Across the centuries, we have different kinds of rulers, from tyrannical to the incompetent. Last week, we read about Matthew declaring that the promised awaited king has come. But what kind of king is he? We will be looking at Matthew 1:18-25 this weekend, and in that passage, we see two aspects of Jesus’ kingship.

This promised king will be our saviour. He has come to save “his people from their sins.” That is what a king is supposed to do – to protect, rescue, and care for his people. However, our deepest problem is our broken relationship with God, as a result of our sins. This king has come to restore our most foundational problem. This promised king will be God’s presence with us. This is a God who has come close to us, instead of staying in his “lofty” position. This is a God who knows and experiences human life through king Jesus.

Jesus Christ is king of God’s saving grace, rescuing us from our sins and walks with us in our lives.

It is great to have the peace that passes understanding that, because we belong to Christ, we are comforted in life and death. That in belonging to Him, our sins are covered by His precious blood and all things must work for our good without a hair from our head falling apart from the will of our Father in Heaven. This is what we rejoiced in when last I preached in Willo. In Sunday’s service we focus on Q&A 2 which raises the question as to, what do we need to know in order to have this comfort. It is one thing to know about this comfort, it is altogether a different thing to have it. This sermon then explores how it is we come to obtain this amazing comfort for it is clear, not every possesses it.

In Romans 16, we read of Paul’s greetings to all the people that have laboured in Gospel ministry. There is a camaraderie and personal touch in Christian ministry. Paul knew many of these people personally, and they laboured together in Gospel ministry. Christian ministry involves working together with others and it is not merely the effort of an “anointed” few.

One of the roles of being in Christian ministry is to watch out for those who would cause divisions within the church. These people are serving themselves, rather than God. They deceive us through smooth talk and flattery, and therefore it is important that we continue to be obedient to God and know his truth intimately.

Paul ends his letter to the Romans with a wonderful benediction that once again brings our minds to focus on the Gospel of God. God has established the church based on this Gospel – that Gentiles are now eternal sharers with the Jews in the blessings of Christ – in which all glory goes to God alone.

The church is made up of a diverse group of people who have been accepted by God in Christ. Therefore, we should accept one another within the church of God. The relationships that we have built within the church have a greater impact on us and the watching world than we imagine. A united people from diverse backgrounds with strong and deep relationships is a rare breed in our world.

We are united in the Gospel of Christ with our mission to proclaim this Gospel to the nations. That was the heartbeat of Paul’s life, and therefore we can learn from Paul’s example in our own lives. While we may not play the same role as Paul, our lives can be as intentional about proclaiming Christ as Paul’s life.

In the end, we are all in this together as partners for the Gospel of Christ. Contrary to what many think, we do not have to share the Gospel of Christ by ourselves. We do it together as partners in Christ.

Christians have many different opinions on different ways of being obedient to God. This is especially true on things that God himself has not explicitly mentioned in the Bible. Paul mentioned a list of issues that the Jews and Gentiles would disagree about.

However, he insists that we all belong to the Lord and each of us will have to give an account to God, not to each other. Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on each other on these topics where we have freedom to practise in different ways. The kingdom of God is not about the “physical” things on earth, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, as God’s people, let us focus on doing what leads to peace and to mutual encouragement of each other. We want to build and cultivate a culture of encouragement, rather than judgement of each other. There’s enough of judgment in our world, let us not add to that. Instead, let us be a culture of grace, modelled after our Lord Jesus Christ.

All glory is to be to God alone. The culmination of the first four “solas” of the Reformation is that glory belongs to God and God alone. We are saved by faith alone in Christ alone through God’s sheer grace alone, promised to us in the Scriptures alone. All of that is only possible because of God’s initiative and work, both through the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit in us.

That is Paul’s conclusion at the end of Romans 11. He has been declaring the wonders of the Gospel message of Christ all the way from Romans 1:18 onwards. He concludes the whole story of redemption in chapter 11, and it is only appropriate that he ends all of that with a doxology (praise) to God. In many senses, that is exactly what good theology is supposed to do – to raise our affections for God and increase our praise to him.

Paul does exactly that at the end of Romans 11. He praises the wisdom, knowledge, and plan of God.

We receive the grace of God through no work nor merit of our own. We are justified purely on the basis of Christ’s righteousness counted as ours, received by faith alone. We do not need elaborate rituals, activities or work for us to gain favour from God. God doesn’t help us only when we help ourselves. Instead, God gives his grace to us freely in Christ.

An encounter with the transcendent gracious God does not leave us the same. This God has saved us in Christ out of his sheer grace. This grace also works in and through us to grow in our holiness and Christlikeness.

Finally, this is a grace that is to come in the future when we will see Jesus. Christ will come back and make all things new, and give us a new perfected, sinless bodies to dwell with God forever.

Most Christians are familiar with the basic outline of the Jonah narrative. It's one of the first Bible stories we are taught. But are there truths and details that we miss due to this familiarity? In this message, we take a deep dive into the kind of person Jonah was.

We continue our short sermon series on the Five Solas. This week, we focus on the fact that we are saved in Christ alone through faith alone. In Ephesians 2, Paul begins by describing our condition and lives before Christ. He does not paint a pretty picture of who we are – spiritually dead and deserving of God’s wrath. It is a stark reminder of what we are saved from – our sins.

Because of God’s great love, mercy, and kindness to us, he accomplished salvation for us in Christ. All these blessings that God gives is only possible in Christ. He made us alive in Christ, raised us up with him and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms. We are no longer enslaved, because we are united to the one who freed us. All that belongs to Christ now belongs to us – in Christ alone.

We receive all these blessings through faith alone in Christ alone. These blessings are not given to us via all the good works that we have done. The means by which God gives us his grace in Christ is through ou

500 years ago, it was thought that the Scriptures were too complicated for lay people. All we need to receive grace from God is to attend Mass at the local church. It did not even matter that we would not have been able to understand what was said during Mass, as long as we are a part of it, then we would receive God’s grace. Therefore, through this sort of thinking, the teaching of the church and the Scriptures themselves are put on equal grounds.

However, it is not the case today because of the Reformation. Scriptures are the very words of God, and what is remarkable is that we are able to understand Scriptures. As the people of God, we are the creature of the Word. We have been brought to life by God’s word. Because of that, God’s word must be central in all that we do as God’s people, as Scripture alone is our final inerrant authority in all areas of our Christian life and faith.