The foundation of the Christian church was the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and because His execution had been perpetrated by the authorities, this meant that Christianity was established in defiance of the established authorities. And once the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Lord’s disciples, this also meant that the Body of Christ took shape under exactly the same conditions.

Jesus Christ was a murder victim, killed by the ungodly men who ran the ecclesiastical machinery of ancient Jerusalem. They thought that they had dispensed with the Christ threat, but He exploded their plans by coming back from the dead. Now this risen one had predicted that He would come back from the dead, as His enemies well knew (Matt. 27:63). This prediction had been fulfilled, as they also knew (Matt. 28:11-15). But in addition to this, He had also predicted that Jerusalem would be flattened within one generation (Matt. 24:34). The city was now on death row, and the clock running down. The resurrection was therefore the guarantee that the destruction to follow was certain. In this context, the great apostle Peter was offering the miscreants terms. He was giving them a chance to repent. Many did, but—in the teeth of the evidence—many others did not. It was not a matter of evidence.   

Faith in the power of Christ is not the same thing as faith in the power of faith. In this passage, Peter says explicitly that it was not through their own power or holiness that this remarkable healing was accomplished. Rather it was the power of the risen Christ who did it, using Peter and John as His instrument. 

The evildoers running the Sanhedrin were now confronted with a real problem. The man they had unjustly murdered had come back from the dead—His greatest miracle. He ascended into Heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit on His twelve disciples, who began preaching the resurrection powerfully and performing many wonders and miracles (v. 43). By killing Jesus Christ, the unbelieving Jews only succeeded in giving Him a throne of everlasting dominion in Heaven. And down below in Jerusalem the headache that Jesus had been for them was now multiplied by twelve. In addition to this, because baptism was being administered in the name of this Jesus, the Church now had a definite set of boundaries. These were the people who were bound to Christ.

We saw last week that the gift of tongues was a marvelous blessing for those who had ears to hear. For believers, the point was all about the grace of God, and the wonderful works of God. But we also saw that for unbelievers, the reality of gibberish in the streets of Jerusalem was beyond creepy. If they had known the meaning of Scripture, they would have heard ominous music in the soundtrack. They were on the threshold of their doom.We have seen how Luke set the stage for recording Peter’s sermon. In English, the sermon takes about two and a half minutes to speak, but it says later (v. 40) that Peter spoke “many other words” in the follow up. Given the nature of the case, it is important to take in all of Peter’s sermon at one go.

In the second chapter of Acts, we have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, resulting in the gift of tongues, a powerful sermon, and a massive in gathering of new believers. As we read about this stupendous gift of tongues, we might have the same reaction that the initial hearers did. What on earth does this mean (v. 12)?

The main action in the second half of this first chapter has to do with the replacement of Judas Iscariot. But along the way, we learn quite a few things about the early days of the apostolic company.

The first verse of Acts contained the formal introduction to the book, but the following verses fill it out a bit more. These verses refer to the Lord’s resurrection appearances, and the proofs He gave His disciples that He was in fact alive. Second, He taught them about the kingdom, and told them to wait in Jerusalem until they had been given kingdom power. When that power had descended upon them, they would be ambassadors of that kingdom out to the ends of the earth. And then last, the angels promised that Christ would at some point return in the same way that He left, meaning that He would descend from the sky.

The Text:Isaiah 18 & 19

We have had no little political tumult as of late and the sense that God is writing quite a story is inescapable. One gets the sense that He is not dictating this story, but writing it with His own hand. It seems like a pen and pad situation, up close and personal, with the Triune author saying something like, "Do you hear me now?" As I saw one commentator recently say after observing our festive news cycles, "Boy, this America: Season Finale really is something." Given our riveting times we should prepare to stay riveted; and these rivets should be fastening into something with more staying power than the Breaking News. Lucky for us, our text is more dramatic than our recent happenings, and that is really saying something.

Two messages delivered at a joint outdoor worship service with all three campuses of Christ Church and King's Cross Church. "A Mind to Work" by Toby Sumpter and "Lessons for the Limelight" by Doug Wilson.

Even given the tumultuous time we have had over the last few years, and the attention that it has brought us, it would still be too much for us to say that “all eyes are on Moscow.” That is simply not true. But it would be accurate for us to say that more eyes are on us than used to be the case, and that more eyes are on us than we are accustomed to. On the assumption that you have taken to heart the exhortation you have heard from Pastor Toby today, which is that you need to be faithful within your radius, within your reach here locally, you are still going to be affected by what is going on nationally and even internationally. What should all of us be doing about that?

We live in the ruins of Western Christendom. The walls of once great Christian nations and civilizations have been breached by new pagan hordes. But God in His kindness has done something remarkable here locally in Moscow. He has given us a mind to the work of rebuilding the walls of Christendom. And He has done this in such a way as to cause a spotlight to be shone on this work. People have noticed us building. So what are we to think of all this? And what we are to do? The simple answer and exhortation is to remain faithful at your stations. Keep your mind to the work. 

What are the spiritual disciplines in this great religion of ours? Prayer is usually the first to come to mind. To watch God work through the vehicle of answered prayer is one of the great experiences of a believer. We should cling to it like a butterfly to a flower in the wind. Martin Luther said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” E.M. Bounds said, “Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty.” Which is why the consistent charge here at Christ Church Troy has been to be spiritually disciplined about prayer. What about Bible reading? Like the Jews who gathered their manna from off the ground, we turn to the pages of scripture to have our portion for the day. And what the Lord has for us will vary: sometimes conviction, sometimes a proverb. There is chastisement and warnings. There is comfort and blessing. There is cloak and dagger, characters who prefer the shadows. And there is Jesus who teaches the inverse, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men.” John Wesley said this about daily Bible reading, “I want to know one thing—the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven. He has written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God!”

The longest book in the New Testament is the gospel of Luke. The second longest is volume 2 of this same set, the Acts of the Apostles, the book where we are now going to spend some time. These two books were written by the same man and were dedicated to the same man—Theophilus. While we are beginning to work through the Acts, it is important to remember to keep this book connected in your minds and hearts with what Luke recorded about the Lord’s ministry earlier. This first message is going to focus on that.

Sermon Text: Jude

The Text: Isaiah 16

Sermon Text: Isaiah 17

The chances are pretty good that over the years you have heard me say something like this. You task as parents is not to get your kids to conform to the standard, but rather to get them to love the standard. This may seem straightforward and simple, but there are actually layers to it. As we pursue this, we turn to the greatest commandment in the Bible, which is where we find the authority to say things like “love the standard.”

The Text: Judges 21

In some ways, this message will be like a lesson in firearms safety—one of the basic rules of firearm safety is that you should always treat all guns as if they were always loaded. We are all of us sexual beings, men and women, boys and girls, and as Christian disciples, we need to learn how to conduct ourselves accordingly, with propriety and decorum.

The Text: Malachi 2:4-9

The Text: Judges 20

As with all checking accounts, it is important make deposits in the checking account of parental authority before attempting to write checks out of that account with an authoritative flourish in the signature. Like all checking accounts, there needs to be money in there. It is not reasonable to argue that you can’t be out of money because you still have some checks left.

When I was young, listening to music was a big part of our family dynamic. I have very vivid memories of seeing my parents’ CD collection neatly lined up on the shelf. Mom and Dad liked to listen to a lot of things, but smooth jazz was a staple genre in the house. So Dad would push the button on the Sony, the tray would extend, and the five-cd-carousel would spin as it jutted out, revealing which discs were currently in rotation. He would take a disc out, replace it with something, push the button again to retract the tray, push play, and the dulcet tones of Geoge Benson would fill the family room over the hi-fi speakers. If they wanted to discover music they would listen to 94.7 The Wave, and I would sit there on the couch and listen to Kenny G, Lee Ritenour, Candy Dulfer, Earl Klugh, and Larry Carlton. And so my love for music began at a very young age. When I was in college I played bass for the gospel choir, and I fell in love with the genre. So now that’s in rotation at our home. One of my favorite albums is called The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin, a live gospel album recorded in the year 2000.

The Text: Judges 19

Starting a project is one thing, and finishing it is another. For this reason, the wise preacher said that the end of a thing is better than its beginning (Ecclesiastes 7:8).

The Text: Psalm 139

"Again the children of Israel did evil" (Judges 13:1)This phrase begins the Samson cycle of the book of Judges. The phrase is so common in the book of Judges that it could be the title of the book. In particular, it is repeated at the beginning of every major section of the book of Judges and introduces a very standard four element cycle that we see throughout the book. 1. The people do evil in the sight of the Lord, primarily by serving pagan gods. 2. The Lord delivers them into the hands of an oppressor. 3. The people then cry out to God. 4. God responds to their cries by raising up a judge to deliver them. 

The Text: Isaiah 15

When we baptize a child, one of the things we do is ask the congregation to take a vow together withthe parents of the child. “Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of assisting theseparents in the Christian nurture of this child? If so, then signify by saying amen.” #ere is a very realsense in which we are all in this together. While each of us should make sure we are carrying ourown load (Gal. 6:5), at the same time we should also be careful to carry one another’s burdens (Gal.6:2), thus ful"lling the law of Christ. One of the things we should conclude from this is that there isa strong social component to child rearing.

These two passages display the complexity of the biblical witness on compassion. In the first, we are to clothe ourselves in compassion (literally: bowels of mercy), which leads us to bear with each other and forgive each other as love binds us all together. Elsewhere Paul “yearns for the Philippians with the affection of Christ” (Phil. 1:8). Affection and sympathy are bonding agents (Phil. 2:1), enabling us to be single-minded and in full accord. The Lord, who is compassionate and merciful, is our ultimate model for compassion, and he has given us the fathers and mothers as images of his compassion (Isa 49:15; 1 Kings 3; Psalm 103).In the second, we are forbidden to show pity or compassion on those who would entice us to idolatry. Similar commands are given with respect to first degree murder and lying in court (Deuteronomy 7:16, 19:13, and 19:21). In such cases, God is adamant that “your eye shall not pity them.” And again, in doing so, we are to follow God as our model, who executes his judgment without pity or compassion (Jer. 13:14; Lam. 2:17; Ezek. 5:11; 7:4, 9; 8:18).So how should we make sense of this?

The Text: Isaiah 14:12-32

The Holy Spirit has been active in the world since the creation of the world. He appears in the second verse of the Bible, for example, hovering over the face of the waters (Gen. 1:2). In every era, God is always God. The Son of God is always the visible image of the invisible Father, and the Spirit is always the one who empowers and equips. Nevertheless, we do see a difference between the Old Testament and the New in this regard. The Spirit has always been the one ministering forgiveness, and cleansing, and power. This has always been his work. But in the Old Testament, His operations were much more surgical and precise. In the New Testament era, His operations are much more torrential. Water is always water, and while it would rain in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, the dam has burst.

The Text: Isaiah 14:1-11

There are some things in scripture that are very easy to understand. There are some things that are very difficult. Some passages qualify as milk for the baby Christian. But God also provides meat for the mature. For those who came to know the Lord later in life, you can attest to the fact that when you first started to read God’s Word on a daily basis not everything was clear. Some things were disturbing, some things were confusing. But there also was a sense that there was more to be discovered. Many of us have benefitted from a study-Bible, where the commentator explained the historical context or brought to life a connection from the old testament. And even for those who have read through the Bible multiple times we understand that there are many biblical treasures yet to be discovered, insights that are not readily apparent on the surface. How can we truly understand the Lord's supper, if we know nothing about the passover? If we don’t know about Zechariah’s prophecy, how can we fully appreciate the triumphal entry? How can we venerate Jesus as High Priest, if we know nothing about the priesthood. But scripture will often drop us hints that the passage conceals deeper truths waiting to be uncovered. And I believe that is what John does in our text this morning when He says, “Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification.”

In our message last Lord’s Day, we defined what we mean by the word discipline. Our subject this week is “discipline as genuine love,” and so it is important to begin with a definition of love. What does it mean to love God, and what does it mean to love our neighbor? These are the two great commandments, and so we should know what they summon us to.To love someone is to treat someone lawfully from the heart. To love God is to do what He calls us to do, and to do it from the heart. Nowhere does Scripture identify love with our emotional “feels,” that approach being an error that is currently destroying millions. At the same time, we are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Dt. 6:4-9; Mark 12:30), and this would certainly include our “feels.” But this simply means that our emotions must be obedient, along with the rest of our being. But obeying commands is not the same thing as issuing commands. So loving God means doing what He says to do, from the heart. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). And His commandments include bringing up our children in the nurture and admonition, applying physical correction when necessary, and providing loving instruction all the time. 

The Text: Judges 18

THE TEXT: Isaiah 13-14:2

In our message last Lord’s Day, we defined what we mean by the word discipline. Our subject this week is “discipline as genuine love,” and so it is important to begin with a definition of love. What does it mean to love God, and what does it mean to love our neighbor? These are the two great commandments, and so we should know what they summon us to.To love someone is to treat someone lawfully from the heart. To love God is to do what He calls us to do, and to do it from the heart. Nowhere does Scripture identify love with our emotional “feels,” that approach being an error that is currently destroying millions. At the same time, we are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Dt. 6:4-9; Mark 12:30), and this would certainly include our “feels.” But this simply means that our emotions must be obedient, along with the rest of our being. But obeying commands is not the same thing as issuing commands. So loving God means doing what He says to do, from the heart. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). And His commandments include bringing up our children in the nurture and admonition, applying physical correction when necessary, and providing loving instruction all the time. 

The Text: Judges 17

The title of this series of messages refers to child discipline. We have come to the point where we need to define that word discipline. What do we mean by it? The English word is descended from the Latin disciplina, which refers to a course of instruction, learning, or knowledge. Discipline is necessarily teleological, meaning that it is directed toward a particular end, that end being graduation, or completion, or maturity. The discipline is both positive and negative. The positive would include being given the harder work of fourth grade, not as punishment, but rather as a reward for having done so well in third grade. The negative aspect would be getting held back from recess for having squirreled around too much during class. But both the negative and positive are aiming at the same goal. The positive inculcates, and the negative corrects. It is important not to confound discipline and punishment. Punishment simply has justice in view, while discipline has correction in view.

The Text: Isaiah 12

Many Christian parents are aware of the fact that the outside world is hostile to our faith, and as a consequence is hostile to the approach we must take in bringing our children up in that faith. We are usually aware of the fact of the hostility, but we are frequently unaware of the root of that hostility. What it is that is necessitating such a radical clash? Why is it that everything seems to have come unstuck?

The Text: Romans 14

The Text: Judges 15:1-16:3

In order to work through a series of messages on parenting, it is necessary to pay some attention to the parents. The parents are the ones doing the work, and the quality of the participle (parenting) is going to be dependent on the quality of the source. If the parent is foolish, so will the parenting be. If the parent is dictatorial, so will the parenting be. If the parent is wise, so will the parenting be. So rather than turning immediately to the interactions between parent and child, it is necessary to look first at the relationship between parent and God.

In 1996, Dr. Michael Behe wrote a book called Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. In the book, he coined a new phrase to describe the complex inner workings of the bacteria flagellum; he called it Irreducible Complexity. The flagellum is a slender thread-like structure, a spinning appendage which propels the bacteria through liquid. It works similar to an outboard motor on a boat. But instead of a gearbox, an engine, and a propeller—these large objects that we can physically manipulate with a socket wrench—the flagellum is composed of proteins, tiny building blocks so small that we need an electron microscope to look at them. When the proteins combine in the flagellum, they make a driveshaft, a universal joint, a rotor, bushings, a stater, and even a clutch and braking system. Our God is an exquisite miniaturist, engineering on a scale that is truly hard to comprehend. In his book, Dr. Behe uses some analogies to explain the concept of irreducible complexity.

Over the years I have preached on marriage, and family, and child-rearing any number of times. Seeing that I am about to do it again, I need to begin by noting the way this series will overlap with the others, but also to point out a significant way that it will differ. Some of the basic principles remain constant, of course, and to refresh your thinking concerning those principles, there are a number of our books available, and recordings of previous series. But this series of messages is going to be dwelling on biblical child rearing as a profoundly countercultural thing. What does it mean to bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord in a generation that is profoundly hostile to any such endeavor? That worldly hostility is expressed in countless ways—from overt persecution to surreptitious lying, and from surreptitious lying to online seduction and subversion. 

The Text: Matthew 27:52-28:15 KJV

Two thousand years ago, a man who had been wickedly betrayed by the religious authorities, murderously crucified by the Roman civil authorities, did the unthinkable by rising from the dead. This was God’s plan from the beginning, and the Lord Jesus knew that this was the plan.“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17–18).And when Jesus took up His life again, He was taking up absolute dominion. A man who dies and comes back to life again in history is the Lord of history. And this has enormous ramifications.  

The Text: Isaiah 11 KJV

One of the things that happened in the medieval period was that the church calendar began to get cluttered up with numerous saints’ days and celebrations, like so many barnacles on the ark that was the church. There were many blessings that resulted from the great Reformation, and one of them was that the number of Christian holidays was pared down to what came to be known as the “five evangelical feast days.” All of them were geared to the life of Christ—Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. It is our practice here at Christ Church to have all of our celebrations of these days land on Sunday, with two exceptions. In addition to our 52 Lord’s Day celebrations, we also have a service on Christmas Eve, and one on Good Friday. On Palm Sunday, the week before Easter, we also have a sermon that is geared to that theme, and so here we are.

The Text: Isaiah 11

This is a short psalm, but it is densely packed with hallelujahs. There are twelve of them here, and one hallelu-el. Together they praise Jah, the covenant God of Israel—Yahweh or Jehovah, and El, the great God Almighty. The longest stretch of words here between any two hallelujahs is four words, with all the rest of the bridges being two words. This conclusion to the Psalter is a great crescendo of praise.

One of the marks of the Reformed faith was a great political reformation. This is why it is sometimes called the “Magisterial Reformation.” The Pope and Roman church had slowly claimed political power, but the Reformers insisted that Scripture clearly taught that all power was given to Jesus Christ and therefore, directly and delegated to magistrates, pastors, and parents for particular tasks by Him.

The Text: Isaiah 10:20-34

In Scripture, praise and true authority always go hand in hand. This is because it is faith that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4), and praise always overflows from the confidence of true faith. Evangelical faith sings at the dinner table, sings behind the wheel, sings at the workbench, sings while going to war, and sings in the assembly of the saints. You are the choir militant, and you have been given a new song indeed. Who is given that new song but the elect of God, the 144,000 (Rev. 14:3)?

We live in a world that says you can be anything you want, anything at all – the more bizarre and perverse the better, just don’t be an ordinary, faithful man who marries an ordinary faithful woman, and have a pile of happy, ordinary kids and love and serve the Lord together. Anything but that. And the mischievous Tom Sawyer inside you should grin and say, “Well, now I’m going to normal even harder.”A significant part of the Protestant Reformation was a recovering of the Bible’s teaching concerning the goodness and power of marriage, children, and family. Celibacy had come to be seen as the “higher calling,” and the duties and responsibilities of family as therefore lower and menial. The devil has always sought to lure people away from the glory of marriage and family precisely because when God’s blessing is upon it, it is such potent goodness. 

The Text: Judges 14 NKJV

One of my favorite lines that I’ve heard from a parishioner came from a sweet, faithful lady who had followed the Lord for many years. When she would recount to me something that wasn’t quite as it ought to be, something troubling that needed sorting out, she would add, “Now, Pastor, I am not the fourth member of the Trinity.” That is a good thing for us to remember for the Lord resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Our passage reminds us of these things.

The Text: Isaiah 10:1–19 KJV

The Text: Judges 13

The Text: Isaiah 9:8-21

This is a psalm of praise in action. It begins in the highest heaven, and descends to the deeps, and invites everyone and everything in between to join in with this chorus of praise. Moreover, this wonderful psalm concludes with a promise that is attached to all heartfelt praise. God is exalted in a particular kind of praise, and He makes sure to exalt that kind of praise in turn. There is a reciprocity in praise that will usher in tremendous blessings when we come to understand it.

The Text: Judges 12

The 16th Century Reformation was a reformation of worship. Worship is at the center of human life, and therefore, we believe it is the most important thing we do as Christians. How we think about worship and offer our worship flows into all of life.In the beginning, God placed Adam in the Garden Sanctuary where Adam had direct communion with God, and from that Garden a river flowed out to the four corners of the world. In Ezekiel’s vision, a river flows out from under the altar growing deeper until it reaches the sea, bringing healing to the nations. What we do in worship impacts us and the whole world. 

As human beings there are many things that differentiate us from the animals. First and foremost, we are made in the image of god. Our penchant for creativity and our desire to invent is derived from this. We make things, design things, prototype things, tweak, bend, and reassess. And we end up with something on our work bench or computer screen or cast iron skillet that didn’t exist the day before. We have flesh like the animals, but we also have a soul. We have been given a conscience, and an innate sense of our place in the universe. And I also think that most men are aware that our purpose in this life has something to do with each other.

On the one hand, we know that God is far above us, higher than the highest heaven. But we must also confess that He is beneath our feet, supporting us in every possible way. He is the God of the macrocosm, but He is also an infinitely skilled miniaturist, folding enormous libraries of information into trillions of cells—and that is just in one body. He is the God of general, natural revelation, and He is the God who reveals Himself in the propositions of human language.

The Text: Joshua 7

One of the great recoveries of the Reformation was the notion of covenant. The doctrine of the covenant steers a biblical “middle way” between sacerdotal mysticism on the one hand and subjective mysticism on the other. God’s covenant is His objective personal relationship with human beings in history, with attendant blessings and curses. And because God deals with us in this way, we also deal with one another broadly through covenants in our families and nations.

A perennial problem that comes upon the people of God is that they choose to die in the desert rather than come to the source of Living Water. Israel refused to enter into the land flowing with milk and honey. So that generation spent their lives wandering east of the Jordan until their corpses filled the wilderness. Isaiah 55 is designed that we might not go the way of that old generation. It is designed that we would come to the Lord and live.

The Text: Obadiah

He made the universe and in His grace made you. And there you are standing on top of this enormous pile of grace and mercy and blessing saying to God, "You need to listen to me."This is one of the fundamental Christian doctrines: Shut your mouth. He is God and you are not.

Pastor Wilson has used this phrase “Chestertonian Calvinism” for a number of years to describe the flavor of Calvinism we are aiming for. It’s a riff on something C.S. Lewis once said about the Puritans: “On many questions, and specially in their view of the marriage bed, the Puritans were the indulgent party; if we may without disrespect so use the name of a great Roman Catholic, a great writer, and a great man, they were much more Chestertonian than their adversaries.” In other words, far from the morose and harsh caricatures, the legacy of John Calvin is joy and gladness, astonishment and relief, and the early accusations were that, if anything, they were too celebratory when it came to the gifts of bed and board.  So as we go over the basics of what has come to be called “Calvinism,” we want to do so in an obedient and humble way, which is to say: the right kind of humility before these high doctrines ought to result in a robustly earthy joy. 

Judges 11

On the one hand, people have every reason to not put their trust in princes. The princes let them down over and over, again and again. You would think that people would stop doing that. Every promised wave of reforms is promising to fix all the problems that were caused by the previous wave of reforms. We are like that woman in the gospels—the more the doctors treated her, the more the problems continued (Luke 8:43). But the reason we keep resorting to these “princes” is that we assume, in our faithlessness, that we have no other options. We must either trust in this prince or that one, musn’t we? And the answer presented by this psalm is a clarion no.

The Text: Isaiah 9

As a newer congregation with many newer folks, I want to spend the next few weeks going over some of the basics of what mean when we say we are “Reformed.” Historically, this name goes back to the Protestant Reformation of the 16thcentury, but it is fundamentally based on the supremacy of God, revealed in Scripture, as the perfect Word of God. To say we are Reformed is to say that we want everything we think, say, or do to be God-centered and obedient to His Word. This is not to say that we have arrived, but it is to say that He is worthy. As we do this, we really do want to stand in the “old paths” and hold fast to the “faith once delivered for the saints,” but we want to actually live in this glorious house and not merely become the next museum curators. Or to change the metaphor, we want to fire these cannons at real, modern enemies, not merely polish them and rehearse how they were once used in the glory days of yore. 

THE TEXT: Judges 10

The nature and character of God is of course worthy of all praise and adoration. But we are finite, and sinful on top of that, and so we cannot even begin to praise Him as He deserves to be praised. Nevertheless, the effort must be made. As forgiven sinners, how on earth are we going to declare His worth? What are we going to do? Shout? Stand on a chair?One of the ways that Scripture assigns to us is the method of declaring His works—the mighty works that He accomplished down here where we live. This is something we can do, and David shows us the way.

THE TEXT: Isaiah 8

With a handful of exceptions, Christians are overwhelmingly united in their willingness to worship God on the first day of the week. After all, we have been doing this for two thousand years, and we are rarely questioned about it. Why not just go with the flow? The answer to that question is that we should want to be deliberate Christians in everything we offer up to God. We never want to be guilty of the “will worship” that Paul condemns in Col. 2:23. We are constrained to offer to God what He requires of us, and not anything else. So why do we worship on the first day of the week? Why didn’t the Church remain with the seventh-day Sabbath of the Jews?

THE TEXT: Isaiah 8

The Text: John 11:1-6

From Andrew DeBartolo, Director of Operations at Liberty Coalition Canada, “On Sunday January 14th, 2024, Liberty Coalition Canada would exhort you to preach a sermon focused on a Biblical sexual ethic and God's good design for marriage. We hope to have thousands of pastors worldwide participate in this initiative. We believe the Lord will use this united effort to both declare the sovereign Lordship of Christ over His Church and transform many lives through the life-changing power of the Word of God.” And so this morning we will take up the charge and unite with our other brothers and sisters across the globe to discuss this very important subject, biblical sexuality. First we will begin by asking, “How does the world define sexuality?” Secondly, we will discuss what the Bible teaches about sexuality. And lastly, we will answer objections from the gay Christian movement, those who teach it’s ok to be gay and Christian.

This psalm overlaps a good deal with what David prayed in Psalm 18, as well as in 2 Samuel 22, near the end of his life. His life had been a long series of battles and conflicts, and he certainly knew the truth of what he was expressing here. This is a psalm of jubilation, rejoicing in the sort of prosperity that the deliverances of Jehovah can bring to a people. It begins with war, but concludes with the harvest of true peace.

THE TEXT:1 Thessalonians 1:1-7

This psalm is offered up to God in a time of great distress. We do not know if it is from the time of Saul’s persecution, or from Absalom’s rebellion, or from some other time. Regardless, the need is pressing and great, and David is presenting his prayers to God with great urgency.

First, imitation serves as an example of God’s design in how he made the world. He is the master craftsman, and his world is built to run on a certain mix of fuel. Inputs drive outputs, and imitation links these together. In this sense, imitation is inescapable. It’s not if, but who? Second, the principle of imitation is intricately linked to how we live our lives and how we raise our kids. Finally, Scripture show us to how we can take this principle of God’s design and push it into the corners of our daily lives. The fact that we are starting a new year, adds the spice of considering how we can work our understanding of imitation into real change in our lives versus vain resolutions.

This year, for my State of the Church message, I want to take a 30,000 ft. view. The church at large is beset with great danger to moral compromise. However, locally, we should not think ourselves impervious to the onslaught which is attacking the church of our Lord Jesus. We live in perilous times, and I want to summon our local congregation to look at the perils which surround us, and to take heed.

As you might know by now, the tone coming out of Moscow has gained a little bit of notoriety. For good or ill, this reputation shows no signs of going away, and because you are likely to be fielding questions about it, I thought that it would be good to use our annual “state of the church” message to help you sort through the relevant issues.

The Text: Luke 2:21-40

We have emphasized in the past that the gospel consists of two aspects—the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first has to do with who He is, and the second aspect concerns what He has done. Regarding the person of Christ we confess that He is YHWH come in the flesh, Jehovah Incarnate. With regard to His work, we are talking about His life of sinless obedience, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead. What did the Messiah do? He became one of us, only without sin, and He was crucified, buried, resurrected and crowned in Heaven. And who was it that did this thing? It was Emmanuel—God with us. This incarnate reality is closely connected with various Old Testament prophecies concerning the Lord’s nativity. Let’s consider some of them now. 

The point this evening is not to load your Christmas down with any exegetical postmill work, which has been done elsewhere. This is just intended as a simple word of Christmas encouragement—I do not seek to persuade you in these few minutes, but rather to embolden you.

The Psalmist said that the wicked dig a pit for capturing the righteous, but they fall into it themselves. Wicked men and godless kings have hounded God’s people, persecuted the righteous, and done the bidding of the Dragon in trying to stop God’s redemptive purposes. But all their schemes miscarry. All their plots are foiled. All their dreams are disappointed. The birth of Christ is the moment when the tide of redemption turned. Christ’s dawn meant that the darkness of despair was driven back. Evil’s doom had come.

The Text: 1 John 1

The texts we are going to look at today are the genealogies of Christ, and other passages related to them, but the theme of this message will be on the promises of God. The fact of genealogies in Scripture are often nothing more than an obstacle to Christians in their Bible reading, but this is not the way to think of them. The genealogies are vast and intimidating mountain ranges, but what we need to realize is that there are actually rich veins of gold there. Like the land of Havilah, the gold is good there (Gen. 2:12).

The coming of the Christ-child was God’s brilliant wit on full display. How would God overthrow Satan’s kingdom? With a baby. How would God defeat the mighty, fallen cherubim, Lucifer? By planting a human seed. How would God destroy death? By laughing in its face.

The Text: Luke 1:26-38

The hallmark of Christmas is joy. Ear to ear grins. Hot chocolate mustaches. Gleeful shouts as presents are unwrapped. But your joy, true joy, is given to you by the grief of the Man of sorrows. The story of Christ’s birth, which brought glad tidings and peace on earth, is swiftly followed by a grisly tale of the ravenous wolf of sin.

Scripture is quite clear that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. But what was the point? Why is this important?

Having heard the Christmas story many times, it stirs up familiar images in our mind’s eye. The Lord Jesus is welcomed into the world by his mother and father. A young couple, just getting started, stare down at the baby boy wrapped in swaddling clothes. They smile with delight and have all of the normal reactions that come with being a first time parent, “He has your nose. Look at all that hair.” But in addition to the delight one experiences in taking the child in, finally being able to see after nine months what this kid looks like, they have other thoughts to contend with, thoughts that none of us as parents have ever had to deal with, thoughts like, “What is to become of this child? I hold the messiah in my hands. I am a virgin mother. The angel said to me, ‘He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ And it is my job to raise Him. God help me.”

The incarnation of Christ was indeed the most wonderful of God’s wondrous works. But it was the most unsurprising surprise. God’s hand had guided the story of redemption to this culmination. Like a lovely symphony the OT introduces certain motifs, which are picked up and expanded in the Incarnation of Christ. So, it would be wise for us to listen to those themes from the OT that anticipated the events surrounding Christ’s birth in order to better sing the Gospel song.

What we are going to do in this season of Advent is take a closer look at a number of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the bith of the Messiah. We are going to look first at the geographical predictions. What places are involved? After that, we will take up other aspects of His nativity, week to week. Remember that all of God’s promises were wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in the manger.

Prayer is a tricky thing. You know that God is sovereign, that He has predestined all things, and knows the words that you will speak even before you speak them. In light of this truth, you may develop an attitude that thinks prayer is irrelevant. Then, when a trial arises and you begin to fear, and prayer will become an exercise in worrying before God. Both of these attitudes are disobedient and result in disobedience because they flow from doubt and unbelief. The reality is that believing, fervent prayer is potent and necessary for obedience. It is a wonderful privilege. 

The Text: 2 Chronicles 36

As we have all enjoyed the blessings of a Thanksgiving holiday just a few days ago, I thought it appropriate to spend some time on a little understood aspect of gratitude or thanksgiving. We of course understand how pleasant gratitude is. In addition, we readily grasp the duty of expressing our thanksgiving to God. We grasp that gratitude is something that is critical in keeping our faith renewing and constantly growing. The spiritual food we partake of every Lord’s Day is called the Eucharist, from the Greek word for giving thanks, which is eucharisto. But what I want to focus on this morning is what might be called the authority of gratitude.

The Text: Judges 9

THE TEXT: 1 Timothy 3:14-16

If you ask a muslim, “Who is Jesus?” he will say, “Jesus, peace be upon him, is a prophet of Allah.” And while Christians will agree, He is a prophet of God, He is not merely a prophet of God. And of course when they use the term Allah (God) they mean a very different thing than we do. If you ask a Latter-Day Saint, “Who is Jesus?” they will say, “He is God the Father’s firstborn spirit-child in heaven and the spirit brother of lucifer. He was begotten on earth by God the Father by natural means, not by the Holy Ghost and is now one amongst many millions of other gods.” If you ask a Jehovah’s witness, they will say, “Jesus is not God almighty, he is God’s son. Jesus is God’s first creation, inferior to God the Father. And Jesus is actually Michael the archangel.” Like any lie, satan prefers to sprinkle truth in amongst falsehood so as to feign authenticity. Jesus is the son of God. Jesus is a prophet of God, but He is not created. His origin is one of eternity, begotten of the Father. He is the firstborn of all creation, but this is a title of preeminence, not descriptive of a point of time where he came into being. Like the person of the Father, the son has eternally existed. And so when Christians are asked who is Jesus, we recite the Athanasian creed.

The Text: Judges 8

We now come to the final decade of psalms. We first began this series almost twenty years ago—when some of you young marrieds were still pre-school. This might make us feel odd in all sorts of ways, but one thing it should remind us of is the fact that Scripture is a vast storehouse of treasures, and one lifetime doesn’t even begin to touch it.

For far too long the Christian Church has been passive and apathetic, watching freedom and justice slip away from our land, but how does our Lord’s teaching about enemies and justice apply to us? Whether we are thinking about the way pagans are seeking to destroy our Christian culture, or international conflict in the Middle East or Europe, or interpersonal conflict you may have in your family, what does Jesus mean and how does this teaching apply?

One of the best ways for a Christian child to honor his father and mother is to surpass them. If a child outgrows his parents in love for Christ, in knowledge of the Bible, and in a true grasp of what the gospel is all about, no one who truly loves God can begrudge it. And there is a paradox involved in it. One of the best ways to surpass your parents is to make sure you look up to them. The first will be last, and the last first. 

The Text: Judges 6:35-7:25

The Text: Judges 6

The Text: 1 Timothy 1

We have had a couple of sermons on how to be a Christian kid as of late. And this sermon is designed to stay in a similar vein while coming at the matter from the opposite end. The kids among us need to know that they are Christian kids and what to do about that. Likewise, parents need to know their kids are Christians and how to raise them as such.

As we examine the Scriptures on this topic, we find that the central duty that Christian offspring have is the duty of honor. This honor has different manifestations depending on the time of life, but there is always honor at the center. And this means, in its turn, that learning how to be a Christian kid means learning how to honor.

The Text: 1 Timothy 1

Last week we surveyed the landscape of the Sacrament of Baptism. This week we’ll hike the terrain of the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Cathedrals have the baptismal font at the entrance for good reason; Christ, and Baptism into Him, is the door. However, once you come through the door you are welcomed to the Lord’s banqueting table. Baptism is like birth, the Supper is the eating & drinking which brings about maturity & growth.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Men's Seminar from N. D. Wilson.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Men's Seminar from Dr. Jared Longshore.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 by Pastor Douglas Wilson.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 from Dr. Ben Merkle.

A Q&A from Grace Agenda 2023 Teen's Seminar.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 from David Goodwin.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Men's Seminar from Pastor Doug Wilson.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 from Dr. Grant Horner.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 from Dr. Joe Rigney.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Men's Seminar from Dr. Joe Rigney.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Teen's Seminar from Dr. Joe Rigney.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Women's Seminar by Nancy Wilson.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Teen's Seminar from Dr. David Erb.

A Q&A from Grace Agenda 2023.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Teen's Seminar from Pastor Joshua Appel.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 from Pastor Doug Wilson.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Women's Seminar by Rebekah Merkle.

A talk from Grace Agenda 2023 Women's Seminar by Rachel Jankovic.

Please enjoy this Q&A session from the Grace Agenda 2023 Women's Seminar.Christian parents are tasked by God to raise their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. This is not confined to simply making sure they have a roof over their head and get their nose wiped. Rather, this task is the all encompassing instruction of children. They are to be taught about this world in light of the fact that God Almighty has created and redeemed this world. Children are to grow up rejoicing in the way in which God has done all this.But modern parents have been coaxed into lending the blessing that is their children to the carnal appetites of godless activists for 12 years. We live in a wasteland of education. Public spending on education skyrockets, while academic scores plummet. If that weren’t enough, there is a rising tide of marred and mangled bodies, pervertedminds, and clouded thinking. Mix all this together and you end up with children who grow up with a godless worldview.Join us for Grace Agenda 2023 as we look to encourage Christian parents in the glorious task of raising their children to love and worship the Lord, to lead in their generation, and to be the sort of faithful saints that can do the same for their own children.

There is a progression in the story, the initial effect of the sin is low, but it ramps up, more people get involved, it becomes harder and harder to stop the momentum. As the wave of sin gathers more strength and increases in amplitude, it gets so out of control that, eventually, an innocent man is murdered. So for our outline, we will take the progression of sin as it ramps up, pause it along the way and ask the question, what could’ve been done at this point to squelch the forward motion of sin. And as we will see, the effort required to stop the momentum is proportional to the extent of which, that sin that has been able to grow unchecked.

Scripture says that we Christians are more than conquerors. And that is one of our beloved verses. But, if we are conquerors, that means there are things standing in our way. This truth, the one about looming obstacles, can weigh down the spirit if we let it. But, there really is no need for soul troubles. We are victors after all. And what good are victors if they have nothing to vanquish?

We’ll be taking this week & next to look a little more closely at the two signs & seals of the Covenant which our God has made with us. There are two common mistakes when it comes to these signs. On one hand, Christians have come to attribute to them a sort of superstitious magical potency, while other Christians have robbed them of their potency making them little more than spiritual sticky notes. Our aim is to accompany the sacraments with the Word preached. After all, that is what the church is: those who have heard and believed His Word preached, and are marked out by these signs as His people.

“Growing up Christian” is a process that revolves around a relationship between people. In most cases, you have the parents on the one hand, and you have the child or the children on the other. And, as the Scriptures plainly teach, growing up Christian is a cooperative effort. It is something that the parents are actively engaged in doing, but it is also something that calls for godly and intelligent responses from the child. And so it is that we are going to spend a few Sundays on how to be a Christian kid.

THE TEXT:1 Samuel 4:1-12

The Text: Isaiah 7

We come now to the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The theme of this passage is the importance of contentment, in the context Paul’s gratitude for the financial support that the Philippians contributed. Because the kingdom of God does not run on air, the Scriptures do talk about finances and financing kingdom work. But there is a striking difference between how Scripture addresses it and how worldly professionals do. 

The Text: Judges 5

The Text: Isaiah 7

Paul is following his typical pattern here. He loves to conclude his epistles with a set of rapid-fire exhortations, which is what he is doing here in our passage. The two larger themes to take away from this would be peace and purity—the peace of God, and purity of heart. These are the two main points to take away with us today. God wants His people protected from anxiety, and He wants them to cultivate purity of mind.

THE TEXT: Judges 4

This sermon is cut short due to a technical error. We apologize for the inconvenience.The Text: Isaiah 6:8-13

The first two Psalms form a sort of introduction to the Psalter. Where Psalm 1 introduces us to the contrast between the blessed life of walking with God and the miserable life of walking with the scoffers and evildoers, Psalm 2 presents an eschatological vision. The first Psalm tells us how to live in the here and now, and the second Psalm goes on to lay before us the glorious future under the global reign of the Messiah.

The Text: Isaiah 6

Meditating on the character of God usually falls into particular grooves. We think about his love, how he shelters us under the shadow of his wings, how he walks up and down the vine—pruning branches here, grafting branches in there, providing support in one area, and providing cover to protect against frost. We think about his grace, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. We think about his mercy, how our debt piled high. Our balance sheet was covered in red. And yet he zeroes it out, hands it back to us and says, “Now you go practice this same forgiveness.” We think about his goodness. And doing that, generally leads to pondering our own badness. That God would save a wretch like me? We ponder about his glory. What does the Father look like? My mind goes to a pure unadulterated light. A light that emanates so purely from his visage, that seeing through it, to the true form from which the light transmits is impossible. We think about his peace, and we imagine tranquil scenes of still waters, slight breezes, and a warm sun. We find ourselves at ease despite living in a world that’s falling down around us. He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. His great patience comes to mind. How can he see the evil in this world and not stamp it out right now? Because The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 

After the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, He established to His disciples that He was in fact alive forever, and then He ascended into the heavens for His coronation. When He did this, He was received by the Ancient of Days, and was given universal authority over all the nations of men. Earth now has a new capital city—located in the heavens—and we are called to learn how to live in terms of this. And as we learn, we are to teach.

Text: Psalm 62

It is a great misfortune that many evangelicals view spiritual growth in a very inorganic way. If a little boy wants to grow to be a great warrior, he needs to do three things: eat, sleep, & breathe. Many view spiritual growth in a very mechanistic way; as if to become more godly they need to add more hardware to themselves. But true growth in godliness comes through a few acts of obedience which spring from evangelical faith: read your Bible, say your prayers, and above all, worship the Triune God.

Satan is the “father of lies,” and this why those under his sway speak lies and murder with their words and deeds (Jn. 8:44). This is also why Christians are frequently attacked here by the Devil, just like the woman in the Garden in the beginning. The fundamental lie is about the goodness of God and His Word. But if we repudiate that lie, we will hate all other lies and love the truth. The Text: “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members of one another” (Eph. 4:25). WSC Q. 77 What is required in the Ninth Commandment? The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbors’ good name, especially in witness-bearing.WSC Q. 78 What is forbidden in the ninth commandment? The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbor’s good name. Heidelberg. Q 112 What is required in the ninth commandment? That I do not bear false witness against anyone, twist anyone’s words, be a gossip or a slanderer, or condemn anyone lightly without a hearing. Rather I am required to avoid, under penalty of God’s wrath, all lying and deceit as the works of the devil himself. In judicial and all other matters I am to love the truth, and to speak and confess it honestly. Indeed, insofar as I am able, I am to defend and promote my neighbor’s good name.

By the grace of God, we live in an industrious community of Christians, and it has to be said that this has had a very predictable result. We are also a community that contains more than its share of well-to-do believers. This presents dangers, and temptations, and opportunities.As I am fond of saying, “You can’t keep money from doing what money always does.” What was once said of the Puritans who came to New England? It was said that they came to do good, and ended up doing well. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked (Dt. 32:15). Cotton Mather once said that faithfulness begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother. Beware, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and your gold is multiplied, that your “heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God” (Dt. 8:10-14).

The Text: Isaiah 5:18-30

I don’t remember a time when I did not love Jesus. One of my earliest memories is being interviewed for membership in an OPC church by a couple of elders when I was four years old. I was baptized and became a communicant member shortly thereafter. I’ve always loved singing worship songs and hymns. Part of how I’ve always known the presence of the Holy Spirit is through the many times I’ve been convicted of sin.One of the first times I remember sharing the gospel with someone was a neighborhood boy in Alaska who prayed with me and my brother to receive Christ. I was probably nine years old; he was probably around seven. My dad, an OPC minister, often took me around with him knocking on doors or walking through the park to share the gospel. Sometimes we would do a literature table at the local shopping mall. Why do I begin here? Because “by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:10). This, in part, is my testimony of God’s grace in me, and if you have met Jesus, you have a story to tell as well – you have a story of God’s grace toward you. This is my gospel, my testimony of the gospel of free grace, the gospel of blood-bought forgiveness and freedom and unending goodness, through Jesus. This is also your gospel. It’s the same Jesus, the same grace, but you have a different story of the same grace that has not been in vain. This is why you need to learn to say, “this is my gospel.” This is your testimony. 

Martin Luther once said that a man needs to be converted twice. The first conversion is that of his heart, and the second one is of his wallet. What we are going to be addressing here is the nature of that wallet conversion. How should we go about honoring God in our personal financial dealings?

The Text: Hebrews 12:14-15

The Text: Isaiah 5:1-17

One of the hallmarks of Christianity which bolsters it as the one true religion is its penchant for balance. Religions derived by men are hard nosed and they will categorically define certain actions as forbidden. From Sahih al-Bukhari, Muhammed says, “Allah has cursed wine, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser, the one for whom it is pressed, the one who conveys it, and the one to whom it is conveyed.” Joseph Smith says in Doctrine and Covenants Section 89, “Tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man…And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.” But when the Bible speaks about behaviors that are verboten, it will often do so by contextualizing the prohibition. Drinking alcohol in and of itself is not evil, but drinking it to the point of drunkenness is evil. Sex is not inherently evil, but it quickly can become evil if it is not framed within the covenant of marriage. Similarly, raw desire cannot be flagged as good or evil without context. And this too, requires biblical balance to rightly discern it. This morning’s sermon will be about prayer, but since our text this morning is addressing the particular issue of covetousness, let’s take a moment in the introduction to discuss the concept of desire. 

Our elders recently decided that at the beginning of this academic year, we were going to have a three-week series of messages on practical Christian living, with different messages preached at King’s Cross, CCD, and here. These nine messages will then be bundled together for broader circulation. And so it is that we are taking a brief break from our series through Philippians.The topic of our message this morning is going to be “hard work and the sabbath.” Because we are living in the time of the new covenant, we will begin with the Lord’s Day—in the old covenant, it was six days of labor followed by a day of rest. In the new covenant, the day of rest is foundational—it is on the first day, and the six days of labor follow after, and are built on the foundation of gospel rest.

We live in a land that has no fear of God before their eyes, and right on schedule, neither do we honor our parents. If it is not going well for us in the land, this is one of the main things we must recover: the fifth commandment is the first command with a promise of blessing. The fear of the Lord and true justice go together (Ps. 19:9). 

The Text: Psalm 32

One of the great things I learned from my father is that “God takes you from where you are, and not from where you should have been.” All of us are sinners, and so none of us are where we should have been. The glory of forgiveness is that God can bring glory out of a shapeless ruin, and in the gospel, this is precisely what He has done. He provides the glory. We contribute the shapeless ruin.

THE TEXT: Judges 3

The Text: Isaiah 4

In a sin-soaked culture that is saturated and darkened by immodesty, true modest beauty shines all the brighter, and points people away from self and to the God from whom all glory and beauty is derived.

One of the things that is very striking and obvious if you look around on a Sunday morning is that we love children. The Bible teaches that children are the inheritance of the Lord, a great reward, and faithfully raised children are a central part of our warfare against all unbelief. And because of these things, someone might be forgiven for assuming that we must have some kind of rule against birth control or that we think that it is necessary for every family to have as many children as they physically can. But we don’t.

We come now to a particular gospel “turn” that is extremely troublesome to the carnal mind. The square peg of “alien righteousness” goes not go into the round hole of any “righteousness of my own.” Consequently, a great deal of ingenuity has been expended on trying to make it fit. We might even go so far as to say that this problem, this tension, is the driving engine of almost all new developments in theology. And that is not a good thing. The challenge always comes down to the unvarnished gospel versus the “cold clatter of morality.”

THE TEXT: Isaiah 3:13-26

In the short space of this letter, John gives us a vital tutorial in the contrast between friends & enemies of the Gospel. Many modern Christians have no category for what Jesus meant when He commanded us to love our enemies. Broadly speaking, we have no clue we have enemies, we fail to recognize those enemies, and we have no clue that loving them requires us to confront their errors (Cf. Eph. 5:11, 2 Jn. 11).

Everyone here has an inner life and an external life. If there had been no fall, no rebellion, there would have been a true unity between the two. But the entry of sin into the world made it possible for us to dissemble and to play the hypocrite. When this happens, a person takes advantage of the separation—he can now present one appearance to the world, a holy appearance, and he can keep a lozenge of diseased unholiness under his tongue.

The Text: Psalm 32

This brief letter from John shouldn’t be perceived as a loose page of Apostolic records which got stapled into the back of the Bible. It is no afterthought. Rather, the sense which this book of the Bible gives is that of a well loved uncle slipping silver dollars to his nieces & nephews. It is both personal and pastoral in its tone, while its content is simple, succinct, and robust.

What is truth? There is no other moment in history that could possibly trump this display of irony. Pontius Pilate, looks truth dead in the eyes. Truth incarnate stands before him, bruised and beaten from the previous night. He asks, “What is truth?”, like a sculptor staring at his finished work and wondering, “What is clay?” I do not fault the man the question; it is a good question. But the contrast of the scene is striking. Both men have authority, but only one recognizes where it comes from. One man exhibits courage, facing an imminent death. The other, conflicted about the situation, finds no fault in Jesus, but chooses appeasement and succumbs to political pressure instead of doing the right thing. One man is meek, knowing full well that he could invoke twelve legions of angels at a moment’s notice to rescue him from the Jews. But purpose, justice, and the fulfillment of all righteousness is what motivated his restraint. Pilate is motivated by a desire to be rid of the upheaval. He says, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” In other words, “Why are you involving me? I don’t care what you do with him.” And then in exasperation, he looks at Jesus and says, “What is truth?” Jesus could have responded, “You’re looking at him.” A few chapters earlier Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” We certainly could explore Jesus as The Way. And there is also much to say about Jesus as The Life. But this morning we will focus on Jesus as the embodiment of truth.

The Text: Judges 2

If you want to know how much trouble we can get into for disbelieving very good news from the LORD, then look no farther than Zacharias, John the Baptist’s father. The angel Gabriel told him that his barren wife, Elizabeth, would have a child even in her old age. His son would be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from the womb, and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Zacharias, surely overwhelmed at such a prospect, responded with something like, “Are you sure? Because my wife is very old.” For his unbelief, he was not able to speak until after John’s birth.We shouldn’t think, “Oh, that naughty Zacharias, we wouldn’t do that.” He was a priest. He was called a righteous man. And he was burning incense in the temple, much like we are now when this whole affair took place. The tidings from Gabriel weren’t just medium-grade glad. They were cosmic glad. So are ours today from Isaiah’s prophecy. 

The Christian faith is by no means a solitary business. The grace of regeneration extends to each individual, but because this grace is brought by means of the Spirit of God, one of the first things it does is knit us together with all the other recipients of this same grace. Each Christian is touched by God, but there is only one body. This is manifested in different ways. One of them is the great grace of corporate worship. “I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people” (Psalm 35:18). But another aspect of this is the grace of companionship, a grace that we see several times in this passage. “And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life” (Phil. 4:3, NKJV).

Judges 1

When it comes to the subject of love, man has attempted to capture its essence using a variety of arts. The singer songwriter composes a ballad. The Hawaiians dance the hula. The artist paints a couple, enjoying a sunset. The poet writes a sonnet. And there have been plays and movies and concertos and books, all attempting to capture love and communicate its virtues. Now, given that the scriptures teach that God is love, that love is his very nature, that love flows out of Him as the fountainhead of life, christians have a particular artisanal advantage when they want to sculpt or paint or sing about love, because they can define it, “This falls under the category of love, while this falls under the category of hate.” We have a foundation to produce lovely things, because we know what love is. We worship a God who defines what love is by His very nature. He exists, and love, pours out on the human race in a myriad of colors, and shades and hues. God is love.And so I too, would like to take the brush and paint a picture for you. And do what we humans cannot help but do, and image the invisible God of love through artistic expression, particularly, through the art of preaching.

As God has called different ministries to various aspects of His kingdom work in this world, they have often been characterized by different tag lines or summary statements. William Carey, the father of modern missions, said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” Desiring God says that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Hudson Taylor is known for saying that “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” And we have summarized the emphasis of our ministry here with “All of Christ for all of life.” Depending on the context, we might add for “for all of Moscow,” or “for all the world.”

We have been focusing on like-mindedness and joy. But the particular like-mindedness and joy that Paul is urging upon the Philippians is not simply something that would create harmony and happiness within the body of Christ. It also creates a dramatic contrast with the only other way of attempting to be human, the way pursued by those who are outside of Christ. Christians who are living like Christians shine like stars against the darkness of a complaining generation.

Text: Ephesians 2:11-22

We have been emphasizing like-mindedness and its relationship to joy. But like-mindedness cannot be cobbled together from side-to-side. If you tied two people’s legs together, what you get is not unanimity, but rather a three-legged race at the picnic, and people falling down. So the like-mindedness that we must pursue must be pursued through our imitation of Christ. Paul said in the first chapter that he wanted them to be of “one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27). He exhorted them in Phil. 2:2 to be like-minded. In the next verse he commends lowliness of mind (Phil. 2:3). And here we come to the capstone of all of this—which is the mind of Christ.This is how we are to understand how it all ties together: one mind > like-minded > lowliness of mind > the mind of Christ. 

The Text: 2 Corinthians 3:17

Ephesians 1:3-10

Isaiah 2:6-22

As we consider the state of our Christian lives, some of the things we have to deal with are the knotted topics of desire, envy, competition, and ambition. Considering the next two verses in Philippians, we should pay some attention to competition, something dear to the heart of most Americans. But because of this we must guard our step. You have heard many times that we must learn to repent of our virtues, and here is a good place to start.

Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

If an outsider were to observe an average week in the life of our congregations—whether on the Lord’s Day, in the church office, in our homes, our schools, or out and about in the community—they would see many hands at work, many of them being the hands of fruitful women. 

