The LORD brought Israel, a seed of Abraham, out of Egypt to make them into His own possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They would enter a covenant for this privileged relationship with the holy God, and they would do so on His terms, the law. Although they entered this covenant with their eyes wide open (informed and aware of the solemnity of this covenant), they failed to be faithful. They violated this covenant and demonstrated that they needed a new heart by the grace of God (Deut. 30:6). Though they failed to be God’s true son (4:22), that holy and royal priesthood, Jesus fulfilled. He became all that Israel should’ve been and thus fulfilled the Father’s plan for the ultimate seed of Abraham who blesses all the nations as their priest and king, and how Peter applies this reality to the church is most stunning.
1 Timothy 4:6-11, Men of Discipline
Godliness is the need of the hour for the church of God. How does the Holy Spirit work godliness in His church, especially, among the fathers of our church? He does so through the means of self-discipline. In this passage, Paul identifies this trustworthy principle of Scripture that godliness is the product of discipline. Godliness does not plop down from heaven onto our laps. It is the product of spiritual discipline and exertion. In this Father’s Day sermon, we examine Paul’s exhortation to Timothy meant for the church that we would be a people of discipline. We must be men of discipline. Men bless their homes to the extent that they grow in godliness and thus become a conduit of divine blessing upon their wives and children.
Exodus 1-12, The Covenant Keeper
Genesis 37-50, The Providence of God
The final section of Genesis reveals us to the awesome providence of God at work in Joseph’s life. This is a window into the doctrine of providence that has and continues to hold true and cascade over all things for all time. As the bigger story of Genesis shows, divine providence ultimately culminates in Christ. For this reason even as Jacob expresses his longing for the salvation of the Lord at the end of the days, he unwittingly calls out for the name of Jesus (49:18).
Luke 16:1-13, Why Do You Want Money?
Genesis 24-36, The Faithfulness and the Grace of God
God keeps HIs word. God who made a covenant with Abraham kept it over many generations. He is faithful. He also abounds with grace in that He chooses whom He will give this covenant blessing by His grace, not to be earned or merited by any human effort but purely based on His grace. These are the two attributes of God that are highlighted in this section of Genesis.
1 Peter 3:1-6, Traits of a Woman of God
Against the tide of the world today, the word of God speaks the truth about His design for women in marriage. His special calling for married women is submission and inner beauty. Wives are to submit to their husbands and adorn themselves with the inner beauty of godliness. May the Holy Spirit encourage the women of our church to pursue biblical womanhood as they learn from Christ and abide in Him.
Genesis 12-23, Faith, Sin, and Promise
The central human figure of Genesis 12-23 is Abraham, but this is no mere biography of Abraham. It is a story of faith and sin on his part and the story of the astonishing promise of the LORD to bless all the families of the earth through him, even through the one seed which God will produce from him, the Lord Jesus Christ. The promise of the worldwide blessing in Abram is more specified to be the promise in his seed. All of God’s promises to him ultimately culminates in that final seed of Abraham. The seed of the woman is the seed of Abraham and it is in Him that the blessing of God comes upon all of God’s people from all the nations.