Puritan Wisdom

On I Peter 1:13 --

"O Let's winde our plummers (as the clock keeper) once every day, keep our mindes from being weighed down with the world, we must set apart some time to draw up our minde, especially Saturday night, not letting them down all the day following: We must so use the world, as not to run into evil for it, neither to neglect any duty to God, our Souls, our Families, our Neighbors, the Poor, or any other, we must use it to further us as the Pilgrim doth his staff: Learn we to prize Spiritual graces, which are the onely current coyne in the Countrey we are going to, yet is not the seeking of Gods Kingdom the way to hinder us of that which is meet, but rather the onely further: would we have done more than will do us good? But if we shall have less of the world, are we not more then enough recompenced, if we shall have more peace pf Conscience, more credit here, more favor with God, more joy in death?"

-- John Rogers, 75-76.

Puritan Wisdom

On Psalm 8:2 -- quoted in Spurgeon's Treasury of David --

"God will be honoured. Even thou, silly worm, shalt honour him, when it shall appear what God hath done for thee, what lusts he hath mortified, and what graces he hath granted thee. The Lord can yet do greater things for thee if thou wilt trust him. He can carry thee upon eagle’s wings, enable thee to bear and suffer strong affliction for him, to persevere to the end, to live by faith, to finish thy course with joy."

– Daniel Rogers

Puritan Wisdom

On I Peter 1:13 --

"Knowledge without Zeal is blockishnesss, as Zeal without knowledge rashness; but better less Knowledge and more Zeal, then more Knowledge and less Zeal or care or obedience. Doctrine without Exhortation, is to set a dull Horse in the way, and not spur him on: Exhortation without Doctrine, is to spur the Horse forwards, before he be put in the way; the one is Foundation, the other the Building, both which must go together.

"Ministers that would go to work indeed, must go with their tools, use both Doctrine and Exhortation; as he that would cleave a knotty Log, must use both Beetle and Wedges, the one without the other would be to no purpose: We must not beat the ayr as it were, multiplying words, yea good words, without a ground: Neither must we deliver sound Doctrine strongly proved, so leaving it, but urge and apply it. Practice being the life of all, and people being unapt to make particular Application; yea, it is the principle part of our Ministery, to draw on the will, and to perswade and work upon the affections, for want of which many finde but small fruit in their Ministery; for people are grown to that pass, that is not the excellency and weight of the matter that will move (which for the most part proves but a sound with the most) if it be not whetted by some enforcements of Exhortation."

-- John Rogers, 72.

"The Benefits of the Ascension" Sermon: Ephesians 4:1-16

"The Benefits of the Ascension"
[Ephesians 4:1-16]
May 20, 2007 Second Reformed Church

During Jesus' last week on earth, He told the disciples, "'Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

"'I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you'" (John 16:7-15).

Later that week, Jesus was crucified, died, and then rose from the dead. Forty days later, He ascended back to His Throne. We remember His Ascension this morning and consider why it was necessary -- what its benefit is to us who believe.

In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul explains, among other things, that since we who believe have been adopted as sons by God the Father, and since we are then, co-heirs with Christ, and since we have receive His Salvation, and since we have been marked by the Holy Spirit as belonging to the Father, then we understand that, through the Ascension, we have a Mediator with God the Father, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to indwell all of us who believe.

Paul wrote, "For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5). Jesus stands before His Father, as our Advocate, our Lawyer, Who both takes on Himself the punishment for our sin, but also credits us with His Holiness, so our sin is imputed to Him and His Righteousness is imputed to us, and we are made right with and to the Glory of God.

Paul also wrote, "Or do you not know that Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price" (I Corinthians 6:19-20a). All Christians have God the Holy Spirit dwelling in us that we might glorify our God Who bought us for His Glory.

Therefore, in this morning's reading, Paul says that all Christians, Jews and Gentiles, and let us add for today: black and white and Asian and Hispanic and all races, and Reformed and Baptist and Pentecostal and Charismatic and Methodist and Presbyterian and all denominations, all Christians ought to live in the unity of the Spirit.

Does Paul mean that our differences should be ignored, that they aren't important? No. Do he mean we should do away with denominations? No. What Paul is saying is that, through the Spirit Whom Jesus and the Father sent after Jesus' Ascension, all Christians, all believers, past, present, and future, ought to recognize that we are one in Christ, through the Spirit, and we must interact with each other in humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

Understand, this church is part of a Reformed denomination, the Reformed Church in America. I am a Reformed minister. My understanding of the Scripture is that of the Reformed tradition. That is how I understand it; that is how I teach and preach it. However, I have a friend who is a Methodist minister, and I have a friend who is a Presbyterian minister, and I have friends who are Reformed ministers -- of several denominations, and while we don't agree with each other on every item, we do agree, and we are united in the Truth that salvation is through Jesus Christ Alone, through faith alone, by grace alone, to the glory of God Alone, and we believe the Scripture -- the Bible -- Alone.

Denominational differences are important in this sense: either someone's interpretation is right, or we're all wrong. Yet, we are called to search the Scriptures, to know our God. So, we ought to know what we believe and why we believe it. We ought to stand for the differences were believe in, yet, in humility, gentleness, patience, and love, we ought to welcome all believers -- all Christians -- as brothers and sisters.

Everyone who believed in the Savior Who was to come, and everyone who has believed in Jesus since His Incarnation, is united together, in one body, figuratively, with Christ as our Head, and we are united in one body, that is, in Salvation in Jesus Alone. We are united in the belief that Jesus and Jesus Alone saves us and makes us right with God, we are united in the one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, through which we are buried with Christ and then rise again, and we are united in God being the Father of all believers -- He Who is greater than us, He Who works through us to accomplish His Will, and He Who lives in us, to change us, for His Glory.

