sport where two powerful rugby teams are going to compete. Technically it is an impossibility for an unstoppable force to move an unmovable object, or vice versa because then the object would by definition no longer be immovable, or the force unstoppable. Nevertheless, ‘the unstoppable force meets the immovable object’ is a way in which several commentators have described the next section we are looking at. In this section the Lord of life meets the enemy, death. Death is the universal reality we must all submit to, it is the one foe none of us can conquer, as far we are concerned it is the immovable object. In desperation some have turned to cryonics for the hope of a resurrection by advanced science in the future. Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona is a non-profit organisation that will freeze your head for $80 000, or your whole body for $200 000. You can become a ‘cryonaut’ with the promise of the possibility of science being able to revive you. But it is Christ and not science which is the unstoppable force of life, He is the God-man, He is the Messiah with the Spirit without measure. In this section we will see Christ come into our pain and sorrow filled situation with His compassion and power and give us a taste of the Kingdom where death will be no more. We will look at this section under two headings: Christ’s compassion, and then His power. Source
There is a lot of confusion around the idea of faith today. In our post-religious age faith is now a form of ungrounded optimism towards the future, a keep-your-chin-up sort of attitude that helps motivate you. Some see it as a self-development tool in a materialistic age. Since we have impoverished ourselves in an age of consumerism we need to have some spirituality, and any sort will do. Biblical faith is something different, Biblical faith is informed by the Bible, and it has an exclusive object—Christ. In the Scriptures we come across those who have no faith, those who have weak faith and those with great faith. Hebrews 11 gives us a great list of those who lived by faith. The portion that we are looking at today, Luke 7:1-10 is all about someone who had great faith. Luke deliberately puts on display the faith of the Centurion in a chapter where John the Baptist is showing uncertainty, v18-35. This is one of two places where Jesus is said to marvel at people’s response to Him v9. He marvelled at the Centurion’s faith, the other place is where He marvels at Jewish unbelief in Mark 6:6. Even though Christ does an amazing miracle, He heals the Centurion’s servant without sight of him or touching him, the mechanism of the healing is not explored or even recorded, the last two verses show no detail of how it was done; rather our focus is drawn by Luke to this man and His faith in Jesus. The Centurion’s faith is indeed great and a good study for us who are often weak in faith. Before we get stuck in let me ask you, does it matter if you have a weak faith? It matters to God, in Matt. 6:18-20 Jesus rebukes those who...
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As my introduction to this sermon let me give a quote about conclusions to sermons: ‘The last sixty seconds are typically the most dynamic moments in excellent sermons. With these final words, a preacher marshals the thought and emotion of the entire message into an exhortation that makes all that has preceded clear and compelling. A conclusion is a sermon’s destination. Ending contents are alive—packed with tension, drama, energy, and emotion. This never means bombast and does not necessitate grandiloquence, since deep and powerful thought are often expressed in quiet, sincere terms. Masterful conclusions sometimes thunder, and other times they crackle with an electricity barely audible to the ears, but the best endings always register in the heart.’1 The conclusion to a sermon is the most likely part of the sermon to be remembered so a skilled preacher will work hard to ensure that the sermon ends in such a way to carry the message to such a climax that the listener goes away moved to do what they have now learnt they ought to do. Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived and His sermon conclusions have all the ingredients that make for a good conclusion. We have come to the end of the Sermon on the Plain and all that Jesus has been saying in criticism of the false religion of His day comes to a challenging conclusion. We have entered the parabolic part of the sermon where Jesus uses parables to drive His points home, the picture of the blind guides, the log in the eye, and now we continue in v43-49 looking at two more pictures, the tree and its fruit, and the house and its foundation. Jesus moves through the pictures of being an eye inspector, to a fruit inspector, to a building inspector...
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The eleventh commandment is ‘Thou shalt not judge!’ At least in our modern pluralistic context where all religion is now equally irrelevant this is deemed to be a cardinal rule. At times it seems as if the only thing people know about Jesus teaching is that He taught that we should not judge. It is to this section that we turn now in the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6:37-42. Key to understanding this section is the context. Jesus has divided the people of Israel into two groups, the godly and the ungodly, but here is how the first century context differs with our own. In the first century everyone was religious. The poor, hungry, weeping and persecuted prayed, worshipped, attended synagogue and the temple but so did the rich, happy, sated and loved. In the first century the comparison was not between the religious and the non-religious but rather two different types of religion. Christ was deeply critical of the prevailing form of Judaism in the first century as it had lost its moorings and was no longer recognisable as the worship of the OT. Sure it had all the external forms, and in many ways it was more zealous in the externals than former generations, but it was no longer a way of serving God that flowed from grace but rather a form of religion natural to the sinful self. We can glean several characteristics of this religion that provokes the curse of God from Jesus criticisms. Matt. 23:3 they preach but do not practice; v4 says they laid heavy legal burdens on God’s people; v5 talks about their exhibitionism; v6 talks about their social climbing. Jesus describes how they invent ways of lying and breaking oaths, how they are scrupulous with minor matters but neglect love...
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One of the reasons why Christ has turned the world upside down is because of His teaching on love. Not only does Jesus teach a pure version of the OT teaching on love, to love God and our neighbour; not only is His teaching on the golden rule supreme and positive compared to all the other versions of it floating around in philosophy and religion; He introduced radical models of love, namely loving each other as He has loved us, and the command to love our enemies. In our portion of scripture today in Luke 6:27-36 Jesus outlines His love ethic for the disciples, a teaching that will be practised and repeated throughout the rest of the NT. He has overturned the prevalent teaching on the type of person who is blessed by God and now He has a new teaching on love that goes beyond anything that the world has seen. In particular we want to examine how Jesus outlines His teaching on love as a response to the persecution mentioned in the sermon so far. Jesus has split the world up into two groups, the victim and villain, the one who loves God and the one who loves the world, those whom the world hates and so provoke persecution and those whom the world loves and are the persecutors. Jesus is now going to outline how we are to respond to those who persecute us. We will divide out section into 4 parts, firstly we will look at some of the love commands in v27-28; then we will look at some illustrations of love in action in v29-30; and then we want to see how Jesus expands the definition of love in v31-36 beyond what the ordinary and acceptable definitions of love would approve. Source
Never before has public opinion counted for so much. Living in an age of twenty four hour news, in a culture where public shaming, on line trolling, managing and marketing an online persona; Christ, Christianity and Christians are in the spotlight like never before. Public opinion is not limited to your family, your school, your town, or even your country, it is universal, it is a new power group able to exert pressure, it is often polarised and tribal, and you don’t have to go far on the internet to find how Christ, Christianity and Christians are caricatured, demonised, marginalised and trivialised. This new world of constant scrutiny is just another manifestation of the ancient battleground between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. We are presently looking at Jesus teaching on blessing as we look at the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6:17-26. We have looked at the poor and rich, the hungry and full, and the weeping and laughing. Now we look at those on opposite sides of the publicity war, the hated and the heralded. Luke 6:22-23, 26 reads, 22 ‘“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.’ 26 ‘Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.’ We have been talking about the right and wrong ways to read these descriptions. We have noted that Jesus is dividing all of humanity up into two groups. The various positive and negative characteristics are descriptive...
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Can you remember a time, when you didn’t associate the word Jesus or Jesus Christ with a cross? Even before you understood the gospel, you probably knew that Jesus had something to do with a cross. We live in a society that has been built on the Christian worldview, and the largest, professed anyway, religion in New Zealand is some form of Christianity. There are crosses in some schools, on war memorials, on emblems and coat of arms. Perhaps you may have seen an image of a Jesus crucified upon it on a church window or on a necklace around someones neck. Although may not be the case for many young people in our rapidly secularising age, I could probably confident say that most people listening to this probably connect the person of Jesus Christ with a cross. Now this is not the case with the 12 disciples. A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Nick introduced us to all of the disciples, and we are much more knowledgeable for it. But when the 12 disciples first began to minister with him, they saw him do wonders and miracles, healing the sick, raise the dead, and even control nature itself. And from the beginning, they certainly didn’t associate Jesus with a cross. It was probably the furthest thing from their mind. No, they were probably thinking of a crown, not a cross. Source
In the Sermon on the Plain Jesus divides the world into two different types of people, they serve two different Gods, bear two different types of fruit, and have two different types of eternal destinies. The beatitudes and the woes lists for us the characteristics of these two groups, those who love God are those who are poor, hungry, weeping and hated; but those who love the world are those who are rich, full, laughing and loved. Jesus is using paradox and loaded images to convey important spiritual truths. Jesus employs some typical biblical caricatures to distinguish these groups, the poor, hungry, weeping and hated are the typical picture of the persecuted and rejected believer. The rich, full, laughing and loved is the typical privileged oppressor who is against God’s people. Jesus is using a victim and villain contrast. But these are not watertight categories, as we have said before there will have been those who were physically rich but they were poor in spirit. Likewise there may be people who are physically poor who think themselves spiritually rich and who don’t need God. Jesus is generalising on the basis of well-known caricatures. Now we must be careful with these categories. It is easy for us to rip them out of the text and make them serve our own purposes. Many have done this today coming up with a little man theology that makes out as if God is always on the side of the underdog. So when you have a scenario of people on the government benefit complaining about the ungenerous government, we can make out as if God is always on the side of the person we insert into the poor position no matter the justice or details of the situation. We must allow the text to provide...
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Jesus was the greatest teacher who has ever lived, He would have spoken the truth perfectly with no error. Would He have had the greatest gifts in preaching? All we can know is that He would have been perfectly fitted to preach outdoors to very large groups. Jesus taught authoritatively on God as our Father, on Himself as divine and the Spirit as personal. He taught on angels, and demons, heaven and hell. He taught on the historicity of creation and the inerrancy of the Scriptures. He taught about the purpose of His coming to earth to save sinners and prophesied His own death and resurrection. He came with a message about the Kingdom of God being present because He the King was among them. And he taught on the nature of true religion and exposed the false religion of His day. The sermon we are beginning to examine is one instance of Jesus teaching about the Kingdom and true religion. This is the second recorded sermon by Luke, the first was when He announced His mission in the synagogue Luke 4:18; it is similar to the Sermon on the Mount but it is probably similar content preached at a different time. Jesus like many preachers in history would have had a few set sermons up His sleeve and this material could be reworked depending on who the audience was. He did not preach from notes but extemporarily. Jesus has just appointed the 12 apostles and has come down from the mountain to a level place v17. Some think that this is a plateau upon the same mountain making this the same sermon as sermon on the mount, but this is not necessary. We see that at this early point of His ministry there were many who were coming to...
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2 Cor. 4:7, ‘But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.’ Paul is talking about the treasure of the knowledge of God in the gospel having been put into the jars of clay of the sinful apostles. He tells us that God delights to use the weak things so that His power is evident. The twelve apostles are a menagerie of jars of clay, each is earthy and ugly, bearing all the imperfections of being made by hand, each item is completely unique from the next, each is fragile and breakable. Each is nothing in himself but is important for the purpose of being a vessel to bring what God is offering to the world through them. We are continuing our look at Luke 6:12-16 we will be looking at the last 8 apostles mentioned in the list. Source
What do you pray for other Christians? You might have found yourself in your quiet time and you pick up the church phonebook to pray through a page as part of your daily devotions. This is the third time you have gone through the book and the prayers are beginning to feel heartless and robotic. You aren’t really sure what to ask for. Should you ask for happiness, prosperity, good health, emotional wellbeing, peace? These are broad categories of well-wishing which are not informed by the gospel, what you want are prayer requests that are not what any uninformed unbeliever would pray but those prayer requests which are informed by the realities of the gospel. Ephesians 1:15-23 is an example of such a prayer by the apostle Paul. When Christians find themselves in a war, in a town and environment that is hostile to the gospel like Ephesus, when they need true ballast for the storm these are the things to seek for others and ourselves. Once again v15-23 is one sentence in Greek. And where 3-14 is praise to God for the blessings of our salvation this section is a prayer to God that we might know the blessings of our salvation. The thing to note about this section is that Paul is not asking for us to receive a second blessing or a new experience for the elite, but rather he is asking for us to come to know what is already ours in Christ. All the things Paul asks for us to know fall under the category of the assurance of our salvation. Paul wants us to know the work of the Trinity for us in our salvation and how unbreakable and certain it is. He recognizes that when a Christians knows that they are inseparably saved...
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God’s ways are not our ways, and that is especially true when it comes to ministry. God uses all sorts of people that we would not expect. When you choose a president or prime minister you are looking for someone with an impeccable record, not so in the Bible. Where we have a winning formula for a leader, that type A personality that we think is the perfect recipe for success God uses different ingredients. This is very evident as we come to that part of the gospels where Jesus chooses His twelve apostles in Luke 6:12-16. Picture the scene: the Pharisees have had run in after run in with Christ and are now on the prowl to put Him down. Jesus knows that He will die, He has already spoken about the Bridegroom having to depart, 5:35. What do you do? Jesus prepares for the propagation of His work after He leaves through the calling of 12 apostles. There is only about 3 ½ years for the apostles to be taught and trained at the feet of Christ, this calling of the 12 sets the ball in motion. But who do you choose to write a bible and build a Church to last for thousands of years and to take the message of salvation to the ends of the earth? We would scour the universities and the battlefields and the arenas and the major metropolises of the times looking for the best in every area ensuring the perfectly balanced mix. Look at the group He chooses, at least four of them are fishermen, so much for balance and diversity. They are all of the hated Jewish race. All but one come from Galilee. You have a former sympathiser with the Roman establishment, the tax collector Matthew mixed in with...
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Thanks to Simon Bird for preaching this afternoon. Our apologies for the lack of a recording. Philippians 1:12-18 12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Source
Thanks to Ian Goodman for preaching at the combined Reformed Baptist Camp 2020. Ian is the pastor of Wilson Street Baptist Church in Timaru. Sermons are available to download from the Rolleston Baptist website, via the following link: http://www.rollestonbaptist.org.nz/resources/sermons/?enmse=1&enmse_spid=21&enmse_mid=282 Source
Ephesus, the 5th largest town in the world when Paul wrote this letter. A town that would have been a difficult place to be a Christian, and so the church there was in need of encouragement. Ephesus, was the capital of the Roman province of Asia and a bastion of the Emperor Cult, where deifying the Roman Caesar was a badge of patriotism. A clash between those who thought the Caesar was Lord and Jesus is Lord is inevitable. It was also the centre for Diana/Artemis worship, the temple of this goddess of fertility was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. In Acts 19:21-41 we see the city wide riot as a result from Paul’s preaching where silversmiths were losing business due to people converting to Christ. The battle for the hearts of the Ephesians for Diana or Jesus was visceral. Being a port town it was a place of the typical sins that go with that situation. It was prosperous, it had lots of different cultures, it was a centre for witchcraft, it was a place a lot like today where materialism, competing worldviews, and a growing animosity were the battlefield for the Ephesians to try and live out their faith. Paul writes this letter as a prisoner to a church in the fire. Apart from the obvious need of the Ephesian situation there does not seem to be a clear occasion that Paul is writing to address. There is a very clear theme to the letter to the Ephesians, it is all about the church, more specifically, God’s work in Christ to make a new humanity for a new creation. If Romans is all about the gospel, then Ephesians is the letter all about the church. As you read through the letter you can see...
