Sermons

There are times we get things backwards in the Christian life. Sometimes we think the worst thing that could happen to us is another trouble or trial. In reality, that difficulty or resistance may be a gift from God to grow our faith and experience more of His love. Wise Christians learn to stop resisting His providence and start increasing their hope.

Having finished making his case that the only people who will spend eternity with God are those who have been justified by His grace, Paul now turns to revealing more of the blessings or benefits that come to every single person who has faith in Jesus. It is one thing to know about these benefits, and an altogether greater thing to live like they are true. If we lack spiritual confidence in this world, it is likely because we have forgotten or ignored all that Christ purchased for us on His cross.

"Love" is a concept that is often misunderstood. We can get our definition of love from many places, but the only final and definitive definition of love comes from God Himself. By learning about God's love for His people, we will better understand what it means to love, and how we should go about loving one another.

We are easily deceived by appearances. What might look to us to be an unmitigated disaster, might actually be a remarkable success. Not just in the sense of making something good happen out of a mistake, but more in the sense of the thing itself being truly good. All we need are eyes to see it.

We are prone to evaluate spiritual things with all the wrong tools and criteria. We are impressed by things that are meaningless and miss the obvious things that are vital. We learn toward things that we can control and fuel our pride and we neglect the things that display our weakness and His glory. That is why we often judge colossal failures to be remarkable displays of “success.” We need a new way of seeing.

One temptation that is constantly facing Christians is to forget who Jesus actually is. Wrong systems of belief can have a negative effect on us, causing us to diminish the significance of Christ’s person and work. In contrast to this, Colossians 1:15-20 calls us back to the majesty and supremacy of Christ. This passage shows us that Jesus is in a league of His own for the very fact that He is God, and is therefore, Lord of everything.

God promised Christians would suffer. But that’s not God’s only promise. There are many more glorious promises God makes to every Christian - one of which is that Christians will surround their King in glory with no more suffering forever. And that promise will be realized because of all their King has done; and because of their union to their King through faith.

All of us are prone to fear the wrong things. When we do, we often cower when we should be courageous. There is a way to live a courageous Christian life. It does not often involve huge exploits or massive sacrifices. More often than not, it means choosing to do what you know is true, when doing so looks scary.

In this fallen world we will experience affliction, and we will desire to be delivered out of it. Our King experienced affliction too — and God delivered him out of it. He sought the Lord and perfectly feared the Lord, and the Lord delivered him. In fact, it is because Jesus sought and feared the Lord that we are able to be delivered. All that is left for us to do now, as we await our future deliverance, is to seek and fear God.

God is directing his people to do something new and intimidating: To go in a way they have not passed before—a way that will involve difficulties, trials, and tests. God wants his people to know that when he directs them, he provides for them and ultimately delivers them.

Good News should make you happy. Otherwise it would not be good! And the Good News of salvation - being justified by grace through faith, and not works - should make you particularly joyful. A child may not understand the meaning of a massive inheritance until they reach adulthood and have access to it. In like fashion, a Christian may not grasp the riches that belong to them until they lean in to ideas like imputation… a lovely word with remarkable impact.

It is easy to be afraid of what will happen in the future- especially when faced with suffering. It is a lot harder to take our eyes off our fears and our suffering and trust our God. Psalm 56 helps us to trust God, and it reminds us that we don’t need to be afraid, for we already know what our future holds.

It is always interesting to see which questions God deems the most important to answer. Many times we come to the Bible with queries we consider of utmost importance. God knows the questions behind our questions and always tells us what we actually need to understand. There are three questions answered in this passage. Each of them fills out the answer to one big concern: How should sinners who have been justified by grace through faith live their lives now?

The Lord is more concerned for His glory than your good. That becomes obvious when you unpack this passage. The other thing that becomes obvious is that He loves His people so much! In many ways, this particular paragraph pulls together the entire Bible and explains how it is God is able to save anyone… and remain God!

Today we launch into the second big section of Romans. I. The reason for the Gospel: universal guilt (1:18-3:20) II. The heart of the Gospel: justification by faith (3:21-4.25) As we do, we begin to unpack a paragraph of the Bible that some have viewed as the most important information of all. For this paragraph is answering the question of who can be declared Not Guilty by God.

It is easy to move on from the preached Word without changing how we live. James called that being a “hearer only” of the Word. In an effort to capitalize on what we have seen in Romans so far, let’s consider seven obligations laid on us, now that we have done the work of understanding the text. How should we then live? That is our question!

You will never understand what it means to be saved until you grasp what you must be saved from. The facts of our condition are dire. We are far worse than most of us could imagine. If it were not for God’s Word we would never believe how utterly helpless we were to find our way to God. This only makes His gracious salvation all the more beautiful.

After all his personal evangelizing of his fellow Jews, Paul had a good idea of what their objections would be to trusting in Jesus. First on that list was their belief that things like possessing the Law, being circumcised, and even just being Jewish, would guarantee them entrance into heaven, regardless of how much they sinned. This was a misplaced confidence that any careful reader of the Old Testament should have seen. In exposing them, Paul reminds us to make sure our hope is in the right place.