Paul quoted, "'When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.'" In ascending, Christ has completed our deliverance from slavery to sin and gives each person -- every one of us -- gifts through the Holy Spirit. Each one who believes is forgive and made holy, as we have seen, and each one is also given gifts to be the person and do the good works that God has called us to do. Some were called "to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers," some lawyers, some entrepreneurs, some housewives, some teachers, some civil servants, some nurses -- each of us has been called and gifted by God for a purpose. God has equipped us for ministry, wherever God has put us and gifted us to be. And as we live out our call, we build up the body of Christ -- as the fingers and lungs and legs and kidneys and each one of us in the Body work well, doing what we ought, we come to full health, full unity, in faith in Jesus Alone, in the saving knowledge of the Son, in the maturity into Christlikeness -- which continues until the day that Jesus Returns and receives us into His Glory and the New Jerusalem.

But -- the devil and his angels and false teachers don't want us to be unified, they don't want us to grow. Paul says that we are like ships, out on the Sea of Galilee, who sail along by the gentle wind of the Gospel, but when the violent winds of false doctrine come, we are tossed to and fro with them, not knowing what to believe, not knowing how to respond, being fooled by their craftiness and deceit.

And Paul tells the Ephesians -- and us -- that we cannot be little children any more. We cannot neglect our salvation. We cannot be lax in knowing our God. We cannot just say, "Oh, I'll just believe the minister; I'll just believe the elders; I'll just believe that funny guy on the t.v. who asks me for money so I can win big with God." No We ought not be fooled, but we ought to grow up.

Christ is our Head. We have been given the Holy Spirit -- He Who indwells us. Christ is our Mediator, our Advocate on high. We have been given gifts to use in the Church, for each other, to the glory of God. And the Holy Spirit enables us to do all the good works that God calls us to do. We have no excuse.

The author of Hebrews wrote, "About this I have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:11-14).

What then are the benefits of the Ascension? Christ is now our Advocate before the Father. He has made all of us His forever. And He has given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and with Him, gifts to do the Will of God, the ability to know Him better, and to grow into the Image of His Son.

Now, we are called to act, in response to those things -- to the Good News. Shall we answer the call of God on our lives? Will we strive to do all those things God has set before us? Will we live in love and peace with our fellow believers? Will we learn how to defend the faith and then defend it against false teachers? Now is the time to grow up and grow into the Image of Christ.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, it has been all too easy to continue in the milk of our faith and neglect the meat. Revive us and cause a reformation of heart that we would, as the Apostle says, "work out our salvation with fear and trembling," in love and to Your Glory. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Puritan Wisdom

On I Peter 1:10 --

"That for all matters of faith that we teach the people, and would have them receive, we must ground them on no other proof, but the Word of God; no point ought to be admitted touching salvation, whereof God is no the author, and author he is of nothing, but of that which is in his written Word, which is a perfect Rule, able to teach all truth, and confute all error." -- John Rogers, 59.

On verse 12 --

"Again, in that the Apostles we so filled with the Spirit to preach and write, we learn, That they have left unto us a perfect Direction for all things needful for our salvation, and for the good estate of Gods Church, and that therefore there's nothing to be added, detracted or altered.

"1. This condemns them that trust in new Gospels of Thomas, Thaddeus, Bartholomew, &c. and in Traditions and unwritten Verities; which is to accuse the holy Ghost of want of care for his Church, as not having left that which is sufficient for salvation.

"2. It condemns them also that taketh away and alter at their pleasure; what is this, but to tax the holy Ghost for leaving something not necessary, nor profitable for his Church, and by altering or taking away form the same, to make ourselves wiser than he?" -- John Rogers, 70.

"Be Holy" Sermon: I Peter 1:13-16

"Be Holy"
[I Peter 1:13-16]
May 13 2007 Second Reformed Church

Christian: since you have been given a living hope of salvation in and through Jesus Alone, since you will glorify Christ through suffering, through the testing of your faith through the fires of suffering, since you have received the Good News of Jesus Christ the Savior, the Word, that the prophets and the angels and the whole creation have been and continue to long for -- since those things are true -- be holy.

Christian: you have been called to be set apart, a different people, a people called to a life and a living for God. You ought not to sin, but ought to do all things perfectly, rightly, justly, like our Heavenly Father.

Peter says that we ought to prepare our minds for action. The expression Peter uses is an expression taken from the fact that many people in his day wore long robes. And when they needed to go quickly or for a long distance, they didn't let the robe drag or tangle them up, they pull the robe up, they tied it off, they tucked it in, so it would not be a hindrance to them. They prepared their robe for action.

Similarly, Peter tells us that we are to prepare our minds for action. We are to pull up the excess, tie off the impediments. We are to do whatever is necessary to keep our minds quick, alert, and right. But we let our robe hang down; we think that a little ways won't impede us. We won't trip if we only bring the robe half-way up. We look at our lives and see that we attend worship every Sunday, we give to the work of the church, both in time and money, we pray, we read our Bible, we attend our Bible studies, so, that one sin we love, that one sin that's so hard for us to let go, that one thing, that last thing that we don’t want to let go -- we brought our minds up 98%, surely that’s better that only 20%, surely that's good enough, surely that will be acceptable, surely that is holy enough.

