Outline Not a sin offering Not a physical eating Not a mere remembering Introduction People have died for the issue of how Christ is present in the Lord’s Supper. And this is a good thing. It is not good because people are dying but because people are willing to die to uphold biblical truth. Christ commanded His church to remember His death by means of the Lord’s Supper, this is a non-negotiable for His Church. I love to remind us that people died for these truths because we are so lackadaisical. In our politically correct climate we are scared off having conviction about anything and would rather go soft on any distinctive that might cause Christians to differ. When it comes to the issue of how Christ is present in the Supper it not only negates the bibles teaching to deny soft pedal these things but also robs us of the knowledge of great blessing and grace being poured out upon us by God. Today as we remember the Lord’s death we will prepare our hearts by looking at Paul’s words to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 10:14-22. Paul is writing to the Corinthian church on a number of issues that have arisen in the congregation. They have been asking certain questions on specific topics as they try and negotiate how to be the church in a sinful city like Corinth. One of the issues was marriage, 7:1; but another was food offered to idols, 8:1. It is fascinating to see how Paul answers a question, he teaches us so much by his theological method. He uses so many other doctrines to answer this one question. He touches on the true definition of love, the reality of other gods, the unity within the Trinity, the Creatorship of Christ, teaching on...

Read More

The post 1 Corinthians 10:14-22: Communing with Christ appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline The church as the witnesses Weeping witnesses Introduction Think of all the ways in which the church is represented in the book of Revelation. We move from the traditional ‘servants’ 1:1, to more symbolic designations such as ‘kingdom’ and ‘priests’ 1:5, to the more crazy 7 lampstands 1:20. The church is called on to be conquerors in the 7 letters, they are symbolised as the martyrs under the altar 6:9; the 144 000 sealed of the people of Israel 7:1-8; and a festal throng of all nations waving palm branches in heaven 7:9. They are called saints 8:4, pictured as the woman with 12 stars for a crown, as well as the rest of her offspring ch.12. They are the armies of heaven 19:14; the souls of the beheaded who experience the first resurrection and reign with Christ; those whose names are written in the lamb’s book of life, the New Jerusalem and the Bride of Christ. This prepares us for the further way in which the Church is symbolised in Revelation 11 as the temple of God, the holy city and the two witnesses. These symbols help us to know ourselves and our mission as the church. How do you see the church in the world? Do you see the church as given to rule and so seek to place a pope over kings? Do you see the church as a victorious army that should be conquering nations and establishing a worldwide theocracy? Do you see the church as a life boat that must not get involved in the world’s affairs at all and its job is to try and save as many people as possible before the rapture? In a world full of persecution and idolatry God reminds the church of her purpose by casting her in...

Read More

The post Revelation 11:3: The Two Witnesses appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline Independent dating Undiscerning dating Immoral dating Shallow dating Introduction The history of dating is a pendulum swing from total dependence to total independence. In ancient times marriages were arranged. An arranged marriage could have been arranged while the bride and groom were still in their infancy by the parents, or by a person appointed to choose a suitable spouse. Potential spouses did not necessarily have the opportunity to meet until the wedding day. There are still many today who implement this practice usually allowing the son or daughter to meet the prospective mate and veto to reject or accept the arranged marriage. Dating is a recent phenomenon that arose at the beginning of the 20th century. Prior to dating there was what is called courting. Courting was the practice of a suitor visiting the home of a girl, upon her invitation and with her father’s permission, the suitor would spend time with the family, and would have opportunity to get to know the girl in conversation in the parlour. There would be other family members in the house, so there would be accountability but also a measure of privacy. The father would often be present and he would get to meet the young man and question him and see him relate to others in the family. The goal was often to get to know the character of a person and to see if they were a suitable marriage partner. The traditional practice of the young man asking for the girls hand in marriage was also part of this. Dating was a very different thing altogether. Dating was the process of removing the girl from her home and the watchful eye of her family and instead of spending time talking and getting to know ones character the focus became about...

