Luke 14:1-14: Jesus Confronts False Religion
We all know that false religion exists. What are some of the facets of false religion? True religion is revealed by God, false religion comes from anywhere else, either from man or worse some demonic source. False religion because of it false view of God comes up with things that they think God will approve like suicide bombing; or because of their false view of salvation come up with strange ways of gaining forgiveness like self-flagellation. Since these false religions are not built on the correctly interpreted truth of God’s word they are full of grand gestures of devotion that...
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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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Luke 6:1-11: The Lord of the Sabbath
Many have the wrong idea about Christianity thinking that God has a taste for dry religious service. Many think God to be a stuffy bureaucrat who loves to multiply rules and empty ceremonies. But this is the wonderful thing about Jesus Christ, He reveals the Father and His will to us, and in this next section in Luke 6:1-11 we see that Jesus overturns false religion when he overturns man made laws which have been added to God’s laws, as well as loveless interpretations of His laws. Love and law are not opposites, but rather love fulfils the law....
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Luke 5:33-39: One Greater Than Fasting is here
Solus Christus, Christ Alone! This was one of the heart cries of the Reformation. It was a statement which spoke about the sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour, that His works alone and not also ours were enough, that His mediation and not that of Mary, the Saints, or the angels was enough. It was a rejection of all Christ-and… ideas. This challenge of Christ alone is still with us today. In light of Post-Modernism which doubts all exclusive truth claims, to insist that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one can come to...
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Luke 5:27-32: Jesus the Friend of Sinners
One of the things that Christianity used to turn the world upside down was the meal, yes the simple act of sitting down together to eat. Religious and social norms were perpetuated by the meal, and it played an important role in society. Ideas about nationality, gender, class and religious purity were all supported by the way a meal was practiced. In Greco-Roman society an aristocratic woman who went to a meal with her husband was not better than a slave or prostitute; slaves and masters did not sit down at the same table, for the slave was to...
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Being and Doing Church
Introduction: When Hitler was trying to enthuse the German nation to get behind his expansionist programs he told them that the German race was the Ubermensch, the Beyond-man/Hyper-man. He understood the psychology of action, we do as we believe. If we think we are better than others we will happily walk over their heads. We have also given the name slave mentality to a state or mind that acts out of the way it sees itself. This is a life of subservience and submission that thinks of itself as less. Activity follows identity. We see this everyday in life,...
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Romans 16:17-19: Fighting for Unity
Introduction: A pastor has a certain number of things he must do. He has to teach, he has to encourage, as well as rebuke. But he also must warn the flock of God of the various dangers that they will encounter. Paul as a faithful shepherd is wearing his warning hat when he speaks in Romans 16:17-19, ‘I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by...
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Romans 14:4 – Forgetting Grace
Introduction: At the heart of all false religion is a false view of grace. On the one hand we have legalistic type religions that put the emphasis on their own efforts and making ourselves worthy and righteousness enough that we earn our way into rightstanding with God. On the other hand we have antinomian type religions who have divorced grace from the person of God and His holiness, and a hypergrace results where God is not holy and just and does not expect a payment in order for sins to be forgiven. Forgetting grace is a common problem among Christians, and...
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Romans 13:8: Paying our debts
INTRODUCTION: Debt is a familiar concept to us and today in Romans 13:8 Paul is going to speak to us about paying our debts. Stott points out that the idea of debt is mentioned several times in Romans already. In Romans 1:14 Paul spoke of his debt to preach the gospel to all peoples; in Romans 8:12 how we are not debtors to the flesh but the Spirit; in Romans 13:6 of how we must fulfil our debts of honour and taxes and once again in Romans 13:8. ‘Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one...
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Romans 11:2-4: Learning with Elijah
Outline Elijah’s context Elijah’s contest Elijah’s complaint Introduction Believing that the grace of God abounds to the chief of sinners is a view we all hold in theory but soon lose hold of when it is tested. Technically we can all confess that God is a God of grace and that there is no sin bigger than the effectiveness of Christ’s atoning death. However, how many times have we thought to ourselves, ‘I have done it this time, God won’t take me back.’ I wanted to show you how bad you are at believing God’s grace for yourselves as...
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Romans 10:1: A Heart for the Lost
Introduction: Do you have a love for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you ever cried out as George Whitfield has done, ‘O Lord, give me souls, or take my soul’? Have you felt the love for your own country that moved John Knox to pray, ‘Give me Scotland or I die!’? Richard Baxter urges us: ‘Oh, if you have the hearts of Christians or of men in you, let them yearn towards your poor ignorant, ungodly neighbours. Alas, there is but a step betwixt them and death and hell; many hundred diseases are...
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