If your child came to you wearing a shirt and nothing else and said, "Mother, I'm dressed; I'm not wearing everything you put out for me to wear, but surely this is enough, surely this is acceptable." No mother in her right mind would allow that child to go out or to school or to do anything else until she was fully dressed.

Paul wrote, "Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But this is not the way you learned from Christ! -- assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:17-24).

Be sober minded. Don't give in to your lust; don't give in to your sin. Be moderate in the things that are lawful. Observe the patterns God has set for us to live.

As Christians, we don't have to give in to our sin, we ought not to give in to our sin. When we give into sin, we tell God that we don't care what His Son did -- hit Him again, pound the nail in deeper -- He will forgive me. No, we cannot. We must say, "no." And when we fall, we must repent and then say, "no," when the temptation comes again. We must not be drunk in our minds about what is sin and what is right living. Even with those things that God has given us that are good, we ought to live in moderation: no one needs to eat so much that he vomits. No one needs to wear so much make-up that he looks like a cartoon character. The proliferation of storage units tells us that we have too much. We have too much. It's not easy to be a Christian in a country where we have too much.

If we are sober in mind, we will follow the patterns that God has set before us. We will live within the patterns of the seasons and the week and the day. We ought to eat food that is fresh and in season. We ought to sleep during some of the twenty-four hour day. We ought to set aside one day in seven for worship. "You don't understand, I don't have time to eat right, I don't have time to sleep, I don't have time to worship." The Christian has time to use time rightly and to learn how to use time rightly.

Did you prepare for worship this morning? Did you get sleep last night? Did you set your mind on spiritual things this morning? Do you have it in mind to set aside time each day for God and knowing Him better?

God has set rhythms, patterns, in the days and weeks and seasons. We do well to observe them and live them to the glory of God. We ought to know what God has said and be able to read the patterns and the signs.

Paul wrote, "Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of the light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. So let us then not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation" (I Thessalonians 5:1-8).

We ought to set our hope fully on grace -- on that hope that was given to us in and through Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means our hope is not in our works. We do not rely on our works for our salvation. We understand that what we do or don't do has no bearing whatsoever on our being saved. Our salvation has nothing to do with our doing or not doing something. Salvation is a gift, given to us through the Work of Christ -- and Christ Alone. We are to truly, solely, trust in Him and hope in Him and find our future in Him.

If we mix anything with Christ, we pervert Him and His Gospel. Our Salvation is Jesus and nothing else. If we add anything, it is like mixing honey and bile, light and darkness, good and evil -- it cannot be. We are either saved by Christ or we save ourselves, there is no other option. And if I were to rely only on myself -- if you were to rely only on yourself -- we would fly down the shaft into the fiery pit of Hell. So let us find, in Christ, humility, thankfulness, our confidence, and our comfort.

John wrote, "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure" (I John 3:2-3).

So, as obedient children, let us not be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance. Let us renounce our lust and sin and evil. Let us turn away from all those things that kept us from God and make us ashamed before Him. Let us now do all the good works that He has set before us, not for our salvation, but in response to the glorious work and hope that He has put in us. And let us obey all of the Word of God, all the moral Law, all those things that God has called all to believe and do. The commentator John Rogers wrote, "Moreover, we must obey the Commandments of the Lord, be it never so strange, harsh, upleasing, or contrary to our Nature, denying ourselves contrary to custom, though all the world counsel to the contrary" (83).

Why? Why should we obey God and His Word when it doesn't make sense, when it is offensive to ourselves and to our feelings and to the latest poll? Because our God is Sovereign. Our God is Righteous and Holy. And our God has been merciful to us. God will never lead us into sin. God does not give us commands to make our lives miserable. No, our God is the Sovereign, Holy and Righteous God Who gave His Own Son for us -- how can we say, "no," to anything He commands?

The devil listens to the sermons that are preached. The devil takes note of every point. The devil searches out your weakness and my weakness and leads us by our noses at that very point to a place where we can receive the delightful smell of sin, and he hopes we won't remember the Word of God. He hopes we'll lay it aside. He hopes we'll say, "Well, just one more time."

Paul wrote, "I appeal to your therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:1-2).

Therefore, be holy. God told Israel, "I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44a). In Hebrew literature, when the writer wants to emphasize something, he repeats it, twice or three times -- three times meaning it is the ultimate possibility. There is one Attribute of God that is brought to the third power, not because God is lacking in His other Attributes, but to put this one at the center. We will remember the scene as Isaiah tells us, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!'

"And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the whole house filled with smoke. And I said, 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'

"Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away; and your sin atoned for'" (Isaiah 6:1-7).

Isaiah knew that he wasn't holy. He knew that he stood before God Who commanded him to be holy. And he understood that unless God Himself interceded, he was doomed. There was no way that Isaiah could make himself holy. And there is no way that you and I can make ourselves holy. It's not posible. By our hands, by our efforts, by our will, you and I cannot be holy.

And here's the problem: the Word of God says, "[without] holiness...no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14b). We are commanded to holiness. Without holiness we are doomed to Hell. And we cannot, of our own selves be holy. "So," we argue, "I must be good enough. I must be holy enough." But we're not.

Our hope, our life, our trust, our salvation, our holiness can only be found in Jesus Alone. Again, hear John Rogers' comment, "The Devil, like a Harlot, would be content with the one half, but God, like the true Mother, will have all or none" (85).

We either have Jesus, or we don't. We either believe in Him, or we don't. We're either holy in Him, or we're not. You see, you and I are holy, and we are becoming holy. We cannot become holy of ourselves, but God chose to give His Son, to purify us through His Blood and to credit us with His Holy Life, so now, when God looks at us, He sees the Purity of Jesus and the Holiness of Jesus, because we are in Jesus, if He Alone is our Savior, Hope, and Trust. And the Holy Spirit is working in every Christian throughout this lifetime to make us holy, so, on that final day, we shall be made like Jesus and be received into His Glory.

