Thanks to Lloyd McGarvey for preaching this morning; he is an elder at Grace Baptist Church. 1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Read 1 Samuel 30 Online

Outline God’s character God’s ways God’s victory Introduction At the happy times of our lives we may write a poem or a song to commemorate the event. This is what Hannah does as she worships God as she gives away her son to fulfil her vow. The song is very significant, not merely from a human standpoint where we would be expecting to hear a dirge from a bereaved mother’s lips but instead she is worshipping. Instead we have a song which serves as a bookend for 1 and 2 Samuel. These books are bracketed with Hannah’s song here, and David’s song at the end. When I read Lord of the Rings the first time I tended to skip the songs, they were boring and seemed to slow the story down. But in the Bible it is the songs and poems that are theologically rich. In this case Hannah’s song acts as an introduction in a piece of classical music that has all the motifs in it that will be expanded upon later. If you were reading this song for the first time and you were told that this is the song of a mother who has been granted a child by God, what would you expect to find in such a song? Certainly you would expect to hear thanksgiving, perhaps a prayer for the child’s salvation and health. So that when you come to this song you are immediately struck by the content. Firstly, the song sounds like Hannah is gloating over her enemies, and she is using the opportunity to get one over on Penninah. Look at verse 1, ‘…my mouth derides my enemies,’ and v5, ‘…the barren has borne seven, but she has many children is forlorn.’ Incidentally Hannah ended up only having 6 children (1 Sam....

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Outline An explanation of the hardening A description of the hardened Introduction No sober-minded Christian would deny that God is sovereign. Every Christian would affirm that God is sovereign, all powerful and actively in control in the world today. But there are three areas where there are differences of opinion between believers. Christians differ over what extent God controls nature; the extent of God’s control over evil, and the extent of God’s control in salvation and damnation. The verses we are presently studying are driving us into the heart of the differences about who is in control when it comes to salvation and damnation. Today we have to attend again to the matter of God sovereignly hardening sinners. Let us read Romans 11:7-10. The doctrine of God hardening sinners, the doctrine of reprobation, the doctrine of preterition, this is what is forced upon us this morning. Paul is confronting us with the sovereignty of God in hardening sinners. Calvin versus Arminius; Luther versus Erasmus; Whitefield versus Wesley; Pelagius versus Augustine, this is the fighting arena into which we are now thrust as we seek to come to grips with what the bible says on this issue. Let me point out as we begin that I had no plan to preach on this issue this morning, but that the text determined the topic for us. This is indeed the beauty of following the practice of expository preaching, where we follow the flow of the bible as we preach through it verse by verse. Only those who love the conflict would deliberately choose to preach on such difficult matters, but we are grateful that we are forced to deal with every word of God as good and helpful in equipping as to honour God. Paul as you well know has been talking...

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Outline Hannah’s barrenness Hannah’s prayer Introduction The present candidates for the American presidency highlight the universal problem of a lack of godly leadership. Americans are forced to choose between a slightly more conservative incompetent in Trump, and the slightly more competent secular humanist, Clinton. There are no good choices. This search for godly leadership is the crisis that 1 and 2 Samuel solves. Or at least they point forward to the final solution. These books are to be situated in the time of the judges. The inconsequential way the book begins, ‘there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim,’ points to this book being a continuation of judges. Samuel the Nazirite is introduced just as Samson the Nazirite is, Judges 13:2. The moral climate is one where every man is doing what is right in his own eyes. The refrain of Judges, that there was no king in Israel should be echoing in our minds. And the corrupt priesthood of Eli and his sons is a thorn in the side of Israel any attempt to worship the Lord in holiness. Into this situation is born the prophet-judge Samuel who is to clean house and lead under God. Samuel is a transitional person who will lead Israel from the time of judges to the time of the Kings. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel cover this age and document another major shift, the shift from the house of the Lord being a tabernacle in Shiloh, and 2 Samuel ends with the buying of the temple sight for Solomon’s greater house. These books are not merely books of heroic stories for our inspiration but essential links in God’s eternal plan of salvation. God had created a universe that had fallen under the curse of sin. He had promised a deliverer born of...

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Outline Not works By grace Introduction The verse that casts its shadow over the whole of Romans 9-11 is 11:36, ‘For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.’ This is Paul’s grand conclusion and to conclude anything different is to have misunderstood his argument. Every part of our salvation is from God, ‘Salvation belongs to the LORD,’ Jonah 2:9. It comes from Him, is done through Him and all runs to Him so that He is the only one who can be thanked for every part of our salvation. He must get all the glory, ‘Not to us O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,’ Psalm 115:1. This truth can be summed up in one word, ‘grace.’ Salvation is by grace alone, not grace and our additions. Not the addition of our motives, not the addition of our free choices, not the addition even of any foreseen choice it is all of grace. This is Paul’s point in Romans 11:6, ‘But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.’ Paul is talking about God saving Israel, and we have seen that God does this by acting in mercy and justice and saving a remnant not all. This action of choosing some Paul said in verse 5 is to be ‘chosen by grace.’ Paul has to press this home upon His hearers and he does this by adding verse 6 and showing us that grace and works are fundamentally opposed to each other, they are the opposite sides of the spectrum, they are mutually exclusive. As soon as you add works to salvation you automatically deny grace. As soon as you add anything of...

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Recording of a two-part Saturday class on Church Membership.

Recording of a two-part Saturday class on Church Membership.

Outline 1st exhortation 2nd exhortation 3rd exhortation 4th exhortation 5th exhortation Introduction We have finally come to the end of this most marvellous book of Revelation. We are not left with a number of pictures but rather a number of exhortations. The book began as an epistle, and will end as a traditional letter as well, v21. You may come to the end of this book and your head is spinning with pictures and symbols and a hundred more questions than you began with, the letter ends with clear instructions and applications. Here you are given a summary of the concrete things you can take away from this amazing book. I will be following Beale as he arranges these closing verses under 5 exhortations.

Thanks to André Bay for preaching this morning; he is an elder at Shore Baptist Church in Auckland. Read 2 Chronicles 20 Online

Outline Garden Temple Kingdom Introduction ‘Protology is eschatology’ is an important truth that helps you grasp the unity and overall storyline of the bible. The study of first things makes no sense unless we study them in light of last things. God by the power of His Spirit and through the work of His Son is driving the story of the bible towards the realities of the New Creation. From the very beginning of the bible God is setting things up and preparing us for the greater future realities that are reserved for us in the future. By way of progressive revelation God who is the single author behind the bible wields the human authors as His pens to speak of these future realities. So what starts as a garden, becomes a land, gets concentrated as a temple, exists as a church, will culminate in the Garden-temple-city-kingdom that is spoken of in these closing chapters of the bible. As we come to the end of the story and God wants to tell us about what is coming He draws on the pictures of the Garden of Eden, the Temple, and the kingdom. Those were the shadows that had stored up in their outlines a pointer to these realities. We want to ponder the paradise lost, and foreshadowed in the paradise regained.