Him We Proclaim

Genesis 17:15-18:15: Summary: The disclosure of God's covenant with Abraham continues. Told that it will be fulfilled in Isaac, through Sarah, Abraham, supposing it impossible, laughs. Surely the Almighty will make use of what we've already illicitly provided. No, God says. The son of promise will not be produced by people in their slavery to sin, not by nature. The son of promise will be a free gift of God to the world. When Abraham wants to run back to Genesis 16, God insists on His way forward. In faith, Abraham sets the sign of the covenant upon himself and all in his house, slave or free. The Lord then appears in the vision of three. Abraham rushes to greet them and to enlist Sarah and a young man of the house to show the Lord their hospitality. Abraham pleads the grace of God's ministry among them. The Lord in the three asks Sarah's whereabouts. He reiterates that in the year Sarah will bear Isaac, with whom God will establish the covenant of redemption. Sarah, listening to God speak, laughs at what God says. God reproves Abraham for Sarah's unbelief. Sarah tries to hide the fact of it, but nothing is hidden from the Lord. 'No, but you did laugh,' He says. God will have the last laugh and, in the meantime, believers are to feed faith on these words: Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Sermon Outline:

A faith feeding on God will trust, and not laugh at, the means of God. (17:15-27)

A faith feeding on God will pray on, and not laugh at, a meeting with God. (18:1-8)

A faith feeding on God will minister, and not laugh at, the might of God. (18:9-15)

Genesis 17:1-14: Summary: The Lord appears to Abram 24 years after He did at first. He speaks two vital things to Abram's faith: in establishing the covenant already cut, Abram is responsible for being godly, and God is Almighty. Abram will have an heir. In fact, Abram will 'father' a multitude of nations. God will see that 'Abraham' ends up true to his name, but that will involve the progress of redemption in the storyline of Scripture. There are two iterations of God's faithfulness to the covenant He establishes with Abraham, one near and one far. Most near, Sarah will bear Isaac, from Isaac will come Jacob, whom God will establish as offspring according to the flesh at Sinai. The covenant sign of circumcision serves to cut them away from the world, while also warning that failure to meet the stipulations for perpetuity will result in their being cut off from God's people. A problem presents itself, however; while Abraham's circumcision was 'believer's circumcision,' the circumcision of his descendants is not. This eventually results in a people with a sign but without the substance, bringing God to reveal the farther fulfillment promised in the New Covenant with legal and internal application through Jesus Christ. This farther fulfillment in Christ promises a people with the substance of Abraham's faith, true children of God. They are not members by birth or flesh, but by new birth and Spirit, and are marked off as God's people by baptism.

Sermon Outline:

The full situation of God's covenant with Abraham. (17:1-2)

The far side of God's covenant with Abraham. (17:3-6)

The near side of God's covenant with Abraham. (17:7-8)

The near sign of God's covenant with Abraham. (17:9-14)

Jude 24-25: Summary: Jude is a letter with prophetic application for our time as a local church in this world. The church has grown drowsy. Once a contender, she's now out of shape. She needs revitalization. Called, beloved, and kept for Christ, she needs exercise in the faith once for all delivered to the saints. A slew of unsavory souls have crept into the church unnoticed! Remarkable. Or is it? Certain ideologies and philosophies in the church today may beg to differ, calling it a mark of being on mission. Jude contests this. He contends. He sounds the alarm. He defines contention. He labors for their missional distinction as a godly people, a people of God. Will they answer the call? If not, it certainly will be no fault of our triune God and Savior. He is able, through His appointed means, to keep us to the Day of Jesus Christ with great joy. In the final analysis, may He have the praise that's due the authority, majesty, glory, and dominion that comes to us in the power of grace.

Sermon Outline:

The distinguishing peace of God's people in contending for the faith. (24)

The distinguishing prayer of God's people in contending for the faith. (24)

The distinguishing praise of God's people in contending for the faith. (25)

Jude 17-23: Summary: Contending for the faith is a day by day, moment by moment task. It is work. It is dying to self in a desire for both discipleship and evangelism. It is keeping ourselves in the love of God, building up our doctrine, praying in the Spirit, and waiting for the consummation of the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. But it is also a willingness to get our hands dirty in the task of evangelism. A church rooted and grown in the soil of the Word truly is a light set on a hill. A church that looks no different than the world does not give the world a reason to need a Savior.