We have already had occasion to look at Paul’s concern for like-mindedness as expressed in this letter, and we should remember that later on he appeals for peace between Euodia and Syntyche (Phil.4:2-3). Given this emphasis on like-mindedness, and its relationship to joy, also a theme of this epistle, it will profit us to meditate on this topic in greater detail. 

Isaiah 2:1-5

Most folks seek their happiness through subjective whims. “Do what makes you happy” is the motto of man without Christ. But true happiness, true blessedness, isn’t found in the utilitarian’s hedonism. The first Psalm sets the blessed life before us, inviting us out of our own maze of searching for joy, into the straight path of righteousness leading to eternal blessedness.

The apostle urged the Philippians to walk in a manner that was worthy of the gospel of Christ. But he does not just offer a generic “be nice” sort of exhortation. The thing that is worthy of the gospel is unity in the gospel. When many minds, voices, and hands come together to strive for the advancement of the gospel, this is something that adorns the gospel itself—in the same way that apples adorn an apple tree. 

Isaiah 1:18-31

Text: Psalm 130

Isaiah 1:1-17

Paul’s vision for the church of Crete was not narrow in scope. He was’t just trying to get them to have more polite manners at the dinner table. This letter is an instruction manual for a culture war. Titus is tasked with laying the groundwork for conquering the globe with the Gospel. Crete may be a mess, but if the wind of God blows, the dry bones will live and move once more.

In Ezekiel's vision, he is brought to the door of the temple where waters issue forth, run down by the side of the altar, and flow east (v. 1). The man with Ezekiel took him a thousand cubits east and this river was to the ankles, another thousand and the water was to the knees, another thousand and the water was up to his loins, and after another thousand it was deep enough to swim (v. 3-5).On both banks of this river were many trees (v. 6). The man told Ezekiel that the river flowed down to the desert and eventually would reach the sea, resulting in the sea being healed (v. 8). This river would give life. There would be so many fish that fishermen would spread their nets and catch boatloads of various kinds (v. 9-10). While the river will bring healing and blessing, there are some marsh places that will remain unhealed (v. 11). Because the waters from the sanctuary feed the trees, they won't die. They will produce new fruit for food and leaves that will heal like medicine (v. 12).

We don’t often think of strict rules as comfortable. But the sound doctrine of the Gospel, rigid & inflexible with its truth that salvation is in Christ alone, and the summons to obedience to our respective duties is anything but confining. It is, in fact, a comfort. This is what we were made for, to glorify God & enjoy Him forever.

2 Chronicles 13

The Ascension of Jesus is one of the key glories of the gospel, and it really is part of the good news. Our Conquering King is our High Priest, and He has gone ahead of us, appearing in God’s presence for us.

One of the reasons Christians are not as bold as they ought to be is because they do not know what covenant they are of. We have heard the stories of saints who have smelled of heaven; they have sizzled with the aroma of angels. And this is just what we are after. Some, not knowing the kingdom of heaven, have looked upon such saints and mistaken their boldness for pride, their freedom for madness. Some believers, even, who have drifted too far from the Heavenly Father, have made this same misjudgment. Even so, this is what we are after: the full assurance of faith seen in the likes of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before the fire, or Jonathan climbing up to the Philistine garrison, outnumbered.

The great Augustine once said that in the affairs of men, the dead are replaced by the dying. Isaac Watts memorably rendered Psalm 90 this way: “Time, like an ever-rolling stream/Bears all its sons away;/They fly forgotten, as a dream/Dies at the opening day.” “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Ps. 90:12).But there is more to this wisdom than simply recognizing how fleeting our lives are. We need something to compare it to, and that something is one in the order of Melchizedek, with the power of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16). Without the baseline of eternal life, our earthly lives are not even fleeting.

We’re in the time of year where you’re likely to have attended a graduation. As parents and grandparents look on their children, the emotions in the arena likely range wildly. Pride, fear, hope, disappointment, maybe a touch of doubt. “He chose to major in Klingon?” The older generations are prone to be skeptical of the generation who is about to take their place. But in the Christian Church, we aren’t to simply wish that the next generation “makes it.” Paul lays out a plan for creating a culture of faith and good works that will last for eternal ages, because God said we should and promised it would work.

Genesis 2:18-25

As the saints gather for worship each Lord’s Day, we should think of it as the time signature of history. God set the the metronome “in the beginning” and from then on out, the week begins with God’s creative work. 

The only way to be ready for death is to die before you die.

Scripture teaches us that envy is an insidious sin. It is a destructive and soul-rotting force, and has the ability to go anywhere. It is found with the lowly and among the mighty. Envy lurks in slums and struts in kings’ palaces. We need to be far more wary of this sin than we usually are.

Text: Hebrews 13

Text: Gen. 2:4–18

Text: John 3:1–21

Philippi was a Roman colony that had been planted in Macedonia, northern Greece. It was settled as a place where Roman soldiers could retire. Paul wrote this letter while imprisoned somewhere, and various places have been suggested as possible locations. The mostly likely scenario is that he wrote this letter while imprisoned at Rome (around 62 A.D.). The references Caesar’s household, not to mention the praetorium, are consistent with this (Phil. 1:13; Phil. 4:22).

The Text: Hebrews 12:18–29

There is faith here and the unbelieving world can feel it, they bump against unseen things.Listen to the whole sermon, 'Postmillennialism for Such a Time as This.'

If you want to see the kingdom of God pushed out to the four corners of the earth then you must come to one spot on the earth, Calvary, and offer yourself freely to Christ in faith there.Listen to the whole sermon, 'Postmillennialism for Such a Time as This.'

Text: Luke 10:25–37

It would not be surprising for someone to look around at the present state of things and ask the cheery Postmillennialist, "Oh, so you think things are getting better, do you?" Many things could be said in reply. But the chief response would be, "Yes, there are giants in the land. They are very big. Too big to miss." We are with David selecting stones by faith. We are with Esther going before the king given the bad news that Haman wants to destroy us.You can find us alongside Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, not bowing to false gods, knowing we will soon take a fire bath; the Son of God will be with us in the flames. We are with Israel in Egypt right up against the Red Sea before it moves out of the way—"And Moses said unto the people, Fear yet not, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD" (Exodus 14:13). Why are we cheerful, confident, and laboring in a time like this? Well, the battle belongs to the LORD and we have seen this story before.

Hebrews 12:1–17

Listen to the full sermon: 'Cultural Revolution and the Sons of Issachar.'You may be distressed because you don’t think you are among the sons of Issachar. But nothing prevents you from reading books that the sons of Issachar write. As a starter pack, try Strange New World (Trueman), Christianity and Liberalism (Machen), Idols for Destruction (Schlossberg), Love Thy Body (Pearcey), and The God of Sex (Jones).

Listen to the full sermon: 'Cultural Revolution and the Sons of Issachar.'The church lockdowns and masking orders (and such) were simply a beta test, seeking to find out how soft the church was. The answer for them was “pretty soft.” And so you need to be prepared for the time when the church is ordered to meet just once a month in order to help “fight climate change.” You need to know beforehand that you are part of a church that will not comply. Obedience is ours, and the results are God’s.

Listen to the full sermon: 'Cultural Revolution and the Sons of Issachar.'Begin with your postmillennialism, then move on to the covenant, and then on to Calvinism. Get these truths, and the biblical basis for them, down into your bones. Our cause is desperate, but we will win nonetheless. Our God is a covenant-keeping God. Our God is Almighty God.

Listen to the full sermon: 'Cultural Revolution and the Sons of Issachar.'Love your wife. Respect your husband. Educate your children in the Lord. Be done with porn. Sit down at your dinner table together. Confess your familial sins, especially anger and bitterness. Sing. Read stories where the bad guys are defeated.

Listen to the full sermon: 'Cultural Revolution and the Sons of Issachar.'Our culture is in the state it is in because of all the true worship rendered to false gods, and all the false worship rendered to the true God. We become like what we worship, and this is no less true of societies than it is of individuals (Ps. 115).

Text: Nehemiah 8

You have no doubt noticed that we live in tumultuous times. Many of you have learned that you should no longer say things like “now I have seen everything,” because that sentiment always seems to be refuted by events in the middle of next week. In our time, we have seen a number of transitions, in which a pattern of escalation can readily be seen. We began with certain cultural issues, of a very serious nature. There was the sexual revolution of the sixties, followed by its bloody reckoning in the 1973 Roe decision. A few years later, in a speech to the 1992 Republican National Convention, Pat Buchanan coined the phrase culture wars. And now, according to certain insightful observers, we are on the threshold of a cultural revolution, similar in outlook to what Mao launched in China in 1966.How are we, as Christians, to understand and respond to all of this?

Text: Micah 7

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her (Jn. 20:1–18).

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable (1 Cor. 15:12–19 NKJV).

It is regrettably commonplace for expositors, even conservative ones, to state that the doctrine of the resurrection was not plainly taught in the Old Testament. But the event of Christ’s resurrection came in the middle of human history, and Paul calls this event the “hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20; cf. Acts 25:19). The resurrection of Christ from the dead caught everyone by surprise... but it should not have.

“Friend, do what you came to do.”In the Garden of Gethsemane, surrounded by a crowd with swords and clubs, greeted with such insolence by His betrayer, Jesus addresses Judas, as “friend.” This isn’t the more common word for “friend” in the New Testament. The more common word is “philos,” from the word philia, which means love or affection. But this word, while less common in the New Testament, is from a root that refers to someone of your own clan or family. It means companion, friend, cousin, comrade, mate. This word is used only three times like this in the New Testament, and all three times it’s in Matthew’s gospel. And as we look at each passage, a clear and striking pattern emerges.

The message of the cross of Christ would have no power or authority whatever apart from the profound vindication of that crucifixion that gloriously occurred three days later. The crucifixion makes no sense apart from that triumph of life over death, but with that vindication, the meaning of the cross itself comes into focus.

We are a diseased people, riddled with envy. And our condition is terminal. There is no cure available, and besides, we don’t want to be cured. But what man cannot do, God is able to do. 

The Triumphal Entry was an episode in the ministry of the Lord that had a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning was when the disciples came back to the Lord with the donkey and colt, placed their garments on them, and seated the Lord there (Mt. 21:6). The middle of this event was when Jesus entered the city, and Matthew says that the whole city was moved (v. 10). So this middle was the procession itself. The culmination of this Entry, the climax of the day, the crowning event of what happened, was the cleansing of the Temple (v. 12).

Text: 1 Corinthians 10:23–33

We were glad to welcome Dr. Voddie Baucham as a guest preacher during our 2023 Missions Conference weekend.Text: Revelation 1

Q&A with Dr. Voddie Baucham and Pastor Douglas Wilson

Missions Conference Session #4Go Ye, Therefore; Reformation and Renewal of Zeal for Foreign Missions - Pastor Douglas Wilson

Missions Conference Session #2The Mission Field Across The Street - Pastor Douglas Wilson

Missions Conference Session #3Why the Good News is So Good - Dr. Voddie Baucham

Missions Conference Session #1Dragons Abounding: The Great Errors Confronting the Church - Dr. Voddie Baucham

There is a perennial temptation for the people of God to go back to slavery. After Israel was delivered from Pharaoh's tyranny, they found that freedom had its costs. They had no food; they ran into giants. So they longed to return to Egypt where there was bread, meat, and at least the semblance of protection—those chariots, pretty fancy.A similar temptation came upon the Galatian Christians. God had brought them the gospel of Jesus Christ through Paul. But the Judaizers showed up shortly after preaching a different gospel, one that would take the Galatians back to bondage (Galatians 5:1). These Judaizers did not deny that Christ was the Messiah. But they insisted that if a man would be saved, then he must be circumcised, and thus keep all of the laws of Moses.The Galatian situation maps on to Israel's situation in Moses' day. For Israel, there was no going back to slavery in Egypt. Egypt was under the judgment of God. For the Galatians, there was no going back to Jerusalem's Old Covenant with its sign of circumcision. Jerusalem was under the judgment of God. In our text, Paul develops an allegory to teach the Galatian Christians that through Christ they have been set free and must not turn back to a yoke of slavery.The message is: You're children of the free woman so live free.

This is a message about the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Many critics have attacked the Word of God over the centuries, and while the Word is still here, they are all gone. It has been well said that the Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.What I want to do in this message is a little different than our usual pattern. In the first part I want to walk you through a detailed and somewhat didactic treatment of the genealogies of Christ given in Matthew and Luke, harmonizing them. I want to show you the Bible is reliable, in other words. And then after that, I want to do what all sermons should do, which is to proclaim Christ.

The previous section of this letter ended with Paul being lowered from a city wall in a basket, a humiliating departure. In this next section Paul describes being carried up into the highest heaven, providing a stark contrast indeed. This boast was necessary because apparently the false apostles were trumpeting some of their ecstatic experiences, and this required a response.

This is a beloved Psalm which demonstrates the maturing faith of David in his later years and trials. This Psalm is vivid. Surprising. It is memorable, and it is a wonderfully balm to the aching heart.

If God is seeking to grow us up into a particular kind of person, then He is going to provide us with whatever is necessary to accomplish His intention in that. God has no goals for us “in theory,” but somehow unprovided for. The telos of our lives is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29; Phil. 3:21), to have grown up into a particular kind of person. The last day will not consist of us opening our spiritual ledger books in order that the number of commands kept and broken might be tallied up. Eventually we will all become what we have been becoming, and if that is a good thing, God will have provided you with what you need along the way.

As you all know, it is our custom sometime around the first of the year to give a “state of the church” message. Sometimes it relates more to the condition and challenges of the national church, and other times the emphasis is more local. This year, for reasons that should become obvious, the observations and exhortations will be more local.

Text: 1 Chronicles 16:7–36

Earthly joys are like an elevator. They can only go so high. They are intended to leave us longing for the eternal joys found in the presence of the Most High, and the pleasures at His right hand. Sinful man keeps trying to make the trip to the top floor last just a bit longer, but he’s always disappointed when he must return to the lobby. Instead of being content with the fleetingness of the shadow-glories, he tries to live in the elevator. As a result, he has filled it full of his stench and filth.

Laziness is the kind of sin that no one really wants to be seen in. There is your sister coming back from the gym, she’s got bread in the oven and morning devotions complete. Across the room, there you are reclined on the couch eating Cheetos, the blue glaze of your phone illuminating your orange-stained lips and fingers as you scroll with the free hand to your fourth cat video. No one wants a snapshot of that scene posted to the internet. 

The Apostle John’s teaching here is at once simple and deep. The simplicity isn’t because John was a simpleton; and the depth isn’t a secret knowledge intended only for a scant few. We find here a depth that comes from maturing faith and love. A bride and groom avow their love on their wedding day, but as it is nurtured year upon year, decade upon decade, the depth of that trust and love grows sweeter, truer, lovelier. That, in part, is how Scripture teaches us to understand the doctrine of assurance of grace.

The title of this message is “How to Fight Sin,” but maybe the more complete title would be something like “How to fight that sin that keeps coming back and scaring you.” I’m thinking here about the occasional angry outburst, a significant lustful collapse, drunkenness, or emotional meltdowns. Where do those sins come from and what can be done to actually defeat them?

The Reformation was a recovery of the Gospel of grace. Not by the merit of saints, or the good works which we or others have done, or the penance paid into the coffers, but by the free grace of God are you saved. But in every age, various attempts are made to cloud and obscure and bury this glorious doctrine. It is the church’s duty to proclaim and defend this Glorious Gospel through all ages.

INTRODUCTIONThis book is truly a Divine Comedy. It is no tragedy, although it seems initially to be so. This story has a happy ending. A wedding, a baby, and a genealogy. What could be more thrilling?THE TEXTThen went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance... (Ruth 4).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTBoaz sets about to make good on his vow (3:13) to ensure that Ruth & Naomi would not be left bereft of a kinsman redeemer; it would either be the nearer kinsman, or else Boaz would fulfill the duty (v1). Boaz meets the man at the gate of Bethlehem and hails him as “such a one” (v1), assembles a council of ten elders (v2, Cf. Pro. 31:23), appraises the nameless kinsman of the opportunity to buy Elimelech’s parcel (v3). Boaz informs the man that if he doesn’t want to buy it, then Boaz will, but––to our disappointment––the man agrees to buy it (v4). However, Boaz has another card to play, the man must also marry Ruth the Moabitess and raise up a son in Elimelech’s stead (v5).The kinsman balks at this out of fear of marring his own inheritance (v6). So, the customary transfer of duty was performed by removing his shoe & giving it to Boaz (vv7-8, Cf. Deu. 25:9-10). Boaz then announces to the council & all the people that he had purchased all that was Elimelech’s, and his sons (v9), including marrying Ruth with the incumbent duty to raise up the name of the dead (v10). Both the elders and the people add their witness and a three-fold blessing: 1) that Ruth would be like the  matriarchs Rachel & Leah––building a mighty house of many sons, 2) that both Boaz and his offspring might be mighty & famous (v11); and 3) that the house of Boaz might  be like the house of Pharez, begotten from Tamar’s righteous act of faith (v12, Cf. Gen 38).Boaz takes Ruth, and the Lord grants conception of a son (v13). Bethlehem’s women bless the Lord for this gift to Naomi, for this son––who would be famous––would be unto Naomi as a resurrection, a comfort all her days, a blessing from the faithful loyalty of her daughter-in-law who turned out to be better than seven sons (vv14-15). Naomi’s bosom is now filled with a son (v16), and the womenfolk take it upon themselves to name the boy Obed: the serving one (v17). This servant-son would be the grandfather of mighty David (v17b). The text concludes with a vital genealogy, tracing ten generations from Pharez unto King David (vv18-22).THE NAMELESS & SHOELESSThe names of the characters in this story are integral to the story. The story opens with a Elimelech (God is King), acting as if God isn’t king. His two sons are “sickly” & “pining”. Naomi (pleasantness) attempts to rename herself Mara (bitter). Boaz’s name implies strength & virility. But the near kinsman is left deliberately nameless. Boaz calls him, “Hey so-and-so.” This isn’t Boaz having a moment of forgetfulness. The Narrator is driving something home.As the law in Deuteronomy instructed, the man who refused to fulfill this duty to his perished brother would henceforth be known as the “one without a shoe.” But in Ruth’s story, this man insists that he can’t fulfill his duty so as to not mar his own inheritance. He tries to maintain his name, and as such his name is forgotten. He is left nameless & shoeless. He is forgotten, as it were, while the son which came from Boaz is blessed with fame.The nearer kinsman had a lawful claim, and both Naomi & Ruth & the land & name of Elimelech are bound up in this claim; Boaz cannot fulfill his vow until this nameless kinsman renounces his claim. The claim on Ruth must be nullified before she is free to marry Boaz. But once this obstacle is removed, nothing is left in the way. The wedding bells can peal.UNTIL THE TENTH GENERATIONIn Deuteronomy 23:2-3 we have two parallel laws that shed light on the story of Ruth: “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever.”The mention of Pharez, the son born from Judah & Tamar’s union, brings this into the foreground. Pharez would seem to be a bastard son; but in Tamar’s faith, God’s blessing flows even to bastard sons. Pharez’s tribe grew to greatness in Israel (Num. 26:21), and the Bethlehemites pray that Boaz & Ruth’s house would likewise become a great host.As you count up the generations here in this genealogy, you find ten generations. In other words, any objections to David’s right to be a king are moot. The generational distance from both Pharez and the Moabites unkindness sufficed to ensure that God had now raised up for Himself a king after His own heart. God, like the ten generations from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Abraham, was bringing about a new unveiling of His covenant glory. Ruth begins with God as King, and ends with God raising up a son to be a King over His people.Boaz points us to Christ, the bridegroom of the Church, who was restless until He removed every obstacle to our redemption. Obed points us to Christ, a servant-son to the widow, being her resurrection & life. And the book’s final word , David, points us to Christ, a great King who would rule with God’s people with truth & grace. By themselves they are incomplete portraits of Christ, but in Christ all the types and shadows come together in glorious array.A SON OF GREAT RENOWNBalaam had proclaimed in his curses over Israel, which turned into blessings, that God would raise up a Heavenly King in Israel who would crush Moab. Now, a Moabitess, by faith, becomes the matriarch of that King. Boaz’s name indeed became famous, his name being assigned to one of the pillars of the temple. David, of course, becomes arguably the central character of the rest of OT history.But of course, the name of great renown which is in view here, is the name at which every knee must one day bow. The name is Jesus, the son of David. This story of Ruth tells us of a babe born in Bethlehem, in order that many centuries later we might not be surprised when God once more providentially causes a Son predestined for great renown to be born in that Little Town of Bethlehem.This whole story of Ruth teaches us more than just lessons of duty, loyalty, obedience, and virtue. It teaches us that God’s hand is behind all things. Not only that, but the purpose behind all His mysterious movings is in order to raise up a Son of Great Renown. You must receive this name as yours. Don’t try to rename yourself, according to your circumstances. Don’t care about your own name so much that you end up nameless. Instead, receive the name of great David’s greater Son.This divine novella ends in wedding bells, and leaves us with the name of a great king. But the whole of history is heading to a final day when the wedding bells will once more peal louder than ever, and the name of the King of kings shall be upon the lips of all who are His.

THE TEXT“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable . . .” (Heb. 11:8–16).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTAbraham obeyed God by faith (v. 8). And his obedience left him a sojourner in what was both a strange county and a promised land (v. 9). As he dwelt in tents, he looked to a well-founded city which was built by no man (v. 10). Abraham’s wife received strength to conceive a child when she was long past childbearing years. And this strength came to her through faith (v. 11). The result of this faith was children innumerable like the sand by the Pacific Ocean (v. 12) . . .THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITHAn old Southern Presbyterian once said that the gospel is always crucified between two thieves, legalism on the one hand and lawlessness on the other. Likewise, you have one Christian who says he is all about faith and another who says he is all about obedience. All of this could be solved if we would just remember that old hymn, “Trust and Obey.” The text says that it was by faith that Abraham obeyed. You cannot have the latter without the former and you cannot have the former without the latter.THE CITY TO WHICH WE LOOKGod told Abraham to go to place on earth. And God told him that he would give him a particular place on earth. Now Abraham obviously gave some attention to the land of Canaan. He walked in that land for some amount of time. But as he did so, he looked for a city with foundations.STRENGTH THROUGH FAITHA central theme in this text is not only that faith and obedience are closely linked. It is that faith is the only way to obey. Sarah was long past childbearing years. She simply couldn’t become pregnant. We have here something similar to Joshua before the people of Israel. The people say, “We will serve the Lord.” And Joshua replies, “You cannot serve the Lord.” Abraham was “as good as dead.” And Sarah herself was ninety years old. Where did the strength come from? God. And how did it come? “Through faith Sara herself received strength to conceive.”SPRINGING STARSGod does not merely work good things in the world. He works wonders. From Abraham there sprang “so many as the stars of the sky in multitude.” And all of this from one man. Christ feeds five thousand with but five loaves and two fish. And God moves mountains with faith the size of a mustard seed.DYING IN FAITHNWe are still near the entry in the Hebrews 11 hall of faith. After Abraham and Sara come Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Samson, and many more. Yet all of these died in faith not having received the promises but having genuinely embraced them. In verse 40 of this chapter we hear the reason, “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Faith, then, is not merely an individual enterprise. We are, after all, children of our father Abraham. We are a covenant people, who look to the promises together and will be made perfect together. The covenant in which we find ourselves is always kept by faith.Living in the New Covenant, we have received more of the promises than our fellow saints in the Old. The seed of the woman has come. The foundations of that city, the prophets and apostles that is, have been laid. The cornerstone himself has come. We are centuries into the building project of that heavenly city. And yet, we, like those who have gone before us, will die in faith. And we must die in faith. And though we die, yet shall we live. For we have believed in the one who is the resurrection and the life.GOD IS NOT ASHAMEDThe hallmark of those in this hall of faith is that God is not ashamed to be called their God. He has publicized his grace toward us long ago in our father Abraham, saying, “I will be God to you and to your seed after you in their generations.” He has placed his sign on us in baptism. He sets us apart from the world by feeding us bread and wine. And he has not left us without a home and without children.Jesus says in Mark 10:29, “Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”These promises from our Lord were true for Abraham, the man of faith. And they are true for all of his children. So trust God and look around. You can already see God pouring out blessing upon you a hundredfold. As you take in what God is already doing for you and yours now, go on desiring an even better country. For we must go on walking (that is, we must go on obeying). And we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

The habit of modern man is to act based on his feelings, instead of action based on fact. The Disney catechism has worked its way deeply into our culture: follow your heart. We are the foolish man, building on the sands of emotion, instead of the rock of the Word. The pile of grievances swept under the cultural rug is getting quite obvious. Yet no one knows how to actually sweep out the grime, because no one feels like humbling themselves.

INTRODUCTIONChristians can grow sluggish in their Christianity. They can start to loosen their grip on the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And they can do this as recipients of the heavy blessing of God. Cotton Mather once said, “Religion begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother.” Moses said something similar. He sang of God making his people ride on the high places of the earth that they might eat the increase of the fields. And then, “Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked” (Deuteronomy 32:15).The solution of course is not to go on a diet from the blessings of God. The solution is to truly taste and see that the Lord is good and so give thanks. That’s the logic of the text before us. The original hearers, like us today, needed to pay closer attention to what God had said to them and done for them through his Son (ch. 2:1-3). And where we will we get strength to do that? In God’s Son (ch. 1:1-14)THE TEXTHebrews 1–2:3.SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul begins by pointing out that God spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets (v. 1). And he contrasts God’s manner of speaking back then with his manner of speaking in “these last days” (v. 2). In these last days, God has spoken to the saints by his Son. Many things are acknowledged of this Son through whom God spoke to his people: He has been appointed heir of all things, not just some things (v. 2). He was the one through whom God made the worlds (v. 2). He is the brightness of God’s glory, and his express image such that if you have seen Jesus Christ then you have seen the Father (v. 3). This Son upholds all things by the word of his power, the same all things that he is inheriting, remember (v. 3). This Son purged our sins and is sat down at the right hand of God on high (v. 3).The Son of God has obtained a better “name” than angels (v. 4). Now, this assertion can be confusing. Why does it need to be made? Doesn’t everyone already know that the Son of God is better than the angels? Well, yes, they do. Paul isn’t speaking to the supremacy of Christ’s divine nature to the angels. He’s speaking to the supremacy of the Godman, Jesus Christ, and particularly his mediatorial office as the Godman.This idea is further expressed in verse 5 and 6. In verse 6, the angels of God worship the Son when God brings him into the world. The point is not simply that the angels worship the second member of the Trinity. The point is they worship the Son of God made flesh. In verse 5, Paul signals that God has not exalted any angel like he has the Son. For God said to the Son, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” Paul is quoting Psalm 2 here. And the “begottenness” happened on a “day.” And that needs explaining. (Remember Peter said that Paul wrote things hard to understand).When the Apostle John refers to the “only begotten Son” in John 3:16, he speaks of Christ’s eternal Sonship to the Father. That eternal Sonship is, of course, eternal. Therefore, it did not happen on “a day.” Psalm 2 and Hebrews 1:5 speak to a different begotteness, a different thing. Psalm 2 signals that “this day” was the day of Christ’s resurrection. And the begotteness refers to the Father raising the Son from the dead. Paul makes this very clear in Acts 13:33. He cites this same verse from Psalm 2 while referring to the Father raising the Son from the dead. God has not done the same for angels, they are ministering spirits (v. 7).Several Old Testament texts are referenced as Paul points out the supremacy of the Son. God the Father says many things of the Son. He speaks of the Son’s never-ending throne (v. 8), his love of righteousness, hatred of iniquity, and exceeding gladness (v. 9). The Son laid the foundation of the earth, built the heavens with his hands, and will remain after they grow old and he folds them up like a dress (v. 10-12). Christ is better than angels for he has ascended to the right hand of God with his enemies being made his footstool, while the angels minister to Christ’s people (v. 14).The application of all of this is that the saints must pay closer attention to what God has said through this exalted Son, lest we let his words to us slip (ch. 2:1). If God’s word delivered by angels in time past was so steadfast that every disobedience was punished, how much more will be the case for those who neglect the great salvation brought by Christ himself (ch. 2:2-3)?CHRIST WHO PURGED OUR SINSPaul’s logic runs something like this: Would you leave God? Would you slip away from him? May it never be! God has not only saved you. He has saved you through his Son.The passage is not concerned with the supremacy of Christ abstractly considered. It is not merely a matter of putting God’s Son on one side of the scales and the prophets and angels on the other side. The Son, whose supremacy is in view, is the Son who purged our sins. He is the Son of God who entered the world. He is the Son who was “made a little lower than the angels” and then was raised from the dead and exalted above the angels as the Godman. And when he was raised up there in the heavens, he took you all with him for you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).This Christ is not merely the Word spoken to you that you must hear. He is the Word that binds you. What does he bind you to? He binds you to God. Would you slip away from God’s word? It is the Word made flesh that binds you to God. Would you loosen your hold on the Word? It is the word that upholds you and all things.THE LAST DAYS AND OUR DAYSPaul says that God has spoken to his people by his Son “in these last days.” These “last days” can be easily misunderstood. So a word about them is in order. We do not live in these last days. And these last days are not in our future. Rather, these “last days” refer to the Jewish age or the old covenant. When Paul wrote, the Romans were soon to destroy the temple in Jerusalem. The destruction of that temple was an act of God signifying the vanishing of the old covenant. Jesus referred to this in Matthew 24:1-2 when he said to his disciples that not one stone of the temple would be left on another.That temple destruction was not merely about the destruction of temple worship. It signified the removal of the old covenant, the end of an age. We see Paul expressing this same idea later in the book in Hebrews 8:13. There he speaks of a new covenant that God is making. And he writes, “In that he saith, a new covenant, he made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”That old covenant was glorious. It was so glorious that Paul says “the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance” (2 Corinthians 3:7). But, he adds that this old covenant glory was coming to an end. And it would be replaced with a new covenant that was even more glorious.You live in the epoch of the seen Christ, of the revealed mystery. The veil of the temple has been torn in two. You live in the time of the gathering together into one both things in heaven and things on earth. You are members of the new covenant. And the Virgin-born Son of God is the mediator of this new covenant and Lord over all things in this new covenant era.You live in the days after the last days. And they are days of great wonder and glory. How then should you live? You should give more earnest heed to the things God your Father has said to you through his Son (Hebrews 2:1).PROPHETS, ANGELS, AND GOD’S SONSpeaking about the word of God, Paul stirs up the saints to reverence for that word by contrasting the various ways God has delivered his word to his people. In time past, God spoke by prophets. And in time past, he spoke “by angels” (ch. 2:2). And the word that he spoke by prophets and angels was steadfast. We’re not dealing with a shaky word back then and a stable word here and now. We’re dealing with a rock-solid word back then, (the kind of rock you could build a house on), and diamond-hard Mount Everest word here and now (the kind that supports the world-wide growth of an everlasting kingdom).In both cases, God speaks. The contrast is not between prophets and angels themselves speaking in the old and the Son speaking in the new. The contrast is that God spoke by prophets and angels in the old. And he has now spoken by his Son in the new. Think book publishing. There is an author from whom the word originates and there is a publisher of that word.Paul says in Galatians 3:19 that the law was “ordained by angels.” God spoke the law by these angels on Mount Sinai. John Owen said these angles “raised the fire and smoke; they shook and rent the rocks; they framed the sound of the trumpet . . . and therein proclaimed and published the law.” Not many men would not complain about having an angel as his publisher. That’s a sure word.How much more then ought we to take confidence in the word published by the Son of God, the Word made flesh? Take this to heart. Man often cast his doubts in a humble light, “I just don’t know. I haven’t quite made up my mind, still exploring.” We often do the same with anxiety. But the doubting man and anxious woman do not doubt an idea. They do not doubt a sentence in the sky. They doubt a person, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ.This is the only way to snap out of your worrisome unbelief. God the Father says, “This is my beloved Son, Listen to him!” God said that on the mount as Jesus was transfigured and his face shone as the sun. And his face still shines today. So, hear him. He’s the Living Christ. Hear him.The only appropriate response to this word from God is that of the disciples on that mount, “The fell on their face and were sore afraid” (Matthew 17:6). That’s it. No more huffing and puffing, no more what-iffing. Hear him and fall on your face in fear.THE ETERNAL THRONE AND KINGDOMWe have every reason to because this Christ through whom God speaks to us not only purged our sin. He not only ushered in the new covenant era. And he not only is superior to prophets and angels. He has been raised up and seated on an eternal throne (ch. 1:8). And he is a happy king, anointed with the oil of gladness.This king rules over his kingdom. And here is glory, you are in that kingdom. Look around, you are fellow members in that kingdom. And the kingdom that we find ourselves in will be around after Christ folds up the heavens like a curtain on moving day. The Palouse hills will be wrapped up like a bed sheet. And the kingdom we are in right now will still be here. And the King of this kingdom will still be here.Do you feel shaky? That’s because things are being shaken. Well who is doing the shaking? God is. He says so in this very book, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” (Hebrews 12:26). Do you feel breakable like a clay pot? That’s because you are a clay pot. Do you feel like a brick that could be pulverized if dropped from too high up? That’s because you are a brick. You are a brick being placed one upon another. And you are a dwelling place for God. The designer and builder of this house is God. He is building this eternal kingdom and we are receiving it even now, “And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:27-28).

We live in a day when human interaction is too often mediated via screens and satellites. The scheming of wicked men aim to further isolate us, control us, and convince us it is all for our health and safety. Christian hospitality, in this era and all others, is an act of war on the rebel city of Man.

INTRODUCTIONOne very common problem that Christians have in their Christian lives is the problem of spiritual clutter. Many Christians don’t know what to do with various unresolved sins and problems, and so they do nothing. Over time these problems accumulate, and before long there is a real mess.You have seen this phenomenon in various places, have you not? It happens in closets, it happens in your junk drawer, it happens in your home’s designated fright room, it happens at the back of your garage, it happens when your garden fills up with weeds, and so on. Why wouldn’t it happen in your spiritual life? It certainly will if you let it.“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).So one of the first things that Christians should learn is this. They need to learn to deal with the sin . . . of not really dealing with sin. If we are told to lay aside every weight, then it would be a sin not to. If we are told to deal with the sin that “so easily besets” us, then it would be a sin not to.ON NOT KIDDING YOURSELFSo the first thing to realize is that confession of sin is an ongoing necessity. I described the problem as being one of spiritual clutter, but the thing about clutter is that you get used to it as it accumulates. You begin by thinking that perhaps your life is “a little untidy,” and then move on to excuse the fact that it looks like a bomb went off in your conscience, and by the end of the process your conscience looks and smells like a closet at the crazy cat lady’s house.So ongoing and regular confession of sin is a necessity for everyone. What must you do if you want a garden filled with weeds? What you need to do is absolutely . . . nothing. Just let it ride.We know that sin can accumulate in this way because of the way Scripture speaks of it. If we just go on in our own fashion, we will get used to how disheveled we are. But if we look into the looking glass of Scripture, we will there see our true condition. We don’t learn that true condition by means of morbid introspection—we learn our true condition through faithful and submissive Bible reading.As James puts it:“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25).No one should ever simply assume that he is “doing fine” simply because the roof hasn’t fallen in yet.“If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” (Psalm 130:3).Scripture tells us our true condition.“If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them . . .” (2 Chronicles 6:36; Job 4:18-19)And the apostle John sums it up.“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us . . . If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10).Suppose someone is learning how to do maintenance on his car, and he is told to change his air filter every 12 to 15,000 miles. Suppose he were to raise the earnest question of whether he still would have to do this if the filter hadn’t gotten dirty. The problem with this young man is that he doesn’t know what kind of a world he is living in.WHAT TO DOThe way to deal with the effects of such accumulated guilt through sinning is by means of confession.“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).This is a glorious promise, so let us take a moment to consider it carefully. In this verse, we are described a certain way, and then we are to do something. In addition, God is described as being a certain way, and then He does something.We are described as sinful (we cannot confess sins unless we actually have some). So we are described as sinful, and what we are told to do is confess. God is described as being faithful and just, and what He does is forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We are sinful, and He is righteous. We do the confessing, and He does the cleansing.So what is it to “to confess”? The Greek word that is rendered here as confess is homologeo, a very interesting compound word. The first part, homo, is the Greek for same. The logeo is a verb that means to speak. Consequently, homologeo means “to speak the same thing,” or putting it another way, to acknowledge.If Scripture calls it a lie, and you call it mild prevarication, that is not confession. If Scripture calls it adultery, and you call it infatuation, that is not confession. If Scripture calls it theft, and you call it requisitioning, that is not confession. The reason it is not confession is that it is dishonest.So the central issue in confession of sin is honesty.“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).A paraphrase of this therefore would be that people who are dishonest about the way they are living are people who will not flourish, who will not prosper. The alternative is what is promised to the honest—honest confession and honest forsaking results in mercy. This mercy means that God is blessing that man.THE BLESSING OF FORGIVENESS“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psalm 32:1–2).Forgiven transgression is the blessing of God. To have sin covered is the blessing of God. To not have iniquity imputed to you when it easily could have been imputed to you is the blessing of God.But not that descriptor—“in whose spirit there is no guile.” Honesty before God is the ticket. And even there, remember that if God were to mark iniquities in our confessions no one could stand.“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1–2).This is why, at the end of the day, all our sins must be confessed in Jesus’ name.

Herod's story offers us a perfect example of what the conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent really looks like. This story is going on all around us right now, but must be seen with the eye of faith.

Perhaps you’ve watched a skilled artist at work. You watch them paint or carve or shape, moving their hands in ways you can’t, creating something you couldn’t. Then they do something so drastic that you think they’ve ruined the whole thing. That stroke of color was too much. That chiseled off too much marble. That marred the shape of the clay. But somehow it still ends up remarkable. Or think of the skilled cook who bakes & frosts, assembles and garnishes a wonderful spread. Then he invites the guests to dig in, seemingly ruining all the hard work. God is guiding history from one glory to the next. We live in the bright glory of Christ’s resurrection. However, we’re awaiting the final consummation of all things, where this present glory will give place to an eternal weight of glory.

Keeping children engaged in worship isn't an easy task, but nothing worthwhile is. By training them up in this way, you are helping them grow up into faithful parishioners. You are helping them become like Christ.

The saints of God are more than conquerors. The church isn’t just an accountability group to commiserate over our blasted failures. Rather, we’re those who’ve overcome this world, because we’ve laid hold of Christ the triumphant, Christ the overcomer, Christ the King. So when you kneel to confess your sins, you do so as a beloved and forgiven child. When you rise, you remain in the bright glory of God’s favor. So, act like it.

Most folks enjoy their ruts. They find a way of doing things, and that’s the way it should be done. But occasionally, along comes some technological innovation, or some brilliant genius. The way you’ve always done things is suddenly upended, and you can’t imagine ever doing it the old way again. Christ’s life, death, and resurrection was the epitome of completely changing how to do things. Christian marriage, then, should have a similar effect. As people see your marriage, they should be left scratching their heads going, “I’ve never seen it done this way before, but I want that.”

Waiting for something good is a strange mixture of pain & pleasure. Its agony mixed with expectancy. Christmas morning. A brisket. A bonus check. The wedding day. The birth of a child. The Eternal God placed us in time, which necessarily means waiting. This is poignantly true for engaged couples longing for their wedding day, or a single hoping for a good mate. But marriage isn’t the destination, it’s a waypoint. God wants to teach us to both rejoice in contentment for current blessings, while faithfully awaiting future glories.

We turn now to see what instruction the Word of God gives us as it regards young women. Perhaps more than any other demographic in our current environment, young women are beset with draconian lies. All of which will lead to some degree of unfruitfulness & heartbreak for those who adopt the world’s thinking. In God’s Word, young women are held in high honor, while also called to high holiness.

As we are coming near to the end of this epistle, we see here a good summary of Paul’s idea of what constitutes the apostolic insignia. There are three elements that can be seen here. The first would be apostolic signs, works of power and authority. The second would be apostolic sacrifice, where Paul was willing to spend himself for the Corinthians. And the third element would be his apostolic fears—his concern for their spiritual well-being.

If you would grow in godliness, it won’t arise from any other source than Christ Himself. You must be rooted in Christ’s redeeming grace, in order to make any progress in sanctifying grace. As you prepare to look at your own heart, remember to measure by the eyes of faith using the Word, not with some custom made measuring stick of morality.

Enjoy session 1 of 5 from the GA22 Men's Seminar: Let's Talk About Books.The last several years Christ Church as tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at grace graceagenda.com/donate.

In God’s good wisdom, He has designed the family to be a great force for welcoming others into the life of the church. And in a God-honoring household, one that is full of joy and well-ordered, the light of the gospel shines very bright. This is especially true in a dark culture where the destructive consequences of sin are most keenly felt in the home and in families. 

When dealing with the sin and affliction of anxiety, we can be prone to turn great Bible passages into trite and simplistic answers. 

Text: Hebrews 11

Paul asks us to excuse him while he speaks as a fool, but he does not consistently get into that character. He keeps breaking voice to remind us that he is being sarcastic—because he really doesn’t want us to think that he is actually taking any glory for himself. There are parallel lines of boasting here. In the first instance, he indicates that he fully able to meet the false apostles on their own ground. But secondly, he itemizes all the ways in which he trounces them with accomplishments that they never aspired to at all—to their shame. “As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ” (Galatians 6:12).

The fundamental difference between Paul and the false apostles he was combating is that he surrendered to a standard from outside the world, and they submitted to a standard that arose from within. And when I use a word like standard, we are referring to both law and gospel. What is the standard for evaluating appropriate behavior? And what is the standard to telling men how they might be saved?

So with a heart of gratitude and trust, hear the Word. But don’t stop there. Let the Word move through your ears and settle down in your heart. And then in faith watch it flow out – adorning all that you say and do, to the glory of God.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the great Dragon-slayer, and in Him, the birth of a race of dragon slayers. So lift up your heads. Lift up your hearts. Christ is born. The Seed of the Woman has come. The dragon has been mortally wounded, and you have been set free. So take up your arms. Confess your sins. Forgive one another. Rejoice and sing and celebrate. This your testimony, and by this testimony you overcome the dragon.

These days leading up to Christmas should be a crescendo of celebration. It shouldn’t be a descent into a legion of carnal indulgence. Whether it be to partake to the point of drunkenness, snap with annoyed anger at your children or spouse, scroll aimlessly down the dark corridors of the Internet, or bemoan some degree of loneliness, you must not invert the celebration of Christ’s Incarnation into an indulgence of the very things which He came to deliver you from.

During the course of Advent, we are celebrating the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. I say celebrating, not mourning. In contrast to a number of Christian traditions, we do not treat this season as a penitential season, but rather a season of anticipation and longing. We celebrate the Incarnation itself, with the deliverance it brought to us, when we come to Christmas itself. But in faith we celebrate the promise of deliverance as we prepare ourselves for the full celebration.But what is entailed in that promise? The Incarnation highlights two things that we need to have anchored firmly in our minds. First, it underscores the essential goodness of the material creation. The Word of God took on human flesh. Second, it emphasizes the depth of our sin and rebellion. This is what it took to deliver us from our unholy condition. And so the Incarnation must be seen and understood as simultaneously earthy and holy.

There is comparatively little that Scripture tells us about the man who raised our Lord Jesus as his own son. He leaves the stage almost as soon as he entered it. We have no dialogue from him. But while he is a silent character of Scripture, he still speaks volumes.

We have entered into the Advent season so we are reminded that Christ came. Christ paid attention. He saw our need. Even being equal with God, He took upon Himself the form of a servant in order to deliver us from our trouble. Trust Him and look to the needs of others, knowing that from His fullness we receive grace upon grace.

As I’m sure you’re already aware, the next month will be a sprint of Christmas hullabaloo. The central message of our celebration is that of good news of great joy for all nations: Christ has come. The centrality of joy should be unmistakable.But amidst all the joyful anthems, alongside all the favorite traditions, hiding in the corner of many otherwise joyful hearts is a pang of sorrow. The dull grief of loss is sharpened anew. The memory of past celebrations brings a fresh wave of mourning. The realization comes anew that their laugh will no more be heard, their embrace no more felt, their presence will no longer warm the room.

Hebrews 9:1–15

Text: 1 Samuel 11:1–7

Enjoy session 1 of 4 from the GA22 Women's Seminar: Imagination & the Feminine Art of Culture Building.The last several years Christ Church as tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at grace graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy session 4 of 4 from the GA22 Women's Seminar: Imagination & the Feminine Art of Culture Building.The last several years Christ Church as tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at grace graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy session 3 of 4 from the GA22 Women's Seminar: Imagination & the Feminine Art of Culture Building.The last several years Christ Church as tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at grace graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy session 2 of 4 from the GA22 Women's Seminar: Imagination & the Feminine Art of Culture Building.The last several years Christ Church as tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at grace graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy session 3 of 5 from the GA22 Men's Seminar: Let's Talk About Books.The last several years Christ Church as tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at grace graceagenda.com/donate.

Text: Hebrews 8

INTRODUCTIONThere are three kinds of grief in this passage. The first is Paul’s godly response to the pastoral meltdown at Corinthian. Paul had been entirely “cast down” (v. 6), and this was the troubles out of which the coming of Titus had been the deliverance. Then there is the godly sorrow and grief that follows after sin, and which results in true repentance (v. 10). But the third kind, the sorrow “of the world” leads only to death (v. 10).THE TEXT“Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man. I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you. Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears . . .” (2 Cor. 7:2–16).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe first exhortation here to “receive us” is echoing the earlier summons to open or enlarge their hearts (v. 2). Paul says he has wronged no one, corrupted no one, and defrauded no one (v. 2). This is perhaps an indication of the charges made against him. Paul is not trying to condemn the Corinthians who are on the fence—with all his heart he wants to die and live with them (v. 3) Paul is bold with them because he is overjoyed in them, and filled with comfort (v. 4). We now learn about how torn up Paul was in Macedonia—fears within, quarrels without (v. 5). But Paul was comforted two ways—the first through the coming of Titus (v. 6), and second by the news Titus brought (v. 7). Paul was greatly comforted to learn about the Corinthians “earnest desire,” their “mourning,” and their “fervent mind toward” Paul (v. 7). Although Paul made them sorry with that letter, he did not regret it now (v. 8)—although there were some moments where he did regret it. Their sorrow was just for a season (v. 8)—their sorrow was a fruitful sorrow, not a damaging sorrow (v. 9). For there are two kinds of sorrow and grief—one leads to repentance and salvation, while a worldly sorry just works death (v. 10). He then describes their godly sorrow, the components of which were diligence, clearing themselves, indignation, fear, vehement desire, zeal, and vindication (v. 11). In all this, they went above and beyond. Paul was not aiming at the ringleader in the congregation who had caused the trouble, nor was he defending himself, but rather that they might see his pastoral care for them (v. 12). This is why the news from Titus about how refreshed he was in them was so good (v. 13). When Paul had bragged about the Corinthians to Titus, this was simply the same kind of truth he spoke to them. And they had not embarrassed him (v. 14). And now Titus is warmly attached to that congregation as well (v. 15). Note that this deep affection is not inconsistent with obedience, and fear, and trembling (v. 15). The whole episode has caused Paul to rejoice in all things (v. 16).A MESS IN CORINTH, AND ANOTHER ONE IN MACEDONIAPaul had a meltdown situation in Corinth, which he had sent Titus to deal with by means of a letter. He came to Macedonia, expecting to find Titus there, but he was delayed. But instead of Titus, he found a bad situation there in Macedonia—everywhere he turned he ran into conflict (v. 5).Internally, Paul was beset with fears that all his work might come crashing down. This was a common concern of his—were all those floggings for nothing? Consider Gal. 4:11; 1 Thess. 3:5; and 2 Cor. 11:28–29. IN THE PERSON OF TITUSWhen Titus came, God was the one who comforted Paul (v. 6). Titus was the instrument, and God was the agent. This expression is likely an allusion to Isa. 49:13 in the LXX—where God brings eschatological comfort to His people. The coming of Titus was like that. Christ has a body, and He works good for His people through that body. You are the hands and feet of Christ Himself in the world.SEVENFOLD REPENTANCEThe repentance of the Corinthians before Titus had been a convulsive and dramatic one. They were not at all trying to preserve their dignity, putting things right without ever having to humble themselves. Remember that Paul mentions their obedience, their fear, and their trembling. This is a combination of a felt and very real authority with deep and open affection—the kind that Paul displayed with his enlarged heart.The sevenfold repentance could not be described as being in any way nonchalant. They were diligent, they worked to clear themselves, there was real indignation, they feared, they showed vehement desire, they displayed their zeal, and their hunger for vindication. And notice that Titus accepts all of this kind of behavior, as does Paul.ACTUAL GOOD GRIEFPaul sharply distinguishes godly sorrow from a worldly sorrow. There are two kinds of sorrow. The fact that you did something wrong, and are sorrow about it, does not by itself mean anything. Suppose you did something that was pretty tawdry, and you are humiliated about it. Every time you think about it, your forehead gets hot. You sinned on Monday, and you are sorry on Tuesday. Comes Friday, and you are still gnawing on your sorrow, like a dog with a bone. You are sorry yesterday, sorry today, and sorry tomorrow. At this rate, you are going to die sorry. That kind of sorrow is one of the things that needs to be repented of.The godly sorrow that Paul describes right alongside it is a godly sorrow that “works repentance to salvation.” That salvation, remember, is Christ. Godly sorrow drives you where? Godly sorrow leads straight to Christ. Godly sorrow leads you straight to the place of no regrets (v. 10). The way such a thing could ever be possible is that if all our regrets, and all the sins that produce such regrets, are bundled up together and laid on the shoulders of Christ at the moment when He bowed His head and died.

Text: Gal. 2:1–10

INTRODUCTIONThe early church father John Chrysostom once said that the apostle Paul went through a “blizzard of troubles.” This passage, this text, is one of the places where we learn something of them. But, if truth be told, we are probably just learning a fraction of them.Paul’s adversaries at Corinth were apparently arguing that Paul could not be from God—look at how much trouble he was in, all the time. The man was a controversy magnet, and this was upsetting to that breed of Christian that wants to stay well away from all controversy magnets. But Paul’s reply that the troubles did not negate his ministry. Rather, his long endurance through those troubles confirmed his ministry.THE TEXT“Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged” (2 Cor. 6:3–18).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul here works through a litany of his troubles. He is careful not to give offense in anything (v. 3). He is of course talking about unnecessary offense. In the original, there are 28 descriptive comments. As Kent Hughes points out in his commentary, the first 18 are prefaced with the word in, the following 3 by the word through, and the last 7 by the word as. Not only so, the first round tends to come in triplets. First we see general troubles—afflictions, necessities, and distresses (v. 4). The second triplet was made up of troubles from others—stripes, imprisonments, and riots (v. 5). Remember that Paul went through riotous tumults in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, and Jerusalem (Acts 13:50; 14:5,19; 16:22; 18:12; 19:23; 21:27). That man knew his riots. Then there was the triplet of troubles he went through that might be called self-sacrificial—labors, watching, and fasting (v. 5).How could he endure all this? Paul then gives us a list of the inner graces that made it possible for him to maintain his steady equilibrium, despite all the commotion around him. In the middle of this list he mentions the Holy Spirit Himself by name. So Paul does what he does BY pureness, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, and by genuine love (v. 6). He does it BY the word of truth, the power of God, and the armor of righteousness on the right and on the left (v. 7). The word armor here would be better rendered as weapons—for the right hand and left. He does what he does BY honor and dishonor, BY evil report and good (v. 8a).For the last seven, Paul gives us a series of paradoxes, all of them ending on an upward note of triumph. AS deceivers, but actually true (v. 8). As unknown, but actually well known. AS dying, and yet look at us live. AS punished, but actually not killed (v. 9). AS sorrowful, but always rejoicing, and AS poor, while actually enriching many others, and AS possessing nothing while at the same time owning everything (v. 10).Paul then speaks straight to the Corinthians—our mouth is open, and our heart is enlarged (v. 11). They were not restricted in Paul and company, but rather were constricted in their own attitudes (v. 12). The kink in the hose was in them, not in Paul. Paul pleads with them as with his own children—be enlarged in heart, just as Paul is (v. 13). This is something we can imitate the apostle in.THE GRACE OF CONTROVERSYThere are those who believe the ministry to be an indoor job with no heavy lifting. There was an old Southern joke that said that a hot sun and a slow mule had been responsible for many a call to the ministry. This has always been a lure. There were men in the first century who confounded gain with godliness (1 Tim. 6:5). And remember what Paul warned against just a few chapters before—“For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:17, NKJV). And when there is constant trouble, it disrupts marketing. It discourages sales. It makes it hard to be friends with the world, and to monetize that friendship. That’s why Demas had to leave Paul’s company to take a new position (2 Tim. 4:10).BEDROCK JOYNotice that biblical joy is not a frothy bubble gum kind of joy. It is not happy happy joy joy. It is not superficial sentiment. Paul says “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (v. 10). This shows us that when Paul tells us elsewhere that we are to rejoice all the time (Phil. 4:4), he is not urging into a masochistic glee. The soil in your life may grow some plants that have thorns, but down underneath it all must be the bedrock of joy.LARGENESS OF HEARTPaul concludes this section by urging expansiveness of heart upon the Corinthians. He tells them that it was because of his largeness of heart that made tell them about all the troubles he had gone through. His mouth was open because his heart was enormous. He spoke because he loved. “I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.” (Psalm 119:32).When King Solomon pleased the Lord by asking for wisdom instead of other things, what did God do for him? “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore” (1 Kings 4:29).Fussers don’t have this largeness of heart. They fuss right and they fuss left. They fuss about their meals, they fuss about the traffic, they fuss about the sermons, they fuss about the lack of things to grumble about. Because this had happened at Corinth, the saints there had fallen prey to certain agitators who wanted to circulate complaints. So Paul opened his heart wide, and poured everything out. And it was at that moment that he told them the problem was in their own twisted, constricted hearts. Open up, Paul says. Imitate him as he imitates Christ. Join him and his company of great hearts. It sounds inspiring, but what is the cost? It means going and walking with Paul as he works through his blizzard of troubles.

