Sermons

The thing is that many people might try to hide from God but David doesn’t see this as something to be worried about but something to be celebrated. David sees God’s providentially looking after him. David loves the fact that God is inescapable! For him in means God is ever present with him!

In a chess game, if you can get one of your pawns to the other side of the board, something that can happen right near the end, then you say to your opponent, “Crown me.” As human beings we don’t mind a crown and that is certainly the case here. Adonijah, supported and encouraged by others attempts to wrestle the throne for himself. Adonijah, who had been indulged all of his life says, “I will be king.”  (v. 5).

Jesus was a popular figure after he fed the crowd by the Sea of Galilee. However, not so very long afterwards, people are starting to leave in him droves and then he asks the disciples if they are going to leave as well? Peter, always the first to speak, says, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” This sermon was preached at a “Profession of Faith” service.

What Paul is doing right throughout this letter is putting steal into Timothy’s weak frame. Timothy was timid, shy, reserved and young. Timothy not only had to deal with his character, which was naturally reserved but he had to deal with a political atmosphere that was anti-Christian, plus a difficult congregation, plus those who had simply gone off the rails in terms of their Christian life and teaching. All up Timothy lived in a pretty messed up kind of world and a really messed up church. What is so amazing about Timothy’s situation is that it isn’t all that far removed from our own. This sermon seeks to capture Paul’s intent on writing this letter!

I sometimes think that it is good that people are searching for things but so often people are searching for the wrong kinds of things. The assumption is that if you have something or experience something that you will be happy, but the truth is that this is never the case. What is far more valuable than things, is a relationship and then not just any relationship but a relationship with God through Jesus.

Paul goes through immense difficulties and in fact suffers many disappointments, the greatest being that those he should have counted as friends were not there for him. What made the difference was that God was by his side and sustained him. Lord will, we too will be alongside those who we consider to be Christian brothers and sisters.

Some people really had it in for Paul, like Alexander the metal worker. Paul warns Timothy about him and then says that he has handed him over to the Lord. The question for us is how we deal with these kind of hurts and what it means to hand a person over to the Lord.

We tend to perceive Paul as a spiritual giant amongst men and he is. He was the greatest missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ that ever walked on the earth. He was a man that penned a great deal of the New Testament. We might possibly perceive him to be a man who was so close to God that he didn’t need or even care about the ordinary things of life. We can read about his determination, the persecutions that he suffered, his boldness in proclaiming the gospel, his will to complete the race and win the fight. It is hard to picture him lonely, cold and vulnerable and yet that is the picture that we find here in our text today.

Jesus actually declared that his own testimony was not enough to convince someone to believe that he was the Messiah, the Son of God and so in this passage he points to the reliable witnesses that should have been enough to convince even the most hardened sceptic.

There are no holidays in regard to the Christian life, no sabbaticals, no retirement, no taking the foot off the pedal and coasting. We are at war and the spiritual battles (Ephesians 6) never ceases. The Devil is like a roaring lion looking for victims and we can’t simply walk away from this war. As Christians we want to finish the race well! That race will not finish till we die or until Christ returns.

These words of Jesus were extraordinarily powerful and disconcerting to the Jewish leadership. You see they had no trouble with the fact that God works on the Sabbath but when Jesus says that he too, along with God would work on the Sabbath, they knew he was declaring some sort of equality with God which in their ears was blasphemous. He even added weight to what he was saying he used the words “my Father.” What Jesus was declaring to the Jews was that he and the father are one! He was declaring to the Jews that he was in fact God in the flesh.

I wonder at times about our ability to stand firm and not be swayed by popular opinion? The thing is this! I think every person I know wants to be liked! For many people, the way to be liked is to blend in and to cave into the group or the crowd you are in. You might not like to drink but the crowd you are in insists that you do. You might not like to use rough language but you do when you are in a particular kind of group. How does one stand up for Jesus?

No wonder that Paul says to avoid such people and to avoid those who teach this type of faith. In the history of the church the false prophet will reveal himself in the end. We have a standing order as Christians to avoid people who tells us to pamper to self, rather than to serve and love God as well as our neighbour. Just as counterfeit money is worthless, doesn’t matter how good it looks, so counterfeit religion is worthless.

I put this up for interest sake so that you can see that John is introducing us to different kinds of people. Each of these people had different needs, different income, different status, different locations, different theological positions, are of a different gender and so on. We can see that John is highlighting these different people so that we know that all kinds of people can come to Jesus and that he would welcome you into his family. Most people are sceptical of the claims of Jesus and they say, “Seeing is believing.” And yet the Gospel of John tells us that “Seeing doesn’t always lead to believing.” It isn’t that God doesn’t give proof of his existence, but people would rather not believe.

When Jesus told her that she had five husbands and the man she was currently living with was not her husband, the woman suddenly felt known in a way that just cut right through to her soul. She felt know, that I can only describe this way, “He touched her heart.” She felt, perhaps for the first time in her life, peace, joy, understanding and most importantly acceptance – something that was not really a part of her life. Hurrying to the village crying out, “Come see the man who told me everything I ever did.” shows us that this would had turned from a sceptic to a believer!

