Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 27/12/2009 In this chapter we have a dialogue between a despondent prophet and a determined God. I use the word ‘determined’ because this book clearly shows that the Lord will not leave a task unfinished, be that task a pagan city in need of forgiveness or a moody prophet in need of restoration. It is also worth reminding ourselves that, in all likelihood, this account was written by Jonah himself, so we can say that he was an honest reporter. As Hugh Martin observed, ‘Let us not forget, therefore, that he has with much simplicity and frankness owned all his sin in this matter.’ This leads to the obvious question: how do we describe ourselves when we are part of a story we are telling? Do we exaggerate our good contribution and play down our sinful involvement? Jonah informs us of his response to the repentance of Nineveh. He was more than angry – he regarded their repentance as an absolute disaster. Perhaps he had not expected them to repent, and h...

This sermon was preached on 27/12/2009 It is common for leaders to make promises of peace. I suppose if we could ask people what they most wanted to see in 2010, many of them would say peace because we live in a world in which peace is lacking in many areas of life. Yet I suspect that if we asked them to define what they mean by peace, a variety of answers would be given. Some would intend external peace whereas others, who live in fairly steady circumstances, would desire internal peace. When we look back into history, we can see that peace has eluded many who sought for it. Sometimes a form of peace was imposed on other nations who had been conquered by a dominant country, yet its rule was resented by its subjects. Its peace was merely an absence of war. When we look around our world today, we conclude that politicians cannot give peace (despite their genuine attempts at times), prosperity does not bring peace (materialism cannot satisfy the heart), advances in technology have...

This sermon was preached on 23/12/2009 Adoption is a doctrine that is not appreciated as it should be by Christians. It describes a greater blessing than even justification because while the latter explains how we become right with God, the former is concerned with becoming members of his family. Obviously both doctrines are very important and it may be that justification is often in our thoughts because it is often preached about. Yet from a theoretical point of view, we can see how a sinner could be justified and not receive the further blessing of adoption. There was no obligation on God to adopt saved sinners into his family, but the reality that he did so is a reminder of his amazing grace. It does seem to be the case that awareness of adoption is one of the privileges of New Testament believers. Old Testament believers were in the family of God, but how well they realised this relationship cannot really be discovered because we would have to be one in order to know what they tho...

This sermon was preached on 20/12/2009 The book of Jonah is well-known for God’s miracles that occurred in the realm of nature: the storm and the fish. Yet in this chapter we have the third miracle of grace in this book. The first was the conversion of the sailors in the first chapter; the second was the change of Jonah’s heart in the second chapter; the third is the conversion of a pagan city in chapter 3. While the miracles of nature may be more spectacular in a sense, the miracles of grace are more important. As we consider this third miracle of grace, it is useful for us to remind ourselves of four important details connected to the repentance of the city of Nineveh. First, it was a fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant in which the Lord had said that he would bless the Gentile world through the witness of his people Israel. Throughout Old Testament history the Lord had brought outsiders to himself. We are familiar with individuals such as Rahab and Ruth, Naaman and the Magi....

This sermon was preached on 20/12/2009 This third title in the fourfold name of Jesus may puzzle some because it can give the impression that Isaiah confused the persons of the Trinity by giving the name of the first person (the Father) to the second person (the Son). How much Isaiah knew about the Trinity cannot be known because it is primarily a New Testament teaching about God. Of course, because we read the Old Testament through New Testament eyes, we can see aspects of the Trinity in the Old Testament and we may have misunderstandings about this title that would not have occurred to Isaiah. In any case, we will see that Isaiah is not giving to Jesus a name that belongs to the heavenly Father. Each of these titles of Jesus highlights one of his attributes and uses it in a particular way. ‘Wonderful Counsellor’ highlights the wisdom of Jesus as he governs all things; ‘Mighty God’ stresses the power of Jesus as he performs great and heroic exploits; ‘Prince of peace’ emphasises...

This sermon was preached on 17/12/2009 ‘For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.’ In verse 15 Paul contrasts the Spirit of adoption with the spirit of bondage which produced fear, whereas the Spirit of adoption results in the cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ That the term ‘spirit’ is used in two senses is obvious; what is not obvious is to whom or what each refers. There are three possible meanings. (a) Both uses refer to the human spirit. If this is the case, then by ‘spirit of bondage’ Paul means either the sinful attitude that controls unbelievers in general as they live sinful lives or it can mean the period of conviction of sin prior to conversion when such individuals were discovering they were unable to deliver themselves from the power of sin. If Paul is referring to the human spirit in the phrase ‘spirit of adoption’ he means the new outlook of intimacy with God that the person, who was in bondage to sin, experiences once he becomes a Christian. (b) The second sugges...

This sermon was preached on 13/12/2009 As we saw in our previous study, Jonah refused to obey the Lord’s command to go and preach in the Gentile city of Nineveh. While the text does not give his reason for disobedience, it probably was linked to nationalism. In any case, Jonah virtually resigned from his role as God’s prophet and attempted to create a situation in which God would not speak to him again. As we noted, we too can suddenly object to a demand by God and then try an prevent God speaking to us. This is probably more common today because we no longer live within a Christian framework in society and there are many circumstances in which we can find the demands of God to be too strong. One obvious example is the fourth commandment. A good sportsperson may resent not being able to participate in sporting events because they occur on Sundays. In this type of situation, in order to justify disobedience, he can form situations in which he can no longer hear God’s voice, perhap...

This sermon was preached on 13/12/2009 Genesis 4 is well-known because it details the first murder in human history. Awful although that sin was, it has to be seen within its context. What we have in this chapter is the origin of two societies within the human race; one society is God-fearing and the other society is opposed to God. Put in this context, Abel who was a Godfearer becomes a martyr and Cain who was opposed to God becomes a persecutor. It may be worth mentioning a statistic because some may be wondering where all the people came from that are mentioned in the story – such as the people of whom Cain was afraid or the numbers capable of inhabiting a city. Remember we are not told how old Cain and Abel were when this incident took place, and since they were adults it is very likely that Adam and Eve had many other children and grandchildren by this time. James Boice notes that in the span of Adam’s lifestyle, if half the number of children that are normally born in that p...