THE TEXTFor when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. 5 And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; 6 but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. 8 Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. 9 Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, 10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him (Heb. 6:13–7:10).

Take a deep breath and remember that God has not changed. His Word and Kingdom have not changed. The blood of Christ has not changed. And your work of faith has not changed. Obey right where you are. The scenery changes as you go farther up and farther in. But the call to go farther up and farther in, nothing has changed about that.

INTRODUCTIONThe fear of God is not a craven, crawling thing. In this passage, the fear of God is a driving motive force for evangelism, and evangelism is a proclamation of the good news, not the declaration of dreadful news. The fear of God therefore needs to be something that we understand as powerful and attractive.THE TEXT“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause” (2 Cor. 5:11–13).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTIn the light of this judgment, in light of the fact that every man will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we know what it is to fear the Lord. Precisely because we know “the terror” of the Lord, we seek to persuade men (v. 11). Persuade them of what? Persuade them to consider their true condition. A human life without true, complete, utter, and entire accountability has not yet been lived, and never will be. It is madness not to factor this in to how we live our lives. This is something Paul does coram Deo, in the manifest sight of God, and Paul trusts that it is manifest enough to be obvious to the consciences of the Corinthians also. The reason Paul is writing about this here is not to brag to the Corinthians, but rather to give them an opportunity to brag about him. They needed the material so that they could answer the false teachers at Corinth—identified by Paul here as those who glory in appearances, and not in heart (v. 12). Paul acknowledges that some will think he is crazy, while others will call him sober-minded. He divides it up this way. If we are out of our minds, it is for God. If we are calm and judicious, it is for you Corinthians (v. 13).TESTIMONY AND APPEARANCESWe should begin by acknowledging that there is a sense in which believers ought to care about our testimony and reputation. Elders should have a good reputation with outsiders (1 Tim. 3:7). A good name is greatly to be valued (Prov. 22:1). Because we live lives of integrity, those who slander us should be ashamed of themselves (1 Pet. 2:15).But at the same time, Jesus tells us that when all men speak well of us, we should consider that as a real danger sign (Luke 6:26). That is how they speak of false teachers, and in our passage, Paul tells us that false teachers cultivate and pursue such appearances (v. 12). This is their currency. They care about appearances, which is not the same as caring about testimony. Caring about testimony is caring about the truth, and caring about appearances is caring about the lie.So test your hearts in this. Would you rather be truthful and thought a liar, or a liar and thought a truthteller? Would you rather be courageous and thought a coward, or a coward who is thought to be courageous? Would you rather be honest and thought to be dishonest, or dishonest and thought to be honest? The answer will reveal whether you are standing before God or men.JUBILANT TERRORKnowing therefore the terror (phobos) of the Lord, we seek to persuade men. I began by saying that the fear of God is not a craven thing. This is not a religion for lickspittles. Although the same word (fear) is used, there is a vast difference between the flinching that wants to avoid a blow and the awe that swallows you up when you consider that the paving stones in God’s palaces contain numberless galaxies. Perfect love casts out the first kind of fear (1 John 4:18), and perfect love ushers in the second kind (Ps. 8). What is man, that you are mindful of him?This is why Paul can tell the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). But working out our salvation includes rejoicing constantly (Phil. 4:4). Rejoice with fear and trembling.This is what the kings of the earth are commanded to learn. “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11).And when Moses and Aaron were dedicating the tabernacle, the fire of God flared out from the glory of God and consumed the burnt offering.“And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces” (Lev. 9:24).But these were not religious feelies. The fire of God devoured Nadab and Abihu in the next verses (Lev. 10:2), and so God instituted a law for priests against drinking on the job (Lev. 10:9). And yet the people fell on their faces, shouting and jubilant in their terror.JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORYAnd this is what the Scriptures point us to, constantly. Paul wants us to have the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” He wants us to have the “eyes of our understanding enlightened” so that we might “know what is the hope of our calling,” not to mention the “riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” And what else? The “exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Eph. 1:17–19).He also prays that we might be “able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,” and more than that, to “know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge,” and he wants us to be “filled with the fulness of God.” He wants us to ask and think that, and then to commit it all to the one who can do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:18–20). He wants us to grasp the ungraspable, and to know the unknowable, and to be filled with the infinite. And then he wants us to be hungry for more than that.“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” (1 Peter 1:8).This is the reality that will make evangelism potent. Knowing what it is to fear the Lord, we seek to persuade men. As we reflect Christ, we point the way to Christ. And as we witness to Him, we pray for the fire to fall.

Enjoy session 3 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Gal. 1:1–9).

INTRODUCTIONAs Christians, we must live our lives here in the light of the life to come. Those who live in the ways of YOLO are like pigs under a vast oak tree, looking for acorns. They do not consider what is above them, not at all, they do not care about the source of their blessings, not at all, and they keep their snouts pointing toward the dirt always, hunting for the next acorn. We are summoned to a way of life that is completely and entirely different.THE TEXT“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:1–10).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTSo we begin with a summary of this passage. Paul starts by comparing our mortal bodies to tabernacles, to be followed by an eternal body in the heavens, fashioned by God Himself (v. 1). Dwelling in tents is a time for groaning, as we look for our permanent heavenly house, which will clothe us (v. 2). If we are clothed in this way, we will not be found naked (v. 3). While we live in these tent bodies, it is a burden, and we groan under it. But we do not groan in the direction of “no body,” but rather in the direction of “ultimate body,” so that our mortal bodies might be swallowed up by life (v. 4). God has fashioned us for this very thing (v. 5), and He has given us the earnest payment of His Spirit (v. 5). This means that the Spirit is dwelling here with us in these tents. This is the ground of our confidence—we know that to be present in these bodies is to be absent from the Lord in Heaven (v. 6). We walk by faith (faith generated by the Spirit who is the earnest within us), and not by sight (v. 7). But the confidence we have while not seeing with our eyes is a confidence that is looking forward—to the time when we leave this body, and are present with the Lord (v. 8). This is why we work as hard as we do, so that whether we see Him with our eyes or not, we are nevertheless accepted by Him (v. 9). This is what we want and need, because absolutely every one of us is going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ (v. 10). The upshot of this judgment is that we will all receive according to our life in the body, whether good or bad (v. 10).THE SPIRIT HELPS US GROANWhen Paul points out we live in a tent, he says we groan (stenazo, v. 2). With the burden of tabernacling, we groan (same word, v. 4).He teaches something very similar in Romans 8. The whole creation groans (stenazo), like a woman in labor (Rom. 8:22). We who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan as we look forward to the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8: 23). Yearning toward that same end, the Spirit Himself labors with groans too deep for words (Rom. 8:26). This is because the entire cosmos is pregnant with the new creation.WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIEPutting all this together, we can see what happens when believers die. Our bodies are called tabernacles, and this is where we live now. If this tent is destroyed, we are (Paul says) “with the Lord.” This is some sort of intermediate state, and too many Christians confuse this intermediate state with our final eternal state. That final eternal state is after the dead are raised. So being a ghostly spirit in Heaven is not our final hope. We are Christians, and we believe in the resurrection of the body.CHRISTIANS AND THE JUDGMENT TO COMEAs we consider the end of the world, we must distinguish between two different aspects of how God will judge the world at the last day.In the first instance, there is the Great White Throne Judgment. We see this in Revelation 20:11-15. This is a judgment that distinguishes and separates the saved from the lost. We see the same thing in Matthew 25, in the separation of sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-36). Those who are saved through this judgment are saved on the sole basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, imputed to them by the grace of God. You will stand in this judgment, or not, on the basis of whether or not you are in Christ. Salvation is based on whether or not their names are found written in the “book of life from the creation of the world” (Rev. 17:8).But there is another judgment, often called the bema-seat judgment. This is a judgment that evaluates the lives of Christians, and rewards them (or not) on the basis of how they lived. Paul refers to this in our passage (v. 10), but also elsewhere. “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ . . . So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10–12). If we compete in accordance with the rules, we will be crowned (2 Tim. 2:5). “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

This same Word, that created the world out of nothing and raised Lazarus from the dead, has called you—and He called you by name.If you are a Christian, you have been born again through that same Word of God that abides forever. It is out of God’s own eternal will and good pleasure that He has brought you forth by His Word and made you a new creation. If you know this to be true, give thanks to God for His great grace and endeavor to walk daily in accordance with that Word which has saved you.And if you have not yet heard His voice, He is calling to you right now. The Lord is calling you by name, out of your sin and shame, to glorious fellowship with Himself, saying, “Come forth…”

THE TEXT12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.6 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. 10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 5:12–6:12 NKJV).

INTRODUCTIONThis chapter closes Leviticus by underlining the true covenant between God and His people through vows. Not only does God take His Word, and the obedience (or disobedience) of His people seriously (cf. Lev. 26), God takes the words of His people seriously. This is why Jesus cautions us against thoughtless vows. God keeps covenant, and His people are to be people of their word.THE TEXT“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying speaking unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation…” (Lev. 27).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTWhen Israel swore vows to the Lord, they would promise to dedicate people or beasts to the service of the Lord or give an offering of equivalent value plus twenty percent (Lev. 26:1-13). Likewise, if a house or land were dedicated to the Lord, it would be considered holy to the Lord, and its value would be reckoned from the year of Jubilee with the fixed value of the tabernacle shekel (Lev. 26:14-25). Only the firstborn of animals could not be redeemed, along with those things devoted to the Lord (Lev. 26:16-34).VOWS THAT HELP & HURTThroughout the Old Testament, God’s people worshipped Him through paying vows (Dt. 12:6ff, Ps. 50:14, 61:8, 66:13, 116:14, Jon. 1:16, Nah. 1:15). These were promises of offerings in response to particular answers to prayer. Jacob vowed to give tithes to the Lord if the Lord kept him safe and brought him home again safely (Gen. 28:20-22). One infamous example is when Jephthah vowed to sacrifice whatever came out to meet him when he returned from battle in peace, and his daughter was the first to greet him (Jdg. 11:30-40). The context of Jephthah’s vow indicates that his daughter was dedicated to service in the tabernacle as a virgin (cf. Jdg. 11:39), not literally sacrificed, but it was still a great grief to the family.In Numbers 30, God says that adult males must not break their vows, but that young women who are still in their father’s house still have the protection of their father hearing and confirming or annulling their vows (Num. 30:4-5). The same protection and forgiveness is granted to a married woman (Num. 30:6-7). But the vows of a widow or divorced woman stand against her (Num. 30:9). When a man annuls the vow of someone in his household, scripture says that he bears the iniquity and it is forgiven (Num. 30:12, 15).This is why Psalm 15 says that the man who dwells on God’s holy hill swears to his own hurt and does not change (Ps. 15:4). When people swear a vow to the Lord, they are invoking His name, and therefore Jesus warns against making vows (Mt. 5:33-37). James warns of the same danger, lest you come into condemnation (Js. 5:12). And yet Paul took a Nazirite vow, and there is no indication of sin (Acts 18:18, cf. Acts 21:23). And Hebrews says that people may swear an oath to solve matters of contention (Heb. 6:16). So we conclude that swearing vows is lawful and sometimes necessary, but vows must be taken seriously because God will hold us accountable.CHRISTIAN VOWSChristians have determined that where the covenant stakes are high, vows are necessary, invoking God’s name, asking God to judge the parties for loyalty or disloyalty. A business contract is one form of this in order to avoid contention. Marriage vows are some of the most important and potent. The wise woman of Proverbs 31 says that her son is the “son of her vows” (Prov. 31:2), and the adulterous woman forsakes her husband by covenant (Prov. 2:17, cf. Mal. 2:14). This is why civil and ecclesiastical leaders also swear vows to fulfill their covenant offices faithfully and why we swear membership and baptismal vows as a congregation. The word “Amen” is also a vow and pledge of loyalty to the Lord (cf. Num. 5:22, Dt. 27:15ff).APPLICATIONSSome are tempted to get wound tight about reading the fine print on a user agreement, but the central point is that because we are made in the image of God, our words are powerful like God’s Word. The power of life and death are in the tongue (Prov. 18:21). The tongue is a fire that sets whole worlds ablaze, full of deadly poison (Js. 3:6-9). We live in a land full of foul words, cursing, and poison, frivolous vows and many lies, and it can be easy to get used to it. You can become accustomed to speaking disrespectfully to or about your husband or wife. You can get used to biting your children with criticism, being angry at parents, or just telling lies. But you are spewing poison, and you are asking for God’s judgment.In our wedding ceremonies, we not only swear to keep ourselves only for our spouse in sexual purity and fidelity, we also swear to “love, honor, and cherish.” Harshness, bitterness, anger, and critical spirits are not a fulfillment of your vows to the Lord. Peter warns husbands in particular that failure to honor wives as the weaker vessel and a co-heir of the grace of life hinders prayer (1 Pet. 3:7). God promises to listen to your words and honor your words as well as you listen to and honor the words of your wife. Elsewhere, God promises to forgive us as we forgive others, and Jesus says that as we do “unto the least of these” we either do or do not do unto Him (Mt. 25:31ff). What kind of words are you serving Jesus?The wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easily intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace (Js. 3:17-18). Yes, our culture is disintegrating in perversion and bitterness, but you cannot fight fire with fire. The only antidote to words of death and broken vows is the Word of Life and God’s covenant kindness and mercy.Have you been harsh? Have you been critical? Have you made promises and not kept them? Some of the most potent and powerful words are words of confession and forgiveness. Forgiveness is God’s great covenant vow to us in the blood of His Son, and it is the central vow we make and keep that builds Christian culture.

Text: Hebrews 4:14–5:11

A faithful proclamation of the gospel of Christ does bring in disputes and challenges. There are unbelievers, many of them very clever, who say that what we are claiming is ridiculous. And so if you want to settle ultimate religious truth by democratic means—taking a vote—you are going to be sorry. But the Christian assumption is that these debates are not occurring on level ground. We are charged to go into a country filled with people who have been blind from birth, and we are told that our message is to be “bright blue.” How is it possible for this to work?

Forgiveness of sins is the foundation of Christian joy. You can face very difficult circumstances, even terrible and horrible things, but if your sins are forgiven, you won’t lose your joy.

The Church has failed in our obedience to conform to the duties which accompany how God made us as males and females. May God grant us humility to lead where we are called to lead, and to submit where we are called to submit. And may He present us unto the Son a bride without spot or blemish.

INTRODUCTIONWe are now coming to a passage that teaches us where the spiritual action really is. Do you want to be right with God? It is not going to happen because you got all your papers in order, and then got them stamped. “Right with God” is a judicial category, but not a bureaucratic one.We must learn two things. The letter kills and the Spirit gives life. But secondly, the Spirit gives life to the letter. We must have two things; we must have a new covenant, and we must have a new heart. And all these things go together.THE TEXT“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (2 Corinthians 3:1–6).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul asks, “Are you really going to make me talk about myself? Are you going to make me address things that you already know” (v. 1)? Do the Corinthians think he needs a letter of recommendation (like some people Paul could mention)? What are they talking about? Paul says that they are his walking, living, breathing letter of recommendation (v. 2), written on the hearts of the apostolic company. The tablets were hearts, but the manner of writing was not ink for papyrus, and not a chisel for stone, but rather the writing utensil was the Spirit of God (v. 3). Paul then states his confidence (v. 4), which is toward God in Christ. The same Paul who just a few sentences before had cried out who is sufficient? now says that while he is not sufficient in himself, he is nevertheless sufficient through God (v. 5). God is the one who has made him a minister of the new covenant—not of the letter, but of the Spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (v. 6).GANDALF AND THE BALROGEvery finite servant of God has a breaking point. That is what it means to be finite. And because God tests His servants, He takes them right up to that limit. Why? Well, remember what we saw in the first chapter— “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). God wants to squeeze all the self-sufficiency out of His servants. “You, my son, are still entirely too perky.” Some men are too talented to use, but absolutely no one is too weak to use. Did Jeremiah feel sufficient (Jer. 1:6)? Did Moses feel sufficient (Ex. 4:10-17)? Did Ezekiel feel sufficient (Eze. 1:1-3:11)? Did Gideon feel sufficient (Judg. 6:15)? Did Isaiah feel sufficient (Is. 6:1-7)? Did Paul feel sufficient (v. 16)? Who is sufficient for these things?But by the same token, and for this reason, we see that Paul had supreme confidence in his sufficiency in Christ. “Our sufficiency is of God” (v. 5). In other words, when you come to the end of yourself, you have not come to the end of Christ.THE FINGER OF GODPaul says here that the letter he is talking about was inscribed by the Holy Spirit himself. Now the Holy Spirit is equated in Scripture with the finger of God. “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” (Luke 11:20). “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” (Matt. 12:28).But who inscribed the Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone?“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18; Dt. 9:10).THE LETTER KILLSSo the problem with “letters that kill” is not the fact that they are letters. The letters written on our hearts are letters. And the problem with “these letters that kill” is not who wrote them. The Spirit is the one who wrote them on the tablets of stone. The difficulty is where the letters are written. When they are written on stone, external to the sinner, they do nothing but condemn, and the truer they are, the more condemnation they bring. When the law is “out there,” the law is my adversary.So the external letter kills, but the Spirit brings life. But one of the things the Spirit brings life to is the letter. He does this by inscribing His letters on the human heart.There are two fundamental features of the new covenant, the covenant that occupies such a large part of Paul’s argument here. Jeremiah’s promise of the new covenant is quoted in full in Hebrews 8 (Heb. 8:8-12; Jer. 31:31-34). But when it is quoted again two chapters later, the pull quotes highlight the two great features of the new covenant. They are, first, that the new covenant brings forgiveness of sin (Heb. 10:17), and second, the new covenant brings an internalization of the law (Heb. 10:16). And that’s what we are talking about here.When God writes His law on our hearts, something remarkable happens. Not only is thou shalt love thy brother written on your heart, your brother is also written on your heart. Remember that Paul begins this section by saying that the Corinthians were written on his heart.When the law is internalized, this brings the sinner to life. And when the law is internalized, this brings the letters to life. What happened to the handwriting of ordinances that was against us? God gathered them up and nailed them to the cross (Col. 2:14). But what happens to anything that is nailed to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? That is right—it rises from the dead. The only thing that doesn’t rise again is the sin itself. But the law? The condemnation? The black despair of never being good enough? The accusations? All of that is “nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh, my soul.”That law that used to condemn you is raised again with you, and is now your liberty, your refreshment, your pleasant instructor. His name is Jesus Christ.

MOSES THE FAITHFUL SERVANTWe know the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. God performed miracle after miracle, delivering the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt and preserving them throughout their journey through the wilderness. But again and again, the Israelites turn and grumble and complain against God. One incident, relevant to today’s sermon, comes right on the heels of God sending quail to feed the Israelites. Aaron and Miriam complain against Moses because he had married an Ethiopian wife (Num. 12:1). But God rebukes Aaron and Miriam, telling them that Moses was his faithful servant (Num. 12:6-8).HOW MUCH MORE THE SON?Remember that Hebrews has been arguing that the Son, Jesus Christ, is so much better than the expectations of his Jewish audience. The Son is better than the angels, who moderated the Old Covenant (kal v’chomer). So here is another example of this same argument. Moses was a faithful servant, to whom the Jewish people listened carefully. But Moses was just a servant in the house. Now the faithful Son of the house has arrived. So how much more ought the Jewish people to listen to him?TODAYHebrews now turns to Psalm 95, and will continue to draw on this Psalm into the next chapter. This Psalm takes the readers back to the wilderness, where God’s faithful provision was on constant display. And yet the Israelites regularly responded to this steadfast display of faithfulness with doubt, grumbling, and apostasy. Hebrews notes that the warning given in this confined to a very particular time period – “today.” As long as it is called “today” the sin of the Israelites in the wilderness needs to be looked out for.It is a deceitful temptation, set on dislodging your confidence in God’s goodness for you. God’s claim on our lives is exclusive. But over time it is very easy for priorities that we had intended to be lesser to slowly climb up to compete with our love of God. This deceitfulness prompts Hebrews to recruit our friends into holding us accountable – “exhort one another daily,” (v. 13).OBEDIENT TO THE ENDHebrews is ultimately about warning us against the great tragedy of falling away from the faith, something that can seem so impossible some moments and, yet, in other moments can be a real threat. This is a warning intended for the covenant people. Covenant Christians, circumcised people, baptized people, can fall away. There is a real warning here. Perseverance is the outward distinction between saving faith and temporary faith. And this faith is the obedience that the Gospel requires of us.

INTRODUCTIONOne of the basic lessons of Scripture is the lesson of gospel inversion. Humility exalts. Servanthood rules. Death lives. The underdog triumphs. The back of the line is the front of the line. And it does not matter how many times we are taught this principle, we always have to learn it afresh every morning.THE TEXT“But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow . . .” (2 Cor. 2:5–17).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTTo stay oriented, in the scenario that we are assuming here, the man that Paul is urging forgiveness for here in these verses is the man who led the rebellion against Paul in the congregation at Corinth. It is not the incestuous man who took his stepmother in 1 Corinthians.So Paul begins by saying that if someone has caused grief, it was mostly to the church, and not to him personally (v. 5). There had apparently been a vote in which the majority came back to Paul, and inflicted punishment on this ringleader and troublemaker. Paul says that this action was sufficient (v. 6). He then urges the church to forgive and comfort this man, lest he be overwhelmed (v. 7). The rebels against Moses had been swallowed up (Num. 16:31-34), but the rebel against Paul was not to suffer that fate. Reaffirm your love for him, Paul says (v. 8). Paul wrote them in order to test them. Now that they had passed the test, it was time for forgiveness (vv. 9-10)—and the requirement to forgive was yet another test. Paul agrees to forgive anything that they forgive, in the presence of Christ, lest Satan take advantage and stir up even more acrimony (v. 11). You all must forgive (Col. 3:12-13). Satan’s wiles in this are many—he throws fiery darts and he hands out candies.After Titus had been sent off to Corinth with the hot letter, Paul went to Troas (north of Ephesus, toward Macedonia), and the door for ministry there was wide open (v. 12). But because Titus was not there with any news, Paul went on to Macedonia (v. 13). And after an agonizing wait there (2 Cor. 7:5-7), he eventually got the good news back from Corinth, and so he breaks into a very different kind of exultation—and it is quite a strange one. God leads Paul in triumph in Christ, and diffuses knowledge of Himself like a fragrance (v. 14). Paul’s band was the fragrance of Christ, to both the saved and the perishing (v. 15). One of them reacts to it like it was the smell of death upon death, and the other as though it were life upon life (v. 16). Who is sufficient for these things (v. 16)? The answer is no one. This is the measurement of authentic ministry—our theme, remember (v. 17)? Paul does not hawk or peddle the gospel of God, like others do, but rather speaks sincerely in the sight of God in Christ (v. 17).TRIUMPHAL PROCESSIONPaul takes a custom of the Romans, the triumphal procession, and works it into a striking metaphor. When a victorious general was given a triumph, he led the parade in a chariot drawn by horses, and sometimes by elephants. He was clothed in purple, and held an eagle-crowned scepter. His face was colored red, to evoke the name and power of Jupiter. There were musicians, and pagan priests burning fragrant incense that wafted over the crowd, and mountains of treasure, and prows of ships, and a horde of prisoners in native costume bringing up the rear—who were all then executed at the conclusion of the parade. This is what God did to the principalities and powers (Col. 2:15).But in his use of the metaphor, Paul occupies an unexpected spot. He is at the end of the procession. He is one of the prisoners, one led by God in triumphal procession. He is not the conquering general, but rather God is that general, and Paul is the captive. One of the themes of this epistle is that authentic ministry is characterized by suffering. “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Cor. 4:10). “As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed” (2 Cor. 6:9). Paul knew what it was to die daily in ministry (1 Cor. 15:31).THE GOSPEL IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR $19.95When Paul says here that he does not “peddle” the Word of God (v. 17), the original word has the connotation of hucksterism—a merchant with his thumb on the scale, a wine merchant who cuts his product with a little water. The sinner is not shopping for an attractive salvation, one that is arranged nicely in the shop window, and reasonably priced. No, the thing is free, and to many of the passers-by, it stinks. Nevertheless, this is the message that will conquer the world. Who is sufficient for these things? And nevertheless this message preached by impotent and suffering messengers is profoundly potent. For the carnally minded, the real mystery is why this itinerant minister, pelted with rocks everywhere he went, was going to have cathedrals named after him.THE AUTHORITY OF FORGIVENESSSo the apostolic band takes a pounding, and is dragged along behind the procession, in the sight of a gawking crowd. Paul takes the lead in dealing with this dishonor, and it is one of the great mysteries of the gospel as to why this is so inexorably attractive. It exudes an aroma—to the elect the aroma of life, and to the godless the aroma of death. In search of the answer to that question, we come back to the beginning of this passage, where Paul is requiring the Corinthians to forgive the man who had led the revolt against him. Forgiveness—everyone in this messed up world needs it. Forgiveness—apart from grace, everyone in this messed up world hates it. This is the radicalism of the cross. This is the salvation of Christ, and the way of Christ.

In our cultural flood of iniquity, which is sweeping many away, it’s quite easy to find sins to pillory “out there.” However, the headwaters for the stream of wickedness “out there”, are transgressions “in here”. If we would have revival, we must come before God in earnest grief over our sins. Men, in particular, must lead the charge. So, some pointed words to husbands. The sin of gender confusion in our culture is downstream from gender confusion in marriage. This is the central capitulation in our culture, because it was an earlier capitulation in the church.

The Text: Hebrews 2

INTRODUCTIONChrist must be worshiped by us as the ultimate yes, but we must come to understand how this works rightly. God does not come down and make promises to us directly. Rather, He makes promises throughout all Scripture, promises that are given generally to His people, and also to individuals (like Abraham) who are covenant representatives of His people. These promises are bestowed on the people of God, and as we read these promises, or hear of them, we join together with those people, identifying with them by faith, and God joins us to them through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, using that same God-given faith of ours as His instrument for doing so. What is our relationship to the promises then?THE TEXT“For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end; As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit; And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea . . . ” (2 Cor. 1:12–2:4).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTRemember the context. Paul’s severe letter has quelled the rebellion against him at Corinth, but there is still some clean-up to do. There is still some residue of resistance to him there, and so he begins to address specific charges. He starts the process by rejoicing in the fact that his conscience is clear (v. 12), both toward the outside world and toward the Corinthians. Authentic ministry is described as being not in accord with “fleshly wisdom,” and as characterized by simplicity and sincerity. Paul is writing them with what they should already know (v. 13). They have acknowledged that in the day of Christ, both Paul and they will be engaged in mutual rejoicing. But they have only come part way along, which is why this clean-up is necessary (v. 14). And then we get to the complaint he is answering. Paul’s previous intention had been to visit them on the way to Macedonia, and then again on the way back, going to Judea (vv. 15-16). He changed his mind and wrote the severe letter instead. But was he vacillating or temporizing in this? Not at all (vv. 17-18). He reminds them that the gospel of Christ that he preached to them, along with Timothy and Silvanus, was not a “yes and no” gospel (v. 19). For all the promises of God are “yes” and “amen,” to the glory of God, “by us” (v. 20). He reminds them that God was the one who joined them all together through His anointing (v. 21). The sealing work of the Spirit, and the earnest payment of the Spirit was God’s gift (v. 22). In this context, Paul then gives the reason he had not come to them—he did not want to be their disciplinarian in person (v. 23). His more appropriate role was to be “helpers of their joy,” and not wielding dominion over their faith—because it is by faith that we stand (v. 24).So Paul had decided against another personal visit if it was going to be a heavy one (2 Cor. 2:1). If he becomes a grief to the Corinthians, then who will be there to make him glad (v. 2)? And so he wrote to them instead, in order to preserve their relationship (v. 3), and his choice had clearly been wise. And he tells them here that his severe letter had been written in turmoil and anguish, and not in order to grieve them, but rather it was a testament to how much he loved them (v. 4).CARPING CRITICISMOnce a revolt against authority is under way, whatever that authority does will be seized upon and rolled into the argument. If Paul had gone left, he would have been assailed for not going right. If he had gone right, he would have been pilloried for not going left. Remember that apostolic ministry is personal, and Paul reminds them how unambiguous his declaration of the gospel had been.A temporizing traveler is going to be a temporizing man, and a temporizing man is going to sound like one in the pulpit. Paul’s argument here is not an argument of deflection. It is not as though he is charged with embezzling funds (as he probably actually was—1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 11: 7-10, 12:16-17), and he then tried to respond with “isn’t the gospel grand!?” No. It is possible for the gospel to be glorious, and for a particular preacher to be a skunk.What Paul is arguing here is that the charges against him are not plausible, and that the kind of sneakiness he was being charged with was not consistent with what the Corinthians knew about him. He is not defending himself with an abstract gospel in the sky, but rather with a potent gospel as preached on the ground. God had brought glory down through him(v. 20), and the Corinthians had been there when it happened.But Paul is not defending his own person or guarding his own fragile ego. If somebody wants to gather up some glory for himself, but leaves the truth alone, Paul doesn’t mind (Phil. 1:15-18). But he will fiercely defend himself if the target of the slander is the ministry and message itself—see both this letter and Galatians.A HARD AND SEVERE PERSON?When roused, Paul could be hard as nails. When the gospel was at stake, he could be immoveable (Gal. 1:8). He had been hard on the Corinthians in his severe letter (2 Cor. 2:2,4), but this had been much against his personal desire or inclination. There is a school of pastoral care that could be characterized as the “hang ‘em high” school of thought, with “why not now?” as the immediate afterthought. Paul did not belong to this school of thought.YES AND AMENThe apostle Paul here exults in the true nature of gospel light. Christ is the yes of God. Sin is the no of the devil. The devil is the accuser, the devil is the killjoy, the devil is the one telling you how awful you are—with no relief in sight. The Spirit convicts in order that He may comfort. The devil accuses in order that he may bite and tear.So Christ is therefore ultimate yes—the only yes that sinners can have.

Just as your parents delight in you when you obey, so too our Father in heaven delights in your obedience. You need to have the eyes of faith to see His delight though.

Confess your sin, knowing temptation will confront you before this service is even over. Confess it as the black and vile evil that it is. Confess it to be the very sins for which God sent His Son into the world to save you from. Confess it not to make the fight against sin easier, but because confessing your sin is how you fight against and conquer sin through Christ.

Many Christians have forgotten the truth that “the most high rules the kingdom of men” (Daniel 4:17). Saints who forget this find a way to go on believing that they themselves will be saved. But they forget that Christ came so that the world itself might be saved.Amid such forgetfulness, these Christians leave off praying that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And they also leave off thanksgiving to God when he executes his will on earth.You must not be such a people. Better things are determined concerning you.We live in a broken world. And at the same time, we live in a world that has experienced the birth of God’s Son. Not only that, but the world has undergone his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and the pouring out of His powerful Spirit upon his bride. This means we shouldn’t be surprised when God answers yes to the prayers of the righteous.So as you know, the abominable Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade was overturned last week. And God is the one who overturned it. He thwarted the plans of the ungodly. He heard the prayers of his people. And he has answered from on high.This is a cause for great celebration. It is also a cause for repentance for many thought the arm of the Lord was too short. And this is a time for covenant renewal, resolve, faith, and a good deal of work. It is not a day to despise small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10). It is a day to set up an Ebenezer, for thus far the Lord has helped us. Look at the work of the Lord and listen to him say, “Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).

INTRODUCTIONBecause you’re confronted with it each Sunday, it might be easy to think that our musical style is high up on the list of important Christ Church distinctives. In actuality, it’s further down the list in importance. Not unimportant, but not of first importance. You could hang around for a good while without knowing the first thing about our eschatology, which actually looms large over much of what we do around here. This text is an instance of both distinctives being woven together, providing an opportunity to highlight why we worship the way we do, and what that has to do with the end of the world.THE TEXTThe LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David... (Zech. 12:7-13:3).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTZechariah, along with the other later prophets, encourage the returning exiles in the work of rebuilding Jerusalem. Though enemies threatened the work, those dwelling in tents wouldn’t be more vulnerable than those in the more secure habitations (2:7). Jehovah would defend His people; the feeblest would be like David in the height of his greatness, and the house of David would be as God, an angelic warrior of the Lord (2:8). With such a warrior within her, no enemy shall overcome this New Jerusalem (2:9).Upon the house of David, God’s spirit of grace & supplication would be poured out; they would look upon a pierced Warrior-God, whom they pierced, and greatly mourn Him (2:10, Cf. Jn. 19:37). They’d mourn as Judah had once mourned for the death of good king Josiah (2:11, Cf. 2 Kg. 23:29, 2 Chr. 35:22-25). Every family & household––royal & priestly, great & small, husband & wife––would mourn (2:12-14).In that day, a cleansing fountain would rain down on the house of David, cleansing sin & all uncleanness (3:1). This fountain will wash away both idolatry & false prophecy (3:2-3).THE HOUSE OF DAVIDIt isn’t a stretch to say that David is the central character of the Old Testament. His reign is the crescendo of the OT narrative, and after his reign, Israel falls into a sad decline. The centuries after David are filled with nostalgic yearning for that Golden Era. The prophets foresee that Davidic glory returning. Later Psalmists are both students & conservators of David’s musical brilliance.Zechariah is no exception to invoking Davidic imagery. He uses the term “house of David” because of how laden it is with historic significance, liturgical bearing, and Messianic meaning. The historic significance which is used here is to remind the exiles of David as Israel’s champion. The House of David was the undisputed Royal household, so it would be quite natural for the regathering Jews to look there for God’s deliverance.But Zechariah also draws out one of David’s other significant contributions. David brought musical worship into a prominent part of the religious life of Israel. His preparations to build the temple were motivated by an insight that is expressed throughout many of the Psalms: behind God’s command for burnt offerings, was a greater desire for contrite sacrifices praise (Cf. Ps. 51:16-17, 69:30-31). One of David’s most important episodes was the building of the tabernacle of David on Mount Zion, in order to bring the Ark of Covenant to a permanent resting place. This tabernacle wasn’t identical to the one which the Levites offered animal sacrifice in (that was in Shiloh, and later in Gibeah). This tabernacle of David, in the stronghold of David, in the city of David was full, not of the smoke of burnt offerings, but with the sound of Psalms. Zechariah’s prophesies that the Spirit of true prayer would return to the lips of David’s household.Finally, we cannot miss the Messianic hope latent in this reference to David’s house. God’s promise to David was that he would not fail to have an heir sit on the throne (1 Ki. 2:4). Zechariah picks up on this promise and foretells that David’s house would arise like the avenging Angel of the Lord; a real  boon of hope to the feeble regathering exiles then dwelling in Jerusalem. The Messianic promise was that David’s Son would conquer all enemies, wash all the people, cleanse them from their idolatry & false prophets. This Messianic Angel would be pierced in the battle, but still He would wash the entire house of David & Jerusalem clean.A SERVICE OF SONGZechariah expresses the Messianic promise as a renewal of a spirit of grace and supplication. This Spirit would rest in a particular way upon the house of David.Matthew Henry makes a wonderful comment on this passage: “When God intends great mercy for his people the first thing he does is to set them a praying.” It’s no small matter that a large portion of our worship service is comprised of spoken & sung prayers. An enterprising 5th grader might tally up 19 prayers in our service.This is a service of prayer. We bring our supplications to the Lord, and it is fitting that we do so with glorious music. The casual air of our age has led many to misinterpret what it means to come before the throne of grace with boldness. We slap indie-band chord progressions on the lyrics of a High School cheerleader’s diary, and think it a worthy offering to Royal David’s heir. We come boldly, not impudently.Singing is a peculiar feature of the Christian faith. We owe that heritage to David. When God sets out to grant revival and reform, it is always accompanied by His Spirit. That Spirit energizes us, to come by the blood of David’s heir, to bring our pleas to the Father. It does no good just to have songs. We must have the Spirit. And if we have the Spirit, we will also recover the singing of Psalms with joyful reverence (Ps. 105:2, Eph. 5:19, Jam 5:13).WEEKLY RENEWAL OF AN ETERNAL COVENANTWeekly worship in the Lord’s house shouldn’t be viewed as merely an activity to entertain religious people. Rather, this is a weekly ratification of a vow which God made to David. But that vow is older than even David. It was a covenant more ancient that Moses. It predated Abram. God’s covenant mercies existed long before the bow was hung in the sky for Noah to behold. For the covenant of grace was in the heart of God even before He promised a skull-crushing heel to the Serpent.Christ gathers up all these iterations of the covenant of grace in himself, and by Him we order our service to follow that pattern of covenant renewal. He calls us by His Word. He convicts us of our sin, commanding us to confess our sin. He consecrates us as His own, by His Word preached. He communes with us in a feast of bread & wine. He commissions us to walk in our covenant duties by covenant grace. Our worship is the dawning of New Covenant glory (Jer. 31, Ez. 36:25-27)FOLLOWING A DAVIDSON TO CONQUESTThe worship of the saints isn’t a peripheral aspect of Christian faith. The Son of David has bought the world. The kingdom is His. Look on Him who was pierced. We now sing His praise. We render worship to him.Are there idols in your own heart? The Goliath-slayer will not tolerate mixing praise for idols with His praise. Are you besieged by great enemies? The Lord pours out His Spirit of grace and supplication. So call upon God to deliver. The mighty, Angelic Messiah, the Christ, the Lord’s anointed Messenger shall conquer all His enemies. He conquers by filling the house of David with David’s songs. Bending before the rightful King, singing His praise, is how we overcome.A Davidson has taken up the world’s government by taking His rightful place upon the Israel’s throne. We worship & serve Him, and this praise shall crescendo until all His many enemies fall. Our worship each Sunday foretells the end of the World: Jesus shall reign.

INTRODUCTIONModern man prides himself in not being violent and savage, and yet we have butchered 60 million babies and counting. We have high rates of drug and alcohol and porn addiction, suicide, incarceration, and so on. We sacrifice babies to our Molech, and we sacrifice millions more in the slow cooker of government programs and prisons. We have rejected Jesus and His easy yoke, calling it harsh, and we have demanded the demented yoke of humanistic hubris and tyrannical government. And the only way out of this mess is through the Cross of Jesus.THE TEXT“And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Again thou shalt say to the children of Israel, whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death…” (Lev. 20:1-27).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe text opens with a prohibition against offering children to Molech and against turning a blind eye to it, as well as all idolatry, since the people are to be holy and keep God’s statutes (Lev. 20:1-8). Seven crimes are listed with death penalties (20:9-16), and five additional sins are listed, with the community sanctions of being “cut off from among their people” and “bearing their sin” (Lev. 20:17-21). “Dying childless” could imply the possibility of a civil penalty, but it is probably a direct sanction from God since it identifies one of those instances as being “unclean,” which is a ceremonial status (20:21). God reminds His people that He is giving them life and blessing in a good land through His law, which is why they must remain separate from the other nations (20:22-24). The daily sign of the distinction was their diet (20:25-26), and that was to remind them to remove all idolatry out of their midst (20:27).COMPARED TO WHAT?“Molech” is related to the Hebrew word “melech” which means “king.” The fires of Molech are most likely a generic reference to the various cults of the nations. Dedication of children to Molech seems to have included both child sacrifice as well as temple prostitution. And right on schedule our nation is actually debating the appropriateness of Drag Queen story, so-called gender “transition,” and the furies are out in full force demanding abortion as “health care.”  This is nothing short of the new dedication of children to Molech.You can always tell the god or gods of a culture by where coercion and violence are accepted and obedience and submission are required. Even in relatively conservative churches, if a woman says she must obey her husband, she will sometimes get concerned looks and questions about whether everything is OK (same with obeying a pastor or elder). But if you mention a court order or taxes (with threat of violence/prison), the assumption is that you better just submit. The fact that many modern Christians are embarrassed that God would require death penalties for certain crimes but just shrug when our civil government sends thieves to prison for decades, tells you who our god is, who we see as holy.In these laws we see God’s requirement that we hallow Him particularly in our families and sexuality. Over the centuries, acts of treason and desertion from an army in time of war have been punished with death, subtly insisting that civil loyalties are the most sacred. Instead of accusing God of harshness, we ought to assume that He is warning us and the world about the potency and sacredness of marriage and family (Heb. 13:4). Jesus also makes it clear what cursing father or mother looks like: “For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, it is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightiest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother” (Mk. 7:10-12). Jesus is clearly implying that certain forms a high-handed neglect of elderly parents are the kind of cursing of parents that might be tried as form of murder.CRIMES & SINS & JUSTICEThis text distinguishes between crimes that require a civil penalty (20:9-16), and sins that require a ceremonial or familial penalty (20:17-21). The distinction between crimes and sins designates different jurisdictions: the state, the family, and the church. Sins are to be adjudicated and addressed by individuals, families, and churches as appropriate, while crimes have civil penalties and are the proper jurisdiction of the state. God has given the civil magistrate the sword of vengeance, which means that the state is only good at violence and coercion (Rom. 13). This is why the Bible requires a fiercely limited civil government. In a Christian land, all crimes would also be sins, but not all sins are crimes. In a pagan land, it’s more of a Venn diagram, and not all crimes are really sins.It's worth noting that only murder required a mandatory death penalty; all of these death penalties are maximum sentences (Gen. 9:6-9, Dt. 19:11-13). We can see this in another law regarding Sabbath breaking which also called for a death penalty (Lev. 24:11-22, cf. Num. 15:32-36), however in the days of Nehemiah, he suppressed Sabbath commerce but didn’t institute a death penalty (Neh. 13:19-21). We see something similar with the death penalty for homosexuality in our text (Lev. 20:13), but the good kings Asa and Jehoshaphat exiled the sodomites from the land (1 Kgs. 15:12, 22:46), and Josiah tore down their houses of prostitution (2 Kgs. 23:7).CONCLUSIONIn the New Testament, we do not see the apostles lobbying for death penalties. What do we make of that? Paul does say after listing a number of crimes and sins, “that they which commit such things are worthy of death” (Rom. 1:32), and elsewhere he says the law is good, so long as it is used lawfully, to prevent lawlessness and everything that is “contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel” (1 Tim. 1:8-11).Therefore, we conclude that the law (with its death penalties) remains the perfect standard of justice and reveals God’s wrath against our sins and crimes. We affirm the goodness of the law for public policy and all morality, but we affirm it first and foremost as that which drives the world to Christ and His glorious gospel. There is no life outside of Christ, and all who hate His wisdom love death. The world says believe in yourself, re-invent yourself, find yourself, and the end of that road is nothing but sadness and death: rage and shame, sickness and scars, mutilation and murder. And the law drives sinners to despair.The law drives sinners to the cross, to the place of execution and there the gospel proclaims: Christ died for guilty sinners. Christ died for lawbreakers. Christ died for the unclean, the profane, the obscene, the sodomites, the pedophiles, the prostitutes, the liars, the idolaters, the proud, and all who have dishonored their parents. The law cannot save, but what the law is powerless to do, God has done by sending His Son. Christ has received the death penalty for us. And this is why it is only those who know their guilt who are the ones who are in.

Talk 6 of 6 from Missions Conference 2022: As the Waters Cover the Sea. Consider donating to our Missions Conference fund: https://bit.ly/missions-conference-donation.—The gospel is good news for all people, in all lands, at all times. The call of the church is to obey Christ’s command to teach the nations obedience to Him, as the King of all the earth. The great promise of the prophet Hosea is that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as water covers the sea. But between the commencement of Christ’s kingly rule of earth and the day when he comes again to judge the living and the dead, there will be ebbs and flows.While initially in the gospel’s advance it centered in Jerusalem, and then took root in the West, we see in more recent decades how the gospel is rapidly advancing in South America and in the Eastern lands. But oftentimes, Christians in the West are often unsure of how to take the gospel and share it with their fellow Westerners; but more so are stumped by how to share the good news with those from very different cultures and religions.Missions Conference 2022 is intended to help answer those questions, while equipping the saints where they are to be ready to share the word with not only their neighbor but the foreigner in their midst as well.Visit our website: https://christkirk.com.

Talk 2 of 6 from Missions Conference 2022: As the Waters Cover the Sea.Consider donating to our Missions Conference fund: https://bit.ly/missions-conference-donation.—James Rayment was born in England, but has lived in Seattle for 10 years with his wife and 5 kids. Since 2012, James has been building relationships with Muslims in Seattle and around the world. Because of this ministry he founded The Al-Ma’idah Initiative (https://www.al-maidah.org), a Christian nonprofit that equips the church to understand and communicate better with Muslims on a range of religious, political and worldview issues. His goal is to create genuine friendships without shying away from the exclusivity of Jesus’ message.—The gospel is good news for all people, in all lands, at all times. The call of the church is to obey Christ’s command to teach the nations obedience to Him, as the King of all the earth. The great promise of the prophet Hosea is that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as water covers the sea. But between the commencement of Christ’s kingly rule of earth and the day when he comes again to judge the living and the dead, there will be ebbs and flows.While initially in the gospel’s advance it centered in Jerusalem, and then took root in the West, we see in more recent decades how the gospel is rapidly advancing in South America and in the Eastern lands. But oftentimes, Christians in the West are often unsure of how to take the gospel and share it with their fellow Westerners; but more so are stumped by how to share the good news with those from very different cultures and religions.Missions Conference 2022 is intended to help answer those questions, while equipping the saints where they are to be ready to share the word with not only their neighbor but the foreigner in their midst as well.

Talk 1 of 6 from Missions Conference 2022: As the Waters Cover the Sea.Consider donating to our Missions Conference fund: https://bit.ly/missions-conference-donation. —The gospel is good news for all people, in all lands, at all times. The call of the church is to obey Christ’s command to teach the nations obedience to Him, as the King of all the earth. The great promise of the prophet Hosea is that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as water covers the sea. But between the commencement of Christ’s kingly rule of earth and the day when he comes again to judge the living and the dead, there will be ebbs and flows.While initially in the gospel’s advance it centered in Jerusalem, and then took root in the West, we see in more recent decades how the gospel is rapidly advancing in South America and in the Eastern lands. But oftentimes, Christians in the West are often unsure of how to take the gospel and share it with their fellow Westerners; but more so are stumped by how to share the good news with those from very different cultures and religions.Missions Conference 2022 is intended to help answer those questions, while equipping the saints where they are to be ready to share the word with not only their neighbor but the foreigner in their midst as well.Visit our website: https://christkirk.com.

Talk 4 of 6 from Missions Conference 2022: As the Waters Cover the Sea.Consider donating to our Missions Conference fund: https://bit.ly/missions-conference-donation.—Francis Foucachon was born and raised in France, and trained as a young man to be a chef in the elite world of lyonnaise gastronomy. After working in that field for seven years, he was mentored and trained for the pastoral ministry by a missionary church-planter. He moved to the United States after marrying Donna Rapacz, a high school French teacher from Florida, but they returned to France a few years later for Francis to attend the Reformed Seminary in Aix-en-Provence. During this time, he was part of a church-planting team with one of his professors, and helped start a French-speaking Christian school. After graduation, Francis was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. Under the auspices of the PCA, Francis and Donna and their five children planted a church in the suburbs of Montreal, Quebec and a church in Lyon, France. Francis completed the course work in the Doctorate of Ministry program at RTS Orlando, and was the Evangelism Explosion Director for Quebec.Francis and Donna returned to the United States to be with their children as they went through college. To support his family during this time, Francis created a high-end French restaurant called West of Paris, which he sold in 2011 to return to full-time ministry. He is President of Huguenot Heritage, working in partnership with Third Millennium Ministries as French Project Coordinator, with the mission of training francophone church leaders worldwide.—The gospel is good news for all people, in all lands, at all times. The call of the church is to obey Christ’s command to teach the nations obedience to Him, as the King of all the earth. The great promise of the prophet Hosea is that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as water covers the sea. But between the commencement of Christ’s kingly rule of earth and the day when he comes again to judge the living and the dead, there will be ebbs and flows.While initially in the gospel’s advance it centered in Jerusalem, and then took root in the West, we see in more recent decades how the gospel is rapidly advancing in South America and in the Eastern lands. But oftentimes, Christians in the West are often unsure of how to take the gospel and share it with their fellow Westerners; but more so are stumped by how to share the good news with those from very different cultures and religions.Missions Conference 2022 is intended to help answer those questions, while equipping the saints where they are to be ready to share the word with not only their neighbor but the foreigner in their midst as well.

INTRODUCTIONLeviticus 19 is sometimes called the Sermon on the Mount of the Old Testament, since like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, it is a collection of moral instructions for God’s people, including the specific command that is the second greatest commandment: “love your neighbor as yourself.” Repeated twice in this chapter, we should understand the whole chapter (and Jesus says the whole Old Testament) as a lesson on that point.THE TEXT“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy…”SUMMARY OF THE TEXTSince piety begins at home, God’s people are to fear their mother and their father, keep God’s sabbaths, and not turn to idols (19:1-4). When they offer peace offerings, they may only eat the feast for two days, preventing overindulgence, laziness, and greed – probably implying the need to share and be generous (19:5-8). Related, God requires business owners to leave leftovers for the poor (19:9-10). God’s people must not steal, lie, swear falsely, or rob anyone, even by being slow to pay what we owe, particularly to the poor (19:11-13). All cruelty, especially to the disabled, is condemned, as well as all injustice through favoritism or partiality (19:14-15). All gossip and slander are prohibited as forms of murder and hatred, and if you have a problem with someone, you must talk to them directly (19:16-17). God’s people are to reject all vengeance and grudges, and love their neighbors as themselves (19:18).While mixing seeds and fabrics may have been prohibited as a sign of distinctions between Jews and Gentiles, this law also points to God’s insistence that His people not confuse and mix the “fabric” of the way God made the world, e.g. male and female (19:19). While justice is to be without partiality, God insists that those with less power (e.g. slaves) be granted greater benefit of the doubt, particularly in cases of sexual immorality (19:20-22). The people were required to trust God for the fruit of their newly planted trees, waiting until the fifth year to eat it (19:23-25). All idolatry is prohibited: whether through consuming blood, pagan hairstyles, tattoos, prostitution, or witchcraft (19:26-31). The chapter returns to where it began, reminding the people to keep sabbath, rise up before the elderly, love strangers as themselves, and keep justice, since God is the Lord and brought them out of Egypt (Lev. 19:32-37).LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELFJesus and the New Testament writers repeatedly insist that the whole law is found in this summary: love your neighbor as yourself (Lk. 10:27-28, Gal. 5:14, Js. 2:8). This is the law and the prophets, and all the laws are summarized and fulfilled in this one: love your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 22:39-40, Rom. 13:9-10). Love is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mk. 12:29-33). This completely contradicts those who claim that the law of God is opposed to love, or that the Old Testament was not about the love of God. Love is obedience to God from the heart. But to truly understand the law of God is to see how far short we fall of God’s love.This love requires strict justice and fairness in some matters (19:11-13, 15, 35-36), but also loves mercy and generosity (19:9-10, 20-22). Even manners are love in the little things: clothing, hair, standing for the elderly (19:19, 27, 32). Love works hard, honestly, avoiding the need to receive charity, with the goal of being able to give generously to those in need (Lev. 19:5-6, 9-10, 34, cf. 2 Thess. 3:5ff, Eph. 4:28). While civil magistrates have a duty to love God by enforcing strict justice, they have no business coercing the “love” or charity of others. Government programs and the taxation they require only robs people of the opportunity to love freely.WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?When the lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was that he was to love, Jesus famously answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:29-37). The striking thing is that Jesus shifts the question from “Who is my neighbor?” (object) to “Who acted as a neighbor?” (subject) (Lk. 10: 29, 36). The point is that we are required to have a certain disposition, ready to love. Notice that the so-called rule-followers (the Levite and Priest) are the ones who fail to be neighbors, and the one notorious for breaking rules (the Samaritan) is the one who loves the nearly-dead Jew. The Samaritan is incredibly lavish, and Jesus emphasizes this: bandages, oil, wine, transportation, lodging, further care, future care, and all expenses paid (Lk. 10:34-35).Most interpreters take the Samaritan to be a type of Jesus, an outcast, come to rescue the nearly-dead human race in Adam, which certainly works. It may also be the case that Jesus intends to be prefigured in the stripped, beaten, and robbed man among the thieves, setting the goal of neighbor-love as ultimately aimed at loving Him, through the least of these my brethren (Mt. 25:40). In either case, the conclusion is that in order to love your neighbor as yourself, you must reckon yourself an outsider, a foreigner, a threat, a criminal, already rejected, having nothing to lose (Gal. 2:20). In other words, love means reckoning yourself as among the rescued, as among the slaves because you were freed from Egypt (Lev. 19:34, 36).CONCLUSIONSAs we consider our duty to love, we should remember the difference between refugees and apostles from the world. Refugees are fleeing from the world and frequently show up looking like the world, talking like the world, and full of the confusions of the world but they are teachable and hungry to learn. Apostles show up with a message from the world about how backward and narrow-minded Biblical thinking and living is. Refugees are welcome to come and learn and grow; apostles should be corrected a couple times and then not given the time of day (Tit. 3:10).Throughout the text, the line is repeated: “I am the Lord,” and it seems that this should be taken as shorthand for the bookends: “I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2) and “I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt” (19:36). God’s holiness is directed at saving His people, and God’s holiness is bound up with His love. But this holy love is not content to merely “affirm” anyone just as they are or in whatever they want to do or be. No, this holy love is determined to bring Christ into every moment, to see Him in those around us (however weak or foreign or unlovely) until His image emerges clearly in them. We are called to this love because it is precisely the kind of love that God has bestowed upon us.