How, then, should we live, now, in this lifetime, since all these things are true?

Let us pray:
Almighty God, Lover and Savior of Your people, we thank You for the sure hope that we have in You and Your Salvation through Jesus Alone. Teach us and cause us to be different people, holy people, through Your Word and through the Working of the Holy Spirit. Make us holy for Your Glory. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.

The Flea Market

Second Reformed Church will be holding a Flea Market on Saturday, May 12th, this Saturday, at the church, from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. We have lots of stuff! Clothes, books, dishes, small appliances, gifts items, baked goods, jewelry, etc. Come buy your Mother's Day gift!

"Things Angels Long to See" Sermon: I Peter 1:10-12

"Things Angels Long to See"
[I Peter 1:10-12]
May 6, 2007 Second Reformed Church

What is the greatest news you have ever heard?

In the section of I Peter just before the one I read this morning, we saw that we, Christians, have a living hope. We have a living hope -- that is, the surety of our Salvation through Jesus Christ Alone -- a salvation that is being kept for us, in Heaven, by Jesus. We know that no matter what happens to us -- no matter what we are called to endure -- our salvation is so much greater than everything else, we can endure, and not just endure, but we can and should, always be glorifying God.

The author of Hebrews wrote, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world" (Hebrews 1:1-2). There has been a progression of revelation: God first spoke His Salvation through the prophets and He ended by sending His Son, the Word of God Incarnate. For all of history, God has been announcing the Way of Salvation, but the Way was revealed most clearly, most fully, when He actually lived and died and rose among humans.

Peter tells us in this morning's Scripture that the prophets who prophesied about this grace -- about this salvation -- about this living hope -- given to us by God through Jesus -- the prophets, themselves, searched their own words. The prophets did not fully understand what the Spirit of Christ had given them to speak, so they searched their prophecies, trying to understand Who it was that was coming for salvation and when it might be that He would come. Peter says that they "searched and inquired carefully." This wasn't just a cursory glance over the texts -- they studied and studied the words of the prophets and tried to more fully understand the promises of God.

They searched the Scriptures -- their prophecies -- because what they said was not merely human words, it is the Word of God. Peter wrote, "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:21). The Scripture was written by human beings, in human languages, in the styles of the writers, but this book is not mere human writing, every word of it is inspired by God. What does that mean? It does not mean that God dictated the Scriptures, or forced the pens to write certain words, but that God revealed things to the prophets, which they wrote down, in their languages, in their own style, yet God prevented them from making any mistakes in the Scripture, from recording an error.

So, they understood something of what they wrote, but they wanted to understand it more fully, so they studied it and searched it, and inquired of it, looking for the answers to the Promise of Salvation that was coming. Why? Because they knew it was the greatest news anyone could ever hear: there is a Way back to God; there is Salvation from the Wrath of God. They didn't know as much as they New Testament writers, and they didn’t understand as much as we do today. Peter tells us that they and those who heard their words understood that a Savior was coming, a human being -- but more, and He would have to suffer, and, after, He would be glorified. And so they searched the Scriptures to understand more.

Paul, who knew the Savior and the time of His Suffering and Ascent into Glory, put it like this: "Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:5b-11).

And, Peter tells us that it was revealed to the prophets that they were not prophesying for themselves and their generation; they were prophesying for others -- as it turned out, for the first century, and for all those who would live after them. By the Power of the Holy Spirit, the prophets preached the Salvation that was to come, the Grace that was to come, the One Who would suffer and die and rise to secure our salvation, our peace with God, and they were made to understand that none of this would happen in their lifetime; they would all die before the Savior would come, except for Elijah, Enoch, and John the Baptist. They were sent to preach in hope, in trust, this living hope of Salvation that would become manifest.

So the prophets longed for Him. They had faith that salvation was coming, and they longed for Him. They spent their lives studying and preaching the Scriptures. And they knew and accepted that they would not see Him in their lifetimes. Still, they longed for His coming.

Why was this good news preached? Why is it still preached? They preached and we preach that you and you and I would hear and receive this Gospel of Jesus Christ Alone, by the Holy Spirit, who is sent forth from heaven. They preached and we preach so you and you and I would believe -- that we would receive that hope -- and be filled with a longing for the fulfillment fo all of the words of the prophets -- a fulfillment that will come when Jesus returns.

And notice, it was not just the prophets who longed to see these things, but Peter tells us that the angels also longed to see Who this Savior is and when His Salvation would come, not because the salvation is for them -- it's not -- salvation is for humans alone. The angels longed to see Jesus come and they long to see Him return, and not them only, but all of the creation -- not for the sake of the Salvation of the creation, but that they might enter into the glory that is waiting all who are brothers and sisters of Jesus. Paul wrote, "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who having the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience" (Romans 8:19-30).

We long for the full Salvation of Jesus Christ to come. But the seraphim and the cherubim also long for it -- the angels long to see how and when God will bring this age to a close -- they long to see God fully glorified by all. And so all of the creation is longing for the day when it will no longer suffer corruption but will be freed and enter into our glory to the Glory of God. The animals all long for Jesus' Return. The plants all long for Jesus' Return. The rocks and the planets and everything that is, everything in all of Creation, whether visible or invisible -- they are all excitedly longing for the completion of our salvation -- for the fulness of Jesus' Salvation and the coming Kingdom.

