Thanks to Jono Macfarlane for preaching this afternoon; Jono is an elder at Christ Sanctuary in Palmerston North. You can read 1 Samuel 17 here.

No manuscript is available for this sermon.

Outline Justified By faith alone Introduction Justification by faith alone is said to be the belief by which the church stands or falls. Luther is credited by his students as saying, ‘if that article stands, the church stands; if it fails, the church fails.’ John Calvin spoke of it as the ‘main hinge upon which religion turns’ and ‘the sum of all piety.’ Sadly, if you ask many Christians today what justification means, they don’t really know. It has been said that where the formal cause of the Reformation was an argument about authority; the material cause was over this question of justification by faith alone. In other words, the main concern and argument at the time of the Reformation was around this question, how can a sinner be righteous in the eyes of a holy God? To this most important question two different answers were given. There was the Roman Catholic answer and the answer of the Reformation. Here is a quick summary of the way in which the Medieval Catholic Church answered the question how a sinner is made holy in the eyes of a holy God. A sinner was saved by and nurtured at the breast of the church. From the cradle to the grave, the church by its priests through its seven sacraments was seen to shepherd a soul through this life into heaven. At birth you had the stain of original sin washed away and were brought into a state of justification by baptism; and a seed of grace planted in your heart, you nurtured this seed of grace by doing good deeds, and the love produced by the good deeds were the good works were what God judged on judgement day to declare you justified/righteous. The Catholic church had two categories of sin, mortal...

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No manuscript is available for this sermon.

Outline Why bother with the Reformation? What was the Reformation? Why it is still relevant? Introduction: Why bother with the Reformation? We are approaching the 500 year anniversary of Martin Luther nailing up the 95 theses, which have been named as the catalyst that started the Reformation. You may be asking the question, why does this matter, why should I give up my time to think about something old that happened 500 years ago? If you are a Baptist, an Anglican, a Methodist, Brethren, a Congregationalist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Independent, amongst many others in the Protestant stream, you exist because of the Reformation. The Reformation has been called the greatest revival and movement of the Spirit in the church since the book of Acts. Apart from the events of the life of Christ and the apostles there has been no other event that has so radically shaped the church. Here are just a few effects that you enjoy today because of the Reformation. Do you have a bible in your mother tongue? It was the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church to keep the bible out of the hands of the people because it could lead to everyone coming up with their own heresies, but the Reformers insisted that the believer aided by the Spirit could read and understand large parts of the bible. Do you sing songs in your worship services? In many medieval scenarios there were choirs who sang but not the people. Do you partake of both the bread and the cup when you take communion? This was hard fought over in the Reformation. Is there a pulpit and not an altar front and centre in your church? Do you have the public reading of scripture and a church service centring on God addressing His people through...

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Introduction: How does the devil destroy churches? If we were hit with an earthquake and all of our buildings were destroyed that would not undermine our standing and integrity as a church. It often happens that persecution is the thing that God uses to strengthen and purify churches, so this is often a tactic that backfires on the devil. The most effective ways to undermine the church are by diluting the truth it believes and the Gospel it preaches, dropping all reference to sin, wrath and sacrifice. We are told that a little leaven affects the whole lump and so sin can undermine a church. Today I would like us to remember and consider another of satan’s tactics that he employs in seeking to destroy churches and that is disunity through anger. The words we will be considering are from Ephesians 4:26-27, ‘Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.’ We can see from v27 that our anger gives opportunity to the devil to get in amongst us and destroy and wound us. This week as part of our spiritual self-defence we will be learning about what the bible says about anger management. Our text comes to us from Ephesians, this is also known as Paul’s letter on the church. Paul has just stated that Christ has appointed officers and teachers in the church that by means of speaking the truth in love all Christians will mature and cause the body to mature and grow by each part making a contribution. Paul then enters into a detailed list of the many things that we should no longer do or be now that we have been made new and joined to the church. Our verses...