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Many have the wrong idea about Christianity thinking that God has a taste for dry religious service. Many think God to be a stuffy bureaucrat who loves to multiply rules and empty ceremonies. But this is the wonderful thing about Jesus Christ, He reveals the Father and His will to us, and in this next section in Luke 6:1-11 we see that Jesus overturns false religion when he overturns man made laws which have been added to God’s laws, as well as loveless interpretations of His laws. Love and law are not opposites, but rather love fulfils the law. We must remember that religion is not something that is automatically pure in and of itself, it too can bear the marks of our sinfulness. This is what was happening in first century Judaism when Jesus exposes and rebukes the false religion of the Pharisees. The law to keep the Sabbath holy was one of the 10 commandments and is the law under dispute in this section, it was originally a law given by God to man for his benefit and as a sign of the final rest that could be had in the new creation. God gave His law as a gift to benefit us, or as Jesus put it, Mark 2:27, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’ It was intended to be a day of fellowship with God, a day to rest from one’s labors, a day full of joy and anticipation of the final Sabbath rest when we would have unbroken fellowship with God. This reality, this blessing, this positive purpose of the Sabbath law was lost sight of. This was in part due to the fact that because the Sabbath day was a sign of the covenant of works, it had the...
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Imagine yourself as the prophet, you know that one of the worst tragedies in human history is coming, a holocaust against your nation in which many will die and suffer terrible atrocities. What do you do? Most of us would pack our bags and run away. Instead Habakkuk writes a song to equip Israel for the coming trial. As a shepherd and teacher of the people, Habakkuk shows the righteous what their own response to God should be in the coming times. The relevance of a song is immense. Many truths that have impacted our lives have been those we have sung in a hymn. God instructed Moses to instruct Israel with a song in Deut. 31:19. Lessons we were taught with a song are easier remembered, and so it is with this song. It is structured like many other psalms, and so technically there are 151 Psalms in the Bible. You will notice how it begins with the description, ‘A Prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.’ Psalms 17, 86, 90, 102, and 142 all have a similar introduction. Shigionoth is obscure but could point to the song as a type of lament. It then also ends like a Psalm, ‘To the choir: with stringed instruments’. Not only that ‘Selah’ is used three times in this song, this is understood to be a dramatic pause for reflection. This is the only place outside the book of Psalms where Selah is used. You could call it a song of faith, or a song for the sufferer. This will be our last message in this series so let us remind ourselves of the argument of the book up to this point, H was complaining to God about the injustice and sin that was permeating the people of God. H was...
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Solus Christus, Christ Alone! This was one of the heart cries of the Reformation. It was a statement which spoke about the sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour, that His works alone and not also ours were enough, that His mediation and not that of Mary, the Saints, or the angels was enough. It was a rejection of all Christ-and… ideas. This challenge of Christ alone is still with us today. In light of Post-Modernism which doubts all exclusive truth claims, to insist that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one can come to the Father but through Him is the new blasphemy. To insist that there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved but the name of Jesus Christ is the new toxic and antisocial behaviour. There are therefore tendencies to want to dilute Christ by mixing Him with other religions. Ideas like all religions are basically all serving the same God, or that all roads lead to heaven is an attempt to dampen the offence of Christ alone. Pluralism and syncretism are the knee jerk reactions to the bald truth claims of Jesus Christ. Something similar was happening in the gospels in Jesus conflict with the religious leaders. Jesus shows how their works religion can have nothing to do with what He brings. This was early on in their interaction with Him. They knew Him to be a teacher, a miracle worker and someone who did not meet all their expectations; I doubt they were immediately antagonistic and threatened. They were likely looking for points of agreement, thinking about how to add a bit to Jesus to get Him to fit in with them. If Jesus would just do more of what they did, then maybe they could...
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Habakkuk has been struggling with certain questions. Why doesn’t God do anything about the sin in Judah; if God is both good and powerful, how can a holy God order sin without being the author of sin; how can God use a sinful instrument to accomplish His will; how can God use such a strong punishment like Babylon invading and carrying people away in exile without breaking those promises of land, people and blessing spoken to Abraham? Shall we add some of our own questions to these: Why is God allowing Islam; political liberalism; New Age spirituality, and various other worldviews to supplant the influence of Christianity; Where is God in the legalization of homosexual marriage, abortion, euthanasia and recreational marijuana; Where is the sovereignty of God in earthquakes, volcano eruptions, outbreaks of disease, and other natural disasters; how can God sit by while all the brutality in war, crime, religious violence, abuse and suicide continues? Doubting questions are a steady stream in our minds aren’t they? This was Habakkuk’s struggle and ours as well. God has already answered Habakkuk once, explaining that God is doing something about Judah’s sin, He is sending Babylon. But this only led to more questions and a deeper confusion. God now makes His second response in Habakkuk 2:2-20. This will be God’s final word to Habakkuk, it is a word which will turn the prophet from doubt to faith. What sort of answers do you think Habakkuk needs to find peace? What sort of answers do we need in order to rest in worship rather than rage in doubt? We need to come to grips with a couple of facts before we even begin. Firstly, God does not owe us answers to all our questions. He is God and is worthy of our worship...
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One of the things that Christianity used to turn the world upside down was the meal, yes the simple act of sitting down together to eat. Religious and social norms were perpetuated by the meal, and it played an important role in society. Ideas about nationality, gender, class and religious purity were all supported by the way a meal was practiced. In Greco-Roman society an aristocratic woman who went to a meal with her husband was not better than a slave or prostitute; slaves and masters did not sit down at the same table, for the slave was to serve. Jews did not eat with Samaritans and other Gentiles. And there were certain people a good religious Jew could not in decency eat with. Then Jesus comes along eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. He casts the mould for Christians normalizing our unity in Christ as brethren over all these other identities. The Lord’s Table stood as a meal that turned these norms on their heads. Slaves could be elders in the church and over their masters; Jews and Gentiles sat at the same table; men and women were coheirs; and even those who were once ostracised for great sin were welcomed as part of the family with their past forgiven when they repented. As we come to Luke 5:27-32 we come face to face with an aspect of the Messiah that would have been unexpected for most in the first century. The Jews were anticipating a Messiah that would come to judge sinners, but we see a Saviour who has come to save sinners and bring them to repentance so that their sins and not they are put to death. This portion brings the conflict of what Christ came to do and what the religious leaders expected...
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Have you ever asked a question, got an answer, but the answer provoked a number of further questions? That’s the trouble with our questions isn’t it? We think we have a good grasp of an issue, and all we need is one more piece to make the picture complete, but when we hear the answer, we realise our original idea was wrong and so we have a number of further questions to try and fill out the picture in our minds. This is Habakkuk. He had what appeared to be a simple question, ‘How long until you do something about the sins of Judah, God?’ His question in one way was quite self-centred. He was part of the righteous remnant who was suffering due to the injustice but He wasn’t thinking about the bigger picture. He was not thinking about the promise God made concerning Manasseh’s sins which would result in exile; he was not thinking about God’s sovereignty concerning Assyria, Egypt, Babylon as well as Judah. So when God answered his question telling him that He was doing something about it, and that something was a Babylonian invasion of Judah, and people being carried off into exile, the answer shattered Habakkuk’s comfort in his conception of things and led to more questions. Habakkuk has made his first complaint, God has made His first response, now we look at 1:17-2:1 where Habakkuk makes his second response. Here come the questions that flow from God’s answer. Here is the basic flow of Habakkuk’s second complaint. Firstly, Habakkuk states his faith in v12; this is what he knows and believes. But there are still niggling questions that arise and so he articulates his continuing doubt in v13 stating the heart of the problem, ‘why do you idly look at traitors and remain...
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If you mention the name Jesus Christ today the first thought in many minds is that Jesus is a judge and Christians are judgemental, this however is not the first thought they should think. Yes it is true that one day we will have to stand before Christ and give an account for every deed done in the body, but there are two comings of Christ, and until that His second coming we are to think of Jesus as the one who saves not the one who judges, John 3:17, ‘ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’ This is the Jesus we meet as we continue in Luke 5:12-26. Luke has been showing us who Christ is, that He is the Second Adam, the one with all authority to heal and exorcize demons, but chapter 5 is full of a Jesus who saves sinners. There is Peter the sinful man who sees himself as unworthy who Christ brings into His service, in our section we see Jesus’ compassion and willingness to heal a leper, a picture of our own sin before God; then we see Jesus demonstrating His authority to forgive sin in the healing of the paralytic; and after that there is the calling of Levi, a hated tax collector to be His disciple. As we dig into this section we want to note Jesus willingness in His engagement with the leper and see the leper as a picture of the sinner before God. Secondly, we want to note authority of Jesus to forgive sins and this proven by a miracle in the healing of the paralytic. There is something else going on in our section to as well. There is...
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Have you ever had an answer to prayer that was completely unexpected? There you were asking the Lord for one thing, and then He went and answered your prayer but not in the way you had hoped. There is a famous example of this in John Newton, it is recorded in one of the hymns we sing. It was originally called ‘Prayer answered by crosses’ here is the opening stanza, ‘I asked the Lord that I might grow In faith and love and ev’ry grace, Might more of His salvation know, And seek more earnestly His face.’ How would you expect God to answer this prayer? Newton tells us of his surprise, in stanzas 3-4, ‘I hoped that in some favored hour At once He’d answer my request And, by His love’s constraining pow’r, Subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, He made me feel The hidden evils of my heart And let the angry pow’rs of hell Assault my soul in ev’ry part.’ He prayed for holiness and he got the sinfulness of his heart exposed stirred up through an onslaught of temptation, but he ends the poem with a recognition that this is how God answers prayer for holiness. Habakkuk is in a similar situation. He prays for God to do something about the sin in the people of Judah. He is part of the righteous remnant who is crying out for God to act. What did Habakkuk expect? Perhaps he thought God would raise up another Josiah and a nationwide revival break out, or perhaps cause Jehoiakim to be humbled like Manasseh and repent bringing blessing upon the nation. God’s answer to Habakkuk’s prayer is Babylon not reformation. We are at present in the middle of a dialogue between God and Habakkuk. Habakkuk has...
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Luke 5:1-11 is known best for the miracle of the big catch of fish, but I do not think that this is the central point of the text, rather it is the miracle of catching the big fish, namely Peter. It is not merely given to demonstrate the power of Jesus, but rather a demonstration of power that leads to Peter following Christ. Luke 4 has introduced Jesus as our Second Adam and the one who has authority over sickness and demons. Having established Jesus identity Luke now turns his attention to Jesus gathering His disciples, various callings and appointments sprinkle the next two chapters. 5:1-11 focuses on the calling of Peter specifically but also James and John v10; 5:27-32 focuses on the calling of Levi; and 6:12-16 list the appointment of the 12 apostles. The focus of this text is how Jesus saves a sinner and puts them into service. Our consideration of this text will be divided under three headings, firstly, we want to consider Christ as He targets Peter and pursues him; secondly, we want to look at how Christ demonstrated His power to humble Peter; and thirdly, we want to examine how Christ puts sinners into His service and how we are to leave all to follow Him. Our examination of this text will aid as a reminder of how God’s grace works in our lives, the holiness of God which humbles us, and the high calling of serving our God with everything we have. Source
Thanks to Graham Gregory for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Source
Special thanks to Russell Cannons from Shore Baptist in Auckland, for sharing God’s Word with us this morning. Colossians 2:6-7 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Source
People go through their lives not thinking about God, but as soon as something goes wrong then suddenly the questions fly and someone has to be blamed and God whose existence was being ignored is suddenly questioned. This instinct to doubt God when things go wrong is what the book of Habakkuk is all about. The main difference being that Habakkuk is not an unbeliever but a believer questioning God, and his questions and accusations are more informed, more like our own. This is a book that deals with some of our biggest and most important questions, where is God when things go wrong, why does God allow suffering, why is God not acting to stop wickedness and suffering. I have titled this series on Habakkuk The Doubting Prophet because Habakkuk begins with doubts and questions but ends with faith and worship. Let me quickly outline the book, then for this first message we will lay out in detail the historical setting in which the book is set, and examine in 1:1-4 Habakkuk’s complaint. Now let me warn you upfront, I am not going to resolve all the tension in the text in this sermon. I want you to sit for a while with his questions, with his doubts, I want you to go home this week and read this book and see if you can see how Habakkuk moves from doubt to faith. V1, ‘The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.’ Habakkuk is a contemporary of Jeremiah who prophesied during a period of spiritual decline in Judah shortly before the Babylonian exile. He is a Jew in Judah who would have lived through the death of Josiah and the swift decline as his sons took the throne. We don’t know anything about him, some have suggested that his name...
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Thanks to Ian Goodman for preaching for us this morning. Ian is the pastor of Wilson Street Baptist Church in Timaru. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5: Proclaiming Christ Crucified 1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Source
Thanks to James Harrison for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. Bible Reading & Study – Psalm 19:7-11 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Source
How do we come back to God after sin? How do we return to God when we have sinned in a big way, or as a leader, or done a sin again that we committed not to do? One of the most visited portions in my bible, a portion I have wept over more than any other is Psalm 51. It gives me great comfort to know that a man like David who had a heart after God’s own heart, had feet of clay. And that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write a psalm of penitence that shows us how we can return to God after sin, even big sin. Repentance is something that we do not do well at. Because we sin so often we get disheartened and fail to repent well, we can become hardened to our sin and so fail to repent properly, we can confess without feeling our sins, we can proclaim forgiveness without putting away our sins, we can just stop coming to God after sin altogether. We need regular lessons and reminders in how to repent. Psalm 51 is one of the lessons God has given us through the experiences of David. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his dedicated soldiers. He got her pregnant and tried to connive to get Uriah to come home so that he would think that the baby was his own. This did not work so David orchestrated events whereby Uriah was deliberately killed in battle. David literally broke all 10 of God’s commandments. On top of this he justified himself and refused to repent for a whole year. Psalm 32 reveals to us that that year was one of emotional and spiritual depression and torture. The prophet Nathan used a parable to...