Do you long for that day? Or do you just want the coffee and cake in Freeman Hall? Are you passionate about the Salvation that Jesus Alone gives? Or are you only passionate about lunch? Do you love the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit so much and want to know God so well that you read the Bible and scour the Scripture and search it again and again and again so you would understand and know your greatest love even more? Or do you save that effort for the newspaper?

Brothers and sisters, you and I have been given the greatest news, the greatest gift possible, in Salvation in Jesus Alone. The prophets, the angels, the whole creation, longed to see Him come and longs for Him to come again. What about you? What does your life show?

In 1599, the commentator John Rogers wrote of this text: "This condemns the most monstrous Unthankfulness of our days, that make no reckoning of this so blessed Gospel, of those glad tidings that should be the glory of the world, without which the world is dead and sin, and comes to confusion. O how few regard to hear the Word? Many run to Sports and Pastimes, others to Markets and Fairs, but in many places, what thin Churches? Their Oxen and Farms draw them away: Others hear, yet it is without any regard, any life; Israel never loathed the Manna more, then most do the preaching of the Gospel; O they have had Sermons in many Congregations, until they have even loathed them O how few can be brought to see their own misery How few prize Christ, and to whom he is indeed welcom, how few that will stoop to his yoke Sundry in shew would have him their Savior, and talk that they hope to be saved by Christ, but that's but a Bawd for their sins, whereby they may go on the more freely in them; yea, are not the truest and most painfullest Preachers and Professors of the Gospel hated? What that will come to, it is easy to see; assuredly (being like Chorazin and Bethsaida) we may justly fear some judgement at hand. Time was, when Christ was welcom among us, and the kingdom of heaven suffered violence (as happily it doth still in some parts of the land) but O dead hearers, and unthankful in many places. Those under the Law, saw but a little, yet took it thankfully; we have much revealed, yet little regard it: To prize the Gospel, to seek after Christ, will be our wisdom and welfare; then to enquire for Salvation by Christ, there can be no greater thing, it becomes us well: if for this we be counted fools, well, we be such fools as the Prophets were, who enquired and searched after Christ; God be thanked for our so doing, let us continue in God’s name; this shall bring us comfort living and dying, when carnal Worldling shall perish for want of comfort and go to hell" (John Rogers, I Peter, 60).

Nothing has changed.

Let us pray:
God of Grace, we thank You for the gift of Salvation in Jesus Christ Alone, make us more thankful. We thank You for the words of the prophets and the witness of the creation, increasing our longing for You. The prophets, and the angels, and all of creation sought You and Your Kingdom first, raise up Your people, direct our eyes and hearts and minds to You first, for Your Glory first. And as You have given us Your Grace through Your Word, we pray that You would also give us Your Grace through the Holy Supper. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.

Puritan Wisdom

On I Peter 1:9 --

"We must therefore when we follow Christ, or embrace him and his ways, not expect all Prosperity here, and Ease and Contentment outwardly, but rather think of the contrary, that it may appear that we follow him not for any by-respect; but Salvation we shall have, and he that thinks not that sufficient, thought it be joyned with troubles; knoweth not its worth. The favor of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, is great riches, though not accompanied with outward either pleasure or profit: Many profess Religion for advantage, and many will profess so long as no hurt comes of it, but if any trouble arise, then they give over." -- John Rogers, 58.

May Sermons

D.V., I plan to preach:

5/6/07 Communion I Peter 1:10-12 "Things Angels Long to See"
5/13/07 I Peter 1:13-16 "Be Holy"
5/20/07 Ascension Sunday Ephesians 4:1-16 "The Benefits of the Ascension"
5/27/07 Guest preacher: George Gutierrez

Puritan WIsdom

On I Peter 1:7 --

"Though the outward man decay (by sickness, poverty, disgrace, imprisonment, and the like) yet it is the inner man (Faith, Hope, Comfort, &c.) increased daily; for Faith the more its cut; the more it grows; the more it is trodden on; the thicker it comes up. And by afflictions there's purged away a great deal of pride, self-love, worldliness, hypocrisie, and the like, which long peace gathers, where of Jonah had experience when he was cast into the Sea; those tame us also: A man that was conceited against his neighbor for smal causes in prosperity, in sickness and affliction will be glad to take every one by the hand; therefore are the most afflicted, for the most part, the fullest of Faith and Grace, and purer then others; and a man is never better then when he is in, or newly come out of affliction. Hence it is, that we are willed to be thankful for them, yet to account it exceeding joy when they come, those being blessed that are so afflicted." -- John Rogers, 46.

Puritan Wisdom

On I Peter 1:3 --

"Now followeth the subsatnce of the Epsitle, consisting of Doctrine and Exhortation: Doctrine to the thriteenth Verse; Exhortations in the Verses following. The Exhortations are to continue constant in the profession of the Gospel of Christ, and to stick close to that Salvaiton purchased by Christ, and revealed therein; and that they would lead an holy and godly life, answerable to this profession and Gospel, both in their general and particular callings; yea now in their present troubles, and notwithstanding any other they might meet with hereafter. Now this being a very weighty building, therefore he had need lay a foundation fitting for the same, and so he doth, which is this, namely, The signular benefits we receive by Jesus Christ his Death and Resurrection, viz. Assurance of Salvation, Hope, Joy, Peace, &c. and at last everlasting life in the Kingdom of Heaven; all which are revealed and wrought in us by the Gospel, which is no new Doctrine, but that which of old was revealed to all the Prophets, though now more clearly and fully manifested. Therefore seeing God hath done so great things for us by Christ Jesus, and these things are revealed in the Gospel, which is very ancient, good reason they should cleave to Christ, and be carried after no other way of Salvation, accordingly walking worthy of the beneifts they have both already reaped hereby, and may further hearafter. The Doctrine setteth forth the great benefit that we reap in Jesus Christ; namely, That we are begot to a lively hope of Salvation, and of being partakers of such an inheritance, as is without comparison, which is every way set forth, according to its excellency; where we have, 1. The benefit, That we are begotten to a lviely hope: 2. The moving cause, The abundant mercy of God: 3. The means whereby, namely, The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: 5. [sic] The end, That we may partake of Salvation, which he calls an Inheritance, ..." John Rogers, 14-15.

