Category Archives: Exposition

A Serious Call to Consider Our Ways

April 25, 2010 By in Exposition, Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a comment

This morning’s sermon from Haggai 1:1-11 is now on the website. You can listen to the audio here.

By way of recap, I summarized the message this way:

The challenge to build anything for God and glory of His kingdom compels us to a rigorous examination of our everyday commitments and priorities as a people belonging to Him – in light of the demands of our God in His word, the dissatisfaction of our hearts in this world, and the difficulties of our circumstances in these times. Let us give ourselves to zealous reflection and examination regarding the supremacy of God in our lives. Let each of us do what He tells us in terms what commitments we can or cannot make over the next three years to sacrificial giving toward a facility for Orlando Grace Church. And remember, let us rely on the power of the gospel of Jesus as a people liberated from sin and selfishness by the work of the cross and the filling of the Spirit in our lives to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness for His glory, our joy, and the joy of others who will come to know Him as a result.

Day one of our capital campaign is nearly over. Will you join me in responding positively to a serious call to consider our ways?

Fuel for the Fire of Faithful Ministry

April 4, 2010 By in Exposition Tags: , , 4 Comments

My text for this morning’s message was 1 Cor. 15:58.

I summarized the sermon this way:

The victorious reality of our future resurrection compels an unshakable constancy in the work of ministry. Such steadfast immovability will manifest itself in work – amiable work, abounding work, arduous work, and assured work.

Here is the Thomas Manton quote concerning Titus 2:14 I found so provocative:

Christ died to improve piety, not to lessen it, but to raise it to the highest, to make us zealous of good works that we might be carried on to heaven with full sails. . . . True grace is a fire that warms and inflames our affections. Christ came to make us more cheerful and lively, but not slack, careless, and cold . . . A cold Christian will have but cold comfort. For whom did Christ die? For those that are zealous of good works . . . It is not cold prayers, yawning devotions, and drowsy wishes when men are half-asleep that will serve in this case. Heaven is gotten by force and surprised by onset and storm (attack and violent assault).

You can listen to the entire message here.

May the Lord grant that those of us for whom Christ died may be carried on to heaven with full sails, zealous for good works!

What You Need To Hear When You Think You Know God But Don’t

March 23, 2010 By in Exposition, Sunday Morning Tags: , , Leave a comment

Last Sunday I preached on John 8:48-59, the closing paragraph of the chapter. You can listen to the entire audio of the sermon here.

Here’s how I closed the message and summarized the passage:

It’s conceivable that you may be listening to this message and think you know God when you don’t. There is only one way to tell. Do you hear the words of Jesus so as to keep, obey, treasure, guard, observe them? If not, you aren’t of God. You’re of a different father, the devil. And you need to hear certain things again: the truth of Jesus’ relationship to His Father –mutual devotion; the truth of Jesus’ relationship to His mission – singular dedication – yet one more time today He comes to you and holds out the promise – truly, truly, if you keep his word, you will never see death; and the truth of His relationship to spiritual giants of the past, like father Abraham – Before Abraham was He is. Don’t harden your heart against the words of Jesus today. Believe in the Son of God. Honor Him and then and only then will you honor the Father. Then you will be of God and never see/taste death because He tasted it for you (Heb. 2:9).

Throughout the sermon I interspersed six practical lessons for sharing our faith especially when we have the chance to do so with religious people. Here they are for your review:

  1. Don’t give up too soon on someone. You may need to share the gospel multiple times with someone even as Jesus did with His hearers.
  2. Expect persecution. The servant is not greater than the master. If they persecuted Him, they will persecute us.
  3. Do not revile in return when insulted.
  4. Stick to the message of the gospel. Keeping bringing things back to the cross.
  5. When given the opportunity, share the whole truth about the gospel, even the potentially most offensive truths.
  6. When necessary, shake the dust off your feet and move on. It is not fitting to cast the pearls of the gospel before “swine.”

You can listen to the whole message here.

Healthy Pulpits, Healthy Congregations

March 6, 2010 By in Exposition, Sunday Morning Tags: , 2 Comments

With another Lord’s Day on the horizon, I offer this quote by J. C. Ryle passed on to me by one of our deacons as a way for all of us to prepare for our encounter with God through the preaching of His word.

Let us beware of despising preaching. In every age of the Church, it has been God’s principal instrument for the awakening of sinners and the edifying of saints. The days when there has been little or no preaching have been days when there has been little or no good done in the Church. Let us hear sermons in a prayerful and reverent frame of mind, and remember that they are the principal engines which Christ Himself employed when He was upon earth. Not least, let us pray daily for a continual supply of faithful preachers of God’s Word. According to the state of the pulpit will always be the state of a congregation and of a Church (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 128, 129).

