Category: Sermons

Introduction to John’s Gospel

John 20:30-31

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I am very excited today because we are starting our study of the fourth gospel. I clearly remember reading through the Gospel of John soon after I was saved. God used the words of this book to draw me to Himself and help me to grow as I believed in Jesus and followed Him. Perhaps many of you have also either come to believe in Jesus through the Gospel of John or you have significantly grown in your faith through its words.

I don’t think we could overstate the importance of the Gospel of John for our faith and walk in Jesus Christ. Origen, the father of biblical exegesis, said, “The Gospel [of John] is the consummation of the Gospels as the Gospels are of the Scriptures.” Jerome said, “John excels in the depths of divine mysteries.” Luther speaks of John as being “the unique, tender, genuine, leading Gospel.”

James Culross said, “I believe the writings of John have been blotted by more penitents’ tears and have won more hearts for the Redeemer than all the rest put together.” One has called it “the heart of Christ;” another “the gospel of the Spirit;” and another “the chief of the Gospels.” Dr. A. T. Pierson describes it as leading us into “the Holy of Holies.” Calvin designated John as the key that opens the way to a right understanding of the other Gospels.

The Gospel of John is both simple and profound. John uses a limited vocabulary and very simple words, but the ideas that he presents in these words are deep. Many have said this book is like a pool in which both a toddler can wade and an elephant can swim. It is no surprise that we often tell seekers and new believers to read John. A child can understand and respond to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” But it is also true that scholars have written volumes trying to comprehend some of the themes of John. So whether you are just getting started in your Christian life or you have walked with Jesus for decades, John has something for you. My prayer is that all of us will come to believe in Jesus in fresh and life-giving ways as we study this book. More →

The Lord’s Supper Means …

I Corinthians 11:23-34

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Many shopping malls house a store called Things Remembered, which offers items that can be engraved to commemorate special occasions. Many people give engraved items in honor of a special day or shared moment. If you have received such a gift, you know what a treasure it can become. People like to remember happy times and significant events.

Memories are precious; they keep us connected to people, places, and events that have shaped us and influenced our lives. We may wish we could forget some things, but even life’s unpleasantries can offer lasting lessons learned through adversity.

At the Last Supper Jesus shared a meal with His disciples and then led them in the ancient observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover. Jesus, the Master Teacher, used this opportunity to plant an important memory in His disciples gathered in that upper room. Jesus shared this meal for their benefit and for ours. As Jesus raised the bread and the cup in thanksgiving, He added new significance to this ancient ritual. Paul records that Jesus told His disciples to observe the Passover “in remembrance of me,” (1 Cor. 11:24; see also Luke 22:19). More →

The Time of the End

Daniel 12:1-13

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Our journey through Daniel ends today. When we began in August, I gave three reasons for studying this book. Having been through the twelve chapters of Daniel, those reasons seem even more relevant today than they did then. I said we should study this book because …

Daniel’s situation parallels our own. Daniel spent his entire adult life as a believer living in a pagan culture. We can gain much insight from the way he handled his challenges.

Daniel’s prophecies may soon be fulfilled. Just as many of Daniel’s detailed prophecies have already been fulfilled in history, the remainder of them will be fulfilled in the same way. God’s word is true—from the big picture of the flow of world kingdoms down to the individual message given to an exiled Jew in Babylon.

Daniel’s God is our God too—and He is still on the throne. This may be the most important lesson of the book. We have seen it in ever chapter, in every event of Daniel’s life and in every prophecy God gives in this book. God is sovereign over heaven and earth. He rules the hosts of heaven and the world of men. He is in charge of nations, families, and individuals. God knows and determines the past, the present, and the future. He is in charge of good times and bad days, of happiness and sorrow, of joy and heartache, of great victories and shocking defeats. He is in charge when a child is born and He is in charge when death knocks at your door. Having studied this book we ought be more confident in the sovereignty of a God who works all things for our good and for His glory.

As we come to the end of this book, Daniel is an old man. He has served God in the courts of pagan kings for over 70 years. Daniel 12 brings us to the end of his career as a prophet.

