Sermon: Transforming Truths of the Gospel

Transforming Truths of the Gospel Romans 1-11 August 23, 2020 “The world is broken.” That is what Raye Jeanne said to me Wednesday evening as we sat on our porch and recounted our day and the people we had interacted with and the world circumstances we’d observed. I’m not talking about COVID, though that is […]

Sermon: Israel, God’s Promises, and Unexpected Favor

Israel, God’s Promises, and Unexpected Favor Romans 11:17-24 July 5, 2020 In Romans, Paul is establishing his credibility as an apostle and as a missionary. He wants the Roman church to be his sending church on his journey to Spain, and he is giving them his understanding of the gospel — man’s sin and lostness […]

Sermon: The Message of Faith

The Message of Faith Romans 10:9-10 November 3, 2019 This week there has been significant conversation on the internet and elsewhere about October 31. No, not chocolate and Halloween, but Reformation Day. The discussion about the Reformation has been a good reminder about the gospel and its significance. As someone has said, “The gospel is […]

Sermon: No Excuses

No Excuses: The Message of Faith Romans 10:5-8 October 20, 2019 According to a UPI news item, MetLife has received some unusual excuses for accidents from its automobile policyholders over the years. The following are just few: “An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car, and vanished.” “The other car collided with mine […]

Sermon: What Unbelievers Need

What Unbelievers Need to be Saved Romans 10:1-4 October 13, 2019 Unbelief is not unusual. Unbelief is — and always has been — far too typical and too common. Accounts of unbelief are well-known: French philosopher Voltaire is reputed to have said, “If a miracle occurred in the market place of Paris and in the […]

Sermon: God is Faithful

God is Faithful Romans 9 September 29, 2019 This morning we come to the table of communion. This table is rightly called a table of remembrance. It is designed to remind us of things that we must not forget, that we cannot forget, that we dare not forget: We dare not forget our need for […]

Sermon: “It’s Not Fair!” A Question of God’s Righteousness (Pt 3)

“It’s Not Fair!” — A Question of God’s Righteousness (Part 3) Romans 9:27-29 September 15, 2019 The question of the day is whether God is fair and whether He is faithful to His promises. Know therefore that the Lord, your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to […]

Sermon: “It’s Not Fair!” A Question of God’s Righteousness (Pt 2)

“It’s Not Fair!” — A Question of God’s Righteousness (Part 2) Romans 9:14-26 September 8, 2019 The story of God’s justice is also a story of God’s mercy. God certainly is just. He certainly will not let the guilty go unpunished (Ex. 34:7). He will execute His wrath. He must. Because He is holy He […]

Sermon: “It’s Not Fair!” A Question of God’s Righteousness

“It’s Not Fair!” — A Question of God’s Righteousness Romans 9:19-23 September 1, 2019 In homes with children — especially young children — there is an often repeated declaration that particularly reveals the theology of the children: “It’s not fair.” When dad receives a larger portion of ice cream for dessert, “it’s not fair.” (The […]

Sermon: God’s Sovereign Mercy, Pt 4

God’s Sovereign Mercy, Pt. 4 Romans 9:6-18 July 7, 2019 There are some things we don’t like to talk about or think about. Because we don’t like to think about our finances we don’t balance our bank statement for six months — and that tends to make us want to think about it even less! […]

It’s a fight

In his book Comrades, Stephen Ambrose writes this about warfare: Combat requires all the nerves, all the physical attributes, every bit of the training. It is only in combat, nowhere else, where time is measured in other ways than by clocks or calendars. Only in combat does the soldier realize that he is in the […]

The second Adam

One of the most recognized names in the world of art is Rembrandt. Though he lived and painted more than 350 years ago, some would say the technique and emotive beauty of his works has been unsurpassed since then. As a testimony to the enduring nature of his work, two years ago, a matching pair […]

Some sins are worse than others

Every sin is worthy of the infinite wrath of God. The appropriate, rightly deserved consequence of all sin (and every sin) is God’s judgment and condemnation (Rom. 6:23). Every sin is worthy of God’s wrath because every sin is an affront to the glory of God and fails to achieve the glory of God (Rom. […]

The justice of God

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from A Body of Divinity. All God’s attributes are in unity, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us—yet he has but one essence. […]

“I hated the righteousness of God”

I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, “the righteousness of God,” because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous.…Night and day I pondered until…I grasped the truth that the righteousness of […]