Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 27/1/2013 This is a well-known passage to any who are familiar with the teachings of Jesus. It was said about halfway through his three years of public ministry. The first year had been one of popularity as people wondered if Jesus would set them free from their various troubles. Now, in the second year, opposition was rising against him and, as we can see from the context, rejection of his message was becoming frequent. The background to the passage is at least twofold.  First, there is the rejection of Christ by the cities in which he had done many gracious acts, cities such as Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum. This feature has two important lessons for us. (i) Jesus indicates that there will be degrees of punishment, that those who receive more blessings, and rejected them, will be judged more severely than those who did not receive any. (ii) Although a community may reject Jesus, he yet offers blessings to individuals who will receive him....

This sermon was preached on 20/1/2013 Sometimes when a biographer wants to show the greatness of his subject he will give a chapter to each aspect of the individual’s greatness. So if the subject is a politician, there may be chapters on each stage of his rise to power and how he prepared himself for his future roles. Or if his subject is an athlete there may be chapters on the various circumstances the person went through, the barriers he overcame, and the achievements he attained. With regard to such books, the longer each chapter the more impressive the subject will appear.  We can liken this section of Hebrews to a book called Why Jesus is Greater Than Angels. The author lists several ways in which that is the case. We have already noticed two of his arguments: first, he used the resurrection of Jesus and, second, he used the subsequent reign of Jesus from the divine throne. He now gives a third argument: the creative and re-creative power of Jesus Christ. And there ar...

This sermon was preached on 20/1/2013 The circumstances in which a person says something can often add great weight to what they say. When a rich person in perfect health says that he has no worries about the future we are not surprised. But should that person lose his wealth and his health, and remain optimistic about the future, we would be surprised by his words and wonder what it was that could give hope to him. Such a person was Job, who had been a wealthy person, but through a series of disasters had lost his family, his wealth and his health.  During those days when all was well, Job had been a believer in God. His prosperity is described in the first chapters of this book. We are also told there about an unseen enemy who was working to get Job to renounce his faith, and that opponent was Satan, the adversary. We also discover that the adversary could not do anything against Job without the permission of Job’s God. If we were reading the story for the first time we...

This sermon was preached on 10/1/2013 Elijah is an important man for Christians to consider for several reasons. First, he is one of only two humans who have never died – the other was Enoch before the Flood (Gen. 5:24). Second, he is one of the two residents of heaven who came down to speak with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, the other being Moses (Luke 9:30). Of course, Elijah shared each of these privileges with another believer, but no-one shared both privileges with him. Third, his name is identified with God in a particular way as seen in the question, ‘Where is the L ord , the God of Elijah?’ (2 Kings 2:14). Fourth, his character and role are very similar to another great prophet, John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Jesus (Luke 1:17). Fifth, James tells us that Elijah was a man with the same passions as us so we should be able to see ourselves in him and in his behaviour (Jas. 5:17). Sixth, Elijah was a man of prayer, with several amazing answers given to h...

This sermon was preached on 6/1/2013 The author of Hebrews continues to prove that Jesus is superior to the angels, those powerful creatures that serve God and who exist in his immediate presence in heaven. Each aspect of the superiority of Jesus mentioned by the author in this section from 1:4 onwards is concerned with his exaltation and the author bases his assertions on Old Testament quotations. The exaltation began with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, which the author has referred to in verses 4 to 6. Now he mentions a second aspect that reveals the superiority of Jesus, and that is his reign at God’s right hand which is referred to in verses 7 to 9.  Before he focuses on the topic of Christ’s reign, the author details some features of angels which are found in a quotation from Psalm 104:4: ‘Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.’ The verse brings to his readers’ attention both the dignity and the inferiority of the angelic host. It is clear...

This sermon was preached on 3/1/2013 Habakkuk’s response to the answer that the Lord gave him in chapter 2 about his concerns over divine providence towards Judah was threefold: first, he prayed for spiritual recovery for his people; second, he described the awesomeness of the Lord’s presence; and third, he resolved to rejoice in the Lord whatever happens. Prayer for spiritual recovery (v. 2) Habakkuk knew he had to respond to what the Lord had told him about what was going to happen to Judah because of her sins. The cruel Babylonians were coming and when they arrived there would be complete devastation. Yet he confessed that their actions would be the Lord’s work. It would be the expected response of the covenant Lord to his unfaithful people. The Lord had intimated, when he initiated the covenant relationship, that he would do this if his people became unfaithful. Habakkuk had heard the Lord’s voice and he felt compelled to pray. This is always the true response to ha...