Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 29/9/2013     The writer of Hebrews begins a new section in his argument in this chapter because verses 13–16 are the heading that entitles the verses that follow them (it is unlikely that he is summarising the testimony of those he has mentioned previously because his first point is that the ones he has in mind all died, and Enoch did not die).  Each of the people he is going to mention were not satisfied with where they were and instead looked ahead to what God had provided for them, even although they died in different ways and locations. As far as his original readers were concerned, the author’s point is to show that suffering and opposition were the common experience of God’s people in all ages. The men and women he mentioned were prepared to persevere through these ordeals because they believed that God’s promises about the Messiah, when they would be fulfilled, would more than make up for their pain. This...

In this psalm, David is describing a situation in which he was under attack by foreigners (v. 11). This could refer to invasion from outside the country or perhaps he could be describing foreign mercenaries who were helping his opponents, such as Doeg the Edomite who was serving in the army of Saul. Whoever these opponents were, it is clear that David felt in great danger. It is interesting that he felt this danger despite previous successes. He refers to them at the close of verse 2 as part of his praise of God and acknowledges that the Lord has already given him victories. Yet David knew that previous victories do not automatically give present victory. He was aware that he could take nothing for granted, therefore he prayed to his God for help. In this prayer, David first focuses on God before considering his enemy, and that is a wise way to approach a problem. If we first focus on the enemy, we tend to assess God’s abilities in light of what the enemy can do. Bu...

‘I believe…’ occurs four times in the Creed and enables us to arrange it in four divisions. The first concerns God the Father, the second concerns Jesus Christ, the third is a reference to the Holy Spirit, and the fourth includes important elements in the experience of all true Christians. Although we may not think so at first glance, those two opening words of the Apostles Creed are very important, and are so for at least six reasons. First, ‘I believe’ reminds us that we have to have a personal involvement with the various details mentioned in the Creed and not merely an intellectual awareness of them. When a Christian says, ‘I believe…’, he is not merely referring to an intellectual conviction that his beliefs are true. He is also saying that he depends upon the God he is confessing. Second, the words ‘I believe’ also indicate that we as Christians want our faith to be public – initially the Apostles Creed, composed during the second and third centuries, was ...