Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church: Recent Episodes
We are a congregation that gathers in the heart of Halifax to worship God each Sunday. As Christians, our goal is to worship God according to His revealed will through Jesus Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit. We therefore look to the Scriptures as the rule of our worship. Here, you will find the newest sermons from Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church.
Last week we began looking at the benefits we have from our redemption in this life. Now we are ready to look in more detail at the first benefit. You all like to be justified. It is something that everyone desires. It means that you are accepted and thought well of.
Today, we will continue our sermon series in 2 Samuel. We are in chapter 12. Last week, we saw how God graciously sent Nathan and delivered David from sin that had overtaken him. Today's reading (2 Sam 12:13-25) overlaps with last week's at David's confession. We are going to focus on the clear sense of God's mercy that David has.
Today in our sermon series on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, we come to question 32 which brings us to a new subdivision in the Catechism. It is true that we often lack an eternal perspective, but it is important to look at the blessing that we have from Christ in this life.
Last week, we looked at one of the most disappointing chapters in the Bible—2 Sam 11. Here, godly David uses the authority God gave him to advance his own sinful agenda. David's authority is seen in sending people to do whatever he wants. In chapter 12, which we take up today, it is now God who does the sending.
WSC Q-30: The Spirit Joins Us to Christ by Giving Us Faith Ephesians 2:1-22 19 July 2026, 2:00 pm
WSC Q-29: Redemption Applied Titus 3:1-8 28 June 2026, 2:00 pm Question 29, our question today, introduces us to the work that God does to connect us to Jesus' redemption—it tells us that He applies it to us by His Spirit.
Open My Lips, O Lord Psalm 51:14-17 28 June 2026, 10:30 am Today, we will continue our sermon series in Psalm 51. This Psalm is a model prayer of confession for us when we are convicted of sin. It shows how to: seek mercy alone (1-2), make a full confession (3-6), ask for full forgiveness (7-9) and for full restoration (10-13). Today we look at verses 14-17.
Today in our Sermon Series on the Catechism, we have our second sermon on question 28. Question 28 deals with the exaltation of Christ.
In our morning services, I have been preaching through Psalm 51 in some detail. This is a part of our sermon series from 2 Samuel when David repented re. Bathsheba. This Psalm is very helpful for us when God has exposed our sin. It shows us what to ask for when we come to God. It is a perfect model, even what Jesus prays for when He prays for our salvation.
Today, we come to 2 Samuel 8. Here, we are given a summary of how God gives His anointed King dominion in the world. What we see with David being brought to full measure and fulfillment in Christ as He takes dominion of the whole world. In Him, all nations are blessed.
This week I want to focus on the second part of the answer to Q. 21 where it is emphasized that He is one person who is both God and man. Our scripture is John 1:1-18.
Today, we are continuing our hiatus from 2 Samuel to look at the resurrection of our glorious Lord, for that is on the minds of many as it ought to be every Lord's Day.
Last week, we also zeroed in on what God did and does to save us…He made a covenant of grace and promised to gather all things under a redeemer. Today, with question 21, we are going to look at who that redeemer is.
Last week, in view of our annual congregational meeting, we looked at how we may see good days as a congregation. We read from Proverbs 19:20-29 (which I already re-read today), where it tells us that we will see good days if we receive God's counsel and instruction—and I explained that the word translated instruction carries the idea of correction. Today, you might say that we are doing part two of last week's sermon. If part one was about how God uses His word to counsel and correct us. Part two is about the elders He gives to us in the church to impress that word upon us. He is so very kind to give them to each church, More specifically, He has been kind to give us a new elder, Andy Kubik, whom we ordain to this sacred office today. The scripture I have chosen is one that speaks of the work of the elders and of the high regard that you ought to have for them because of the work God has given them to do!
God gave David a covenant promise David that He would make David's house a forever dynasty with a forever thrown over a forever kingdom that would be forever be for God. Today we are going to look at David's response to this in 2 Sam 7:18-29.
The troubles we have in the world are on account of the fall. We did not have any of these miseries before we fell. It is God's punishment for sin to show us our wrong.
This week in the rest of the chapter, 2 Samuel 5:17-25, we will see how, though our enemies attack us, God enables His anointed King to lead us to victory.
I want to draw you in to today's question by asking you a personal question. A question for you to evaluate. Are you in Adam, or are you in Christ?
Today in 2 Samuel 5:6-16, we see how God establishes David's throne in Jerusalem which is also called Mount Zion. Now, Jesus is said to be on His throne in Mt. Zion above. Today in David we will see shadows that teach us about the reign of King Jesus, and not only teach us, but that unite our hearts to Him as our King!
In looking at this subject, we are going to do something a little different today. We are going to look at four scripture passages that are related to each other. We read two of them already: Gen 3:1-8 which shows the sin of eating the forbidden fruit; 1 John 2:15-17 which speaks of the lust of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of life. The other two are Luke 4:1-13, where we have the temptation of Christ and His outward response; and Psalm 63, where we see the thoughts of His heart when He was tempted. In looking at this today, I hope you will see how eating the forbidden fruit was a rejection of God for an idol.
Today, we will see how the tribes of Israel besides Judah, finally received David, God's anointed king, as their king. It was a glorious day for them—and also delightful to David. All of this is given to encourage us to see how good and how important it is for us to receive King Jesus as our King. He is the one that God provided for us to save us.
This week, we are looking at the fact that our first parents chose to sin against God. We will see that this was an act of their (our) free will as the one great human family.
Our gracious God is doing a great work to save the world. He has the plan. In the grand scheme, He is always forming a people for Himself out of the ruins of the fall. In Samuel, we see how He gathers the people He redeems into a kingdom of righteousness. Presently, we are seeing particular things that God's anointed King will not tolerate. With Abner, we saw that clever policy and military muscle do not bring the kingdom. Last week, we saw with Joab how bitterness that cannot forgive has no place. Today, with the sons of Rimmon, we see that selfish ambition has no place.
David, who was very glad to see Israel finally coming to him, as God had promised, set the terms in a way that forced Abner to acknowledge that David, not Abner, was in charge. Almost everyone was glad to see this union under David, but David's nephew Joab, who was the commander of David's armies, although he certainly wanted to see David as king of all Israel, had a bitter grudge against Abner that took first place in his response.
He had made us and He told us that He was giving us the whole creation. He gave us clear terms. We read about those in Gen 1-2. We saw the overall arrangement and our purpose to fill the earth and use it to bless each other. Let's read from Genesis 1:26 – 2:25 again today, only, this time, we will focus on the covenant, the terms of life that He established with us to go on in life.
Today in 2 Samuel 3, we are going to look at the surprising ways that God used to advanced His kingdom when He brought David from being King over Judah to being King over all twelve tribes of Israel. God had purposed to do it, so why didn't He just have all twelve tribes come over after Saul died? It would have been much tidier than having Abner lead them all in rebellion.
To put this very succinctly, God is carrying out the plan He has for His whole creation. He is moving the whole creation along to its ultimate destiny of glory.
It has been several weeks since we have been in our sermon series from 2 Samuel. We stopped in the middle of a 2 Sam 2. Today we will look at the rest of chapter 2. Here we see a contrast between David, who is a prince of peace, and Abner, who is a warmonger.
This week's question is question 10, which singles out God's creation of man. This is a very straightforward description of what God did as found in God's Word. First, it simply says that He created us—directly and personally. Second, it says that He made us male and female. Third, it says that He created us after His image in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. See John 4, Col 3:10, Eph 4:24. Fourth, it says that we were given dominion over the creatures. Clearly stated in Genesis 1. Today, I want to show you how your God's joy and loving delight in us is demonstrated in the way He created us. Praise be to Him!
As we come to a new year this week, I thought it would be helpful for us to take a look at the book in the Bible that is given to instruct us in how to live beautifully: Proverbs. Chapter 1 describes the purpose of the whole book and gives us a good overview of its contents. It sets us in the right direction. It shows us how to live beautifully (wisely).
This week, we take up question 8 which explains the two ways that God carries out His plan—the two ways that He brings it about or executes it.
As many of you know, I sometimes interrupt our regular sermon series to preach on a subject that has presented itself to us in God's providence. So today, I am going to speak about two sons who have been born—given to us, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Lawrence Kubik—who is being baptised today. While there is no comparison, there is a beautiful correlation and connection. In the opening of Isaiah 9, he brings words of tremendous encouragement. In the first five verses, He tells them of wonderful changes that are coming, but with each one, suspense builds as to how He is going to bring these blessings about.
The three persons are clearly distinguished here. Jesus begins by saying, "You believe in God." This speaks of the One God (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). But then in John 14, Jesus goes on to speak of three distinct divine persons.
The Jews were baptised to enter the New Covenant when they accepted Him as the promised Messiah, and the Gentiles when they were called to come to God through faith in Him. Both Jews and Gentiles came with their children. But after churches were established, most of the baptisms were of the children born in those families. So it is today in churches that practice household baptism.
Since it is true that we know God innately, the Scriptures often simply assume and assert (without argumentation) that there is only one true God.
Israel's demise. He truly grieved. He brought justice to the Amalekite for killing the Lord's Anointed. Today, we are moving on in 2 Samuel chapter 1, picking up with verse 17. Here we are shown a wonderful example of godly lamentation.
Today, in the opening chapter of 2 Samuel, we see the very Christ-like response of David as soon as he receives the news about the demise of King Saul.
Today in our Westminster Shorter Catechism series, we are going to look at a basic definition of God—things we need to know about Him and why we need to know them.
We saw that we cannot rely on human wisdom to bring us to God (I Cor 1:18 – 2:16). Human wisdom does not bring people to God. Trusting in Christ crucified does. Today's question, question 3, is related to last week's question. I want to show you that the focus of these principal teachings of scripture, what we are to believe and how we are to live, is Jesus.
Today, we come to the end of First Samuel. Here we have the demise of Saul to make room for David to take the throne. We have seen God preparing David by His grace to be a model of King Jesus. We have seen Saul come to ruin, a man who was never brought to personal repentance and was a king like the nations instead of like Jesus. Here in chapter 31, we see the striking contrast between Saul's demise and David's rise.
Today, we are moving on to Question 2. If you are convinced that your chief end is to glorify and enjoy God (and I hope you are), then you will want to know how to do that! Q. 2 tells us.
Today, I will review 1 Sam 30:1-10, 'David Returns Home ' then, cover the rest of chapter 30.
Last week, we began a new afternoon sermon series on the Shorter Catechism. I did an introductory message to show you that God has called us to confess our faith, therefore faithful churches have always had creeds and confessions. We are to hold to the pattern of such sound words in opposition to false doctrine, false beliefs, that some who profess Christ hold. As those gathered for worship, it is proper for us to confess these articles of faith. So we will do that each week. Today, we come to the First Question in the Catechism. So I will ask the question and then we will confess the answer together. Q. 1. What is the chief end of Man? A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
People of God, see how much the Lord loves us. He will not allow those that He loves to go on being lukewarm. David did not repent when God rescued him. Gentle measures failed, so now the Lord takes more severe measures.
This afternoon, I am going to start a new sermon series on the Shorter Catechism. It seems like I sense a need for this about every five years. But why do we do Catechism, and what are we trying to accomplish? Five years ago, I emphasised that we are called to do Catechism. I want to do that again, but to emphasise that it is Christ that we are given when we believe the articles of faith. The goal is for us to be rooted and built up in the faith.