Read More

The post The Spirit Filled Marriage 12: Dating appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline The temple The trials Introduction The temple of Jerusalem is a hot bed of speculation and division. This is due to the OT presenting the New Creation in a Jerusalemocentric and temple worship style idealism. The perfect future of God’s people was always a projected perfect present which was very Jewish with a distinct separation from Gentiles, it was geographically located in Israel and not encompassing the whole world, it was represented in terms of a perfect temple worship and priesthood and not in light of the finished work of Christ, and it had other cultic aspects such as the OT Sabbaths. The question of literal interpretation causes many divisions. As we come to Rev. 11 with its mention of the holy city and the temple and altar we have to revisit our hermeneutic for how to read OT prophecies. The way this section is read is very different across the various schools of thought. The Historicist sees chapter 11 as describing the Church during the Reformation. The temple they take to be the true church, the outer court is the apostate RCC. The measuring of the church’s temple, altar and worshippers is God sifting the true from the false. The measuring of the altar is thought to be the correct teaching on justification and how sins are forgiven. The measuring rod is thought to be held by Luther and authorised by God to overhaul the church. The two witnesses are thought to be the faithful few such as the Albigensians and the Waldensians who resisted the papal corruption of the truth. The 1260 days = 1260 years, the approximate time of papal supremacy in the church. The Preterists see these verses as describing the Fall of Jerusalem. This is connected with the Fall of Jerusalem because Ezekiel also...

Read More

The post Revelation 11:1-2: Measuring the Temple appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline Misdirected singleness Deliberate singleness Introduction Singleness in the ancient world had a stigma attached to it. Many cultures made an idol of marriage and sought wives for breeding an heir. Marriage was an institution used by many not for people to find a life partner who you became one flesh with but was something used to ally families, and ensure heirs. Many men married to produce an heir but also conducted extra marital affairs. Singleness in this culture was frowned upon and was a stain. Even in Jewish culture, if a young man was not married and fulfilling the command to go forth and multiply, he was thought to be violating one of the 613 laws of the Torah. This all changed with the teaching of Christ and Paul. Christ in Matt. 19 after condemning no fault divorces speaks about the possibility of a single life, ‘for the sake of the kingdom of heaven’ v12. This was a radical innovation for the Jewish mind who was preoccupied with marriage and multiplying. It was inconceivable that one would not marry because then they would disobey the command to multiply. This command was felt to be so important that later Rabbis allowed for divorce after 10 years of childlessness in order to marry a more fertile person. This fixation upon marriage and offspring is not found in the NT teachings. With the move from the Mosaic economy and life as a national theocracy to a church of all nations fulfilling the Great Commission, priorities shifted witness by generational purity and faithfulness to include witness by planting churches. Also because we live in the last days, Paul encourages people to consider the single life in order to live undistracted for the Lord, 1 Cor. 7:25-39. Deliberate singleness for the sake of the...

Read More

The post The Spirit Filled Marriage 11: Singleness appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline Other interpretations Our interpretation Introduction In any good story, you don’t want to know the end before you have got to the end. The book of Revelation though is full of spoilers. Because of the terrible time that the Church has of it until Christ returns God constantly reminds us of the end. As we come to Revelation 10-11 we have what is called an interlude between the 6th and 7th trumpet. The main purpose of the interlude is to encourage the Church. We see in 10:7 the certainty and finality of the end, and in chapter 11 the preservation and faithfulness of the church. This is the second time, in a set of 7 judgements that God gives us insight into the Church’s position in relation to all the judgements that have been poured out. In chapter 7 we saw the seal interlude and the church was the numbered and sealed people of God who dwell in peace in God’s presence. The trumpet interlude is also made up of two visions. The first has to do with John’s recommissioning as prophet and introduces chapter 11 which is all about the preserved witness of the church. Hope and preservation are the themes, and these are necessary due to the many judgements being poured out and many enemies to be revealed. This interlude is not to be thought of as a chronological event that occurs between the 6th and 7th trumpet. Like the former interlude it is out of chronology. Chapter 11 especially is prior to the 6 trumpets and explains them, they are the judgements described in chapter 11. It is a theological interpretation of the role and suffering of the church not a chronological account. Today we will deal with chapter 10 touching on how others have read...