Which Christian parent would not urge their own children to go on in the faith? Which Christian parent would not try to be a model for their own children? Which youth leader would not want those they lead to know more about Jesus? It is in that sense that our lifestyle, our faith, our perseverance, our sufferings, our love come into play. These things inspire others to continue to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

The problem with these men (false teachers) was that they had an amazing power to deceive. They used the right kind of language! They might have spoken very religiously and even Christianly. Because of their trickery or magic arts they had the power to impress people. They were men who were impressive but were diametrically opposed to Moses and the will of God. Yet, because of their character, their tricks, they tended to gather in a great following of people and it seemed that some in the Ephesian Church were vulnerable to their false teaching.

What Jesus is saying is that a right relationship with God will not be dependent on a something physical. It will not be necessary to go to a location or a special building to find a right relationship with God. Thus, cathedrals, temples, church buildings can never to declared holy. This building is only important in that it offers us an ability to meet together in a semblance of comfort. The church building is not a “holy place”. Nothing here is sacred apart from God’s people! Real religion will be based on the truth of God’s Word and on true affection for God.

“But mark this”; “But know this”; “But understand this.” There will be terrible times in the last days.” There will be dark days in the last days! That is abundantly clear from scripture. Yet, the battle is not just between the Christian Church and our society but inside the Christian Church itself. The battle Paul talks about is not just with those outside the church but those, perhaps influenced more by the world, who are inside the church.

When we read in the Gospels that Jesus came to seek and the save the lost, he wasn’t just referring to the lost sheep of Israel. He tells the disciples that he has other sheep as well – those who would in the future belong to his flock!

If we want to be workers approved… then we need to have work that is approved and that means, in the context here, speaking God’s Word in a straight forward and plain manner. This Word has to be presented well, or should I say truly and biblically because if we get it wrong then we can bring catastrophe on others. We rather bring catastrophe or blessing.

Martin Lloyd Jones and C.S. Lewis were also very much concerned about liberal theology which they called modernism. The essence of this belief is that it doesn’t really matter if Jesus rose from the dead but that Jesus means something to us. The heart of modernism is simply to live a good life, showing love to your neighbour. The Bible is kind of thought of as an inspirational good read. Now, you might be tempted to think how much the church has changed in the last 50 years and that this kind of thinking is dead and buried and you would be absolutely… wrong! A great deal of leaders in the church of today still think that way and the result is that churches have become empty and dead.

One of the problems that I have faced when it comes to talking about suffering is this! When someone asks they would like to know the answer in approximately one minute or less. I personally do not think it is possible to answer the question in a minute or less. The next problem is phrasing ourselves properly. When I was playing squash and someone from the team was diagnosed with cancer, I was asked about it and yet, I wasn’t given much of an opportunity to respond. This morning I want to look at the question, knowing that I will only scratch the surface of the topic.

In this sermon we take a brief look at the most well-known of all biblical texts. The Gospel is clearly defined and declared in these verses but the consequences for unbelief are also clearly defined.  

Paul urges Timothy to continue to remind those he ministers to of the truths of the Christian faith and about the gospel. Remembering God and his dealings with us is an essential part of the Christian life because we tent to lose information so easily.

The truth is that in every area of life there is betrayal! People can be sceptical about promises made because so many promises are broken. It happens in marriage, it happens with our politicians and leaders. It happens in the day to day events of life. We have royal commissions into all kinds of abuse including financial institutions.Can we say that people truly walk with integrity? In fact, looking in the mirror, could you even say it about yourself? Do you always keep your word? Do you always fulfil your promises? If you have that in mind, you would not have any issues with what Jesus tells the crowds that are following him. He would not “entrust himself to them!”

The sermon concentrates on verses 12b and 13. “If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are faithless, he will remain faithful for he cannot disown himself.” The text itself has always seemed clear to me but I had to re-think the text as I was doing my research and came to a different conclusion. To deny Christ or to be faithless are two actions that we would never want to do and Paul urges us to remain faithful and true, to persevere in our determination to follow Christ. So many around Paul had been ashamed of the gospel and Paul urges us to endure.

When it comes to most kinds of work you are looking for this quality of person. You are looking for people you trust to get the job done. There are so many people you know who don’t fulfil what they said they would do. This can happen in all kinds of circumstances and it certainly can happen in a church community where someone commits to doing something and yet you don’t have any real confidence in them because they have a history of not delivering. Paul encourages Timothy to pass on the treasure of the gospel to reliable men!

Some people have trouble understanding this first miracle of Jesus because it involves supplying alcohol to a group of people who have already drunk a fair bit. However, the Christian faith is all about joy and Jesus, as the Messiah, has come to bring to inaugurate his kingdom. As Christians we celebrate the fact that Jesus has come and we celebrate that we are part of his kingdom and enjoying life to the full. Wine and joy are often linked in the Old Testament.

When John said, “Behold the lamb of God” he lost two of his disciples. Two of those who knew John, loved John, left to investigate Jesus, described as the lamb of God. These two disciples of John left him and followed Jesus. Now, when you think about what John did, in pointing away from himself, you would have to say that this is truly admirable. It shows the real quality of John the Baptist as a man who knew what his position in God’s kingdom was. This man knew he was not the light!