That last line sobers me as a preacher as it should every church goer who listens to preachers.

Let us pray daily for a continual supply of faithful preachers of God’s Word.

How To Be Certain Your Faith Is Not Fatally Flawed (Part 2)

February 28, 2010 By in Exposition, Sunday Morning Tags: , , 2 Comments

This morning I concluded my message in John 8:31-38 with six practical applications by which we can measure our assurance of salvation in terms of the third evidence of a genuine faith – liberation from one’s sin. You can listen to the entire message here.

I blew through these applications fairly quickly. I offer them here on the blog for further consideration.  These things will be true of us in this area, if we truly belong to the One who sets free indeed.

  1. We will not habitually commit sin. – Rom. 6:2 – How can we who died to sin still live in it? We will experience over the course of time, sometimes painfully slow, the progressive, gradual, transforming power of grace from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18).
  2. We will deliberately rely on grace and the power of the Gospel for transformation not our own moral effort. 2 Cor. 3:18 begins And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord (emphasis added). It’s not about trying harder; it’s about becoming transfixed, gloriously mesmerized by the beauty and grace of Jesus who sets free by the power of the gospel appropriated by faith.
  3. We will consistently confess and repent of our sins when we do fall in this life and pursue accountability so as not to deceive ourselves. If you battle an addiction, you may battle for years. Don’t give up. As long as you have accountability, practice James 5:16, see others signs of God’s grace at work in your lives, you may legitimately have assurance of salvation. Claim promises like John 8:32 & 36 and host of other grace-empowering, sin-liberating promises of God’s word until you prevail. Get out of compromising situations and patterns that set you up. Don’t tell me you’re serious about your faith and overcoming lust if you continue to put yourself  in the wrong place at the wrong time with your boyfriend/girl friend. Tell somebody what’s going on and pick someone with guts who will get in your face when you get out of line.
  4. We will seek to live a holy life as an overall pattern by obeying God’s words and doing good works. Eph. 2:10 says we are created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared before hand in which we should walk. Good works are conspicuous and even those that aren’t can’t remain hidden according to 1 Tim. 5:25. Does anybody anywhere see anything of this nature going on in your life?
  5. We will practice love for all, but especially for our brothers and sisters in the faith. 1 John 3:14 – We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. Tremble, shake in your boots, if you profess to follow Christ but anger, bitterness, malice, wrath, and resentment consume you. Genuine believers give off the aroma of kindness/grace/love. They practice forgiveness. They are peacemakers.
  6. We will seek to set our affections more upon the things above as opposed to worldly things below. Col. 3:1-2 – Seek the things above, set your minds on things above not things below. If your delights and affections get more traction downtown in the bar and club scene on Saturday nights as a rule than they do in a God-centered, Christ-honoring, joy-giving church scene on Sunday morning, and I’ll grant you not all churches fit that description, you should ask yourself some very hard questions. Your faith may be fatally flawed.

If these things are true of us and growing, we may draw hope and strength from the assurance that our faith is genuine. All glory to Him who saves and keeps His own to the very end.

Helpful Tools for Truth Acquisition

February 21, 2010 By in Exposition, Sunday Morning Tags: , , , 4 Comments

This morning I introduced part one of what will end up as three sermons with the same title from John 8:31-38: How To Be Certain Your Faith Is Not Fatally Flawed.

Jesus prescribes three tests for testing faith’s genuineness in vv. 31-32:

  1. Continuation in His word – If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.
  2. Acquisition of the truth – you will know the truth.
  3. Liberation from one’s sin – and the truth will set you free.

I made much of the connection between the first and second points. One glorious consequence of remaining in the word of Jesus, hearing and obeying it, is that we gain increasingly greater understanding of truth over and against falsehood.

Certain tools must belong in your toolkit if you hope to grow in your knowledge of the truth. It is not enough to read the Bible, though that certainly is essential to what Jesus means when He says we must abide in His word as a test of genuine faith. We have to get our arms around the meaning of His words and grasp the truth contained within them.

Along the way several extra-biblical helps can aid in one’s understanding of the truths taught in the Bible, truths that serve to set us free from the bondage of sin.

Some, not all, you can access online. I have sought to provide links below where this is the case.

Here are my suggestions for helpful tools for truth acquisition as a follower of Jesus Christ. More exist for sure, but these seem basic to  me.

First, you need a solid one volume commentary of the Bible. Puritan Matthew Henry’s complete and unabridged work can be accessed here. You don’t want to rely on a commentary to do your own study, but you definitely want to check your work by comparing it to a solid teacher either from the past or today. If you can afford it, John MacArthur’s New Testament Commentaries are now available. But here’s a tip. Much of those works come right from his sermons that you can access here. The same is true of John Piper’s sermons here. Save yourself some bucks. Calvin’s commentaries are online too here.

