From our Wednesday look at the psalms…

O give thanks to the Lord (Ps 106:1-48)

Our Psalm this week, like Ps 105, surveys the history of Israel, but in this psalm the perspective is not God’s great intervention on Israel’s behalf, but man’s consistent failure in spite of God’s great faithfulness. Yet the great assurance of the psalm is that the covenant keeping God will answer the pleas of his people. That’s grace!

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One Act Plays (Rm 5:18-19)

We now get to the heart of Paul’s proof that Christ is able to transfer the many benefits of salvation to his many followers by the power of his one act of obedience. Christ’s ability to do this very great thing is shown by mere Adam’s power to transfer his sentence and his state to his many descendents as a result of his one act of sin. Christ’s one act of submission is profound in its power and overwhelming in its ability to transfer many blessings to many people, as many as will receive him.

A few thoughts concerning Baptism (Mt 28:18-20, Rm 6:3-5)

A brief message reviewing the essentials of the meaning and place of baptism, preached prior to a baptismal service.

And Last, on Vows (Lev 27:1-34)

Our last look at Leviticus covers a chapter that seems oddly out of place in the context of the book. The subject, however, is one which God takes seriously, the uttering of vows. Vows are costly and breaking them are costlier. We then look at a vow God took and how certain the performance of that vow makes us of our ultimate salvation in God’s firstborn, the One he dedicated to the ban, his firstfruits of a mighty inheritance.

Hallelujah! God Never Fails (Ps 105:1-45)

Two key concepts dominate this psalm: Remember! and God acts. Throughout the psalm, Israel is called to remember God’s great works in establishing the nation. None of Israel’s misdeeds are mentioned (they await Ps 106). The entire focus is on God working, directly and indirectly, to make a nation for himself. As NT Christian believers, we can be assured in our faith in the same God and are reminded to remember God’s works on our behalf as well.

The Sunday Messages:

Sin and Grace (Rm 5:12-21)

In this message we are surveying the whole of the passage we have been in, Rm 5.12-21. Today we are concentrating on the two major ideas or sets of terms in the passage. On the one hand, Paul uses five different terms for sin and on the other he uses four different terms for grace (or gift). The remarkable contrast between these terms heightens in our minds the magnitude of God’s great grace and condescension towards us in saving us from our sins.

Towards an Understanding of Worldliness (4)

In this lesson we finish discussing the cross references to the terms in Titus 2.12.

(Our recording cuts off a bit of the end of the lesson.)

Blessings and Cursings (Lev 26:1-46)

The next to last chapter of Leviticus seems like a conclusion – in it God gives to his people the promise of blessing if they obey the law and disciplinary cursing if they disobey. He also reaffirms his covenant with the patriarchs. We take warning and guidance from these words as NT believers, and we also rejoice to know that part of the promised blessings are already ours by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit based on the work of Christ on our behalf.

For our Easter message, we consider the way in which Adam is a type of Christ and how Adam’s type-setting image had to be impressed into Christ for Christ to become the type-setter by which we can be rescued from Adam’s impression on us.

The Year of Jubilee (Lev 25:1-55)

Our communion sermon looks at the OT law of the Year of Jubilee and compares it to the Lord Jesus proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord in his earthly ministry of releasing captives from sin.

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We had no study time today, having a baptismal service with singing and testimonies instead. Praise the Lord for the testimony of his grace in the life of the one being baptized.

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Our Wednesday 3.31.10 psalm

Good Intentions (Ps 101:1-8)

Our psalm represents David’s core values, values he ultimately failed to perfectly maintain. Human weakness in keeping even our own standards ought to impel us to the grace of God, for none of us can stand even by the law of self. And our psalm has a forward look to the perfect King, David’s son, Jesus Christ, who will one day establish a kingdom of perfect integrity.

By One Man Sin Entered (Rm 5:12)

Our Basic Theology lesson:

The Pre-Incarnate Christ

Our monthly communion message from Leviticus:

Ordinary Religion (Lev 24:1-23)

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Our Psalm from the previous Wednesday (3.3.10)

The Lord reigns – Let the Earth Rejoice (Ps 97:1-12)

A Song for the Sabbath (Ps 92:1-15)

The Lord Reigns (Ps 93:1-5)

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Today’s Messages:

Back to Romans, we look at the present and future ministry of salvation to us by our Living Lord:

Saved by His Life (Rm 5:10)

We finish up our look at Tyndale’s Introduction to Romans:

Tyndale on Romans (6)

And we continue our communion series in Leviticus with a look at the festivals of Israel:

God’s Calendar (Lev 23:1-44)

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In this lesson we see how God regulated access to the holy food of the Old Testament (the priests portions of the sacrifices) but how in the new dispensation the Bread of Life (our Lord Jesus) is open to all, the blind, the lame, the diseased, the disfigured, the Jew, the Gentile – to all who will believe on our Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. The banquet table is open to all who receive Christ.

Read the notes while you listen.

Our chapter this month provides some more specific rules concerning priestly qualification and conduct. The regulations imply the weakness of the Aaronic priesthood and call for the coming perfect priesthood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Read the notes as you listen.

Today we look at Leviticus 20, a compendium of laws against idolatry and immorality where the dominant theme is the death penalty. As we consider these laws and God’s view of sin, we realize that Christ and his death on the cross become the death of all sin and open the door for even sinners such as those condemned by Lev 20 to find cleansing, sanctification, and justification in Christ (see 1 Cor 6.9-11).

Read the notes as you listen.

We begin the Holiness Code section of Leviticus with a look at laws focused on preserving morality in and out of marriage. The bulk of the chapter consists of prohibitions against various forms of incest, but it also includes prohibitions of child sacrifice and perverse immorality. The redemptive message of these prohibitions is found in 1 Cor 6.9-11: ‘and such were some of you.’ No sin, no matter how distasteful and perverse, can bar the door to the washing, the sanctifying, or the justifying available by the death of Christ and the ministration of the Spirit.

Read the notes while you listen.

We discover in this chapter, the Levitical laws of blood, a universal truth expressed in laws applied to several different dispensations – first under Noah, here in Leviticus under Moses, and last in the book of Acts under the Apostles. This universal truth is the notion of life being in the blood, which makes it possible for a bloody death to function as a substitute for a sinner in need of acceptance by God. We see it in the demand for bloody sacrifice and the prohibition against consuming blood in all dispensations. We see it in the pagan world, full of bloody sacrifice (though very corrupt in their practices). And we see it finally in the one bloody sacrifice of Christ for all people for all time.

Read the notes while you listen.