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Thanks to Rene Kempf for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. Hebrews 10:24-25 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Source
It is 2 days away from the end of 2019, and I’m sure you have all thought about this as the year draws to a close. New Years resolutions. As the clock clicks past midnight on Tuesday, the realisation dawns upon Christians and non-Christians alike, that they probably weren’t as good as they intended to be last year. Perhaps you wanted an improvement on your health, but that gym membership didn’t get the same amount of use as you hoped. Perhaps you wanted an improvement on your finances, but you just didn’t save as much as you hoped. Perhaps you had a new years resolution to pass your studies, to get a promotion, to buy a house, to find a wife or a husband, to waste less time on your phone or TV and the list could go on and on. And in one sense, wanting to improve on yourself is not necessarily a bad thing. If you a Christian here today, it is likely that you often think, and not only at New Years but throughout the year, that God expects us to be good stewards of our time, our resources, our finances, and our bodies, and it is not wrong to set yourself targets to improve on different areas of your life. But these resolutions regarding the common means of life are not the focus of my New Years sermon this afternoon. Instead, the focus of today’s message will be on what should be your New Years Resolution this year if you are a Christian. Source
You noticed perhaps a similar theme between the two portions of Scripture this morning, and that is one of celebration and rejoicing. So let me ask you this question, what do you celebrate at Christmas time? Perhaps you are happy about the time off work? Perhaps you enjoy spending the break with family and friends? Perhaps you are like the neighbour down my street, and use it as an occasion to put lights on every available surface outside your home? Maybe you like the giving of gifts, or if you are a child, you like the receiving gifts? If you are like me, perhaps you enjoying singing the great Christian hymns. Perhaps you enjoy the Christmas spirit of goodwill to one another or the many of the Christmas traditions that we have picked up in the Western world that are associated with Christmas, like snow, and Christmas trees and wreaths and Santa and reindeer. And for the most part, all of these things in and of themselves are not wrong to enjoy as cultural traditions. But I can also assure you, that the day Jesus Christ was born 2000 years ago, there was not a public holiday, there was no feasting or sparkling lights, there was no Santa or 50% off sales. Yet, at the birth of the child Jesus, there was a celebration and anticipation among some that would barely be replicated in even the most pious Christian households throughout the world on Christmas day. And I will be speaking to you today, to exhort you all to join the shepherds and the angels in their celebration and rejoicing over Jesus Christ. Source
“Jesus is the temple” is my Christmas meditation for us this year. It sounds weird I know but it is relevant I promise. We have recently been going through Luke’s gospel and looking at all the birth narratives relating to Christ’s conception and birth. I do not want to go over that material again but want to take the opportunity to look at some of the deeper theology that we can overlook when we think about the incarnation. Today as an encouragement for you to consider the richness of grace towards us in Christ I want us to consider a familiar verse, John 1:14, ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ John’s gospel was written with a particular purpose in mind, John 20:30-31, ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ From beginning to end you should read John’s gospel looking for the answers to the question, who is Jesus? And, how should I respond to Him? He is the Son of God, and because you are a sinner by believing in Him you can have eternal life. John’s gospel talks about the origins of Christ in a different way to Luke and Matthew who both record the conception and birth of Christ. John goes all the way back into eternity before creation had taken place to start his record of Christ, John 1:1-3, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the...
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Why do we get sick? The Bible teaches that we get sick and die because of the curse upon sin. Adam would have lived in a world full of bacteria but because his body was whole and had not suffered any of the effects of sin He would have been immune to the powerful miniature agents God had created. Adam’s genetic code would have been flawless and the process of cell multiplication would have happened without a hitch so that no cancerous growths would form and no genetic diseases would have been passed on to his progeny. Adam would have been protected from the process of slow death or ageing. He would have been kept by the power of God from the ravaging forces of nature; he would even have been providentially protected by God from accidents and other ill effects like branches falling from trees, etc. Being in God’s favour He enjoyed the blessings of life and health and protection, but then He sinned. And all of a sudden the world from which he had enjoyed protection from by the blessing of God became a hostile and killing environment. Sickness, death and degeneration became the portion of humanity as Adam plunged us into a life in this world under God’s judgement. Man went the way of all flesh. It was God’s plan for Adam that he should obey and endure and come through the test earning a permanent possession in a new creation type blessing. God made man to enjoy fellowship with Himself in a perfect creation serving Him and flourishing. Adam failed to accomplish that goal. The devil was let loose to afflict us, death held power over us, sickness was the common lot of us all. But God promised a day when another child of Adam would...
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Thanks to Willem Rawlins for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. Children and Parents – Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Source
A biblical counsellor tells of a couple he was counselling: ‘Cynthia, a woman I counselled, once cast a demon from her toaster when it failed to work! More seriously, she and her husband Andrew had a remarkable—and remarkably destructive—way of arguing with each other. For the first five minutes they warmed up with the normal person-to-person bickering. But at a certain point, when the fighting turned nasty, they shifted gears and wheeled in heavier artillery. They would bind, rebuke, and attempt to cast out demons of anger, pride, and self-righteousness from each other. In Cynthia’s words, ‘I saw the demon looking out of his eyes, glittering and murderous. So I said, ‘Demon of anger, I bind your power in Jesus’ name! Then I claimed the power of Jesus’ blood as my cover from all demonic assault coming through my husband.’1 There are two extremes when it comes to considering the demonic, firstly, this over excited overemphasizing view that sees a demon behind every bush. Then there is the modern view that sees demons as the ignorance of pre-scientific peoples making a devil of the gaps. Bad weather conditions, depression, anger, or anything unexplained was attribute to demons by a pre-scientific people, but science has expelled an need for such a doctrine as it has pulled back the curtain on all the various mysteries giving us a natural explanation for everything. As we move forward in Luke’s gospel today, we will be looking at Luke 4:21-31. This portion stands out in highlighting the authority of Christ. We see that He teaches with authority, in v31-32, he has authority over demons, v33-37, and He has authority over sickness, v38-41. These will be our three points, but today I would like to dig a bit more deeply into Jesus authority over demons and...
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Thanks to Willem Rawlins for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. Pray for All People – 1 Timothy 2:1-4 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Source
Why do people reject Jesus? Why do people see His claims, claims that we have seen and recognise to be true and wonderful and yet do not believe? Today we want to do an analysis of the unbelief of the Nazarenes when they heard Jesus preaching in the synagogue. A lot of people today will be able to identify with the Nazarene congregation. Jesus rocks up on a Sabbath, he stands up and tells everyone that He is the Messiah, He has done a bunch of miracles in all sorts of other places v14, if Jesus will just put up and do a few miracles and prove to me that He is who He says He is, I will believe. The reasons for our unbelief are more sinister than that. We see in the gospels that Jesus performed many miracles, but that this did not guarantee that people would believe. It certainly left them without excuse that they were more accountable than Sodom and Gomorrah Matt. 11:23, but miracles do not guarantee faith. Our unbelief is not so innocent. It is not merely a case of I need a few more facts, or an ample demonstration, we believe what we want to believe. Faith is not merely accepting a few facts about Jesus you were not sure of, faith is accepting the truth about God, yourself as a sinner and worthy of judgement, your self-created moral law as an act of treason against His rule, your inability to provide salvation for yourself, to accept that most of what the world believes and does is wrong, and many other things. To accept the truth of God is not merely a case of intellectual assent but involves seeing your own sin and owning, humbling yourself and repenting of it, to be willing...
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Thanks to Simon Bird for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. Our apologies for the lack of a recording. 1 Chronicles 16:28-29 28 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! 29 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; Source
What was the mission of Jesus? What did He come to accomplish? There are various answers to those questions. The reason the answer is so important is because the Church is called to line up with Christ’s own mission. Today there are those who believe in a social gospel who believe that Jesus is primarily interested in social justice, transforming social structures, alleviating injustice and renovating cities. This has an extreme edge in Liberation theology that says that spiritual salvation is irrelevant, social liberation is all, and some have even advocated violence as a way of realising the kingdom of God. On the conservative side we have seen those who believe that Jesus is only worried about souls and not bodies, the church and not society, heaven and not the earth. The portion that we have before us Luke 4:16-21 is a very important one because in it Jesus outlines His mission for us. Let me give us the context and then we will dig in. V14-15, ‘And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.’ Jesus has begun His public ministry. Luke has told us about the preparation of John the Baptist, Christ’s baptism as well as His temptation. What Luke does not tell us is that Jesus did a few other things before this public appearance in Nazareth happened. John chapters 1-4 all take place before this appearance in Nazareth. A ministry on Jesus part is hinted at by the fact that there was a report of Him in all the surrounding country as well as the fact that Jesus taught in ‘their synagogues,’ plural. It may have been as long as a year...
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Thanks to Simon Bird for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. The Great Commandment – Matthew 22:34-40 34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Source
You and I sin every day. There is no one here who is perfectly honest, perfectly loving, perfectly self-controlled, perfectly centred on God’s glory in everything they do. We are under constant assault from sin, we find ourselves in a spiritual war whether we choose it or not. And yet we must not sin, we must obey God, we must resist sin and satan and become saints that put on display the power of God over sin. How do we do this? The temptation of Christ is a window into how a true human being is tempted and stands against temptation. The temptation of Christ in Luke 4:1-13 is about more than a lesson on how to be holy however. Let me put the significance to you in the form of a question: Why did Jesus have to be born instead of like Adam being made an adult to die on the cross? Why did Jesus need to born, grow up in a sinful world, why did He have to obey every command of God, and why in particular did He have to be led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested? Luke 4:1, ‘And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.’ Jesus had to be born to Adam’s line in order to be one of us to represent us. Jesus died on the cross in payment for the many sins we have done, the wages of sin is death, Christ paid with His life. The Bible tells us that He endured temptation and is able to sympathise with us when we are tempted, Heb. 4:15, ‘ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in...
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Let me begin with a statement, this generation of Christians in the West is the most informed and least godly generation of Christians that has ever been. I am not only talking about the fact that Christians are no longer recognizable as different from the world, nor am I referring to the many instances of public sin that Christian leaders and Christians in general are caught in. No, in our modern age with all of it conveniences, and all of its media and distractions we have lost our inner disciplines and spirituality. We are a people who are prayerless, we do not read our bibles, we do not think about God, we have grown impatient with reading, with hard thinking and research. We want google spirituality that is instant, that has taken all the difficulty out of accessing information, that is always attractive and well presented. We don’t know how to sacrifice but are connoisseurs of all the best things. We are not able to suffer well not having enough resources. We are full of constant complaints about our comforts. In a word we are infants. Think about children for a moment, they demand instant gratification, they squall as if they are dying when all they are is hungry because they haven’t eaten in 3 hours, they weep at the smallest injury, they fixate on their appearance not the state of their hearts, they are suckers for advertising and want the next new thing that shows up on an advert or their friends have begun to collect, they have no ability to clean their own rooms, brush their teeth when they should, they don’t self-regulate whenever sweets are around, and on and on I could go, but sadly this is what Christians are like today. Sadly many Christians are in...
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How many of you have traced back your family tree? There comes a time in life when you begin to seek out your past as a way to understand something of your identity. We all want to know if we have had any famous people in our family line, if you are a Christian whether there were any saints, and we love the scandal of knowing there are a few villains in the mix. This might help you to identify with the importance of our next portion of scripture, Luke 3:23-38, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Genealogies in the West have lost their significance but many older cultures deeply value them, especially the Jews. Knowing your racial heritage was very important to Jews. Did you have the right to inherit a portion of the land? If you were childless who were your relatives that could redeem your property, or if your husband died and you were childless who were the relatives who could raise up an heir for his name through the practice of levirate marriage? Is the women I want to marry of Jewish stock? Am I of Jewish stock so that I can worship in the temple? Am I of the priestly line and am eligible to serve in the temple? Am I royalty with a claim to the throne of David? Your genealogy was information you kept close at hand and handed on faithfully as it answered all these questions and more. Who you are was a question that was often answered by your genealogy. In fact we can preach the gospel from the genealogy of Jesus. Who is Jesus Christ? We have heard the testimony of His baptism and the testimony of John now we have the important testimony of His genealogy. As we look at...
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Thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week. Please accept our apologies for the missing audio. Introduction: The book of kings is often an action packed and thrilling piece of redemptive history, but not so much in chapter 4. In chapter 4 we have the story of how Solomon administered his kingdom. But once again before we look at Solomon’s administration, lets remind ourselves just where in redemptive history this chapter fits. The redemptive story so far tells us that Adam and Eve have been deceived by the serpent, they have sinned and been banished from the Garden. God has promised them a saviour who will rescue them and their descendant’s from their sins. The flood has decimated the world, and Abraham has fathered a people as numerous as the sand on the beach, or the stars in the sky. This great race of people are the Israelites. The Israelites are now living in the promised land and are ruled by Solomon, the son of great king David. As we turn our attention to 1 Kings 4, we remember that in 1 Kings 1 Solomon is revealed to us as the Lamb of God, a type of Christ who loving and merciful, who forgives his enemies their sins. In 1 Kings 2 after Solomon gains the throne his brother Adonijah, along with Abiathar and Joab again attempt to take the throne from Solomon. Solomon is now the Lion of Judah, a type if Christ who takes vengeance on his enemies. Then in 1 Kings 3 we saw that God gifted Solomon with Wisdom so that the people would not be afraid of a king, who was neither hot nor cold, merciful, or vengeful, but that the people would trust their king who as a type of Christ would make righteous...
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Thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week. Please accept our apologies for the missing audio. Introduction: As you may remember, I am preaching through the book of kings, as it is written, as a thrilling piece of redemptive history. So lets remind ourselves just where in redemptive history this book and this chapter fits. The redemptive story so far tells us that Adam and Eve have been deceived by the serpent, sinned and been cast out of the Garden of Eden. God has promised the first humans that one day a saviour will rescue them and their descendant’s from their sins. The flood has decimated the first world, and Abraham has been promised that the saviour will be born from his seed, out of a people as numerous as the sand on the beach, or the stars in the sky. And this great race of people have now come into existence and they are the Israelites. The Israelites are now living in the promised land and are ruled by Solomon, the son of great king David. When Solomon came to the throne it was against the backdrop of a palace coup. His elder half brother, and legitimate heir, Adonijah, had made a move to secure the throne for himself. His undoubted intention at the death of his father would have been to murder his rival, Solomon. God using, the prophet Nathan and Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba thwarted the plot by getting David to anoint Solomon as his heir. In 1 Kings 1 Solomon is a type of Christ, the Lamb of God, and so he is merciful and forgives everyone their sins. In 1 Kings 2 After Solomon gains the throne his brother Adonijah, along with Abiathar and Joab again attempt to take the throne from Solomon. But this time...
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Let me begin with a statement, this generation of Christians in the West is the most informed and least godly generation of Christians that has ever been. I am not only talking about the fact that Christians are no longer recognizable as different from the world, nor am I referring to the many instances of public sin that Christian leaders and Christians in general are caught in. No, in our modern age with all of it conveniences, and all of its media and distractions we have lost our inner disciplines and spirituality. We are a people who are prayerless, we do not read our bibles, we do not think about God, we have grown impatient with reading, with hard thinking and research. We want google spirituality that is instant, that has taken all the difficulty out of accessing information, that is always attractive and well presented. We don’t know how to sacrifice but are connoisseurs of all the best things. We are not able to suffer well not having enough resources. We are full of constant complaints about our comforts. In a word we are infants. Think about children for a moment, they demand instant gratification, they squall as if they are dying when all they are is hungry because they haven’t eaten in 3 hours, they weep at the smallest injury, they fixate on their appearance not the state of their hearts, they are suckers for advertising and want the next new thing that shows up on an advert or their friends have begun to collect, they have no ability to clean their own rooms, brush their teeth when they should, they don’t self-regulate whenever sweets are around, and on and on I could go, but sadly this is what Christians are like today. Sadly many Christians are in...