"A Living Hope" Sermon: I Peter 1:3-9

"A Living Hope"
[I Peter 1:3-9]
April 22, 2007 Second Reformed Church

Last week we began our look at I Peter, and we saw that as Christians, we always have hope, no matter what circumstances we are in, because we have been elect in the Trinity: we were chosen by the Father, bought and paid for through the Blood Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and now we are being sanctified -- made holy -- by the Work of the Holy Spirit in us.

This morning's Scripture is one excited, run-on sentence in Greek, in which Peter tells those Christians who are running for their lives, living in foreign lands -- people like you and me -- he is explaining to all Christians that our hope is a living hope.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, we are born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," (my translation)

Peter breaks out in praise, singing a doxology to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that: He is Lord, our Master and Sovereign. He is Jesus, the Real and True Man of Israel. And He is Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the Very God Who saves us. And He is to be praised. Why? Because, in accordance with His Great Mercy -- see, it is nothing you and I have ever earned or merited or been owed, no, it is all of mercy, it is all a free gift. He has raised us from death -- we who were spiritually dead are now alive; we who we dead in our trespasses and sins, unable to do any good thing are now alive and able by our God to do what is good and pleasing in His Sight. We have been born again into a living hope -- an active, real, pulsing, full-of-life hope -- a sure reality that has not yet come, but must. Why must it? It must based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead -- since He is risen, our living hope is secured and guaranteed -- there is no losing it or forgetting it or finding it dead along the roadside. We have a living hope guaranteed by Jesus. Peter preached, "God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of dead, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him" (Acts 2:24).

"to an inheritance that is immortal and undefiled and unfading," (my translation)

When do we inherit? When someone dies. The writer of Hebrews wrote, "In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living" (Hebrews 9:16-17). Who has died? Christ has died; much more than that, Christ is raised. It is through Him, then, and His Death, that we receive an inheritance which is immortal -- it is not subject to death or time, it is imperishable. Our inheritance is undefiled -- it is pure. And our inheritance is unfading -- it endures in its beauty and in every one of its qualities.

"kept in the heavens for you, who by the power of God is guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," (my translation)

Our inheritance is kept, guarded, shielded, protected from danger in the heavens. No being can get to it to tamper with it or steal it or corrupt it. That inheritance, that salvation, that eternal life, pure, holy, that Jesus secured for us through His Resurrection, God is keeping for us until that final day when we received the fullness of salvation, sanctified and glorified -- that inheritance is ready, it is safe, it is secure, but it is not the last day, so we wait. We wait with a living hope, looking forward confidently to what is already accomplished and is soon coming to pass.

"in this you rejoice exceedingly, even if it was necessary, now, for a little while, for you to be pained by various trials" (my translation)

Since we know our salvation is secure, since we know we have not yet fully received it, but we will on that final day, we rejoice. We rejoice exceedingly. There is no question, no shadow of doubt, no chance in anything on the earth or above the earth or below the earth that Jesus and the salvation He has for us will ever fail. It is coming -- it's not a question of if, but when -- we can rejoice -- we can rejoice exceedingly. And when we are called to endure pain, trials, when we are called to suffer, even though we don't like those trials, even though, like Job, we mourn our children, we cry over our pets and flocks and job, even though our families should turn away, even though we should become sick and in pain, and even if Nero has sent the whole Roman army out after us to kills us in the most horrible way -- still we rejoice exceedingly. Why? Paul put it this way, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18). We still hurt; we still don't enjoy trials; but we have a hope that is greater than the worst that comes our way.

"that the testing of your faith -- far more valuable than gold , which is lost though it is tested in the fire -- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revealing of Jesus Christ," (my translation)

But why are we tested at all? Why do we have to suffer? What good does it do us? Peter tells us that just as gold taken straight from the ground has to lose its dross -- its impurities through the refiners fire, so do we also have to endure the refiner's fire for the purification of our faith -- which is worth more than the finest gold. And, though we endure this refining now -- though it is not pleasant -- when Jesus "himself [] descends from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ [] rise first" (I Thessalonians 4:16) we will be transfixed on the sight and through our faith, which has been proven genuine, we shall praise Him and glorify Him and honor Him from that day forth and forever and ever. That is the glorious day we are waiting for, and in that moment, every trail will fall away as nothing, and we will be lost in the wonder and praise of our God and Savior.

"who, though you have not seen him, you love, though you do not see him now, you believe him and are exceedingly glad, with joy unspeakable and with glory, obtaining the fulfillment of the faith, the salvation of your souls" (my translation)

Thomas doubted the Resurrection of Jesus and said, "'Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe'" (John 20:25b). It was just eight days later that Jesus appeared when Thomas was present, and Jesus told him to do just what he had asked. But without touching Jesus, "Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed'" (John 20:28-29).