Second, make sure you have a Bible dictionary or encyclopedia at your disposal. You can access ISBE, a classic for cultural and historical background study, here. For example, if you wanted to learn more about Abraham and the significance of his reference in John 8:33, you could look up his name in the encyclopedia and have a wealth of information about him at your finger tips.

Third, invest in a one-volume systematic theology. Wayne Grudem’s is among the best for accuracy and readability. However, if you can’t afford that option, you still have online hope. John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion can be found here. You don’t get a helpful index with this masterpiece by the reformer, but you will be reading one of the all time great digests of truth that has ever come from the pen of man. This year I am reading through this work a paragraph at a time as part of my devotions. It is a must read for the reformed follower of Jesus.

Fourth, utilize a devotional guide. I love Ligonier’s TableTalk. After using this resource for a year now, I am amazed at how much truth this little booklet crams into each monthly installment. It is the first thing I open each morning as I approach the Lord for communing with Him. You will find a daily reading and themed articles each month that will greatly contribute to the increase of your truth quotient.

Fifth, make sure you include some reading from the saints of the past. You can get absolutely free Free Grace Broadcaster from Mount Zion Bible Church in Pensacola, Florida. Every quarter they publish a booklet of largely Puritan writings on different subjects. Order your subscription or read online here.

Sixth, books, you’ve got to read books! As I mentioned this morning, books change your life. They bring truth to life. I can’t even begin to tell you how often God has brought a book across my path that He has used to further my sanctification in a significant way. I have referenced often recently J. C. Ryle’s classic Holiness as a book I am currently digesting. Guess what? You can get it online too here! Reading good, solid, extra-biblical literature that opens your eyes to the truths of the Scriptures will make a huge difference in your life.

Seventh, go to conferences. God shows up at meetings that honor His name and teach His truth. Ligonier Ministries holds their annual conference every year right here in Orlando. How sweet is that! No travel costs. No hotel costs. Pack your own food if you need to save even more money. Register early like Nancy and I did and you will get the benefit of early bird pricing. This year’s conference theme is Tough Questions Christians Face.The lineup of speakers will knock your socks off. Take a vacation day or two and go to Ligonier. You can learn more about this year’s conference here.

No doubt there are more. Faithfully attend church and the preaching of the word. Utilize the 9:30 equipping hour. Get into a growth group. Attend the 1689 Confession tutorial class every other Wednesday (see the events calendar on the website) or listen to the classes online on our website.

If it is true that acquiring the truth in greater degrees of understanding is a mark of true discipleship, then let us be a people who are rabid for truth and as crazy about accumulating tools to that end as the carpenter is for stocking his toolkit with nothing but the very best equipment!

How Not To Die in Your Sins

February 14, 2010 By in Exposition Tags: , , 2 Comments

Today’s message came from John 8:21-30. You can listen to the audio here.

Here’s how I summed up the flow of the passage:

The only way to be certain that you don’t die in your sins is to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, God’s Son, the one and only “I am.” The content of that faith to be genuine must include four things: His going to the Father, His coming from the Father, His speaking for the Father (validated in the cross and its consequences) and His closeness with the Father.

At the conclusion of the message I made application from the text for believers in terms of how to avoid becoming hardhearted. The condition of the Jews in John 8 chills the reader to the bone in the fact that some so highly religious could actually be so far from the truth. Here are the six principles I gave for avoiding hardness of heart.

  1. Care about not becoming hardhearted. Hebrews 2:1-3 pleads that we play close attention that we not drift away for how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
  2. Stay in close proximity to the word of Jesus through reading, study, meditation, and listening to it preached. The Jews’ fault was they couldn’t bear to hear his word (John 8:43).
  3. Don’t just hear the word of Jesus but hear it so as to obey it. Refuse to be a hearer only but also a doer (James 1:22-24).
  4. Be quick to repent when the word of Jesus comes with power and convicts you of sin. As quickly as possible agree with God about the nature of your sin, confess it,  and determine to change. Being slow to repent grieves and quenches the Spirit in your life.
  5. Pray for God to give you continually a soft heart and not allow you to become hardhearted. Jesus exhorted us to watch and pray that we may not enter into temptation (Matt. 26:41).
  6. Daily exhort others as well as receive exhortation from others to avoid sin’s deceitfulness (Heb. 3:12-13). This is particularly true if you live a secret life in any sin area. You must know and be known if you are to avoid becoming hardhearted. Sin loses its power when we bring it out of the darkness and into the light (1 John 1: 5-7).