My dear brothers and sisters, in this chapter our Lord shows us that He is the One who rescues us when we have become hopelessly entangled with the world through faithless compromise like David was.
Today, since we have the blessing of welcoming nine new members, and of baptising four covenant children, I am going to break from our regular sermon series in Samuel. Those who are joining want to be a part of a church with a biblical confession and practice. That is why they have come. I want to show you today that where you worship, and what church you are a part of, is important because God is those who will worship Him in spirit and truth.
John's great burden in this Epistle is to encourage believers to continue trusting in Christ for ongoing fellowship with God—that we grow in our knowledge of God, in our delight in Him, in our love for Him and for others, in our obedience and in our service. Since faith in Jesus is the vehicle that fuels our growing relationship with God, it is essential for us to have certainty about Jesus—that He is indeed the One who saves us!
In 1 John 4, John has much to say about love. In 1 John 4:7-12, we saw how, as those who are adopted into God's family, we have the perfect conditions for love—a new nature from God and new environment in His house. In 1 John 4:12-19, we saw how our security increases as we mature in love. Today in 1 John 4:20 – 5:5, we are going to see still more about love. Here, we are given a reality check about our love, and then we are sent to Him for help. It is a tremendously helpful passage! Let's dig in.
I am so thankful for the realistic picture the Bible gives us even of the heroes of the faith like David. It shows us their godliness as well as their sin. This is helpful for our walk. But this is not the best part. The best part is that the Bible shows us how God's grace intersects with their lives. This helps us to trust Him and love Him better. Today, we see David in a time of weariness. He pursues relief in a sinful way.
This week, we are going to look at one of the effects of "maturing love:" It makes us secure. A child who grows up in a loving family becomes more and more mature in that love and more and more secure about his place in that family. He knows that He belongs there. Our reading today is 1 John 4:12-19. As has often been the case in our study of 1 John, we have a transitional verse that was included in last week's reading: verse 12.
In 1 Sam 26, we see David, God's anointed king, having to deal with Saul all over again. Back in chapter 24, King Saul had been pursing David to destroy him in almost exactly the same way until one day when he entered a cave, unaware that David was hiding there and was forced to confess when David spared him that David was righteous and he was wicked. He left David alone for a while after that (chapter 25), but in 26 he is at it all over again
Today, the sermon will be a little different. We are going to look at the subject of Polygamy. We have David's Polygamy set before us in our text, 1 Sam 25:39-44.
Today in First John, we are covering chapter 4, verses 7-12. In the last three sermons we looked at evidences that we know God. The first one was that we obey God as God. The second is a subset of the first… we love our brothers—other Christians. The third evidence is that we follow those who preach the truth. This week, John shows us from whence love comes—the source of it.
1 John 3:24 is a transition from commandment keeping as an evidence that we know God to having the Holy Spirit as an evidence that we know Him.
Our gracious Lord is so wise and faithful in bringing about His purposes and kingdom. Last week, David glorifies God by refusing to take vengeance on his enemy, but this week, God is glorified by restraining David from taking vengeance.
Suppose you have two people who profess to believe in Christ. But one practices righteousness and the other does not. Last week, we saw in 3:4-10, that John says the one who doesn't doesn't know God. Suppose, however, that both of these individuals practice righteousness in the ways I just described, but one of them does not love his brother? That also is inconsistent with a true Christian profession. That is our topic this week in 1 John 3:10-23. Verse 10 is a transitional verse from the sign of practicing righteousness to the sign of brotherly love.
Revering God is a rare commodity in every age. David is a refreshing exception of someone who truly revered God. Let's take a look.
The characteristic we are looking at this week in 1 John 3:4-10 is one that, until you look at more closely, might be unsettling. "If You Know God, You Don't Sin."
God has a pattern He frequently follows of sending us to the wilderness for training. When you get down to it, this present world is a time of wilderness training for believers. This does not mean we should be hard and without compassion. Christ isn't (Hebrews 4:14-16). In 1 Samuel 23, we have David being trained in the wilderness with the men God gave him.
God has been very kind to give us His word. It is like no other writings. He speaks to us. Today we have come to 1 Samuel 22 where we have a contrast between Saul and David. Saul shows us where we are headed if we put our life in our own hands—David shows us where we are headed if we put our life in God's hands!
John is continuing to exhort us to abide in Him—to go on with the real Christ whom we know through the gospel—but adds the blessing of sonship. We are God's children.
Today in our sermon series in Samuel we come to chapter 21. This the continuation of the account of David's rise to the throne. To the onlooking world, it certainly does not look like he is being raised up to reign! Presently, King Saul is trying to kill David. David is a fugitive, trying to avoid death. We see David brought to desperation, but we see God at work in times of desperation.
Today, in our sermon series from 1 John, we come to 1 John 2:18-27. It relates to last week. Last week, in v. 12-17, John told us that those who know God don't go after the world. This week, in v. 18-27, he tells us that those who know God don't go after antichrists.
We often speak about covenants in the church with good reason. Without covenant promises from God, we could not be sure of His intentions toward us. In our text today, God gives us a beautiful picture of how covenants work.
In our Sunday Afternoon Services, I have been preaching through the First Epistle of John. John explains that He has written this letter so that the reader might learn of Jesus Christ and have fellowship with Him and with the Father. John is especially concerned in this letter to help us know that we know Him. Today, John declares to us as believers that we do know the Lord
In the passage we are looking at today, John shows us that if, in fact, we do not keep God's commandments, it shows that we have not come to know Him. We are still in the darkness.
Last week we saw how God gave Goliath, the Philistine giant into David's hands. The focus of the story in the Bible is not to bolster self-esteem, but esteem for God! David was disturbed that God's name was being dishonoured. His trust was in God. Today, in 1 Sam 18, we see how God begins to raise up David as a faithful leader. We learn God's way of raising up leaders to bless His church.
God's way of making Christ known to us is through the word of the Apostles. So John and the others spoke and wrote that we might know God whom they know, that we might have fellowship with them whose fellowship is with Jesus Christ.
Many people who know next to nothing about the Bible know this story. It charms and encourages them. If David can conquer and overcome, so can they. The story is constantly misapplied to be about self-esteem. It is about God-esteem.
Our new sermon series on Sunday afternoons will be from 1 John. I plan to preach twelve sermons in this series. The telos or purpose of this book is to instruct us about knowing God. Today, in the first four verses, we see that John tells us how we know God. This is a very important topic to me personally. I did not come to know God in a saving way until I was in my third year of university. In 1 John, John speaks specifically about what it means to know Him. He opens his letter by telling us how we can know Him. His answer is that it is through the Word of life revealed.
Today I am going to finish up our Mountains of Bether Sermon Series. For the final sermon in the Mountains of Bether series, I wanted to present the great barrier that is described in the Song of Songs itself. It is the barrier I am going to call: Ignoring Christ. Let's go to our scripture reading, where we see this barrier of ignoring Christ. Remember that in this Song, Jesus is the Husband and we, the church, are His bride. Listen and see what happens when we ignore Him and His gracious advances.
Since we have three new communicants and three new members that we are publicly welcoming today, I thought it would be a good time to have a message about what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. What is actually involved? Essentially, a disciple is one who comes to follow his master and to be like him. When you come to be Jesus's disciple, He teaches you how to live in harmony with God. He came to restore us to God, and that is exactly what He does.
In our Mountains of Bether Sermon Series, we have been looking at the mountains that stand between us and the Lord with a view to asking Him to remove them. The barriers we have been looking at recently are inattention to the means of grace. This week, the barrier is inattention to the Lord's Supper.
Today, we are going to look at the contrast between two anointings. One is an anointing with the Holy Spirit. The other is an anointing with a demon. Our goal will be to learn about how God anoints His people that we might cherish His anointing with the Holy Spirit—that we might understand it and desire it for ourselves and others; and that we might see the horror of His anointing with a demon and dread it for ourselves and others.
Today, we will continue our sermon series in 1 Samuel at chapter 16. Here, David is brought forward as the King that the Lord chooses for Israel. David is, as God's Christ (anointed King) an Old Testament type of Jesus the Christ. That means that David is a model of King Jesus. Today, we will look at how God provides David to His people, choosing Him above others.
In our Mountains of Bether Series, we look at things that stand between us and our Lord, barriers that He, by His grace, removes as we look to Him, yearning to be closer to Him. Last week, I pointed out the barrier of Inattention to God's Word. But of course, there are other means of grace besides the word of God preached and read. A means of grace, something that God has given us to use that helps us know Him and live for Him. This week, we will look at inattention to baptism.
Today, we come to our 18th message in our Mountains of Bether Series. As believers, we are the bride of Christ. We yearn to have a relationship with Him and the Father that is one of sweet harmony. We grow by the grace of God, that is, by the Lord working in our lives through Jesus by His Spirit. We are not to be passive in receiving God's grace. We are to diligently use the means. The Lord has given us means of grace that we are to use diligently to receive His grace (or divine help) that transforms us in our walk with Him. The primary means He has given us are the Word, sacraments, and prayer. The Word is one of the most important of these. It is by the word that He speaks to us. So today, I want to explore the barrier between us and the Lord of inattention to His Word.
We have just come to a new section as we work our way through First Samuel. For each section we have sung a Psalm that relates to that section: The first section, 1 Sam 1-7, about Samuel, we sang Psalm 113. The second section, 1 Sam 8-15, about Saul, we sang Psalm 21. The third section, we now begin, 1 Sam 16, about David, we will sing Psalm 89. Psalm 89 is a very long Psalm, so we will be looking at it in an overview fashion. It describes the glory of King Jesus and His godly reign that goes on forever and brings perfect peace, but it shows that there will be hard struggles before that peace comes.
Today in our Mountains of Bether Sermon Series, the hinderance in our relationship with God that we are looking at is doubt. Doubt, of course, can be such that it keeps a person from ever coming to Christ—But in this series, we are looking at barriers between us and the Lord that we have after we have been converted. We will do that today.
We have not had our Samuel Sermon series for a couple of weeks. We are presently at chapter 15. I did a sermon about the stumbling block in this chapter that offends many people today—where God calls His people to exterminate the Amalekites. If that is a problem for you, I encourage you to listen to that sermon from April 6. I did that so that I wouldn't burden the sermon I am preaching today with explaining all of that—which I think is an important thing to do in our particular day. The heart of this chapter is about God's passion for His people and Saul's disappointing refusal to engage with Him as a passionate God. In looking at this, it is my desire that you all will see and understand God's passion for His people and that you will all joyfully connect with Him in His loving zeal for us!
A word about holy days not instituted by the Lord and God's mercy. Last year, I preached on 1 Corinthians 15:22, and this year we are looking at the whole of 1 Corinthians 15 to consider how our faith is fed with Christ's Resurrection.
This afternoon, we will continue our Mountains of Bether sermon series where we are looking at things that come between us and the Lord. This week, the barrier we are looking at is one of those mountains that we often don't notice—in other words, we are blind to it. It is what I am calling the mountain of false peace. I hope that you do cry out to Him when your relationship is dried up. That is a mark of a true believer.