If you’ll remember, this is part of the last vision recorded by Daniel. It began with chapter 10, which gave us the setting. He was standing on the bank of the Tigris River when the Lord appeared to Daniel and an angel spoke with him. Chapter 12 gives us conclusion in a conversation between the angels and with Daniel. And in between, chapter 11 is the message of the great vision that was given to Daniel. There the angel explains the vision giving Daniel some details of human history from Daniel’s day during the Persian kingdom forward ending with Antichrist and his defeat at the end of the age.

The first four verses of chapter 12 is the last part of the angel’s message to Daniel. We could call it the end of the age. Then verses 5-13 gives us the end of the book. More →

The End-Times Message

Daniel 11:36-45

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Our world is changing. Where is it all heading? As human beings, we have a natural curiosity to know the answer to that question. There’s much we don’t know about the end times. We can be thankful, however, that God has told us exactly what He wants us to know about what’s going to happen to this world in the future. And although the Bible is realistic in its view of this world and its end, it is not cynical. It is hopeful. And so should we be. I pray that are encouraged with faith and hope in God and His sovereign plans for the world and for you today.

We have been studying Daniel’s final vision in chapters 10-12. In Daniel 11 the angel tells Daniel what was going to happen from Daniel’s day in the 6th century B.C. to the climax of the end time. The first section of chapter eleven (1-20), though future for Daniel, is actually history for us now, and is the prophetic record of what happened from roughly 535 B.C. to 175 B.C. It covered the time of the Persian empire into the time of the Greeks. In the second section (21-35), we find a detailed prediction of the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the wicked God-hating, Jew-hating, Syrian ruler who plagued the world in the second century B.C. So far most scholars agree on the interpretation of these verses.

Now today we come to the final section of the message of chapter 11 (36-45). It is both climactic and controversial. We’re told about a ruler in verse 36, a king. “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done.” Who is this king?

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An Amazing Prophecy

Daniel 11:1-35

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In the book of Daniel we have seen God do great things through Daniel and his friends because they knew God. He strengthened them and they did great exploits: interpreting dreams and visions, escaping the fires of the blast furnace, stopping the mouths of lions. When we are done studying the first part of Daniel 11 today I will ask you a question. I’ll ask it now at the beginning to get you to thinking about it as we study: Do you know God and if so great things are you doing in God’s strength?

The background of this vision we had in Chapter 10, where Daniel suddenly saw a most shattering, dazzling sight, the Lord Jesus in the fullness of His majesty and glory, the very same One whom John describes in the opening verses of Revelation. It is the same one who arrested Paul on the road to Damascus and Who appeared in light that was brighter than the sun. You can imagine the effect of all this upon the prophet Daniel. He is drained of energy and falls on his face to the ground. But an angel is sent to help him and to give him the message that goes along with this great vision. What the angel tells Daniel is the most detailed prophecy of the events of human history before they occur that is contained in the Bible.

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A Glorious Vision

Daniel 10:1-21

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A journalist assigned to the Jerusalem bureau takes an apartment overlooking the Wailing Wall. Every day when she looks out, she sees an old Jewish man praying vigorously. So, the journalist goes down and introduces herself to the old man. She asks, “You come every day to the wall. How long have you done that, and what are you praying for?”

The old man replies, “I have come here to pray every day for 25 years. In the morning I pray for world peace and then for the brotherhood of man. I go home, have a cup of tea, and I come back and pray for the eradication of illness and disease from the earth.”

The journalist is amazed. “How does it make you feel to come here every day for 25 years and pray for these things?” she asks. The old man looks at her sadly. “Like I’m talking to a wall.” (“Wailing Wall,” Religious Joke of the Day, beliefnet.com, 4-25-03; www.PreachingToday.com)

How often do people feel like they’re talking to a wall when they pray? They pray for something over and over, and nothing seems to happen. Then they begin to wonder if it isn’t all a waste of time. If that’s been your experience, you might be encouraged by what happened to the prophet, Daniel, in the Old Testament. He prayed desperately for three weeks, and nothing happened. Then all of a sudden an answer came that laid him flat on the ground.

Chapters 10-12 record Daniel’s final vision and message recorded in this book. Chapter 10 is the introduction to the vision, with chapter 11 spelling out the detailed events which will occur from Daniel’s day to the end of time. Chapter 12 then provides a final broad overview of the prophecies of this book, restating the big picture, and closing with comforting words spoken to Daniel.