Sermon Outline:

Beloved, You Must Remember the Teaching

Beloved, You Must Keep Yourselves

Beloved, You Must Have Mercy

Jude 5-16: Summary: A first part of contending for the faith is driving hard against a hellish drift. It's staying awake, so that our knowing is consistently full and lively, rather than drowsy and susceptible to compromise. To awaken the contending of this endangered church, Jude goes at length into his bag of Scripture. He draws out old things for new works. He reminds them of Israel and fallen angels and Sodom/Gomorrah and the devil and Cain and Balaam and Korah, linking the present perversions of God's grace in Christ to past incidents of like character. In each case, those who had some real but finally cosmetic communion with God turned heel and ventured in the direction of judgment by way of pride, unbelief, and enmity against the authoritative truth of the Word. The God of all grace makes His people godly, but where grace is used to promote ungodliness among the godly, all that remains is a fearful expectation of fiery justice. Let the church hear it.

Sermon Outline:

Let Jude’s charity awaken you to contention again. (5-7)

Let Michael’s humility awaken you to contention again. (8-11)

Let Enoch’s urgency awaken you to contention again. (12-16)

Jude 1-4: Summary: Even in the church, weeds find their way in among the wheat. Their presence threatens to choke out the life of what God has planted. Let a church become negligent as to her duty and calling, and she will soon find herself in need of an appeal: contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints! It's not what Jude preferred for his subject, but shepherds, to mix metaphors, realize that need triumphs over want, and the perversion of grace in their midst triggers this shepherd's devotion to protection. Jude is about the divine preservation of the church, invoking means; and that means is the church's own contention for the body of divinity (stability critical and biblical truth) and, in particular, the power of grace, which is an indispensable part of what Jude calls 'the faith.' Assuring them of God's faithfulness to keep them for Christ, Jude assures them that they must arise and responsibly contend for the Christianity of Christ's church. This is no new need. It's a perpetual aspect of a church's usefulness that she remain pure as she can be to the Day of Eternity.

Sermon Outline:

The Christian will contend because we are being kept. (1-2)

The Christian will be kept because we will contend. (3)

The kept of God will contend for the power of grace. (4)

3 John: Summary: It is well with Gaius' soul. But not all is well in his local church. Missionaries approved by John and his church have been loved faithfully by Gaius, but Diotrephes, for reasons the letter states, opposes any and everyone who seeks the heart of the congregation for the glory of Jesus in the world. John encourages Gaius to return good for evil. As he needs an example and confidant in the path of faithfulness and goodness, John pegs Demetrius as a pillar of grace. Gaius is not alone in his ambition, against opposition, to see the church at peace in the things that prove them healthy in the Lord. On the whole then, 3 John offers a look into the dynamics of spiritual wellness, which, as ever, is judged by its doctor: Truth.

Some of the dynamics establishing credible spiritual health. (3 John 1-4)

church. (3 John 3a)

truth. (3 John 3a)

life. (3 John 3b)

aim. (3 John 4)

Some of the displays encouraging credible spiritual health. (3 John 5-15)

Gaius and healthy missiological generosity. (3 John 5-8)

Diotrephes and necessary ecclesiological humility. (3 John 9-10)

Demetrius and reliable theological accountability. (3 John 11-15)

2 John: Summary: Deceivers have gone out into the world, and Christians are yet prone to wander. The pastoral heart is thus concerned to keep that for which it has worked. To find a church walking in the truth is the apostle's exceeding joy. However, given it is some and not all, given the adversary's tireless work, given the consequence of forsaking the truth, John finds himself compelled to write, albeit briefly, to secure this 'elect lady and her children' in the paramount matter of basic and essential Christianity: walking in the truth, or doing the Word of God. This is love, and not just to God, but to one another. It's love to one another to value, know, long to do, and practice the truth as it is in Jesus. Such churches by such love will prove the stronger against doctrinal exit ramps to spiritual ruin. Healthy churches help each other to abide in the apostolic teaching of Christ, knowing that devotion to the truth over error will finally prove a participation in spiritual life over death. As God has so loved us, we ought also to model the love that holds us true to Christ.

Sermon Outline:

The primary impetus for tethering a church to truth-devoted love. (1-3)

The preservative byproduct where a church is so tethered. (4-6)

The pressing need for such tethering. (4, 7-9)

The pastoral exhortation(s) in aid of such tethering. (5, 8, 10-13)

Philemon 17-25: Outline:

Partnership

Union

Presence

Philemon 8-16: Outline:

Gospel Bonds (10-13, 15-16)

Gospel Means (8-10, 13-14)