In our afternoon sermon series, we are looking at things that come between us and our Lord. We have looked at quite a few of the mountains that He overcomes—and today it is one mountain which has two opposite barriers that we will find to be essentially the same thing: Worry and Overconfidence—one mountain with two aspects. We might call this Mount Self-trust—which produces both worry and overconfidence.
Today in our Samuel Sermon, I am doing something a little different. The passage we are looking at today, 1 Sam 15, has a stumbling block in it—something that makes people offended with God. It reveals His severity in calling for the annihilation of an entire nation. So I am going to read the part that makes people offended, and then I am going to do a topical sermon about how to deal with God's severity.
The Mountain of Bether we will consider today is Envy. For those who have not been with us for this series, the Mountains of Bether are barriers that stand between us and God that Christ overcomes.
The church of Jesus Christ, which is His Kingdom, is made up of two kinds of members: sons (converted like Jonathan) and servants (professing but unregenerate members like Saul).
The Lord has such a personally engaging way of working in our lives as His elect people— One of the tools He employs (and the one we will look at today) is opportunities to trust Him when things are desperate—He sets them up for us and brings them to us. We take the opportunity by stepping out in faith, and when we do, we see Him work and learn of Him and come to love and trust Him more.
Today we will continue our sermon series about the things that separate us from God from which Jesus delivers us. According to the scriptures, we are His betrothed bride. One mountain that is especially displeasing to Him is our indifference to one another. Jesus' bride is unique because although she is one bride, one church, she is made up of many members, and Jesus wants us to love one another. We are all brothers.
Samuel knew that although they were praising God for their deliverance, the thing they attributed most to their victory was that now they had a king like the nations. He wanted to help them to set their hope in the Lord. We will look at his address today that helps the church in every generation to hope in God.
This afternoon in our Mountains of Bether Sermon series where we look at things that separate us from God we are looking at 'Lack of Devotion.' This is a Mountain that Jesus our Saviour transforms into a Mountain of Devotion. When I speak of devotion today, I am speak in particular of the devotion to please Him.
In our afternoon worship service, we are looking at things (Mountains of Bether) that come between us and God and at how Jesus removes them. Today the mountain is "Deficient Praise " whether because it is empty or neglected. We are not looking at all aspects of worship, but specifically at praise: declaring to God and to each other His surpassing sweet excellence as the one who is worthy of all honour and adoration. God rebukes His people for deficient praise in Malachi 1.
Today, we have four young men to present to you as new communicant members. All four of them were baptised in this congregation over a decade ago. This sets before us the two-fold pattern the Lord gave us in the Old and New Testament: He receives our children at infancy when their believing parents present them. He also expects them to affirm His covenant when they are of sufficient maturity. Since these two aspects in a child's life are providentially set before us, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to preach the relationship of baptism and profession of faith.
Today in our Mountains of Bether series we are looking at harlotry and wine (intoxication). Our Scripture reading is Hosea 4:11.
Over the last few weeks in 1 Samuel, we have seen how Israel got their first King. Their request for a king had not been appropriate because it was motivated by a desire to have a king like the nations around them. It was a rejection of God as their king. The Lord called them out for this, but agreed to give them a king such as they demanded. Nevertheless, He made it clear that the king would be under His authority. Some people were not pleased with this and wondered how such a king could save them. The Kings of the nations did not answer to prophets or to God—they were the king! These men asked the question, "How can this man save us?" (1 Sam 10:27). That question is answered in chapter 11.
Today I will be preaching from First Samuel chapter 10, verses 17-27. - Here we have the account of the presentation of Israel's first king! - A great event in Israel's history. But as God's people, we will once again look at this as Holy Scripture written to speak to us and minister to us about our walk with God. We will look at how it applies to us. But first, let's take a moment to remember what led up to this time. A wayward nation. A faithful prophet. Repentance. Drift. A demand for a king like the nations. God's concession.
In this sermon series, we have been looking at some of those mountain barriers that are called Mountains of Bether and at how He overcomes them. Today the barrier we are considering is discontentment.
In our afternoon sermon series, we have been looking at the mountains that are between us and God that Christ overcomes. They are like mountains that stand between us and Him. The Mountain we are looking at today is the Mountain of Deficient Fear of God. Job is commended by God as a man that fears Him. In Job 28, Job tells us about the importance of fearing God.
Last time we saw how God moved forward to give them a king like they wanted. His name was Saul. He was a very handsome man who was head and shoulders above everyone. Though God was going to cause His people to suffer oppression from this king, He was still going to mercifully use him to keep them from being destroyed by the Philistines. In this way, God teaches us that we need a king like Jesus whose whole purpose will be to do what God wants and to lead us and save us to be God's devoted people. By looking at Saul (then David)—we learn important things about our Lord Jesus Christ. Today in chapter 10, we see how Saul is anointed to serve God as King. We learn much here about what it means to be anointed (as Jesus was) to serve.
In the afternoons, we have been looking at mountains that stand between us and the Lord. We are fallen creatures in a fallen world, and even after we have been converted, there are things that hinder our relationship with the Lord. In this series we are looking at how Jesus overcomes these mountains. The mountain that we are looking at today is one that is radically removed at conversion, but that still haunts us, as it were, and that we ask Christ to further eradicate from our lives. It is Self-Righteousness. When you come to Christ you renounce your own righteousness, but some of it still remains in you and sometimes you get a new supply of it!
Last time in Samuel, we came to a new section in the history where God's people demanded a king like the nations to rule them and lead them in battle. God said that they had rejected Him. They were tired of God and tired of being different. To Samuel's surprise, God told him to give them their king. Today in chapter 9, we see God's hand and motives in choosing their king. This is written to teach us how God works in ordinary details to bring forth our leaders.
Today in our Mountains of Bether sermon series, we are looking at Bitterness. In particular, bitterness toward other people who have wronged us (or those we perceive to have wronged us).
First Samuel 8 introduces us to a new section in the book of Samuel. Israel has been governed by judges—now she will be governed by kings. But this is God's living word. It has much more than a historical account of Israel. It has material that is designed to speak to us as God's people in every age (1 Cor 10:11). Here we have the exposure of our true motives for change in the ways that God appointed. Nobody knows your motives. You don't even know your own. Only God knows them. It is very gracious of Him to expose them, even when they are ugly. It is done to help us. We need to listen and take what He says to heart.
Today for our morning sermon, we are taking up a new Psalm of Focus to sing in connection with our series in the book of First Samuel. In Samuel, we have come to the section about Saul where he is anointed as Israel's first king at the peoples' not-so-worthy request because they wanted a king like the other nations as if, they supposed, this, in itself, would make them secure. But despite the unworthy nature of the request, it was God's gracious plan all along to provide them with a king who would marvellously deliver them from all their enemies—not only enemy nations, but even sin, Satan, and death. Therefore, I have chosen for our Psalm a song that talks about God's king and the delight He has in saving us from our enemies! The Psalm I have chosen is Psalm 21.
In our afternoon sermon series, I have been preaching on things that separate us (Mountains of Bether) from the Lord and how He overcomes them. The main focus here is not on what we must do when we are separated from Him, but on what He does to overcome the things that separate us. Today the barrier we are considering is prayerlessness.
In our morning sermon series, we are working our way through the book of Samuel. This book opens at a time when God's people had drifted far away from Him. Yet, the Lord was beginning to do a great work of mercy and restoration for His people by raising up Samuel as His prophet. Samuel prophecies of the overthrow of the wicked house of Eli the high priest. God shows that He has withdrawn in judgment against Israel. He allows their enemies (the Philistines) to take His ark, the symbol of His presence. He humbles the Philistines and they return the ark, but God makes it clear that He is not restored. Israel sends the ark to be looked after by Gentile servants among them. This is where we pick up our reading of Samuel today—at chapter 7.
As we get into this series, I have noted that there are mountains of significantly different kinds that separate us from Him as believers. Unconfessed sin is quite different than affliction, but both are barriers that He overcomes. Today we look at a mountain that is more of a condition: worldliness. He overcomes it too.
The prevailing sentiment in the church in North America is that God is casual and easygoing. He has no standards to which He would hold anyone—no holy character that we should fear. We are, almost without exception, not worshipping God, but a graven image. We will look at three things pertaining to this passage. First, how the Philistines were forced to treat God as holy. Second, how the men of Beth Shemesh were taught that they must treat God as holy. Third, at what it looks like for us to regard God as holy.
The topic in our Mountains of Bether sermon series today is Affliction. In case you have not been with us, the Mountains of Bether are Mountains of Separation. Today's topic falls into a very different category. Affliction is something that is done to us while sin (and failure to confess it) is something that we do. In Christ's hands, both sin and affliction separate us from God initially, but in the end bring us closer to Him.
When Eli the high priest and one of his son's wives heard the news, they both died. The wife went into labour and bore a son whom she named Icabod with her dying breath, explaining that the glory of God had departed from Israel. She was right. God had removed His glory from Israel. By letting them take the ark, the Philistines supposed that they had defeated and captured God. We can see this today in churches that have a form without godliness and the gospel. Our enemies think they have defeated God Himself and expect God to help them. Today, in chapter 5, we will see what happened to the ark.
Last week we started a new afternoon Sermon Series called The Mountains of Bether. The Mountains of Bether are used in the Song of Solomon to refer to the barriers that stand between us and Jesus Christ our bridegroom. In Song 2:17, we ask Him to come to us as He has done in the past—like a gazelle (agility) or a young stag (passion) to get through whatever has come between us and Him. When He does, those mountains that separated us are transformed into mountains of spice—sweet monuments of His all-conquering love that unites us to Himself. This week, we are looking at the "mountain" of unconfessed sin.
Today I am starting a new afternoon sermon series. In this series, we will look at the things that separate us from God and how Christ closes the gap between us and Him as our faithful bridegroom (if we are indeed His bride). There are so many things that have created a distance between us and God, but He deals with every one of them.
With chapter 4 which we take up today, we have the first of three chapters where Samuel is not mentioned except in the very first part of the first verse. What we have instead is an account of the demise of Eli's household and the removal of the ark of the covenant that symbolised God's presence among His people. Brought into focus for our edification is the problem of Ritual without Repentance.
Church Discipline. The very topic sounds unfriendly—even scary. A lot of Christians have no idea what church discipline is or how it is supposed to work—many have never once seen it done or heard it spoken of in their churches. But it is something the church is commanded to do when one of our members rebels against God and refuses repent.
Today we come to the end of the book of Revelation. This is the end of the entire Bible. It ends the way a lot of other books in the Bible end: with promises and yearnings for the Lord to come and do the next thing that He has promised.
Today we come to verse 12 where Jesus appears to personally certify these visions. How special to have Him personally address His church!
At our Congregational Meeting back in March, the session presented the names of two men who were nominated to serve as deacons—Dave Talos and Dave Eldridge. After these men had some training, the session called a congregational meeting on Nov 3rd so the congregation could express their will concerning these men. Both were approved. Before that vote, I preached on Acts 6:1-7 on the qualification and method of selecting deacons. Today, for their ordination and installation, I will preach from the same text on the need and work of deacons.