May the Lord grant us grace to persevere to the end that we might not die in our sins but go to be where He is, with the Father in the kingdom heaven.

Why We May Safely Believe Jesus' Claim to be the Light of the World

February 7, 2010 By in Exposition Tags: , , Leave a comment

If you missed this morning’s message, here is the summary. The sermon should be posted on the audio portion of our website in the next day or two.

The text of the message was John 8:12-20.

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

We may safely believe Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world because of His knowledge of self as one who came from God and went back to God, because of His oneness with God – He does not judge alone but the Father who sent Him, they judge together, because of His witness of two – Himself and the Father, thus fulfilling the requirements of the law in a most superior way.

So how are we to apply this challenging section of Scripture? Let me suggest a few things. First, Jesus claims to be the light of the world. Without Him you are trapped in darkness and subject to eternal death. Believe and follow Him, trust His death on the cross for your sins and you will have the light of life. Second, maintain a healthy suspicion of fleshly capacities to judge. Rely on the Spirit to help you make judgments not according to human appearances, superficiality, and sinful distortions, but according to the things of the Spirit and the word. Third, given who Jesus is and what He claimed, hang on His every word and seek to follow him in obedience. Beware the most dangerous activity found among men, hardening the heart to Jesus’ word which results in total blindness and ignorance. Fourth, remember that unbelief never has enough evidence. These men didn’t know God because they didn’t know Jesus and refused to follow Him. Fifth, rest in God’s providence as evidenced in the hour to which Jesus was subject. Nothing can befall you at any time apart from God’s sovereign appointment and timing. Sixth, if you follow Christ, the light of the world, that makes you a light to the world. Let it shine in your good works and gospel words as you engage people where you live, work, and play.

Jesus is the light of the word. Believe, follow, and you most certainly will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Amen.

When the Divine Collides with the Depraved

January 26, 2010 By in Exposition, Sunday Morning Tags: , , Leave a comment

Here, for your further reflection, is the conclusion to Sunday’s message in John 7:53-8:11.

Neither do I condemn you. That’s grace. From now on sin no more.That’s truth. How can He do this? On what basis can He forgive her sin and command her repentance? On what basis as the Holy One of God can He be just and yet the justifier of the likes of her, of you, of me? The cross! He sees the cross! He calculates the cross! He pleads the cross for her, for you, for me! For there in a matter of months He will give His life for her adultery and my lust and your deceit and our hypocrisy and an infinite number of other infinitely offensive sins by depraved sinners the likes of us. By that means and that alone can the wrath of God be satisfied, sin be punished, and the clemency of grace be bestowed. Hallelujah, what a savior! Jesus what a friend to sinners indeed!

Jesus is divinely flawless in His manner of dealing with both. The belligerent hypocrite He slams with conviction. Let him who is without sin judge. The broken prodigal He showers with compassion. Neither do I condemn you. But not a syrupy version of love so thus He transforms – go and sin no more.Which are we? Either way we need the promise of the gospel, the grace of God in Jesus on the cross to pay the penalty for our religious moralism and/or our shameful profligacy. See the Savior and His manner. He is the Messiah, repent and believe and go and from now on sin no more as a way of life in either error.

You can listen to the entire message here.

Back to John's Fulminating Majesty

January 23, 2010 By in Exposition, Sunday Morning Tags: , , 2 Comments

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will return to our study of John’s gospel.

I will tackle the disputed text in John 7:53-8:11, the woman caught in adultery (pictured along side).

Though a questionable text for reasons I will explain, I do believe it should be preached for reasons I hope also to explain. And nonetheless, it bears the marks of the rest of John’s gospel in what John Calvin called its fulminating in majesty. He used the phrase in the Institutes of the Christian Religion in his argument for the authority of Scripture in the face of detractors who would deny, as the catechism puts it, the heavenliness of its doctrine. Webster defines fulminate as to flash or strike with lightning. Here are Calvin’s words:

John, again, fulminating in majesty, strikes down more powerfully than any thunderbolt the petulance of those who refuse to submit to the obedience of faith. Let all those acute censors, whose highest pleasure it is to banish a reverential regard of Scripture from their own and other men’s hearts, come forward; let them read the Gospel of John, and, willing or unwilling, they will find a thousand sentences which will at least arouse them from their sloth; nay, which will burn into their consciences as with a hot iron, and check their derision (chapter 8, section 11).

Oh that God might grant an anointing from heaven upon the preaching of His word from John’s gospel and the hearing thereof that arouses from our sloth and burns into our consciences with a hot iron, not to check our derision hopefully but to advance His glory and our joy!