INTRODUCTIONThese two chapters are the hinge of the book of Leviticus, the first half broadly sketching our duties to God (1-17) and the second half our duties to our neighbor (18-27). In this, we see the great indicative/imperative distinction that echoes through the rest of Scripture and Christian theology. We do because of what God has done. We do because of what God has made us to be. So the center of life is the blood of Christ, and everything else flows from there.THE TEXT“… What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle…” (Lev. 17–18).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTGod prohibits His people from offering sacrifices to other gods (Lev. 17:1-7), as well as offering sacrifices in any other place than He designates (17:8-9). God also forbids eating or drinking the blood of animals whether sacrificial animals or animals taken for food, since the life is in the blood (17:10-16). Those who disobey these commands are to be cut off or excommunicated from the covenant people (17:4, 9, 10, 14). Paganism and idolatry are always trying to trick life out of lifeless and dead things, and next to blood, sexual rites are the other common talisman of the nations. So God forbids His people from imitating the sexual confusions of the Egyptians and Canaanites (18:1-17), particularly through tribalistic marriages (18:18), or any other vile perversions (18:19-25). By these, the earth is defiled and vomits out its inhabitants (18:26-30).THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEMThe council of Jerusalem clearly affirmed the ongoing relevance of these chapters: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication…” (Acts 15:28-29). While fornication often refers to sex outside of marriage, it also refers to any kind of sexual immorality, which would include all the incestuous prohibitions in our text. While it may have been tempting to dismiss these prohibitions against blood and incest as a lot of archaic oddities in previous decades, these have actually been the marks of paganism throughout history, and they are currently in the process of being mainstreamed again as we speak. The council was not prohibiting eating rare steak, but clearly we may not dismiss these prohibitions as mere ceremonial law. God’s people must always abstain from idolatry, including the bloodlust and sexual deviance that accompanies it.THERE WILL BE BLOODWe should never forget is that it is not whether there will be blood, but which blood, whose blood. The life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11, 14), and in this fallen world man wants to trick life out of blood apart from the God who gives and upholds all life. The fires of Molech (Lev. 18:21) and all abortion is the attempt to trick life out of blood and death. Cultures of sexual deviance are also always cultures of death and dying, and the diseases and ailments and shorter life spans that accompany them are no accident (Lev. 18:22-24). As Romans 1:27 says, they receive the consequences in their own bodies by their actions. It is simply a fact that the widespread culture of piercing and tattooing has also grown out of this bloodshed. Despite great progress in medical science, pseudo-scientific witchcraft is also on the rise. We reject the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ complete ban on blood transfusions, but we absolutely agree that the perennial scientific hubris of man must be rejected: trying to be lord of life and death, especially attempts to conjure up life from the bodies of murdered babies. But we have all this bloodshed because we have rejected the blood of Jesus. We have been embarrassed and ashamed of the blood of Jesus, and so now we have blood running in our streets. It is not whether but which.THE KINGDOM OF GODWhen one extreme rears its ugly head, you can bet that others are preparing their pitch. We live under a regime of statism (worshiping the power of the state), but right on schedule, we have some beginning to preach the power of familialism or tribalism. While statists worship the blood of the sword, another ancient demonic impulse worships the blood of kin, and incest has historically been central to that quest for power. While there are sexual deviants who pursue perversion for mere kicks, we should not be naïve to the power plays at work in the current sexual cesspool. The statists and globalists are currently using sexual deviance to grasp for power, but one reaction to that tyranny collapses into an idolatry of tribe with its own attendant sexual maladies (e.g. polygamy, incest). But we are not tribalists, we are covenantal Christians.Human society is built on flourishing families, but families cannot flourish apart from the blessing of God, apart from the blood of Christ (and neither can nations). The blood of Christ does not obliterate natural affections for family and culture or nation, but natural affection certainly must die and rise again. Jesus said that unless we hate our father and mother, we cannot be His disciples (Lk. 14:26). The Kingdom of God is an international, global, and pentecostal mission. We believe that the nations (as nations) will bring their glories into the New Jerusalem, but those Christian nations will be united by the Spirit of God indwelling them, joint missionary work, tons of neighborly commerce, and boatloads of cousins.CONCLUSIONNever forget that God made the world such that you become what you worship. Psalm 115 says that those who make idols and serve them become like them, and when you reject the Living God, you can only go down. You can only change the glory of the incorruptible God into images of corruptible man, birds, beasts, or creeping things (Rom. 1:23). But when you worship man divorced from His Maker, you are worshipping a man descending into beastlike vulgarity. When you worship animals you become like them.So we are here to worship the Living God who made us, who knows what we are for, and who has come and dwelt among us, so that we might become like Him. Creation itself groans for the redemption of the sons of God because when we worship and act like animals we only harm and misuse creation and so it vomits us out. But the blood of Jesus cleanses every stain, and by His blood we have eternal life. And under that blessing, we work and marry and exercise dominion until the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

INTRODUCTIONRivalry, envy, and vain-glory has gunked up the gears of human relationships from the very first pages of Scripture down to the present. Regardless of the relationship, whether between individuals or nations, rivalry slowly begins to fill the room with fumes. An explosion is waiting to ignite from the smallest spark. Man has accustomed himself to building his empires this way. This isn’t how God builds.THE TEXTWherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:11–22).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPassing from the good news of Ephesians 1:15-2:10, Paul then turns to assure the Ephesian Gentiles that they are not second class citizens in God’s household. They were once called “the Uncircumcised”, and thus were strangers to the covenant promises, without hope & without God (vv.11-12).But the blood of Jesus has brought near those who were once far off (v13), bringing peace by demolishing the wall which prevented Gentiles from coming any closer (v14). The rivalry which once marked the relationship between Jew & Gentile has been abolished by Christ’s flesh, because by His incarnation as the True Israel of God, national Israel’s laws have not only been fulfilled and satisfied, but the blessings promised to Israel have been expanded to include all nations (v15).This reconciliation was possible by the cross, where enmity was slain (v16). Paul cites Isaiah’s prophecy of the messianic restoration of Israel (Is. 57:19), and applies it to Jesus. Christ accomplished what Isaiah foretold: peace to both far and near through His Word, granting access to the Father by the same Spirit (vv17-18).Now, the Ephesian Gentiles were no longer reckoned as strangers, but fellow-citizens, of God’s household, they didn’t need a visitor’s visa (v19). The foundation of this house was the teaching of the apostles & prophets, but the chief cornerstone is Jesus Christ (v20). It’s by this ministry of reconciliation that God is building a dwelling place for Himself (21-22). God takes Jewish bricks & Gentile bricks, and by the mortar of Christ’s blood, builds a temple in which His presence dwells.ENGINES WITHOUT OILTrying to get a group of people to get along without the regenerating power of the Spirit is like trying to get an engine to work without any oil. Inevitably the friction of slights, envies, gripes, and grievances will cause the engine to seize up.Mankind has tried several workarounds. But these routes only make things worse: the route of avoidance, the route of compromise, & the route of war. But regardless of the level of the relationship––whether it be intimate relationships like marriage, or national relationships––the temptation to enmity & rivalry is too irresistible.When you take the route of avoidance, you’re opting to endure the noxious fumes rather than clear the air. You’d rather suffocate from the carbon monoxide of pent up grievances, than make peace with “them”. Or else you covet the position of being included in some group of “them.” You compromise your conscience & tear others down in order to get in. Or else you choose war, and go scorched earth on “them”. Your rival must be wiped off the face of the earth, or at least the family group chat. In other words, we’re a tangled mess of disappointed desires, gnawing envies, and arrogant boastings.ONE NEW MANThis is the temptation which faced believing Jews & Gentiles in Ephesus. A long-standing bitter rivalry existed between them. One commentator notes that the Jews’ feelings for the Gentiles was that “The Gentiles were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell.” The Gentiles were dogs. They were the Uncircumcision & Unclean.The Gentiles weren’t innocent in this ongoing feud. Gentile nations, after all, refused to help Israel during the Exodus (Ex. 17:8). They’d cheered when Babylon razed Jerusalem (Ps. 137:7). There was deeply ingrained animosity towards the Jews (Cf. Acts 16:20). These frequent skirmishes led to Jerusalem’s utter destruction in 70AD.This human tendency to break into Hatfields & McCoys is one of the central dramas of human existence. The central problem wasn’t the fact that humans developed distinctions. That’s the natural outcome being fruitful & multiplying. The central problem was that we were sundered from God Himself. Having turned from God in Eden, mankind had been driven out from the presence of God. The fruit of this was seen in the next episode: brother slaying brother.While the Jews had been given the privilege of coming near to God, it wasn’t from any special deserving on their part (Deu. 7:7-8). They had no cause for glorying. God had chosen them, yes. But He’d chosen them to solve the math equation in front of the whole class. The Israelite nation had, on the whole, failed miserably.Meanwhile, the Gentiles had continued to run from God’s presence, worshipping the demons behind their idols. Neither the Jew who was near to God through the covenant, nor the Gentile who was far from God could stand before the holiness of God (Cf. Rom. 3:9ff). Both stood guilty before God’s holy law.Christ came as a wrecking ball to all vain-glory, whether it be individual vain-glory, national vain-glory, or any other variety of human boasting. By His righteous life & death He broke down the partition wall between earthly rivals, because He first tore the veil which separated man from God. In so doing, He made one new man, a temple for His glory.A BLOOD LOYALTYThe realization that the tendency to claw each other’s eyes out at the slightest provocation lies just under the surface for any of us, does nothing to free us from it. You can know that rivalry can use anything for fuel, and still find yourself running from those you should reconcile with, or fighting with those you should reconcile with, or capitulating to those you shouldn’t be sidling up to.All human enterprises will escalate into fractious bickering until blood is shed. All our efforts to hold society together requires blood to be shed. The “others” must be slain. The “invaders” must be slaughtered. The “pariah” must be sacrificed to appease the gods.Mankind demands loyalty. But it’s a loyalty based on the shame of sin. Sinful loyalties lay their foundation on ethnic vain-glory, or bitterness towards other’s success, or irrational fear of man, or having joined together to shed innocent blood. Notice that modern day appeals for unity & inclusion seek it on the basis of shared sin & approval for sin.Christian unity is founded on shared forgiveness for sin. What Christ has done is make it possible that your sins, and “their” sins can all be forgiven. And thus we can forgive each other, as God through Christ forgave us (Eph. 4:32). Christ proclaims peace to both near & far. Only there, at the cross, do we find peace. Peace with God & peace with each other. The cross demands us to all see our own sin, and to see God’s wrath upon it. But also, we see there our righteousness. If you’re both in Christ, God calls you––and your rival––righteous.ENMITY IS SLAINAs one pastor once wrote, “This enmity cannot be cured, it must be slain.” You cannot kill it, but die it must. Who is your rival? Who pushes your buttons? Who do you schmooze & flatter? Who do you despise?Are they your brother or sister in Christ? Then your boasting or envy or rivalry is a return to the old man, not resting in the one new man which Christ has made. Are they an unbeliever? Then your envious wrangling with them is trying to erect a wall which Christ broke down. You are to invite those far off to come in close.Outside of Christ the law declares everyone guilty. Apart from the Messiah, everyone is a covenant breaker driven far off from God’s presence. Without Jesus, your passport says you aren’t a citizen. But all your guilt. All your shame. All your rivalry. All your enmity with God & man. It is slain. The only way for all your enmity to die, is if it dies in Christ. This holds true for all who come; even your fiercest rival.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and contrite heart. And you are the living sacrifices offered to God. You do not need to look around for a bull or goat to flay. Your spirit is here to be flayed.But sin is like concrete in your soul that would keep you proud and stiff. And now is the time to purge the concrete from within, to spit out that mud before it hardens, so your spirit can be broken before the Lord. He is the Master craftsman who will renew your spirit, operating on your heart in all the right ways.But before he heals and mends, he must cut. And that cutting involves you telling him all your sins, agreeing with him about your sour attitude, your raised voice, your hot temper, and your bitter resentment. He lances the wound. And your job is to push on it so that all the infection is thoroughly drained. Pride would have your wound fester so that you’d be a contaminated lamb, unworthy of sacrifice to God. Pride would keep you diseased and roaming in the wilderness rather than placed on the temple altar. Pride puffs up, swells up, and whispers to you that you should not lose anything. It makes you afraid of the knife because after the cut, you know you’ll be emptied of something. But the divine knife is removing the infection. And it is sharp enough to cut in just the right places. Christ is that knife, the Word that divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow. If you see that blade without faith, you will fear he tries to kill you and it will all seem like too much. But better things are determined concerning you. So look upon that two-edged sword in faith. Welcome it. And confess it all, every last sin, until it is all out.

INTRODUCTIONThis is our observance of Pentecost, the time we set aside to commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. There are many things that can be said about all of this, but we sometimes overlook the obvious. Today we should consider the holiness of the Holy Spirit.THE TEXT“For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit (1 Thess. 4:7-8).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTIn the verses just prior to this text, the apostle Paul had been emphasizing the need for sexual purity. Then, as now, sexual corruption was readily available, right there for the asking, and Paul urged the Thessalonians to set and maintain a high standard of sexual purity. In the verses that follow this text, Paul is emphasizing the need for brotherly love. Put in one way, we show contempt for the holiness of the Holy Spirit by at least these two means—sins against eros, and sins against agape.Paul makes very clear that we are not called to uncleanness, but rather unto holiness (v. 7). The one who is wiser than the apostle is not showing contempt for a man, but is rather showing contempt for God Himself (v. 8). This is the God, Paul says, who has given to us His Holy Spirit. There is to be a correspondence between the nature of the Spirit given to us, which is holy, and the nature of our lives, which are to be holy.HOLINESS IS PERSONALHoliness is not to be thought of as an abstract standard, or a law detached from covenantal relationship between persons. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, like electricity. He is not some sort of spiritual juice or power that makes us go. He is a Person, in His own right, one member of the triune Godhead. He is the Spirit of both God the Father and God the Son, and He brings with Him all the characteristics of those He indwells, and in whose name He indwells us.It is not possible to vex or grieve an abstraction. “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them” (Is. 63:10). And the New Testament speaks the same way. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:29-32).The Holy Spirit is a Person. He takes aim at things. He kills things. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13)We must consider how we live in light of this kind of personal relationship. “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God” (Acts 5:3-4).THE CENTER OF RELATIONSHIPThe central duty in all personal relations is that of love. God the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father. Their mutual love for one another is so strong (remember, this is mutual love between two infinite Persons) is therefore Himself a Spirit of love. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:1-5).HOLINESS OF MINDThe Spirit is given in order to sanctify a people. The Spirit was poured out in the New Testament in order to sanctify the Gentiles, who previous to this had been a pretty greasy crew. “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15:16). The point was to set the Gentiles apart from the world, making them part of the holy nation, the royal priesthood.This requires the mind of Christ. When we hear phrases like this (the mind of Christ), we have a tendency (because of false Enlightenment assumptions) to limit this to rolling of propositions around in our brains. But this is not the mind of Christ. A good way to realize this is to begin realizing that there is such a thing as intellectual holiness. We are to be transformed in the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2). But what is the result? That we may prove in our lives what the will of God is.“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:13-14).“Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:16-17). This is what the kingdom of God is.

We are rich in the Word of God, rich beyond measure... but there is a danger to be avoided. Do not let easy access to the Scriptures and faithful preaching each Lord's Day obscure the fact that these are the precious words of God. Instead, let us joyfully and reverently receive with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save our souls.

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you (1 Peter 1:13–25).

The heartening news this week is that the Supreme Court is poised to roll back the scourge of Roe v. Wade. This is a tremendous victory in the fight for defending unborn babies. But victory must be accompanied by pursuit. If you rout your enemies, and then yawn while they retreat and rearm, you will find the victory is short-lived... The battle isn’t done, but it must be fought by those with clean hands and pure hearts. The saints of God have only one way to overcome: the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. We overcome by being justified freely by His grace, and then laboring according to His grace that works in us to do the good works He has prepared for us. And the basis of our testimony are these words of Gospel kindness, God has washed away all our sin, through Christ.

May the Church of our Lord Jesus to assist our young men & women to pursue the blessing of marriage in such a way as to demonstrate to the world the great mystery of Christ and the church. And may God grant that as we reform our view of marriage to be in accordance with His word, that our culture will be reformed as well. Underneath all of this is the truth that the only way we can receive the many good gifts God has to give—marriage, children, financial prosperity, and so on—is to first ask for and receive this gift of mercy and grace through Christ.

INTRODUCTION The children’s rhyme about sticks and stones is actually one that is wildly off the mark. Scripture teaches us that the tongue is one of our most potent organs. When we walk with the Lord, our wholesome speech is a tree of life (Prov. 15:4). If we are given over to evil, the tongue has the capacity to burn down entire forests (Jas. 3:5-6). This psalm gives us a close look at the destructive power of speech.THE TEXT“Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: Preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; Continually are they gathered together for war. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; Adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from the violent man; Who have purposed to overthrow my goings . . .” (Psalm 140:1-13).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe occasion for this psalm is likely from the time when David was on the run from Saul, and his enemies at court refused to miss any opportunity to malign him. David cries out for deliverance from the evil and violent man (v. 1). Their mischievous plots begin in the heart (v. 2), move to their poisonous speech (v. 3), and end with the violence of their hands (v. 4). These evil ones are doing what they do on purpose. It is thought out, premeditated. They lay the traps and snares beforehand (v. 5).David turns to his God as his only possible deliverance (v. 6). The Lord who is the strength of his salvation is the same one who placed a shield over his head on the day of battle (v. 7). His enemies are conceited and so he prays that they would not succeed, lest they become even more full of themselves (v. 8). David prays for a divinely appointed recoil (v. 9). From the context, we see that the retribution he wishes for them is that the fall into their own traps (v. 10). Let the malicious hunter let loose the dogs of his cruelty, and may they turn back around and starting hunting him (v. 11). God undertakes for the afflicted and poor (v. 12). The righteous will return thanks to God’s name, and the upright will dwell in His presence (v. 13).Notice that this psalm begins with the psalmist on the run, looking out for any possible snares and traps. A mere thirteen verses later, he is dwelling in the presence of God.VERBAL PERSECUTIONWe live in a world where actions follow words, and words have the power to result in action. An intelligent Christian should be able to see and predict the trajectory of malice. The road along which this evil runs can be described as a plotting heart (v. 2), a venomous tongue (v. 3), and violent hands (v. 4).It has become fashionable for the liars of our generation to mock the idea that Christians are being “othered.” But we most certainly are. And however easy it is for someone to say, “Oh, poor widdle Cwistians! Did somebody differ wiff you on Twitter?” That’s not persecution. But that is not what Jesus taught us. “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matt. 5:11). Being reviled most certainly is persecution, and as we see in this psalm, it is the preparation for more direct action to follow.HOW POISON WORKSThe viper bites, and poison is introduced into the body. Now that body has a circulatory system which is system which keeps the body alive. That body cannot exist without it. Your red blood cells deliver oxygen to every point in your body, and so this amazing system is your essential friend. But the circulatory system is also involved in distributing any poison that is introduced into the body to every part of your body.Now in any social group—church, school, town, state, or nation—that circulatory system is made up of words. And lies, venomous lies, are the poison.PROTECTING THE COMMONWEALTHIf you doubt the truth proclaimed in this psalm—about the potency of lies—just look around. Over the last several years, you have witnessed a great nation reduced to a shambolic mess, and all through the power of poisonous lips. We have faced no great invasion. We have not been struck by a giant asteroid. We have not been visited with the frogs of Egypt. We have not seen the Black Death sweep through our cities. The seven angels of Revelation have not emptied their bowls on us.What we have seen is lies, lies everywhere. The lie of Darwinism. The lie of multiculturalism. The lie of woke. The lie of climate change. The lie of governmental authority. The lie of evangelical steadfastness. The lie of secularism. The lie of a defeated foe is destructive nonetheless, provided that the foolish believe it.MOUTHS FULL OF GOSPELWe have many examples of lies and liars being answered in Scripture. That is a lawful response, and in many cases it is a necessary response. Think about Paul, answering questions to the Galatians about how many times he had visited Jerusalem (Gal. 1:17). Think about Jesus, refuting charges that He was casting out demons by the prince of demons (Matt. 12:27). Think about Job, answering charges that he must have brought all his calamities down on himself (Job 42:7). So it is lawful.But at the same time, our central response must be to point to the cross where the prince of lies was thrown down and humiliated. They fell into the trap that they themselves had prepared. They managed, with their lying tongues, to have the Lord nailed to the cross. And when they had done so, they found all their lies were completely overthrown, forever and all. If the princes of this world had known what they were about, they wouldn’t have done it (1 Cor. 2:8). We should talk about all this more, with our mouths full of gospel.

Introduction This psalm might be considered a hymn to the omniscience of God (vv. 1-6) and omnipresence of God (vv. 7-12), as well as a hymn to His creative artistry (vv. 13-18), along with a thoughtful meditation on the ethical ramifications of God’s holy nature (vv. 19-24).The Text“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it . . . And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:1-24).Summary of the TextYahweh knows the psalmist, having searched him out (v. 1). God knows when he sits and when he rises (v. 2), and reads his thoughts at a distance (v. 2). God understands his paths, his lying down, and all his ways (v. 3). Before he speaks, God knows all about it (v. 4). Jehovah goes before him, and comes behind him (v. 5), and rests His hand on him. Such doctrine overwhelms David (v. 6); it is too high.Where can God be avoided? Nowhere (v. 7). If David ascends to Heaven, God is there (v. 8). If he makes his bed in the lowest places, God is there also (v. 8). If he takes the rays of the sunrise and flies off with them to the most distant seas, Yahweh is there to lead and hold (vv. 9-10). If David tried to hide in the dark, he realizes that darkness and light are all the same to Jehovah (vv. 11-12).But Yahweh is not just the God of all the omni-immensities—He is a meticulous craftsman as well. God owned his reins (kidneys), which the Hebrews considered the seat of desire and longing—even as those reins were being shaped (v. 13). The human body is an astounded work—stupefying, in fact. It summons nothing but praise, as our soul knows right well (v. 14). We are woven in the womb. God knew everything about what He was doing, as He was doing it in the darkness of the womb (v. 15). God saw what He was going to do in the sketch book of His own sovereign determinations (v. 16)—all of it was planned. David exults in the infinite sum of God’s thoughts, and counts them both infinite and precious (vv. 17-18).But this great Jehovah is also holy. And as the Holy One, He is the eye of the world. God will certainly slay the wicked (v. 19), and so David banishes them. They speak in godless ways, taking God’s name in vain (v. 20), and so David hates those who hate Yahweh. He is grieved with them (v. 21). He hates them perfectly, and counts them as his own enemies (v. 22). He follows this with an astonishing invitation—search me, O God (v. 23).  Probe and test me, to see if there is any wickedness to be found in me. And lead me in the everlasting way (v. 24).Immediate and Exhaustive KnowledgeGod knows all things immediately, without any middleman. Although it says here that God “searches out,” it also says He knows from “afar off.” He knows what David is going to say before David does. His knowledge is unmediated. Not only is His knowledge not mediated to Him, His knowledge is not divided. He is never distracted. When you cry out to Him, you have His undivided attention. He knows your going out and your coming in, and that means He knows when you have a parking spot and when you don’t.This kind of knowledge causes us to blow fuses (v. 6). We cannot attain to it. We cannot comprehend it.All the Way PresentThe omnipresence of Jehovah is not like pie dough—where the farther you spread it, the thinner it gets. God is everywhere, and everywhere He is, He is entirely there.But this is Christian orthodoxy, not pantheism. God is everywhere, but it cannot be said that He is everything. He created the material universe, which means that it is distinct from Him. God spoke, and there were two realities: God and not God. But all contingent created reality is contained (somehow) within Him. He encompasses us all, without being identified with the created order. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28). He goes ahead of us, and He comes behind.The Profound Miniaturist The psalmist confesses that he “is wonderfully made.” The Vulgate rendering of this is exquisite—acu pictus sum, “I am painted as with a needle.” Not only so, but God does this work in the darkness of the womb. But no matter, because darkness and light are all the same to Him (v. 12). The formation of each human being, which He has done billions of times, is an astonishing marvel. We take it all for granted, because we are besotted with our sin.Holy, Holy, HolyThe fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13; Amos 5:15). We see in Scripture how David was magnanimous with his personal enemy Saul (1 Sam. 24:5). What we are dealing with here is David’s indignation over these evildoers unwillingness to repent of their bloody and blasphemous wickedness (vv. 19-20).And so think of it this way. The sovereign and eternal God, the one who has witnessed every grubby thought you ever had, and has witnessed them parade right in front of Him, hands over their eyes, in the firm conviction that if they can’t see, then He must not be able to see, is the same God who knit the Lord Jesus together in the womb of Mary the Virgin. And He did this so that He would have a body that could be nailed to a cross on behalf of all those impudent scamps.

Resurrection isn’t an anomaly in this world. Rather, resurrection is the wiring behind the sheetrock. It was hidden for ages and generations. However, the entire arc of Old Testament history was anticipating the moment when God would throw the switch to illumine the whole world with the light of His life.

INTRODUCTIONI am fond of saying that grace has a backbone, but I think it is time to explain what I mean by that. The context of these remarks is the general and current ongoing discussion about the worrisome trajectories of all those incipient legalists and antinomians out there. The incipient legalists are the ones the incipient antinomians are worried about, and vice versa.THE TEXT“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of hisgood pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTWe see that for the apostle Paul, obedience is not a bad word. It does not have negative connotations for him. The Philippians were beloved by him, and he commends them for their obedience (v. 12). This was not just when Paul was present, but also when he was not with them. In particular, he tells them (in his absence) to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling (v. 12). How would it be possible for them to do this? God is the one who is at work within them, willing and doing in accordance with His good pleasure (v. 13). This means that the Philippians were to work out what God was working in. The labors of both parties, added up, did not come to 100%. God did everything in them. They did everything that was the result of what God did in them. Salvation is all of grace—even the work.But what is the relationship of the grace of God to the (seemingly unrelated) world of hard moral effort? If the grace of God is in all and through all, and beneath us all, then why do we still have to sweat bullets? Are those who sweat bullets abandoning the grace of God? Are those who rejoice in free forgiveness forsaking the demands of discipleship? But not all conditions are meritorious.RECONCILED FRIENDSSpurgeon once said, when asked how he reconciled divine sovereignty with human responsibility, that he did not even try—he never sought to reconcile friends. If we think about it rightly, from the vantage of those jealous for moral probity, we will never try to reconcile grace with works—that would be like trying to reconcile an apple tree with its apples. And, if we think about it rightly, from the vantage of those jealous for the wildness of grace, we will never try to reconcile grace with merit, for the two are mortal enemies and cannot be reconciled.But those who insist that apple trees must always produce apples will make the friends of free grace nervous, not because they have anything against apples, but rather because they know the human propensity for manufacturing shiny plastic apples, with the little hooks that make it easy to hang them, like so many Christmas tree ornaments, on our doctrinal and liturgical bramble bushes. But on the other hand, those who insist that true grace always messes up the categories of the ecclesiastical fussers make the friends of true moral order nervous—because there are, after all, numerous warnings (from people like Jesus and Paul, who should have a place in these particular discussions, after all) about those who “live this way” not inheriting the kingdom. Kind of cold, according to some people, but the wedding banquet is the kind of event you can get thrown out of.RIGHTLY RELATEDSo what is the relationship of grace to hard, moral effort? Well, hard, moral effort is a grace. It is not every grace, but it is a true grace. It is a gift of God, lest any should boast. We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, and this is a description of someone being saved by grace through faith, and not by works (Eph. 2:8-10). This is the meaning of our text—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” We are called to work out what God works in, and absolutely nothing else. If we don't work out that salvation (as evidenced by the fruit of it), then that is clear evidence that God is not working anything in.If we work out some pressboard imitation (a salvation that has the look of real wood!), then that shows that God is not working anything in there either. Moralism is just a three-dollar flashlight to light the pathway to Hell with. And of course, if we are guilty of the opposite error, if our lives are manifesting a lineup of dirty deeds done dirt cheap, the only real sin we are avoiding is that of hypocrisy. Overt immorality is the fifty-dollar flashlight. ALL GRACE, ALL THE TIMEThis is why we need a little more of “in Him we live and move and have our being.” Actually, we need a lot more of it. The answer to the grace/works dilemma is high octane Calvinism, and by this, I don't mean the formulaic kind. If God is the one Paul preached—the one of whom it can be said “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things”—then where in the universe are you going to hide your pitiful merit? If He is Almighty God, and He starts to transform your tawdry little life into something resembling Jesus, who are you to tell Him that He is now wavering on the brink of dangerous legalisms?The bottom line is that we cannot balance our notions of grace with works or our notions of works with grace. We need to get off that particular teeter totter. We have to balance absolutely everything in our lives with God Himself, who is the font of everlasting grace—real grace. Real grace is the context of everything. If we preach the supremacy of God in Christ, and the absolute lordship of that bleeding Christ, and the efficacious work of the Spirit in us who raised Jesus from the dead, then a number of other things will resolve themselves in a multitude of wonderful ways.In Jesus, we are the new humanity. Is Jesus grace or works? Jesus lives in the garden of God's everlasting favor, and we are in Him. In Christ, there are no prohibited trees. Outside Him, they are all prohibited. That means there is only one real question to answer, and it does not involve any grace/works ratios. The question is more basic than that, and has to do with the new birth.

Now the saints do pass through dragonish places. But the death of Christ, his descent into Hades, and his triumph over the principalities and powers has radically transformed things. We go through dragonish places after Christ, not before. Jesus took up the cross. And we must also. But Jesus said, "Take up your cross and follow me." He did not say, "Take up your cross and lead they way, I've got your back."

INTRODUCTIONOver the years, I have mentioned a number of times that there is no good biblical reason to use the hosannas! of Palm Sunday and the crucify him! of the Passion account as proof of the fickleness of crowds. We have no reason for assuming that the make-up of the crowds was in any way identical. But because we are living in a time driven by mass movements, it is past time for to develop a theology of crowds. Given that America is filling up with competing mobs now, one of the things that believing Christians ought to do is go back to the Scriptures to see what we can learn about mobs. There is a great deal there, actually, and if we pay the right kind of attention, we can profit more than a little bit.The Text“And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not? But and if we say, of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet” (Luke 20:5-6).Summary of the PointIn our text, Jesus asked His adversaries what they thought of John the Baptist, who was a real dividing line. Jesus had cornered them by asking a question that forced them to choose between their own actions, and the hostile reactions of a very hostile crowd. All the people will stone us. A few verses down from this, we see that the Jerusalem elites were plotting against Jesus, and they thought they needed to deal with Him secretly because why? Because they were afraid of the people. Jesus was really popular with a lot of people who did not really grasp the implications of what Christ had come to do. “And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them” (Luke 20:19).The gospel writers tell us this over and over. Two chapters later, the same thing is repeated. “And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people” (Luke 22:2). In the gospel of Mark, the same thing is mentioned and emphasized. “And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine . . . But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed” (Mark 11:18, 32). And in the next chapter of Mark, we see the same thing repeated. “And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way” (Mark 12:12).And this same pattern does not disappear after the Lord ascended into Heaven. Not at all. When officials went to detain some apostles, they handled them quite gingerly. And why? Because they feared for their lives. “Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned” (Acts 5:26).A Room Full of FumesWhen the Messiah was born into first century Israel, He was born into a room full of fumes, ready to go off. It was politically volatile, and complicated, but it was also a complexity that could be reduced to two basic groups—those who had been baptized by John, and those who had refused it.But before we get to that reduction, we have to take a number of other factions into account. That way we know what we are reducing down to their version of red state and blue state. There were the Sadducees, well-connected to the aristocracy that controlled the Temple. They were theologically liberal but quite conservative when it came to their own vested interests. There were the Herodians, whose connections were to the political elite, and who had a deep investment in what Rome was seeking to maintain. The Pharisees were a lay renewal movement, highly respected among the people, at least until Jesus got done with them. There were about 6,000 Pharisees in Israel at this time. They were largely merchants who had made enough money to be able to retire to a life of personal devotion, their goal being to get the average Israelite to live up to the holiness standards that the Torah required of priests.I am (temporarily) excluding from this political roster the immediate followers of Christ—His twelve disciples, other extras, and the women in His entourage, but I am not excluding the crowds who loved Him, and who were not far from the kingdom. This was yet another group. Think of the massive crowds who welcomed Him during His Triumphal Entry.But there is another group, almost always overlooked, a bit more surly and anti-establishment, but still clearly in the pro-John-the-Baptist, pro-Jesus camp. This was a group of significant size that was hostile to the establishment that was hostile to Jesus. And by this I mean that they were seriously hostile, and at life-threatening levels. They were “on the Lord’s side,” but had not really internalized all that Sermon-on-the-Mount stuff. The Lord once rebuked a few of His disciples for not knowing what spirit they were of (Luke 9:55), but it should be pointed out that there was quite a large group out there who fit in the same category.Now can we all agree that these crowds, as warmly affectionate toward John the Baptist as they might have been, and as doggedly committed to the honor of the rabbi Jesus as they were, were people who had not taken on board the full import of what the Scriptures required of them? I mean, had you gone to one of their rallies, who knows what kind of flags might have been there. And did their presence in the mix in any way discredit what Jesus was up to? Not even a little bit.No. The Lord knew of this group’s cluelessness. He understood their cluelessness. He even used their cluelessness in His debates with that other form of cluelessness, the respectable kind—the kind that is always the last to know. But Henever apologized for their cluelessness. “And the Lord spake unto them, saying, ‘I have recently been informed that the chief priests have been receiving credible threats against their lives, and I wanted to hasten to apologize . . .'”So in this powder keg called Jerusalem, what did Jesus do? Did Jesus come in to pour soothing oil on troubled waters? No. He went into the Temple, for crying out loud, and started flipping over tables.Ownership of the Public SquareAnd this is why we need to follow Christ, Christ above all. There is only one kind of defiant joy in the world that can successfully stand up to this kind of godless pressure. There is only one path for defying the screechers—without becoming a screecher yourself. That path is Christ, the one who has risen from the dead. And He rose from the dead the same place they crucified Him, which is to say, in the public square. Remember: the reason Christians still own the public square is because Jesus rose from the dead in it. I know that the militant secularists despise this truth, but truth it is, and they should have thought of those objections before they crucified Him there.

INTRODUCTIONOne of the central things we are called to do is praise the works of the Lord. But the glorious thing is that we are also called to remember that we are ourselves the work of God. God’s wisdom is so intricate and ingenious that He can create works that are capable of praising His works. And that is what we are.THE TEXT“A Psalm of David. I will praise thee with my whole heart: Before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: For great is the glory of the Lord. Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: But the proud he knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: Forsake not the works of thine own hands” (Psalm 138).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe reference in this psalm to the temple should not be sufficient to make us set aside the ascription to David. The psalmist will praise God with a dedicated heart (v. 1), and he will do it in the presence of all the false gods. He will worship toward the temple, praising God’s name for His hesed and truth, because God magnifies His Word above all that His name represents (v. 2). In the day that he cried out, God reinforced the strength of his soul (v. 3). A prediction is then made—all the kings of the earth will praise the King of all the earth (v. 4), and they will sing about the ways of the Lord (v. 5). God is higher than all height, but still has respect for the lowly. The proud He knows also, but is only willing to touch them with a long stick (v. 6). God is one who delivers us from the very midst of trouble (v. 7). God will certainly finish His own work; He knows how to complete it (v. 8). God’s hesed is forever, and the psalmist consequently pleads with Him not to forsake the work of His own hands (v. 8).THE SINGING OF KINGSAs we are going to see in a moment, God has great regard for the lowly. But He regards the conceited from afar. But in His great kindness and grace, one of the things he does is that He condescends to invite even kings into His kingdom. And one of the great wonders of grace is that they come. This psalm is one of the great promises. God is going to make a great choir out of humbled kings. In vv. 4-5, we see that all the kings of earth are going to sing His praises.The kings of the earth are told to kiss the Son, lest He be angry (Ps. 2: 10-12). The kings of the earth are going to bring their glory and honor into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24). All the kings will see God’s glory (Is. 62:2). Paul teaches us that God wants all kinds of men to be saved, even kings (1 Tim. 2:1-4). The kings of earth will fear the glory of the Lord (Ps. 102:15).THE MOST HIGH AND THE LOWLYEven though God is the Most High God, He nevertheless has concern for the lowly. A lowly and humble creature is not too low for Him to touch. What troubles us is a concern of His. He does not consider us worms. But if we puff ourselves up in our conceits, then we do indeed become worms, very haughty worms.The issue is not the size of our hands, or the size of our minds. The Lord created us this way, and He declared in the day of creation that our size was, along with all other things, “very good.” What He does not care for is the swollenness of our pride. Sin is not finitude; sin is inflated with massive amounts of spiritual helium.“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV).THE WORK OF HIS OWN HANDSWe are indeed the work of God’s hands. The psalmist here prays a prayer that is manifestly within the will of God. We know that it is because of what God promises us.“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you . . . being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:3–6, NKJV).Not only has He begun a good work in you, He has begun a good work that is you.“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV)The word rendered workmanship is poiema, and can be rendered as creation, artifact, art-work, or accomplishment. You, my friend, are laid out on God’s workbench.BROUGHT TO COMPLETIONWhat man does by himself always comes up empty. As Spurgeon put it, we are talking about “Cain’s sacrifice, Pharaoh’s promise, Rabshakeh’s threats, a Pharisee’s prayer.” But what about Christ’s sacrifice? Christ’s promise? Christ’s threat? Christ’s prayers? What are you trusting? Who are you trusting?You might be tempted to trust in your own sensations—your afflictions make you feel like you are being crushed beneath the weight of numerous troubles. But take heart. You think you are being crushed like grapes. And so you are, but God is making His specialty wine. What is your vintage?

Modern conservatives have been shocked to find out that by thoughtlessly sowing their kids into government schools, they’ve reaped a harvest of godless statists. But there is a warning here for us. By and large, recent generations have abdicated their parental duty to educate their children due to disengaged & distant parenting. In a community committed to families providing a Christian education for their children, there’s a lurking danger to think that what happened to a generation of government educated children can’t happen here.

INTRODUCTIONThis psalm begins with a heartfelt lament, and concludes with a savage benediction. This apparent incongruity has been a trouble to many Christians, and so we need to take care as we meditate on, and worship by means of, a psalm like this one.THE TEXT“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; Who said, rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones” (Ps. 137).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTBabylon was situated on a plain, and was criss-crossed by both rivers and canals. Rivers provide one of the most natural metaphors for sorrow and weeping (Lam. 2:18; 3:38), and it was next to the rivers of Babylon that the Israelite exiles sat and wept, remembering Zion (v. 1). Instead of singing, they placed their harps on the willows there (v. 2), those willows being another natural metaphor for weeping. The Israelites had come there to lament, but the Babylonian onlookers demanded a happy song, a song of Zion (v. 3), which the captives refused to do (v. 4). To do something like that would be to forget Jerusalem, and rather than do such a thing, the psalmist would prefer that his right hand forget how to play (v. 5). If he were to do that, forgetting Jerusalem as his chief joy, he would prefer that his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth (v. 6). The psalm then turns to the question of the Lord’s vengeance. Edom was related to Israel, as neighbors and kinsmen, and yet in their hatred, they egged the Babylonians on (v. 7). The next verse comes as a prophecy (“who art to be destroyed”), and it is stated as a strict form of the lex talionis—happy the one who does to Babylon what Babylon did to Judah (v. 8). Happy the one who dashes the infants of Babylon against the rocks (v. 9).A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMMany Christians assume that the self-maledictory prayer in vv. 5-6 came true in v. 9—his right hand did forget its cunning, and his mouth did form a grotesque blessing. They believe that the discordant and jarring conclusion of the psalm, after such a beautiful beginning, is truly unfortunate. But this is simply too facile.The psalmist knew what was entailed in the fall of a city, and he knew that to pray for that fall would bring all that it entailed along with it. You cannot pray for the airliner to crash, and then be surprised at the fact that passengers died. This is no less true in modern warfare than in ancient warfare. When Babylon fell, enemy warriors dashed their children to death. But American drone strikes have killed children just as dead.FIRST, AN ACTUAL PROPHECYIn the fifth year of Darius, the Babylonians revolted against him. When he surrounded the city with his massive army, the Babylonians decided that their only hope was to try to hold out through the siege as long as possible. And so they rounded up their own wives, sisters, and children, anyone useless in the war effort, and strangled them. The men were allowed to keep one wife, along with one maid-servant to do the housework. That is what the Babylonians were actually like.NOT AN OLD COVENANT THING We sometimes seek a cheap way out when it comes to questions like this. When we can say something like, “Well, that’s in the Old Testament . . .” and then everyone leaves us alone, there is a temptation to do just that. But it will not suffice.The destruction of Babylon was a type of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Herod the Great was an Idumean (an Edomite, see v. 7), and he was the one who had the boys around Bethlehem slaughtered. Judah had become a new Egypt (Ex. 1:22), Judah had become a new Babylon.And so it is that the only place in the New Testament where the word Hallelujah is used is when the saints of God in heaven behold the demolition of Babylon (Jerusalem). “And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever” (Rev. 19:3).NOT A BAD EXAMPLEThis psalm, and other psalms like it, are not included in Scripture so that we would see the sin involved in them, and shy away from the “bad example.” This is a place where even the great C.S. Lewis swings and misses. He grants the “uncharity of the poets,” and says that they “are indeed devilish.”The problem with this is that Christians are commanded to sing these psalms, all of them (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). We are instructed to sing these psalms when we are “merry” (Jas. 5:13). The psalms are quoted in the New Testament very frequently, and the imprecatory psalms are not excluded from these quotations (Acts 1:20; Ps. 109:8ff). And all of this is urged upon us with no warning label whatever.Neither can we pretend that the ethic of love for your enemy was a New Testament innovation (Ex. 23:4,5; Prov. 24:17; Prov. 25:21). But at the same time, we are told that we can have a Bible passage in mind, and be able to refer to it when asked, and yet still not know “what spirit we are of” (Luke 9:55). So take as your example the way David spoke of the enemies of God (Ps. 139:21), and also the way that he spoke of and behaved toward his own personal enemies (2 Sam. 1:19; 1 Sam. 24:5).NOT FIXED BY DISTANCESometimes we try to address things like this by creating an artificial distance, doing this with years, with jokes, or with context. An old Scots psalter rendered the psalm this way:Blessed shall the trooper beComes riding on his naggie,Who takes his wee bairns by the taes,And dings them on the craigie.For an example of context, some of you have seen video footage from the war in Ukraine, where a column of Russian tanks is being taken out by Javelin missiles—and it looks to you like a video game. But what you are seeing is husbands, sons, and brothers dying. THE BRATS OF BABYLON We really do want God to rise up and scatter His enemies (Ps. 68:1). But God has two ways of doing this. He can destroy His enemies with old school means, in which they are simply annihilated. He can also destroy His enemies by transforming them into friends. That is how he destroyed His one-time enemy, the man called Saul of Tarsus.“And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44).I saw a meme online that illustrated this quite pointedly. It said that when the apostle Paul entered into Heaven, he was greeted with the applause of those he had martyred. So Christ is the stone, and if we fall on Him in repentance, we will be gloriously broken. But if He falls on us, then we will be crushed. So as Christians, our prayers of imprecation should be Christocentric. And you can test the condition of your spirit in this way.If you are praying for your enemy to be destroyed, and God gloriously converts him, and your initial response is “no, not that way,” then that should be cause for self-examination. But Christ is the Rock either way.

Sinners want us to rush along in their conspiracy to shed-blood. This is one of the tell-tale signs Solomon gives us of foolish men (Pro. 1:10-12). Sinners are also selfish cowards, who want to save their own skin (Pro. 22:13, Num. 13:32-33). Christians, regardless of the season, regardless of the news, worship the Risen Christ. This makes us bold in battle, stubborn in our determination to fight only for righteous causes, and fervent in prayer that the swords might be bent into plows.

INTRODUCTIONThis psalm rotates around the hesed of God, coming back to it every other line. This word hesed can be translated any number of different ways—kindness, faithfulness, covenant loyalty, tender-mercies, and the like. The AV supplies the verb endureth every other line, but that is not in the original. The line literally is “for his hesed forever.”THE TEXT“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: For his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: For his mercy endureth for ever . . .” (Psalm 136:1–26).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTSo we have in this psalm a litany of gratitude, and each of them is ascribed to the hesed of God. What we are going to see here then is how wide-ranging that beneficence of God actually is.The first is a summons to thank God for the goodness of God (v. 1). Give thanks to the God over all gods (v. 2). Give thanks to the Lord over all lords (v. 3). God alone is the God of wonders (v. 4). He created the heavens in His wisdom (v. 5), and He spread the earth out over the waters (v. 6). He made the great lights (v. 7), meaning the sun to rule by day (v. 8), and the moon and stars for the night (v. 9).God struck the firstborn of Egypt out of hesed (v. 10), and delivered Israel from Egypt in consequence (v. 11), with an outstretched arm as an act of strength (v. 12). He split the Red Sea in two (v. 13), making Israel to pass safely through (v. 14), but drowning Pharaoh and his army there (v. 15). He led Israel in the wilderness (v. 16). He struck great kings (v. 17). He slaughtered famous kings (v. 18). Sihon of the Amorites was done (v. 19), and Og, king of Bashan was another (v. 20). God took land away from them and gave to Israel for a heritage (v. 21), even a heritage for Israel his servant (v. 22). He remembered our low estate (v. 23), and redeems us from our enemies (v. 24).God feeds all the living (v. 25), and we conclude by thanking Him again, thanking the God of heaven (v. 26).THREE CATEGORIES OF HESEDThe first category of God’s hesed is found in the fact that He is the Creator God, and this means that He is the God over all creation (vv. 1-9). The second category is revealed in God’s political providence (vv. 10-24). And the last category is found in the fact that the God of Heaven is the God of ongoing providence—we live in a created order that feeds us (vv. 25-26).GOD TAKES SIDESThe middle of this psalm makes it absolutely plain that God takes sides. His hesed, His mercy, is seen how He absolutely destroyed the Egyptians. He killed the firstborn of Egypt because of His hesed (v. 10), and He drowned Pharaoh and his army for the same reason (v. 15). God fed Israel from the sky during their time in the wilderness, but that wandering in the wilderness was bookended by two instances of national judgment. Egypt was that era’s superpower, and when God’s hesed toward Israel was done with them, they were little more than a smoking crater. Then on the other end of the forty years, God dispatched Sihon and Og both, and they were described as great and famous kings (vv. 17-18).God took their land away, and bestowed it on Israel for their own heritage. This was no injustice to them because it was not taken away from them because Israel needed it now. It was taken from them because their iniquity had finally ripened. What had God said to Abraham centuries before? “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. 15:16).“For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man” (Deut. 3:11).“Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle” (Deut. 2:24).The conquest of Canaan was in large measure an exercise in giant-killing, with the final stages of that warfare being accomplished by David (1 Sam. 17:49) and his men (2 Sam. 21:19).But where did these giants come from? How did they make it past the Flood, which was God’s judgment on the whole Nephilim project? The most reasonable answer appears to be that the DNA of giants was preserved on the ark through Ham’s wife, the mother of all the Canaanites, and Canaan is where the giants all were.CREATION CORNERSTONEThis psalm foregrounds the doctrine of creation, and the goodness of God as revealed in creation. All attempts at evolutionary explanations are attempts (at their best) to background it, to place it at a great distance from us. The more remote it is, the easier it is to take all these things for granted. One of the great blessings of believing in a young earth creation is that we are confronted with the goodness of God. He fashioned the heavens and the earth, and we can see His exquisite design in all that He has made. For example, when the moon covers the sun in an eclipse, it looks like someone stacking a couple of quarters—like a key fitting in a lock.We are taught in Romans that the two great impulses of the unbelieving heart are the impulse to deny God’s sovereignty (Rom. 1:21), and to deny our responsibility to be thankful to Him (Rom. 1:21). The invitation issued in this psalm confronts both of these unbelieving impulses.

This world is riddled with grief. You either have great griefs which haunt you from behind, or unforeseen griefs yet to face, and likely both. Of course, there’s the grief that comes from your sin and its consequences, but I want to talk particularly about the grief that you face just by doing business in this fallen world.

Our covenantal relationship with God is a relationship that is tied completely around with blessing. The servants of the Lord are called and summoned to bless the Lord, and in return the Lord blesses us out of Zion. One of the characteristic notes of this psalm is that it is filled with blessing.

Download AudioIntroduction Christian unity is a dangerous subject because, believe it or not, it is one of the ironic things we are divided over. What is the nature of true unity? Why should we care? Are denominations really a form of disobedience? Have we really torn apart the seamless robe of Christ?The Text“A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: That went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psalm 133:1-3).Summary of the Text Again, this is another psalm of ascents—one of the psalms that would be sung as pilgrims approached the Temple. Something can be good without being pleasant, but when both good and pleasant come together, it is a true blessing (v. 1). That blessing comes when brethren can dwell together in unity (v. 1). In the economy of Israel, all priests were anointed, but only the high priest was anointed on the head. This unity is like that precious oil that is placed on Aaron’s head, runs down to his beard, and from there to the hem of his garments (v. 2). Clearly a large amount of oil was used—even if you follow the ESV reading, which has the oil running down to the collar. In a change of metaphor, we read that Mount Hermon is famous for dew, descending on the mountains of Zion (v. 3). As Zion proper is about 250 miles south of Hermon, we should note the plural mountains, and take Zion as a generic name for Israel. How will this blessing of unity come? It will be the result of a command from Jehovah Himself (v. 3)—that command summoning life forevermore. This dew waters the ground, and makes it truly fruitful. That is the command of God, the blessing of God. This is His purpose and intention.“He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, And fill the face of the world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6).Two Kinds of UnityAs this psalm has praised this particular grace from God in the strongest possible terms, we need to be careful not to distort our understanding of that grace. According to Scripture, there are two kinds of unity that God gives to us. We need to be careful not to muddle them up because if we do, the unfortunate result will be . . . disunity.The first kind is given to all Christians everywhere in the Person of the Holy Spirit. “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).Notice that we already have this unity, which is why we are told to preserve it. We need to be eager in this preservation, laboring at it. The word for unity is the same as that used a few verses down (henotes). The word for bond can mean fetter, or sinew, or that which binds. And the Holy Spirit is the one who ties of the knot of peace. Every Christian has this unity already, and the one charge we have is to pursue a way of life that does not disrupt it.The second kind of unity is institutional unity. Paul is thinking eschatologically, and is looking forward to the time when the bride of Christ, the Church, is without any spot or wrinkle or any such blemish (Eph. 5:27). God will accomplish this through the governmental gifts that He has provided to the Church—apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers. “Till we all come in the unity [henotes] of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).This is the unity of maturity, and we are not supposed to have it yet.And no end of trouble is caused by people who think that we are supposed to have it, and on the basis of this opinion disrupt their fellowship with saints who differ. It is like the old joke about two ministers who were talking, and one said to the other, “Well, we both serve God, I suppose—you in your way, and I in His.” Because we try to seize an institutional unity we are not supposed to enjoy yet, we wind up disrupting the bond of peace that we really do have.Sin as BarrierSin means we are falling short of a standard that we ought not to be falling short of. Sin means we are not doing what we were instructed to do, and obedience is always something that should be in our hands in the present.Remember that the basic building block of this broader church unity is the family, and the husband and the father is responsible to set the tone for his family. Fathers, you do not have the luxury of being distant, or angry, or sullen, or quiet, or disengaged, or surly. You do not get to flop, or otherwise disrupt a unity that has already been given to you.The household is a wonderful place for learning the basic steps of this particular dance. In fact, there is no better place. And when you learn that wisdom in the home, you will be equipped to navigate the challenges that will arise with regard to extended family, or neighbors, or companions in business, or fellow church members.Immaturity as BarrierImmaturity means that we are right where we are supposed to be. A three-year-old is not in sin being three-years-old. Now if a ten-year-old started acting like a three-year-old this would actually not be immaturity—it would be sin. Remember that God is very easy to please, but very hard to satisfy. When it comes to the unity of the Church today, God is very easy to please, and hard to satisfy.And the reason this is true—the only reason, remember—is because the Father was pleased with Christ. Not only so, but the Father is satisfied in Christ. And Christ is our unity. One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph. 4:5).