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Many people have claimed to be or have been thought to the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. For example, ‘Krishna Venta (1911–1958), born Francis Herman Pencovic in San Francisco, founded the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love) Fountain of the World cult in Simi Valley, California in the late 1940s. In 1948 he stated that he was Christ, the new messiah and claimed to have led a convoy of rocket ships to Earth from the extinct planet Neophrates. He died on 10 December 1958 after being suicide bombed by two disgruntled former followers who accused Venta of mishandling cult funds and having been intimate with their wives.’ ‘Arnold Potter (1804–1872), Schismatic Latter Day Saint leader; he claimed the spirit of Jesus Christ entered into his body and he became “Potter Christ” Son of the living God. He died in an attempt to “ascend into heaven” by jumping off a cliff. His body was later retrieved and buried by his followers.’ How do you know who the true Saviour is? This is the import of the text we are looking at today as we examine the baptism of Jesus. There are several things that testify to who Jesus is, revealing that He is God the Son and our Saviour. The angels testify to who Jesus is, Luke 1:35, ‘the Son of God.’ The demons testify that He is the Holy One of God, Mark 1:24. The Scriptures bear witness to Christ, John 5:39. The miracles of Christ bear witness to His identity John 5:36, and John the Baptist bears witness to who Jesus is, John 5:33. The greatest witness however is the witness of God and we see this in the portion before us as we see a visible representation of the Spirit and hear the voice of the Father...
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Thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week. Please accept our apologies for the missing audio. Introduction: As we discovered in 1 Kings Chapter 1, the book of Kings is theology cleverly disguised as exciting history. And as we read on in chapter 2 we will find that it does not disappoint, the thrilling tale of intrigue, mystery, and murder, only gets more absorbing. I am preaching through this book, as it is written, as a thrilling piece of redemptive history. So before we begin we need to remind ourselves just where in redemptive history this chapter fits. The redemptive story so far tells us that Adam and Eve have been deceived by the serpent, sinned and been cast out of the Garden of Eden. God has promised the first humans that one day a saviour will rescue them and their descendant’s from their sins. The flood has decimated the first world, and Abraham has been promised that the saviour will be born from his seed, out of a people as numerous as the sand on the beach, or the stars in the sky. And this great race of people have now come into existence and they are the Israelites. The Israelites are now living in the promised land and are ruled by Solomon, the son of great king David. When we left 1 Kings chapter 1 Solomon as a type of Christ, has established his kingdom with mercy and grace. Solomon has forgiven the sins of his brother, Adonijah, and the other rebels. In 1 Kings Chapter 1 Solomon represents the Lamb if God in all his mercy and grace. But surrounding Solomon in his palace, are all the typical characters of any court, the faithful, the unfaithful, the treacherous, and the hypocritical. These characters continue to play out...
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Thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week. Please accept our apologies for the missing audio. Introduction: The book of kings is categorized as a history book, but this does not mean that it is not full of theology. So while this book is a thrilling tale of intrigue, mystery, and murder, it is so much more than this. The golden chain of salvation runs through this exciting story and while we would rightly shy away from too much allegory, that is searching for the hidden meanings in the text, we can easily discern that many of the of the themes show us theology and many of the people are typical, or types. For example as we look into this volume we should understand that Solomon is a type of Christ. And by this expression typical, or type, we should understand that Solomon has certain characteristics of Christ, not that Solomon is typical, or like him, in every detail. So that being said, I have decided to approach the preaching of this book, as it is written, as a thrilling piece of redemptive history. So before we begin we need to understand where in redemptive history the book of kings sits. The redemptive story so far tells us that Adam and Eve have been deceived by the serpent, sinned and been cast out of the Garden of Eden. God has promised the first humans that one day a saviour will rescue them and their descendant’s. The flood has decimated the first world, and Abraham has been promised that the saviour will be born from his seed, out of a people as numerous as the sand on the beach, or stars in the sky. This great race of people have come into existence and they are the Israelites. So as we open...
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Second Saturday Morning Session by Russell Cannons Please note this session concluded unexpectedly early. Source
Jonah is one of several books in the Bible that would not be accepted to be made a Hollywood movie; the main reason being that there is no happy ending. When Jonah comes to an end we are left with an unresolved issue, does Jonah learn his lesson? The book ends with God portraying His compassion to the Assyrians, but Jonah still in the depths of his self-pity and depression. Just as 2 Samuel ends with the purchasing of the Temple site, not the death of David; and Acts ends with the Gospel having reached Rome not the death of Paul. Jonah likewise ends in such a way as to draw attention to the true central character of the book God and His grace. The book of Jonah could have ended at the end of chapter 3, but instead we are pushed on to look at God’s dealings with His sinful servant, and how God seeks to correct him and sanctify him. We will look at Jonah’s anger at God’s mercy, and God’s mercy on Jonah’s anger. Source
On the big screen at the moment is the latest instalment in the Downton Abbey world. The latest movie revolves around the King and Queen coming for a one day visit to the Crawley family estate. The movie opens up for us a little window into what an event a royal visit really was. Back in the day the whole town would have to prepare for the coming royalty, things would get freshly painted, roads would be repaired, and uniforms would be remade all in preparation of the visit. On the Island of St Helena they painted a giant welcome message on the side of the mountain above Jamestown ‘Welcome Prince Andrew’ in the 1980s which can still be seen today. In Downton Abbey, the royal butler, or The Page of the Backstairs with his entourage goes ahead of the royals to prepare the way. John the Baptist is a very different sort of one who prepares the way for a different sort of King. If royalty were coming to our town we would be paying attention to external things like slapping on a fresh coat of paint and making sure all the garden’s presented well. How do you prepare for the King of the universe to come and visit you? This was the role given to John the Baptist, and it is to him that we turn our attention this morning. John we know is a prophet, and He is preparing the way for the holy God to come to visit His people. However, a visitation from God is never what we think it is because we always forget who God is. If God comes down to be among us, He comes in the purity of His holiness, He comes to judge the wicked and bless His people. We...
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Jonah 3 is usually known as the chapter where Jonah was obedient, but in truth this chapter is not about Jonah but about God. God and His grace, not man and his obedience are the centre of the chapter and the heart of the Gospel. Jonah is often employed as a sword to induce guilt over our disobedience and lack of faithfulness to missions, and this certainly is one of the applications. However, the primary use of this chapter is, in my opinion, to portray the God of grace to sinners. And having seen this grace afresh we will find that this sight of God’s grace will be a better incentive to obedience than the stinging sight of our own sin. God’s grace is evident in 4 ways: to Jonah when God puts him back in His employ; in the revival in Nineveh; in the genuine repentance in Nineveh; and in His relenting of judgement upon Nineveh. Source
‘Who am I?’ a basic question that all of us have struggled to answer. For many of us this has been a tremendous struggle, for those brought up in a Christian home and taught a biblical worldview, you have been saved from unnecessary confusion in so many areas. Many today think they are nothing more than evolved apes; others are experiencing gender dysphoria; many are struggling with basic questions about what career they should do, what do they like and want to pursue, etc. My own personal time of crisis with all of these questions were my teenage years, I remember being confronted with the big questions, like what is the meaning of life and having no clue and being in the dark and so frustrated with the lack of answers. My experience will be typical of many of us, but Jesus had a very different experience. What would the childhood of the Sinless One be like? What would the childhood of the One who was God be like? The gospels do not give us a lot of information about the childhood of Christ, the birth narratives are extensive in their detail, and then Jesus suddenly appears at the age of 30 to begin His ministry. What happened between birth and thirty? There are many theories about what happened. Matthew records the flight to Egypt, Luke chooses to leave it out. This flight to Egypt and its scant details have led to many fabrications. It has always been the temptation of people to fill in the blanks, not content with God has chosen to reveal they have to add more. For this reason there are several false accounts of Christ’s infancy, these are known as pseudopigrapha, they are false books written in the names of other people like Matthew, Thomas,...
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One of the major stumbling blocks to people accepting the book of Jonah is the issue of ‘the big fish.’ Modern man has spurned the story thinking that is it absolutely impossible that a man could be swallowed by a fish and live for three days. Gleason Archer reports the following account: “In February 1891, the whaling ship, Star of the East was in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands, and the lookout sighted a large sperm whale three miles away. Two boats were lowered and in a short time one of the harpooners was enabled to spear the creature. The second boat also attacked the whale, but was then upset by a lash of its tail, so that its crew fell into the sea. One of them was drowned, but the other, James Bartley, simply disappeared without a trace. After the whale was killed, the crew set to work with axes and spades, removing the blubber. ‘They worked all day and part of the night. The next day they attached some tackle to the stomach, which was hoisted on deck. The sailors were startled by something in it which gave spasmodic signs of life, and inside was found the missing sailor, doubled up and unconscious. He was laid on the deck and treated to a bath of sea water which soon revived him. At the end of the third week he was entirely recovered from the shock and resumed his duties….Has face, neck and hands were bleached to a deadly whiteness and took on the appearance of parchment. Bartley affirms that he would probably have lived inside his house of flesh until he starved, for he lost his sense through fright and not through lack of air.” When I was in Bible College, my lecturer suggested that one of...
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Jesus being presented at the temple is usually not seen as a very important part of the birth narratives in the gospels, but it is important for several reasons. Jesus presentation of the temple gives the final birth hymn, the Nunc Dimittis, that goes along with the Benedictus; the Magnificat; and the Gloria in Excelsius. It is the first visit of Christ to the temple. It is significant that He who is the temple, and the Word tabernacling among us comes to the temple and certain Spirit led things confirm His identity and purpose. This visit is important because so far we have had priests confirm Christ’s identity, (Zechariah), we have had angels confirm His identity, (Christ the Lord), the shepherds have born testimony to Him, and now we have some of the righteous remnant of the OT, a saint and a prophet led by the Spirit bear testimony to Him. In particular the Spirit revealed song and message of Simeon is revealing. Firstly, we have the first explicit mention of God’s good news for the Gentile world, v32. And secondly, we have in this joyful and celebratory portion a clear indication of the conflict, rejection and sorrow that must come, v34-35. As we look at this section we will look at it under three headings, firstly, Jesus righteous parents looking at how they were obedient to the law; secondly, the righteous remnant observing the characters of Simeon and Anna in their obedience, and finally, we want to look at righteousness rejected as Simeon foretells in ominous tones the coming conflict and sorrow. Source
‘Drawing straight lines with crooked sticks’, this is a one liner that I could write over this portion as we see God using an unwilling Jonah to do much more than he ever intended. Bringing good out of evil is another way we could summarise this portion. Jonah is running from God and being disobedient in not calling Nineveh to repentance. Jonah has brought ruin and judgement upon himself and the ships full of unbelieving sailors. Jonah has ruined his witness, but God! Despite Jonah God will use this attempt to damn gentiles to save gentiles. God will use this attempt to hide his identity and his God to bring them to the forefront. God will take this selfish prophet who wishes nothing but death on the unbeliever to willingly give his life to save unbelievers. The main application for us is not, is does not matter whether you sin or not God will make His will happen anyway. By no means! We have seen how painful disobedience is and how wrong. No our encouragement comes from an argument from the greater to the lessor. If this is how God can use someone who is trying hard to disobey what confidence can we have in God blessing our feeble obedience? As we deal with this portion of Jonah interacting with the sailors we want to look at it under three headings, firstly, Jonah’s apathetic witness; secondly, Jonah’s prophetic pattern; thirdly, Jonah’s surprising converts. Source
One of the great public events, at least for those who still have a monarchy, is the first appearance of the crown prince, or royal baby. The picture of the couple and the baby makes the front cover of every news outlet, social commentators wax lyrical about whether the duchess wore a dress in the same style as Diana, and on and on it goes. The arrival of a new royal is a big deal and the world sits up and pays attention. Some even have a little shrine to the royal family in their homes, a central place with anniversary china, pictures and coffee table books full of photos and facts. The birth of the King of the universe and the King of kings was not noticed by the world, but God did ensure that it did not go unnoticed. The portion that we have before us with the angels appearing to the shepherds in the fields is the equivalent of the modern media event on the steps of St Mary’s hospital. Heaven has come down to earth when God the Son became a little baby; and here we have heaven interpreting the event to us. God announces the birth of His Son and Saviour of mankind. There is great significance in every aspect of this text. God is proclaiming the good news of Jesus birth to the world. As we look at this event we will look at four things, firstly, the fact that God preaches the gospel first to the shepherds; secondly, we want to listen to how the angels view the gospel and how they respond to it; thirdly, we want to see the manger scene itself and how those present react to it; and finally, we want to hear the gospel preached on the eighth...
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Storms have proven to be effective means of bringing people closer to God. It was Martin Luther’s prayer in a thunderstorm that resulted in him giving up his law studies and taking up monastic vows. Louis Zamperini the WWII air gunner who was shot down and was stuck in a life raft for days lost at sea cried out for God to save him in the middle of a storm. John Newton while bailing out water in a damaged ship in the midst of a storm cried out to God for salvation. Jonah is another who God brings closer to Himself through the use of a storm. Jonah the self-righteous racist who doesn’t want God to save his enemies is on the run trying to secure the destruction of his enemies. However, God will not let Him go, God brings a storm to hunt him down, bring him to his senses, and not only restore him to obedience but to a clear knowledge of grace. Francis Thopmson’s famous poem, The Hound of Heaven describes well this pursuit of a God who loves sinners. I fled Him down the nights and down the days I fled Him down the arches of the years I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind, and in the midst of tears I hid from him, and under running laughter. Up vistaed hopes I sped and shot precipitated Adown titanic glooms of chasmed hears From those strong feet that followed, followed after But with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, They beat, and a Voice beat, More instant than the feet: All things betray thee who betrayest me. As we look at Jonah’s experience of the storm we will look at how God brings storms into our lives and for...
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When I say ‘Christmas’ what comes to mind? Santa Claus, stockings, reindeer, Christmas trees, gifts, food…. Most of our associations have to do with lights, and music and festivities, and large family gatherings with lots of gifts and food and a large expenditure of money, but not so at the first Christmas. Luke 2:1-7 gives us the humble and simple account of one of the greatest miracles of all time, God becoming man. How did we get to the modern practices of celebrating Christmas the way we do? In the earliest times of the time, the birth of Christ was not celebrated, some of the church fathers even thought that the celebrating of birthdays was a pagan practice because the only mention of birthdays were Pharaoh’s and Herod’s. Matyrdom days were seen as more important. By the Second Century the date for Christ’s birth was long forgotten and various proposals were made, ‘January 2, 6; March 21, 25; April 18, 19; May 20, 28; November 17, 20.’1 ‘Exactly when the early church settled on December 25 is not known. The first recorded reference to that date as the day of Christ’s birth is found in the writings of Sextus Julius Africanus early in the third century. The earliest evidence of the church celebrating Christmas on December 25 comes from the fourth-century manuscript known as the Chronography or Calendar of 354. According to that document Christmas was being celebrated on December 25 by the church at Rome no later than a.d. 336. That date was gradually adopted by the church as a whole over the next several centuries. Why the church finally decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25 is also not known for certain. Some believe that it was to offer a Christian alternative to the popular...
