Ten Commandments on SermonAudio

Sunday Service at Sparrow Baptist Church, Toronto

In the account of Jesus commanding the storm to stop, we see Him revealing Himself more fully to His disciples. And we find great lessons here for ourselves, seeing once more the vital importance of reading, studying, believing and knowing God's Word.

Jacob's final words to his sons show us the covenantal nature of being a Christian. We are called to obedience to the Law/Word of God. Jesus said, if you love Me, OBEY MY commandments.

The sermon explores the profound blessedness that comes from fearing the Lord and delighting in His commandments, as outlined in Psalm 112. It emphasizes that believers possess manifold spiritual and physical benefits in the present life through their union with Christ, rather than focusing solely on future glory. The preacher argues that obedience to God's law brings abundance and stability, contrasting the enduring legacy of the righteous with the fleeting nature of worldly wealth. Additionally, the text highlights the confidence and hope Christians have in facing hardship, assured by the ultimate triumph over adversity and the wicked. The message concludes with a call to gratitude for these current blessings and a reminder of the eternal judgment awaiting those who reject God.

In "The Grace That Saves and Transforms" from 2 Kings 5, we see God's sovereign grace at work in the life of Naaman, a powerful Syrian commander who was helplessly afflicted with leprosy. Through Naaman's cleansing, we are reminded of the greater cleansing every sinner desperately needs from the guilt and corruption of sin. The passage confronts our pride and self-reliance, showing that salvation cannot be earned, purchased, or achieved through human effort, but is received by grace through faith in the one true God. Ultimately, this passage points us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ: sinners who are spiritually unclean and unable to save themselves are cleansed by God's grace alone, through Christ alone, and transformed into worshipers of the living God.

The world needs to understand the doctrine of sin. The Ten Commandments are not just a moral standard; they are the stipulations of God's covenant, flowing from His very moral being. To break them is to break covenant with a holy God. Every one of us has broken this covenant and fallen short. We cannot stand before God and claim to be better than Achan. The only hope any of us has is to recognize the seriousness of our sin—that it is a covenant-breaking act with eternal consequences—and turn to the only remedy. The remedy is to repent and believe. The death of Achan and his family at the end of the chapter only makes sense when we grasp the profound seriousness of sin. But our hope is not in trying harder. Our hope is in the one who perfectly fulfilled the covenant command: the Lord Jesus Christ. The final prayer and hymn served as a call to action: to see our sin, to recognize it as a covenant-breaking act, and to flee to our strong Savior, whose perfect life, broken body, and shed blood are our only hope. We must not be legalists who trust in our own performance, but humble believers who find our rest in Christ alone.

The Seventh Commandment calls you to sexual purity not only in your actions, but also in your thoughts, desires, and what you allow into your mind. Rather than trying to manage temptation, God calls you to flee from it and guard your heart because you love Him and desire holiness. When the law exposes how far you fall short, it points you to Christ, whose righteousness covers you and whose grace enables you to pursue a life of purity and faithfulness.

The apostles are once again faced with persecution as they are imprisoned for preaching the gospel. But God was with them, miraculously releasing them from their chains, and commanding them to continue preaching the good news of life in Christ. As they are confronted by the religious leaders once again, the apostles remind them that they cannot stop preaching Christ. This is God's plan of salvation, and as a member of the Pharisees himself will declare, if this plan is truly from God, then it will be unstoppable.