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Outline Amnon’s lust Jonadab’s counsel Absalom’s hatred David’s permissiveness Introduction ‘The sword shall never depart from your house.’ This sword of God’s chastening hangs over David’s life as we move forward. The main way in which judgement is going to come upon David’s house is through Absalom. So although this chapter is all about Amnon and Tamar, you will notice in v1 that it begins by mentioning that Tamar was Absalom’s sister. This chapter is nothing more than the backstory as to how Absalom will rise up against David as a fulfilment of the punishment God is meting out. Now our chapter has four main male characters apart from Tamar, four men who sin. We will evaluate our chapter in four points around these men in their sin. I warn you that things are going to get messy, crimes are going to be committed, you are going to see terrible actions and people falling prey as victims, but know this; it is all under God’s sovereign guiding as He gives sin some of its desserts. The next chapters of David’s life and not simply the bloody and gory details of a sinful life put forward to satisfy our voyeurism, but a parading of the consequences of sin. This might bother you to think that God’s sovereignty take this form but let me remind you of what the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith says: chapter 5 paragraph 6: ‘As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as the righteous judge, for former sin doth blind and harden; from them he not only withholdeth his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understanding, and wrought upon their hearts; but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had, and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of...

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Outline Why we bless How we bless Introduction The Christian message of love is what sets it apart from all other ethical or religious teachings. This message of love can be boiled down to four love commands, love God, love you neighbour, love each other and love your enemies. Not to say that other groups don’t emphasize love. No other ethical teaching has all four of these nor to the same extent or in the way we are called to pursue them. Our love for God, is not a self-interested love for what we can get out of God but we love God for Himself in a manner fitting to His supreme majesty and glory. This love is the placing of God in the proper place in our lives and affections as we respond to Him according to all that He has revealed of Himself to us in biblical revelation. Loving our neighbour as ourselves, not as far as is comfortable or affordable but an honest love that seeks another’s true highest good, not merely to satisfy another’s sinful fancy. Respecting the dignity of human beings as being made in God’s image and treating a person according to that dignity not according to what they have earned, their age, their usefulness in society, intelligence levels, etc. To love Christians who are one with us by the Spirit and to who we are eternally bound with an expression of family love fitting to our new unity. The prioritising of our new members who we are one with eternally over the goods of this world which are fleeting. But perhaps most surprising is the fourth, to love our enemies. In all other Ancient Greek literature until this time there are no other examples of this teaching of loving our enemy. Paul began...

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Outline Burden of sin Repentance for sin Forgiveness of sin Chastisement for sin Introduction If you know you’re a sinner; if you know the heavy weight of sin, if you have a deep desire for forgiveness and have agonised over how God sees a child who has sinned grievously against Him, then this is one of the most important chapters of the bible for you. David has committed adultery with Bathsheba, he could not trick Uriah into thinking the baby was his, so David conspired to have him killed. The last words of the last chapter are these, ‘But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.’ David is backslidden and God in His grace will now confront and restore David. The chapter is very instructive for us as we consider the burden of sin during that year David not repent. David’s repentance of sin and what repentance looks like. The fact that God forgives sin. And finally, the fact that the holy God chastens His children for sin.

Outline What Why Introduction The true mark of an inner healthy spiritual life is an overflow in service to others. Paul has been calling upon us to stoke our hearts to be fervent and not slothful; he has been calling us to sustain ourselves in difficulty, his thoughts naturally turn then to commands which speak about the practical outworking of a heart that is fervent and prayerful. Romans 12:13, ‘Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.’ Paul has made mention of contributing to the saints in 12:7-8, which speak about serving and contributing generously. Those verses are more concentrated on those with gifts and offices concerned with those things, where this verse is impressing upon all the universal responsibility on all believers. Just as all Christians are to love, hate evil, rejoice in hope, etc., so we are all to contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. As we look at this verse we will break it down in two ways. Firstly, we want to look at its part and what is being commanded, and then secondly we will look at why, and some biblical motivations for meeting the needs of the saints.