We have spent some time in missions and been away from the book of Revelation for a while. We want to continue now looking at the body of the prophecy having looked at all the introductory material. But before we can proceed I think it is most important that we remind ourselves of our hermeneutical approach. Hermeneutics is the science of interpreting the bible and there is no harder book in the bible to interpret than Revelation. So allow me then to take three minutes on each of the ten principles we need to remember when reading this book as a way of priming the pump for the rest of the book.

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Introduction: Isolation in the medical world is a good thing, but isolation in the church is a bad thing. God lives in community and so should we. Sin drives us into ourselves away from all others. The statement that individualism is sinful and community is holy is generally true, but there are some necessary qualifications that must be made. We do not mean community at the cost of individuality but individualism which is a dominant humanistic influence in the 21st century. And, we do not approve of all things done in the name of community because there are many abuses, extremes and ungodly ways of being a group. The verse before us is Proverbs 18:1, ‘Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.’ This is one of those emboldened verses that has always stood for me as it has cut to the heart of the sinful condition as it highlights a typical and important pattern of behaviour. In our sinfulness we tend to individualism, withdrawal, isolation, or as Luther put it, because of sin we are bent in on ourselves. The hand that is supposed to be extended out to God in worship, love and service, strokes and serves self. That hand intended to be extended to our neighbours in love is self-serving. Even doctors today are confirming the community oriented nature of our existence. Chronically isolated people have a higher blood pressure and are more prone to developing Alzheimer’s and dementia. John Donne was right when he wrote, ‘No man is an island entire of itself.’ So today I would like us to consider the general trend in all of our hearts towards isolation. We are not going to address the involuntary isolation of loneliness, imprisonment, Alzheimer’s and other situations where isolation is...

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Introduction: Unbelief is a cockroach! Cockroaches can survive without food for prolonged periods of time; they are 8-15 times more resistant to radiation than vertebrates; some can go without air for 45 minutes; some have revived after being submerged underwater for 30 minutes; they can survive sub-zero temperatures and continue to have bodily functions even after they have been decapitated. Cockroaches are hard to kill and so is unbelief. The atomic bomb of Christ’s death and resurrection has hit the nation of Israel but unbelief like the cockroach continues to thrive. Paul in chapters 9-11 of Romans is dealing with this problem of Jewish unbelief and is drawing the present section in chapter 10 to a conclusion. He has been telling us that Israel have failed to believe because they chose to trust in their works instead of have faith in Christ. Paul mapped out for us the simple process of salvation by faith, giving us the causal chain of being sent to preach, preaching, hearing and finally believing and being saved. Despite the atomic effect of Christ’s ministry and simple way of salvation by faith unbelief continues to thrive in Israel. In the closing verses of chapter 10 we are reading a tragedy not a comedy or thriller. We are reading about the saddest case in the history of unbelief since Adam and Eve. There had never been a people so privileged and blessed, so informed and close to the truth. Yet for all of this a large part of the Jews in the first century did not believe. Paul has spoken about his deep anguish 9:1-3, 10:1. In this section he magnifies the guilt of Jewish unbelief. In doing so he draws our attention to the real danger of unbelief. But Paul is not speaking about unbelief in...

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Introduction: A controversial issue among Christians is the question of second baptisms. At the time of the Reformation this was a huge issue. The Reformers, who practiced baby baptism had to ask themselves the question, is baptism by a Roman Catholic priest legitimate? They concluded that it was because it was done in the name of the Trinity according to Matthew 28:19. But then there were those known as the Anabaptists who rejected the practice of infant baptism declaring that baby baptism is no baptism at all and true believers need to be baptised after they have believed in obedience to the biblical pattern. The question of second baptisms did not stop there. With the Wesleys we saw the introduction of a two storey Christian experience that laid the foundation for holiness movements claiming the necessity of a second experience known as entire sanctification; or the Pentecostals who claimed the need for a second baptism in the Spirit with the evidence of tongues accompanying it. Even among some Reformed thinkers there is the teaching that one needs a second baptism of the Spirit for sealing to have joy and assurance. Today Rebekah is being baptised again. She was baptised as a child but does not believe that she was converted so she is being baptised for the first time properly. We will turn our attention to Acts 19:1-7 where we have an instance of those who have already been baptised, but who are not believers needing to be baptised again.