What a great encouragement it has been over the last three weeks to see Revelation's description of the New Heaven and the New Earth! It is the glorious destiny of all of the elect people of our gracious God to be at last brought into sweet and eternal fellowship with Him in a gloriously renewed heaven and earth where He will be all in all to us in Christ our Saviour. Today we will look at the first of these—the description of Revelation's revelation.
Today, the sermon will be from 1 Samuel 2:11-3:1. As a preacher for God, I have been urging you to make sure that you care about what Hannah cares about. Has God opened your eyes to see that He is the only one who can change you, change the church, and change the world? I believe that many of you do care about that. Today's passage shows how God is at work to bless His people even when we can't see it.
For the past two weeks, we have been looking at what the Apostle John saw about the New Heaven and the New Earth in his vision as recorded in chapter 21. He continues to describe what he saw and heard about this New Heaven and New Earth in the first five verses of chapter 22. We will look at these today. I believe that the New Heaven and the New Earth began after Christ abolished the Old Jerusalem and that it continues and reaches its fulfillment in when we get to glory. In revealing this vision, John sees a vision of God's city in glory, and then Jesus tells John to tell us that what He saw is what really will be.
In our text today, beginning in Revelation 21:9, an angel comes to show the Apostle John more about the bride of Christ when she comes down, adorned for her husband.
We will continue our sermon series in Revelation. We are starting chapter 21 today. In Rev. 20, we are not told what happens to the redeemed. That is picked up in today's text.
Today, we will continue our sermon series in Revelation. Last week we came to chapter 20, the chapter that talks about the Millennium. Today, in chapter 20 verses 7-15, we get to see what happens at the end of Millennium.
There is nothing more wonderful than to have the Lord deal personally with you, to accept you and your offering by grace! Hannah rightly expresses her elation in 1 Sam 2:1-11. She gives us a wonderful pattern of praise for such times (imitated in Ps 113 and by Mary).
Today, in our sermon series on Revelation, we come to chapter 20:1-6. It speaks of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ that now is. This is a difficult passage that has many different interpretations. One of the difficulties is that Christ's kingdom comes in stages.
Today, we have a very basic lesson in Christian parenting. The Lord gives us children to give back to Him.
Today, we will continue our study in the book of Revelation at Revelation 18:20. In John's vision, he has just seen an extended prophecy about the fall of Jerusalem that did occur soon afterward in AD 70. Chapter 17 – 19 is an extended discourse about this. Jerusalem the harlot is spiritually called Babylon. She is aligned with Rome, the beast with the seven heads and the ten horns. In chapter 18, an angel declares that Babylon (Jerusalem the harlot) has fallen. In chapter 18 verse 9-19, the world is mourning for Jerusalem. So when we come to our starting place today—Revelation 18:20—It is rather surprising to many readers to see that God's true servants are called not to mourn but to rejoice in Jerusalem's destruction... to many it is disturbing! How are we to take this? Christians?—called to rejoice over the ruin of a great city?
Samuel is very suited to our times. More and more people in our society and of the whole world want change. The problem is, we don't know what we ought to be or how to get there. For over 200 years, the world has been filled with revolutions, but most of them end up with something worse than they had to start with. It is no different on a personal level. We try everything but never seem to get better. The Book of Samuel teaches us to look to God. We are in the mess that we are in because we have ignored Him. The Book of Samuel will show us how God can transform us from dust to glory. But today, we are not going to turn to Samuel—not yet. I want to begin, as I often do, by presenting you with a theme song to go with Samuel. The Song I have chosen is Psalm 113. It is a perfect fit.
Today, in chapter 18, we will look especially at the warning to God's people to break their alliance with the harlot Jerusalem. She is told to come out of her. We will look at the first 19 verses of Revelation 18. The call to 'God's people' to come out of Babylon stands out in this chapter.
We are almost at the end of the Epistle to the Hebrews. In the introductory sermon to this Epistle, I pointed you to the verse that we are looking at today: Hebrews 13:22. I did that because it tells us what this letter, this epistle, is all about.
Today, we will continue our sermon series in Revelation. We will look at Revelation 17. In this chapter, we have the imagery of a harlot riding on the beast with the 7 heads. The identity of this harlot and the city that she represents has brought forth many different opinions. I am going to show you that a straightforward reading points to the harlot being Jerusalem which was destroyed in 70 AD and the beast to Rome. After that, we will consider how this applies to us.
God graciously appointed the official pronouncing of benedictions to assure His people that His name is upon us, that He is committed to us and will bless us as His people. Let's take a look at the benediction in the epistle to the Hebrews. It takes what is in this entire epistle and puts it into the form of a blessing.
In the afternoon, we have been going through the book of Revelation. Today, we will be finishing the portion that is found in chapter 15 and 16. This week, before we have our reading, I want to begin with a question that will help you connect with our text. The question is: How do you respond to God in all the trouble that we have in this world?
Today in our sermon series in Hebrews, we reach the concluding section (Heb 13:18). Here we find a personal prayer request, a benediction, an exhortation, and greetings. Today we will look at the first one about prayer (Heb 13:18 & 19).
Now in chapter 13, we are given instructions about how we are to conduct ourselves as we go forward together with our fellow believers. First, there were basic instructions about loving one another. Now we are looking at the worship we are to engage in. And today, we see that we are to go forward in harmonious fellowship with the stewards of God's house that He has appointed to watch for our souls.
We will continue our sermon series in Revelation.Today, we are looking at Revelation 16:8-11. In this chapter, we have a brief description of seven last plagues that are poured out by seven angles who each have a bowl that is said to be filled with God's wrath. Last week, I explained that there is good reason to see that these are given in reverse order. When prophecies of calamities are given, we cannot always predict very well just what the fulfillment of them will look like.
Today we will continue our sermon series in Hebrews. We are in the last chapter of the epistle—chap. 13, which is filled with practical instruction. Right now, we are in the part that focuses on our lives as a worshipping community now that Jesus has come.
In chapter 16, each bowl is described. Today, I am going to focus on the first three bowls, but this will necessitate doing a little more general overview of all the bowls and their relationship to each other.
Today we come to a section in Hebrews that tells us how we are to approach God in worship now that Jesus has come to be the Saviour of the world. There was a major change in the way we are to approach God in worship. But the question is, what are we to do now? Are there no sacrifices whatsoever? Is there no place we are to go to worship? Those are questions that Hebrews 13:15-17 answer for us.
Last time in our sermon series from Revelation we came to the fifth section of the prophecy that has to do with the 'bowl' judgments. Today, I want to pick up with this verse, Rev 15:5, and read to Rev. 16:1. Here, we will see God's wrath, prepared to be poured out in seven plagues.
Last time, we looked at v. 13. It is directly tied to verse 14 which we are looking at today. Verse 13 says we must bear the reproach (the shame and disrespect) that Jesus had to bear if we follow Him, but v. 14 reminds us that our rest and reward is not found in this present world but in heaven. 'Here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one that is to come.' Let's consider what this means and how it applies to us.
Today, we come to a new section (the fifth section) in Revelation. Revelation 2-3: The first was the letters to the seven churches. Revelation 4-7: The seven seals. Revelation 8-11: The seven trumpets. Revelation 12-14: The middle section showing a summary of Christ overcoming Satan. Revelation 15-19: The seven bowls which show the destruction of Jerusalem. from a different perspective. What we have today is an introduction to this section. It is similar to the introduction to the seven seals and the seven trumpets.
The passage we are looking at today tells us that when we trust Jesus in this way, we will have to bear His reproach. That means that people will look down on you.
In the Bible, the church is often referred to in agrarian terms with the Lord as the owner. In the passage we come to today, Revelation 14:14-20, we see Him reaping His harvest. The church is called to do this work on earth, but as is often the case in Revelation, we get to see the work that goes on in the spiritual realm with the Lord and His angels.
Today we will resume our sermon series from Hebrews 13. In this book, we have been looking at our life's journey as Christians from sin to glory. Today in 13:10-11, we look at feeding upon Christ as the bread of eternal life.
Last week, we covered the first five verses of Revelation 14. We saw the 144,000 Jewish Christians that the Lord preserved, sparing them when the Romans destroyed almost all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They were preserved that they might make the gospel known to all. Today, in Rev 14:6-13, we will see how the angels help in spreading the gospel.
We will focus especially on the words in the middleof Hebrews 13:9, that it is good for our hearts to be established by grace. Let's unpack this statement.
In Revelation 14, our text today, we get to see the 144000 after the 3½ year siege. Today, we are going to look at the first five verses to see how God's grace has beautified them. And we will look at this that we might be encouraged to seek His grace.
Today in our study of the epistle to the Hebrews, we come to Hebrews 13:9-17. It is so easy for God's people to get off track in their worship. We'd rather not hear anyone say that. We'd rather that it was not true. But it is demonstrated over and over that it is true. In both the Old and the New Testament, we never seem to be content with the worship that God appointed for us.
In today's passage, we are introduced to a second beast—who is subservient to the first one. The beast referred to here is unbelieving Israel.
God has given us so much in His precious word. In the book of Hebrews we have seen the superlative excellence of Jesus Christ which is set forth to us in the first ten chapters. Today we come to vv. 7 & 8 which has to do with loving those who have led us in the past.
Many people have heard of The Beast in Revelation. There are many wild ideas. But the Bible shows that the Beast has appeared all through history. In Revelation 13, we have a description of the manifestation of the beast in the Roman empire. There is also the mention of a lesser beast in Israel that we will be looking at. In looking at these, we will learn about the beast and how the beast operates.
Today we continue our sermon series in Hebrews. We are in Hebrews chapter 13. Here we are told how we ought to conduct ourselves as we go with the people of God to God our Father's house in glory. Today, we will look Hebrews 13-5-6, but I will begin with Hebrews 13-1
In chapters 12 - 13, we are exhorted to run the race to God's house with endurance. Right now, in chapter 13, we are looking at the various instructions about continuing in brotherly love, and more especially about marriage in Hebrews 13-4. This week, I decided to preach on Hebrews 13-4 again. Marriages are not healthy in the modern church. This subject needs more attention.
Today in our Revelation Sermon Series we come to the end of chapter 12 where we are shown how our Lord preserves His church.
In chapter 13, we are instructed about how we are to conduct ourselves as brothers who are together on the road that Christ has made to our Father's house in glory. The foundational exhortation is that we are to let brotherly love continue. Now we are looking at the particulars -loving strangers, remembering prisoners-. Today we come to a third particular aspect of 'letting brotherly love continue.'
Today we come to Revelation 12-1-6. Here we are given a very compressed picture of the church. We see a quick picture of her before Christ came and when He came. This compressed history is very helpful because it shows us what the church's essential nature is-in short, that she is the woman with her son.
Hebrews 13 gives us rules about how we ought to conduct ourselves in the church as we run this race with our brothers and sisters. In sum, we have seen that we are to continue in brotherly love.
In the passage we are looking at today, John returns to see what happens -up there- which he learns about in a vision. It is clear that the things he sees happen in order-the seventh trumpet is blown after the sixth. Rev 11-14 declares- The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.-
Today we are continuing our sermon series in Hebrews. We will be looking at Hebrews 13-2. Hebrews 13 is the last chapter in this epistle or letter to the Hebrews. We are told how to go on with His people. We are told how to conduct ourselves with His people.