If you have believe in Jesus Alone for your salvation this morning, it is not because you have seen Him, yet you have loved Him. Indeed, none of us have seen Jesus in the flesh, yet we have believed in Him. We have believed and we are exceedingly glad, we are unspeakably joyful, and we are filled with the glory of Him Who gives us this living hope. We are filled with a supernatural joy that reaches its fullness in that final day when Jesus returns.

So, Peter tells those Christians on the run -- and you and me -- no matter what happens the rest of this day, the rest of this week, the rest of our lives, no matter what trials we endure, we are filled with unfathomable joy, which changes everything about us, and expresses itself in praise and honor and glory to our God and Savior. Why? Because we who believe have received the goal of our faith -- a living hope -- the salvation of our souls.

Let us pray:
Our God and our Joy, our Hope and Salvation, we thank You for Your Promised Living Hope. Cause us to live it out, showing that our hope -- our sure hope -- is greater and more valuable that everything and anything we might endure. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Puritan Wisdom

On I Peter 1:1-2

"It followeth 1. That if any can prove his election, he must stand and admire at the unsearchableness of God's free mercy, that he should think upon him a poor worm before the beginning of the world, and one that should be of the common flock of Adam, a sinful wretch; think of him, I say, to choose him to life passing by so many. Oh how should this ravish our hearts, and inflame us with love!

"2. That if any be rejected, they must not complain of cruelty in God, for that they are rejected; Is the clay to say to the Potter, why hast Thou made me thus? Beside, thou are not condemned but for the just deserts and sins which thou hast committed against God; all that can be said, is this, He gives not grace to them, as he hath done to his elect, whereof who shall complaine? God is bound to none." -- A Godly & Fruitful Exposition Upon all the First Epistle of Peter. by the Pious and Eminent Preacher of the Word of God, John Rogers of Dedham in Essex, 30.

"Elect in the Trinity" Sermon: I Peter 1:1-2

"Elect in the Trinity"
[I Peter 1:1-2]
April 15, 2007 Second Reformed Church

We begin this morning, with the help of God, a study of the book of I Peter. I & II Peter were written during a time of great turmoil, especially for the Church. It was written when, above all else, the people of God needed to know and firmly believe that there is hope. In many ways, it was a time like our time: may God be pleased to instill and affirm His Hope in us.

I & II Peter were written after 33 A.D. and before 70 A.D. We know this because Peter taught the resurrection of Jesus, but did not mention the destruction of the Temple. We can close the dates in further and say that Peter wrote between 54-68 A.D. when Nero was emperor of Rome. During Nero's reign, Christians were persecuted horrifically -- they were hunted down like animals, and for that reason, they ran from Israel and became strangers in foreign lands.

He begins his first letter, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ." He didn't need to tell them that he was Simon bar Jonah, called "Cephas," called "Peter." No, they knew who this was simply by the designation of "apostle," because there was only one apostle named "Peter."

What does it mean to be an apostle? According to the Scripture, the apostles were the twelve, plus Paul, who had known Jesus in the flesh -- they had been called by Jesus Himself -- they had been taught by Him and sent out to minister by Him. The apostles were an inner circle who were taught and sent in a way that none of other the disciples, or you and I, experience. They spoke directly for God, in a similar way to the way in which the prophets had spoken. So, the word of an apostle carried with it that same "thus says the Lord" as had the word of the prophets. There were only ever thirteen apostles and the whole of Christendom knew who they were.

So when Peter the apostle of Jesus Christ wrote to them, they knew who this man was. He was that hand-picked servant and student of Jesus whom Jesus had personally sent out with a call and a work to accomplish. This was Peter of the Gospels and Acts -- documents which were circulating and being read.

And this letter is addressed "to the elect/chosen strangers." This letter is addressed to the people whom God chose to save -- out of all the mass of humanity who had damned themselves -- those whom God chose according to His Sovereign Good Pleasure, not based on anything the elect would or would not do. These are those that God chose to save, as Paul explained, those who "were not yet born and done nothing either good or bad -- in order that God’s purpose in election might continue, not because of works but because of his call --" (Romans 9:11). These are the people who God chose and, therefore, they had come to believe in Jesus Alone for their salvation, and now they were living as strangers in a strange land. They had to leave Israel for foreign lands due to the persecution of the Romans under Nero.

Specifically, "of the diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia." This letter is specifically addressed to the elect of God who had left Israel due to persecution and settled in what we would now call Turkey. These Christians had fled Israel and now were living in the Christian communities, ministering in the churches, of Turkey, and they needed to know, that amidst the persecution, amidst their having to leave their homes and go to a strange land, amidst all of this, they needed to know there was still hope. So Peter began, by addressing them as the elect, the chosen of God -- wherever they were, whatever conditions they were living under -- they were the people that God had chosen for Himself.

Remember Jesus said, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of this world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:18-19).

The Christians were spreading throughout the world, keeping ahead of the Roman sword, and they wanted to know that there was still hope. They wanted to know that God was still their God, working in them and through them. And we want to know the same thing today, as we look at the world, as we look at our Classis and our church.

What's going on? What is God doing? Do we have hope? The world is a mess; pagan religions are gaining followers by leaps and bounds. Many of the churches of our Classis continue to decline. Faithful men of God are being struck down and some are moving out of this area. Ministers are admitting that they don't believe that the Bible is true. Yet, to read our denominational magazine, we're told that the answer is to grow in number, no matter what we have to do. Grow in money, and pay our dues on time, no matter what we have to do. Because if the pews are full and the bank account is full -- all's right with the world!