IntroductionThe Israelite purity codes point out potent, momentous elements of life and tell Israel to pay careful attention. Go slow here. Warning. There is something glorious here. What you eat, what you touch, your bodies, death and dying, sexuality, and childbearing are potent, powerful forces in the world that God made. Under God’s blessing, they are forces for good, but in our fallen state, they naturally become forces for evil, harm, and destruction. Uncleanness points to our natural fallen state, and points to our need for a new Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, and urges care, wisdom, repentance, worship, and obedience in all things.The Text: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying if a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days” (Lev. 12:1-8).Summary of the Text: When a woman gave birth to a son, she was ceremonially unclean for seven days, the son was to be circumcised on the 8th day, and then she continued in a state of purifying for another 33 days, for a total of 40 days (12:1-4). When a woman bore a daughter, she was unclean for fourteen days, and then continued in a state of purifying for another 66 days, for a total of 80 days (12:5). At the end of the time of purifying, the new mother was to bring an ascension offering and a sin offering to the tabernacle, one for atonement and one for cleansing from her blood, with a provision for the poor (12:6-8).The Promise of the SeedWhile these ceremonies can seem strange or even offensive to modern ears, there really is a logic to it all and something profoundly glorious is going on here. Remember, that God blessed Adam and Eve with the command to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and ruling over all the creatures (Gen. 1:28). This means that conception and childbearing was originally blessed by God and is part of what God pronounced “very good” (Gen. 1:31). But Adam sinned, and God pronounced curses on the ground that man worked and greater pain in a woman’s childbearing, and promised that now death would come upon all (Gen. 3:16-19). This general curse of sin and death in the world is what theologians call “original sin,” and all people (except for Jesus) are conceived and born with this covenantal guilt and natural proclivity to sin and corruption (Ps. 51: 5, Is. 48:8, Rom. 3:23, 5:12-19, 6:23). This is part of what God was teaching Israel in their purity codes: sin and death infects everything to some extent, and Israel cannot approach God unless He makes a way of cleansing. However, God also promised Adam and Eve a “seed” (a descendent) who would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). God promised that through the seed of the woman, the curse would be reversed.Fulfilled in JesusThis text is fulfilled in the gospel initially in the circumcision of Jesus and Mary’s purification (Lk. 2:21-24). Circumcision was the Old Covenant sign that pictured the need for the shedding of blood for our sins and the cutting off of our sinful flesh. This is why the time for purification is cut in half for a baby boy because the baby boy at least symbolically shared the other half of the purification process. Jesus did not need to receive the sign of removal of sin for any personal sins anymore than He needed to be baptized for the remission of any sins, but in both cases it was to stand with us as our representative (covenant) head, to fulfill all righteousness (cf. Mt. 3:15). All of this was completely fulfilled in the cross, which Paul figuratively calls “the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11), where our sins and the “uncircumcision” of our flesh was forgiven and all the condemnation of the law was nailed to His cross (Col. 2:13-14).ConclusionsIt’s particularly glorious that Jesus rose from the dead on the “8th Day,” the day of circumcision, which is of course also the first day of the week, the day of new creation, the day of the removal of the curse.Part of what this text underlines and which is highly offensive to modern sensibilities is the inequality of the sexes. We have been catechized and discipled by modern secularism to jump at every hint of inequality and to presume that this necessarily implies inequality of value. But men and women are gloriously unequal (1 Cor. 11:3, 7-11), and both bear the image of God equally in creation and are co-heirs of the grace of life in Christ (Gen. 1:27, 1 Pet. 3:7).God loves the glorious differences and inequalities of male and female, and He loves how they image Him. And so should we, and therefore we hate the sexual promiscuity that makes light of this glory, the utter fruitlessness and impossibility of homosexuality, and the utter confusion and blasphemy of transgenderism.This text points us to the glory of childbearing, the profound beauty of motherhood, the way that the curse of sin and death has attempted to infect it, and it all points to the glory of Christ who is now in the process of redeeming it all. By His blood, He has removed the ceremonial curse, and while we still battle with the presence of the curse in this world and in our bodies, Christ has commandeered death itself, such that even the remaining signs of the curse are turned into marks of the cross for those who are in Christ Jesus (cf. Gal. 6:17).The reason our culture rages against motherhood is because it is so beautiful and powerful (Ps. 139). There is nothing more potent in this world than people made in the image of God. This is why marriage and the gift of children are so central to the working out of the gospel. This is why the Bible even says that a woman may be “saved through childbirth” (1 Tim. 2:15). This does not mean that a single or barren woman cannot be saved, but it does mean that all women are called to embrace by faith the vocation of motherhood. Whether or not you bear your own children, you are to be fruitful in your home, cultivate beauty, feed the hungry, and in all of it, be the glory of man.

There is a clever game we play when it comes to identifying sin. Instead of calling the sin by its biblical name, we slap a nickname on it that allows everyone to nod along with understanding camaraderie. We don’t call it an outburst of wrath, as Paul does, we say that we were simply expressing frustration. This is a sneaky way of avoiding taking responsibility for our sin, and thus confessing it, repenting of it, and then mortifying it.

As soon as you confess that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you join the battle, you join the fray. You have come to the gates of Hades this morning. This is where we worship. This is where we sing and pray and hear the word proclaimed. This is where we break bread and share wine in the presence of our enemies, and make our good confession.

Christians live with double-vision. We walk by faith, not sight. Many well-meaning Christians, however, take this to mean we no longer see the things of this earth, or that, as the hymn goes: “The things of earth will grow strangely dim.” If I might, I propose a revision to that lyric: “the things of earth will grow wonderfully clear.”

On December 8th, the Canadian government passed Bill C-4 by royal assent, which means that with a little bit of bureaucratic shenanigans, it passed with unanimous consent. Bill C-4 effectively criminalizes Christian preaching, teaching, and counseling that upholds Biblical morality for all sexuality. It specifically prohibits “conversion therapy” and defines that therapy as any practice, treatment, or service that seeks to call individuals to embrace the body God created them with and heterosexuality, with a penalty of up to five years in prison. It also condemned historic, biblical teaching as “myths.” Having gone into effect last week, a number of faithful men have called for the pastors of Canada to preach messages today in defiance of that law, and many American pastors are also joining them to stand in solidarity with them but also to exhort and warn our own American leaders from going down this same path.

INTRODUCTIONHere the priests of Israel are ordained, and their garments and the sacrifices that set them apart proclaiming our salvation in Jesus Christ. He is our High Priest who leads us in worship every Lord’s Day to offer our sacrifices of praise, and by His ministry, our worship is made potent to batter the gates of Hell and turn the course of human history.THE TEXT“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil…” (Lev. 8-9)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe ordination of the priests took place over the course of eight days (9:1, 8:32). On the first day, the congregation witnessed Aaron and his sons being washed, anointed, and dressed in their uniforms (8:1-13). Then three animals were sacrificed: a bull for sin offering (8:14-17), a ram for an ascension offering (8:18-21), and a ram of “ordination,” a sort of peace offering (8:22-29). Some of the oil and blood was sprinkled on Aaron and his sons after this, and they ate a meal at the doorway of the tent of meeting, where they were to remain for the next seven days (8:30-36).On the eighth day, two sets of sacrifices (one set for Aaron, one for the people) were offered so that “the glory of the Lord would appear” (9:1-7). Aaron offered a sin offering and an ascension offering for himself (9:8-14), and then he presented the sin offering, ascension offering, grain offering, and peace offerings for the people (9:15-21). Finally, Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire consumed the offerings on the altar and the people shouted and fell on their faces (9:22-24).FOR GLORY AND BEAUTYEver since the Garden of Eden, clothing has been deeply theological. When Adam and Eve sinned, their eyes were opened to see their own nakedness, and they tried to cover their own shame, but God made clothing for them from the skins of animals (Gen. 3:7, 21). This is the story of all human history: we have guilt and shame and either we try to hide it or we receive God’s covering. Elsewhere, we are told that part of the reason the priests were given a uniform was to cover their nakedness (Ex. 28:42), but it was also for “glory and beauty” (Ex. 28:2, 40).This was to picture for Israel their need for salvation: instead of shame and mourning, God offered to provide “garments of salvation” (e.g. Is. 61:3, 10). This is the offer of the gospel: to be clothed in Christ. “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” (Heb. 4:13-14). This is really what we mean by “clothed in Christ.” We mean that Christ is your great high priest, that His glory and beauty are your glory and beauty.Very practically, all clothing is either seeking to reflect this reality with fitting praise, gratitude, and glory, or else it is a reflection of man’s own self-seeking arrogance and ostentation.THE ORDER OF THE SACRIFICES & COVENANT RENEWAL WORSHIPThe ordination of the priests is one of the places we look to for our order of worship. While we need not insist that another order would be sinful, we want our worship to be “according to Scripture.” We know that Scripture commands us to confess our sins, to hear the Word read and preached, and to celebrate communion together, but what order are we to do it in?In the Old Testament when the three central sacrifices were offered (Sin, Ascension, and Peace), they always seem to be offered in the order seen here (Lev. 9:3-4 cf. 8:14-31) and in a couple other places (cf. Num. 6, Ez. 45:17). We see the same theological order in the covenant renewal at Sinai: blood is sprinkled on the altars and on the people (Sin), the elders ascend the mountain (Ascension), and they eat and drink with God (Peace) (Ex. 24).We call this order of worship “covenant renewal worship”: we confess our sins, we ascend to God through the Word read and preached, and we sit down to eat and drink at peace with God and one another. If you put a Call to Worship at the beginning and the Commissioning at the end, you have “5 Cs”: Call, Confession, Consecration, Communion, Commission.We call it “covenant renewal,” but we could just as easily call it the “gospel enacted”: we are summoned to worship God, but we know we are sinners in need of forgiveness, so we confess and are assured of God’s pardon through Christ. Then we ascend into the presence of God in and through the Word of Christ which cuts us up on the altar. Finally, we feast at peace with God and one another before being charged and sent out with His blessing.CONCLUSIONSIt’s striking that God commands the people to ordain these men to the priesthood in a certain way so “that the glory of the Lord shall appear” (9:6). We see an analogous result in the ordination of deacons in the New Testament: when the apostles determined not to neglect the Word of God and prayer, they ordained seven men to oversee the physical needs of the congregation, and the “Word of God spread and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem…” (Acts 6:7). When God’s people are obedient in appointing Spirit-filled leaders, the glory of the Lord appears, and more people turn to the Lord.The same thing is true about faithful and obedient worship in general. When we obey the Lord in our worship services, both inwardly and outwardly, seeking Christ in it all, the glory of the Lord appears. When our worship is ordered according to Scripture, God promises that even unbelievers will fall down and worship God, saying that God is truly in our midst (1 Cor. 14:25). This is not some kind of mechanical theological formula, but it is a sure promise of the Living God received by faith in Christ alone.The Book of Revelation can broadly be read as a heavenly worship service, with Christ our High Priest leading worship such that the judgments fall on the earth (Rev. 5-6ff). So we worship God in heaven on the Lord’s Day so that God’s Kingdom will come and His Will might be done on earth as it is in heaven. And with Christ our High Priest, it is sure to be done.

INTRODUCTIONWe have already covered the 5 main sacrifices in the first five chapters, but the next two focus on specific tasks and duties of the priests with regard to the sacrifices. Here, God is instructing Israel to obey carefully, making distinctions between holy and common, clean and unclean.REVIEWLeviticus 1: Ascension/Burnt Offering – God invites us to draw near with all that we are: the whole animal goes on the altar.Leviticus 2: Tribute/Grain Offering – God provides our daily bread and all things, and therefore, He claims our full allegiance: bread on the altar.Leviticus 3: Peace Offering – God invites us to have fellowship with Him and one another with a meal: the fat goes on the altar and we eat together in the presence of God.Leviticus 4: Sin Offering – Sin defiles us and our land, but God takes it upon Himself so we can be clean: the blood goes in front of the veil and on the altar for cleansing, the carcass is burned outside the camp.Leviticus 5: Guilt/Reparation Offering – All sin requires repentance and sometimes restitution: a ram for the Lord and restoring what was lost or stolen plus twenty percent.THE TEXT“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt offering…” (Lev. 6:8-7:38)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTWhile the earlier chapters described God’s provision of sacrifice for Israelites to draw near, here God gives commands to the priests for carrying them out. Instructions include the continual sacrifice, every morning and evening for the Ascension Offering (6:9-14), which portions of the Tribute Offerings (grain) belong to the priests (6:15-6:23), how the blood of the Sin Offering consecrates whatever it touches (6:24-30), how the Reparation Offering is like the Sin Offering and who may eat it (7:1-7), as well as the skin and Tribute grain that belong to the priests (7:8-10).Peace Offerings may be made on occasions of thanksgiving (with unleavened and leavened bread), or upon the completion of vows, or as a voluntary offering, but must be eaten on the day of the offering (thanksgiving) or on the second day (vows/voluntary) (7:11-18). The meat of the Peace Offering must be kept ceremonially clean, ceremonial cleanness is required for all who partake of the Peace Offerings, and any unclean who partake are to be cut off from the people (7:19-21). While the Israelites may use the fat of animals for other purposes, they may not eat it, especially from a sacrifice, nor drink the blood (7:22-27). Finally, while individual Israelites must bring their own the Peace Offerings, the priests are to receive their portion and see to it that the fat is burned (7:28-36). This concludes the law of all the sacrifices and offerings (7:28-38).HOLY, CLEAN, UNCLEAN, & CUT OFFWe will have opportunity to consider these categories more as we go on, but just notice how God is requiring the priests and the people to pay close attention to details: clean (6:11), holy (6:18), most holy (6:25, 29), clean (7:19), unclean (7:20-21). These generally correspond to whom the sacrifice belongs (holy/priests, clean/congregation). And those who fail to honor these distinctions are to be “cut off” (7:21, 25, 27). This means they are excommunicated from the presence of the Lord while the uncleanness persists, often only requiring a washing (Lev. 22:3-7). While these instructions are primarily given to the priests, we see that individual Israelites are also responsible to make sure the priests are following the instructions (7:18). The overarching principle here is the holiness of God. On the one hand, one does not just saunter into the presence of God, and yet, on the other hand, the whole sacrificial system was God making a way for sinners to draw near.These categories were training wheels for New Covenant holiness. In the New Covenant, the holy blood of Jesus has gone into the Most Holy Place and splashed on this planet earth, consecrating the whole world to the Lord. Zechariah foretells this when he described a day when the bells on the horses would be consecrated with “Holiness to the Lord” as well as every pot in Jerusalem (Zech. 14:20-21). This is particularly true of believers who have been sanctified with the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:29). All that we do and touch is now holy to the Lord. In the New Covenant there is only “one baptism,” one washing, but we apply the promise of that cleansing through confession of sin: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7). This is also the goal of all correction (Gal. 6:1, Mt. 18:15).This requires Christians to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17). And yet, if God saves you in a situation where you are already yoked to an unbeliever, trust Him to use it to sanctify the unbelieving spouse, otherwise the children would be unclean (1 Cor. 7:14). So an unbeliever is not a marital option for believers, but when it comes to friends and business partners, the question is: which way is the influence going? “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 21-23).CONCLUSION: YOUR REASONABLE SERVICEWhile God raises up teachers and ministers, all believers have priestly responsibilities in the New Covenant: “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ… But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:5, 9, cf. Rev. 1:5-6). The Bereans were more noble because they “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).

The Light of the world has come. The waiting is over.

INTRODUCTIONThis is something of a Christmas message and end of the year State of the Church sermon all wrapped into one. But the point is that I want to meditate on the covenant curses that are raining down on us in the form of Covid-statist tyranny, the sexual promiscuity and perversion jihad, on top of abortion insanity, fiscal madness, and political imbecility. Christians find themselves caught in the middle of family and culture turmoil. What are we to do? The central thing we must do is recognize all of it as judicial blindness from the Lord. He had done this.THE TEXT“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Pet. 1:4-9).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTBy His power, God has given to His people everything that they need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ, at all times and in all places (1:3). Having escaped the corruption of the world, Christians are to grow in holiness and godliness through God’s great and precious promises (1:4). The broad outline of that growth is listed in seven additional steps added to faith in those promises (1:5-7). With those eight virtues abounding in Christians, they cannot be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus (1:8). But a Christian who lacks these things is blind, near-sighted, and has forgotten that he has been forgiven (1:9).TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF JUDICIAL BLINDNESSWe know from elsewhere in the Bible, that unbelievers have a certain kind of spiritual blindness: 2 Cor. 4:3-4: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Likewise in Ephesians 4:18, speaking of the Gentiles, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” That is one kind of judicial blindness. But here in 2 Peter 1, we have a different kind of blindness described, what we might call a covenantal judicial blindness. Peter is describing believers who have not progressed as far as they should have as blind and forgetful (2 Pet. 1:9). Jesus calls the church of Laodicea to repent of a similar blindness: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked… anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke, and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev. 3:17-19).COVENANT BLINDNESS & CALAMITYThis same covenantal blindness is described in the Old Testament: “If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God… all these curses shall come upon thee… The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness…” (Dt. 28:15, 28). Likewise, in Isaiah’s commission: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed… But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return…” (Is. 6:10, 13). So when God’s covenant people disobey and break covenant, God sends covenant curses and spiritual blindness on them for the purpose of dividing the faithful from the unfaithful: some are proven to be complete unbelievers who die in their blindness, but there are some who struck with some blindness in order to chastise them, and call them to repentance (e.g. Rev. 3:17-19, Jn. 12:37-43).CONCLUSIONS & APPLICATIONSWhile America is fast joining the post-Christian nations of the West, there is another sense in which covenanted nations do not have the luxury of forgetting their Christian past. They may forget their Christian past, but their Christian past cannot forget them. Or to be more precise, God does not forget covenants made and broken. And we have manifestly fallen under covenantal curses. We have murdered our own children, and while we have not yet stooped to eating them, we most certainly have experimented on them and used their bodies for sorcery (what we call “medical research”) (Dt. 28:53-58). We have been chased by tiny minorities of sexual madmen (Dt. 28:25, 32:30), and we have been struck with terror and diseases (Dt. 32:25, 28:59-61).But it is perilously easy to make light of our sins in the church because they do not seem as bad as the pagans, but that is not at all the same thing as holiness, as godliness and virtue (2 Pet. 1:5-7). It’s said that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, but listen to what it says: “he that lacketh these things is blind” (2 Pet. 1:9). Do you lack any virtue, any temperance, any patience, any brotherly kindness or charity? Those “little sins” of anger, lust, envy, selfishness – they are blindness and near-sightedness. And like the church of Laodicea, we are tempted to make light of them because of how fabulously well-off we are: “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind…?” We think we know what joy is because we have high speed internet, Instagram, and food on demand. But that isn’t joy. Joy is serving the Lord with gladness of heart for all the abundance of things (Dt. 28:47). Joy is holiness.The only way out of this mess is if Jesus gives us eyes to see. “And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (Jn. 9:39-41).Are you blind? Is our land full of the blind? Christ was born so that the blind might see.

THE TEXTAnd now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come, I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”15 So he took up his oracle and said:“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened;16 The utterance of him who hears the words of God,And has the knowledge of the Most High,Who sees the vision of the Almighty,Who falls down, with eyes wide open:17 “I see Him, but not now;I behold Him, but not near;A Star shall come out of Jacob;A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,And batter the brow of Moab,And destroy all the sons of tumult.18 “And Edom shall be a possession;Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession,While Israel does valiantly.19 Out of Jacob One shall have dominion,And destroy the remains of the city.”20 Then he looked on Amalek, and he took up his oracle and said:“Amalek was first among the nations,But shall be last until he perishes.”21 Then he looked on the Kenites, and he took up his oracle and said:“Firm is your dwelling place,And your nest is set in the rock;22 Nevertheless Kain shall be burned.How long until Asshur carries you away captive?”23 Then he took up his oracle and said:“Alas! Who shall live when God does this?24 But ships shall come from the coasts of Cyprus,And they shall afflict Asshur and afflict Eber,And so shall Amalek, until he perishes.”25 So Balaam rose and departed and returned to his place; Balak also went his way (Num. 24:14–25).

God took on human flesh in order to be able to die. He did this so that such a death would be followed by a resurrection in which the identity of Christ would be proclaimed by God to the world. And this is the meaning of Christmas. This is why we celebrate Christmas. When Mary held the Desire of Nations in her arms, she was holding the body that would be broken and would be sacrificed for the life of the world.Listen to the full sermon in this app, 'Fully God & Fully Man.'

The tidings of great joy weren't just that a cute baby had been born. These were glad tidings of a fulfillment of a promise, of covenant mercies being remembered.

We are pointing to things above reason not things that are against reason.Listen to the full sermon here in the app, 'Fully God & Fully Man.'

The point of discipline is to restore fellowship. Hebrews 12 teaches this: The Lord disciplines those whom He loves and chastens those who are His sons. No chastening seems pleasant at the time but painful, yet afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. God disciplines us so that we will share in His holiness. And God’s discipline is the model for our familial discipline. If we understand parental authority rightly, it is only a ministry of God’s authority. Therefore, our task as parents is to accomplish the same goals that God has for His discipline. Discipline claims our children as our own, administers a momentary pain, in order to produce a lasting fruit of joyful obedience and fellowship. Parents generally fail in one of two directions. We may call these two ditches: free-range parenting problems and industrial-Reformed parenting problems. Free-ranging parenting fails to provide teaching, correction, discipline, and does not require obedience of children. Industrial-Reformed parenting treats discipline like a formula of spankings and rules, and while this method may have a short term appearance of obedience, this surface level conformity is not at all the same thing as the lively fruit of fellowship and joyful obedience. Failure to teach, correct, and discipline is a failure to love. “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him” (Prov. 13:24). But the goal is not mere conformity; the goal is joyful obedience and fellowship. And so this means that there must be a center of joyful obedience and fellowship in the home, not sterile machinery. If there is no center of joyful fellowship, then there’s nothing for discipline to bring children back into. What is that center of joyful fellowship? It’s the fellowship of forgiveness. We are the forgiven. We obey joyfully because we’ve been forgiven much. And parents model this obedience when they joyfully discipline their children. Do you want your children to joyfully obey? Then show them how. Show them how in the way that you joyfully correct them.

There’s been a steady march from Darwin down to the present madness that afflicts our nation. As soon as creation, and man in particular, is no longer seen as the handiwork of Almighty God, the slow march to the hell commences. An Atheist not only shakes his fist at God, he severs the spinal cord of his own humanity. To be human is to stand in an office, to be placed in position as a contingent being, made in the image and by the very hand of God. To cut that cord is to descend into madness. And our culture has descended very deep into madness indeed.

INTRODUCTIONIn our denomination, all churches are required to adopt three creeds into their statement of faith. Those three are from the time of the early church, and are the Apostles Creed (2nd century), the Nicene Creed (4th century), and the Definition of Chalcedon (5th century).If all the great figures of history were little pinpricks of light, small twinkling stars, Christ arrived 2,000 years ago as something of a supernova. His life, death, burial and resurrection transformed everything, and those who accepted the reality of that manifestation of divine grace still had to grapple (and grapple for centuries) on how to talk about it. The basic outlines of the gospel story were set down in the Apostles Creed, but there were still questions. By the 4th century, the Church rightly insisted on the full deity of Jesus Christ (as well as His full humanity). But that created another question—what was the relationship of this deity to this humanity, and so that was addressed by Chalcedon.This is why we recite the Definition of Chalcedon during Advent, and this Advent season I am going to be showing the scriptural case for certain elements of this Creed, as well as the importance of those elements. Today we are going to consider the crucial doctrine of the virgin birth— “as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin” (Chalcedon).THE TEXT“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14)“But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS” (Matthew 1:20–25).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTIn the passage from Isaiah, the word rendered as virgin is almah, which can mean either virgin or young woman. And in Isaiah’s case, with regard to its immediate fulfillment, the sign that he was offering to King Ahaz was a sign that involved a young woman and her young child, not a virgin. More than a few have pointed at this and said that it shows that the Christian insistence on a virgin birth for Christ is simply a pious superstition. But there was a double fulfillment involved, as Matthew shows us.Joseph was betrothed to Mary and he was troubled about what to do. When she turned up pregnant, he knew as well as we do that this could not have happened unless Mary had been unfaithful to him. And yet, because Joseph was a righteous man, he was trying to figure out how to divorce her without humiliating her (Matt. 1:19). While he was mulling all this over, the angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and calls him a son of David. He also told him of Mary’s innocence by assuring him that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit (v. 20). The child was going to be a boy, and His name would be Jesus because He was going to save His people from their sins (v. 21). We are then told that this was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy above (v. 22), but this passage was written in Greek, not Hebrew. Here the word virgin is the translation of parthenos, which means virgin, only virgin, and nothing but virgin. The result of this remarkable conception and birth was Immanuel, which means God with us (v. 23). That God with us there is the center of centuries of theological reflection and debate. When Joseph woke up, he obeyed the angel and took Mary as his wife—although he did not have relations with her until after Jesus was born (v. 25).THE VIRGIN BIRTH OR THE VIRGIN MARY?We know from elsewhere in Scripture that Joseph and Mary had at least six other children (Matt. 13:55-56). Although they did not believe in Jesus initially (John 7:5), two of the brothers went on to write books of the Bible (James and Jude). In fact, James is mentioned as one of the witnesses of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:7). This means that for faithful Protestants, the confessional issue is the virgin birth. We do not hold to what is called the perpetual virginity of Mary, an understanding that makes his brothers and sisters into cousins or such like. But while we hold to the virgin birth simply, it is only fair to note that some of the Reformers did hold to Mary’s perpetual virginity (e.g. Luther, Calvin). But you will notice that in the Apostles’ Creed, as we recite it, there is a comma between Virgin and Mary.BUT WHY A VIRGIN BIRTH?In order to die for us wayward sheep, the Lord had to be two things. He needed to be a true Lamb, because the sacrifice needed to be one of us. But the problem is that if He were one of us, would He not be corrupted also, like we all are? The Lamb had to be one of our number, and yet the Lamb needed also to be spotless. This will likely come up later, but Gregory of Nazianzus said this” “For that which He has not assumed He has not healed.” But how could He assume human nature, which needed to be redeemed, without being contaminated by the state of the nature which needed to be redeemed.We do not know precisely how, but it appears that the covenantal guilt for Adam’s sin descends to us all through our human fathers. And this is how God arranged our salvation, through a true man, but one who had no human father—“at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man.” Apart from a virgin birth, this would not be possible.“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4, NKJV). And why? So that you might redeemed from the curse of the law.

INTRODUCTIONWe understand that there is no such thing as a healthy Christian community without a large number of healthy Christian families. Just as you cannot have a good omelet without good eggs, so also it is impossible to have a cheerful town, or church, or community, when all the households are just little oases of misery.THE TEXT“Trust in the Lord, and do good; So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth” (Psalm 37:3–9).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTAt the beginning of our passage, we are told (simply) to trust God and to do good (v. 3). The consequence of this is that you will dwell in the land and you will be nourished (v. 3). When you delight in the Lord, your desires are thereby calibrated (v. 4). Not only are they calibrated, but they are also granted. This is why Augustine could say something like “love God and do as you please.” The future is a big unknown, and God is the only one who holds it in the palm of His hand. That is why we must commit our plans to Him (v. 5), and He will bring it to pass. He is the one who will make your righteousness and your judgment shine like the midday sun (v. 6). Rest in the Lord, and rest in His timeline (v. 7). The wicked can seem like they are getting ahead because of how they cut corners, pursuing a “quick growth” prosperity. Don’t get worked up about it (v. 8). This is because God will cut off the evildoers, and those who wait upon the Lord will be the ones who inherit the earth (v. 9).CONFESSION IN THE FAMILYWhen we tolerate or nurture unconfessed sin in our lives, this makes it impossible for us to delight in the Lord. When we are disobedient, God’s hand is on us for chastisement (Heb. 12:11; Ps. 32:4), and God does know how to spank. But if we walk in the light as He is the light, we have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7). And in order to clear the way so that we can walk in the light, it is necessary for us to confess the ways we have walked in accord with darkness (1 John 1:8-10).This is an illustration I use in my premarital counseling, and because I am not tired of using it, I am going to bring it in here. Imagine two houses, side by side. Five kids in each one, husbands work at the same company, they attend the same church, the wives are good friends, and they drive the same kind of van. The only difference you can see between the two homes is that one is immaculate and the other one is blitzed. But this difference is not created by how many breakfast bowls are used, or how many t-shirts are put on in the morning, or how many shoes are put on in the morning. That is all the same. The difference lies in when things are cleaned, picked up, and put away. That is where the difference is.Now far too many conservative Christian evangelical households are (spiritually speaking) something like the closets at the crazy cat lady’s house.COVENANT IN THE FAMILYWe live in the midst of covenant realities, and covenants are larger than the sum of their parts. Covenant realities are realities, which is another way of saying that your family is a thing in the world. It is not simply a “living arrangement.”We as Christians are members of the new covenant, of course, as the prophet Jeremiah predicted (Jer. 31: 33ff). The Church is a covenant reality. But we are a covenant reality all the way down. Marriages are what they are by covenant. The faithless wife in Proverbs was faithless because she forgot the covenant of her God (Prov. 2:17). The faithless husbands in Malachi were faithless because they had dealt treacherously with the wives of their covenant (Mal. 2:14).What is needed in many households is an understood structure for your obedience. Your family’s last name is a thing, a covenantal thing, an entity. And because it is an institution created by God, He is the one who writes the by-laws. He is the one who assigns the various offices, and He is one who gives us our respective duties.FRUITFUL HONORDo you want to dwell in the land? Do you want to inherit the earth (Ps. 37:11)? What is the first commandment with a promise then? “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth” (Eph. 6:1–3). This required honor takes two forms. The first is the obedience that children should render to their parents. The second is the financial support that grown children must render to their parents: “But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye” (Mark 7:11–13).WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CALL SOMETHING CHRISTIAN?Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity, and is therefore omnipresent. He is everywhere present. But He is not present everywhere covenantally. And so what do we mean when we say something—like our household—is Christian? We should mean that Christ is present, and present covenantally.“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).Is your home a Christian one? Have times of refreshing arrived there from the presence of the Lord?

The multiplication of local churches, and many of them, is part of God’s plan. As J.I. Packer once put it, every local congregation is “called to fulfill the role of being a microcosm of the church as a whole.”And so as you look around this morning, see the one church of Christ in this room. And when you drive home past other faithful churches in our town, and as you consider all of God’s people in our nation and throughout the world—see the church of Christ, one Body, united in Him.

The reason we do well to celebrate such days as Reformation Day is that we’re commanded to remember to our children such deliverances of our God. We honor our earthly fathers because God our Father used them to bring about a great deliverance.

We should want to fill the world with a forest of good and faithful trees. Fully expecting that we and our institutions will all fall and rot in the process. All our pirate ships will sink, all of them. May they sink faithfully in battle.You can listen to all Grace Agenda 2021 messages here on the app.

Your loyalty has to be one place, and one place only.Listen to the full message, 'The Gospel of Winning,' here on the app.

God delights to bestow glory on His children. But it is not the glory we think we want.

Enjoy message 2 of 5 from GA2021 Men's Pre-Conference Seminar in Moscow, ID.The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

INTRODUCTIONFreedom is a thoroughly Christian principle. The ancient pagan world knew nothing of true freedom, and despite secular humanism’s attempts at claiming it, there is no other liberty apart from the living God. Christian liberty is grounded in freedom to worship the Triune God, and when our hearts are turned to Him, we are set free from all bondage and set free to serve.THE TEXTS“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery… For you were called to freedom brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:1, 13-14).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTIn context, Paul is warning the Galatians against Judaizing, that is, adding Jewish ceremonial laws to Christ perhaps as an attempt to feel more secure, perhaps as an attempt to avoid persecution from zealous Jews (Gal. 5:2-11, cf. Gal. 1:4-9). But every form of legalism is a crushing yoke of slavery, and to return to Egypt is to sin against Christ who set us free (Gal. 5:1). The mentality of slavery is simple: just do as you’re told, but true freedom brings responsibility (Gal. 5:13). This means that true liberty is directed by God’s law of love (Gal. 3:14).FREEDOM FOR WORSHIPIn the Exodus story, one of the fundamental lessons we learn there that freedom is for worship: “Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness” (Ex. 5:1, cf. 10:25). But Pharaoh instinctively knew that if Israel was set free to worship God, they would never be slaves again. True worship of the living God sets the captives free. This certainly begins as moral and spiritual freedom with regeneration (and hearts that can’t stop singing), but freedom from sin teaches men to think like free men. This begins with personal responsibility (confession of sin and forgiveness) and flows out to covenantal responsibility in the spheres of authority assigned to us by the Lord Jesus: family, church, and state.When they are healthy, all three spheres mutually check and enforce one another, but throughout Scripture worship is the tip of the spear: Abraham built altars throughout the land of Canaan, the priests blew trumpets and carried the ark around Jericho, the choir went out in front of the army under Jehoshaphat, and Jesus sent us out into the world to preach and baptize and celebrate the Lord’s Supper as the vanguard of the Kingdom. Daniel shows us the centrality of free worship both in the refusal of the three friends to bow down to the statue (Dan. 3) and in Daniel’s resolute prayer despite the king’s decree (Dan. 6). Christians are free from every decree of man that would require idolatry or prohibit the worship of the living God. While there is freedom in some of the particulars of when and where worship is conducted, Christians must be zealous for freedom to worship because Christ is worthy and because all of our other freedoms flow from there. When you think about preserving freedom, first think about worshipping the King who grants all freedom.FREED TO SERVEThis freedom that Christ gives is for serving one another in love, and that love is measured by the second greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself (Gal. 5:13-14). But Christians must not be simplistic or naïve in this. Remember first of all the gospel: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 Jn. 4:10-11). God did not love us in the way that we thought He should; He loved us in the way that we actually needed. And we must love one another like that. This is truly serving one another in love: doing what is needed for long term physical and spiritual health, blessing, and success.How does Scripture teach us to love like Christ? It says husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies, like Christ has loved the church and gave Himself up for her, providing for them and protecting them (Eph. 5:22-33), and fathers are to provide for and raise their children in the nurture and admonition of Jesus (Eph. 6:1-4). This includes the duty to care for the health, safety, medical decisions, welfare, and education of all in the family. Failure to do so is functional apostasy and worse than a run of the mill pagan (1 Tim. 5:8). This spiritual and religious duty to care for your family is why Christ set you free. This is what your Christian freedom is for. And you are under orders not to relinquish this freedom. Wise men will need to consider various tactical courses to protect this freedom but protect it we must.CONCLUSIONSOne of the ways our freedom is under attack is through well-meaning appeals from other Christians that we need to be willing to lay our freedoms down for the sake of the gospel. Don’t be selfish! This is one of those half-truths that can sound more godly than it actually is. The half truth is: do not use your freedom for the flesh, to serve yourself, to serve your lusts, to bite and devour one another (Gal. 5:13-15). Don’t use your freedom to act like Egyptians. But keep the image of the Exodus firmly in mind. Christian liberty is fundamentally freedom from Egypt (sin, death, the Devil) and freedom to love our people in obedience to Christ. Therefore, no Christian is free to go back to Egypt. Lay our freedom down? That’s like saying lay your obedience down, lay your duty down, lay your family down. God forbid. Christ has set us free.For another example, when drag queen story hour first burst on the scene in all of its lugubrious shame, some of our most prominent conservative, even “Reformed” leaders told us that this was merely the price of “freedom” in a country like ours. If we want to continue to have the freedom of speech, the freedom to express our religious convictions then we have to make room for gaudy perverts. Notice the hidden unbiblical assumption here is that “freedom” is merely power of choice. But that is like saying that in order to be a truly free country you must allow for the option of slavery. Not hardly. True freedom is walking in the light of Christ, walking in the relief of forgiveness of all our sins. No, the price of freedom was paid by Jesus on the cross, and He died to set us free from all that darkness. And loving your neighbor means doing all in your power to share that freedom with them.

Part of growing in Christian wisdom and grace is learning the divine art of not caring. A great deal of folly and destruction results from caring about all the wrong things and in the process, completely missing the most important things that you should care about.

INTRODUCTIONThe entire sacrificial system of the Old Covenant pictures the many facets of our sin and God’s promise of forgiveness and cleansing, but the Sin Offering is perhaps the sacrifice that underlines this point the clearest. And perhaps what many Christians miss is the fact that God cannot dwell with a people who are forgiven and clean. The holiness of God burns against all evil and sin, and when sin accumulates in a land, so does His wrath, unless justice is done.THE TEXT“Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the sons of Israel saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them…” (Lev. 4:1-35).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe Sin Offering is presented for anyone who sins unintentionally in anything that God has commanded must not be done (4:2). The Sin Offering is presented for four scenarios: the anointed priest (4:3-12), the whole congregation (4:13-21), a tribal leader (4:22-26), and any other Israelite (4:27-35). The Sin Offering reminds us of elements of the Ascension and Peace Offerings: the worshiper brings the animal to the door of the tabernacle, he lays his hand on the head of the animal and kills it, and the fat of the entrails is put on the altar and goes up in smoke to the Lord (4:4, 8-10, 15, 24, 26, 29, 31, 33, 35). However, there are two unique elements of this offering: first, the sprinkling of blood in the Holy Place for the High Priest and congregation and putting blood on the horns of the altar (4:6-7, 16-18, 25, 30, 34), and second, when the Sin Offering blood is brought inside the Holy Place, they are to burn the hide, the flesh, and the head and legs outside the camp (4:11-12, 21, cf. 6:24-30).UNINTENTIONAL SINThe word used to describe “unintentional” sin is used elsewhere to describe the difference between this and “defiant” or “high-handed” or “presumptuous” sin (Num. 15:27-31). A famous example of this is when Israel goes up to fight the Amalekites in the Promised Land after the 10 spies bring back the bad report. Israel was warned not to go, but they went up anyway and were defeated (Num. 14:40-45, Dt. 1:41-44). A similar contrast is at work in descriptions of accidental murder versus premeditated (Num. 35:9-34). But there seems to be a sense in which all sin is considered “unintentional” if the perpetrator ultimately repents. “… even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief… It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:13, 15).MAKE ATONEMENTWhat the Sin Offering teaches is that sin not only brings guilt, but it also pollutes the land and the tabernacle (Lev. 15:31, Num. 19:13). On the Day of Atonement, once a year, the High Priest sprinkled blood from a Sin Offering inside the curtain on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant to cleanse the sins of the people (Lev. 16:15-19, 30, cf. 14:52, 1 Jn. 1:7). Therefore, the blood of the Sin Offering sprinkled in the Holy Place and wiped on the horns of the altar is for cleansing. “Atonement” literally means “covering.” In the New Testament, the Greek equivalent is often translated “propitiation,” which means turning away wrath (Rom. 3:25, Heb. 2:17, 1 Jn. 2:2, 4:10). The wages of sin is death, but sin also defiles. We need to be forgiven and cleansed. And atonement does both. Because of the holiness of God in the midst of His people, their sin collects on Him and His tent. So that is what must be cleansed. All of this foreshadows when God sent His only Son to “tabernacle” among us (Jn. 1:14) to take our sin judicially upon Himself and to bleed and die to make us (and our land) clean. We are the unclean ones, and it should be our blood, but the Clean One bled to make us clean.CONCLUSION: GO TO HIM OUTSIDE THE CAMPHebrews describes the Sin Offering for the congregation: “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb. 13:11-13). To follow Jesus is to be reckoned unclean by the world, but it is the only way to be truly clean in the sight of God.“What the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Rom. 8:3-4). The blood of bulls and goats could not actually take away sin, but that blood was a promise of the blood of Christ which was to come. That Sin Offering makes us bold. There is now no condemnation.

Enjoy message 2 of 6 from Grace Agenda 2021 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy message 3 of 6 from Grace Agenda 2021 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy message 1 of 6 from Grace Agenda 2021 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

INTRODUCTIONLeviticus 3 introduces the Peace Offering which was established by God to proclaim His intention of renewing fellowship with sinful humanity. But this fellowship with God does not merely re-establish fellowship vertically with Him, it is the only basis for re-establishing horizontal fellowship and peace on earth.THE TEXT“Now if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he is going to offer out of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before the Lord…” (Lev. 3)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTA Peace Offering may be a male or female animal without blemish, but the portion that goes on the altar is the fat of the entrails, the two kidneys, and the fat around the liver (3:1-4). Like the Ascension Offering, the worshiper draws near to the door of the tabernacle, lays his hand on the head of the animal, and slaughters the animal himself (3:2). The priest sprinkles the blood around the altar (3:2), and the priest puts the fatty parts on the altar for a soothing aroma to the Lord (3:5). The same is true for a male or female lamb (3:7-11). And the same is true for a goat (3:12-16). The instructions conclude with prohibitions against eating blood and fat (3:17).THE PEACE OFFERINGOne question that might occur to you is: What happens to the rest of the animal in the Peace Offering? We aren’t told here in our text, but it comes out later that the rest of the animal is to be eaten. A couple of portions go to the priests (Lev. 7:11-18, 31-36), and the rest the worshiper was to eat there at the tabernacle: “There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you… And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you” (Dt. 12:7, 12). In our text, the clue to this is the fact that this offering is specifically called “bread” or “food” on the altar of the Lord (Lev. 3:11, 16). So the Peace Offering is a fellowship meal, in which God eats a portion, and His people eat with Him in His presence. In this way, it is right to think of the bronze altar as God’s table.In some respects the Passover was a special Peace Offering. A lamb was killed, the blood was put on the houses of Israel, and they at the Passover lamb (Ex. 12). When God made covenant with Israel at Sinai, we also see peace offerings be offered (Ex. 24:5), and the 70 elders go up the mountain to the God of Israel: “they beheld God, and ate and drank” (Ex. 24:11).FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD & MANChristian fellowship is always triangulated. There is no human relationship that God is absent from. In fact, the Bible teaches that peace with those on earth is directly connected to peace with God in heaven. When the angels announced the birth of Christ, that God had drawn near, their song was “peace on earth” (Mt. 2:14). The only way to deeper fellowship in any human relationship must include deeper fellowship with God. As we have seen, the sacrifices themselves teach that the way to draw near to God is through being cut and burned. This is fundamentally done by God’s Word (Heb. 4:12). What keeps us away from God is sin, and sin is what prevents human peace and fellowship. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (Js. 4:8). How do you draw near to God? Cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, confess your sins.John connects the same things: He wrote his letter so that we might have fellowship with him and the other apostles, but that fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 1:3). God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all; so if we have say we have fellowship with Him but walk in darkness, we are liars and do not practice the truth (1 Jn. 1:5-6). If we are tripping over our various human relationships, we are lying about how things are going with God. If you keep finding yourself saying things like, “I just don’t understand why he/she…” then you are walking in the dark. If all your bumps and bruises are mysterious, you’re probably walking in the dark. But if we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:7). We have fellowship with one another through the blood of Jesus. God’s light is always shining, but sin blacks-out our windshield and everything goes dark. When we confess our sins, God forgives us and washes our windshield from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9). Forgiveness is the other side of this transaction on the human level. We forgive for the sake of the blood of Christ. Forgiveness does not pretend the sin away. Confession asks to be released from the debt because Christ paid it, and forgiveness promises to do so. Forgiveness is a promise, not a feeling.CONCLUSION: FELLOWSHIP & FEASTINGIt is no accident that we celebrate a symbolic meal together every Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Supper is our Peace Offering, where we celebrate peace with God and one another. Of course, on the one hand, do not bring grievances, bitterness, or divisions to this Table. This is what Paul means by “discerning the body” and eating and drinking “in an unworthy manner” (1 Cor. 11:27-29). The Corinthians had divisions among them, some were eating and drinking while others were not, and some were getting drunk. Discerning the body and eating in a worthy manner means making sure grievances are confessed and forgiven, waiting for one another, and making sure everyone is served. We want to make sure that our celebration of peace is honest and sincere.But this is a pattern for all of life. Every meal we celebrate together is either true fellowship or not. We are either celebrating Christian peace or hypocrisy. If it’s real peace and fellowship, Christ is in it, and you want more of it. You love your times around the table together. You can’t wait for dinner, for the next meal when you can tell everyone what happened. But if Christ is not in it, there’s nothing holding it together. It’s purely utilitarian.We are not under the ceremonial law of the Old Covenant, but one of the broader lessons of the ceremonial law is that details matter. Manners are love in the little things. When you wait for one another to eat, when you pass the food graciously, when you speak cheerfully and politely, when you practice good manners, you are practicing peace and fellowship and harmony. Be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another just God in Christ has forgiven you (Eph. 4:32). Christ is our peace.

INTRODUCTIONSo we have now come to the conclusion of the second consolation section in the prophecy of Micah. As we continue to work through this passage, notice again that deliverances are hard. To be saved through trials is not the same kind of thing as an afternoon at the park.THE TEXT“And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: Who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver . . .” (Micah 5:7–15).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTAs Calvin points out, there are two great things promised here. The first is God will defend His Church apart from the help of men, and second, that the Church will grow to surpass all her enemies. The first thing to note is that the people of God will be very much like a grassy meadow drenched in dew (v. 7). This is grass that just grows, and does not require cultivation (v. 7). It will be dew from Jehovah. God will empower His people, and they will be like a lion in the midst of a flock of sheep (v. 8). The enemies of God will be cut off (v. 9). Then comes a curious comment. God will cut His people off, taking away their horses, chariots, cities, and strongholds (vv. 10-11). They would not be delivered by their own might. In addition, God will purify His people, granting them repentance. He will take away their witchcraft and soothsaying (v. 12), their graven images (v. 13), and their groves (v. 14). This then will culminate in God’s summary dispatching of the heathen.TWO KINDS OF IDOLSIdolatry occurs whenever we place any created thing in the place of our Creator. This can be done surreptitiously, in the realm of heart motives, but with the object of this false worship being innocent in itself. But idolatry can also be something gross and explicit, as when men carve or paint objects to facilitate devotion, veneration, or worship.We can see the first kind implied in various places of the New Testament. For example, Paul tells the Colossians that covetousness is idolatry (Col. 3:5). If you are looking over a catalog with a heart filled with avarice, then you are an idolater. But the catalog might be filled with items that are perfectly innocent. In this vein, a man might make an idol out of his job, or his family, or his church. When this happens, repentance is a heart matter. He doesn’t have to quit his job, or leave his family, or burn down his church.This is not the same response that is required with explicit idolatry. In this case, repentance looks like a demolition of the idol itself, and a removal of the pieces.TWO KINDS OF IDOLS IN OUR TEXTThis is an important thing to mention because we have this distinction in our passage this morning. What does God remove from His people first? He removes horses, and chariots, cities, and strongholds. None of these things are sinful in themselves. But if God had not removed them, He knew that Israel might be tempted to glory in victory, as though they had accomplished it all by themselves. God sometimes removes instruments and means when we start to think that we are in charge of our own blessings. But we are not. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: But we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).But God does not just deliver His people apart from visible means, He is also gracious enough to cleanse and restore His people. When He determines to grant reformation and revival what will He do? He will take away the witchcraft, and the fortunetellers, and the idols, and the groves that sanctify them.OUR REPENTANCE, HIS GIFTIt is absolutely true that we must repent of our sins, and we must believe in God. This is something we do. But it is also something we are enabled to do because it comes to us as a gift from God. If God does not give this gift, we cannot obtain it.“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).“Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).“Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old” (Lamentations 5:21).THE LAST AND ONLY AMERICAN HOPEWe come then, to the sharp point of application. We cannot fully understand the intersection between God’s absolute sovereignty and man’s complete and foundational responsibility. But we can know this. If we are guilty of wickedness, we are guilty as true moral agents. We are not puppets. We are not automata. We are not moist robots.At the same time, if we have sinned our way into spiritual prison, we do not hold the key to that prison. The only one who can grant the repentance that will make the doors swing outward, gloriously outward, is the God of Heaven. If we are dead, we cannot raise ourselves. If we are slaves, we cannot free ourselves. The only thing we can do is cry out to the Lord.And that means that if our nation does not repent, it is not because we have successfully gotten away from God. We have not outrun Him. No creature is ever out of His range. If we do not repent, then that is because God decided that we would not, and has determined to make us an object lesson. “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Romans 9:22)?And if God restores us, it will be the result of Him determining to grant us times of refreshing. The church will be restored, lush and luxuriant, a mountain meadow filled with grass—a meadow that nobody planted, that nobody watered, that nobody tended. It will be the result of a dew from Jehovah.

Why do Christians lose? Why do God's people lose battles when our God is infinitely stronger than the gods of all of our enemies?

THE TEXT“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.“And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you (John 15:18–16:4).

Just like there are different tools for different jobs, there are different ways of speech for different conversations. For one person, you might need to use a rhetorical chainsaw to chop them down a peg, but often for others a rhetorical bandage is required to heal their gaping wounds. And it takes wisdom to know which tool to use.But notice that regardless of the tool, St Paul says our speech is always to be gracious. Even the strongest rebuke should come from a heart that loves the person we are interacting with.Because the evangelical church today is currently stuck in the “nice" ditch, our temptation here as we seek to be faithful will be to overcorrect and become harsh, uncaring, unloving, and lacking grace toward unbelievers.

The consolation section of the second cycle is long, encompassing two whole chapters—chapters four and five. We will therefore be working through this section over the course of a few weeks.Remember that Micah was a younger contemporary of Isaiah, and was probably his disciple or protégé. His dependence on Isaiah can be seen in our text this morning, in the passage about beating swords into plowshares.THE TEXT“But in the last days it shall come to pass, That the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; And people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; And he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; And none shall make them afraid: For the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever” (Micah 4:1–5).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTSo what will happen in the “last days”? We come now to a word of consolation for the faithful. All the warnings and judgments will fall upon Israel and Judah, but what should the faithful Jews cling to? After all the judgments, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established, above the hills, and people will flow there (v. 1). Many nations will stream to the mountain of the Lord, and they will encourage one another to do so. Let us go there, and learn obedience (v. 2). The elevation of Zion is a figure of speech indicating that the throne of the God of Jacob will be established there. Jehovah will rule, judging many people, governing strong nations, and they will not learn war anymore (v. 3). They will beat their swords into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks (v. 3). No longer will a man lock his house at night, and no longer will men have to lock their cars (v. 4). Men can sit under their own vines and fig trees without fear of danger. The mouth of God has spoken it (v. 4). The next verse looks back over the whole process of this happening. It will not happen all at once—there will be a time when the nations will continue to walk in the names of their gods, but the faithful will walk in the name of their Lord and God forever and ever (v. 5).FULFILLMENT IN THE CHRISTWe know that this consolation is fulfilled in and through the Messiah because later in this section we find the prophecy that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2).We can also ascertain this by comparing Micah with his mentor Isaiah. Our text this morning is basically a verbatim citation from Isaiah 2: 2-4. But what will happen according to Isaiah in these last days, and when are these last days? In Romans, Paul defends his mission to the Gentiles by citing a battery of Old Testament passages (Rom. 15:9-12), the last of which is Isaiah 11:10.But the verse just before it (Is. 11:9) says that the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And then what?“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; To it shall the Gentiles seek: And his rest shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10).In that day, the day when the earth is filling up with the knowledge of the Lord, Paul will be defending his mission to the Gentiles.CONSOLATION FOR THE FAITHFULGod always reserves a remnant for Himself, and when they are done listening to Micah’s fulminations, they might be quite dismayed. And so Micah turns to reassure them that it all has a point—all the drama of the Old Testament era, all these judgments, and the vast expanse of blue ruination have a telos. God is up to something, and what He is up to is the coming of the Christ.HOW IT ENDS, HOW IT GOESThose who love God and His law want Him to come down in one fell swoop, and start taking names.“Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence” (Isaiah 64:1).We look at the high impudence of man, and we know how insolent it is, and so we are often exasperated with how patient God is. And so God reminds us that His sovereignty extends over more than just ethics. He is the sovereign of time and of history. He tells us not to steal and commit adultery, but He also tells us to wait patiently as He defers judgment.He defers judgment in His mercy. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8–9). Where would you have been if God had listened to all the saints and ended the world two years before your conversion?As this is developing, the peoples will walk in the name of their gods (v. 5). Let them. The time is coming when they will be jostling each other to get to the mountain of the Lord (v. 2). They will be taught, and will walk in obedience (v. 2), and they will be obedient to the point where the nations will study war no more (v. 3). God has said it (v. 4).THE MOUTH OF THE LORD OF HOSTS HAS SPOKENJehovah has spoken it. This is going to come to pass. But when Yahweh speaks, what does He say? What is the Word of God? The gospel answer is that Christ is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). That Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).The spoken Word that conquers everything is Christ. Christ is the crucified Word, and He is the buried Word. He is the Word that rose from the dead, and who sits at the right hand of the one who speaks a new world into existence. And as He speaks, that new creation takes shape. But only in Him, only in Christ.