This afternoon, I want to look at five things we can learn from Revelation 11-7-14. First, learn that you must finish the work that God has given you to do. Second, learn how important it is for us and our people to receive the testimony that God gives us. A third thing we learn from our text is the identity of the one God often uses to take away His witness from us, from our churches and from our nations. A fourth thing our text shows us is that there are times when it looks as though the church and her witness have been defeated. We are taught, or reminded, that the Lord will always have the last word.
Today we come to chapter 13 where we are told how to behave ourselves among all whom Christ has redeemed. We might call this chapter- 'Rules of Conduct for Pilgrims Who are Going to God's House in Glory.' Today, we will look at the first thing that is said about this conduct. It sums up all the rest.
Jesus rose from the dead. So what-- What does that have to do with any of us-- Today, I want to show you why the resurrection matters so much to us as believers.
In our Revelation sermon series, we will begin chapter 11 today. This part of the vision has to do with the interval between the sixth and seventh judgments that are initiated by the blowing of trumpets. Something ominous is about to happen.
By now, you know that there are various interpretations of Revelation. Whatever our view, we need to come away with confidence that He is working faithfully to establish His righteous kingdom.
Jesus is The Way to the Father. To become the way, He had to go to the cross to bear the punishment of all our sins. To be without this way leaves us in the most twisted, diabolical, wicked condition, missing the purpose for which we were created. We are worse than useless. How wonderful is this way that Jesus has made for us to come to our Father's house- And now, today, at the end of this chapter, we are urged to see that we do not refuse Him.
Today, in our sermon series from Revelation, we have come to chapter 9, verses 13-21. Now, with the sixth trumpet, another great host of demons under the leadership of four arch-demons are sent forth, and this time, they are authorised to kill one-third of the people.
Today, we will continue our sermon series in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Christ is the way or the road from sin and misery to our Heavenly Father in glory. Those who are in this way of Christ are chastened -vigorously trained- by the Father.
Today we come to Revelation chapter 9. The Apostle John has been writing to us about the visions he saw of the ongoing work of Jesus Christ now that Jesus is reigning in heaven at God's right hand. Today, we are going to see what happens when Satan and his demons are turned loose upon a people. I am calling it a deluge -or flood- of demons.
The way is hard. We must not allow ourselves to become weary and beaten down by our Father's discipline-by the refiner's fire, the thresher's sledge, and the pruners shears.
Today, we are going to look at -quote- -natural disasters.- These should all be seen, as -acts of God--more specifically, -acts of Jesus.-
This epistle is written to those believers among the Jewish people. Some of them had grown weary and discouraged and were thinking of turning back. That's why this letter spends the first ten chapters showing how Christ is superior. All this talk about endurance is not without reason. Our text today gives us a fourfold remedy against weariness.
Last week, I preached about running the race that God has given us to run that we might enter God's house at the end. Today, I want to preach about bringing our children with us that both we and they might get to God.
This afternoon, we will continue our sermon series in Revelation. In case you have not been with us in this series, I want to point out that what we have in Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ now that He is in heaven. We get to see what He does up there to establish His kingdom down here.
In the terrible siege of Jerusalem, that was starting to happen when John had this vision, the whole city would be destroyed- 1.1 million Jews would perish, 97,000 were enslaved. But Jesus told His followers to flee when they saw Jerusalem surrounded and they did. Rev. 7-1-8 seems to speak of this time, but whether it does or not, it shows the Lord preserving His church-keeping just the right number of them alive to sustain His church. It is a beautiful picture of His preservation of His church.
In our Sermon Series from Hebrews, we are starting Hebrews chapter 12 today. The first two verses are packed with a lot of material, so we will only cover them today. They introduce us to the theme that we will be following pretty much until we finish Hebrews. These last two chapters exhort us to press on to glory, looking to Jesus.
Coming to chapter 7, we have the answer to their question, -Who is able to stand--- What we see in chapter 7 is our Lord's special care and protection of His church. From the earth's perspective, it can look like the church is going to be wiped out, but Jesus is in perfect control.
Today, in our Hebrews sermon series, we are taking up a new Psalm of Focus to go along with Hebrews chapters 12 and 13. From chapter 12 on, Hebrews will exhort us to advance in the life of faith in Christ. For this reason, I thought Psalm 84 would be an excellent Psalm for our Song of Focus. It is the song we sing as we go, expressing our sentiments about God's house. I very much hope that this song will be a source of great encouragement for us as we receive the exhortation from Hebrews 12-13 to go via Christ to God's house.
Today we come to the conclusion of this chapter that prepares us for the challenge we will be given in chapters 12 - 13 to live up to our privileges as believers under the New Testament.
Today we come to the conclusion of this chapter that prepares us for the challenge we will be given in chapters 12 - 13 to live up to our privileges as believers under the New Testament.
Today we will continue our series from the last book of the Bible-Revelation. Two weeks ago, we came to chapter 4 where the Lord presents to John an open door to heaven and says- Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this. John saw visions of things representing invisible things including God the Father. The emphasis was on His rule over all, represented by a throne. Also symbolised was His relationship with His church under many details. He was being worshipped by the church as the Holy Almighty Creator who rules over all. Last week, we considered the first seven verses of Revelation chapter 5. We will review what we saw after our Scripture reading.
Today, we are going to take a similar approach looking at bearing hardships- We will look at the examples of the marvellous things that faith enabled them to endure. We will consider how faith can surely enable us to do the hard things we are called to do.
We have been in Hebrews 11 for a while, working through some of the most excellent examples of those who had faith. Last week it was the example of Rahab in verse 31. With verse 32, the writer wants to wrap things up. He says- What more can I say Today, I will read the rest of the chapter, give you an overview of it, and then focus on vv. 32-35a. Notice the beauty of this passage as it speaks so eloquently of our fathers.
Today we are taking up the first 7 verses of chapter 5. In these verses, we are shown how God's plan or decree is put into the hands of Christ, our Mediator, who represents us- It is what we read in Daniel 7. It is what is celebrated in Ps 2, 47, 89, - 110 to name a few.
Today in our study of the letter to the Hebrews we have a very unique example of faith and of what it does in peoples' lives by God's marvellous grace.
As we embark on this new section in Revelation, we see in the opening verses that John is summoned to come up to heaven. But we need to understand that the visions are not visions of material things, but of invisible spiritual things visualised in symbols. What we see here is not heavenly worship, but our own earthly worship from heaven's perspective- we see heaven receiving our worship and ministering to us.
Today's topic is Jesus' letter to the church in Laodice. In this last of the seven letters, His deep concern for churches and people that are lukewarm is expressed. We see both disgust and tenderness toward them. What a powerful impact this has on all in whom God's Spirit is at work- How can anyone be indifferent to what is in this letter--
To summarise, these verses teach us that we must trust God to deliver us from bondage to sin, Satan, and the rebellious world -v. 29 from last time-, and v. 30 -today's verse-, that by faith we are able to overcome all opposition -symbolized by the walls of Jericho- to establish God's righteous kingdom in this world.
Today in our series on the seven churches in Revelation, we come to the sixth letter that Jesus sent. This one is to the Church in Philadelphia. This letter is quite different than the fifth letter that was written to Sardis. The city of Philadelphia was the youngest of the cities to which Jesus wrote. Philadelphia continued to be an influential city until 1390 when it fell to Islaam, but there was a huge change in the mission of the city. It became a Christian centre-
Today, I want to look at why Jesus came from a slightly different angle. It is the reason He gives in the Sermon on the Mt.-a sermon about His kingdom. At the heart of this sermon, Jesus declared that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
At this time of year, people think about the coming of Jesus. But why did He come-- Even people who go to church and keep Christmas often don't know. You need to know why He came-in fact, everyone does. So I am going to take up this subject today, that you might know, that you might know more fully, and that you might be able to tell others. Jesus often spoke about why He came. He explained it from a lot of different angles. Joel Beeke has a little book that gives 31 reasons why He came. But this morning I am going to focus on what Jesus said in John 10-especially John 10-10.
Today in Jesus' fifth letter, to the church at Sardis, there is something quite different that is dealt with. There is no mention of heresy or immorality, nor of persecution. All who visited saw what appeared to be a healthy, vibrant, faithful, prosperous church. This time, there are no charges of false doctrine of immoral behaviour, no charges of a lack of diligence in deeds of love, forsaking worship or inappropriate worship, tolerating false teachers- Sardis was itself a very wealthy city. It was also well known for its immorality. But the church at Sardis had the prosperity without the immorality. Nevertheless, Jesus has little good to say to this church and its leadership.
This afternoon, we will continue our series on the seven churches in Revelation. Today, it is the church at Thyatira in Revelation 2-18-29. Thyatira was the smallest and least important town to which Jesus wrote. By including them, Jesus shows that He cares for the small as well as the great.
For some time, I had planned to do seasonal sermons about why Christ came, but when we set Katherine's baptism for today, I decided to preach on the Magnificat -Lu 1-46-56-. Here we have the wonderful response of Mary to the blessing of conceiving Jesus Christ our Saviour.
The world needed a Savior because we are all estranged from God by sin. Jesus came to be punished in the place of sinners that He might bring them to God. The good news is that whoever believes in Him will be pardoned and restored to God. The passage we are looking at today shows us a key time in Israel's history, about 1500 years before Christ came, when God brought them out of slavery -bondage- from Egypt.
In our sermon series from Revelation, we have seen how intimately connected Jesus is with every congregation of His people. We were first shown this in chapter one in John's vision of the glory of the Son of God in which our Lord was seen in His glory caring for His churches and their ministers. This means that we should take great interest in reading what He says to these churches that we may know what pleases Him and what displeases Him, and what punishments await us if we do not repent as well as the blessings that are ours if we are overcomers.
In our sermon series from Hebrews, we are in chapter 11 where we have a whole array of examples of people who had faith. They are helpful to show us what faith looks like. Lately, we have been looking at the section about the faith of Moses. Today, we come to v. 28 where, by faith, he leads the whole nation of Israel to keep the Passover and the sprinkling of blood associated with it.
When Jesus sent this letter to Smyrna, severe persecution had already begun there. Though our persecution is far less severe, it is evident that it is increasing in our land. The core of Jesus' message is in Rev 2-10- Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. The burning question is why not-- Why not be afraid when suffering is coming-- Today we will see how Jesus answers that question.
Over the next couple of months, we will be looking at what our reigning Lord says to these seven churches and at how it applies to us. We must consider both the positive and the negative things. His addresses to these churches in real history have a more powerful impact than if He had just given us a bunch of precepts in the abstract.
Today we are going to focus on Hebrews 11-27 which we only touched on last week. It tells us that Moses endured by seeing God who is invisible. Let us learn from Moses' example.
Last week, we began a series on the book of Revelation. We saw that this book begins with the words, -The Revelation of Jesus Christ.- This week, we are going to look at the blessing of Grace and Peace from God.
Today we come to Rev 1-9-20 where John, for our even greater encouragement, presents to us the vision that he received of God's Son when he -John- was called to write this book.
Today we continue our Hebrews sermon series. We have been looking at Hebrews 11 where we are given a great list of people of faith from the Old Testament. These are presented to the Hebrews to encourage them to have faith. They are models, showing us what faith does in a person's life. Today we come to one of the greatest figures in the Old Testament- Moses, the lawgiver. We will have much to say about him over the next couple of weeks.
