Sermon Archive


Luke 21:25-28: The Second Coming of Christ

OUTLINE The response of creation The response of the unbeliever The response of the believer INTRODUCTION We move from the third worst judgement in history, the fall of Jerusalem described for us in v20-24; to the second worst judgement in history, the Second Coming of Christ Luke 21:25-28. When we come to the cross we will come to the worst judgement in human history. How can the cross, where only one man was judged for sin, be worse than the end of human history where every sinner who has not trusted in Christ will be cast into eternal damnation?...


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Malachi 4:1-6: The Great and Awesome Day of the LORD

OUTLINE The end of all things Living in light of the end The prelude to the end INTRODUCTION If you were writing the Bible, how would you end the OT? What would you want to say right here? The OT ends the same way the NT does looking ahead to the great and awesome day of the Lord. Last week we looked at the faithless accusations of those who expected blessings upon their heartless religion, and who accused God of injustice because the evil prospered while the heartless religious languished. Chapter 3 ended with a promise, v18, ‘Then once...


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Luke 20v9-18 The Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Or the Parable of the Murder of the Owner’s Son)

OUTLINE A history of past hard-heartedness A revealing of present priorities A prophecy of future judgement INTRODUCTION We come to the last full parable in Luke’s gospel. There are other parables that are told between now and the crucifixion that the other gospels record like the parable of the virgins and the sheep and the goats. But this is the last parable that Luke tells, and this is for a reason. This parable will be known to us as the parable of the wicked tenants, but I love what one of the commentators calls it: The Parable of the...


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Malachi 1:6-14 The Worship God Hates

OUTLINE Dishonoring worship Minimalistic worship Lukewarm worship Compromised worship INTRODUCTION How much worship does God deserve? How much honor, reverence, fear, awe, love, obedience, and sacrifice? The truth is we can never worship, honor or revere God too much. If I as a finite creature gave every moment of time to give a constant flow of heartfelt praise, it would never be enough. If every person in all of creation worshipped God for all eternity, even this finite choir could not give God’s infinite majesty the glory it is due. Enter sin into that equation where we worship as...


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Luke 13:31-35: Jesus Laments Over Jerusalem

One of the things that has always set Christianity apart is the fact that it calls us to love our enemies. Over and over again we have models in scripture of those who had a deep concern and compassion towards the undeserving and who prayed for them. Think of Abraham praying for Sodom and Gomorrah, think of Moses praying that God would not forsake a sinful Israel after she had worshipped the golden calf. Think of Jeremiah the weeping prophet who wept as Jerusalem was to be handed over to Babylon for judgement. But none of these can compare...


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Luke 13:22-30: How Many Will Be Saved?

Who is going to be saved and how many will be there? This is a big question which many have asked. Asking the question today in an age like ours has certain other questions attached to it. We live in a global village and are aware of the billions of people who cling to other religious views; what do we do with all the other religions? Are they right or wrong? What about all the “nones” of our own generation who are post-religious but are opting to be philanthropic, vegan/vegetarian, who are all about social justice for the marginalized...


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Luke 13:1-9: Suffering and Repentance

We come now to what is probably the most important portion in the Bible on people suffering and our response to it. We are all familiar with the classic problem, something bad happens and the questions begin to flow, why did a loving God allow this? Why did the innocent suffer with the guilty? Was it God; or satan; or man; or nature that caused this? This is a very large intellectual problem. The dilemma of a good God and evil existing has a long history. Epicurus a Greek philosopher born in in Greece in 341 BC put the...


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Luke 12:49-59: War and Peace

Familiar words from Isaiah 9:6-7: ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.’ We read these words often at Christmas...


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Luke 12:35-48: The Master’s Return

We come now to a section which deals with the second coming of Christ. We are in that part of the gospel where Jesus is training His disciples; He has warned them about persecutions; He has warned them about the trap of riches; He has outlined God’s care so that we can live holding loosely to the things of this life, but Jesus also prepares His disciples for His departure. The disciples were not envisaging a coming of the Messiah that involved the Messiah coming and dying and then going to heaven while the gospel went out to all...


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Luke 12:1-12: Preparations for Persecution

The love of man’s praise and the fear of man’s wrath are the sins that Jesus warns His disciples of in this next section, 12:1-12. Jesus has just painted a target on His back and the back of His disciples by His confrontation with the religious leaders in 11:37-54. He has spoken to the Pharisees about their own sins; now He will speak to His disciples about the Pharisees sins. This next section is all about preparing for persecution. Jesus has kicked the hornet’s nest, they will kill Him, but Jesus has also just prophesied that they will kill...


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Luke 11:37-54: Defleecing Wolves

What is a shepherd to do when there are wolves? You might think that the right thing would be to kill the wolves and protect the sheep. When spiritual shepherds are dealing with spiritual wolves our tactics are slightly different. We have to confront the wolves hoping that the Spirit will use the truth to help them see and repent, we long to see the wolves themselves saved and become sheep, but we also have the responsibility of warning the sheep. In this next section as we come to the climax of Christ’s confrontation with the unbelieving crowd, Christ...


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Ephesians 5:5-7: Living in Light of Judgement

What do all these verses have in common? 2 Cor. 5:10-11, ‘For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.’ 2 Pet. 3:11, 14, ‘Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?’ ‘Therefore,...


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Ephesians 5:3-7: Motivations for Personal Purity

Why should a Christian not have sex before marriage or any other form of sexual sin? Why should a Christian not tell dirty jokes? Why should a Christian not swear? Why should a Christian not be greedy? It is to these questions that we turn as Paul gives the Ephesians motivations to be personally pure. Paul has been speaking to the area of unity, to the area of relationships, and about those sins that we do against each other like lying, stealing, slandering, unforgiveness, etc. But Paul is not only concerned about our unity he is also concerned about...


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Luke 10:1-16: Preparation for Ministry: The Message we Preach

We are continuing our look at Jesus sending out the 72 to go preach in Israel. We have seen how Christ has called the disciples and us to exercise trust in the area of prayer, persecution and provision, but central in Christ’s sending out the disciples is their message, what they are to say. We are here reminded of our primary identity and purpose. We are heralds, ambassadors, and witnesses. We are to preach, proclaim, and teach. We are looking at Jesus send out His disciples into the ripe harvest field of Israel, but there are many similarities that...


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Luke 9:51-56: A Lack of Mercy

There is a great struggle in every Christian’s heart, and that is the balance between mercy and justice. Both are commands, we are to be just and we are to be merciful. Both are used by our sinfulness to further our sins. Sometimes we insist on justice because we are nurturing hatred in our hearts and want to see harm come to those who have hurt us or ours. Sometimes we insist on mercy because we have cowardice in our hearts and are unwilling to pay the price to apply what is right in a particular situation. At times...


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Luke 9:1-9: The Sending of the 12 Apostles

We are about half way through Christ’s 3 ½ year earthly ministry. We are in the final stretch of what is known as Christ’s Galilean ministry before He sets His sights on His cross-work in Jerusalem. 9:51 is a turning point in His ministry, ‘When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.’ We are still in the middle of a key section that is putting on display the identity of Christ. We have seen by His miracles that He is the one with authority over nature, demons, sickness...


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