Read More

The post Revelation 10:1-11: Interlude appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline Leaving Cleaving Introduction Christian marriage is unique in so many ways. Christianity believes that marriage has an objective definition defined by God not man; that men and woman have defined, different and unchangeable roles; it believes in a definition of love that is Christlike and is therefore based on grace and costly self-sacrifice; it sees difficulties in marriage as good things that in the hands of God make us better people and not reasons for divorce; it sees marriage as more important than the people in it because it is an institution intended to display the gospel and the relationship that Christ has with His church, therefore divorce and adultery are high sins; but amongst these and other distinctives Christian marriage is unique because of its view of marriage as one flesh. Christian marriage is not merely a legal contract as secular governments see it. Marriage as a covenant before God is a legally binding arrangement more permanent than the contractual arrangement most governments offer. But there is something more, it is this more that Paul is talking about in Ephesians 5:28-32. The husband and wife become one flesh. The notion of the husband and wife becoming one flesh is based on another profound unity, the unity of Christ with His bride, Paul tells us that the unity in marriage is based on the unity between Christ and His bride, v31-32, ‘”Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.’ Because of an ontological unity between Christ and His church there is a similar type of unity between man and wife. This unions transcends a mere legal union. We...

Read More

The post The Spirit Filled Marriage 10: Leaving and Cleaving appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline Theodicy Idolatry Introduction The puritans used to say that our worst enemy is not the devil but ourselves, and the worst judgement we can receive is to be handed over to ourselves. This is the judgement of God upon those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness in Romans 1 and the judgement of God in Revelation 9:20-21, ‘The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.’ Another saying of the older writers is this, ‘the same sun that melts butter hardens clay.’ Here we see that as God pours out judgements, just as with Pharaoh during the 10 plagues, the judgements do not soften hearts but harden them. Sometimes God by means of hardship causes us to turn to Him and not from Him, but if He is acting in judgement affliction will have no effect and even turn people from God.

The post Revelation 9:20-21: Hardness of heart appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline Holiness in marriage Holiness by marriage Introduction When Lynn and I got married, we asked our pastor to not skimp on the preaching of God’s word and give us a full sermon. We still remember the points of that sermon. He spoke about the purpose of marriage and had 4 ‘P’s to answer. Marriage is for procreation, partnership, pleasure and perfection. It is this last purpose of marriage, perfection that we will be considering this morning. Paul has commanded husbands to love their wives, v25. This action is not self-determined and defined but Paul tells us Christ’s self-giving in sacrificial love is the example we are to follow, v25. In v26 Paul points out that Christ did His immeasurable act of sacrifice because He sought to sanctify Himself a bride. Christ’s purpose is saving us was to make us a holy people for Himself, as Paul says in another place, ‘who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works,’ Titus 2:14. Listen to this emphasis carefully, this will determine the shape of our message this morning. Jesus suffered to make us holy. He began this process of making us holy by washing us with the water of the word, v26. When we heard the word of truth, when we heard that we are sinners who cannot cleanse ourselves from sin, or even stop sinning, and that God offers us a new legal status being willing to offer us the gift to dress us in Jesus righteousness, we believed the God who cannot lie and we trusted in the free gift. God washed us, He gave us a clean slate, He planted us in His Son who now represents us with...

Read More

The post The Spirit Filled Marriage 9: The Priority of Holiness appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

Outline Words of Christ Words of the heart Words of power Introduction Words have power! With words Martin Luther King could persuade many to turn from racism. With words Winston Churchill gave courage to a nation being ravaged by war. With words a child’s self-image can be shaped for life. With words husbands and wives can build one another up. With words we can make people feel worthless and drive them towards suicide. With words we can undermine and trivialise a person’s life work. Words start wars, order executions, define perceptions, convey love, can be weapons of hate, and God uses them to save. Words have power. Being made in God’s image we cannot create nature but we can determine the course of certain created things by our words. As we move on in our look at marriage. In Ephesians 5:26 Paul is dealing with husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church and he outlines how Christ saves us by His word, v25-27, ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.’ God created the universe by His words. Jesus cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead and calmed storms with His words. We are born again when we hear and believe. We are sanctified by the word. The word of God is our sword in spiritual warfare. Words are situated and used by God to great effect. As we reflect on Christ’s serving His bride with the word I would like us to consider...

Read More

The post The Spirit Filled Marriage 8: The Power of Words appeared first on Covenant Grace Baptist Church.