Currently, we are in Hebrews chapter 11 where we are given examples of faith from the Old Testament. These examples show us about faith, how it works, and what it does. Today we come to the last of the Patriarchs who were before Moses- Joseph. The passage in Hebrews about Joseph is very short-and obscure if you don't know the background story as the Hebrew recipients would. I will cover much of Joseph's life as we go along.
As most of you know, God has told us that He is God not only to us when we are redeemed, but also to our children- while they are yet children. In Gen 17, God tells Abraham that He establishes His covenant with him and his sons. In Acts 2-38-39, Peter affirms in connection with baptism that the promise is- to you and your children. In Mark 10-13-16, Jesus affirms that the kingdom of God belongs to little children. So with baptism, whether of an adult or a child, we are reminded of our identity as those who are God's people in Christ.
In our suggested topics sermon series, I was asked to do a series on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation -in Rev. 2-3-. I thought this was a wonderful suggestion, so I decided to do it. Now I have decided to include an exposition of the first chapter also. I think this book is something that is extremely useful for our congregation at this time.
Last week, we looked at- The Biblical Importance of Family Worship. I spoke to you about how the very light of nature shows us God's eternal power and divine nature and that He is to be worshipped daily by us -WCF 21-1, 6-. The person who requested this topic also asked me to do a sermon about how to do family worship-for some practical guidance. So our topic today is- Practical Guidance for Family Worship
Today's topic is- The Biblical Importance of Family Worship. Both personal and family worship are sorely neglected in our day. I will include both. Today I want to show you that daily personal and family worship is expected of all people. It is a basic duty for every human being.
We will be continuing our sermon series from Hebrews today. We are in Hebrews 11 where we have examples of faith to encourage us in our faith. God has a wonderful way of refining our faith. Jacob is a shining example of that.
The suggested topic we are looking at today is Minced Oaths. Not everyone is familiar with that term. It refers to using God's name in vain, but in a modified way-Gosh darn instead of God damn-that sort of thing. In dealing with this subject, I am going to give you a general overview of the third commandment before I address the specific subject of minced oaths.
Monday is Thanksgiving Day. There are many in our society who are thankful, but who do not know who to thank. This being so, I thought we would do well to consider the one to whom thanks is to be constantly given. This Psalm has but one concern-the whole Psalm is a summons to give thanks to God.
Today we continue our Suggested Topics Sermon series with suggestion -40. The topic is Children and the First Table of the Law. The question is, how do we cultivate obedience to the First Four Commandments-- Do we discipline for infractions-- How do we teach our children interact with other believers who have divergent practices so that we are firm, but charitable--
Today we come to verse 20 where we have the example of Isaac, who, as an old man, demonstrates how he, because he believed, was able to bestow blessing on his sons. Without faith, he could never have done such a wonderful thing. It was only through faith that he even had a blessing to give them because, ultimately, God is the only one who can either bless or curse.
Today we are continuing our sermon series in the book of Hebrews. We continue in chapter 11. I have slowed down with this chapter-it is so helpful for us to see examples of what faith does when we have it. Today, we return to that example of Abraham, only now we see how he has matured in his faith-so that by faith, he is willing to offer his son-believing that God can raise him from the dead if necessary.
Our focus today is on fathers-Ephesians 6-4. Much can be learned about other relationships too. Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath. All of you know what this means because it is so common. You provoke someone to wrath when you do something that irritates them. You have all struggled with this at times. We can see the sad results of children who have been provoked by their father. How many sullen teenagers there are who have very little regard for their fathers- How many adults there are who have very painful memories of their fathers-
What does it mean when it says- These all died in faith, not having received the promises-- It means that when they died, they still believed that God would give them what He promised, even though they still did not have the things that He had promised.
Wise parents will adjust the way they disciple their children as their children grow up, giving them greater and greater freedom as they mature. The person who suggested this topic asked me to deal with all different aspects of discipleship- protecting, nurturing, instructing, and preparing.
We are in chapter 11 where the writer of this letter shows us what faith can do for those who have it. He shows us what faith did in the lives of real people just like us. Today, we come to verse 11 and 12 where we find out what faith in our Lord did for Abraham's wife Sarah. It gave her strength to do what was impossible-to bring forth nations, one of which would bring forth the Son who would save the world.
How do we know when children are ready to come to the Lord's Table-- This question is raised because we are not expressly told about children and the Lord's Supper. There are things like that in the Scripture. We must deduce from what we are given in scripture.
Today we are continuing our sermon series in the book of Hebrews. Presently, we are in Heb 11. It presents to us what faith does in the lives of God's people. First, there was Abel. With him, we saw that by faith we are made righteous in God's sight. Next, there was Enoch. With him, we saw how faith gives us the hope of eternal glory. Then there was Noah. With him, we saw how faith responds to God's warnings and escapes condemnation. Today we come to Abraham where we shall see how faith obeys God's call.
Two errors often arise in relation to this doctrine of covenant succession. When the church becomes nominal, it is presumed that we are all good Christians even when we neither profess to believe the true gospel or walk in obedience. When revival breaks out, covenant succession has been rejected and children have been treated as unbelievers instead of nurtured in the faith. Our great concern must be to see what the Bible says about this and follow that.
Now we are in chapter 11 where faith that saves is presented to us. We saw in the beginning of this chapter what faith does. The rest of the chapter is examples. Abel and Enoch are the first two examples or witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 11. Noah, whom we look at today, is the third witness to the blessing that comes by faith. He shows us how faith responds to God's warning of judgment.
Today we come to sermon number 35 in our Suggested Topics Sermon series. This is the first sermon in the category of Christian Living in the Home. The suggestion we will be taking up today was very general in nature-it was a request for a sermon on Marriage, Parenting, and Children. I am taking this in very much of an overview fashion- How to Build a Christian Family.
Today in our Sermon series in Hebrews, we have come to chapter 11. Here we have set out to us examples from the Old Testament of persons who had faith. Having learned in Hebrews about Jesus Christ as the beautiful and excellent object of our faith, these examples will help you to understand how to live out your faith. In the passage we are looking at today, we have an introduction to the whole subject. The emphasis here is not so much to define faith, but to speak of how it transforms the way we live. It makes us thrive and flourish in our walk with God-
The Suggested Topic for today's sermon can be summarised like this- -On Helping Your Brothers Thrive.- The Bible presents us all as brothers -includes all church members- because we have God as our Father, and we are constantly urged to have brotherly love. As we get into it, let's think about the basis for our brotherly responsibilities. We have this gracious caring Saviour who has gone all out in His care for us, and He has called us to extend His care to each other.
Today we are going to look at the role of faith -or confidence- when it comes to endurance. God has revealed to us great things about Jesus Christ as the One He sent to save. When God has given such a wonderful testimony of Him, we ought to believe it. We ought to have strong confidence in this Saviour that God has appointed.
The requested subject is -Depression-Suicide Due to Much Despair in the World.- Certainly, we see a lot of people giving up on life. Now that so many have accepted the lie that man is not made for God in the image of God, it is in all honestly quite logical to terminate your life if you aren't enjoying it. As believers, we urge people not to do that. Rather than escaping their miseries, they will only make them worse and unalterable. If you want to die, die to sin and self and turn to Christ that you might live for God- There is no hope apart from that.
Today, we are returning to our sermon series in Hebrews. We are at Hebrews 10-26-31. It is clear that our text today -Hebrews 10-26-31- ties in directly with this. It begins with the word -for-- showing us that it is connected to what is before. It is a warning about rejecting the beautiful way that Christ has opened for us by which we have communion with God. We are to go on living in that communion through Christ. There is real danger that some of us will drift away and even end up renouncing Christ.
Today we come to sermon number 31 in our Suggested Topics Sermon series. This is the tenth of fourteen sermons in the category of Christian living. This is the topic that was added later at the request of the elders. Group Prayer- Its Mandate, Nature, and Importance.--I will begin by reading two scripture passages that I chose that speak to group Prayer. Earlier, we read Isaiah 56, a chapter in which God says that when He blesses His people, His house -where His people gather- will be a house of prayer for all nations.
What a week it has been. Nova Scotia. Wildfires- Where is the Lord in such times-- Does He see what is going on-- Why doesn't He do anything-- Does He care-- Today I am going to break from our regular sermon series to answer these questions. If you really want to know the answer, it is revealed in the Bible. Turn to Matthew 23 and I will show you. Here we have our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, we are able to see what God Almighty is like as a human. What is the attitude of this man when He sees things like destructive fires come upon us-- In Matthew 23, we are shown how He looks on such calamities.
This week our suggested topic is- What is Spiritual Warfare-- The person who asked this question comes from a background where spiritual warfare was looked at in a very narrow way-pretty much restricted to rebuking demons or casting them out. She wanted to get a more comprehensive view. I will endeavour, with God's help, to look at all the main aspects of spiritual warfare.
The week in our sermon series from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we come Hebrews 10-19. This is the place at which the epistle begins to focus on how we ought to respond to what God has done. Of course, there has been some of that already, but for the most part, Hebrews has been setting forth the excellence of Christ and what He has done to save our souls, and how it is so much better now than it was before He came, under the Old Covenant.
The part of Hebrews that we have come to-Hebrews 10-19 to the end of chapter 12-is an encouragement to continue trusting the Lord in the midst of the battle. Today, we are going to take up a song for us as we go through this part of Hebrews. Psalm 31 is found in the collection of the 150 songs that our Lord gave His people to sing-the songs that are found in our Bibles that are given by inspiration of His Spirit. This song is an expression of the faith of Jesus and His people in the battle for our souls.
This week we come to our 29h sermon in our suggested topic sermon series. It is the ninth of fourteen in the category of Christian Living. The requested topic I am preaching on today is- Amusing Ourselves to Death versus Our Mission from God-Ploductivity. The person who requested this topic wants me to look in particular at how amusement interferes with our Christian service-our mission from God.
Q. 88 What are the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption---A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are His ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer- all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.--He Himself uses these means to bring the benefits of His redemption to us.
Today, I want to look at how we as believers handle tribulations or hardships. It might seem a little shocking because it says that we glory in tribulations.
Q. 87 What is repentance unto life---A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience.--The essential action of repentance is turning from sin to God. It is turning to Him as our God, as our Lord and Master whom we obey and serve.
We are going to look at what you ought to do as a Christian when you are wronged. It is very harmful to have offenses lodging in your heart that you do not deal with. When we leave them, it destroys the sweet savour that the church is meant to have and fills the air with the smoke of resentment, bitterness, and even hostility. Our goal should be to always live in reconciliation with our brothers and sisters- to let nothing stand between us and them.
Q. 86 What is faith in Jesus Christ---A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to us in the gospel.--Understand that you must have faith in Jesus Christ if you would be saved from God's wrath and curse. Faith is indispensable to salvation.
In today's sermon, I want to show you how church discipline is essential if we are to maintain our identity as a people who have come to Jesus to be reconciled to God. First Corinthians 5 is a chapter in the Bible where the Corinthians are urged to exercise church discipline and are shown how essential it is if they want to continue as a true church. As a congregation that recently had to remove a family by church discipline, we are going to look at this chapter that we may learn how important it is for us to do this.