In chapter 10, verses 1-3 provide a brief description of the events leading up to the vision. Verses 4-6 describe the One whom Daniel sees in his vision. The impact which this vision had on Daniel and those with him at the time is revealed in verses 7-9. Verses 10-14 disclose the words of the angel who spoke to Daniel, explaining the purpose of his visitation and the reason for his delay. In verses 15-17, an account is given of the debilitating impact this visitation had on Daniel. Verse 18 of chapter 10 through verse 1 of chapter 11 provides a record of the encouragement and strengthening of the angel, along with his account of the part he plays in matters in heaven and on earth. More →

Are You Ready for Christmas?

Luke 2:25-35

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Are you ready for Christmas? The clerk at the grocery store asked me that question as I was checking out at the register.

I suppose you have heard that question many times already. What people really mean by that is Did you finish your shopping? Did you mail out all your cards? Did you make out your calendar of where you are going and when? We call this the Christmas rush, it becomes a very hectic time, that we forget what Christmas is really all about.

It seems that many of the people who lived at the time when Jesus was born were not really ready for Christmas. When the angel Gabriel told Zacharias that he would have a son that would prepare the way for the Lord, he didn’t believe it (Luke 1:20). When Mary heard the announcement that she would bear the Son of God she asked, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34) and heard the answer, “For with God nothing will be impossible,” (Luke 1:37). More →

This Is What Christmas Really Means

The Benedictus of Zechariah

Luke 1:67-79

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It is so wonderful to hear the choir sing the Christmas message. The tradition of singing at Christmastime is as old as Christmas itself. Did you know that the first Christmas carols are written in the Bible as part of the Christmas story? When Luke sat down to write his gospel, he recorded four of the original songs of Christmas. They are found in Luke chapters 1-2.

These pieces of prophetic poetry have survived for over 2,000 years. They have been placed in many different musical settings and joined to various tunes. Philip Ryken refers to them as “the last of the Hebrew psalms and the first of the Christian hymns…the gospel is and must be musical…what He has done must be celebrated in song.”

Today we are going to look at one of these Christmas carols from the Gospel of Luke, the Benedictus of Zechariah, and in it I hope to show you what Christmas really means. More →

The Seventy Sevens

Daniel 9:24-27

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If you have ever taken a trip with your children to anyplace further than the grocery store, you have probably been asked repeatedly, “are we there yet?”

We have seen in the visions of the book Daniel that the world is moving toward the destination of the eternal kingdom of God. This destination is confirmed by the rest of scripture both in the Old and New Testaments. The question is, “are we there yet?”

That is the question I believe Daniel was dealing with in the ninth chapter of his book. Remember that Daniel concluded after reading Jeremiah the prophet that the 70-year period of Israel’s captivity must be virtually over, and that return of Jews to their own land surely is imminent. With this hope in his heart, Daniel prayed for himself and his people. He confessed his sin and the sins of his people and prayed for the restoration expecting that they were almost there, that God would return His people to their land and establish the kingdom of heaven.

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The Answer to Daniel’s Prayer

Daniel 9:20-27

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In the ninth chapter of Daniel, Daniel concludes after reading Jeremiah the prophet that the 70-year period of Israel’s captivity must be virtually over, and that return of Jews to their own land surely is imminent. With this hope, Daniel prayed for himself and his people. We studied His prayer of confession and intercession. It is a great example of an effective fervent prayer of a righteous man. When we get to verse 20, we find that God answers Daniel’s prayer but certainly not in a way Daniel would have expected. God sent Gabriel, His angel, to give Daniel understanding and insight into the vision he had received. God wanted Daniel to understand the relationship between Israel’s soon return to the land and the rebuilding of the temple—in the light of God’s promise to restore His people and establish His kingdom on the earth. God wanted Daniel to know that Israel’s imminent return to the land was not the coming of the kingdom of God.

Gabriel’s announcement provides Daniel and his reader with an increasing level of understanding of the vision God had previously revealed. Verses 24-27 begin to spell out future events in detail rather than with vague, mysterious symbols as in the visions. While not all Christians agree on the meaning of these verses, I think it is safe to say that all Christians would agree that they provide very important information concerning the last times.

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