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Many of you all will have heard this verse and felt very warm and smug and contented inside. James 3:1 says: ‘Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, as you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness’ You may be breathing a big sigh of relief in your hearts as I often have, comforted by the thought that the church elders, those who preach here up the front, will be judged with a higher standard, and you may have thought that perhaps God will let those of us sitting in the pews off a little bit, He will be a bit more lenient, He will give us common lay Christians a little bit more slack. And there is no doubt truth to this, as one error of a shepherd can lead to great harm to many of his sheep – but God has designed his church so not to place the full weight of responsibility upon the elders alone. So have this thought in the forefront of your mind when you listen to this sermon this afternoon – you will be held accountable for the teaching and teachers you listen to and surround yourself with. Many of you will know 2 Timothy, 4:3: ‘For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions’ That’s right, they – the people – will accumulate teachers who they want to hear. In this verse, it is not so much as the teacher is in the cross-hairs of judgment, but the people who willingly and eagerly submit themselves to the false teaching. Now, this is something we especially must keep in mind in our modern times, as we can get instant...
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There are two ways in which God faithfully parents us with suffering. Think of these as two different types of parental discipline. There is the use of suffering in our lives in general which acts to refine our faith, we can think of 1 Pet. 1:6-7: ‘In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ Here God uses suffering as a gymnasium to stretch and strengthen us. Sadly, because we are sinners who have sin so deeply ingrained this is God’s strong detergent to help sanctify us. The second way in which chastens us is where He reacts directly to our particular sins and as a faithful Father reacts to discipline us. 1 Peter 3:7 is a great example of this: ‘Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.’ Liberty in prayer, and answers in prayer are put on hold until the sin in your marriage is dealt with. You can categorize these forms of discipline as proactive and reactive discipline, proactive discipline is like when a parent gets a child out of bed every morning, gets them to make their beds, puts restrictions on their time and who they hang out with, etc. all in a bid to grow their character. There is no particular sin being addressed but rather sin in general is being worked on. Then there is reactive parental discipline which...
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When I say, ‘the book of Jonah’ what comes to mind? For most of us we think of that memorable story of a runaway prophet from Sunday school. As you get older you may think about the controversy over whether the miracle of the big fish happened, there is no mention of a whale. And perhaps you have even heard about whether Jonah is in fact a real historical narrative or an allegorical story meant to convict a racist and nationalistic Israel. The real hero of the book of Jonah is God not Jonah. When you get to the end of the book of Jonah we don’t even know whether the sulking Jonah has learnt his lesson and now agrees that God should be merciful to Nineveh. We believe that the story of Jonah is historical, just as Jesus thought that it was Luke 11:29-32. We also believe that the event with the big fish is a real miracle. Some have tried to say that the event is staged, but unlike so many false miracles it is not squeezed for all its worth but merely mentioned in passing. As memorable as these things are they are not the focus, God is. As with the parable of the prodigal son, the older brother and the younger brother are used as a backdrop to emphasize God’s grace to all types of sinners, so Jonah who has incidentally been pointed out to imitate both brothers in the parable is also backdrop to highlighting God’s grace to sinners. Jonah prophesied at about 760 BC. The book of Jonah is thought to be the earliest recorded prophecy of the major and minor prophets. Jonah was likely contemporary with Elisha and one of his disciples. Jonah lived about 150 years after Solomon and the split between...
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Thanks to Jeff Lane for visiting from Shore Baptist to tell us about the student ministries happening in Auckland. Jeff works for OMF NZ, has been seconded to Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF), and works with international students at Massey University, Albany. He previously worked with OMF in China and Taiwan for several years and now primarily works with Chinese students here in NZ. Acts 8:26-40: Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch 26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with...
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Nearly anyone you speak to today will say that the Bible is full of contradictions, therefore it cannot be a solid basis upon which to build our faith in God. I suggest that anytime someone says this ask them for one example, it will probably be the case that they are repeating something that they have heard and not something that they have established by their own research. This will be our last study in apologetics in this series. Next week we will begin a series through the minor prophet, Jonah. There are many different types of apparent contradictions in the Bible, and I call them apparent because although at first they may appear to be contradictions a little research usually resolves the tension. Today as we consider this issue we will begin by defining a what a contradiction is. This may sound ridiculous but it is my experience that many people confuse difficult to understand with a contradiction. Then we will deal with some doctrinal examples of contradictions and then also some textual examples, limiting ourselves to the gospels. Source
A big thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week when Nick was away. We appreciate it! John 9: 1-7 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. Source
Distinct to every other worldview and religion is the gospel. It stands outside of the values and ideas of every man made system of belief. It is the power of God to enter, confront, subvert and reform our basic understanding of everything. It is the dynamite that explodes the rock of every man-made self-sourced system of thought, and at the end of the day, every religion, philosophy, system of ideas, etc. is a worldview. Source
Worshippers—that is one of the most fundamental things that we are as human beings. We are made to worship, we will find our joy and satisfaction in worship, yet because of our sin we are bad at worship, in fact we invert it and seek worship for ourselves. We must look to the Scriptures and the aid of the Spirit to help us worship correctly. There is a whole book in the Bible, the psalms which help shape our worship. Luke is considered the first hymnologist of the Church. Right at the beginning of His gospel we find several songs of praise. Each has a Latin title based on certain words from the song. There is Mary’s Magnificat; Zechariah’s Benedictus; the Angel’s Gloria in Excelsius, and Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis. Some have even suggested that Elizabeth’s Spirit induced declaration v42-45 is another song, but this is more a prophetic declaration than a worship song, especially since the object is Mary and not God. The Nativity, the time of Jesus conception and birth is such a joyous occasion that songs are used to mark it and signal the joy of those who witnessed it. Source
A big thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week when Nick was away. We appreciate it! Isaiah 3:1-5 1 For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; 2 the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, 3 the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. 4 And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. 5 And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable. Source
A big thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week when Nick was away. We appreciate it! Romans 7:21-25 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Source
Introduction: Where does life come from? Where does humanity come from? These are the questions that we want to consider today. The most common answer that we find in our Western context is—evolution. Life evolved from a primordial soup. Time plus chance equals everything we see today. Through a series of mutational jumps certain mutations proved advantageous, then by the process of natural selection, those with these advantageous mutations survived to produce offspring who perpetuated these characteristics. Thumbs, eyes, walking upright, no tails, etc. are the results of the process of evolution. All that we are as human beings is a collection of previously advantageous mutations. This is the basic theory of evolution. However, in opposition to this is the Biblical story of creation. God made Adam and Eve as mature, historical figures. They were set in a literal garden and literally sinned bringing about consequences which we are sitting with today, e.g. sin, death, difficulty, etc. Source
Introduction: The waters of baptism are a lens through which we can see certain things clearly. It is a lens which helps us see something past, something present and something future. Through the baptismal waters we look back to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism would be a meaningless action if Christ had not in fact died and resurrected. The waters of judgement, like at the flood and the drowning of Pharaoh’s armies at the Red Sea rolled over Christ. As the breaking of the bread calls to mind His body broken and offered for us, so the immersion under water and emersion from it speak of Christ’s judgement in death and resurrection to life. The judgement He suffered for our sins and His vindication in being resurrected. Baptism is a lens into the present experience of the one being baptised. It is an outward showing of a real participation in Christ’s death as our death, and His resurrection as ours. Source
Introduction: In my last talk on apologetics we dealt with the objection to miracles, that was the first of three talks on the scientific objections to Christianity. Today we want to consider the objection to the Christians view of the beginning of the universe, and next week we will look at the objection to the Bible’s teachings on the origins of life. Today many people believe that the Bible’s view of Creation is incorrect and that a Big Bang cosmology has done away with the problem of a Creator and makes them satisfied atheists. Big bang cosmology has a very different shape of how the universe came into being than the straightforward reading of the Bible. Today we want to look at Big bang cosmology and then think about how as Christians we hold the biblical teaching in light of this modern attack. Source
Introduction: Angry at God! Have you ever been angry at God? No one ever has the right to be angry with God, yet so many are. Even some Christians think that it is ok to be angry with God. They justify it saying things like ‘God is big enough to handle it.’ They think that the Psalmists cry of ‘How Long?’ is a criticism instead of an earnest plea for God to fulfil His promises. They think that Jonah’s and Job’s complaining against God is an example forgetting that Jonah was rebuked and Job repented. Anger against God can span from those situations that we would classify as more ‘understandable’ to that anger which has no basis whatsoever and is based on selfishness and ignorance. For example, I read of a story about a 21 year old woman whose husband was caught in a house fire, 80% of his body was covered in burns. They already had to amputate his arms before they announced to her that he had died of cardiac arrest. In this situation questions about God’s goodness and power and wisdom naturally arise. The verse we want to look at today is looking at the irrational side of our anger against God. Proverbs 19:3, ‘When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.’ I find this verse to be especially insightful and helpful. It shines a light on the obvious irrationality of our anger and the destructiveness of sin. The problem I want to address is not just anger at God but anger in general. Proverbs 19:11 tells us that ‘Good sense makes one slow to anger….’ We are going to allow this verse to expose our hearts and bring the truth of God, ourselves and the gospel to bear to help us analyze...
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A big thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week when Nick was away at the School of Theology. We appreciate it! Source
A big thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week when Nick was away at the School of Theology. We appreciate it! Source
This is the recording of Nick’s presentation at the Stand Conference in Christchurch, July 2019. Source
Special thanks to Joe Fleener for preaching today. Joe is the pastor at Rolleston Baptist Church. Source
Special thanks to Joe Fleener for preaching today. Joe is the pastor at Rolleston Baptist Church. Source
Introduction: One of the most common reasons why people reject Christianity today is because the modern person rejects miracles on principle. There is a common retort that the modern person who is educated and has benefitted from all the progress of science and can cast our eye over history to all the negative effects of religion can happily put ignorant and superstitious thinking away and boldly accept that there is no such thing as miracles. It is common to have a conversation with someone who says that the miracle of the virgin birth is false, or a borrowed myth to make Jesus out to be something He wasn’t. Or that when Jesus walked on water He only appeared to be walking on water when in fact He was walking on a sand bank just under the surface. Or when Jesus fed the 5000, He did not miraculously produce food, but rather the generosity of the little boy shamed the crowd into sharing their travel provisions which proved to be more than enough. Or that Jesus swooned and did not die and resurrect. This sort of thinking has gained a lot of momentum with the New Atheists, Richard Dawkins has even written a children’s book trying to get kids to think that miracles cannot happen. We will begin by looking at all the ways people deny miracles and then make our defence. Source
When I mention Mary the Mother of Jesus was immediately springs to mind? Those with Roman Catholic roots might think of the Ave Maria, the prayer to Mary. Many may think of various statues or art works. As Protestants we see Mary as surrounded with controversy because the honour that has been paid her, which is technically defined as being less than that given to Christ, seems to amount to idolatry. Today we are going to explore our Mariology. Mariolatry is the worship of Mary, that is not what we want to establish, but rather, Mariology, a biblical doctrine of Mary. We will break our text, Luke 1:26-38 up under three traditional titles for Mary. The virgin Mary where we will examine the miracle and significance of the virgin birth. Secondly, we will look at Mary the Mother of God focusing on Gabriel’s greeting and prophesy concerning Jesus. And thirdly, we want to look at Mary the servant of the Lord, a description given to her in v38 and think on her faith and example. Source
Introduction: A major reason why people will not become Christians and have less and less time for the Bible and Christianity is the objection of homophobia. It will not be long in any conversation about the bible today that someone will ask you, ‘Do you believe that gay people are going to hell?’ The accusation in the question is clear and a wrong answer will immediately shut down the conversation. For many today this is a gatekeeper issue, if you don’t tick the right box you are not worth continuing the conversation with. To disagree on this issue demonstrates sufficiently to them that anything you have to say is going to be hateful, prejudiced, uninformed, etc. We live in a day and age where public opinion can change radically in a very short period of time. In a climate of instant reporting, in an age where emotions which are often more effective than arguments are conveyed through visual news, at a time when we can broadcast an opinion or one side of an argument immediately, in an atmosphere where mob rage and media barrages have become effective tools to shape public opinion and pressure establishments to relent, we are at a real disadvantage. We hold to a view that has been held for thousands of years, we may hold it with love, with winsome speech, and even model the proper way things ought to work, and even in the best case scenario we will be submerged in the deluge of negative public opinion. What we want to talk about tonight will not be useful to those who uncritically make up their minds based on what is trending. What we want to say tonight will not help those who have already decided what we believe even though they have never stopped...
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Introduction: 400 years without a prophet, 400 years without an angelic visit or a miracle. Sure there had been some providential victories in the Maccabean wars, but like the 400 years of captivity in Egypt Israel were in a place of oppression under Roman rule and spiritually poor and in need of light and deliverance. God’s people needed a new Exodus, a new Moses, a new crushing of Pharaoh, a new redemption and ransom from slavery, a new Passover Lamb. And now that time has come in the preparation of the way for the coming of the Messiah with the coming of John the Baptist. The first light of the new dawn bringing in the new age where God is going to fulfil His promises starts in the lives of some regular faithful saints in Zechariah and Elizabeth. Several things strike us as we go through verses 5-25. Firstly, we want to appreciate how Zechariah and Elizabeth are typical saints and show us some of the typical ways in which God works in our lives. Secondly, we want to note these first descriptions of John the Baptist and how God fulfils prophecy. And thirdly, we want to watch the faltering faith of Zechariah in his interaction with the angel Gabriel. All of this to bring into view the miraculous and wonderful way God works through the lives of ordinary people like Zechariah and Elizabeth, like you and me. So on the one hand what we see here is atypical and will only ever happen once, for the Messiah is only incarnated once and the messenger who prepares the way is only born once; but on the other hand God works in His usual ways, ways in which He is also working in our lives today. Source
Introduction: Richard Dawkins once described God as: “…the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” The ethics of the OT and in particular the commands to eradicate the Canaanites from the promised land, the so called commands to commit genocide or ethnic cleansing are a strong reason for disbelief in the God of the Bible today. Today we want to spend some time thinking about the commands of God to enter the land, dispossess the Canaanites of the land, and the commands to put to death, the men, women and children. Joshua 6:15-21, records the fall of Jericho. ‘On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. 16 And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” 20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets...
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Introduction: Imagine with me what the experience and the questions of Theophilus would have been: you are probably a God fearer who has only recently converted to Christianity, that is someone who was attached to the Jewish synagogue who believed in the God of the OT but was never circumcised. You are also a man of position and wealth. You accepted that Jesus was the one who was promised in the OT, but now some issues have arisen. Those people at the synagogue you used to attend have rejected Jesus as their Messiah. In fact they are on a campaign to oust any associated with Christianity out of the synagogue. You thought that becoming a Christian meant you did not have to become a Jew by circumcision when you became a Christian but the teachers of the synagogue say that one still has to be circumcised and convert to Judaism and become Jewish to be a true follower of God. They insist that Jesus is not the one promised in the OT. It is the early 60s and even the Roman Government is persecuting the new Christian movement and putting people in prison and even putting them to death. You have major doubts and questions. Here are some of the questions you may ask: ‘Is Christianity what I believed it to be, the conclusion to the OT?’ ‘Why have the Jews, the Messiah’s own people rejected Him; how can the majority of the Jews be wrong?’ ‘Why are the Gentiles included and the Jews excluded?’ ‘The OT made promises about the Messiah coming to rule but I have only seen the prophecies about His suffering come to pass, when will the rest be fulfilled?’ You can imagine how easy it would be to be uncertain as a Gentile convert in...