In the midst of great civil unrest and tumult in England in the 1600s, Jeremiah Burroughs preached a sermon series on Christian Contentment, which is now published as The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. When your nation is melting down, when the world has gone mad, or even when your family or business are facing challenges, what do Christians need? One of the most important skills you need is Christian contentment. Christian contentment is not apathy or stoicism; it is the Christian virtue that puts you in the very best possible position to do your duty and maximize the good you can do in the world.THE TEXT“… for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strentheneth me” (Phil. 4:11-13).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTWhile our text includes one of the most famous Christian calendar verses, we should note that it is not a random “you can do it” verse. It comes in this particular context, where Paul is describing how he has learned contentment in every circumstance (Phil. 4:11). In particular, this strength that Christ gives grows directly out of learning contentment in little and in much, whether full or going hungry, whether abounding or suffering (Phil. 4:12). The word for “content” literally means “self-sufficient” or “self-defense.” The root verb can mean to raise a barrier or to ward off or avail, and the prefix simply means “for oneself.” Clearly Paul does not mean this in a humanistic or egocentric way, as Christ is the one doing the strengthening. But the Christian faith does not teach that we sit around while God works in us. As Paul said earlier in Philippians, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling because God is at work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13). And what is one of the most fundamental motions of that work? Contentment.CONTENTMENT AS READINESS FOR CONQUESTWe may define contentment as a steady, quiet, and submissive heart that delights in God’s fatherly disposal of every circumstance. We know from many places in Scripture that the godly also plead with God, wrestle with God, and lay their petitions before Him (e.g. Psalms, Phil. 4:6). But all our pleas, laments, and petitions must be matched with an earnest and joyful “but Thy will be done.” If Christ prayed those words in the garden before His arrest (Mt. 26:42), how much more must we? And the thing to note is the fact Jesus was praying this on the verge of His great mission. It was His willingness to submit to God’s plan that put Him in position to do His duty and accomplish the maximum good for the world. Fussing, complaining, moping, fretting, cursing, anger, and bitterness only complicate the mission, and render you less prepared for what comes next. Rather than facing the problem, you are part of the problem.“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:5-6, cf. Ps. 118:6). First, notice that this exhortation comes right on the heels of exhortations to hospitality and sexual purity (Heb. 13:1-4). These are common places for people to give in to temptations to discontentment: houses, food, clothing, furniture, decorations, marriage, physical appearance, sex, etc. God created us to be fruitful, multiply, and take dominion of the world, and this means receiving what God has given and then making it better. But you cannot make it better if you do not receive what has actually been given with joy and gratitude. You have to see the “good” before you can make it “very good.” Bitterness and fussing puts you in the best possible position to miss things, confuse things, and harm things. Think this way about your spouse and kids and parents, and work out from there.CONTENT LIKE JOSHUA & DAVIDThere are two Old Testament passages quoted Hebrews 13:5-6. The first is from Joshua 1:5 on the verge of the conquest of Canaan, when God assures Joshua that He will be with him as He was with Moses. Hebrews was written in the context of significant upheaval, and there was great temptation among Christians to go back to Judaism as a way to try to hide, blend in, or cope with all the turmoil. But going back to Judaism was the way of destruction; it was like going back to Egypt. The Christians in the first century (and every century) are called to press on toward the goal of discipling the nations. Every generation fights from the ground we have been given, but the key is Jesus will never leave us or forsake us (cf. Mt. 28:20). And if Christ is with us, then we can face all things through Him who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13).The other texted quoted in Hebrews 13 is from Psalm 118, which is a triumphant war song, and it was the particular psalm quoted and sung by the people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” This is the heart of Christian contentment. It is a rock-solid trust in the living God. The psalmist goes on: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them… The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation… The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly… The stone which the builders rejected is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. The is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it…”CONCLUSIONSHave all the nations surrounded us with mindless mandates and psychotic lockdowns and sexual confusion and baby bloodlust and economic insanity and global conspiracies? The Lord is on our side; we will not fear: what can man do to us? All nations surround us, but in the name of the Lord we will destroy them. The Lord is our strength and song, and He is our salvation.Paul says that contentment is something he learned. It was something he trained for, practiced, and perfected. But this was not just some stoic virtue, it was training for battle, training for conquest. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6). And this is because our contentment is Christ. When we work out our salvation, all that we are working out is Christ, and He is what God is working in us. He is our peace, our shield and tower – the One who strengthens us for every moment. Fear and frustration distort your vision because all you can see is the enemy, but contentment steels your heart for battle because Christ is our contentment.

THE TEXT“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But theHelper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ forMy Father is greater than I.“And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here (John 14:15-31).

One of the reasons we have trouble dealing realistically with evil in this world is that we have drawn mental cartoons of the evil beforehand. When someone says “tyranny,” we think of goose-stepping armies, missile parades, and funny looking helmets. But then, when something genuinely bad happens in our own lives, and we see it with our own eyes, because it doesn’t match the cartoon we treat it as an anomaly, a one-off occurrence... a thing we don’t have a category for. But we need to have a category for something this common.I am a child of the Cold War, and my first glimpse of an actual communist country taught me this lesson. The lesson should be “don’t fight the caricature—fight the real thing.” In the early seventies the submarine I was on was pulling into Guantanamo Bay, and when I came topside I was astonished and taken aback because this commie land was emerald green. Bright green. But all my childhood images of communist countries resembled something like a grainy black and white newspaper photo of Budapest in the rain.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

The solution to the enchantment of "the inner ring" is a robust sense of membership, which is exactly what is offered to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?”Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times

The suffering of God’s people is not always correlated to their unfaithfulness toward Him. The afflictions we experience do not necessarily tell us that we are sinning in some way.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Lk. 12:32Our attitude toward the future reveals, as few others things do, our actual doctrine of God, our actual theology. It is perilously to have our catechism truths down pat, there on the paper, but then to have the slightest threat or disturbance or turmoil or ominous cloud unsettle everything for us. We can’t sleep, it wrecks our appetite, and so our worries creep into all our conversations. This is a sin, and we must learn how to mortify it.

Preacher: Ben ZornesTrue repentance can be described as grace restoring nature. We are fallen, but by grace God is restoring us–both male and female–to His created design. So whether it be the sins of men or the sins of women, grace is not only the washing of those sins away, but it is also the restoration of us as male and female to God’s purpose for us as male and female.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: The Prophecy of Micah #1The worst it gets the harder it is to see what’s going on. Our culture is standing on the lip of an abyss and we don’t know where we are.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: The Prophecy of Micah #1Loving your nation is not inconsistent with pointing out that your nation deserves the judgment of God.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: Permit the ChildrenIt's the responsibility of our elders to guard the purity of the Word and the integrity of the sacraments.

Preacher: Aaron VenturaText: Acts 19:21–41

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Micah 6:8Micah was a younger contemporary to the prophet Isaiah, and he ministered across the reigns of Jotham (c. 740 B.C.) and Hezekiah of Judah (who died in 687 B.C.). Other contemporaries would be Amos and Hosea, which accounts for the similar themes of those prophets—they were all confronting the same kinds of cultural problems. The two great issues were idolatry and social injustice. The name Micah is a shortened form of a name that means “who is like YHWH?”

Preacher: Shawn PatersonDo not shy away from exhorting one another, speaking the truth in love. And be receptive to the admonishment and encouragement of a brother or sister, as we all together walk this ancient path to that same Celestial City.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: Permit the Children

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: Permit the ChildrenWe want to have a place where evangelical fire burns hot. But we want all the coals to be burning, including the little ones.

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: Luke 8:19–21We continue our series on Christian maturity and the pursuit of excellence, and we turn to what the Bible teaches about political maturity. In the midst of the mud-slinging of much political discourse, it can be easy to lose sight of basic Biblical principles, much less, long term goals. Apathy, perfectionism, and compromise are all enemies of political maturity. Central to mature thinking, planning, and acting politically is understanding the Lordship of Christ over all, and the different jurisdictions he has assigned to different authorities.

Preacher: Ben ZornesPride wears a thousand faces. But regardless of which face it wears, it is an affront to God. The birthmark of pride is defiance. Defiance of who God is and what God has said. Pride won’t acknowledge that God is Most High, nor will it heed what God tells us about ourselves.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: Permit the ChildrenIf you are concerned about your child being baptized because you are not absolutely sure he is truly converted, think of it this way. We were not sure that you were truly converted, and we let you in. Your task as a Christian parent is not to sow doubts in your children. Your task is to teach them to believe.

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: Hebrews 12:18–29There is a stark difference between childlike faith and childish folly. “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15). “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:3). Likewise, there is a massive difference between the high-octane praise of nursing infants (Ps. 8:2) and infantile vain repetitions (Mt. 6:7). And the difference is between hope and despair. Childlike faith and praise is rooted in the greatness and goodness of God, but folly and infantilism despair of growing up into any greatness and goodness and settle for momentary gimmicks and games and emotional highs.As we consider Christian maturity, we really have to begin at the center all human endeavor, which is worship. It might be easy to react to certain forms of childish worship by lurching into what looks to us like “grown up” worship, but we really must remember that the worship wars go back to Cain and Abel. It’s not enough to just find something older. We want our worship to actually please God, and by His grace, we want it to be a potent force in our lives and world.

Preacher: Dr. Ben MerkleText: John 12:1–19

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Philippians 2:1–5For a number of years now, we have been emphasizing community, life together, fellowship, communion, what the New Testament calls koinonia. The response to this emphasis has been significant—showing that there is a real spiritual hunger for this kind of thing. But there is a hitch—other people are involved. There is always a catch.Some might remember the conclusion of Sartre’s famous play, No Exit, where he said, “Hell is other people.” But we are Christians, and so we are called to affirm, to the emphatic contrary, that Heaven is other people. But a long stretch of road in a fallen world lies in between us and that Heaven.

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: Philippians 3:20Underlying much of the modern culture wars are questions, confusions, and conflict over the nature and possibility of progress, maturity, and excellence. What is possible in this world? And if real cultural progress is possible, how is it possible? For the next several weeks, we will be looking at a series of texts on the pursuit of excellence and maturity. Christianity gives good reasons for optimism, but not for the reasons the world gives.

Preacher: Dr. Ben MerkleText: John 11With the raising of Lazarus we complete the book of signs and enter the final days of Jesus’s ministry. It is after this seventh sign, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, that the Jews determine that Jesus must die, setting the stage for the remainder of the Gospel of John.

Preacher: Pastor Toby SumpterAs our community grows and as God blesses, we will face the challenges that come with that. One of the wonderful areas of blessing and growth is all the new business ventures, and so we need to be praying and thinking about the challenges that will come with it. So here are three biblical principles to be meditating on as you do business with one another in the community.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonThis last week our church community was shocked by a tragic death, and it is at times like these that we must always remember to turn to God for solace and comfort. But we do not turn to Him as though He were a bystander together with us, grieved and shocked the same way we have been, limited creatures as we are.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonRemember that the Spirit moves throughout the earth, converting and restoring individuals, fashioning them into saints, into believers. As His fruit is manifested in them, one of those fruits is self-control, self-government, or self-mastery. This self-government is the basic building block for establishing non-tyrannical governments in the other spheres that God has established among men. Without self-government, families can become autocratic tribes, with one domineering personality. Without self-government, the church can become a grasping and despotic monster, as happened with the medieval papacy. Without self-government, the civil magistrate can become an overweening and covetous thug, as has happened in our day.It is easy for us to blame these governing entities for filling up the vacuum, but we really ought to find fault with ourselves because we (and our lack of self-control) are the ones who created that vacuum. When the people are slaves to sin, they cannot enjoy the balance of form and freedom that God has ordained for humanity. A family filled up with scheming manipulators will not be at peace with one another. A congregation of porn-users will not see the law of liberty unleashed in their midst. A nation of fornicating potheads will not enjoy civil liberty. As well expect to plant thistles and harvest barley.Summary of the TextsInstead of just one text, I have selected a mash-up of texts. In doing this I am not attempting to pull a fast one, but am rather following the example of the New Testament writers, who frequently present us with a collage of quotations from all over the Old Testament.In that spirit, the New Jerusalem in Revelation, the Isaianic Zion, and Ezekiel’s great Temple, are all one. Comparing them with one another, and seeing what is said of them, we see that they are all symbolic images of the Christian Church, neither more nor less. The Jerusalem above is the mother of us all (Gal. 4:26). When we gather to worship God, as we are doing right now, we are assembled on the heavenly mountain, the heavenly Zion (Heb. 12:18). Come, the angel said to John, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. And who is that Bride? It is the Christian Church (Eph. 5:25). And then he showed him the New Jerusalem, adorned as a bride for her husband (Rev. 21:2). The great Harlot was the old Jerusalem, now divorced and put away. The New Jerusalem is the Holy of Holies, a living shrine of the living God (1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Cor. 6:19; Rev. 21:16). So much is basic.My point with these texts is to show you the distinction between this Church and the redeemed nations of men. The boundary between them is porous, but still clear. Ezekiel’s Temple does not grow and fill the earth, but water flows from her until it inundates and heals the earth. The earth does not become the New Jerusalem, but the kings of the earth bring their honor and glory to her, and acknowledge and support her. Kings will be nursing and nurturing fathers to the church, and queens will be nursing mothers (Is. 49:23). They simultaneously support the church and submit to the church. What they don’t do is vaporize. The great Zion of Isaiah does not swallow the world, but the ships of Tarshish sail to her, with all their wealth. There is an ongoing traffic of peace between them.Real HarmonyWhen men are forgiven and set upright again, they find themselves functioning within the framework of three basic governments. The first is the government of the family, following the order that God has established. The husband is the head, his wife is his body and the executive, and together they shepherd their little ones. The family is the Ministry of Health, Education, and Welfare. The second is the civil magistrate, which is the Ministry of Justice. Their task is to make it possible for you to walk across town safely at 2 in the morning. Justice here is defined by the Bible, and not by the hurt feelings of somebody. The church is the Ministry of Grace and Peace, who is the Holy Spirit Himself.Because the word justice is so abused in our day, I need to say something briefly about the civil magistrate’s duty to enforce justice. Injustice is not the violation of someone’s rights, however those rights may be defined. Injustice is the violation of God-given rights. God gave us all the right to a fair trial if we are accused of some crime. And so, if we get an unfair trial, the kind that Jesus got, this is an injustice. But God did not give us the “right” to $15 an hour. For if He did, that means that somebody else has the obligation to pay you that amount. And when the state steps in to enforce that kind of obligation, the result is always tyrannical.The Relationship of the ThreeIn God’s order, not one of the three is permitted to domineer over the others. Each has its assigned task, and each one needs to tend to its own knitting. The church does not declare war, or collect the trash. The family does not administer the sacraments. The state does not review cases of church discipline. And not one of these spheres is dependent on any of the others for its existence. Now in times of crisis, as when Rome was threatened by the Lombards, one government may pick up some of the responsibilities of another. Say there is a failed state, but the church is still present. Or in unusual circumstances, it may be the same way, as when Paul prohibits Christians filing civil suits against one another before unbelieving judges (1 Cor. 6:1-7). Ordinarily, the church ought not to be adjudicating property line disputes, but we should prefer that to the scandal of asking pagans to define justice between two believers.But with that said, there is definitely a hierarchy of honor in this glorious and eschatological fulfillment. And this is what it looks like. The church does not fill up the world, and the church does not make every day into Sunday. But the knowledge of the Lord does fill up the world, as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14). How does this work? In our texts, notice the flow in two directions. The living water flows from the church out to all the families and nations of men, and all the families and nations of men flow to the church. But they don’t stream to the church in order to live there. They don’t come into the church to establish permanent residency. They come to eat from the tree of life, and then they go back out again with a benediction, with the peace of Christ upon their heads.So picture it this way. The worship of God is central to all of life, but it does not devour all of life. The sun does not burn everything up, but it does give light to everything. The water does not flood the world, but it does irrigate the entire world. The anchor fastens the ship, the ship does not turn into a gigantic anchor. The cathedral is at the center of the town, but does not “take over” all the activities of the townspeople—their printing, their auto mechanics, their software designing, their lawn mowing. In one sense all of that is none of their business. But at the same time the church instructs the townspeople in the adverbs—how these things are to be done, meaning, honestly, before the Lord, with one eye always on the text, and with a hard work ethic.The church is therefore at the center of the kingdom, but the church and the kingdom are still very different.And Christ is Lord of AllSo the authority of Jesus—the kind of authority that is granted to a sacrificial king—is an authority that mediates the kindness of the Father, and He mediates that kindness with the center fixed and all the edges in play. The church teaches you how to be a father, but does not take over the role of a father. The church instructs the magistrate, but does not rival the magistrate. The church teaches wives to submit to their husbands, and models that submission through dutiful and cheerful submission to the authority of Christ as found in the Scriptures. Reflecting Christ, the church suffuses all of life, the way sunlight fills up the day. It does not displace ordinary life, the way one billiard ball displaces another. Rather, it informs and instructs ordinary life—wherever you are in the town, out in the kingdom, whatever you are doing, whether changing a tire or changing a diaper, you can turn around and look, and from that place you can see the church spire. And whenever you do, whatever you are doing, you are reminded that you are part of the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.

Preacher: Toby SumpterOne of the most important factors in establishing fellowship in a family is the fellowship of husband and wife. As you welcome children into your home, you are either welcoming them into a healthy fellowship and warm friendship or else you are bringing them into the middle of controversy, striving, bitterness, and rivalry. This is how children can either be a great blessing or a great curse – depending on how they are received. Children are usually multipliers. They multiply what you already have in your home.

Some sins are out in the open, and everybody in the church knows that they are sins. I am thinking about theft, drunkenness, adultery, and the like. But there are other sins that are harder to identify, and because of this they can even function openly in Christian circles. I am thinking here about things like desire, envy, competition, and ambition. Now there are some situations where some of these are perfectly fine, but they are still dangerous. For example, consider desire—the quarry from which many sins are hewn. This is a word which, thankfully for the writers of rock ballads, rhymes with fire. Perhaps we would be better occupied with that which gives desire that sinful crackle. This is what our spirits’ desires naturally run to, and so what we are investigating is the sin of envy (Jas. 4:1-3, 5-6).THE TEXT“A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but the fool’s wrath is heavier than them both. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” (Prov. 27:3-4).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe writer of Proverbs begins with an illustration. A heavy stone is hard to pick up (v. 3), and the same thing is true of sand (v. 3). And when a fool gets angry, that is heavier than both or either of them. You should rather have your pick-up truck filled with wet sand than to encounter an angry fool. Then, building on that first thought, since we are now at the next level, wrath is cruel (v. 4). The synonym anger is outrageous (v. 4), but envy carries everything before it. Envy is therefore a formidable sin. It is the full bloom of folly’s rose.DEFINITIONSJealousy is to be possessive of what is lawfully your own. Because we are sinners, we sometimes give way to jealousy for wrong causes, or in a wrong manner, but Scripture is clear that jealousy is not inherently sinful. Our God is a jealous God; His name is Jealous (Ex. 20:5; 34:14). Simple greed or covetousness wants what it does not have, and wants to have it without reference to God’s conditions for having it. The thing that it wants may have been seen in a store, a catalog, or a neighbor’s driveway. This sin is tantamount to idolatry (Eph. 5:5), putting a created thing in place of the Creator.But envy is more than excessive jealousy, and is far more than simply a lazy or idolatrous desire. Envy is a formidable sin, as our text shows, because it combines its own desires for the object (status, money, women, whatever) with a malicious insistence that the other person lose his possession of it. In two places Paul puts malice and envy cheek by jowl (Rom. 1:28-29; Tit. 3:3), and this is no accident. In the Bible, when envy moves, violence and coercion are not far off (Acts. 7:9; 13:45; 17:5; Matt. 27:18). Envy sharpens its teeth every night. We may therefore define envy as a particular kind of willingness to use coercion to deprive someone of what is lawfully his. Of course an envious man may be a coward as well, and so fall under Pope’s condemnation—“willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike.”THE NATURAL CONDITION OF MANWe see in the letter of James that the spirit within us “lusteth to envy” (Jas. 4:5-6). This is our natural tendency; it is a universal problem. We should see also that a recognition of our complicity in the sin is the way of escape. That recognition is called repentance, and can only be found in Christ. This is because outside of Christ, envy is the natural condition of all mankind. Before we were converted, what were we like? “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Tit. 3:3). That is what we are like. “Being filled with all unrighteousness . . . covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder . . .” (Rom. 1:29).When we are brought into Christ, this does not grant us automatic immunity to this sin—we must still guard ourselves. We have to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, and that includes death to this sin. For example, the godly have to be told not to envy sinners (Prov. 3:29-32; 23:17-18). And we have to guard ourselves against sanctimonious envy, the kind Judas tried to display in his false concern for the poor (Mark 14:5,10; John 12:3-6).THE INVISIBLE VICEIn striking contrast to many other sins, nobody readily admits to being envious. Envy is petty and malicious. Envy is unattractive to just about everybody, and in order to operate openly in the world, it has to sail under false colors. Envy is clandestine; envy is sneaky. To admit to envy is to admit self-consciously to being tiny-souled, beef jerky-hearted, petty, and mean-spirited, and to admit this is dangerously close to repentance. To be out-and-out envious is to be clearly in the wrong.And so envy often decks itself out with the feathers of admiration, and tends to praise too loudly or too much. One writer said to “watch the eyes of those who bow lowest.” The praise can come from someone who does not yet know his own heart, or it can come from someone who is trying to position himself to get within striking distance. Guard your heart; don’t allow yourself to become an unctuous or oily flatterer.Envy occupies itself much with matters of justice, and becomes a collector of injustices, both real and imagined. Since envy cannot speak its own name, the closest virtue capable of camouflaging the sin is zeal for justice. And since true Christians should be very much concerned with genuine justice, be sure to run diagnostics on your heart as you do so. This is because our modern political tangles are a veritable festival of envy, everywhere you look. Trying to find envy in our political disputes is like trying to find some beads at the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade.And envy gets worse as a person’s gifts get greater—when dealing with talent, artistic temperaments, and great intellectual achievements. We sometimes assume that we can “cultivate” our way out of the temptation, which is the reverse of the truth.HEADING IT OFFBecause we are all a bit naive about this sin, in ourselves and in others, we glibly assume that if God only blesses us a little bit more, that will make it clear to everyone that we are nice people and that there is no reason to envy us. But of course, this only makes everything worse. Should the “neighbor” in the tenth commandment assume that if God only gave him a bigger house and faster car that this would somehow resolve the problems of his green-eyed neighbor next door? Is he serious?Many of you are at the beginning of your lives, your careers, your accomplishments. And you need to know that when marked success comes to some of you, the poison will start to flow. Even in the church? Yes, even here, but if we take note of our hearts now, if we internalize these truths now, we are laboring for the peace and purity of our congregation—one of the things we are covenanted to in our membership vows. When James takes aim at conflict in the church, he takes aim at envy. So remember that the love of Christ is forever, and envy is transient. Speaking of the earthbound, Solomon says, “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun” (Ecc. 9:5-6).Gore Vidal once said, “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” In stark contrast, the apostle Paul said, “Love does not envy” (1 Cor. 13: 4).

This is session 4 of 6 in our Discipleship Series on Parenting Little Ones.

Preacher: Ben ZornesA polluted land must be cleansed.

This is session 2 of 6 in our Discipleship Seminar on Parenting Little Ones.

Preacher: Toby SumpterChrist is risen, and He rose in this world with a human body in order that all things might be made new. The center of this new creation is the forgiveness of sins, but that is merely the great and glorious foundation. Remember that Jesus Christ is the Creator of the Universe, and so it is no accident that Jesus is the One re-creating the universe in history.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Acts 4:1–4Because Jesus rose from the dead, in fulfillment of the words of the ancient prophets (Acts 3:24), and because He did so in fulfillment of His own confident pronouncements that He would rise (Matt. 20:18-19), the gospel message of the resurrected Christ has true authority. It is not the thing that must be proven, it is the ultimate and most glorious proof. Moreover, the preached message of the resurrection is not something to be placed under a microscope and examined in order to be proven. Rather, the declared message is also itself a proof. The resurrection proves, and also the preaching of the resurrection proves.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: The Public CrossJesus was not murdered in private by thugs, only to come back from the dead in secret, with a select band of initiates being told to whisper the news to another handful: “Pssst! Pass it on.” No, He was executed publicly by the authorities, and He rose from the dead in such a way as to declare His absolute authority over all the kingdoms of men, and over everything that they contain. We have to learn how to see the cross in these terms...

"Tell all the stories. And while you're at it, live out some stories that will be worth the telling." – Douglas Wilson

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: Mark 11:11–26What’s wrong with this world? What do we really need? The central answer of the Bible is that our problems all flow from the problem of sin, and therefore, what the world fundamentally needs is forgiveness. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He went straight into the temple. And then over the next few days, He keeps returning to the temple: first clearing it out, then preaching and teaching in it. Jesus insists that the point of His life is to fulfill what the temple always pointed to: forgiveness for sins.

"You are to standfast in this freedom. There is no justification outside of faith in Christ." – Dr. Tim Edwards

Preacher: Ben Merkle.Text: John 7:32-52

Preacher: Toby Sumpter“The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Ps. 110:1). Where is Jesus right now? We confess the answer every single week: He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And what is Jesus doing at the right hand of God the Father? He is reigning until all of His enemies have been put beneath His feet. The Psalmist says the Lord has sent His rod of strength out of Zion to conquer all of His enemies.

This is the second message in our Discipleship Seminar on Marriage.For more resources visit https://christkirk.com.

This is the fifth video in our Discipleship Seminar on Marriage.For more resources visit https://christkirk.com.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 1 Cor. 2:1–10Jesus was crucified in a public way, and His death necessarily has public ramifications. There is no way to be fully faithful to the message of His death and resurrection in private. Private faith in this public event cannot, in the very nature of the case, remain private.

Preacher: Ben ZornesSons and daughters, hang with me here, are different. If you hand a girl a nerf gun, she’ll wrap it in a blanket and put it to bed. If you hand a doll to a boy, somehow he’ll turn it into a gun. As fathers and mothers, you are called to raise your sons and daughters in the fear and admonition of the Lord. But while the Lord admonishes certain things to all people—male or female—He admonishes certain things for boys who are to become men, and girls who are to become women.

Preacher: Joshua DockterServing is a great antidote to the sin of envy and sidelong glances.

Preacher: Ben ZornesCourage is not being the first to comment, and the last one to leave a Facebook fight (round about 1am). Courage isn’t talking louder than everyone else. It isn’t the mere presence of adrenaline in the midst of a tense situation. Courage has many counterfeits, while cowardice often wears a bold face.

Preacher: Toby SumpterThe thing that drives our militance is joy. The joy of the Lord is literally our strength. The cash value of all of this is that we want to be a community known not merely for militance, but for a militant joy. We want our homes to be places of fellowship, our tables places of laughter, our community a place of forgiveness, our social media posts to be overflowing with good humor.

This excerpt is from Pastor Doug's sermon, 'State of the Church 2021.'1. Worship2. Honesty about sin3. Marriage4. Music5. Hospitality/community6. Christian Education7. Debt-free8. Joviality, cheerfulness, laughter9. Family dinners/sabbath10. Study/read11. Work12. Stories

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: John 12:20–33It has sometimes been said that people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, but that is actually a slander and a lie. In fact, C.S. Lewis said rightly, “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” Likewise, Lewis said, “Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you get neither.”

Preacher: Toby SumpterSo this is the exhortation: if you’re new here, you are most welcome. If you’d like to really dig in and be part of this crazy blessing, the most important thing you can do is confess your sins to God and anyone you’ve sinned against. And not just one time, but regularly, daily, weekly. Don’t let any bitterness or guilt build up. That will only get in the way. And if you’ve been here for a while, don’t put on airs. Check your hearts: Are they clean? Don’t get lazy. Remember where you came from.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 2 Cor. 10:3–5We are living in a time of great uncertainty and turmoil, and in such times, men turn naturally to their gods. In the case of many Americans, jack-secularists, they have resorted to long-neglected temples, only to find that their gods have toppled over like Dagon. They are therefore governed by fear and anger, both right and left. We are not in their position, and so whatever we do, we must not copy or imitate them.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Luke 18:1–8The year behind us, 2020, has been quite a year, and it may have occurred to some of you that when 20 turns 21, it might start drinking, and then what shall we do? Of course, we shall pray about it, but there is a particular kind of prayer that we need to understand in times like these.

Preacher: Dr. Ben MerkleText: Psalm 2

Preacher: Ty KnightGod's peace does not come with the absence of trials, but rather God's peace emerges in the midst of trials. This is demonstrated clearly at Christmas.

Preacher: Shawn Paterson

A genuine biblical faith is one that knows how to climb mountains, and how to not get lost in the valleys. In the flesh we know how to get used to what happens to us all the time. But it takes a true spirit of Christian character to deal with the fluctuations.

Over time, holidays take on a certain patina. Long usage and custom make this necessary, but it remains our responsibility to not allow such later accretions to overthrow or to reverse the actual import or meaning of the festival. In the case of Christmas, we have, quite obviously, the scriptural story of the birth of the Messiah, but we also have—do we not?—silver bells, softly falling snow, Hallmark movies, caramel popcorn, miracles on 34th street, fireplaces aglow, and various sorts of festive jello dishes. What are we to do with all of that? Well, enjoy them... but don’t let them become your teachers.

Preacher: Ben Zornes.Discontentment makes the turkey dry, the gravy bland, and the pies dull. Worse yet, it makes the fellowship frigid, the conversation barbed, and the relationships strained. Contentment, on the other hand, can make a meager meal a feast, it can make enemies into friends, it can turn hardships into joys. It does this because it is rooted in the fact that God is on the throne.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonThe world of men, with their wars, and their politics, and their elections, and their controversies, is a turbulent sea. The disciples of the Lord were once in the boat with Him under challenging conditions, but it took them a while to learn what kind of authority the Lord Jesus actually has in the affairs of men. Even from within a vulnerable boat, He speaks to the wind and the waves, and they obey Him. If He can speak this way to the waters, how much more can he speak to the nations, who are, like Reuben, as unstable as water (Gen. 49:4)?

Preacher: Aaron Ventura.Text: Deuteronomy 21:1–9

Preacher: Ben ZornesThe solution to all our various authority anarchy is to first acknowledge Christ’s authority over all things.

Preacher: Toby SumpterGod sent His own Son into the world in the fullness of time, and that means the time was exactly right for the mission. Everything had been leading up to that moment, according to God’s perfect plan. Not one thing was out of place. Every blessing, every calamity, every gift, every heartbreak, every detail made that moment pregnant for God to redeem the world.But that perfect timing was not a one-off event. We serve the God who rules every time and every season...

Preacher: Matt MeyerWe need to remember that we are debtors that have been, and daily are, forgiven much.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate to help cover conference costs.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate to help cover conference costs.

Preacher: Dr. Ben MerkleText: John 4:1-25

Preacher: Ben MerkleText: John 3:22–36

A little over a week from now, we will be selecting our next president. In preparation for this, because Christ is Lord of everything we do, we need to consider the adverbs that will need to accompany our application of the infinitive of that verb to vote.This year such caution is more far necessary than it usually is. I am not old yet, but I think I can see old from here. And over all these decades of active political interest, I do not recall any political season that even remotely resembles this one. These are indeed tumultuous times, but God never abandons His people during such times. He shakes what can be shaken (and which needed to be shaken) so that what cannot be shaken might remain. And we are in fact receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Heb. 12:27-29). And that is why we should consider these times to be the times of our tumultuous mercies.

Preacher: Ben ZornesApostasy doesn't happen overnight.

Speaker: Dr. Ben MerkleThe last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate to help cover conference costs.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonGod does it this way because it is a good way to prevent us from trusting in ourselves—that perennial temptation. God does it this way so that He might display His resurrection authority to every generation. And it appears that the time is coming for our generation to see it.

"The temptations you face may morph and change as you grow and mature, but the need for restraint on your sinful desires will not and cannot be outgrown." – Ben Zornes

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate to help cover conference costs.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Eph. 6:19–20One of our generation’s hackneyed cliches is the one about “speaking truth to power.” The problem with it is that we almost always get everything backwards, and use the phrase to describe anyone who says something that you agree with. But despite our misapplication of it, there really is an important truth there, and it is one we need to learn. What is boldness when it counts?

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: Job 28:12–29:2It has become increasingly common to hear Christians refer to “wisdom” as though it were some esoteric, mystical quality, as though it were subjective, relative, or simply some kind of Zen power. But while the wisdom of God does confound the wisdom of men, it is not irrational or incoherent. Wisdom is the art of obedient building. In the beginning God built the world out of nothing with wisdom (Prov. 8:22ff). Wisdom builds her house (Prov. 9:1), and by wisdom a house is built (Prov. 24:3). The queen of Sheba was amazed by Solomon’s wisdom and the house he had built (1 Kgs. 10:4, 2 Chron. 9:3). The wise man hears the words of Jesus and obeys and so builds his house on the rock (Mt. 7:24, Lk. 6:48).

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate to help cover conference costs.

Speaker: Douglas WilsonThe last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Speaker: Gary DeMarThe last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Speaker: Dr. Gordon WilsonThe last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 1 Chronicles 12:32Series: Sons of Adam, Daughters of EveAs we seek to address the marital dislocations that confront us in every direction, remember that we want to do so in a way that respects the men, particularly the young men. If they don’t solve the problem, then nobody is going to solve the problem. And if the problem is caused by our culture-wide hostility to masculinity, we will only be pouring gasoline on these cultural fires if bring any additional contempt.

1 Thess. 4:1–8We come now to the passage in Thessalonians that addresses the vast difference between the Christian sexual ethic and a pagan sexual ethic. We want to be careful here because there is a ditch on both sides of the road. Some Christians have confused being fastidious with being holy, and they are not the same thing at all. Other Christians have veered off the road on the opposite side, and are drinking all the ditch water that the porn industry can supply. So let us try to stay on the road, shall we?

Deut. 20:1–20

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” 18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man (John 2:13–25).

Dr. Ben Merkle delivers our midweek message on Proverbs 6:12–15."A worthless person, a wicked man,    goes about with crooked speech,13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,    points with his finger,14 with perverted heart devises evil,    continually sowing discord;15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;    in a moment he will be broken beyond healing" (Prov. 6:12-15).

When we get to the second chapter of this epistle, the apostle Paul reminds them of how it was that the gospel was first brought to them. We know that Paul was there for three successive sabbaths, and we can see here just how much authenticity can be contained within such a short space of time.

We ascend into the heavenlies in our worship and meet with our God there (Heb. 12:22). But this heavenly worship is not something that has fearfully run away from the enemy on earth. Rather, as the book of Revelation shows in great detail, the worship of the saints in heaven accomplishes God’s judgments on earth. The twenty-four elders worship God in heaven (Rev. 4:10), and the seven seals are opened in heaven (Rev. 5:5). But this does not leave the earth untouched or unaffected.If you want to fight the culture war, you have to fight from the high ground. The only high ground we can successfully fight from is the high ground of Heaven, where our Lord Jesus is seated at God’s right hand.

A midweek message on Matthew 5:5 from Shawn Paterson.Join the #SamePageSummer Bible Reading Challenge: https://biblereading.christkirk.com.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at christkirk.com/give. Be sure to select 'Grace Agenda' in the form.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at christkirk.com/give. Be sure to select 'Grace Agenda' in the form.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at christkirk.com/give. Be sure to select 'Grace Agenda' in the form.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at christkirk.com/give. Be sure to select 'Grace Agenda' in the form.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at christkirk.com/give. Be sure to select 'Grace Agenda' in the form.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at christkirk.com/give. Be sure to select 'Grace Agenda' in the form.

The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with the spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at christkirk.com/give. Be sure to select 'Grace Agenda' in the form.

Preacher: Toby SumpterThe only way you can have grace and peace in your heart is if God puts it there. But that is precisely why God spoke the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. God spoke grace and peace into our sorry world, and He was born at Bethlehem so that we might have grace and peace in our hearts, so that there may be grace and peace in our mouths.

There is a basic spiritual dilemma that confronts everyone who accepts the truth of the Christian message. If is the case that there are only two final destinies for human beings—for the saved and the lost—and if it is also true that these two kinds of people are also found within the ranks of baptized Christian people, then the question is this. “How can I be sure that I am among the saved?” To that question, the Pauline exhortation here is often applied—examine yourselves. Yes, indeed, examine yourselves. But by what standard?

Text: Isa. 52:14–53:12

Christians often feel squeamish about Old Testament passages where God commands the complete destruction of cities: men, women, and children. But this is because we have often imbibed a sentimentalism that is not really Christian, and it has had disastrous effects on the Church. 

Text: Hebrews 10:19–39

Text: Heb. 10:1–18

Here is your Christmas invitation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Christ is Lord. Give up your unbelief. Lay down your arms. A prophet does arise from Galilee.

The first Christmas was extravagant. God did not merely send angels and dreams and give barren women birth. He did not merely involve the stars and stir up the Roman Emperor to perform a census. He not only involved magi from the East, and shepherds in the fields, and governors and soldiers, on top of all of these things and many more, God Himself came. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

An essential part of the Christian confession is that Jesus of Nazareth is “fully God” and “fully man.” If you sometimes wonder why the Nicene Creed and the Definition of Chalcedon are so specific and so detailed, it is because there are numerous ways to slip off the point and into heresy.One of the easier ways to do this is to imagine Jesus as having a human body, but being “God on the inside.” But no. We confess that Jesus was and is entirely human, and a good way to reinforce this in our minds is to consider what the Scriptures teach about the emotional life of Christ.

INTRODUCTIONOur normal pattern during the season of Advent is to bring a series of messages that are geared to the season, thus taking a break from whatever book we were working through at the time. But as it happens, some of the themes in 2 Cor. 8 line up with some of the things I wanted to emphasize in this Advent season anyway. So for a week or two, at least, we are continuing our series. The theme concerned is giving and generosity, quite a fitting topic for Advent.THE TEXT“Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.” (2 Corinthians 8:1–7).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul wanted to make sure that the Corinthians knew about the particular nature of the grace that God poured out on the churches in Macedonia (v. 1). In the context of great affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty combined to produce a most generous gift (v. 2). Paul testified that they willingly gave up to their ability to give, and even beyond it (v. 3). As Chrysostom pointed out, in this situation, the Macedonians did the begging, not Paul (v. 4). Not only did they give as Paul’s band had hoped, but they did this in the right order. They donated themselves to God first, and then to Paul’s specific project, and all in the will of God (v. 5). Apparently, Titus was delivering this letter also, and as he had reminded them of their pledge on his previous visit, Paul is now looking for him to complete the giving campaign (v. 6). Paul then makes his pitch. As the Corinthians abounded in numerous graces—faith, speech, knowledge, diligence, and love—so should they abound in this grace of giving monetarily as well (v. 7). The grace bestowed on the Macedonian churches was a grace of giving (v. 1), and Paul is seeking to find the same kind of generosity rising up in the Corinthians (v. 7).DIFFERENT KINDS OF GIVINGNow by “gifts,” I include pretty much anything going out—time, money, wrapped up presents, hospitality, and so on. Every church should want to develop a culture of generosity, and this is the kind of culture that has many manifestations. This means hospitality. It means unloading moving vans. It means rallying to meet someone’s financial crisis. It means barn-raising events. It means the discipline of loving birthday and Christmas opportunities. It means open-handedness.Now we are coming into a season of shopping for gifts, and so we should take special care to make sure we understand what we are doing. A gift—as given externally, as seen from the outside—can be one of three things. First, it can be a bribe. Second, it can be an extortion payment. And third, it can be a true gift. Two of them are most unfortunate, and the third is the genuine article. How can we tell the difference?The bribe is given by a manipulator, or someone who wants somehow to game the system. He gives in order to get. You give presents in order to get presents. You give compliments in order to receive compliments. You donate to the church so that others will see you in that role. This was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1ff). Jesus warns against it sternly (Matt. 6:1).An extortion payment is given by someone who is under duress. He gives in order to be left alone. This is the sin that Paul is trying to teach us to avoid in the next chapter (2 Cor. 9:7).The true gift is what the Macedonians offered here. They gave themselves first to God (v. 5), and then turned to the second stage of the gift. Christmas morning should be the second unwrapping of the gift. You give yourself to God first, and He unwraps you, and then you give your gift to the other person. This person gives to get, in order to be able to give some more. Our aspiration should be for this to become our way of life.AN AQUIFER OF GENEROSITYWhat is happening when this wonderful thing occurs? In this chain of events, God gives first. The word charis (grace, favor, benefit or gift) is used eight times in chapters 8-9. God bestowed His grace on the Macedonians (v. 1), which is where their giving spirit first originated. Paul wants to see the same thing happening in Corinth (v. 7).Remember that this was a one-time special need offering. We are not talking about the tithe here, or regular giving. This was a relief offering for the saints in Jerusalem. It was off-budget.As they gave to others in this way, it created a bond of koinonia-fellowship (v. 4). Sharing of goods is fellowship, just as the sharing of food is fellowship. We partake of one another when we give. We are intertwined when we give. When we give, we are being knit together.For the Macedonians, this geyser of generosity came about in a unique set of circumstances. First, the grace of God came down upon them (v. 1), and then the providence of God surrounded them with a great trial of affliction (v. 2). In thatsetting, their deep poverty combined with their abundance of joy to erupt in an effusion of giving. The word for deep is bathos, which we get the word bathysphere. Their poverty was down in the Mariana Trench which, when combined with heavenly joy, exploded into a remarkable gift.IN HIS STEPSWe are going to develop this much more when we get there, but we need to look ahead at the next two verses. When we give to others properly, we are doing so in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. This is part of what it means to follow Him. Christ was rich, and He became poor as a gift, so that those who were poor might be made rich through Him (2 Cor. 8:9).There is no generosity without Christ. The engine that drives the economy of generosity is not merchants, or manufacturers, or commercial interests, or anything like that. It is not possible for us to remember the gift of Christ, and not to have a multitude of gifts following.

Text: Galatians 3:1–14

The goal is not to get your kids to submit to the standard; your goal is to get your kids to love the standard: to love Christ, to love His ways, to love His people all their days. 

Enjoy session 4 of 5 from the GA22 Men's Seminar: Let's Talk About Books.The last several years Christ Church as tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at grace graceagenda.com/donate.

If your relationship with your parents or in-laws is strained, if there are any difficulties present, that is not a reason to leave honor behind. Rather, honoring them is the path forward.Love covers a multitude of sins. And if there is any sin present that cannot be covered much longer, then you need honor to be the atmosphere in which it is eventually addressed.So as you begin to make those holiday to-do lists, include on there the need to prepare your hearts in order to express honor toward your parents.For it is in the soil of honor that God is pleased to grow the fruit of love, joy, and peace.

TEXTTherefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 13 For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar.14 For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest 16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. 17 For He testifies:“You are a priest foreverAccording to the order of Melchizedek.”18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, 19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him:“The Lord has swornAnd will not relent,‘You are a priest foreverAccording to the order of Melchizedek’ ”),22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever (Hebrews 7:11–28).

The Reformation that has to take place for this country to be salvaged has to occur marriage by marriage, family by family, congregation by congregation. It cannot be a top-down solution. Enjoy session 7 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Remember the objective. The first stage of parenting is to make self-controlled children who live joyfully under life-giving authority. If we can keep the unity of command, maintain our lines of communication, concentrate our forces, and stay mobile, victory is to be had.But the victory is not through our own doing, it is the work of Jesus Christ our Savior. For indeed, this is entirely an effort in faith. We live in faith and we parent in faith. Enjoy session 4 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy session 1 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Perhaps no other region of modern life is less scrupulously evaluated by Christians than their media choices. You may be a faithful churchgoer. Your kids may be getting a Christian education. You may read a Bible verse or two after supper. But many Christians apply next to zero discernment regarding their entertainment choices.

INTRODUCTIONWe read in the book of Job that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward (Job 5:7). This being the case, we need to learn how to handle these troubles rightly, for you will have them. They are not optional. There are no exceptions. What do you call a man who is really wealthy, who has a sunny disposition, and good digestion, and a photogenic family, and a shelf stacked with trophies and assorted other honors? Well, one name for him is “worm food.” This is the only way to reckon the value of everything “under the sun.”But there is another calculus, introduced to the world three days after the crucifixion of Jesus.THE TEXT“We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:13–18Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul has the same spirit of faith as Christ, and so he speaks the same way the psalmist did. He believes, and therefore he speaks about it (v. 13). This is cited from Ps. 116:10Open in Logos Bible Software (if available). True heart belief is connected to the tongue. Paul then turns to reason from the certainty of the Lord’s resurrection to his own resurrection (v. 14). The one who raised up Jesus will raise up Paul, and will present them all together with the Corinthians (v. 14). Everything is for their sake, Paul says, so that abundant grace might redound to the glory of God through the thanksgiving of many (v. 15). Widespread gratitude in a community of saints is potent. Grace brings that gratitude, and gratitude brings abundant grace, which glorifies God (v. 15). This truth is what keeps Paul going. He does not faint (v. 16). The outward man might be getting beat up, but the inner man is getting younger every day (v. 16). Now remember that we have previously noted that Paul was one of the most afflicted men who ever lived. He certainly had gone through countless troubles. But how does he describe it here? He calls it “our lightaffliction” (v. 17). It is light affliction, and it is also a momentary affliction (v. 17). It will pass in a minute. But notice something else. Paul says the light affliction “worketh for us” a much weightier thing—the eternal weight of glory (v. 17). So gratitude works abundant grace, and affliction works its weight in glory. Paul therefore says that the key is to keep your eyes off what you can see, in order to fix your eyes on that which we cannot yet see (v. 18). Why? Because the things you can see you will only be able to see for a minute—they are temporal (v. 18). All day yesterday is now ghostly. What was so real turns out to have been momentary. And the eternal things you cannot now see in the present moment are things you will be able to see forever and ever (v. 18).NOT KIDDING HIMSELFNow when Paul calls his afflictions “light,” this is not because he is delusional. He knows very well the weight of his afflictions. Talking about how pressed and pushed down he was, he earlier referred to the weight of his troubles in Asia (2 Cor. 1:8Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). He was not a block of wood, and no Stoic. He is not arguing that his pains are non-existent, or trifling. Rather, he is telling us, by faith, that his pains fade in comparison to something else. He refuses to weigh his troubles in isolation. He evaluates his life, and the troubles in it, by the video and not by the snapshot.This is a typical Pauline turn of mind. He says elsewhere in Romans that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). You put the glory of the resurrection on one side of the scales, say ten bricks of gold, and then drop twenty or so lead molecules of affliction on the other side. That is the kind of thing he is doing. He is comparing, not muscling through. This is not a stiff upper lip approach. He calculating and comparing. But in order to do this you have to be able to see the coming glory, and this is only possible with the eye of faith.AFFLICTION’S BLOOMBut Paul is not saying that there are bad things that happen down here, but then later, in a completely different realm, good things happen up there, and so it all evens out somehow. No, he is not saying that. Rather, the weight of glory that is coming for us, which we cannot now fully comprehend, is the bloom of our afflictions. The afflictions are the instrument that God uses to bring the other about. The “light” affliction works for us the weight of glory. That is what he is saying, that is what he is arguing in v. 17. As the cue ball put the eight ball in the corner pocket, so your troubles are laboring industriously for your gain. They are your friends. They are your very best friends. You ought to be nicer to them.They are remodeling contractors, come to renovate your soul. They showed up right on time, 8 am, and they all have crowbars in their gloved fists, and that kitchen is going to be fabulous when they are done. Your afflictions are the dust all through the house. So this is why you need to count it all joy when you meet various trials (Jas. 1:2Open in Logos Bible Software (if available))—you can see what is coming (Jas. 1:3-4Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). This is why we are to glory in tribulations (Rom. 5:3Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). This is why, when you are tempted to look at your demolished kitchen in despair, you are instructed to go pull out the computer rendering of what it is going to look like, and then rejoice in the chaos (Rom. 5:4-5Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)).THE SPIRIT OF FAITHThis is not courage, not in the first instance. This is not endurance, not all by itself. This is not insight, not as the first thing. This is faith. That is what lies at the foundation of all courage, endurance, and insight. This is faith, and because Paul believes, he speaks. Because he speaks, he gets stoned and dragged outside the city again. And then he gets up, and because he believes, he goes on to speak again. He does this because he knows how the transaction works.Where does this faith come from? According to Paul, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). This is why faith is being formed in your hearts right now. The Word is being proclaimed, right now, and you are hearing it, right now.What is that Word? It is that Christ was crucified. He was buried in the tomb. On the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures, He rose again from the grave. A short time later, the Holy Spirit was poured out into the world with the express purpose of anointing that message, making it powerful to save. Because all of these things are true, I am authorized as an emissary of Christ, to invite you to come. Are you already a Christian? Then come. Are you not a Christian at all, in any sense? Then come. Are you a nominal Christian, a Christian only on the surface of your life? Then come. This is the gospel call. What does Isaiah say? “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else” (Is. 45:22Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). What does the Lord Jesus say? “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). And what does the Spirit say, together with the bride? “Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come” (Rev. 22:17Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). And this is why we say, every week we say, “Come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.”And when you come, be assured that your afflictions will not disappear. But do understand that when you come, your afflictions will start to make sense.

INTRODUCTIONAt first glance it may appear to us that justice, liberty, and love are three very distinct topics. But if we examine them in light of Scripture and a biblical worldview, we will discover that they are all addressing the same thing. Every virtue, every grace, is a manifestation of the gracious gift of the singular holiness of God. The integrated Christian life is therefore all of a piece.THE TEXT“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. . .” (Galatians 5:13–23).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul begins by telling the Galatians that they have been called to liberty (v. 13). He immediately moves to tell them that they are not to use that liberty in the cause of self-indulgence (v. 13). Instead of serving the flesh, they are called to use their liberty to serve one another in love (v. 14). Why is this? Because the entire law is fulfilled in one phrase, which is to love your neighbor as yourself (v. 14). Paul is citing the second greatest commandment, identified as such by Jesus (Matt. 22:30), and which is taken from Lev. 19:18. But if instead of loving, they bite and devour each other, they need to take care that they don’t eat each other up (v. 15) . The thing that will enable them to avoid fulfilling these fleshly desires is what Paul calls walking in the Spirit (v. 16). The flesh and the Spirit are fundamentally at odds with one another, which prevents them from doing what they wanted to do (v. v. 17). But if they walk in the Spirit, they will not be under the condemnation of the law (v. 18). The works of the flesh are obvious (v. 19), and Paul then works through a litany of uncleanness (vv. 19-21). They range from all manner of sexual impurity and self-indulgence to thoughts of hostility and accusation. People who are like this are not going to inherit the kingdom (v. 21). The fruit of the Spirit, by way of contrast, is a unified whole of goodness—love, joy, peace, and so on. Or put another way, justice, liberty, and love (vv. 22-23).AND SUCH LIKEScripture frequently gives us lists of virtues and vices. These lists should be taken with that phrase “and such like” kept in the front of our minds. The lists vary in their details, but the aroma coming off all of them is always the same.Christian graces are described by Peter here (2 Pet. 1:5-8). Paul uses the language of fruit here in our text, but he also describes the fruit of the light in Eph. 5:9. And then in Romans 5:3-5, we see the same thing again.Lists of clustered corruptions work the same way. Paul gives us one list in Romans (Rom. 1:29-32). And then he gives another list to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 6:9-10). And we have the list in our text. The lists never map on to one another exactly, but they all have the same kind of thing in common. It is as though a gifted writer was writing a series of articles on seedy dive bars around the country. They would all have the same feel, and the alleys behind them would all smell like urine.This is why James tells us that if we break the law at just one point, we are guilty of breaking all of it (Jas. 2:10). The law of God is not a series of French pane windows, but is rather a plate glass window. It doesn’t matter that much where you put the hole—the window is broken. The law of God is personal, and is as unified as the character of the God it reflects. And lawlessness, the way of the flesh, is the anti-God frame of mind, and so it also is unified in that antipathy.WHAT LIBERTY ISPaul says in our text that we have been set free, we have been set at liberty. Now a popular (and wrongheaded) definition of liberty thinks it means doing as you like, whatever the consequences. But Paul here says that liberty is being set free to do as you ought.Doing as you want is the way of the flesh, and it is characterized by two things. The first is that the flesh grabs at what it wants, and the second is that it accuses others for grabbing for what they want. Now when we grab, we wrong others by taking what is lawfully theirs. And when we have an accusative spirit, we wrong others by not following the scriptural requirements of due process. And what is due process? It is hearing both sides of story (Prov. 18:17). If the story is denied, it is requiring independent confirmation (Dt. 17:6). It is allowing the accused to face his accuser (Dt. 19:16)—no anonymous accusations. And if you are reading about anything on the Internet, all these standards go triple. It is to handle a matter justly, which is an outworking of love, which is how you are use your liberty.TWO WORLDSIn a world ruled by the flesh, as Paul makes very plain here, you cannot have liberty, you cannot have justice, and you cannot have love. As well try to grow orchids above the Colorado tree line. And this is why the plan to achieve greater liberty for Americans by opening the floodgates of porn, by legalizing pot, by telling everybody to give absolute free rein to their feelings, by urging all the drones to live on handouts, and encouraging all narcissists to live inside their own heads, was a plan that was singularly ill-fated. An indulgent society hates liberty, hates justice, and hates love. All the “liberties” they want you to have are liberties that can be indulged in a six by eight prison cell.The way of the Spirit establishes form and freedom together. Form without freedom is despotism and tyranny. Nobody wants that. But freedom without form falls apart. What is the sense of freeing a locomotive from its tracks, putting it in the middle of a marsh, and telling it to go wherever it wants?REFORMATION AND REVIVALAnd this is why the deliverance of our country is not going to happen apart from a great movement of the Spirit. Unless a people are cleansed of their guilt, liberated from their lusts, and empowered to do what is right by their neighbor, they cannot live as a free people. As we are seeing around us, they cannot even value the idea of a free society. They want the slavery, they want the malice, they want the injustice.So go back to the two lists in our text. The works of the flesh are manifest. The fruit of the Spirit, as we all recognize, is equally obvious. Now take the cover off your heart. Which list is more descriptive of what you see in there? If it is a cauldron of seething lusts, as it is in the case of many, turn to Christ. He is the Savior, and He can save to the uttermost.