Q. 85 What doth God require of us that we may escape His wrath and curse due to us for sin---A. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.--The Jews are here brought face to face with the fact that they crucified their own Messiah. They cry out -v. 37-, What must we do- -like question 85- and Peter tells them. I will follow the outline of the Catechism-faith, repentance, means of grace-and show you how each of these is found in Acts 2-36-47.
Last week we finished our sermon series on the Song of Solomon. In a few weeks, I plan to start a new sermons series in Hebrews. Before I do that, I want to have a few sermons on specific topics that I think will be helpful for our congregation at this time. With our congregational meeting coming up at the end of March, these sermons have -mostly- to do with life in the church. Today's sermon, the first one, is actually a -how-to- sermon. It is about the one thing that is needful for the church to prosper.
Q. 84 What doth every sin deserve---A. Every sin deserveth God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.--In this passage, Paul shows the Galatians that they were foolish to act like they could be accepted by God on the basis of their law-keeping. Jesus had been crucified for a reason- We need Him to save us. Didn't they realise that anyone who relies on the law is under a curse-
The Song ends with a request for Jesus to come to us. These words -v. 14- are clearly our words to Him if we are betrothed to Him.
Q. 83 Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous---A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.--Some Christians are surprised to hear this because James 2-10 says that if we sin in one point, we are guilty of all. But James is not saying that all sins are the same-just that any sin shows that we are not right with God. The scriptures teach that some sins are more heinous than others.
This may seems like a surprising conclusion to the Song of all Songs. It speaks about the love between Jesus Christ and His church in a beautiful allegory. You might expect such a song to end with the bride, Shulamite -the princess of peace-, moving into the palace of King Solomon -the prince of peace-, to live happily ever after. Instead, we find the beloved and his bride separated-not due to a quarrel, but with Him expressing His desire to hear from her -8-13-, and with her expressing her desire for Him to come to her -8-14-.
Q. 82 Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God---A. No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.--Today, our focus is on Q. 82-whether any of us can perfectly obey God in this life.
What we have in our text today -Song of Solomon 8-10-12- is the bride, who has just expressed interest in helping her little sister, recognising the progress that she has made over the years by His grace.
Q. 79 Which is the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.--Q. 80 What is required in the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbour, and all that is his.--Q. 81 What is forbidden in the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.--Today, we are going to look at the problem of discontentment and how we ought rather to be rejoicing and giving thanks instead of complaining and disputing with God.
Q. 79 Which is the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.--Q. 80 What is required in the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbour, and all that is his.--Q. 81 What is forbidden in the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour, and all inordinate motions and affections to any thing that is his.--In the introductory message, I showed you that covetousness is a sin of the heart. It stands as a reminder that God not only weighs our actions, but also our hearts. But covetousness rarely stays contained in our hearts. Last week, we saw that it often brings us into quarrels with others. This week, we will see how it misdirects our whole lives and produces sinful worry.
Today we continue in our sermon series in the Song of Solomon. We are in the last chapter where the bride's desires desire for her husband's love are passionately expressed to Him. We have seen that the traditional, and best understanding of the Song of Solomon is that the bride is the church and that her beloved groom is Christ. It is about their mutual love. So here we are now, in the last chapter, and most of it is taken up with the church expressing her earnest desire for Jesus Christ to keep on manifesting His love to her as His bride.
Q. 79 Which is the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.--Q. 80 What is required in the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbour, and all that is his.--Q. 81 What is forbidden in the tenth commandment---A. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour, and all inordinate motions and affections to any thing that is his.--This commandment stands out from the rest as the one that directly addresses the heart- The others should be applied to our hearts, but this one speaks directly against our sinful desires. Notice how in this passage, James speaks of two different kinds of wisdom.
Today in our Song of Solomon sermon series, we come to a verse that beautifully captures the essence of our relationship with Jesus Christ in this world.
This week in our sermon series on the Westminster Shorter Catechism we come to the tenth commandment. All the commandments should be understood as addressing our hearts, but this is the commandment that explicitly does so. We need to recognise that God's authority reaches even to the very desires of our hearts.
Today we are returning to our sermon series in the Song of Solomon. This Song is an allegory about the relationship of Christ with His church. It has so much that is helpful. It shows the desire He has for us-the delight He has in us. It shows how we rejoice to be the object of His desire. It shows the ups and downs of our experience -very realistic-. Most recently, we saw a time when He has been restored to her. He expressed His delight in her and His desire for her. She invited Him to come away with her and to delight in her fruits that she prepared for Him. Chapter 8 is really a continuation of the expression of her desire to commune with Him.
Q. 76 Which is the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.--Q. 77 What is required in the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbour's good name, especially in witness bearing.--Q. 78 What is forbidden in the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbour's good name.--In verse 21, notice how it speaks about hearing Christ-being taught by Him-as the truth is in Him. When we hear Him, we believe the truth and we become a people who are of the truth. As such, there is no place among us for lies- Therefore, we are instructed to put away lying.
Somebody needs to do something- Those are the words you sometimes hear when things are going wrong. We see the destruction of our society. Isaiah outlines similar problems in his day -Isa 1-5-8-. What is needed is not deliverance by the hand of man-but deliverance from the Lord.
Q. 76 Which is the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.--Q. 77 What is required in the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbour's good name, especially in witness-bearing.--Q. 78 What is forbidden in the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbour's good name.--Today, as we look in more detail at this commandment, I want to focus on badmouthing and its close relative, boasting.--You see how the Holy Spirit tells us through James what a problem our tongues are- There is not a person alive that does not sin with their tongue. Much harm is done by these sins. Our tongue is a major outlet from our wicked hearts.
This Sunday, we will continue our series in the Song of Solomon. For the last couple of weeks, we have been looking at chapter 7 where the Bridegroom -who represents Christ in the Song of Solomon- expresses His delight in His Bride -who represents the believing church in this Song-she is one bride with many members-. After hearing of His delight in us, we -His church- conclude that- -I am my beloved's, and His desire is toward me.-
Q. 76 Which is the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.--Q. 77 What is required in the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbour's good name, especially in witness bearing.--Q. 78 What is forbidden in the ninth commandment---A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbour's good name.--Bearing false witness is really quite a nasty thing to do- You ought to hate all sins that have anything to do with this sin.
Q. 73 Which is the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.--Q. 74 What is required in the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.--Q. 75 What is forbidden in the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbour's wealth or outward estate.--This week, I want to show you that God gives us possessions not only for our own use and enjoyment, but also to share with others.
In this part of the Song, He describes how lovely we -His bride- are to Him once we have fully returned to Him. Last week we saw how eager He was for us to fully return to Him-without any of the hesitation that we so often have, especially when we have sinned. In the passage we are looking at today, He describes how desirable we are to Him when we are dancing with joy to be with Him.
Q. 73 Which is the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.--Q. 74 What is required in the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.--Q. 75 What is forbidden in the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbour's wealth or outward estate.--This week, we are going to look at how we ought to respect our own wealth-in fact, that we ought to rejoice in the wealth that God has given to us.
You can see how He is continuing to reassure us of His full acceptance of us now that He is with us again. In verse 10, He uses yet another illustration of His present delight in us.
Q. 73 Which is the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.--Q. 74 What is required in the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.--Q. 75 What is forbidden in the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbour's wealth or outward estate.--Today I want to look at an important implication of this, namely- We should respect the property that God has given to our neighbour-and make sure that we do not unjustly diminish what God has given to him.
Today as we continue to work our way through the Song of Solomon, we come to a passage that is quite timely for us. The church around the world is experiencing the Lord's hand of chastisement. In such times we can wonder if our Lord still loves us the way He did before. In Song of Solomon 6-4-9, we are shown what Christ thinks of His church, even when she has resisted Him and caused Him to withdraw for a time.
Q. 73 Which is the eighth commandment---A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.--Psalm 104 shows that God is the Creator of all things, who provides for His creatures by---Supplying water to the beasts and to the earth itself -v. 10-13-. Providing all sorts of things for man -v. 14-15-. Not just for our necessities, but also for our enjoyment -John 12-1-8, 1 Tim 4-3-4-. Providing homes for the various animals He has made -v 16-18-. Ordaining means by which each creature obtains its food -v. 19-23-. For man, it is by labour and industry.--Truly the earth is full of God's possessions -Psalm 104-24--
Q. 71 What is required in the seventh commandment---A. The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbour's chastity in heart, speech, and behaviour.--Q. 72 What is forbidden in the seventh commandment---A. The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.--Today, we will look at the place that sex has in the three-fold purpose of marriage. Remember that marriage is the only place where sexual expression is allowed. God will judge us if we engage in it elsewhere -Heb 13-4-. So as marriage is the only relationship that is meant to be sexual, it is very important for us to understand the place that sex has in marriage.
The Song of Solomon is a book in the Bible that is often neglected and misunderstood. Although it is meant to be understood as an allegory depicting the relationship that Christ has with His church, many limit it to ordinary marriage.--Nevertheless, even those who hold that view must admit that in the Bible marriage is a picture of Christ and His church which is called His bride. Therefore, even if you believe the Song of Solomon is not an allegory, you should still be able to accept these sermons that use this Song to speak of our relationship with Christ. The Apostle Paul goes so far as to say that even the one flesh aspect of marriage -the sexual aspect- illustrates our relationship with Christ as His church -Eph 5-30-32-. He is not saying we have a physical sexual relationship with Jesus, but a spiritual relationship that illustrates and is illustrated by the physical sexual aspect of marriage.--Today we are going to look at her answer which is given in 5-10-16.
Q. 71 What is required in the seventh commandment---A. The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbour's chastity in heart, speech, and behaviour.--Q. 72 What is forbidden in the seventh commandment---A. The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.--Last week, we focused on the importance of preserving our own and our neighbour's chastity by avoiding anything that breaks marriage apart. Today, I want to preach to you about one of the greatest plagues upon our society-what I am going to call soul-shrinking lust. When sex is longed for and even worse, engaged in, outside of marriage, it shrivels up your soul in such a way that you treat other people more like objects than persons.
The devotion of the Church to Christ her Bridegroom is quite conspicuous- The daughters of Jerusalem are struck by it. They have seen the bride's relentless pursuit of Christ. They ask her what makes Him so special -v. 9-. They Repeat the question, showing how earnest they are to know.
Q. 71 What is required in the seventh commandment---A. The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbour's chastity in heart, speech, and behaviour.--Q. 72 What is forbidden in the seventh commandment---A. The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.--You will notice that in question 71, it speaks of the preservation of our own and our neighbour's chastity. Today, I want you to think about what that means in marriage. We are going to look in particular at the problem of separating what God has joined together in marriage-both divorce as well as more subtle ways.
You see that there is something very disturbing here. The song speaks of Christ our husband deserting us- We are going to look at this experience that characterises us as believers.
Q. 70 Which is the seventh commandment---A. The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.--What is adultery- Technically, it is voluntary sexual relations between an individual who is married and someone who is not that individual's spouse. But as we have seen all along, the Ten Commandments are to be taken more broadly, including all sin that is associated with the sin that is expressly spoken of. From that perspective, adultery speaks of all sexual sins.