While Paul is debunking the silly idea that some people get a free pass to heaven (like the Jewish hypocrite he is arguing against), he also lets drop a fascinating insight into the relationship of God to every human ever created. Ever wonder why you feel bad for doing certain things? Curious why you have these inner conflicts in your mind about whether or not your actions were justified? Look no further than Romans 2 for the answer.

Jesus said that Christians will suffer for their faithfulness to God. That is a promise. But Christians are not left alone in our suffering. We can have complete confidence in the sovereign and powerful God of the Universe to always do what he promises and purposes to do no matter what prideful fools try to stand in his way.

The Apostle Paul is dealing with quite a guy in Romans 2. He is disputing with a Jewish man who thinks he is getting to heaven based on his ethnicity. Who, at the same time, is condemning Gentiles for doing the same sins he does! Paul points out his hypocrisy in verse one, then proceeds to build an argument why that Jewish man has no hope for heaven. The foundation to that argument comes in verses 6-11 — all men will be judged by God by the same standard.

There are parts of the Bible where it is really important you immerse yourself into the original issues that provoked the writing. Romans 2 is one of those. Paul has already made it clear that everyone is under the wrath of God because of their sins (Chapter 1). But many Jewish people would read that and think, “everyone except me.” Why was that? And how does that relate to our own ability to think everybody else, except me, is to blame!

The story of Bartimaeus’s change from blindness to sight is a remarkable picture of every Christian’s conversion. We needed Christ to heal us and He did! That is because Jesus is not afraid of entering this broken world in order to bring salvation to the most unlikely of broken people.

God is full of grace to save the most unlikely of sinners. If you ever doubt that, all you need to do is look at the guilty criminal hung on the cross beside Jesus.

It may surprise you to find out that gratitude to God can affect your obedience to God in other areas of your life. Especially in the sphere of relationships with others. In fact, there might be a direct correlation between your relational sanctification as a Christian and your active thanksgiving to God. The latter can greatly improve the former!

God disciplines the one he loves, and he disciplines the one he loves in order to make the one he loves more holy. If you are experiencing the discipline of the Lord, do not try to figure things out on your own - go to God in humble repentance and worship him.

Chronicles functions as the capstone sermon for the entire Old Testament. It provides an inspired commentary on God’s great works from creation to the return from exile, inspiring firm hope that all God’s promises to his people (represented by the royal line of David) and about his place (God’s special revelatory presence in the temple) will indeed come to pass.

Maybe you are at a point in life where you do not really know what to do. Maybe you are wondering what you should be focusing on, or maybe you are wondering what decision to make. Thankfully, God’s Word tells you what you should decide to do, and the answer is actually quite simple.

Psalm 91 expresses a calmness arising from the intimacy of one’s relationship with God. In the face of threats, the psalmist finds the Lord to be his dwelling place. Thus, he is confident, through all manner of dangers and challenges. He trusts in the Lord, not in himself or in his own resources; and he feels safe in the protective care of the Lord. Here is an appeal that we too would dwell in the Lord’s house.

Once upon our time, in a land not too far away, there were two people who needed a redeemer. God, the same God who reigns today, provided them with a redeemer - and they lived happily ever after. If you want to live happily ever after, you need a redeemer too. And God, the same God who provided these two people a redeemer long ago, has provided a redeemer to all those who repent and believe. To live happily ever after, you need a redeemer. You need this redeemer.

We are experts at incorrectly classifying what offends God and what does not. Thankfully, He has supplied us in the Bible with a carefully curated list of what counts as a sin. A taxonomy of sin, if you like. Albeit a very toxic taxonomy! Knowing what will send you to hell forever is important.

The Bible might be summarized as detailed instruction on how to worship the Living God instead of pathetic and lifeless idols. What Israel fell prey to so often in their history was this “return to Egypt” mindset; going back to the fake gods of their former oppressors and thinking life (“nothing but leeks and onions!“) could be found there. God must rescue us from this spiritual stupidity and set our hearts to worship Him alone.

If you are a student, or you were one, you have likely heard of essays. And if that word conjures up a host of bad memories for you, how about this phrase: “thesis statement?” That thesis statement was supposed to appear in the first paragraph of your essay, telling the reader what you were about to… tell the reader. It was a way of stating what you intended to prove. The Apostle Paul starts this letter to the Christians in Rome with something similar to this. Two verses that tell us exactly what he is going to say over the next 16 chapters.

What are the odds that a girl like Ruth will be provided for and protected by the sovereign God of the universe? It is not up to odds. Her life is not up to chance. Her life is held in the hand of a sovereign God who is working out His plan for Ruth and for you.

In a land a long time ago lived a woman who was not that different than we can be. She was a suffering, sinful, and weak person. But a sovereign and strong God orchestrated all the circumstances of her life, even the seemingly bad ones, for his glory and her good to bless not only her, but many others as well.