Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

Sermon preached on Sunday, 25 October, 2009 This is the fifth of the sayings of Jesus on the cross and it is the only one of the seven sayings that refers to his physical distress. When we think of the awful pain he went through, we are amazed at his long-suffering, of the patient way he endured the distress of the cross. But it is important to note that he did utter one cry that was connected to his physical needs. This is a reminder that it is legitimate and important to indicate, in an uncomplaining manner, the distress we are going through. A stoical, sullen silence in times of trouble is not a sign of holiness. The thirst that Jesus endured enables him to have a fellow feeling with us in our times of weakness and distress. Scholars say that John wrote his Gospel towards the end of the first century. At that time, the church was harassed by a heresy called Docetism which denied the real humanity of Jesus. By describing this episode of Jesus’ experience on the cross, John is a...

Sermon preached on Sunday, 25 October, 2009 The Sabbath is one of what are called creation ordinances, that is divinely-given details for human life that were present before sin entered the world but which are still expected of humans even although life has been marred by sin. In Genesis 2, we read of three such ordinances: marriage, work and the Sabbath. As we read the account of creation in Genesis 1, we should note that there are two climaxes. The first concerns the climax of the created order, which was the creation of humans; the second concerns the climax of the days of creation, which was reached with the arrival of the Sabbath. It was God’s pleasure that both should be combined in man having the provision of the Sabbath. We could say, as far as the original week of creation was concerned, that each subsequent day was better than the day before. There is not an eighth day, which indicates that however notable and worthy the activities of the first six days were, the activi...

Sermon preached on Sunday, 25 October, 2009 If someone was to ask you, ‘Was Hobab an important person in the Old Testament?’, how would you answer? Perhaps you would have to say, ‘I don’t know.’ If that is the case, then hopefully by the end of this sermon, you will be able to answer the question in one way or another. Yet even if we don’t know whether or not he was important in himself, we can deduce that this particular incident was sufficiently significant for Moses, the author of this book under the inspiration of God, to include it. 1. Who was Hobab? Our text tells us that he was the son of Reuel (or Jethro), a Midianite. This means that Hobab was descended from Abraham – Midian was one of the sons of Keturah, the woman that became Abraham’s wife after Sarah died. What is important about his connection to Abraham is that God had promised his friend that his descendants would be blessed if they believed in God. Hobab, by birth, was a man who was very near to the promises of God. Fu...

Paul in these verses succinctly divides the human race into two groups and describes the basic outlooks of each. One group is controlled by the flesh and therefore think about the things of the flesh; the other group is controlled by the Spirit and therefore think about the things of the Spirit. It is obvious, from Paul’s description, that there are different levels within each group. Paul here in Romans 8 is describing Christians in general and contrasting them with non-Christians. Yet although he speaks in rigid contrasts between those living by the flesh and those living by the Spirit, we should not imagine that Paul was not aware of backsliders, which means that we should note that Paul, in not mentioning such, is not denying that some true believers may backslide occasionally and perhaps backslide almost to where they were before conversion. No doubt, if he were to refer to such, Paul would say that their backsliding was caused by tampering with the things of the flesh. Nor is Pau...

This sermon was preached on Thursday, 15/10/2009 One of the striking features of today’s world is the desire expressed by many people for authenticity and genuineness. The world of politics is clouded by the words of spin doctors. Every product that is advertised on television or in magazines is claimed to be the best ever and everyone knows that they are not. Unrealistic expectations are created by football managers at the beginning of each season, with most of them being fully aware that they will not win their league. Promises are treated as if they were not binding on those who made them. The sad fact is that words have lost their meaning. Of course, the problem with authenticity and genuineness is not confined to the misuse of words. Often, the genuineness of a politician’s work is undone by moral failure, and the failure is enhanced because of the person’s previous condemnation of others for the same behaviour. Such character flaws are not confined to politicians, but are found i...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, 11th October, 2009 My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? (Mark 15:34) This is the fourth of Jesus’ sayings on the cross. As with the previous three sayings (made intercession for the transgressors, numbered with the transgressors, sword piercing the soul of Mary), it was a fulfilment of prophecy, this time of the opening verse of Psalm 22. It is likely that Jesus was thinking on this psalm when he was on the cross. Does this not show us how much Jesus loved the scriptures, that they were his focus as he suffered on the tree? The cry is also a prayer. Spurgeon remarked that both the Bible and prayer were dear to Jesus in his agony. In the previous three sayings Jesus had been concerned about the needs of others; in the remaining four he is taken up with his own concerns. The previous sayings were a continuation of his ministry of compassion: Jesus prayed for the soldiers, promised the penitent criminal a place in heaven, and provided for his mothe...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, 11th October, 2009 Thomas Boston begins his well-known book Human Nature in Its Fourfold State by saying that there are four essential things that have to be realised by any person hoping to get to heaven. They are what man was in the state of innocence as God made him, what man is in the state of sin, what man is in the state of grace, and what man will be in the state of glory. The image of God is crucial to each of these states: it was given in the state of innocence, it was marred by the fall of humanity into sin, it is being renewed in those who trust in Christ, and it will be restored fully in the state of glory. There have been various suggestions in the past as to what this image involved. Some have suggested one feature, such as rationality; others have suggested another feature, such as personality. I suspect it is a mistake to focus on one feature; rather we are to look at every relevant detail that this passage mentions. The imag...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, 11th October, 2009 Paul is writing to a group of churches which he had founded in Galatia, an ancient province that is now located in modern-day Turkey. Along with Barnabas, Paul had made a preaching tour, now called his First Missionary Journey, which included that part of Europe. Despite opposition and persecution they had planted several churches and they could give a good report when they returned to their sending church in Antioch. We can read about these details in Acts 13 and 14. Paul later discovered that other preachers visited these Christian gatherings after he had left. These preachers, now known as Judaisers, had gone to those meetings with an agenda. The membership of those churches included both Jews and Gentiles, and the preachers’ agenda concerned what should happen to the Gentile converts. Their agenda was to get the Gentile Christians to observe the Old Testament ceremonial law, especially the rite of circumcision. Although this em...