As we have progressed through this Song, we have seen how it speaks of the many different experiences that we have with Christ as His bride. When we left off at chapter 5, verse 1, Christ had been telling His bride how enraptured He was with her, praising her and enjoying her fruits as most precious to Him. In 4-9, He spoke of being ravished with her love. In 4-16, we saw how she was thrilled to have Him enjoying her and how she wanted her spices to flow out to Him for His enjoyment to which He responded that He was indeed already tasting of her fruit with great delight and sharing it with His friends. But in chapter 5 verse 2 -where we pick up today-, we see that something has happened to her ardent affection.
Q. 68 What is required in the sixth commandment---A. The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life, and the life of others.--Q. 69 What is forbidden in the sixth commandment---A. The sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life our neighbour unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto.--This week, we are going to look at further implications of the sixth commandment. That we are to preserve life and health of our neighbour rather than putting them at risk.
Today I wish to continue and complete our mini-series- -When the Prodigal Comes Home.- In Part 1, we saw God's gracious acceptance of great sinners -Luke 15-. In Part 2, we considered how the church ought to graciously accept them too -Luke 15-. This week, I want to consider what happens after the welcome home party is over. The prodigal son might have been had many trials. Today we are going to look at the testing that follows conversion.
Q. 68 What is required in the sixth commandment---A. The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life, and the life of others.--Q. 69 What is forbidden in the sixth commandment---A. The sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbour unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto.--The root of murder is unjust anger. Jesus tells us this. He begins with what we all know- that murder puts you in danger of judgment -21-. But then He tells us that anger without a cause does too -v. 22--
In this sermon, we will look frankly at the struggles we who are members of the church sometimes have in welcoming those who repent of great sins. This is illustrated by the elder son who became angry when his father welcomed his brother. I hope to help you with this sermon to become more welcoming of sinners.
Q. 67 Which is the sixth commandment---A. The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.--Today we are going to look at this commandment in an introductory way. In future weeks we will look at its broader implications. What does the word kill or murder mean in the sixth commandment- At first, it might seem a little silly to ask such a question- but there is much confusion about it as can be seen from the questions people ask about it.
Ministering to those who have committed serious crimes and helping them reintegrate after long sentences brings up many challenges for a church. Sometimes, church members can struggle with extending forgiveness and acceptance. There is indeed a delicate balance between trusting acceptance on the one hand and prudence on the other that calls for mutual understanding and patience on the part of both the former inmate and the church member. Grace and wisdom will be needed.
I want to answer the question about whether it is ever right to resist rulers who overreach-go beyond their God-given authority.
So having seen last week that He is ravished with us, I want to move on to show you how glad we ought to be -and how glad we will be- to give ourselves to Him. The passage I began last week continues and brings this out. We pick up today in 4-12-Song of Solomon chapter 4 verse 12, but I will read from 4-1.
Q. 66 What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment---A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is a promise of long life and prosperity -as far as it shall serve for God's glory and their own good- to all such as keep this commandment.--The promise is that we will live long as God's people in the earth- God graciously gave Israel this land so that there could be a visible expression that He was their God and they were His people. But the Lord warned them that if they did not continue in His covenant, they would be cut off from the land- In other words, they would not -continue long in the land.- But God also promised that they, as a nation, would never be entirely cut off.
Last week, we saw how we who belong to Christ by faith were brought up out of wilderness of this world, as it were, to be His wife. Today that picture seems to go on, with Christ doing what grooms often did in those days at their wedding-they would praise their bride for her beauty as they prepared to consummate their marriage. Such a praise poem was called a wasf. So today, we are able to see through this allegory what Christ thinks of us -if we are His-.
Q. 64 What is required in the fifth commandment---A. The fifth commandment requireth the preserving the honour, and preforming the duties, belonging to everyone in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.--Q. 65 What is forbidden in the fifth commandment---A. The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honour and duty which belongeth to everyone in their several places and relations.--These questions help us to see the scope of this commandment. It pertains to all relationships where one person has authority over another. It pertains not only to inferiors -this week's focus-, but also to superiors -last week's focus-.
This week, I read through the entire Song a few times. The more I do that, the more I appreciate the fullness that is in this Song. It gives us a wonderful picture of the many different experiences that the church -which is the bride of Christ- has with Christ her husband.
Q. 64 What is required in the fifth commandment---A. The fifth commandment requireth the preserving the honour, and preforming the duties, belonging to everyone in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.--Q. 65 What is forbidden in the fifth commandment---A. The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honour and duty which belongeth to everyone in their several places and relations.--Let's begin with the obvious-our reading in Ephesians shows that those God has put in authority are to exercise their authority.
Today we continue our sermon series on the Song of Songs. This Song gives us a wonderful picture of many different experiences that we, the church which is the bride of Christ, have with Him as our husband to which we are betrothed. Last week, we saw how He visits us so that our relationship with Him blossoms with fresh new growth like a season of spring after the winter. Today we are going see something opposite to that-a season of night when we seek Him and cannot find Him.
Q. 63 Which is the fifth commandment---A. The fifth commandment is, Honour thy father and thy mother- that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.--Today in our sermon series based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, we have come to the first question that pertains to the fifth commandment -Q. 63-.
The Song of Songs has parts in it that speak about all sorts of different aspects of our relationship with Christ our husband. This week addresses the season of spring in our relationship with Him. It speaks of those times when He comes to us to bring forth fresh new life in our relationship with Him.
Q. 62 What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment---A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God's allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, His challenging a special propriety in the seventh, His own example, and His blessing the Sabbath-day.--A lot of people will tell you that they cannot keep the Sabbath Day because they have too much to do. Some have pride about the importance of their work. Some are unwilling to give up their recreations. Some are just lazy and don't have time because they don't work when they ought. The problem here in every case is idolatry-
This morning we will continue our sermon series in the Song of Solomon. Preaching from this book has been one of the most delightful experiences of my life. In the first verse, the Holy Spirit has revealed to us that this book is the Song of Songs. It is superior to all the other songs in the Bible and certainly to any that are outside. Here we have revealed to us the love of Christ for His church and the love of the church for Him, presented to us in an allegorical way.
Our Lord is here proclaiming His glorious beauty. Think of it- He is the brightness of the Father's glory. His beauty when here in flesh was righteousness and faithfulness, grace and truth. He is the only One who was wholly without sin. I say then, let His beauty fill and delight your soul.
Q.61 What is forbidden in the fourth commandment---A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.--The problem here is that these Sabbath keepers are so busy focusing on keeping the Sabbath day holy that they don't keep the Sabbath. For them, the Sabbath is more like a sacrifice where you give up things. As you can see, these Pharisees completely missed the point-
Today we will continue our sermon series in the Song of Solomon. What a delightful Song this is. Truly it is, as it says in verse 1, The Song of Songs. It speaks of the love that is shared between Christ and the church. Throughout the Bible, Christ speaks of Himself as the husband and the church as His Bride.
For the last few weeks, we have been looking at the Fourth Commandment. First we had a general introduction- Then I exhorted you to keep it- Then we looked at how, under the New Covenant, the Lord changed the Sabbath Day from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. Today we are going to look at how the Sabbath is to be sanctified or kept holy.
Q. 59 Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath---A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath- and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath.--So you see that this is simply telling us that after Jesus was resurrected, God changed the weekly Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. This is not as simple of a subject- you will need to follow along in your Bibles.
Today, we will continue in our sermon series on the Song of Solomon. As God's people, how we need the encouragement that comes from this book at this difficult time when we are under God's hand of affliction. Like Daniel in similar circumstances, we need to know that as God's elect in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, we are greatly loved by the Lord.
Q. 52 What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment---A. The reasons annexed to second commandment are, God's sovereignty over us, His propriety in us, and the zeal He hath to His own worship.--Idolatry is an expression of man's hatred for God. Look at how Romans 1 shows this. We make images of God because we don't like the truth about God -Rm 1-18, 28-. The problem is not that we are lacking in information about God -Rm 1-19-20-. You can see how the modifications are described in verses 22 - 23. We make Him out to be a creature-like us- We want to creaturefy God because we find Him too holy and too just for our liking. The primary act of idolatry -now that Jesus has come- is the rejection of the gospel.
Q. 54 What is required in the third commandment---A. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word and works.--With the third commandment, it means that we will fully reverence God's name-we will see His glory instead of taking His name in vain- The third commandment calls us to no longer be dull to God's revelation of Himself -His name-. We are to behold Him as He is revealed to us. This is just what Isaiah 40 calls us to do-
This is the Song of Songs. It speaks beautifully of the love between Christ and His Church. I think the church in our day desperately needs this song to sing in their hearts. We have lost our first love. We do not see His great love for us.
Q. 53 Which is the third commandment---A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.--What does it mean to take His name in vain- Something is done in vain when it means nothing-when it is empty, worthless, useless -Ps 60-11, Hos 10-4-. The key ingredient required to reverence God's name is faith -Heb 11-6-. The 3rd commandment tells you to have a high regard for His name.
We need a song. It seems that right about now, the whole church needs a song. We have been dragging along in our devotion and service to God. We have been irritated and annoyed by many things. But we don't as much need calls to repent just now-but rather the setting forth of the gracious relationship that God sustains with His people. I think the entire church needs this, and I think the reformed church especially needs this and probably has for a while. We need a song-an excellent song-about love- about beautiful love. Not about the duty of love, but about being loved and about the love that we already have in us by grace but don't always recognise.
Q. 51 What is forbidden in the second commandment---A. The second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His word.--See here how the problem of adding to the worship that God appointed is described by Jesus Christ. The issue was actually raised by those who were following man-made traditions. Often those who do this feel quite superior to those who do not follow their traditions. You can see in our text how they call into question the Lord Jesus Himself-
In may not look like it at first, but today we are starting a new sermon series in the Song of Solomon. It may not look like it because I am preaching from Psalm 45. But Ps 45 is our Psalm of Focus that we will sing as we begin our study of the Song of S. The Song of Solomon is about the relationship that the church enjoys with Jesus Christ, our Maker who has become our husband.
Q. 50 What is required in the second commandment---A. The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in His word.--You ought to give yourself fully to the worship that God has appointed. Of course you ought to do this. It is disrespectful not to-He is God Almighty. Your Creator and Redeemer- Indifference about praising Him is totally inappropriate.
Today we come to the very end of Mark's gospel. We will be looking at the last two verses. Remember how Mark began this gospel. He told us right away that he was writing about the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. This was surely very encouraging to the Christians at Rome as they experienced the iron hand of imperial Rome upon them which led to Peter's martyrdom by Emperor Nero. How it must have heartened them to hear in Mark that not Nero, but Jesus was Lord of all. As they read on in the gospel, they saw how weak the apostles were when Jesus was here. They saw how great their Master was-how holy, how pure, how mighty. But here at the end, they are reminded that when He went to glory, He transformed them.
Q. 49 Which is the second commandment---A. The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth- thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them- for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me- and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.--Can you see what a serious error it is for us to decide how to approach God- We are not the ones who ought to decide this. We are not capable of coming up with what pleases Him. The second commandment is really about the very gospel itself.
How gracious the Lord is- Even though His people were entirely undeserving, He promises to restore them. He will provide what He requires of them from His own resources and merit -36-22 - 32-. In this wonderful prophecy, God promises that He Himself will baptise them, and He tells them how He will make them clean.