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Introduction: In 490 B.C. the Greek soldier Pheidippides ran about 25 miles from a town called Marathon to Athens to announce the news that the Greek army had defeated the Persians. Upon arrival he spoke the word ‘Niki!’ which means victory, and then died. Today’s marathons which are between 24-26 miles are called by this name because of that historical event. Today as we continue our look at Romans 10:15, Paul quotes from Isaiah 52:7 which tells of another runner who bears even greater news, ‘And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”’ Paul has come to the end of his explanation of how a person is saved, but he cannot simply state the facts without being moved and revealing exactly how he feels about the ministry of the gospel. We see that he counts it an honour to be a bondservant to all men for the gospel, how he is not ashamed to preach the gospel, and here speaks about the beautiful feet of those who preach the good news. Paul is telling us that a true hero and true beauty are found in the one who preaches the good news. As parents we bring up our girls to be true beauties, and our young boys to be heroes, well here is the verse that reveals true beauty and true heroism, ‘As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.’ Paul counts it an honour and a privilege to be a herald for the good news and helps us to put the correct value on those who serve in this fashion.

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Introduction: The Son did not send Himself into this world to be our Saviour, He was sent by the Father. The Spirit did not send Himself at Pentecost, but was sent by the Father and the Son. The apostles did not send themselves on the Great Commission but were sent by the head of the church, Jesus Christ. Paul did not send himself but was called by Christ on the Damascus road and this call was confirmed by the laying on of the hands of the elders in the church at Antioch, Acts 13:1-3. The preaching of the gospel is not an independent and individual action it is an authorised and collaborative effort. We live in an age where the individual has been idolised and personal will has become the arbiter in all tasks. We live in the age of self-appointed prophets and apostles, of self-appointed ministries and para-church organisations. We live in an age where every man with a bible can start his own church. This individualistic influence upon evangelism has been detrimental and so we are grateful for Paul’s words in Romans 10:15 which remind us that we are servants not masters, that we are sent and not self-appointed. Romans 10:15, ‘And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”’ Paul is speaking about the unbelief of the Jews and how they have had every opportunity to believe yet have chosen to trust in their own righteousness. We have slowed down in these verses as they have outlined the process by which a person is saved and are deliberately extracting the information relevant for a biblical view of the mission of the Church. Today we want to investigate what it means...

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Introduction: How do we discover the truth? Sadly this most important question goes unconsidered by many people today. How do you discover the truth about yourself, about your world and most importantly about God and salvation? In the humanistic world we live in in the West, we have portrayed ourselves as the discoverers of our own truth. You can hardly watch one movie or TV series today without hearing the typical humanistic cliché, ‘the truth lies within you;’ or, ‘you will discover the truth if you just put your mind to it;’ or, ‘we all need to find our own personal truth, what is true for me.’ This view of epistemology is at odds with what the bible teaches. Because of sin man is no longer a reliable guide in the truth and needs to be guided. We have suffered the noetic effects of sin. Sin has impacted our ability to know the truth. Because of our sinful natures we in fact even deliberately deny the truth and believe lies. Paul shows how ignorance flows from sinfulness in Ephesians 4:17-18, ‘Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.’ Do you see how Paul shows how our hardness of heart produces the futility of mind and the darkening in the understanding. When it comes to discovering truth we are self-deceiving. For this reason we need God to tell us the truth. We need the truth to come to us from outside of ourselves not from within us. This is what Paul is affirming in Romans 10:14, ‘How...

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