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A big thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week when Nick was away sick. We appreciate it! Source
A big thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week when Nick was away sick. We appreciate it! Source
Introduction: Today there are many people who believe that Christianity is not only wrong and backward but actually dangerous and inhibiting. The New Atheists have laid almost all social evil at the foot of religion. The trouble with this critique is that it is historically uninformed. There is a false narrative that tries to make out that science, or progress, or freedom, has been trying to break out of the mould and the church has been the biggest hindrance. This accusation that the church can only do harm can only come when people are historically ignorant to all that the church has accomplished. Jurgen Habermas, who carried no brief for Christianity said: ‘Christianity and nothing else is the ultimate foundation of liberty of conscience, human rights and democracy, the benchmarks of western civilisation.’ This is not the feeling on the streets or in the message of the New Atheists. So today I want to look at four areas of concern. Firstly, we must address the false narrative that Christianity has held back the development of culture/society. Secondly, we want to answer the perception that Christianity denies religious freedom forcing its opinion upon all. Thirdly, we must address the concern that Christianity dehumanise us by denying us freedom and putting us into a straitjacket. Fourthly, that Christianity destroys other cultures. I have grouped all these concerns together under the problem of Christianity being detrimental to society. Source
Introduction: One of the reasons why people don’t join a church is because they are nervous about all the talk about authority and submission. Our age makes us allergic to institutions; we are trained by the media to distrust our leaders. On top of this there have been many instances of spiritual abuse where a church leader has damaged his church by being oppressive and self-willed. I know there are many here today who have seen this type of spiritual abuse where elders have assumed powers to themselves that have dictated who one should marry, what job they should do, how they should dress, wear their hair, and even think. This type of spiritual abuse has not only gone on in places like Gloriavale it is also prevalent in the Charismatic Church or wherever people claim that God has given them a revelation about what I ought to do with my life. It can go on wherever you have big ministries and personality cults, where a church develops around a single man and his ideas. I have also seen examples of it when a man has been a pastor in a single place for over 40 years and his opinions become law. For all of these reasons and more people are nervous to commit to becoming a member of a local church, in submitting themselves to a church, submitting to the members and the elders. Today I would like to clarify what the Bible says about authority in the local church. There is no one verse we will be looking at but will be jumping around. I have chosen to structure this message around a sentiment expressed in a 1648 document called the Cambridge Platform. This was a document written by the American Congregationalists in response to the Westminster Confession...
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Introduction: John 14:6, ‘Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ How do people respond today to the statement that Jesus is the only way to heaven? Here is an excerpt from the Phil Donahue Show, where he is interviewing conservative Evangelical scholar, and principal of the Southern Baptist Seminary, Albert Mohler, along with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, DONAHUE: Well, Dr. Mohler, sir, nice to see you again. You’re how many strong these days, the southern Baptists? REV. ALBERT MOHLER, SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER: About 16 million members, Phil, and about 40,000 churches. It’s good to be with you tonight. DONAHUE: Thank you. Do these 16 million people believe Jews can go to heaven? MOHLER: Southern Baptists, with other Christians, believe that all persons can go to heaven who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is no discrimination on the basis of ethnic or racial or national issues, related to who will go to the Scriptures. It’s those who are in Christ. The defining issue is faith in Christ. DONAHUE: So a good Jew is not going to heaven. MOHLER: Well, all persons are sinners in need of a savior. Jesus Christ is the sole mediator. And the gospel, we are told by the Apostle Paul, comes first to the Jews and then to the gentiles. And salvation is found in his name, and in his name alone, through faith in Christ. DONAHUE: So if a Nazi killed a Jew, a good Jew, practicing Jew, the Jew goes to hell, but the Nazi still has a chance to get to heaven. That would be the consequence of your position. MOHLER: Well, the gospel is not just for the worst of us. The gospel...
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Introduction: When you woke up this morning and the reality of life came slowly through the sleep fog and you realised that it was the Lord’s Day and you had to go to church, what was your emotional investment in that thought? Today as we continue our series on membership I want to talk to you about the necessity of Church and strike a tone that scripture strikes when it speaks about the necessity of going to church. I have called this sermon: Going to Church as if your life depended on it, because it does. Too often when we think of church we think of boredom, burden, optional extra. We don’t think lifeline, life guard, life support system. So today we are going to be listening to the letter to the Hebrews as it talks to us about the necessity of Church. The book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish believers who under a lot of pressure to give up Christianity and return to Judaism. Their faith was under fire and the letter to the Hebrews was written to equip them with the facts of Christ’ superiority to Judaism that they needed to know in order to cling to Christ, the warnings they needed to hear so that they would not forsake Christ, as well as instructions about how they needed each other in order to survive the pressure of these persecutions. The verses I would like us to begin with are Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Let’s fill in the context. The Book of Hebrews in general...
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Introduction: One of the most emotional arguments against Christianity is the problem of hell. Many are ready to accept a God of love but will not believe in the God of the Bible because of the doctrine of endless conscious torment. The Bible’s teaching on hell is one of the most nightmarish images we can imagine, and our minds and emotions have drawn back in horror from them. The enemies to this teaching are everywhere, outside Christianity, inside the church and even our hearts cringe in the face of such harsh realities. We must recognise as we begin this discussion that the doctrine of hell is a deeply disturbing teaching, but we will see that the problem is not logical rather it is psychological. One of the things we have to realise as we begin looking at this teaching is that Jesus speaks more about hell than any other person in the Bible. God made man, who proved His identity by His miracles, who was witnessed to live a perfect life, and who resurrected from the dead, He is the one who gives us this teaching to embrace. E.G., Matt 25:41, ‘Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ Many think of Jesus as a good teacher, or ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’, but it just goes to show that they have not familiarised themselves with the Christ of Scripture. Christ’s own descriptions of hell are severe and terrifying. He spoke of hell being a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a description of intense pain and sorrow, Matt. 25:30, ‘And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is...
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Introduction: When do we call a group of Christians a church? What distinctive marks does it have to have to qualify as a church? At what point would you call a church apostate and say they were once a church but they are a church no longer? What is the bare minimum for having a church? Isn’t a church when 2 or 3 are gathered? Is it a church when: A few friends meet at a coffee shop to discuss the spiritual message in a film like the Matrix? When a family is having its daily devotions? When the staff of a Christian publishing company meet for morning prayer before work? When the staff of a Christian book shop go on a retreat together? The group of ladies on a ladies retreat? When the youth group meets? When a home cell meets? When two Christians are enjoying God’s creation doing a round of golf? When the bible college students and faculty meet for chapel? Are mission agencies and evangelistic ministries churches? Is a soup kitchen event church? I want to show you why none of these scenarios are properly called, church. As our point of departure we will be using what the Reformers called, the marks of the church. The later reformers and reformed confessions came to a basic consensus that there are three basic ingredients to a true church: the true preaching of the word of God, the proper administration of the sacraments, and the administering of church discipline. Implied within these three is a fourth mark, properly appointed officers of the church, in particular elders who both teach and oversee the disciplinary aspects of the church. And still further the mark of membership is implied as a fifth mark. Last week we looked at the church as an...
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Introduction: One of the most common objections to Christianity goes something like this: I would never join the church because there are too many hypocrites in it; or, if the church is supposed to be preaching the truth, why is it responsible for so much evil. Or as famous Atheist Madalyn Murray O Hair put it, ‘Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of human history than any other single idea.’ I have mixed feelings about how good an argument against Christianity this really is. On the one hand I am sympathetic to the fact that a messenger can discredit a message, and credibility is lost when the church that claims to believe and follow the truth ends up denying the truth it preaches. However, I also think there is a logical fallacy here, an Ad Hominem argument. The words Ad Hominem literally mean “to the person”, and it is a cheap tactic in logic when you attack a person and not examine the argument they are proposing. Irving M. Copi in his text book Introduction to Logic explains how the ad hominem argument works: ‘The way in which this irrelevant argument may sometimes persuade is through the psychological process of transference. Where an attitude of disapproval toward a person can be evoked, it may possibly tend to overflow the strictly emotional field and become disagreement with what that person says. But this connection is only psychological, not logical. Even the most wicked of men may sometimes tell the truth or argue correctly.’1 This is a very effective way of swaying public opinion and the cheap and common tactics used by politicians to try and discredit one another in order that their policies will also be rejected. We do not believe that the truth of...
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Introduction: When Hitler was trying to enthuse the German nation to get behind his expansionist programs he told them that the German race was the Ubermensch, the Beyond-man/Hyper-man. He understood the psychology of action, we do as we believe. If we think we are better than others we will happily walk over their heads. We have also given the name slave mentality to a state or mind that acts out of the way it sees itself. This is a life of subservience and submission that thinks of itself as less. Activity follows identity. We see this everyday in life, our children with low self-esteem don’t try very hard. Battered women who think they are worthless stay in destructive relationships. People who think they are stupid give up in the face of a difficult task without trying. Racists who think they are superior to others, are full of resentment and superiority. Paul, recognising that we do as we perceive ourselves and that the gospel has made something new of us as individuals and the church grounds all of our activities and duties in the church in the realities that the gospel have created. We need to learn the lesson of thinking right in order that we can do right. The way we see ourselves affects the way we see others and how we live for God. Today as we consider the church and our role in it as members I want to tap into a Pauline teaching tool. Paul helps the believer to fulfil his responsibilities in and toward the church by reminding the believer what God has done and has made true about us. Understanding this way of thinking is the difference between legalism and God glorifying obedience, the difference between hope and joy filled obedience or the drudgery of...
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Introduction: Today we begin the second half of our apologetics study where we handle objections to the faith. In the first part we laid out some of the most common ways to present the rationality of Christian belief. This was by no means an exhaustive survey. We presented the following list of arguments for God: the resurrection; the authority of Scripture; the unity of Scripture; the uniqueness of Scripture; the prophecies of Scripture; archaeology and the Bible; the manuscripts of the Bible; Jesus as an argument for God; the moral argument; the ontological argument; the cosmological argument; the teleological argument; the transcendental argument; and the arguments from desire and experience. If you have a grip on those arguments you have a good armoury for engaging in a conversation about God with our unbelieving generation. However, apologetics is not only about presenting the facts for God making a positive case; but also defending against objections, and that is what we are going to begin today. The objections are legion so we will have to limit ourselves to the most pertinent ones. The problem of evil; Christians are hypocrites; science and the Bible are incompatible; the Bible has errors; the problem of exclusivity These are just a few of the most common ones. Today we begin with the most common, the problem of evil. Source
Introduction: This is our second sermon in our membership refresher series. We have dealt with the issue of why every believer ought to be a member in a local church. We attempted to show by 7 arguments that the modern notion of membership is very different to our modern opt in understanding of membership. The Bible paints a picture of de facto membership, in other words, it would be odd for us to talk about our membership in the country of New Zealand. If you are born here you are a ‘member’ of the nation. When you are born again you are automatically one with the Church and one with Christ. Formalised membership is like getting a passport. It is making official something that is already the case. Today we want to move from why every person should be a member to the question of who should be a member. We are a Baptist church so we answer baptised believers, and what we mean is those who have made their own confession of faith, and made their own obedience to Christ’s command to be baptised, not some man made ceremony of confirmation and only those are to be accepted as members. We base our view on the practice of the NT church in Acts. This brings us in confrontation with those who eschew baptism and think it unimportant and those who are baptised as infants. Today I would like to make a case for believer’s baptism. I want to do this by taking what I think is the best verse that infant baptism has going for it, Acts 2:38:39, and making an exposition of it, And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,...
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Introduction: Last week we began to enter into some of the more subjective aspects of apologetics looking at the argument from desire. Today we want to go a little deeper into the subjective side of things looking at the argument from experience. The argument is a simple one: millions of Christians of all ages, education levels and cultural experiences testify to a real experience of knowing God. The various experiences include, answers to prayer, sightings of the miraculous, a transformed character and life, joy inexpressible and full of glory, a sense of presence, an overwhelming sense of guilt and terror, etc. In non-Western cultures this is one of the most important and powerful ways to speak about God but we in the West with our history of Modernism which is biased towards a naturalistic explanation of all things and sees empiricism as the only valid foundation for epistemology, this argument has fallen on hard times. So today as we consider this type of argument we will firstly answer some objections and secondly give some examples. Source
Introduction: This morning we are beginning a refresher course on membership or being part of the church. So today I would like to begin and give us seven reasons why membership is biblical. I used to be one who believed that membership of the local church was an unbiblical innovation that true biblical Christians should cast off, just as they have cast off many man made practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Today I stand before convinced of the opposite position. We live in a day and age that has seen the death of many important and biblical teachings. This has happened for a number of reasons. Firstly, we are in an age that has been deeply impacted by individualism. This has impacted our understanding of our relationship with the church to such an extent that you will find Christians who believe that they don’t need the church, or preachers, or baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, or church discipline, or membership, or many of the other things that relate to being part of the church. They think that because they have the Holy Spirit and a bible that is all they need. They couldn’t be more wrong. Unfortunately they have emphasised being a part of the invisible church at the expense of being part of the visible church. Secondly, another reason why church related issues have suffered in our modern age is on account of an attempt to unify various denominations in certain endeavours like missions, evangelism, worship events, etc. And as soon as you seek unity with people from varying denominations what do you have to sacrifice in order to do evangelism together? Things like baptism, views on church government, membership, etc. are the first to be chucked. Thirdly, as Christians we have grown very shallow in our approach...
