Dan Lee
John 17:1-2, Salvation for the Glory of God

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 begins with a focus on the glory of God. Jesus prays that His impending death will ultimately glorify the Father and that this would come about through the granting (gifting) of eternal life to His elect. What Jesus’ crucifixion puts on display is the glory of God’s grace in salvation.

Dan Lee
Deuteronomy 27-34, Two Ways to Live

As Moses closes his final message to the children of Israel, he focuses on the consequences of obedience and disobedience. He does so by setting down before them two pathways: the pathway to life, good, and the blessing, and the other pathway to death, evil, and the curse. Along with these options for their future, he reveals to them their future in apostasy, judgment, and even a restoration afterwards. The Pentateuch closes with an allusion to the prophet like Moses to come, the Lord Jesus, who speaks from the LORD and all the people ought to hear. The call to choose life echoes throughout the ages, calling all to be reconciled and restored to God and to enter into His blessing through the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

Dan Lee
Deuteronomy 12-26, The Place and The Prophet

In this final legal section of the Pentateuch, Moses touches on a wide range of laws. Among these, two stand out as the most prominent in the main message of Moses regarding the Messiah: the place of worship and the future prophet like Moses. These two ideas propel us to build up God’s church, hope in Christ’s return, and listen to Christ.

Dan Lee
Deuteronomy 1-11, Remember and Obey

Moses speaks his final message to the children of Israel before heading up Mount Nebo and see the land of Canaan and die there. His aim is to expound the law but he is gripped by the urgency of the spiritual needs of his people and thus he earnestly exhorts them with a long introduction (nearly all of 11 chapters) to remember and obey. In this three part study of Deuteronomy, we examine the practical relevance of this exhortation and consider the ultimate Israelite who lived up to all that this exhortation required.

Dan Lee
Numbers 22-24, The Messianic Prophecies of ...

The very perplexing figure of Balaam shows that God can use even a wicked pagan priest to speak forth His truth. Unbeknownst to this man, the LORD intended to use him to reinforce His immutable commitment to bless Israel and send the Messiah for our salvation. Balaam’s prophecies show that Jesus is the coming king who will reign supremely over all the nations, crushing all His enemies. They also show that Jesus is the promised seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, who grants the blessing of salvation to all the elect of God.

Matthew

Matthew 7:13-27, Enter through the Narrow Gate (Part 3)

Our beloved Lord warns us of the final pitfall of the false reception of His word. The Lord is fully aware of all the pitfalls that can hinder a proper response to His word. He thus speaks to us to guide us in the paths of righteousness and obedience to His commands. May the Holy Spirit evermore guard us against a dishonest response of indolence and inaction, and may He propel us toward an active practice of the words of our Savior and continuance in His narrow way.

Matthew 7:13-27, Enter through the Narrow Gate (Part 2)

The second pitfall to the narrow gate and way is the dangers of false profession. Jesus anticipates “many” will presumptuously expect Christ to know them, when all the while they did not honor HIm or treat Him as the Lord that He is. The Lord describes the lifestyle of all such people as lawlessness. Yes, true believers are a lawful, not lawless, people. The Lord also points out the devastating expectation of those who falsely professed faith in Him: banishment from God and everything good that comes from Him. May the Lord grant to us all the wisdom to take heed to this warning of our Lord so that we would all be ready for HIm as those readily known by Him when we must face Him on judgment day.

Matthew 7:13-27, Enter through the Narrow Gate

Jesus calls us to choose the narrow gate and the narrow way, the way of obedience to His word. He points out only two gates with their corresponding two ways: the narrow and the wide. The two cannot be more different. They are distinguished by their popularity, their difficulty, and their destination. The Savior calls all to choose the narrow pathway to life. Out of His magnanimous grace, the Lord also warns us of pitfalls that can dissuade us from the right path. In this sermon, we examine the two ways and the first of the three pitfalls, false teaching. May the Lord evermore keep us on the proper path of righteousness.

Matthew 7:7-11, The Birthright of the Children of God

The disciples of Jesus have an access to God like the access He had with His heavenly father. He shares His birthright of prayer with those who belong to Him. Jesus shows us that in Christian prayer, our Heavenly Father hears, He answers, and He gives according to that which He knows to be truly good and according to His good purposes of His kingdom. May the Lord teach us to pray even as He prayed and may we exercise this right of prayer with earnestness to advance our Father’s purposes on earth. May His kingdom come and His will be done!

Matthew 7:1-6, Confront Wisely

Leading others to Christ inevitably means confronting their sin and their need of the Savior. But there are many pitfalls in bringing correction to another sinner. The Lord gives us the wisdom to navigate this difficult task of exposing the darkness of this dying world. He teaches us the principles of reciprocation, double standards, and discernment. May the Lord enable us to be better instruments in His skillful hands to save souls and lead the converted to greater faithfulness and usefulness to Him.

Matthew 6:24-34, Do Not Worry

What hinders us from serving the Lord as we should? Jesus pins down the common cause of this compromise: worry. What enables disciples of Christ to serve God heartily and seek His kingdom and righteousness first is our heavenly Father’s infinite love and care for us, His own spiritual sons. Thus, Jesus encourages us to look at nature, know we are not pagans, and see tomorrow as God’s business, not ours, so that our hearts would be unshackled from the worries of the world and be free to serve our heavenly Father as we should.

Matthew 6:19-21, A Heart After Heaven

We are to live the Christian life with heaven in our hearts. We are to leverage all that the Lord has entrusted to us for eternity. We are to do so because our hearts follow our treasures. The Lord in this passage wises us up to the detriment and foolishness of storing up treasures on earth. He also prescribes for us the regimen for a healthy heart that invests toward eternity. May our hearts brim over with the joy and the wonder of heaven and our glorious God (the centerpiece of heaven), and may we, thus, earnestly use all He’s given us to bear much fruit for His name’s sake.

Matthew 6:1-18, True Spirituality

At the core of the Christian faith is a reconciled relationship with God. This means that for all who have truly received Jesus as Savior and Lord, there is a living relationship with God as their heavenly Father. Jesus addresses the hypocrisy of His day that revealed the tragic absence of this crucial core of Christian spirituality which the Jews of His day lacked. May the Holy Spirit keep us from the same hypocrisy and instead enable us to be a church of the children of God who know to connect with our heavenly Father in a true spiritual relationship with Him through Christ.