INTRODUCTIONSo we have reached a point in our society where people can no longer deny that religion influences our culture, customs, institutions and the like. People’s eyes are starting to open given the wild changes we’re experiencing. The 2015 Supreme Court Decision Obergefell v. Hodges claimed that a man has the constitutional right to marry another man. Transgenderism is being normalized to the degree that Boston Children’s Hospital now has a Gender Multispecialty Service that provides affirmative care to gender diverse and transgender individu- als. And these services are provided for children as young as 3 years old.Our culture is increasingly confused about fundamental principles: What is a man? What is a woman? What is marriage? And this confusion is the result of God handing us over to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. God’s Word sheds light on these matters. And through his Word, God graciously restores man so that he can know both himself and his Creator.THE TEXT“And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?’ tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ And they said, ‘Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female . . . ‘” (Mark 10:2-9)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe Pharisees attempt to trap Jesus with a question about divorce (v. 2). Notice this is a temptation of Christ, not a genuine question about particular grounds for divorce. That being the case, biblical grounds for divorce (and there are such grounds) don’t come up in this exchange. Jesus replies to the Pharisees by asking them about the law of Moses (v. 3). They read Moses to say that a man can put his wife away through divorce papers (v. 4). But Jesus explains that Moses took that measure because of their hard hearts (v. 5). From the beginning of creation, God made male and female (v. 6). And this is the very reason a man leaves his parents and holds fast to his wife (v. 7). This cleaving is such that the two are no longer two, but one flesh (v. 8). And man must not tear this one for God is the one who joined the two into one (v. 9).A GRENADE AMONG THE UGLY ISMSThis passage is truly a death blow to many of the vain ideologies that beset us. If we take the sword of the Spirit seriously in these nine verses, then transgenderism, nihilism, paganism, and secular humanism are slain. We see the rise of these empty philosophies around us in the dissolution of marriage and the defaming of the image of God. And the text at hand speaks directly to that image and the divine institution of marriage.GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALEVerse 6 states plainly that God made them male and female. We hear this same truth in Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 5:2. It is clear that God likes to create in binaries. He made sun and moon, heaven and earth, sea and land, peanut butter and jelly. We are not surprised to see him make male and female. And we are not surprised that they go together so well. This is his craftsmanship and it is glorious.Genesis tells us that God made man and woman in his image. Here is the fundamental answer to the question. What is man? The image of God. What is woman? The image of God. But Scripture tells us more. 1 Corin- thians 11:7 says that man is the glory of God and woman is the glory of man. There are those who would look down upon this verse, believing it to in some way degrade the female. But what is degrading about being the glory of the glory of God? Who thinks being the crown of the crown is a slight?THEY TWAIN NO MORE TWAINGod made them different so that they might pair so well. And here is why androgyny is not only boring but the pits. It attempts to erase the two rather than join the two. Marriage is glorious for its leave and cleave. There is action there. There is something captivating. There is a miracle, a work of God. If you get rid of the distinction, then you get rid of the unity. And if you get rid of the distinction and the unity, then you get rid of the fruit.This one flesh union in marriage and its fruit obliterates nihilism with its meaninglessness and despair. The first woman came from man. And man has been coming from woman ever since. Along these lines, Paul says, “For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God” (1 Corinthians 11:12). In other words, all of this leaving, cleaving, and procreating is a big neon sign pointing you to your Creator. How could you despair in ear shot of the babies cooing? The kiddos giggling? And in the case of our covenant children, God stills the enemy and the avenger with the noises coming out of the mouths of those babes (Psalm 8:2).WHAT GOD HATH JOINED TOGETHERAnd this leads to another point. Jesus does not only say that the two become one, but God joins the two to- gether (v. 9). It follows that there is no room for paganism. That is, there is no room for thinking that creature alone did this. Creature did not make them male and female in the beginning. And creature did not keep mak- ing them male and female down through the centuries.Look at a man. Look at a woman. God’s fingerprints are all over them. Then, look upon man and woman joined in marriage. And remember as you do that this is the very picture Obergefell attempted to defame. Neverthe- less, look at that marriage. And here again, you see God’s handiwork.LET NOT MAN SEPARATEJesus provides an imperative that you might think should already be clear. That imperative is, “Let not man separate what God has joined together.” And we can hear the rage of the kings in the background, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:3). The kings of the earth from Psalm 2 do not like the bonds that have come down upon them from the Creator. Those given to homosexual lust and acts are in the same situation. They do not like God’s order and design. They do not like two becoming one. In this sense those given to transgender confusion are the same. They too reject the design of the Creator. And according to our Lord’s words, those who would divorce without cause, while not stumbling to the same degree, are stumbling in the same direction, tearing apart what God himself has fashioned.The good news is, amid all of our futile attempts to stamp out the image of God, amid our attempts to tear apart what he has fashioned, the Father sent his Son, a Son of Man, a Second Adam. Through his blood, man is reconciled to his Creator and the image of God in man is restored.

The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him. And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate (Mark 10:2–9 NKJV).

INTRODUCTIONChristians do not merely believe that God created all things from nothing and an intelligent design of the universe, we believe that the only fully rational accounting of the universe, science, logic, reason, and human experience begins with the authority of Scripture, submits to the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things, and surrenders in glad worship at His throne.THE TEXT“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:15-17).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe Apostle Paul is in the process of reviewing the gospel that was preached to the Colossians and has begun to bear fruit in their lives (Col. 1:4-8), and the prayer the apostles now have for the Colossians is that it might bear much fruit in their lives in knowledge and wisdom and good works and strength and joy (Col. 1:9-11), since salvation is deliverance from darkness into the kingdom of the Son, redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:12-14).This is where our text picks up underlining the power and potency of the gospel by underlining just who Jesus is: the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all of creation (Col. 1:15), the Creator of all things, the reason for all things (Col. 1:16), and that means that He is before and greater than all things and He is the One who upholds all things (Col. 1:17). Because that is Who He is, He is the Head of the New Creation, the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18), the fullness of God Himself, and therefore His cross is potent to reconcile all things, reconciling His enemies to Himself and presenting them holy and innocent in His sight (Col. 1:19-22).ACKNOWLEDGING THE CREATORPaul’s argument is this: If we preach the death and resurrection of Christ and men and women who are dead in their sins come to life, full of peace, from the madness and violence and confusion of sin and darkness, then a New Creation has begun. And if Jesus is the Head of that New Creation, He is the Head, the Source, the Firstborn of the Old Creation. He is the Center.Another way to put the argument is that everyone must have a standard for truth, a standard for evidence, a standard for making sense of everything. Paul is claiming that Christ and His authority is that universal standard for all men everywhere. Christ is the ultimate standard because He is the image of the invisible God, the Creator all things, and because without him nothing could exist (Col. 1:15-17). Of course the comeback is something like: But you can’t simply assert what you must prove. And our response is twofold: First, why not? You’re asserting a canon of reason, but you haven’t proven that you must prove every assertion in order for it to be valid. But the fact is that everyone must start with a presupposition that ultimately trusts God or man, the Creator or something in creation. You might start with reason, logic, science, experience, psychoanalysis, or consensus. But then you are beginning with a presupposition that one or more of those things are reliable guides to truth and coherence, but you haven’t (and cannot) prove their full reliability. In fact, all of those things are highly limited and have let people down in every era, and the last few years is no exception. Second, the proof of the authority of Christ is the forgiveness of sins and peace with God.EVIDENCE BASED FAITHIt is sometimes claimed that reason and faith are opposites, or that science and religion are at odds. But the Bible everywhere teaches that God is reasonable, His creation is reasonable, and He expects human beings who bear His image to think and reason. What the Bible rejects is autonomous reason. We reject human reason that rejects the authority of God’s Word. Faith is simply reason in submission to God.This means that all thinking people must reject Darwinism as complete nonsense and irrationality. It makes no sense at all to trust reason or science based on the assumption that the present world emerged by accidents and mutations. This is to claim that order and meaning emerged from chaos and meaninglessness, but every canon of reason and science rejects this.Unlike irrational religions and superstitions, the Bible everywhere assumes that God has established certain natural patterns and habits to the created order. This order is what allows nature to be studied, for the nature of things to be observed, logged, experimented with, and learned from. Cause and effect, logic, reason, and the scientific method all require an orderly and intelligent universe. In fact, modern science emerged from a largely Christian and Protestant worldview that believed in a personal and rational Creator God.CONCLUSION: WHAT ABOUT MIRACLES?One of the obvious questions following the assertion that God has created the world with an order and nature that is fix and stable is: then what about all the miracles in the Bible? The simple answer is that the Bible itself presents miracles as, well, miraculous, unusual, deviations from the norm. In addition, it assumes that in order to believe in miracles, any rational human being would need evidence, testimony, and proof.The central miracle of the Bible is the announcement that Jesus rose from the dead. And when John records the resurrection, he records the doubt of Thomas, who says he will not believe unless he sees the nail prints in the hands of Jesus and puts his hand into the side of Jesus, where the spear pierced Him. Then John says that the next time Jesus appeared, that was exactly what Jesus presented to Thomas (Jn. 20:27). And Thomas answered and said, “My Lord and my God” (Jn. 20:28).And John’s gospel closes with these words, “And Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you might have life in His name” (Jn. 20:30-31).

INTRODUCTIONWe will be taking a brief three-week break from our current series in 2 Corinthians in order to spend our time on what might be called a “back to school” special. Here at Christ Church, and at King’s Cross, and at CCD, we will all be addressing the same topics for these three weeks, and using the same texts. The reason for this is that our adversaries are not opposed to us for no particular reason. No, they have arguments, and we have a responsibility to address them. But as we do this, we want to do it on God’s terms, not theirs.THE TEXT“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:15–17).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTJesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God (v. 15). As such, He is the firstborn over all creation (v. 15). He is the firstborn over all creation because He is the Creator of all things in that created order (v. 16). This means, in the first instance, that He is not contained by that created order—He is the Lord of it (v. 16). He created everything in Heaven, and on earth. He created all the visible creatures and all the invisible creatures. He created the thrones, the dominions, the principalities, the powers, and all things else (v. 16). Not only was everything created by Him, it was also created for Him (v. 16). He is prior to, and underneath, everything. He is the one who sustains everything that He has made (v. 17). This means that He created everything, and that He holds together all that He has created. The basic takeaway for Christians is that Darwinism is the Ur-enemy.THAT WORD SCIENCEWhat is the most basic question we can ask about knowledge? The word science comes from the Latin scire, “to know,” and so science lays claim to knowledge about the material world. But because most people think that our debates about science and reason and revelation are debates about what we know, we go astray. The foundational question rather is this—what are the preconditions for being able to know anything at all? What kind of a universe is necessary for it to be possible for bits of that universe to know things?The scriptural answer to this is plain. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Prov. 9:10).And so in the context of our text from Colossians this morning, the Creator of all things was made incarnate so that He might reconcile to Himself all the things that He had made, things which had been estranged from Him because of our sin. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled” (Col. 1:21).In your minds. In your knowing. This includes scientific knowing. Engineered knowing. Historical knowing. Practical knowing. And so what this means is that the fear of the Lord is not the rival of science. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of science, the foundation of science, the ground of all science. It is what must be assumed in order for there to be any such thing as science. “The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them” (Psalm 111:2).THE REAL QUESTIONThe materialistic and atheistic scientist wants to treat this subject as a matter of what we know. He thinks the question of whether God made the world or not is the same kind of question as whether or not it is raining outside. “Let’s just apply the scientific method and go check.” But if there is no Creator, and the universe is just an infinite concourse of atoms, then no knowledge of anything is possible—and this would include the idea that the universe is a concourse of atoms. That means it is not the same kind of question at all.Now I know that this might seem heady to some of you, but it is really important. If the cosmos is just the debris field of the Big Bang, and there is no God, then it is just simply an accident. But if you want to know what happened in an accident, the one thing you don’t do is ask the accident. It doesn’t know. It’s the accident. As soon throw thousands of Scrabble tiles in the air and then eagerly expect them to spell out a detailed explanation of how no one actually ever invented the game of Scrabble.THE PURSUIT OF TRUTHThe pursuit of truth, any kind of truth, scientific and philosophical included, requires an antecedent commitment to the idea that there is such a thing as truth. And if someone denies it, saying there is no truth, just ask him if that is true. If anyone’s worldview says that there is really no reason to believe anything he says, then feel free to not.Earlier generations of unbelieving scientists were like the prodigal son before he ran out of his money. They were still spending the capital they had inherited from their father. But now, just like the prodigal son had no money, they have no basis for truth. They say that matter is the only thing that exists . . . but truth is not material. But what color is it? How much does it weigh? What chemicals make it up? The truth represented by the statement that “all is material” is not itself material.The scientific method cannot conclude no God. This is because the scientific method cannot consistently conclude with no scientific method. So it is not the case that science makes the idea of God incoherent. Rather a godless science makes science incoherent.CHRIST THE ARCHEAnd so we do not deploy our minds in order to defend the faith. Rather we recognize that it is the Christian faith that defends our minds.In the verse just after our text, it says that Christ is the beginning (arche), the preeminent one, the one who was firstborn from the dead. Christ is everything. It means that He is the first principle. He is the integration point of all things. He is the cornerstone. He is the ultimate elemental, the final Word. Christ is Lord. In the gift of Jesus to us, God the Father poured the footings for all possible knowing.But never forget the fact that the foundation of every form of lawful knowing, including the true gift of the scientific method, was established by a bleeding Christ. The crucified and risen one is the one who is given universal dominion, which means that His humility is the foundation of His exaltation. In turn that means that His humiliation is the deep foundation that enables us to know anything.Again, it is Christ or chaos.

INTRODUCTIONThe persistent weakness of God’s servants is not a bug, but rather a feature. God does it this way because He wants us to glory in Him, and not in ourselves. If we won the battles all by ourselves, we would be tempted to trust in ourselves. But God wants us to trust in Him as the one who raises the dead. If we lapse into trusting in ourselves, we are trusting in a power incapable of raising the dead. In a world like ours, that’s no good.THE TEXT“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:7–12).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTEarthen vessel, clay pots, were the cardboard boxes of the ancient world. They were used to store anything and everything. In Paul’s metaphor, our lives are the cardboard box while the pearls and diamonds inside it were the gospel, the excellency of God (v. 7). Paul then moves on to describe how beat up the cardboard box was (v. 8). All of his comparisons are meant to describe how the box remained functional, despite having gone through a lot. Troubled, but not distressed (v. 8). Perplexed, but not despairing (v. 8). Persecuted, but not abandoned (v. 9). Down, but not out (v. 9). Always carrying the death of Christ on the box so that the life of Christ might be seen within the box (v. 10). Coming at the same thing from another angle, he says that death has tattered the box to such an extent that the resurrection gems inside it can be seen (v. 11). Paul then adds a surprising twist—the death works in the apostles, but the life he is talking about resides in the Corinthians (v. 12). They were, as it were, part of Paul’s internal glory (v. 12).WEAKNESS AS GOD'S COPPERJust as copper wire conducts electricity, so also man’s frailty and weakness conduct the power of God. Anyone who has ever touched an exposed hot wire is learning something about electricity, and only secondarily about the copper.Paul was squeezed but not squashed (v. 8). As one translator puts it, he was “bewildered, but not befuddled” (v. 8). He was persecuted by men, but never abandoned by God (v. 9). Paul was knocked over, but not knocked out (v. 9). They came close at Lystra, when they stoned him in the city, and dragged what they thought was his corpse outside the city limits, and left him there for the birds. But when they were gone, and the disciples were standing around his body, Paul opened his eyes and said, “We done here?” He then got up and went back into the town (Acts 14:19-20).The afflictions of those who are closely following Christ are not haphazard. They are not random. They are not meaningless. They are not pointless. On the contrary, they are thepoint. How else can the copper conduct the electricity unless it is strung into wire?WHAT PASSES UNDERSTANDINGWhen all these sorts of things are barreling down on us, it is easy to give way to anxiety. We are juggling cares, responsibilities, obligations, possible disasters, and tenuous relationships. But Paul—who knew quite a bit about this whole subject—said that we were to be anxious “for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” we should present our prayers to God (Phil. 4:6). He then says that the peace of God will protect us (Phil. 4:7).There are two crucial things here. One is that we shouldn’t be worrying on our knees. Worry and anxiety are not sanctified because we give way to them in a posture of prayer. The key is that we are to present our petitions to God with thanksgiving. Sing a psalm.That leads to the next thing. Doing this will not protect the peace of God down in the nether regions of your heart somewhere. No, the peace of God is not the frail thing that needs protecting, but is rather the great shield of God that does the protecting. What needs protecting are our “hearts and minds” (Phil. 4:7). Our hearts and minds are not the shield. They do not do the protecting. They are our soft innards that need to be protected.BEARS MUCH FRUITFruit bearing is a function of substitution, and we are called to imitate the Lord in this. Some people assume that as Christ is the only one who can die as a fully efficacious substitute, then that must mean that we do not participate in substitutionary exchange at all. But this is false. Remember what Paul said here—death was in him, and life in the Corinthians (v. 12). Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, and this results in their ability to wash her with the water of the Word (Eph. 5:25-26). And Jesus tells us plainly that unless a grain of “wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:24–25).Christ sets the pattern of “my life for yours.” But He sets the pattern so that we might follow His example. And as we follow His example, He is pleased to enable us to “bear much fruit.” We are Christians. This is the Way.

We know that we need to confess our sin. But we often think that we are simply speaking the truth about our sin into the void. The truth, however, is that God is intricately involved in our confession. All things are from him, through him, and to him, including the confession of our sin.

INTRODUCTIONFood is right at the center of world. When God created man in His own image, He put him in a garden full of food with a Tree of Life in the midst of the garden. And the recurring picture of salvation and redemption is a feast: “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees. He shall swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces…” (Is. 25:6-7).The Bible closes with John’s vision of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9). And at the center of the Christian life, Jesus has given us a meal, a feast of life and joy and rest.THE TEXT“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying… concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts…” (Lev. 23:1-44)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTNever forget that God brought Israel out of Egypt so that they might feast with Him (Ex. 5:1, 24:11). The Peace Offering was a regular sacrificial feast that Israel was invited to celebrate, but God also established an annual festival calendar. The first and foundational feast was the weekly Sabbath (Lev. 23:1-3). The Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread was in the first month commemorating the Exodus (Lev. 23:4-8). The Feast of Firstfruits was at the very beginning of the Harvest (Lev. 23:9-14). And the Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost) came 50 days later at the end of harvest, remembering the poor as they did so (Lev. 23:15-22). On the first day of the seventh month, there was to be a Feast of Trumpets, preparing for the Day of Atonement 10 days later, the one day of affliction and (presumably) fasting in the Israelite calendar (Lev. 23:23-32). Five days later, the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) began, a full week of feasting in makeshift tents, also at the end of harvest (Lev. 23:33-44). Finally, we should simply note that throughout these feasts are “holy convocations,” worship services, where Israel gathered together to hear Scripture, to sing, to pray, rejoice, and remember.REJOICE IN THE LORDChristians have frequently embraced a less than biblical understanding of joy. The foundation of Christian joy is the forgiveness of sins, and that is a joy that can never be taken from you. But then what do you do with that joy? The Bible requires us to rejoice always (Phil. 4:4). And in the same place, Paul says that he has learned in whatever state he is in to be content (Phil. 4:11-12). “All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” (Prov. 15:15). And we should note that this rejoicing and contentment is what Paul is talking about when he says he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him (Phil. 4:14). So God commanded Israel to keep these feasts throughout the year so that they would “rejoice before the Lord” (Lev. 23:40, cf. Dt. 12:7, 12, 18).So this is also why when God delivered the Jews from the plotting of Haman, they established the feast of Purim, “a day of feasting and gladness” and giving gifts as a memorial throughout their generations (Esth. 9:17-28). Memorials are reminders in space or time, and memorial feasts are reminders to rejoice always. Later, in the intertestamental period, the Jews took back the temple mount from their enemies and rededicated it, establishing the Festival of Lights or Hannukah, which Jesus participated in (Jn. 10:22). While we are certainly not bound by the Old Testament calendar (Gal. 4:9-10, Rom. 14:5-7) and the kingdom of God is not in meat or drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17), God wants us to rejoice in Him and mark that joy with feasting.A BRIEF CASE FOR A CHRISTIAN SABBATHWhile celebrating Sunday as the Christian Sabbath is not something Christians should quarrel about, a strong case can be made for the practice. First, we should note that God rested when He created the world, before there was any sin in the world, establishing a one day in seven rhythm that is embedded in the nature of the world. In the first giving of the law, this is the pattern that Israel was to follow keeping the seventh day as sabbath (Ex. 20:11). In the second giving, Moses appealed to the Exodus (Dt. 5:15), not because remembering creation had ceased, but because now there was more to remember, and the central command in Sabbath-keeping is to “remember.” Specifically, as Israel went into Canaan, they were to remember that they had been slaves with no days off, but God had made them His free royal sons who would now work for Him and celebrate a weekly holiday.Isaiah prophesied that in the New Covenant all flesh will worship the true God “from one sabbath to another” (Is. 66:23), and Hebrews explicitly says that a “rest” remains for the people of God, and the word there is “sabbath” (Heb. 4:9). So the question that remains would be why do we believe that the Christian Sabbath is Sunday instead of Saturday? Given all of this, it actually makes tons of sense that Christians would immediately begin celebrating a weekly Sabbath feast and holy convocation on the day Jesus rose from the dead and remade all things (1 Cor. 16:2, Rev. 1:10). The resurrection marks the new creation and the new Exodus, and if God’s people celebrated the first creation and the first exodus as free sons with a weekly festival, why would we do any less?CONCLUSION: JESUS, LORD OF TIMEPart of what we proclaim when we say that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, is that He is the Lord of Time. He is Lord of our calendars. People always keep time by their gods because our lives are timebound (e.g. ‘Sun’-day, ‘Moon’-day, Thors-day, etc.) and so we mark those things that seem most important and those memorials in time in turn shape us into certain kinds of people. This is why culture wars center on battles over the dictionary and the calendar (words/definitions and time). What is true? What must we remember and celebrate?The gospel is gloriously historic. Jesus created the heavens and the earth in six days, and in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son to be born of a woman, to be born under the law, to redeem us from the curse of the law. Jesus was born in time, on a particular day. He lived for about 33 years, and He was crucified, and on the third day, He rose from the dead. He was seen by many for 40 days, ascended into Heaven, and on the 50th day, He sent His Holy Spirit on the Church.While the Roman Catholic calendar got overly crowded and burdensome during the middle ages, we stand with the historic church and the Reformers in wanting our lives to be shaped by Christ in time and so we celebrate the Five Evangelical Feast Days (Christmas, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost), the central events in the life of Christ, with the Lord’s Day as our weekly rhythm of rejoicing at the center. We work hard because we rest in Him.

INTRODUCTIONThe central message of the Bible is God’s victory over death through resurrection. As the ministers of God in the Old Testament, the priests of Israel were required to picture God’s coming victory over death in a number of ways. While some of the particulars have changed in the New Covenant, the principles really have not. What the Old Testament pictured, Christ has accomplished as our High Priest, and He has made us a holy priesthood for God.THE TEXT“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel…” (Lev. 21-22).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThese instructions are given to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and they begin by forbidding touching dead bodies and being defiled and imitating the mourning practices of the pagans (21:1-6, 10-12). Their marriages were to be pictures of purity, and their children were to be faithful (21:7-9, 13-15). Priests who served in the sanctuary were to be physically whole (21:16-24). The priests were to honor the ceremonial cleanliness laws and follow the purification instructions just like the rest of Israel (22:1-9). The privileges of the priesthood belonged to the priest and his household, not visitors or daughters who married out of the priestly tribe (22:10-13). Accidental profaning of holy things required restitution with 20 percent added to it (22:14-16). All offerings were to be males without obvious reminders of the curse of death – no blemish, bruise, spot, or deformity (22:17-25). God required His people to practice a measure of compassion and reverence for new life and motherhood even with animals, permitting newborn animals to be offered only after a week old, and a mother and baby could not be offered on the same day (22:26-28). Sacrifices of thanksgiving were to be offered and eaten on the same day because God is holy and He brought Israel out of Egypt (22:29-33).DO NOT SORROW LIKE THOSE WITHOUT HOPEWhat the priests were required to practice in the Old Testament with regard to death really is wonderfully fulfilled in Jesus and the principles that continue to apply to us are glorious. The central application of these laws to the New Testament Christian priesthood (all Christians) is that we may not sorrow over death like pagans, like those who have no hope: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1 Thess. 4:13-14). The death and resurrection of Jesus has radically altered the world and death itself.This language of “sleeping” is also related. After Jesus conquered death, those who die in Him are not said to really die anymore, only sleep (e.g. 1 Cor. 15:6). Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (Jn. 11:26-27, Jn. 6:40-58). When Jesus came to the house of the little girl who had died, He said, why are you making such a commotion with all your weeping, she is not dead but only sleeping (Mk. 5:39). Then putting everyone out of the house except her parents, he took the little girl by the hand and told her to arise (Mk. 5:40-41). Did Jesus, our Great High priest touch a dead body? No, because in the presence of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, His touch is life. To Him, and to all who are in Him, death is merely sleep. So neither do we defile ourselves when we are in the presence of those who die, and we do not mourn as those without hope. We may certainly weep as Jesus did at the grave of Lazarus, but it is not a grief of hopeless despair. And our memorial services do and should reflect that. Because Jesus had not yet come, the priests were required to keep themselves from dead bodies (Lev. 21:1-5, 10-11), and all that resembled the curse of death – those with diseases and deformities could not serve in the tabernacle (Lev. 21:17-23). But now in Christ, those born with disease or deformities are reckoned whole in Him and therefore most welcome in worship and in the worshiping community.ONE BAPTISM & ONE SACRIFICE & ONE PRIESTHOODIn the Old Covenant, there were many baptisms (Heb. 9:10). In fact, that was how you became ceremonially clean, you had to be baptized repeatedly, every time you became unclean before coming to the sanctuary for worship (Lev. 22:6). This is part of the glory of “one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). And Hebrews says that it wasn’t just the washing that purified but it was also the offering (Heb. 9:13). This is why the offerings of the Old Covenant had to be without blemish (Lev. 22:19-25), but if God accepted the blood of bulls and goats without blemish as faint shadows for purification, “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:13-14). Jesus is the priest, and Jesus is the sacrifice.CONCLUSIONSAnd notice what you need to be cleansed from: dead works. Dead people do dead works. Outside of Christ, people are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1-5). Outside of Christ people are not sick, not merely confused, not merely on life support. Outside of Christ, people are dry bones scattered on the ground (Ez. 37). But people do not think this is what they are since they can still go to church, sing in the choir, vote conservative, and lead small groups. But what they are offering is their own dead works full of blemishes, spots, bruised, crushed, broken, and cut (Lev. 22:24) because they are dead themselves. And therefore, your works will not be accepted by God. This is why you often need to be forgiven for what you think of as being your virtues. Even your righteousness is like filthy rags, full of death (Is. 64:6). You must be raised from the dead and cleansed from your dead works.Many people have pointed out that Jesus never did funerals. Jesus attended or showed up in the midst of funerals, but they never stayed that way. Whenever Jesus shows up in the gospels where someone has died, death never has the last word.In the New Covenant, all Christians are priests, and we all offer our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2). And what you do all week long is what you are bringing to offer, and that will either be the perfection and purity and resurrection life of Christ or else dead works. What do you have? What is in your hands? What is in your heart? If you call on the Lord, you will be saved.

THE TEXTGod, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.5 For to which of the angels did He ever say:“You are My Son,Today I have begotten You”?And again:“I will be to Him a Father,And He shall be to Me a Son”?6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:“Let all the angels of God worship Him.”7 And of the angels He says:“Who makes His angels spiritsAnd His ministers a flame of fire.”8 But to the Son He says:“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;Therefore God, Your God, has anointed YouWith the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”10 And:“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,And the heavens are the work of Your hands.11 They will perish, but You remain;And they will all grow old like a garment;12 Like a cloak You will fold them up,And they will be changed.But You are the same,And Your years will not fail.”13 But to which of the angels has He ever said:“Sit at My right hand,Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”?14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

Before reading our text for this morning, I cannot let this moment pass unremarked. As you have already heard in the exhortation, this last Friday the Supreme Court reversed their infamous Roe decision of 1973. That makes this our first post-Roe worship service. And if you are not yet fifty years old, this means that this is the first worship service of your entire life where Roe was not the tyrannical and very bloody backdrop.

INTRODUCTIONThere will never come a time in your Christian life where the Spirit will invite you to coast. You are not going to grow to an age where it will be unnecessary to trust God. There will always be something that you need to trust God for. We never grow out of our need to believe in the God who raises the dead.THE TEXT“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf” (2 Cor. 1:8–11).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTAuthentic ministry is in constant need of resurrection power. Paul alludes to some kind of monumental trouble that his band had encountered in Asia. Some interpreters think that this is referring to the riot in Ephesus (Acts 19:23-20:1), but Paul’s description of his internal emotions here does not seem to match with that episode. He describes himself here as despairing “even of life” (v. 8). It is best to apply this description to some unidentified disaster of Paul’s life. The reason Paul was given this sentence of death “within himself” was so that he might learn a lesson, that lesson being a “resurrection lesson” (v. 9). This was so that they would not trust in themselves, but rather in God who raises the dead. This is the God who delivered, who does deliver, and will deliver again (v. 10). This is the lesson.What God does in the past is to be taken by us as a pattern. And the final thought here is that there is a biblical basis for getting a lot of people to pray for something. The Corinthians helped Paul through their prayers—the gift of deliverance was bestowed through the prayers of many, meaning that there would also be gratitude from the many (v. 11).THE AFFLICTION PATTERNAn essential part of God’s plan—for establishing His church, fulfilling the Great Commission, and extending His kingdom throughout the world—has to be understood as the suffering of church planters, missionaries, and pastors. As they imitate Christ, it turns out that they imitate Him in His sufferings. This is why He has things go wrong. When things “go wrong,” you should know you are on the right track.This requires great wisdom, because there is a kind of “going wrong” that should be a signal to knock off whatever it is you are doing. The sluggard is supposed to consider his lazy ways, and amend them (Prov. 6:6-10) The prudent man watches his step (Prov. 14:15), as well he should.So how can we tell that we are suffering because we on the right track? The reason for all the anti-aircraft fire is that you are over the target. The answer is that you are to know the options because you know the Scriptures, and you then walk by faith. Afflictions can be God’s stop sign, and they can also be His blinking yellow. Walk in wisdom. Walk in faith.AS INVITEDA skeptic is going to say that “just because something happened in the past doesn’t mean it will happen again.” And what are we to make of the variations in the promises of God? He says that He will not allow the wicked to succeed in killing the righteous (Ps. 37:32-33), and yet what about Dietrich Bonhoeffer? In the same psalm, God promises provision during famine (Ps. 37:19). Has no believer ever died of starvation?We should appeal to Hebrews 11:32-39. Look at the stark transition in the middle of v. 35. Some received their dead back to life. Others were tortured. Some conquered, others were conquered, and all did so in faith. The promises of God are not theorems from Euclid, where triangles will never not have three sides. The promises are rock in God’s quarry, and as I build my house, I need to choose which rocks I bring out with intelligence and faith. Read your Bibles and, having read your Bibles, read the story you are in. Do this honestly—take your thumb off the scales. If your thumb is on the scales, you are not building a scriptural house. Rather, you are just daydreaming and weaving Bible verses into it.That said, He delivered us in the past. He will deliver us in the immediate future. And He will certainly deliver us in the ultimate future.WITH UPTURNED FACESThe apostle Paul was not at all shy about requesting prayer. This is not because he did not believe in the sovereignty of God—it was because he did believe in the sovereignty of God. Prayer and answered prayers is one of the central tools that God uses us to teach us that everything proceeds from Him.Paul requested prayer for his continued boldness (Eph. 6:19). He requested prayer for his deliverance (Phil 1:19). He prayed that a door for effective ministry would open (Col. 4:3). He requested prayer for the Word of the Lord to speed on and be honored (2 Thess 3:1). Paul requests many prayers from many saints, and he does this a lot.We get more details about how this is to work in v. 11 here. The Corinthians saints were helping Paul through prayer for Paul. When the gift of answered prayer was bestowed on Paul and his company, it was by means of the prayers of many faces (prosopon). Think of many faces, uplifted to Heaven on Paul’s behalf, and so when God answers their pleading, those same faces may look toward God in deep gratitude.Prayer and its answers are a conversation. Prayer is relationship. Moreover it is a covenanted relationship, bound together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the more the merrier. You are here worshiping God in the name of Jesus Christ, and God loves seeing your faces.

Talk 5 of 6 from Missions Conference 2022: As the Waters Cover the Sea. The gospel is good news for all people, in all lands, at all times. The call of the church is to obey Christ’s command to teach the nations obedience to Him, as the King of all the earth. The great promise of the prophet Hosea is that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as water covers the sea. But between the commencement of Christ’s kingly rule of earth and the day when he comes again to judge the living and the dead, there will be ebbs and flows.While initially in the gospel’s advance it centered in Jerusalem, and then took root in the West, we see in more recent decades how the gospel is rapidly advancing in South America and in the Eastern lands. But oftentimes, Christians in the West are often unsure of how to take the gospel and share it with their fellow Westerners; but more so are stumped by how to share the good news with those from very different cultures and religions.Missions Conference 2022 is intended to help answer those questions, while equipping the saints where they are to be ready to share the word with not only their neighbor but the foreigner in their midst as well.Visit our website: https://christkirk.com.

The Psalms are the war songs of the Church. The Psalms are the steak and potatoes for men and women, boys and girls committed to fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil. Do you want joy in your home? Sing Psalms around your dinner table. Do you want to drive away temptation, bad attitudes, hard hearts, and just plain taunt the Devil? Sing Psalms in your car. Do you want God to grant Reformation to our land and silence the proud and the foolish? Sing Psalms every chance you get.

We are a congregation that is resolved to make a mark for Christ in this world. We see the futility and folly all around us. And we want to see salvation spring up from the ground. We anticipate the budding forth of redemption. And this anticipation is biblically warranted. Isaiah says, “Let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation. And let righteousness spring up together” (Isaiah 45:8). But we must remember what happens prior to the growth of wheat in the fields and grapes on the vine. And that is: rain from heaven. Just before Isaiah speaks of salvation springing forth from the earth, he says, “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, And let the skies pour down righteousness” (Isaiah 45:8). Christ has ascended into heaven, and our salvation is in him. All blessing comes from the Father through the heavenly seated Son to us by the Spirit. God rains down righteousness upon us. He pours out grace upon grace. He rejoices over you with loud singing. Your job is to listen. Do you hear him? He is your Heavenly Father. So turn your ear up. He makes his face to shine upon you. So turn your face up and behold his glory without a veil. Lean back your heads, spread wide your arms, and receive the Father’s grace by faith. C. S. Lewis once said, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next... Aim at heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”

God isn’t keeping you out. Only sin keeps us out. But the promise is glorious: if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God really is easy to please.

A central aspect of this community that we are seeking to grow is hospitality. We believe in welcoming strangers, feeding the hungry, and befriending the lonely. It was not good for man to be alone in the beginning, and that was not just talking about bachelors; it was talking about community. We are talking about the work of the Spirit in the Church, conforming us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ. This happens around conversations after church, meals in one another’s homes, play dates, business ventures, prayer, and worship.

Guest Preacher: Dr. James White

The enemies of the church have effectively wielded the weapon of irreverent mockery. Pop culture has relentlessly pilloried sacred things as objects of scorn for decades. Sit-coms make dads the butt of every joke. Late-night comedians guffaw over puritanical sexual ethics. These modern court jesters mocked sacred things, with no reverence shown whatsoever.But their irreverent jokes landed because the church made a mockery of these things first.

So our position on church membership is that at the very least there ought to be two lists of names: a list of elders and a list of members. And the people on the two lists need to know one another well enough and there needs to be enough interaction between them that members can consider the way of life of their leaders and imitate their faith as it says, and the leaders need to know their people well enough to actually watch over their souls and give an account to God for them.

INTRODUCTIONPart of what the leprosy laws proclaim to us is that the central, highest calling of man is to worship his maker. Worship is central. Worship moves the world. When God restores men and women to worship, He is restoring their humanity, which in turn, by His grace, restores the world. Christ is saving the world by drawing the world to worship.THE TEXT“This shall the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest…” (Lev. 13-14)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTA number of skin diseases and blemishes are described, requiring the priests to examine and reexamine over time to determine whether an Israelite was clean or unclean (13:1-44). If the person is determined to be unclean in an ongoing way, he was declared “utterly unclean,” and he was required to be quarantined outside the camp (13:44-46). Garments could also be infected by plague, and these needed to be examined and tested (13:47-59). For cleansing, two living birds were chosen: one was killed in an earthen vessel over water, the other was dipped together with cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop in the blood of the bird that was killed; it would be sprinkled on the one being cleansed and then the living bird would be released (13:1-7). The cleansed leper was completely shaved and washed and brought back into the camp, but waited for seven days, before being shaved and washed again (13:8-10). On the eighth day, three lambs were chosen, one for a trespass offering, one for a sin offering, and one for an ascension offering: some of the blood of the trespass offering was put on the right ear, the right hand, and the right big toe of the one being cleansed (14:11-14). And the same thing was done with oil (14:15-20). Finally, provisions were made for those who could not afford the lambs (14:21-32).CLEANSING FOR WORSHIPRemember that the designations for “clean/unclean” primarily designate who could draw near to God in worship. The clearest indication of this is the fact that the cleansing of the lepers almost exactly mirrors the ordination of the priests (cf. Lev. 8), particularly the seven days and the blood on the earlobes, thumbs, and big toes (Lev. 14:14). God was certainly using this ceremonial code to teach Israel about basic hygiene and health, but the primary point was that God is the source of all life and health and blessing. “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases” (Psa. 103:3). This means we ought rather to obey God than do what seems right to us. Remember Naaman the Syrian leper who was initially offended by the prophet’s instruction to bathe in a dirty Jordan River seven times (2 Kgs. 5:10). If we live in a land full of idolatry and perversion, failing to worship the Living God in the beauty of holiness, how can we be surprised if we are struck with diseases (cf. Dt. 28:60)? If Jesus says we ought be baptized, then we ought to be baptized. If He tells us to sing the Psalms, we ought to sing the Psalms. If He tells us to share bread and wine with joy, we ought to obey Him. Worship and its efficacy are God’s prerogative, not ours.JESUS REVERSES THE CURSEOne of the great lessons of the purity codes of Israel was that under the Old Covenant, the curse of sin was infectious. In the New Covenant, sin can still be very deadly (2 Cor. 6:17); bitterness still defiles many (Heb. 12:15). But because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, grace and healing have become more infectious. Where sin had abounded, grace abounds still more (Rom. 5:20). This is demonstrated when Jesus touches lepers or is touched by the unclean, and instead of Jesus becoming unclean, the unclean are cleansed: “And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, ‘I will; be thou clean’” (Mk. 1:41, cf. Mk. 3:10). Remember the woman with the flow of blood who touched Jesus, but instead of making Him (or his garment) unclean, power went out from Him and cleansed her (Mk. 5:28-30). This is because Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Is. 53:5).CONCLUSIONSQuarantines for the sick are biblical, but quarantines for the healthy are wicked. We see in these texts that God made the world such that there are visible indicators of infection and disease. The scientific ramifications for Leviticus 13 are tremendous. While there is much that we still do not understand, and there will no doubt be deep mysteries into the resurrection, the world is rational and knowable because God is rational and knowable, not random or capricious.The heart of true worship is gratitude. Remember the Samaritan leper who was cleansed and came back and worshiped Jesus (Lk. 17:16). Our reasons for gratitude are manifold: gratitude for health and medicine, all of creation and beauty, answered prayers and our families, and every detail that points to our cleansing and redemption in the blood of Jesus. Jesus died that we might be sprinkled and set free. Jesus died that we might be sprinkled and drawn near to the Living God with His blessing on our lives, so that all things might be made new.

INTRODUCTIONThe aim of this sermon is to remind you all that there is absolutely no one who can condemn you. And that message of “no condemnation” has a purpose. The purpose is not merely to leave you feeling happy, though happy it should leave you. The purpose is to increase your joy and confidence so that you would be bolstered in your conquering.THE TEXT“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:31–39).NO ONE TO CONDEMNThe passage tells us that there is no one to condemn us. But that does not mean that there is any shortage of those who will try to condemn us. And these attempts come in various forms and from many directions.DO MORE THAN CONQUERBeing justified, we are then more than conquerors. We not only conquer. We do more than conquer. The conquering is extensive, which means that the things which need to be conquered are extensive.IT IS CHRISTColossians 1:17 says that by Christ all things consist. Christ holds all things together. And your justification is one of those things that Christ holds together.

A return to faithful and biblically ordered worship of the God of Abraham is our nation’s only hope.

Can you know for certain that you are saved? Can you know for certain that you have eternal life and that when you die, you will be with Christ forever? The Bible says that you can know. In fact, 1 John is one of places in the Bible full of the promises of assurance of salvation.

So you are called to endure. You have worked hard. You have sacrificed much. You have washed feet, and dishes, and many other things. Praise be to God. And don't stop now. For Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Follow Him there and don't come up to manage the overflowing cup. No one will complain about carpet stained with blessings.

INTRODUCTIONThis message on Inescapable Fear could just as easily been entitled as Freedom from Fear. And, without any contradiction, it could also be entitled The Christian Grace of Fear. But all this will take some unpacking.THE TEXT “And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12: 4-7; cf. Matt. 10:28-31).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTNotice how Jesus addresses His disciples here—He calls them His friends (v. 4). His next words are instructions to them to not be afraid of those whose maximum power is that of physical death (v. 4). He then turns to the subject of the one that they should fear—the one who has complete, full, and final authority over hell. Christ emphasizes that they should fear Him—He says it three times in one verse. Fear Him (v. 5). God remembers even the sparrows, sold so cheaply in the market (v. 6). This means that the hairs of your head are all numbered (v. 7). Do not fear, therefore, because you are worth more than many sparrows (v. 7).FEAR NOT, FEAR, FEAR NOTHere is the pattern. We are not to fear men. All they can do is kill us. We are to fear God—He is the one who can throw people into hell. But God loves us and cherishes us, and He cares deeply for us. We should therefore not fear the providences of God concerning us. Still less should we fear the pains of hell. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4: 18). We do not fear hell; we defy it. We do not fear hell because we fear the one who can put us there. Because we fear Him, we know that He does not want to do this to us—we are worth more than many sparrows. When He sends His angels, they almost always say, “Fear not.”Now this is why we have spoken about inescapable fear. If we fear man, we do not fear God. If we fear God, we will not fear man. But we will fear someone. The question, therefore, is not whether we will fear, but rather whom we will fear. This is just another form of “not whether, but which.” HEALTHY FEAR One of the central reasons why modern Christians are so timid is because we have not cultivated a healthy fear of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7). This is foundational. And notice how fear of God is described in the New Testament as a glorious and wonderful thing. Forgive me as I belabor the point.“And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word” (Matt 28:8).“And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation” (Luke 1:50).“And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day” (Luke 5:26; 7:16).“Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied” (Acts 9:31).“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13).“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Eph 5:21).“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29).There are many other passages like this—this is a point that could be multiplied many times over.BRING THIS TOGETHER In our fear of God, we begin to know; fear and great joy mingle in knowledge of the resurrection; fear receives mercy; fear renders awe and glory; walking in fear means walking in comfort; fear advances personal holiness; fear works out salvation; fear enables us in cultivating the spirit of mutual submission and humility; fear animates appropriate worship. Fear of God is therefore a Christian’s glory.PROFOUND AND ALL-PERVASIVE FEARBecause of this profound and all-pervasive fear, we do not fear anything. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim 1:7). “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption” (Rom. 8:15). “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:15).TO PRESS THE POINT This means that if you are troubled with anxieties and fears, then you need to name the problem accurately. The problem is that you do not fear as you ought, and the vacuum has been filled by phantoms. Now I am not talking about normal physiological reactions—shaking when you just escaped from a car wreck, or you have a close call with a grizzly bear.I am talking about the ongoing fears that cripple your Christian life and your relationships with others. What do I mean? I am referring to fear of slippery roads, loss of reputation, the cancer you might get twenty years out, dying young, marital unhappiness in the future, or any other kind of “what about? or “what if?” followed by some unpleasantness that you cooked up. The fear of God liberates. The fear of the creature paralyzes—because to guard effectively against whatever it is, you have to be omnipotent. And you are not.WE MAY BOLDLY SAY…The fear of God is the foundation of all true contentment. All things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). And when we are content, free from grasping and covetousness, what may we then say? God will never ditch us. We are His people.“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:5-6).

In a moment when I declare to you that your sins are forgiven through Christ, you must not only receive it for any of your individual sins, but you must also receive it for the forgiveness of your husband’s sins, your wife’s sins, your father’s sins, your mother’s sins, your brother, your sister, your grandparents, your employers, your roommate, especially if they have asked for it. And if they haven’t asked for it yet, you are to have that forgiveness in your heart for them, all ready for when they ask. How can you withhold from them what God gives you so feely?

One of the ways our worship service is noticeably different from others is found in the fact that our worship services are designed for believers. We do other events periodically that are designed specifically for unbelievers – evangelistic outreaches, debates, etc., but we believe that the primary purpose of Lord’s Day worship is for believers and their families to gather before the Lord to renew covenant. We renew covenant not because the covenant expires or gets old, but we renew covenant because we are the kinds of creatures who grow weary and forget. God does not forget His promises, but we need to be reminded of them.

INTRODUCTIONWe live in troubled times, certainly, and a regular response that rank-and-file Christians have to this difficulty is found in the lament, “But what can we do?” This year, our annual state of the church message is going to set before you a very local response to a very global and international panic, not to mention the totalitarian “solutions” that are being presented to us. And as it happens, the Scriptures we will bring to bear are Scriptures that are equally pertinent to our local and national situations both.This is quite striking, because if we zoom out, we see that things have not been so bad in quite some time. But if we zoom in, looking at our community of believers, things have never been so good. What should we do with this?THE TEXT“Use hospitality one to another without grudging” (1 Peter 4:9).“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).“Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14–15)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTSThe three texts might be described as social exhortations. They have to do with our life together, with our social interactions, and they warn about the kind of sin that disrupts such fellowship. Peter tells us to be hospitable to one another, and he tells us to do this without grumbling or complaining (1 Pet. 4:9). The reason for warning us about this is that hospitality gives rise to occasions where you want to grumble or complain. They didn’t invite you back, or they didn’t wipe their feet, or they didn’t say thank you. Hebrews 13 tells us to show hospitality because we never know who it is we are being kind to (Heb. 13:2). The most inauspicious guest might be an angel—and when it isn’t an angel, it turns out to have been Christ (Matt. 25:40). And then in Philippians, we are warned against grumbles and disputes (temptations which, again, occur often in a community where hospitality is practiced).But the reason I selected these three particular exhortations has to do with the larger context. Peter says that we are to be hospitable without grumbling, but what was that larger context? He was preparing his readers for persecution. Their faith was to be tried by fire (1 Pet. 1:7). Christ suffered so that we might follow His example (1 Pet. 2:21). They were going to encounter false accusations (1 Pet. 3:16). All this is the run-up to “be hospitable, and no whining.” In Hebrews, we are told to take strangers in—but again, what is the context? These people had undergone great afflictions (Heb. 10:32), had been reviled (Heb. 10:33), and had had their property confiscated (Heb. 10:34). These are the people who are to take strangers in. In Philippians, it is the same. Be blameless, harmless. No murmuring or disputing. But what had Paul said just a moment before? “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29).THE EARLY CHURCH IN ACTSOn the day of Pentecost, three thousand souls were added to the church (Acts 2:41). Later, as the gospel gained strength, there were about five thousand more (Acts 4:4). This process continued, and it started to cause problems. “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration” (Acts 6:1).The apostles responded in two ways. The first is that they refused to abandon prayer and the ministry of the Word—as that was the driving engine (Acts 6:4). But second, they made a judicious set of ordinations, setting aside godly deacons to address the problem (Acts 6:3).All of this was good preparation for what was to come (Acts 8:1).COMMUNITY, HOSPITALITY, FRIENDSBecause of the cultural disarray in many other places, and because God has been so kind to us here, hundreds of people have moved here. Perhaps you have noticed. All the indications are that hundreds more are on the way. What does this mean? First, it means that there will be multiple opportunities to be hospitable without grumbling. Second, it means that it is quite possible that the trouble we see elsewhere is headed our way. We have no guarantees that it won’t happen, and we do have the assurance of these passages that being kind to strangers is a very good way to prepare. What can I do?Most of you here don’t know most of you here. In a room filled with strangers, what can I do? We have to understand that God does great collective things by means of doing countless tiny things. No one raindrop feels responsible for the ocean, but each one is. This is how God works.Koinonia fellowship is a great grace of the Holy Spirit, and we certainly have that blessing here. But do not confuse it with other things. It is not the same thing as friendship, for example. Jesus loved His disciples, and He loved them and protected them all (John 17:12). But He also had Peter, James, and John as friends (Matt. 17:1). And among those three, John was His best friend (John 13:23).CHRIST IS HEREAt the conclusion of this service, Christ invites you to sit down at His table. This is a glorious kindness. One of the things that it teaches us to do is this—when it comes time for us to set our tables, we should be hungry for opportunities to invite Christ to sit down at our tables. But He travels incognito, remember? You may not recognize Him until He takes the loaf from you, says grace, and breaks the bread (Luke 24:30-31). You might not recognize Him even then. You might not realize any of this until the last day.When you come to His house, His identity is known and declared. When He comes to yours, He often comes in the disguise of a nuisance.

THE TEXTThen Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times, to seek to use sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him.Then he took up his oracle and said:“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened,The utterance of him who hears the words of God,Who sees the vision of the Almighty,Who falls down, with eyes wide open:“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob!Your dwellings, O Israel!Like valleys that stretch out,Like gardens by the riverside,Like aloes planted by the Lord,Like cedars beside the waters.He shall pour water from his buckets,And his seed shall be in many waters.“His king shall be higher than Agag,And his kingdom shall be exalted.“God brings him out of Egypt;He has strength like a wild ox;He shall consume the nations, his enemies;He shall break their bonesAnd pierce them with his arrows.‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion;And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’“Blessed is he who blesses you,And cursed is he who curses you.”Then Balak’s anger was aroused against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times! Now therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor.”So Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, ‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak’? (Numbers 23:27–24:13).

We desire a Reformation, and thus we’ve blasted the trumpet for the saints of God to go to the Word. This is half of maintaining your Spiritual vitality. We must also eagerly head to the prayer closet, for that’s where your faith is most likely to be tested, and thus strengthened.