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Introduction: We have been looking at the traditional arguments for God such the moral argument, the ontological, the cosmological, and the teleological argument for God. However, we have not been using them in the traditional way. The traditional way built upon Catholic or Arminian notions of man’s depravity makes it appear as if man’s mind is neutral before obvious facts, and that man can reason himself into believing in God. We have disagreed with this from the start. We have insisted that man’s sin makes him unable to be neutral or willing to believe what is present to be known from general revelation. However, we have also insisted that we need the Spirit and the Word to have true knowledge of God. Here is a thought for you to help drill this home. Was Adam dependent upon his sinless mind and general revelation for his knowledge of God or was he, even though sinless dependent upon special revelation? We insist that he was. This helps us to see that even if man were sinless he would still not be competent to make judgements about God’s existence or being, but being a creature is and always has been dependent upon God’s revelation for knowledge of Him. Source
Introduction: You have heard the saying, ‘I can’t see the forest for the trees.’ Some of you may feel this way as we come to the end of the book of Romans, it is the longest of all Paul’s letters, and the most theological. If I had to ask you to give me a quick rundown of Romans could you do it? Are you familiar with its content and the development of its argument or is it a maze? Romans is a long development of the theological twists and turns of the gospel of God. So it is my job today to take you to 30 000 feet and give you the top view that you can see the forest again. Source
Special thanks to Russell Cannons from Shore Baptist in Auckland, for sharing God’s Word with us this Easter. Source
Special thanks to Russell Cannons from Shore Baptist in Auckland, for sharing God’s Word with us this Easter. Source
Special thanks to Russell Cannons from Shore Baptist in Auckland, for sharing God’s Word with us this Easter. Source
Introduction: Today we want to move on from traditional arguments for God, the ontological, the cosmological and the teleological to some new arguments advanced for the existence of God. Today we want to look at what is known as the transcendental argument for God. This is an argument implemented by Cornelius Van Til, perfected by Greg Bahnsen and is now widely used by Presuppositionalists, this is a particular brand of Reformed apologists. The transcendental argument as a type of argument was first used and named by Immanuel Kant. He proposed the transcendental argument to demonstrate contrary to the scepticism of David Hume that things are known by sense alone, and contrary to Liebniz that things are known by reason alone, that things are known by a combination of sense and categories the mind brings to anything we are encountering. In other words, when we know anything we know it by what our senses experience, but also by previous innate categories the mind brings that helps us make sense of the data, like space and causality. These presuppositions in combination with what our sense experience enable us to know things. This transcendental way of knowing became a staple of Van Til’s apologetic method. Cornelius Van Til, 1895-1987 was a Reformed Theologian who taught at Princeton and then at Westminster in America. And because of His Reformed theology was critical of traditional arguments for God. You see most traditional arguments for God can be put in the rational or empirical category. In other words, they rest on man’s ability to reason from what man is able to identify as foundational truth; or its rests on man’s ability to scrutinise the universe and reason his way to God. Both rationalism and empiricism as epistemological starting points for Apologetics contradict what the Bible teaches...
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Introduction: What distracts you in worship? Is it the heat? Maybe it is the sounds of people cutting their grass. Maybe you are distracted by the sounds the kids make, misspelt words on the slides, or maybe it is something at work or at home that enters your thoughts and derails you. As we come to the end of Romans we come to the doxology. But Paul is like us he gets distracted. He begins in the traditional way, ‘Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel….’ And then Paul loses it, the gospel is so distracting Paul goes on a tangent, and then brings it back, ‘to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.’ Paul gets distracted by the gospel and into deeper worship, if only we would get distracted like him! Today we come to the end of our exposition of the text of Romans, I will do one more summary sermon to pull it all together. We began this series in Romans in early February 2012, that is just over 7 years. We have walked with Paul through 16 chapters of gospel grace, how would you end a letter after this, what notes of worship would you hit, what are the specific things that you would want to praise God for after such a reflection on the gospel? Paul’s doxology focuses our worship on three things, the power of God, the gospel of God and the wisdom of God. Our section begins in v21 and includes the final greetings 21-23, ‘Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets...
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Introduction: This is perhaps the oldest and most popular argument for God, it is the argument from design. The Greek word telos which means ‘end’ is used because if we are able to discern design because something is purposed for a particular end, this betrays an intelligent purposer, namely God. Source
Introduction: If you had to boil down God, the Bible and the gospel down into one word, what word would it be? I think Paul would say that ‘grace’ sums it all up. Grace was the central theme for Paul in all his letters. He bracketed his letters with grace. Source
Introduction: I would like us now to begin to look at some of the traditional arguments put forward as proof for the existence of God. These are the ontological, the cosmological and teleological arguments for God. Let me say a few things about how we view them before we lay them out. Firstly, we are in no doubt whether God exists or not. We believe as Romans 1:19-20 explains it that all human beings have a knowledge of God from nature, ‘For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.’ The reason for unbelief is not a lack of data but sin and an unwillingness to believe. There is a suppression of the truth that is evidently clear. So as we look at these traditional arguments for God we are following the traditional approach of ‘we believe in order to understand.’ We do not see ourselves in a neutral position who with superior intellectual skills can penetrate all mysteries and subject God to our scrutiny. We confess our humble dependence upon God to reveal Himself to us. We are not looking to these arguments to ground our beliefs, but we they do still have a use for us. Firstly, the help confirm the faith we already have. Secondly, they demonstrate the reasonability of faith, and show by careful reasoning the reasonableness of faith. They show the agreement between what the Bible says and what reason can deduce. Reason is limited in what it can deduce, but in what it can attain it agrees with the Bible. The...
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Introduction: This is the first and only mention of satan in the book of Romans. Why talk about him now? Paul has been giving his love to the church and encouraging love between people and churches. He naturally moves from the unity of the church to the enemies of that unity warning about those false teachers who have a different gospel and who cause divisions. That is why Paul is talking about satan. The book of Revelation reveals that satan is thrown down to earth and is waging war against the church. The prophecy reveals satan using persecuting power, the first beast, false religion, the second beast, and seduction, the harlot against the Church. The church in every age faces these three enemies, we in NZ are facing more of the harlot and the second beast than the persecutions of the first beast. The church in Rome likewise was facing the attacks of satan, she was suffering from persecution, we know that the Christians had been kicked out of Rome for a while; they were under attack from false religion, the presence of the false teachers makes this clear; and they were bombarded by the temptations of the permissive societies around them. The war is felt, the enemy is real, but we see in this encouragement the victory is guaranteed. Romans 16:20, ‘The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.’ This is a promise for all believers in all times. Today as we look at it we want to consider the two main characters mentioned—God and satan. Source
Introduction: One of the greatest proofs of the truthfulness of Christianity is Jesus Christ Himself. Once at a dinner party on St Helena Napoleon was part of a discussion on who Jesus Christ was. He sat silently while everyone else shared their opinions. Some thought him man others thought Him God, at the end of it all Napoleon declared, ‘I know men, and Jesus was no man.’ He is considered to be the most influential person in history. One author highlights the following: ‘We have no record of his date of birth, yet all the world’s chronology is linked to it. He never wrote a book, yet more books have been written about him than about anyone else in history, and the output is still accelerating. The nearest thing we have to his biography has been translated in whole or in part into over 2,000 languages. He never painted a picture or composed any poetry or music, yet nobody’s life and teaching have inspired a greater output of songs, plays, poetry, films, videos and other art forms. One film, based on his recorded words, has been produced in over 100 languages and has already been seen by more people than any other film in history. He never raised an army, yet millions of people have laid down their lives in his cause, and every year thousands more do so. Except for one brief period during his childhood, his travels were limited to an area about the size of Wales, but his influence today is worldwide, and his followers constitute the largest religious grouping the world has ever known. He had no formal education, but thousands of universities, seminaries, colleges and schools have been founded in his name. His public teaching lasted just three years, and was restricted to one small...
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Introduction: Friday March 15th 2019 will go down in history as one of New Zealand’s darkest days, or as some are calling it, the day NZ lost her innocence. More people died in the Christchurch earthquakes but the hatred filled attack which killed 50 Muslim men, women and children is more personal. The trauma of the event is amplified by the fact that New Zealand has a well-earned reputation as being a safe haven; it has always been well insulated from the troubles of the rest of the world. There are a number of issues that are all bound up in this one situation. As the media have processed this event several hot topics have come to the foreground: immigration laws; many of NZ’s Muslims being refugees who fled war torn scenarios; gun control laws; an uprising in White Supremacy groups; the failure of Australia to handle its influx of Muslims; future accommodations for Muslims; interfaith relations; the character of Islam as peaceful or warmongering. I would like to share a few thoughts with you this morning that I think Christians ought to be thinking as they try to process this situation. I would like us to consider the Biblical truths of God and the gospel as we respond. The reason for a spelled out biblical response is because we are getting used to allowing the media to shape public opinion and are not thinking through these events for ourselves from a Biblical perspective. The media has been conspicuously silent in their articles questioning traditional faith in the wake of such a tragedy. Perhaps there is fear of a backlash from Muslims, but that is not to say that questions are still not lying under the surface. The three areas I would like us to think about are God, the...
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Introduction: One of the most popular arguments against God is the problem of evil. We will be dealing with that later in the series. Today however we want to talk about an argument for God called the problem of good. The existence of morals and moral obligations points to a moral God who created us with this sense of obligation. Romans 2:14-16 gives us a record of this sense, ‘For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.’1 Paul is in a discussion with the Jews about their sinfulness. He argues that if those who do not have the Ten Commandments have the law written on their hearts by which they will be judged, how much more the Jews who have the Law. These verses clearly tell us that we have a law written on our hearts, that is the Law of God that is written there, that we reveal we know this law by the good we do and approve, and our consciences judge us by the law we know to be true. This reality has become very important in the secular evolutionary atmosphere that we live in the in the 21st century. In our day and age there are two basic answers to the question where does our moral sense come from? There is the answer that evolution gives us, and there is the answer that we gain it from culture. In...
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Introduction: A pastor has a certain number of things he must do. He has to teach, he has to encourage, as well as rebuke. But he also must warn the flock of God of the various dangers that they will encounter. Paul as a faithful shepherd is wearing his warning hat when he speaks in Romans 16:17-19, ‘I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.’1 Please appreciate with me the abrupt change in tone in the text. Paul has been talking about sending his love to the various people and house churches in Rome, he is sending greetings from the other churches he has visited. He is trying to spread the love around connecting separated brethren and tops it all off by a call to show family affection to one another with a holy kiss. Then he suddenly flips into another mode and tells the Romans to watch out and avoid certain people. Paul values unity, but he also recognises that in a fallen world unity must be guarded and fought for. In order to protect our unity, we may have to exclude certain types of people. While studying at Baptist College my roommate Glen and I were very argumentative. We were not always as gracious as we should have been. One day when called into the office the Principal said that there...
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Introduction: Several years ago now I had an email exchange with a Muslim in Saudi Arabia. It ended badly with him phoning me from Saudi and swearing at me for blasphemy and wishing cancer on me and my family. But during the exchange it was very interesting to see the ways in which he tried to disprove Christianity, he attacked the manuscript reliability of the NT, and put a question mark over the Canon of the Bible. It amazed me to see how intimate his knowledge was of the early transmission of the various manuscripts and his familiarity with the various theories about how the Bible was copied. He did this in an attempt to show the superiority of the Quran to the Bible in terms of the reliability of its transmission. This however was a false comparison, it was a case of comparing apples and pears. The Bible is an ancient manuscript and the Quran is a medieval document. There is over 500 years difference between them and to compare transmission techniques would be like us comparing our ways of copying with Shakespeare. That said, the Quran has a terrible history of control that shows a lot of centralised interference with the transmission process unlike the natural process of the Bible. Secondly, the modern Muslim apologist is very reliant upon Liberal theories for their critiques against the Bible. In other words, the Muslims use the scholarship of Liberal Christians against Christianity. Today I would like to talk about the manuscripts that we have that make up our Bibles and the transmission process and their preservation. Contrary to popular belief the Bible has the best pedigree of all ancient manuscripts and is more reliably known than any other ancient document. I do have to stress the point of these manuscripts...
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Introduction: As a pastor I am always torn about how a funeral should be done. Funerals have changed in tone from a time of mourning to a time of celebrating a life. They are no longer times of introspection and reflection but times of therapy. Here is the trouble, there is no instruction in the Bible which tells us exactly how we are to conduct a funeral, or a wedding for that matter. The regulative principle of worship tells us how we must worship when we come together as the people of God, we are to sit under apostolic teaching, read the Bible publicly, pray, break bread, give alms to the poor and worship together on the Lord’s Day. For this reason I have had to come up with a philosophy of funerals for myself and here it is. I am primarily a preacher of the gospel, it is not my business to bury people or to marry people. These are officially functions of the state with legal implications. However being some of the most significant times in our lives these are the times when we need God’s truth to speak into our lives. So if I am approached to do a funeral, I say yes on one condition, that I have the freedom to preach the gospel. I think three things should legitimately happen at funerals. Firstly, we need to stop and be reminded of the reality of death, be quiet and humble and listen to God. We have just been faced with the reality with which we will all have to do business with. We must all die and face God in judgement and so we must stop trying to candy wrap death and face its true realities. Ecc. 7:2-5, ‘It is better to go to the house...
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We’d like to thank Michael Beck for being our guest preacher today. Mike is the pastor at Gracenet Community Church in Wellington, a sister church from the FRBCNZ. Source
Introduction: In the 1800s when the budding science of Archaeology was burgeoning, various bold and confident claims were made about the past which contradicted the historical credibility of the Bible. The OT in particular has been constantly reconstructed to be myth and after the fact reporting. The insistence on approaching the Bible with an anti-supernatural bias has led many to try and debunk the prophetic and miraculous elements using late date theories and accusing the Ancients of a primitive mind-set claiming every natural thing they could not understand was supernatural. The constant underestimation of the Ancients and their culture included the denial that writing and complex legal codes could have existed in the time that Moses is that to have lived, 1400BC, and so a later date is given to all those writings traditionally attributed to Moses, and Mosaic authorship denied. Add to this the way in which the new theory of evolution was impacting all the other sciences. In the area of archaeology the theory went that all cultures moved from simplistic polytheistic notions to advanced monotheistic ones. Therefore any parts of the OT that teach monotheism are automatically aged and accused of being written later and given an appearance of being written earlier. The various accounts are no longer credible historical accounts by eye witnesses, but dishonest fabrications at the hands of editors with a particular agenda. Today we face a problem. Many of these early theories have been disproven, but the damage to the Bible’s credibility has already been done. Endless amounts of people who reject the Bible have accepted these outdated and disproved opinions, and they are regularly repeated. My task today is to show that Archaeology does not in fact disprove the Bible but acts to reinforce that the Bible is in fact what it...
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Introduction: Every one of us is two people, there is the person that we project and there is the person we are within. Peter calls this inner person, ‘the hidden person of the heart’ 1 Pet. 3:4. Today in this message I want do an under the hood check. Think of a yacht sitting at anchor, we all see what is above the water line but don’t think much about what is below the water line. The top of the yacht can be beautiful woods and colourful sails with well-polished finishings. The yacht can have a pool and a bar and a well kitted entertainment area. It can have a huge engine, a large cabin crew to attend to your every convenience, gourmet chefs, and the best navigation equipment. But if you don’t look after the boat under the water line, it is all useless and your beautiful yacht will sink. Today I want us to take a close look under the water line and remember to do maintenance there. As you look into your heart today how does it look? Perhaps you are fresh from the dry docks where you have been de-barnacled and water blasted to a factory newness. Perhaps you are in a good place spiritually you have recently had a spiritual spring clean and the dark corners of your heart are freshly swept. This message then will be an encouragement to keep it that way. Or maybe you are here today and you haven’t seen a dry dock in ages. You have forgotten about what lies below the water line and there is the beginning of damage that is being ignored. Perhaps there are some cracks from hitting a hidden reef, some trial or calamity, or from colliding with another boat. Perhaps there is rust or...