INTRODUCTIONThis second blessing pronounced by Balaam doubles down on the first, insisting that God is determined to bless Israel because He always keeps His promises. On top of that, God insists that He sees no evil or trouble in His people. This doesn’t seem right to us, and that’s why we need to be reminded how His grace works.THE TEXTAnd he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain (Num. 23:18-24).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTGod address Balak with a “shema” summons to hear, just as Israel is command (cf. Dt. 6) (23:18). God assures him that he doesn’t lie and he doesn’t change his mind like men; what He has promised to do, He will surely accomplish (23:19). Balaam repeats that he has received another instruction to bless; God has blessed and it cannot be reversed (23:20). But this isn’t merely a refusal to curse; God does not see any iniquity in Jacob, no reason to curse Israel (23:21). The Lord Himself is in the midst of Israel, and therefore God only hears the voice of a great king (23:21). God brought them out of Egypt with the strength of a unicorn, so there is no incantation or divination that can come against them and the whole world is impressed with what God has done (23:22-23). Therefore, Israel will be a conquering nation, like lions that devour their prey (23:24).UNBREAKABLE COVENANT PROMISESWhen God says He isn’t a man who changes his mind or breaks his promises, He is pointing back to the covenants He has made and kept. God made covenant with Adam in the Garden after the Fall, promising to one day crush the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3). God renewed covenant with Noah, saving his family and promising never to flood the world again (Gen. 9). God renewed covenant with Abraham and promised that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 15, 17). God kept those promises by delivering Israel out of Egypt (Ex. 3) and renewing covenant at Sinai (Gen. 19-24). This track record has only increased, as God kept covenant through the judges and renewed His promises to David (2 Sam. 7). All of these promises are being fulfilled in Jesus. This is what Mary and Zechariah sing about at the coming of Jesus (Lk. 1:55ff). All the promises of God find their “yes” in Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20). God is not a man who lies or goes back on His word. But God is the kind of God who loves men who have.WHAT GOD SEESWe noted last week that Balaam’s first blessing is already incredible since God pronounced a blessing on a nation full of complaints and unbelief, but God goes even further here insisting that He has not seen any trouble or wickedness in Israel (23:21). On the surface this is outrageous, since the book of Numbers chronicles Israel’s troubles and evil. But the same verse explains how this is possible: God Himself is in Israel, the shout of a king is in their midst (23:21).What Balaam is prophesying is God’s covenant love and promises. The God who calls light out of darkness and life from the dead, calls those things which do not exist as though they did (Rom. 4:17, cf. 2 Cor. 10). God promises the complete remission of our sins, a perfect standing, and His complete approval and everlasting blessing in Christ crucified and risen from the dead. Faith in Christ is being fully convinced that what God has promised, He is able to perform (Rom. 4:21). And when that kind of faith receives those promises, an individual is justified. Faith sees Christ for us, and God simultaneously sees Christ in us. God forgets all our sins in the blood of Jesus, and the status of Christ’s perfect obedience is imputed to us (Rom. 4:22-24).In the covenant, God declares His love and intention to bless. In the covenant, He declares us holy, saints (1 Cor. 7:14, cf. 1 Cor. 1:2, Eph. 1:1, etc.). And when that love is received, when that promise is believed, we are justified, and all that God sees in us is Christ. All He hears in us is the shout of our King. And one of the most glorious things our king shouts is: It is finished. In Christ, He doesn’t see any trouble or evil in you. This isn’t a blind, sentimental love; it’s a bloody, truthful love.CONCLUSIONChristianity is a militant religion, but what is frequently misunderstood or misconstrued is the fact that our militance is driven by God’s fierce grace. What do we want to see fill Moscow? God’s grace: His fatherly, covenantal affection. So, fathers, are you for your children? Can you pronounce this blessing on your family?Do you have a critical eye or a covenantal eye? A covenantal eye is not blind to flaws or weaknesses, but it is inclined to overlook them, wants to see them repented of. Love covers a multitude of sins, and love confronts some sins. But God’s grace is lavish, and we are called to give what we have been given.

Excuse making is as old as sin. Adam sinned and blamed Eve. Eve sinned and blamed the serpent. And so we blame our culture, the internet, our parents, our kids, our spouse, our work, our hunger, our health, our sleeplessness for our bad attitudes, our sharp words, our disobedience to Christ, our failure to grow in holiness and joy.

THE TEXTBy faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them (Heb. 11:8–16).

THE TEXTWhen Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?”They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.Then He asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?”And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,” that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.”Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him. And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year. Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought Peter in. Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this Man’s disciples, are you?”He said, “I am not.”Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine.Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said.”And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?”Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?”Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?”He denied it and said, “I am not!”One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” Peter then denied again; and immediately a rooster crowed (John 18:1–27).

INTRODUCTIONWhen Paul comes to describe the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:22, he uses the singular form of fruit, and then goes on to list love, joy, peace, and so on. So instead of considering this as a list of disparate fruits, like apples, oranges and bananas, perhaps we might consider the different graces listed as aspects or attributes of the one fruit of the Spirit’s presence—like redness, sweetness, and so on. And one of the most distinctive aspects of His presence is the grace of joy.THE TEXT“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Heb. 12:1–3).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTIn the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we were given a long list of Old Testament saints who had endured great trials and troubles (Heb. 11:35b-38), or who had overcome great trials and troubles (Heb. 11:32-35a). These all were set before us as examples to encourage us in the race that we have to run. The stadium is filled with saints from the older covenant, whose races are now complete, and it is our turn to come to the starting line (v. 1). We are to lay aside everything that might hinder us in running, whether a weight or a sin, and we are to run with endurance. That means this is therefore not a sprint, but rather a long race (v. 1). Although chapter 11 is crammed with examples, now that we are running, we are to look to the supreme example, Jesus—the author and finisher of our faith (v. 2). Jesus ran His race this way—He endured the cross, holding the shame of it in contempt, and is now seated on the throne of glory. He also has completed His race. This passage tells us to look to Jesus Christ twice—looking unto Jesus (v. 2), and consider Him that endured (v. 3). If we don’t consider how Christ endured such “contradiction of sinners,” we are going to get sucked down into our own pain, and then we will quit from exhaustion.ROBBED OF JOYOur text says that in order to run the race effectively, the race that has joy at the end of it, we must lay aside sin and the weight that so easily entangles. One of the things that robs us of our ability to run with joy toward that joy is sin. This was certainly David’s experience. “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah” (Psalm 32:4–5).A second major thief of joy is poor doctrine. Some people believe that because Reformed folk believe in total depravity that this means that we must spend our time wallowing around in it. But we affirm total depravity, which is not the same thing as blowing bubbles in it. False teaching, misplaced teaching, is a thief of joy. “What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Gal. 4:15-16)NOT A HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY THINGJoy is deep satisfaction with the will of God for your life, as that will is expressed by Him in the circumstances of your life. But joy is not froth and bubble on the surface of your life. Joy is the bedrock, down beneath the soil in which all your experiences grow. And the bedrock doesn’t move, regardless of what’s happening up above.“But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:4–10).Peter gives us the same kind of clear juxtaposition.“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:6–9).THE NOISE OF OUR CELEBRATIONOne greater than Solomon is here (Matt. 12:42), and when Solomon was crowned king, Joab was provoked to ask, “Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar?” (1 Kings 1:41). Solomon had been crowned in Gihon, and everybody came up from there “rejoicing” (1 Kings 1:45).Christ was crowned at His ascension and given universal authority, and we are the people who meet weekly to acclaim Him as our king. That is what we are doing here, is it not? And that is why the hallmark of evangelical, Reformed, postmillennial, Kuyperian, covenantal faith is also here. What is that mark? Is it not cheerfulness? Is it not joy?

This is session 1 of 4 from our Grace Agenda 2021 Women's Seminar in Moscow, ID.The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

As we seek to build our new city walls in the midst of a ruined and ruinous old order, we will be attacked in ways that seek to divide us. We will be accused of being cultic, in thrall to charismatic “leaders.” But the Scriptures do require us to cultivate like-mindedness, and also require us to maintain a solid distinction between things of first importance, things of secondary importance, and things indifferent.One of the things that modern Christians have a hard time doing right is loyalty. We don’t know how loyalty is supposed to work. We don’t understand the spiritual requirement of personal allegiance to your church and its leadership, and in addition we have a very poor understanding of what disloyalty actually smells like.In addressing this subject of a man and his church we have to start with the subject of loyalty. And this goes double if you are the pastor. Enjoy message 4 of 5 from GA2021 Men's Pre-Conference Seminar in Moscow, ID.The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy message 1 of 5 from GA2021 Men's Pre-Conference Seminar in Moscow, ID.The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

This is an excerpt from N.D. Wilson's Grace Agenda 2021 message, 'The Gospel of Winning.' Listen to the full talk here on the app.

Courage comes from receiving a new heart.

The heart of man is not easily satisfied.

"Conservatives are all just people who like to put plastic over their couches." – N.D. WilsonThis is an excerpt from N.D. Wilson's Grace Agenda 2021 message, 'The Gospel of Winning.' Listen to the full talk here on the app.

INTRODUCTIONWe are now at the beginning of the last cycle of Micah’s prophecy. Remember that the pattern is one of warning, judgment, and consolation. We see in this section the testimony of Jehovah, in which He sets out the reasons for the judgment coming down upon Judah and Israel. It is a fearsome judgment indeed.THE TEXT“Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, And let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, And ye strong foundations of the earth: For the Lord hath a controversy with his people, And he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me . . .” (Micah 6:1–16).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe prophet has been speaking to a senseless people, and so now Jehovah has told them to go preach to the rocks instead (v. 1). Even the stones of the mountains will listen better than Judea and Israel did, and they will sit in the jury box, as the Lord lays out His case against His people (v. 2). God, speaking in a figure, as though He could fit inside a courtroom, asks them to testify as to what wrong He has committed against them (v. 3). Jehovah plays at defendant.God redeemed them from the slavery of Egypt, and gave them Moses, Aaron and Miriam as leaders (v. 4). He then prevented Balaam from cursing them, as Balak wanted him to (v. 5). Speaking for the people, he asks about what they might think to bring to God—burnt offerings, rams, rivers of oil? Perhaps their own firstborn (vv. 6-7)? No—it is much more straightforward than that. Do justice, love mercy, and walk in humility before God (v. 8).Jehovah cries out to the city, and a wise man knows where the rod is coming from (v. 9). Do not the wicked have a great treasury, filled with the profits gained with a short measure and crooked scales (vv. 10-11)? Her rich men are full of violence, and the people have a mouthful of lies (v. 12). And this is why God will strike them (v. 13). They will eat, but not be filled (v. 14). What they manage to salvage out of the wreckage will be taken from them later (v. 14). They will also experience true vanity in their agriculture (v. 15). And why? Because they decided to follow the doctrines of Omri (Ahab’s father) and Ahab they will be left desolate, and will be reproached with hissing (v. 16).HYPOCRISY GAMESWhen Micah brings his testimony, the hypocrites who listen to him are pretending to engage. Jehovah says that rocks would listen better than they do, and yet they try to prove Him wrong by making a show through religious bustling. What shall we offer to God that will prove our devotion? Rivers of oil? Our own first born? No. God wants you, and not some sacrifice swapped in instead of you. That is an extortion payment, not religious worship.Hypocrites behave as though the God of Heaven is petty and simple, like some cranky toddler in a stroller, and that it is somehow possible to distract Him with baubles and trifles. Here, play with this, they seem to say.No. God wants the heart. He has always wanted the heart. He has never settled for anything less than your heart. Rend your hearts, not your garments (Joel 2:13). Circumcise your hearts (Jer. 4:4). To obey is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22). Sacrifices and burnt offerings you did not require (Ps. 40:6). Go and find out what this means, Jesus said (Matt. 9:13). I desire mercy and not sacrifice (Hos. 6:6). And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (Hos. 6:6).GRASPING MERCHANTSHypocrites love paint their sins with the whitewash of religious scrupulosity. But two inches of white snow on a dunghill is a dunghill still, and you shouldn’t try to sled on it.What particular sin is in view in this passage? There were numerous sins, no doubt, but what sins are in view here. The problem here was dishonesty in business. When the rod comes to give these hustlers their beat down, the wise man knows the reason for it (v. 9). Was it not their short measure (v. 10)? Wicked scales and deceitful weights (v. 11)? When they open their mouths, lies come fluttering out, like hundreds of moths (v. 12). That is why God is striking them, making them desolate (v. 13).HE HATH SHOWN THEEWhat does God actually want from us? There are three verbs—do, love, and walk (v. 8). Do justly. Love mercy. Walk with humility before your God.When you make a judgment, it must be an honest assessment, not a partisan decision. It is not enough to do mercy, grudgingly dragged out of you. No, you must love mercy (hesed). It is this pairing, incidentally, that gives the lie to so many today who are trumpeting what they call “social justice.” It is not justice at all because biblical justice loves mercy, and those commies are merciless—without pity, without forgiveness, without tenderness, without compassion. In short, without Christ.The third characteristic of this godly demeanor is that of walking humbly with God. God is the absolute ground of all goodness, all value, and so we must submit to Him. We must submit to His definition of justice. We must embrace His sacrificial commitment to mercy. We must submit to the God who is the ground of all objective truth, goodness, and beauty.And this means Christ. Who displays the justice of God? Christ on the cross, wracked with pain because of His Father’s hatred of sin. Who displays the mercy of God? Christ on the cross, embracing our sin and folly so that He could carry it all down the grave. Who displays the humility of God? Christ on the cross, who summons us to take up our cross and follow Him. If we do follow Him in this way, we can be assured that we will do justly, love mercy, and walk with humility. And unlike the religious liars and thieves of ancient Judea and Israel, we will not try to bribe God to look the other way because we put on some sort of a religious show.

Enjoy message 5 of 6 from Grace Agenda 2021 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

INTRODUCTIONFirst, why Leviticus? It’s one of those portions of God’s Word that can be challenging to modern Christians. But Leviticus is where the Second Greatest Commandment is taken from (Lev. 19:18). In some ways you might organize the whole book under the headings of the First and Second Great Commandments: Love God: Lev. 1-17, Love Your Neighbor Lev. 18-27. We live in a world that has attempted to redefine love as mere sentiment and feeling (although that is changing), but the law is how God taught us to love Him and one another when we were young in the covenant (cf. Gal. 4:2-4, 1 Jn. 5:3). Related is also one of the great themes of Leviticus, which is holiness. Peter quotes from Leviticus in his letter: “Be holy as I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). And Hebrews says that without holiness no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). We are still called to be a holy people, and Leviticus was our Elementary School training in holiness.Here in Leviticus 1 we are introduced to the most common sacrifice and the central invitation from the Lord for sinners to draw near to Him with hearts sprinkled clean, which is most pleasing to Him, a sweet-smelling aroma.THE TEXT“And the Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish…” (Lev. 1:1-17)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThis first chapter explains the burnt/ascension offering and gives three examples: the first describes the offering of a bull (1:2-9), the second describes the offering of a sheep or goat (1:10-13), and the third describes the offering of doves or pigeons (1:14-17). For the first two, the bull, sheep, or goat must be a male, without blemish (1:3, 10). The animal is brought to the door of the tabernacle, the worshiper lays his hand upon the head of the animal, and the worshipper is to kill the animal himself (1:3-6, 11-13). In the case of the dove or pigeon, the worshipper would cleave the wings of the bird (1:16-17). The priests were responsible for sprinkling the blood around the altar (1:5, 11, 15) and for putting the pieces of the sacrifice on the altar (1:8, 13, 15, 17). Finally, in all three, the offering is described as an offering by fire, a sweet savor to the Lord (1:9, 13, 17).CORBAN & DRAWING NEARLiterally, the text says that if an “Adam” will “draw near” with a “drawing near,” he should “draw near” with a “drawing near” of the herd and of the flock (1:2). The first thing to note is that the whole sacrificial system goes back to the Garden of Eden, where God stationed Cherubim with flaming swords at the entrance after Adam sinned (Gen. 3:24), setting up one of the great problems of the Bible: how can man drawn near to their Maker? The answer is: through a flaming sword. The word for “a drawing near/offering” is “corban.” This is the word that Jesus uses in the gospels when He rebukes the Pharisees for allowing their traditions to run right over the clear Word of God (Mk. 7:11). The fifth commandment said, “honor your father and mother,” which includes caring for them and providing for them in their old age, but the Pharisees said if someone gave what they were going to use to support their parents to the temple, they were exempt. The descendants of Adam have a terrible habit of imitating King Saul, thinking that we can modify God’s commands, but obedience is better than sacrifice, and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam. 15:22-23). We make excuses for our sin by pointing at other good things we have done. But all disobedience is disobedience. Related to this, is the age-old hypocrisy of seeking to draw near to God in worship with your lips, while your heart is far from the Lord (Is. 29:13, Mt. 15:8). But we are always lifting our hearts up to the Lord.A CONTINUAL ASCENSION OFFERINGThe name “burnt offering” or “whole burnt offering” is not really a great translation. It is called this because the whole animal is put on the altar and burned, but the word literally means “going up” or “ascension,” and therefore would be better translated “ascension offering.” The word that is used for “burn” (cf. 1:9) literally means “turn into smoke,” which seems to highlight the same point. The action is not merely in the destruction of the animal, but rather in its transformation into smoke to ascend to God, Who receives it as a sweet-smelling aroma. This is the most common sacrifice offered at the tabernacle and temple, the morning and evening sacrifice, that constituted the “continual” sacrifice of praise (Ex. 29:42, Num. 28:3-10ff).“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor” (Eph. 5:2). And he immediately adds: “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks” (Eph. 5:3-4). Clearly this does not mean that we cannot say those words because then Paul would be breaking his own rule. No, the point is that we should be so careful to avoid those sins that we cannot be accused of being guilty of them, and the Bible says that this is how we walk in love, as Christ loved us. This is a sweet-smelling savor.CONCLUSIONSWe will no doubt come back to this passage as we consider all of the sacrifices, but the ascension offering reminds us of the command to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service and “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Rom. 12:1-2).The ascension offering reminds us that God wants all that we are consecrated wholly to Him. Everything goes on His altar. He claims all that we are. Christ is our head, our substitute, who went into the fire of God’s wrath first for us, but if we are His body, we must follow Him into the fire. However, if we are in Him, it is no longer a fire a judgment but a fire of purification and transformation. He is bending, breaking, burning, and blowing upon our lives until they shine.This is what Christian “headship” is. In contrast to many of our political leaders, Christian leaders must not ask of their people anything that they are not already doing themselves. We follow Christ because He laid His life down for us. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.

As we go out into this world our job is to bring the taste of heaven and of life to a world that tastes everything as bland.

THE TEXT“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another (John 15:1–17).

It says in Ecclesiastes 7:8 that "the end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit." What is it that makes the end of something better than its beginning?

Since the fall, man’s default setting is to turn glory into shame. David asks in Psalm 4: “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?” Paul speaks of enemies of Christ “whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame (Phi. 3:19).” In other words, unregenerate man’s desires have been so disordered by sin, that what ought to have been a glory has become a shame. This then leads them to glory in what they ought to be ashamed of.Porn shreds the glory of sexual delight to tatters. The anxiety over healthy eating drains food of all its joy, and thus ruins table fellowship. Hard work is replaced by government stimulus checks. Instead of a nation full of industry, music, color, and feasting, we’re beginning to see only the drab grey of totalitarian covetousness. The glory has turned to shame.Desire isn’t your problem, it’s that you’ve turned your desires in on themselves. But desire isn’t nourished by created joys. Desire can’t hold itself up. We’ve tried to prop up our longings like a skyscraper that uses toothpicks instead of bolts. Desire was intended to drive us to delight preeminently in God, and while resting in Him receive all the other joys with gratitude.The reason for which we were made was for our delight to be completely satisfied. It wasn’t so that we’d be always desiring but never possessing. Our chief end is, after all, “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” These desires are our human glory, so long as the desires find themselves first and foremost resting in the Triune God. As we delight in God, our glory is made truly glorious. But if you insist on delighting only in created joys, your glory will turn to shame.Too often, our desires aren’t set on Christ alone. We long for the fleeting joys of earth, willing them to last just a bit longer, but still they slipp through our fingers. Instead of directing all our desires toward Christ, the fount of all Joy, we’ve hewn out broken cisterns which cannot hold water. Unless the Spirit grants us a new heart, our desires will collapse upon themselves like a black hole of selfishness. Our nation grasps for all the pleasures, and is still left vacuously hungry. This generation has forsaken the Living Waters of Christ, and now we’re a parched people. Even in the church we have all too often set our hearts on earthly trinkets, expecting them to bring the gratification that only comes through the death and resurrection of Christ and our union with Him. May we seek God’s forgiveness for, to paraphrase Lewis, settling for puddles, when God is an ocean.

We begin the second cycle of prophetic ministry from the great prophet Micah. Remember that he ministered over the course of forty years or so, and yet was able to summarize his message in these seven short chapters. That is probably one of the reasons why his words are so potent.In this second cycle, the words of warning and the words of judgment are combined, and so the next message will go straight to the words of consolation.THE TEXT“And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? Who hate the good, and love the evil; Who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; And they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron . . .” (Micah 3:1–12)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTMicah begins by addressing the civil rulers. Hear, oh you heads and princes. Shouldn’t you understand judgment (v. 1)? But instead you have inverted everything, hating the good and loving evil (v. 2). Instead of feeding your people, you feed on them. You flay them, you pull the flesh off their bones in order to eat it, you break their bones, and chop them up in pieces so that they might fit in your cauldrons (vv. 2-3). When they get in trouble, and cry out to Jehovah, He will be merciless to those who have been merciless (v. 4). He will turn away His face. The prophets who spoke lying words, who would bite with their words while mouthing peace, plotting their war again Jehovah, what will come of them (v. 5)? Instead of a vision, their night will be pitch black. The sun will go down on their prophecies, and they will minister in darkness (v. 6). Their seers and diviners will be abashed, and will have no answer from God (v. 7).But Micah was ready to stand against them all. He was filled of Jehovah’s power, and fully ready to declare the sin and transgression of Jacob and Israel both (v. 8). Hear this word, you princes who twist everything (v. 9). You seek to build your city on the foundation of blood and iniquity (v. 10), which is why it will come to nothing. Your judges look for bribes, your priests are hirelings, and your prophets are willing to see visions for a fee (v. 11). Is it any wonder that everything is corrupted? Even so, your will dare to claim the presence and protection of Jehovah (v. 11b). And this is the reason why Zion will be plowed under. It is the reason why Jerusalem is going to be transformed into heaps of rubble. The mount of the house (i.e. the Temple) will be like the high places of the forest, meaning that trees will grow there (v. 12).Some years later, when Jeremiah prophesied that the Temple of the Lord would be laid flat like Shiloh (Jer. 26:6, 9), the priests and prophets and people gathered against Jeremiah to kill him. The princes of the land refused to kill Jeremiah, and the elders of the land defended him by pointing to this verse from Micah (Jer. 26:18; Mic. 3:12).MORAL INVERSIONIsaiah pronounces a judgment on those who invert all the basic moral categories (Is. 5:20). Micah charges the rulers of both kingdoms with a gross dereliction of their duty—weren’t you supposed to know what justice is (v. 1)? But instead of that, you have decided to hate what is good, and to embrace what is evil.This is an inescapable reality. There is no way for rulers abandon good in order to adopt a studied neutrality. There is no such neutrality. To decide to celebrate wickedness is therefore a decision to persecute those who testify that your deeds are evil.CRUELTY & ITS PRETENSESTheir rhetoric and their stock photos are all about normal, happy people, and the cry goes up that we should coexist, and love everybody, and make no distinctions, no exceptions. You have seen the bumper stickers.But it always ends in blood (v. 10). At the first they keep up the pretense, but a time eventually comes when all the hot bile of their hatred comes pouring out. They flay their victims. They crush their bones. They chop the meat of their people up, and then stuff their stew kettles full. They despise the people they rule over. And as they are shepherds who feed only themselves (Eze. 34:2), the time necessarily comes when they feed on the flocks—instead of feeding the flocks.AVARICE IS WHERE IT BEGINSThe mission of those who love the law of God is to uphold justice, and the only basis for justice, which is the holy character of God. When rulers—whether princes, judges, prophets, priests—decide that the first thing is to “get ahead,” it is not long before they are pursuing mammon instead of justice. The heads judge for reward (v. 11). The priests will teach you about the grace of God for a sum (v. 11). The prophets will give you a word from God if you cross their palms (v. 11). What is the end result of all such mercenary ministry? The end result is that all true justice is abhorred (v. 9), and the meaning of equity is distorted beyond all recognition (v. 9). This should not surprise us. We live in a time when words like justice, and equity, and reconciliation, and love is love is love derive all their definitions from the lexicons of Hell. And it all began with mammon.INEXORABLE JUSTICEBut God is hard to those who are hard. God is merciless to the merciless, and those who love their cruelties drag a host of cruelties down upon their own heads.God put no words in the mouths of these characters (v. 5), so they come up with the word peace all by themselves (v. 5). But while they speak that word with their mouths, they also bite with that same mouth (v. 5), and they war against God. Very well, then. God will return fire (vv. 6-7).THE COURAGE OF MICAHOn one side were arrayed regiments of falsehood and unbelief, and on the other side was Micah. Micah was clothed in power, judgment, and might, and this enabled him to tell both nations what their sin was. He was equipped to do this without a spirit of timidity. His message was not an “it seems to me” message, but rather a “thus saith the Lord” message. And is this not what our diseased generation needs to hear? Hear the Words of God, you sinners.CONSOLATION COMINGIn the text of Micah, we will come to the consolation in our next message. That consolation, that salvation, comes through Christ and only through Christ. But before we come to that point, we need to let the message of this chapter settle down into our bones. We tend to have shallow views of Christ because we have shallow views of our sin. We heal the wound lightly, saying peace, peace, when there is no peace (Jer. 8:11). We want a slightly damp Jesus-washcloth that we can use to dab around the edge of our wound. But the wound is deep, and gangrenous, and self-inflicted, and we are entirely unconscious, and only the grace of God can admit us into His ICU—a place where He makes all the decisions. Our condition is indeed desperate. In fact, the image of an ICU patient is too weak—we are actually dead (Eph. 2:1-2).But Christ is the resurrection and the life.

Maturity in ministry means recognizing some of the common pitfalls in evaluating what Christ is calling us to do. The Spirit that knits us together into the body of Christ knows what He is doing, and we can rest in Him. His way of remaking the world is the best way.

Preacher: Ben ZornesOne of Scripture’s most poignant statements is: “fear hath torment (1 Jn. 4:18).” Fear is perhaps the most visceral sensation we humans experience. It chokes us with its force in the dark of midnight. It freezes us with its presence in the midst of hardships. It paralyzes us with its threats when surrounded by the might of wicked men.

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: 1 Thess. 4:9–12Another one of the ways God is blessing our community immensely is through the explosion of businesses and industry. As this grows, the opportunity for business bumps will increase. Of course it’s often a great gift to be able to do business together as believers, but there is no guarantee that Christians will not sin, make mistakes, or botch projects. These are challenges that we must embrace, and work through as Christians. And this process is essential to growing up into a mature Christian city.

Preacher: Ben MerkleText: John 13:1–17

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: Proverbs 5:1–19Most conservative Christians know the basics of what husbands, wives, parents, and children are supposed to do and what they are not supposed to do. And they generally know that they are supposed to be Christians in it all: forgiving one another and staying in fellowship and the joy of the Lord. And we really must not underes- timate the blessing all of that really is. The value of peace and joy and fellowship is inestimable. But what grows in that soil is a powerhouse of influence, generosity, and blessing.THE TEXT“… Drink waters out of thin own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dis- persed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets… Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth…” (Prov. 5:1-19)OVERVIEW OF THE TEXTSolomon the King and father continues to exhort his son to listen to his instruction (5:1-2). He specifically warns his son about the immoral woman who promises to be sweet but always ends up being bitter and deadly (5:3-6). The father repeats his plea to be heard to stay far away f rom her, explaining that he is not speaking in metaphors: the bitterness and death means losing honor, years of labor, wealth, sadness, sickness, and regret (5:7-14). In place of a reckless and bankrupt sexuality, the father exhorts his son to a joyful and fruitful mo- nogamy, picturing fruitfulness and productivity in terms of wells of water and gushing fountains of life, flowing from a continual delight in his own wife (5:15-19).DO NOT GIVE THY STRENGTH TO WOMENProverbs 31 was written by a woman, the mother of King Lemuel, and the queen mother exhorts her son not to give his strength to women, nor his ways to that which destroy kings (Prov. 31:3). Given what follows, what she is warning him about is drinking too much and loose women (31:4-10ff ). Gluttony and immorality are a couple of the chief ways men give their strength away to women. Rather than using their strength to build houses and families, businesses and cities, legacies and inheritances, men give everything they work for away (5:9-14). Ironically, Solomon himself is one of the great examples of this contrast: remember how he built the temple and his palace and other cities with the wisdom that God gave him (1 Kings 5-10). But then chapter 11 opens with the ominous words: “But King Solomon loved many strange women…” Instead of being faithful to God and building houses and cities of blessing, his many women turned his heart away from God and he built high places for all of them (1 Kgs. 11:7-8). What a draining, painful, and worthless waste.FRUITFUL FOUNTAINSIn place of draining power and strength, Solomon describes the fruitfulness and power of a faithful marriage and family as fountains and springs (5:15-18). In an arid climate or when it’s baking hot outside, you under- stand the glory of cool, flowing water. A fresh mountain spring or river not only keeps you alive, it allows you to keep working, to keep producing and with joy. And think of all the uses of water: watering crops, keeping animals alive and working, cooking, cleaning, cooling, making paper, building, water wheels, hydroelectric dams, steam power, shipping, travel, not to mention recreation and fun. What Solomon sought to urge his son to understand was not merely the joy of faithfulness to one woman and the children she bears, but the political and economic powerhouse a faithful marriage and family can be. Cities have always been built close to waterfor all of the above reasons. A thriving faithful marriage and family are little cities, proto-economies, micro nations. Just think: a thriving faithful marriage and family are a team of people who practice commu- nicating and working together regularly. As they learn to communicate, they learn to anticipate one another. They know the standards; they know what is expected; and they learn to problem solve quickly. Where there is joy and love and loyalty to one another and the mission, there is safety in sacrificing for one another. These bonds are tightened and strengthened through particular experiences, trials, and accomplishments. Under the blessing of Christ, this is where the water of family life flows from, begin- ning as a trickle and growing into a gushing fountain over generations.APPLICATIONSSexual Fidelity: the center of this fruitfulness and power is sexual faithfulness and delight. As with all repentance, there is a turning from and a turning to. Fundamentally, this is turning from self and the old man and turning to Christ and the new man (Eph. 4:22-24). And by God’s design, this is how sin is conquered. It is not merely a matter of will-power. You need to replace one way of thinking and liv- ing with a new way.The self-centeredness of lust and immorality needs to be replaced with the selfless- ness of faithfulness to one spouse. And because God made the world heterosexual, this means that a man needs to pursue and continually delight in his wife, and she needs to welcome him. When a man gives his strength this way, it is blessed.JOYFUL ECONOMYDo you want your fountains blessed? Rejoice with the wife of your youth (Prov. 5:18). The center of this joy is the forgiveness of sins, and therefore, you cannot have this joy if your heart and home are full of the gunk and bitterness of unconfessed sin (1 Jn. 1:4-9). Many professing Christian homes are sad and stressful places because there is so much unconfessed sin, which is like a bunch of debris clogging the fountain. But when you confess your sins, the dam breaks, and the drought is over (Ps. 32). A Christian home should be a happy place, a joyous, raucous place of welcome, delight, and peace. It’s not a sinless place, but it’s a place that is continually applying the blood of Jesus and so it really is clean and full of joy.WISDOM IS WEALTHWe are not materialists and so we need to think of wealth biblically. Wealth is not just cash or pos- sessions, and some forms of cash and possessions are not nearly as valuable as they may look at first glance (Prov. 23:5). But wisdom really is more valuable than gold or silver or rubies, and durable riches and honor really are with wisdom (Prov. 8:18). By wisdom kings reign and princes rule (Prov. 8:15-16). Wisdom has great strength, and by wisdom, God built the universe (Prov. 8:14, 22-29). And God has this strength by daily delighting and rejoicing in wisdom (Prov. 8:30). Delighting in stupid sitcoms, braindead music, and mindless movies is a great way to not get wisdom. And while the Bible should be the center of our wisdom, knowledge of creation (biology, technology, art, music, etc.) is wealth. And in a healthy marriage and family, that wealth builds houses, businesses, and legacies for generations that influence cities and nations and provide life to the world.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Psalm 42:11Although the occasions can be many, there are two basic reasons for discouragement—internal and external. The internal occurs when for some reason we have given way to sin, and the external occurs when we are buffeted by circumstances, as Job was, but without sin. And, of course, it is possible to get discouraged in both ways. How are we to understand this? How are we to respond to it?

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: Christ the Friend of SinnersThe men of Christ’s generation didn’t get much right, but they did get one thing right. Christ was the friend of sinners.

This is the fifth session of our Discipleship Seminar on Parenting Teens.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Isaiah 55:8–9If Satan could successfully get us all to believe one lie, what would that lie be? Is there an aboriginal lie, one that lies at the root of every twisted thought or desire that we might have? And there is a scriptural answer to that question. The assumption behind the first question posed to our first mother contained that foundational lie. The question was, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Gen. 3:1). The lying assumption was that God was not ultimately good, and that He did not have the best for His creatures in mind.The primeval lie is that God is not to be trusted. The primeval lie is to encourage us to have hard and erroneous thoughts about God.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 2 Thess. 3:1–18Although the church at Thessalonica was a remarkably healthy church, it could not be said that there were no disorders there. At the conclusion of this second letter, Paul turns to some practical matters concerning their lives together. Right at the center of that is the question of work.

Preacher: Ben ZornesThere is a long sustained war between the City of Man, and the City of God. In times of general darkness and discouragement, Saints of both testaments have needed to be encouraged. Joel’s prophetic vision concludes with words of assurance, intended to rally the hope of God’s people. Despite all the flexing of the City of Man, its efforts will always turn to dust, it will be like a wave crashing on the rocks.

Preacher: Shawn PatersonThe summer season is upon us and for many of you an opportunity for a more relaxed schedule, more recreation, more bonfires and fun family vacations. All very good gifts from God for you to heartily enjoy.But we must remember that summer is not a time to kick back and relax spiritually. There are no spiritual vacations in the Christian life.

Preacher: Ben ZornesText: Joel 1:1–5The phrase “senseless tragedy” is often employed when describing some crime or calamity. But as Christians, no tragedy is senseless. How are we to understand national tragedy? Joel gives us the pattern for how to respond to such tragedy, by his response to a swarm of locust.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 2 Thess. 2:1–12And now we come to the challenging passage, the one I have been warning you about. Who is the man of sin? What temple are we talking about? Who is the one who prevents this from happening? Good questions all.SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul pleads with the Thessalonians in the name of the Lord’s coming (v. 1), that they not be unsettled through thinking that the final events were happening right then (v. 2). The day of Christ will not come unless the man of sin comes first (v. 3). This man of sin will set himself up in the Temple as God (v. 4). Paul had already explained all this to them (v. 5). Some mysterious power is holding this lawless one back (vv. 6-7). Then the lawless one will be revealed in order to be destroyed by the Final Coming of Christ (v. 8). He will be destroyed despite his ability to work miracles (v. 9). Those who love the truth will be saved in the truth, and those who love the lie will be damned in the lie (vv. 10-12).THE CHALLENGESThe description here appears to include the Final Coming of Christ, which is still in our future. The coming of the Lord (parousia) could be His coming in judgment on Jerusalem, except that the phrase “our gathering to him” is used. And the man of sin who exalts himself as God will be consumed by the Spirit of the Lord’s mouth and destroyed by the brightness of the Lord’s coming. All this certainly sounds like the final eschaton.But then what is the temple of God here? The Jewish temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. So if the man of sin set himself up there, then these events would be in the distant past and not a description of the Final Coming. This is one of the reasons why dispensationalists argue that the Temple must be rebuilt. Another argument is that the Temple is the Christian church, and that this false teacher who claims to be God is something like a wicked pope.A BASIC PATTERNRealize that Paul is telling the Thessalonians not to think that these events are right on top of them (v. 2). Don’t be unsettled, he says. A number of other things need to happen first. There needs to be an apostasy, a falling away first (v. 3). There needs to be a miracle-working false teacher (v. 9), one who claims to be God (v. 4). He needs to be enthroned in the Temple (v. 4).At the same time, Paul argues that the spirit of all such things is already at work in his day (v. 7). He says that there is an unnamed external power that is restraining the outbreak of this lawless one (vv. 6-7). He says that the mystery of iniquity is already at work (v. 7), and is pushing against that which restrains it.So here is my understanding of all this (the third option in the previous message). The events that happened just a decade or so before this, when Caligula attempted to set up a statue of himself in the Temple, was the kind of thing Paul was talking about, but was not the event itself. It was the spirit that was already at work, but was not the final convulsion of mankind’s sin. That is yet in our future, and Paul teaches us that it will run along the same lines. The advance of the kingdom of God is all part of the same long war. It is a protracted conflict, and it is all the same conflict. We are two thousand years after this prediction from Paul, but when Jesus preached to the spirits who were rebellious at the time of Noah (1 Pet. 3:19-20), He was 2400 years after the Flood. And it was all still relevant.History is a river, not a string of ponds.GOD-GIVEN DELUSIONThe issues are therefore perennial, and they come down to every man and every woman, every boy and every girl. Those who have their pleasure in unrighteousness, and who reject the truth because they did not love it, are going to be sent something that lines up with what they love and hate. This passage says that God will send them a strong delusion so that they should believe a lie. And why is this? It is because they loved the lie. It is because they did not love the truth. Salvation is a function of loving the truth. Damnation is a function of loving a lie, preeminently the lies you tell yourself. Self-deception is the prince of all deception, and so God sends all such a strong delusion. The wrath of God is seen in this, when God gives people over to what they have loved all along.And the one who causes delusions to evaporate is a preached Christ. And He is a preached Christ only because He is a crucified Christ, and a buried Christ, and a risen Christ. He is the truth, and He is preached. Do you love Him? If not, then the strong delusion is already resting upon you. If so, then you are loving the truth, by which you are saved.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 1 John 5:10–13Last week you were exhorted to be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you. But whenever we give our testimony, we will be cross-examined by somebody, and we will be asked, “How can you be sure...?” Perhaps you sometimes ask yourself these questions. And so we come to the matter of assurance.SUMMARY OF THE TEXTWe can see from John 3:32 that the Son of God has the testimony (marturia). When we believe His testimony, we are acknowledging that He speaks the truth (v. 10). And so what is the testimony that He gives? It is both objective and subjective. This is the record (marturia)—God has given us eternal life, and has done so through His Son. Note that God’s testimony lands in our inner life. The objective side of it is that all life in in His Son (v. 12). If you have the Son, you therefore have life. If you do not have the Son, you do not have life. These things were written, not so that we might be tormented with uncertainty, but rather so that we might know (assurance) that we have eternal life, and that we might know this because we believe on the name of the Son of God (v. 13).TWO EXTREMESNow if it is true that not every person baptized into the visible church is saved, and that istrue, then the obvious question becomes “how can we tell the difference between those who truly have the testimony, and those who simply say that they do?” It is a most reasonable question, but that has not kept many people from doing many unreasonable things with it.There are two extremes to avoid—one is to assume that if your baptismal papers are in order, then you are automatically in, as though the kingdom of God were like a purebred line of golden retrievers. The other extreme is to flinch whenever sin is mentioned and question your salvation at every little thing. And often, ecclesiastical professionals will manipulate both tendencies for their own profit. Don’t give way to either temptation.THAT YOU MAY KNOWGoing back to 1 John 5:13, if we have the Son, if we have eternal life, God wants us to know that we do.DOUBTS AND QUESTIONSThere is a vast difference between doubts and questions. Doubts can never be answered in principle because they are phrased like this: “What if . . .?” Questions have answers. They can be posed, you follow it out, and you learn something. Here is the difference. Suppose a happily married woman suddenly has a panic attack out of nowhere. “What if my husband is cheating on me?” The only appropriate answer to this is “what if he isn’t?” That is quite different from a wife asking “who is the blonde in the red convertible out front, the one who is honking for you, who is that?” That’s a question.BIBLICAL MARKS OF REJECTIONWe are not to over-engineer this. In the context of a biblical community, the burden of proof is on the one who insists upon excluding himself. Note two things about a particular way of living “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these . . . they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19, 21). It is manifest who will not inherit the kingdom.BIBLICAL MARKS OF ADOPTION We are supposed to make our calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10). We are supposed to examine ourselves to see if we are truly in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). This can be done without morbid introspection. But how? Keep in mind that in all that follows, it is not so much what you look to as the way you look to it. Baptism, Bible, etc.We saw in 1 John 5:13 that we are to believe on the name of Jesus. We are to hold fast to Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:9). This is the foundation of everything else. Do you trust in Jesus?“Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13). The Spirit is given as a guarantee (Eph. 1:13-14; 2 Cor. 5:5-6). The Spirit is given to us as an assurance. How do we know we have the Spirit? He grows things (Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 5:9). He kills things (Rom. 8:13).“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14). What is your attitude toward those you know love God? Do you want to be with them, or are you repelled by them?“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). Jesus says that a mark of true conversion is humility of mind, becoming like a little child.“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Pet. 2:2–3). A marked characteristic of life is hunger—in this case, hunger for the Word.“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). There are two kinds of people in the world—those who are perishing and to whom the cross makes no sense, and those who are saved, to whom it does.“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). Here is another explicit statement of how we know. We know because we obey Him.“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Heb. 12:6). But the previous mark should not be clutched in a false perfectionism. We do still sin. But what happens then is another mark of true conversion.THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTERWhat is the conclusion of the matter? We are saved by the grace of God in Christ, plus nothing (Eph. 2:8-9). We are not saved by good works. But we are saved to good works (Eph. 2:10).

This is session 6 of 6 in our Discipleship Seminar on Parenting Little Ones.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 2 Thess. 2The letter of Second Thessalonians was written shortly after the first letter. The purpose of the letter was to correct certain misunderstandings that the Thessalonians had about eschatology, and some might argue, to create some new misunderstandings for us. There are some challenges here.SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe steadfastness of the Thessalonians while facing persecution was evidence given by God that He was going to judge the wickedness of the persecutors (v. 5). Their courage was a manifest token that we were going to be counted worthy of the kingdom, on behalf of which they were suffering. It was obvious that it would be righteous for God to punish those who were troubling the saints with real tribulation (v. 6). They will enter rest, along with Paul and company, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels (v. 7). They will bring the vengeance of flaming fire on those who do not know God, and who do not obey the gospel of Christ (v. 8). These people will be punished two ways—everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power (v. 9). When He comes, it will be so that He might be glorified in His saints (like the Thessalonians), and so that all who believed in response to Paul’s message might be amazed at Him (v. 10). That was the reason why Paul continued to pray that God would count them worthy of their calling, and that they might fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, along with His work of faith with power (v. 11). The result will be a mutual glorification, Christ in them, and they in Christ (v. 12). This would all be in accord with the grace of God and Christ.THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS AWAITSIn the next chapter of this book, we are going to be dealing with one of the most complicated eschatological passages in all of Scripture. We are probably dealing with twenty percent more interpretations than we have interpreters, and the whole thing is very sad. We have a few intimations of these difficulties in this chapter, and so some words about it now are in order.As I understand it, our fixed anchor point should be that all passages that address the general resurrection of the dead should be located at the end of history, when the Lord Jesus comes back to judge the living and the dead. That would include 1 Thess. 4:16-17, and it would also include 2 Thess. 1:7-10 and 2 Thess. 2:8. The challenge comes when we try to fit some of the surrounding statements on a timeline that appears to extend from the first century to the end of the world.“(1) All the preliminary signs and the day of the Lord have already occurred; (2) All of the preliminary signs have occurred, so there is now nothing preventing the coming of the day of the Lord, but the day of the Lord has not yet come. (3) Some of the preliminary signs have either occurred or begun to occur, but since all of them have not yet occurred, the day of the Lord cannot come yet, and (4) None of the preliminary signs has yet occurred, so the day of the Lord still cannot come” (Mathison, From Age to Age, p. 521).Like Mathison, my preference would be for the third option. The day of the Lord has not yet come, and yet Paul appears to be making clear reference at places to the sort of events that happened in the course of his lifetime. Remember that Caligula had attempted to have a statue of himself erected in the Temple at Jerusalem in 40 A.D. and only his murder prevented it.TAKE CARE NOT TO MISS THE CENTRAL POINTIt would be a great mistake to get caught up in the study of when the flaming judgment was going to come, and neglect the fact of a flaming judgment that was going to come.In this passage, we see who will be judged, and who will be vindicated. The Lord will appear in flaming fire, he says, and He will exact a strict vengeance when He does. This will fall on those who do not know God, and it will fall on those who did not obey the gospel (v. 8). What will be the nature of that damnation? The punishment is described here as an exclusion. They will be shut out from the presence of the Lord, and they will be shut out from the glory of His power (v. 9).What is the gospel that commanded their obedience, and which they refused to render? That gospel is the message that Christ died, was buried, rose again, and ascended into Heaven. From that place, He summons all men to believe in Him. The work we must do is the work of hearing and following Him on the basis of His death and resurrection.When we contrast those who are shut out with those believers who admire Him (v. 10), we can see the very nature of damnation and salvation. These are the states where we arrive at what we have been becoming. And this means that the very fact of Christ is a great invitation.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 2 Thess. 1One of the more difficult things for us to learn concerning our sanctification is the difference between repairs and growth. Both are involved in sanctification, but they are not at all the same thing. Imagine a potted flower that you have sitting on the window sill, flourishing there in the sunlight. Let us say that the cat knocks it over, shattering the clay pot. Now of course you repot it, and you hover over it carefully for a few days, and the plant seems to be doing okay. But then some weeks later, you are thrilled to see extra blossoms and more leaves, not to mention a couple of extra inches. This is all wonderful, but the thing to remember is that replacing pots is not the same thing as growth. Unless you replaced the pot, there would be no growth, but they are not the same thing.

Preacher: Ben MerkleText: John 8:21-59

Preacher: Ben MerkleText: 1 Cor. 15:1–19PHARISEES AND SADDUCEESActs 22:30-23:10When Paul appears before the Sanhedrin, he appeals to his belief in the resurrection. This was a point of theology that divided the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees believed in a resurrection and the Sadducees did not. Paul’s appeal effectively split the Sanhedrin’s opposition to Paul’s teaching.THE RESURRECTED CHRIST IN THE CHRISTIAN’S IDENTITYHowever, I would argue that the doctrine of the resurrection was more than just a conveniently divisive point for Paul at this moment. Paul argues that the risen Christ is the foundation for the Christian’s identity (Gal. 2:20, Col. 3:1). And fundamental to this resurrected identity is the forgiveness that we have in Christ.AND FORGIVENESS IS CENTRAL TO THIS IDENTITYIn 1 Cor. 15, Paul argues that the fact that Christ rose from the dead means that we are forgiven. The resurrection of Jesus is the central miracle of the Bible. And that resurrection is a testimony that another incredible miracle has happened – you have been forgiven of your sins.THE CONSCIENCEAnd so, every accusation of guilt that is levelled against one of God’s saints must deal with the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. It is not surprising then that when the subject of his conscience comes up, Paul will constantly want to start talking about the resurrection of Jesus.AN EASTER CONSCIENCEThe enemy’s primary power is that of accusation. Satan is an accuser. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has given us the greatest possible defence against these accusations. He has given us an Easter conscience. As one of God’s saints, you are called to use the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a weapon in your own sanctification.

Preacher: Toby SumpterFreedom and truth go together, hand in hand. Freedom is not merely lack of constraint or the power of choice. Because it if were, truth would have no bearing on freedom. You wouldn’t need truth to be free. But Jesus says that you cannot be free apart from the truth. The truth is what makes a man free. And therefore, lies are what enslave. Lies are captivity. “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge…” (Is. 5:13).

Preacher: Aaron Ventura

Preacher: Ben ZornesText: Zechariah 9:8–10The danger of clichés is that they are usually quite right. but because they are right, they get consigned to pasteboard behind the goalposts of a televised football game. What should shake the foundations of darkness is met with an eye-roll.

Speaker: Dr. George Grant—Christ taught us that the poor will always be with us. He called us to clothe the naked, feed the poor, visit the imprisoned, care for the widow and orphan. But when the Church grows lax in her mission of mercy, it won’t be long before the Nanny-State ambles along offering her services to solve the problems of poverty, suffering, and broken homes. When charity becomes the task of godless bureaucracy you can guarantee that you will end up with very little true charity and instead you’ll have endless bureaucratic hallways.The Church must return to God’s instructions for caring for the poor.

Speakers: Douglas Wilson, George Grant—Christ taught us that the poor will always be with us. He called us to clothe the naked, feed the poor, visit the imprisoned, care for the widow and orphan. But when the Church grows lax in her mission of mercy, it won’t be long before the Nanny-State ambles along offering her services to solve the problems of poverty, suffering, and broken homes. When charity becomes the task of godless bureaucracy you can guarantee that you will end up with very little true charity and instead you’ll have endless bureaucratic hallways.The Church must return to God’s instructions for caring for the poor.

Speaker: George Grant—Christ taught us that the poor will always be with us. He called us to clothe the naked, feed the poor, visit the imprisoned, care for the widow and orphan. But when the Church grows lax in her mission of mercy, it won’t be long before the Nanny-State ambles along offering her services to solve the problems of poverty, suffering, and broken homes. When charity becomes the task of godless bureaucracy you can guarantee that you will end up with very little true charity and instead you’ll have endless bureaucratic hallways.The Church must return to God’s instructions for caring for the poor.

Preacher: Shawn PatersonText: Rev. 2:8–11And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: "The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death."

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: State of the Church 2021We need to be Bible readers.

Preacher: Aaron VenturaText: Ezra 4:1–5

One of Scripture’s great themes is the theme of deliverance. God first delivers us from the bondage of our sins, and then after this He delivers us from the spite and hate leveled at us by those who hate the fact that we have been delivered from the bondage of our sins. This is a psalm about that second kind of deliverance.This is the way of the world. No sooner is the man child of Revelation born but the dragon is after him and his mother both (Rev. 12:13). The history of the world is a history of billions of deaths, but the very first one was a martyr’s death (Luke 11:51; Heb. 11:4).We will be addressing the subject of persecution, and while I will not be making explicit references to our situation here in Moscow, you are invited to make your own applications for use in your prayers. This does apply for the simple reason that these things always apply.

Preacher: Shawn PatersonAt the time of the Reformation, the inherited church calendar was bloated and a burden, with 40–60 holy days and dozens of fasting days. The Reformed solution to this problem varied. Some ditched the calendar altogether, while the majority retained what are called the five evangelical feast days: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. Both groups used similar criteria for their pastoral decisions regarding what to celebrate.First, they acknowledged that Christians are free in Christ to observe or not observe special days or seasons. As St Paul wrote, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” The second criteria was that of edification. Will this practice largely help or hurt our people in their faith? Each congregation has different needs, different contexts, and this takes wisdom.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonThe word eucatastrophe was coined by J.R.R. Tolkien, and it refers to a deliverance when all was thought to be lost. There was no possible way . . . and then the unbelievable happened. “My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee.”

This is the first message in our Discipleship Seminar on Marriage.For more resources visit https://christkirk.com.

Preacher: Dr. George GrantText: 1 Cor. 1:18–31

This psalm is the next in the psalms of ascent (120-134)—a psalm that would be sung as pilgrims made their way up to Jerusalem. This is a psalm of true assurance . . . for true men.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Gen. 1:21, Isa. 27:1, Ps. 74:12–14We do not pay enough attention to foundational myths. This is the case both with the fanciful myths of the unbelievers and the genuine myths that are recorded for us in Scripture. While many myths are false, and Scripture treats the word in that way, with myths being described as pernicious, false, and unedifying (1 Tim. 1:4, 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:4; Tit. 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16), the phrase true myth is nevertheless not oxymoronic.

Dr. Jonathan Gibson is ordained in the International Presbyterian Church (UK) and assistant professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary.

Preacher: Ben ZornesTexts: Eph. 3:14–15, Gal. 4:26The US Congress recently introduced the rules for their new legislative session. They struck gendered familial terminology (i.e. father, mother, son, daughter, etc.) from the House’s rules for legislators. The recent events of our nation reveal our void of fathers and mothers. This is just one more effort by the godless to further erode the biblical structure for families.

Preacher: Dr. Ben MerkleText: Psalm 2

Preacher: Toby SumpterThis union of God and man in Jesus underlines what we are celebrating in Advent. The chasm between Creator and creature is an infinite chasm. Man cannot cross it. Nothing in all of creation can leap from some finite point and arrive at infinite. Infinite, by definition, doesn’t ever really arrive. And this is why if there is to be a bridge between God and man, it must come from the other side. The finite cannot reach the infinite, but the infinite can reach the finite. And this is what God has done in Jesus Christ

Preacher: Ben Zornes.Text: Psalm 40This Psalm has three layers to it. The first is the one on the surface. David recounts a deliverance from one of his many trials, and his response of praise. The second layer is that David’s sufferings reflect the common plight of Israel as whole. Her history of exiles and returns, persecutions and deliverances, separation from and the reunion with Jehovah lie just beneath the surface of David’s story. But as we go deeper we see that David’s story, which is Israel’s story, is really the Messiah’s story.

Preacher: Dr. Ben MerkleText: John 4:27–54

Preacher: Douglas WilsonThis psalm is a brief word of great encouragement. God’s providential care is true help, and it is a help that is promised to everyone who has the faith to receive it. And who has the faith to receive it? Anyone who lifts up his eyes to the hills, looking for God to undertake on his behalf.Every time God is named in this psalm, He is called by His personal name YHWH, or Jehovah—the covenant name of Israel’s covenant God.

Preacher: Toby SumpterJesus said that the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is the servant of all.

Speaker: Gary DeMarThe last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate to help cover conference costs.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: 1 Thess. 5:12–28Virtues, like vices, are like grapes—they come in clusters. Paul is following his usual pattern here, which is to conclude his letter with a burst of ethical exhortations, all of which should be arranged within the larger framework that he established earlier in the letter.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonThe gospel advances through a cloud of misunderstanding. Whenever a remarkable event happens, including events of any spiritual significance, rumors start to fly, people start to talk, and the inaccuracies start to multiply.

Preacher: Ty KnightWant a clue of what your idol may be? Consider what you have to keep propping up. What keeps toppling over and you have to—1, 2, 3,—hoist up your public image back on its pedestal, self-brag about your grades or your business success, prop up your kids sporting ability, that might be your idol.

Preacher: Ben ZornesText: Luke 12:32Where do you find comfort? Distraction? Netflix serves up a seemingly endless supply of that. More data? Every day there’s a new study warning of this or that danger related to the pandemic, or brain eating amoebas. Politics? Well there was a food fight on national TV the other night, a Supreme Court vacancy, and a president fallen ill. Booze? The end of the bottle will come sooner or later. Where is your comfort?