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Introduction: How do we know the Bible is the word of God? So far we have shown that it is because it says it is, and this is demonstrated in various ways. We have looked at the unique nature and impact of the Bible, and we have looked at the single united story that reveals a single author. Today we continue to demonstrate the divine authorship of Scripture by examining prophecy and in particular Messianic prophecy. The Bible is unique in its prophecies. Every religion has had so called prophets, very few have written down predictions to take place hundreds or thousands of years to come. The Bible stands alone in its accuracy in detail. In particular the Bible has about 300 prophecies that have to do with the central figure who would save sinful humanity, Jesus Christ. God’s saving work in Christ we have shown is the centre piece of the Scriptures, and various specific details about this Saviour are predicted from the first book of the Bible. This has been one of my most effective tools in evangelism and I would encourage all of us to be familiar with what the Bible prophesies about Christ. Here is why it is important. The fact that God speaks through prophets about the future demonstrates the reality of God’s existence. It not only proves that He is there, but also that He is a God who is eternal, and who is able to work out the course of history according to His plan. If the prophecies of the Bible are true then there is an eternal and sovereign God who is driving history towards a revealed conclusion. If what God revealed about the Saviour Jesus Christ came true then what God says about the future judgement, and heaven and hell are...
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Introduction: ‘I love Jesus but I don’t love the Church.’ How many times have we heard such a sentiment? It can come in many different flavours. There are those who have a high view of membership and a deep ecclesiology who love the idea of the ‘biblical church’ or the ‘healthy church’ but they are so taken with the ideal that they are critical and distance from the real flesh and blood church made up of sinners that they are in. It can come in the liberal and emergent flavour of disliking the church where on account of a blindness to our common sin they fixate on the hypocrisies and idiosyncrasies, and usually recent hot topic issues that the church is not keeping up with. The question I want you to begin with this morning is this one: what is your level of warmth, affection and love towards the church? Jesus loves the church. Jesus loves the Church so much that He gives up all His rights and privileges and endures torture and death in order to save His enemy Bride who has been adulterous. And in the portion we want to consider today, Romans 16:5-16 we see that Paul too loves the Church. We will look then, at Paul’s love for the church, and the various ways in which he loved them. Source
Introduction: Marcion was one of the early heretics in Church history. He thought that the God of the OT was different to the God of the NT. He saw the God of the OT as one of law and anger, but the God of the NT as one of love and grace. He took a pair of scissors to the Bible and came up with a Bible that only had a butchered copy of Luke’s gospel and 10 of Paul’s letters. He could not see the unity of the OT with the NT, he could not see the compatibility of love and wrath, and so he created his own Canon. This instinct to attempt to divide and conquer the word of God is a recurring one and raises its head in various disguises in every generation. It comes in the form of uniformed prejudice from those who have never read the Bible who merely repeat the opinions they have heard, that the bible is just a disparate and jumbled collection of books written by men. The theory has popular versions like in Dan Brown conspiratorial The Da Vinci Code that claims that Constantine forced certain books of the Bible to be accepted and other rejected in order to control the religion that controlled the masses. And it can also come from people with PhDs in the form of what is called redaction criticism and form criticism. The assumption behind these views is that the various authors of the Bible where plagiarists who borrowed everything they said from their contexts and, that what they produced was not the work of the Spirit of God and inspiration but was merely a product of the times they lived in. Redaction criticism comes in very unbelieving forms saying that the gospels for example were...
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Introduction: If I were to ask you to think of 24 names in a church you have never visited, could you do it? Could you name 24 people in the names of one of our sister Reformed Churches you have not visited? We come to now to the Greetings section of the letter where Paul greets 24 people in the Church in Rome. First mentioned are Prisca and Aquila. Apart from Timothy mentioned in 16:21, these would be the best known to us that Paul greets. Acts 18 as well as Paul’s ministry in Ephesus in Acts 19 give us the background details on who they are and what they did. They are the best known husband and wife ministerial team in the NT, for this reason it will benefit us greatly to focus in on them and how the Lord used them. The verses before us mention several things about them, we will divide our study into four areas. Firstly we want to look at them as husband and wife; secondly as fellow workers, thirdly as those who risked their necks and finally as those who had a house church in their home. Source
Introduction: One of the greatest arguments for Christianity is the Bible itself. There is no other book like the Bible. Immanuel Kant who for the most part rejected Christianity said this of the Bible, ‘The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.’ The Bible has fallen upon hard times and is seen as refuted, as a set of myths, as a collection of politically motivated books to suit the governing power, as merely a record of the religious life of a group of people from the Middle East. However, it has made more of an impact than any other book. In this message I just want to skim over some of the astounding facts about the Bible. We have heard a lot of bad press, my purpose in this message is to paint a very different picture of the wonder of the bible than the one we usually hear. Source
Introduction: What is the role of women in the church? Can women be deacons? These are some of the matters that we will be looking into today as we deal with Romans 16:1-2, ‘I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.’ We come to a new chapter and the last chapter of the book of Romans. Where the last part of Romans 15 gave us insights into ministry and missions, Romans 16 gives us insights into local church life and community. This conclusion to Romans is the longest of all Paul’s letters and has the most people mentioned. There are 33 names in all, 24 belong to people in Rome and 9 belong to people from Corinth from where Paul is writing. A few things strike you as you give this chapter a first read: Paul is deeply interested in people. Look at all the people he mentions, he is in earnest to mention as many as possible by name. But more than that he has something to say about nearly everyone. Some things he mentions are commendations where he sings their praises before the church. He is liberal with praise and encouragement. Many have an intimate and personal connection with him and are called beloved showing Paul to be large-hearted. This is a significant point to note. Many think that to be deeply theological you have to be emotionally bankrupt, not so with Paul. Now in this chapter Paul makes a commendation in v1-2; he sends and conveys the greetings of others, v3-16, 21-23; he...
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Introduction: We are continuing to put forward positive reasons for faith, and today we start a mini-series looking at the bible as a ground for believing. The 1689 chapter 1 paragraph 5 reads, ‘We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church of God to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, and many other incomparable excellencies, and entire perfections thereof, are arguments whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.’ This paragraph is stating that there are many inward evidences in the bible which give evidence that the Bible is in fact the word of God. We are going to be exploring a few of these in order to show the reasonableness of Christian faith. We will handle the major objections to the handle in some of the things we say but will also address them later on when we get to the major objections to the faith. There is a standard way to prove that the bible is God’s word. You lay out all the evidence that makes it seem reasonable that the bible is in fact what it claims to be. You would traditionally lay out the prophecies of the Messiah and show them fulfilled; the wonderful way in which the Scriptures were written and preserved;...
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Introduction: When I say the words ‘mature Christian’ what comes to mind? Perhaps you automatically think of someone older, someone calm and unruffled, but few of us put the words mature and ambition, or mature and striving for perfection, maturity and a desire to suffer together. We ordinarily do not associate maturity with those things we could easily associate with fanaticism. In the portion that we will be looking at today Paul places these things together in his picture of mature Christianity. Phil. 3:15 comes at the end of his description stating, ‘Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.’ Paul in this section has a list of things that the true believer is engaged in, and he tells us that it is the picture of the mature believer. This will be our meditation today as we think about growing in the coming year. In Philippians 3 Paul wants to talk about joy, v1, ‘Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.’ But before he decides to talk about joy he interrupts his flow of thought to talk about two problems the Philippian church is facing, false teaching and division, and so he addresses these matters in 3:2-4:3 before carrying on with his thoughts about joy. The portion where Paul paints the picture of the mature Christian comes in the section where he is addressing the problem of false teachers. We will be focusing on 2-16. We will run through the whole section looking at it under four headings, firstly Paul talks about true perspectives in v2-3; then he talk about the true righteousness in v4-9; then about...
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Introduction: Our text this morning is Colossians 2:16-23, turn with me there now. It is on page 984 of the black pew bibles. As you turn there, let me ask you this question: How do you become a better person? If you wouldn’t consider yourself a Christian, perhaps you would phrase the question like this: how do you develop to be a person of integrity and character? If you are a Christian, you probably normally phrase the question like this: how do I become more like Christ? But however, you phrase the question, the answer is important: how are you going to be a better person this year? At work? At school? At home with your family? On the rugby field? How do you grow? Last July, I was house-sitting for a family from a church in Colorado. The family was away visiting family and wanted to sell their Colorado house soon to move out there permanently. They gave me one task: to keep the grass green. Colorado is a barren place in the summer, so this was quite a task. I went over and watered every morning like I was supposed to. But within a week the lawn was beginning to move from green to yellow. The weather was up in the 30’s Celsius, so, I decided that on those days I would go over and water for 30 minutes in the evening as well. On Monday of the next week, little patches of the lawn had begun to turn dry and brown. So, I did what most people would do in my situation I looked up all the secrets of getting a lawn green on the internet: One guy said you had to water the lawn only for a maximum of 15 mins in each place, so, I used my phone as a timer and did that. Another guy said you had to water before 10am in the morning, so I made...
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Introduction: Our Text for this evening is Psalm 62. Turn there with me now. Let me ask you as we begin: Have you ever felt betrayed? Have you ever felt like someone you were counting on has let you down? We all experience this at different points throughout our lives, don’t we? You can, I am sure, think of the particular people and the particular situations, which left you feeling disappointed and betrayed. There are questions that we are forced to answer as we process those sorts of situations. What do we do when we feel betrayed? In what do we put our trust? Where do we go? And, to whom do we look? Source
Theme Obedience Introduction Cricket Tests Abraham’s Tests Body Abraham’s Great Test Abraham Considers Abraham Obeys God’s Sacrifice God Provides Our Obedience Conclusion Obedience is better than Sacrifice Source
Theme The People Say that Jesus is Elijah …? John’s Introduction to the Gospel Introduction Who do the Jews say that Jesus is? Who do non-Jews say that Jesus is? Who do people today say that Jesus is? Body Who does John say Jesus is? The Word The Greeks The Jews Brief Exegesis Verses 3-14 The Word Became Flesh Conclusion Jesus is Fully God and Fully Man Source
Introduction: Today we are going to be reflecting on our hearts, our desires and what satisfies us. We are coming to the end of 2018 and approaching a new year. It is a good time to take stock and be deliberate in our plans for the coming year. The verse for our reflection is Proverbs 13:12, ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.’ The book of proverbs is a particularly fitting book to reflect on as we seek to plan for 2019. It is a book about wisdom; practical wisdom on how we are live our lives under God. The book of proverbs is biblical psychology that predates Greek philosophy by 500 years in its wisdom and insights. It is written by the one who made us and helps us to understand ourselves better than any other philosophy or psychology can. Our verse is speaking to us about depression, loss of hope, disappointment, and satisfaction. Think over this past year and think about your biggest disappointments, those things that nearly broke your spirit; that made you heartsick. Think as well on those things that were your joys and satisfactions. This verse is reflecting on those realities. This verse reveals to us something very basic about ourselves. We are creatures of desire. We have empty spaces and deep longings. We are hard wired to look away from ourselves for our satisfaction and peace. And so when we are disappointed or satisfied, this does something deep and significant to us both positively or negatively. What you need to appreciate is that this verse is an observation and not an exhortation. It is stating basic facts about us, but that does not mean that it is not practical; we are left to draw the obvious...
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Introduction: My passage is Colossians 2:6-15. You can turn there now. What are you thankful for? As you think back over the last year 2017 what are some things that make you feel particularly blessed? If we are honest though. Thankfulness is something that we often find hard. And we find it hard because the priorities of our hearts are wrong. We focus on the wrong things and thus we find ourselves disappointed and ungrateful, don’t we? Christmas presents and thankfulness: Christmas as children Christmas as an adult: getting pineapple socks And retailers know that we find contentment and thankfulness, hard don’t they? That is what boxing day sales and new year sales are all about. Boxing day adverts succeed by tapping into our discontentment and dissatisfaction. By manipulating our lack of thankfulness for the things we already have. Retailers know that, if they can poke at the right nerve, they can steal our attention and get their hands on our money. We experience a similar temptation as Christians too don’t we. We as Christians have so many things to be thankful for. By God’s grace, and his grace alone, we see our own sin. By God’s grace, we have come to trust Christ. By God’s grace we have received forgiveness. We have been adopted into God’s family. We have been given a new heart. We have the Holy Spirit. God is by the Spirit slowly making us like Christ. And Christ is coming back to usher us into our eternal home with him. We have so much to be thankful for. But we don’t find thankfulness easy do we. How many times even this week have you found yourself grumbling to God? How many of your prayers are in truth complaints in disguise? Where are you at as we enter 2019? Thankful or Ungrateful? Content or discontent? In Colossians 2, our passage this evening, Paul is confronting his audience with this very question. Source
Introduction: The resurrection is the lynch pin of the Christian faith. If Jesus had died and not been raised we would be lost, 1 Cor. 15:17 (ESV) “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” There is much that we need to say about the significance of the resurrection but in this study we will be concerning ourselves with the fact of the resurrection. The resurrection has been denied from many sides. There are those who deny the resurrection on certain scientific assumptions. That because we don’t see dead people resurrecting today, therefore it could never happen. There have been other theories such as Jesus only swooned and did not die, and revived in the cold tomb. Or that Mary Magdalene who was love-struck, and a little crazy thought she saw Jesus because she really wanted to, but only saw the gardener. Or that the women approached the tomb in the dark and couldn’t see that they went to the wrong tomb. Or that all the disciples were the victims of mass hallucination. Or that the Jews, or Romans, or disciples had stolen the body. Or as Islam believes, it was not Jesus who died on the cross, but Judas, satan, Simon of Cyrene, or another disciple, and therefore Jesus did not resurrect but was raptured and will return again one day. We will see from the evidence that we have that the overwhelming conclusion that is forced upon us is that Jesus truly did resurrect from the grave. More liberal views think that a physical resurrection is not necessary for our faith, and that Jesus rose spiritually and is now the good in every person. All these other theories cannot account for all the data that we have from both...
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Introduction: Acts 1:3, ‘He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.’ Luke the author of Acts wrote two books to a Christian named Theophilus, the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. In the opening of the book of Acts here Luke is reflecting on the gospel account of Christ’s resurrection and appearances to the disciples. I want to draw your attention to Luke’s language, ‘by many proofs.’ Luke is saying that Jesus presented Himself and proved the truth of His resurrection to the disciples. The word used for proof here is what we call a hapax legomena, it occurs only once in the Greek of the NT. It is one of the strongest words for proof or evidence. And so, some have translated it as ‘convincing proofs.’ It could also be translated as decisive or infallible proofs. Luke is of course appealing to the various post-resurrection appearances recorded in the gospels; the appearances to Mary, to the disciples in the upper room, to the disciples on the Emmaus road, to Thomas, etc. It was held by Luke that the evidence of Christ’s resurrection was beyond doubt. That is probably too strong a statement because professional doubters can doubt anything. But according to the standards of the day Jesus resurrection could be confirmed by the highest standards. The truth of the resurrection is not merely a fact that Christianity believes but it is the lynchpin of our faith. Since the resurrection is true so many other things are true because of it. Because Christ has risen from the dead, sins can be forgiven, 1 Cor. 15:17, ‘And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your...
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