Then what do we do with those to whom Peter is writing? They're on the run; they're being cut down. They looking for answers; they're afraid for their lives. Sometimes being faithful means leaving, being in the minority, even being willing to die. Understand, we ought to desire and pray that God would bring His people into this church and fill this church and all His churches with His people that He might be glorified by them -- but not to the neglect of our faithfulness.

So Peter addresses the diaspora -- those elect strangers in a strange land -- and begins by telling them -- and telling us -- that God chose them and God chose us for this work, now, in this time, because it pleased Him to do so. The first thing we ought to know, is that God chose us, but not based on who we are or what we would do.

And Peter emphasizes that our election takes place in the Trinity -- The Three Persons of the Trinity are involved in the election of God's people. They are wholly in concert in Their Work in us and through us as the One God Who elects us to salvation.

Peter says that the strangers -- and all those who believe in salvation through Jesus Alone -- are elect "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." God so movingly told the prophet Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:4b). In a way that is barely comprehensible to our minds, before we existed, God loved and chose us, but not based on our selves or our works. God did not look into the future to see who we would become. God chose us for His Reasons, for His Pleasure. But know this surely, Christian, before you ever existed in reality, God the Father loved you and chose you to be His.

When the devil comes at us and tells us we are nothing, that we are committing the same sins over and over, that we have not lived up to our call, we can respond with surety, "Yes, but God has always loved me and chose me to be His forever, and so I shall be." Our election, our future, our hope is certain, because it is based on God the Father, not us.

Then Peter says that they are we are "in the process of sanctification by the Spirit." God the Holy Spirit is at work in each one of us who believes, changing us, perfecting us, making us holy -- it's a process that will take until the day that Jesus returns, but it is happening -- because we cannot be God's people and remain in our sin. And if we think to ourselves, "I don't know about that. It seems to me that I am more of a sinner, less faithful, further from what I ought to be than I was when I first believed." That may be, perhaps you are unrepentantly engaging in sin. But, it may also be, that you are being changed, and as you are being changed, you are becoming more sensitized, more repulsed, more upset with the sin that still remains in you. If you are constantly at war with your sin, fighting against it, seeking God's help and forgiveness, it is likely that this is one of the fruits of that sanctification -- the process of becoming holy -- that the Holy Spirit is working in you. Look for the evidence -- there will be evidence if God is changing you. Our priorities will continue to change, and we will more greatly desire that God would be glorified in everything that we do, and we will desire to do the good works that God has put before us, denying ourselves the sin that we are tempted to commit. These are evidences of the Holy Spirit at work in us.

So, when the devil causes us to doubt the work of the Holy Spirit in us, let us respond to him, "Christ died for me." For we have been elect "for the obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling of His Blood;" The good works that we are called to are those that Jesus Christ has set before us, and we are able to do them if we have been sprinkled with His Blood. As Paul wrote, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). Just as the sacrifice made the people acceptable before God, and they were sprinkled with its blood, so we become acceptable to God through the Blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who sprinkles us down through the ages, that we might be cleansed and live lives pleasing to God. "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14).

And to those who know this, who believe this, who have this hope: "May grace and peace be multiplied to you." Peter prays and believes that those who believe in Jesus Alone for their salvation, are the elect. They are elect in the Trinity: loved by the Father, being sanctified by the Spirit, and, therefore, by the Sacrificial Work of Jesus Christ, enabled do good works in His Name.

Peter opens his letter telling Christians in dire and strange circumstances -- like us in many ways -- that grace has been given, that peace is available, only by the Work of God. So this is their hope and our hope, their future and our future: God has chosen us, loved us, is making us like Him, and causing us to live out His Sacrifice through good works. Do we have hope? So long as God is God.

Let us pray:
May your grace and peace come upon us, O God. You, Who in Your Triune Self has made us a people for You, we pray that You would continue to work in us and through us, causing us to be Your people and Your witnesses here in Irvington. Raise up a faithful Church on earth. And keep us in Your Hope. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.

Puritan Wisdom

"Is it possible, think you, for a person to be conceited of his miseries? May there not be a deep leaven of pride in telling how desolate and unfeeling we are? -- in brooding over our unearthly pains? -- in being excluded from the unsympathetic world? -- in our being the invalids of Christ's hospital?" -- Bonar, Memoir..., 23.

"He Is Risen" Sermon Luke 24:1-12

"He is Risen"
[Luke 24:1-12]
April 8, 2007 Second Reformed Church

Jesus had been crucified, and He had died. The Roman officers made sure He was dead before they released the Body for burial. They even shoved a spear up through His Side. Pilate was not about to release the Body of Jesus if He was not fully and completely dead.

And he wasn't about to allow any of His crazy followers to stage a resurrection, so he had a stone rolled over the entrance of the tomb, and he sealed the tomb with the royal seal, and he posted guards to keep anyone from attempting to disturb the tomb and the Body.

So, we read in this morning's text that Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women went to the tomb on the morning of the third day. Why? They went to finish embalming Jesus. He had died at the end of the day and had to be quickly put into the tomb so as not to violate the Sabbath. Now it was the morning of the third day, the first day of the week, and they had returned to the tomb where they had seen Him buried, and they went, expecting to find a dead Man. They went, expecting to find a lifeless Body which needed to be embalmed.

The disciples also believed and expected that the women would find the dead Body of Jesus in the tomb. They were in hiding, fearful that the Pharisees and the Romans might now come after them. After all, they had taken their Leader and killed Him, and He was now dead in the tomb.

What is your expectation this morning? Is Jesus dead? Are you here to celebrate the beginning of Spring? Are you here to celebrate the Easter Bunny and his invention of candy? What is your expectation?

The women arrived at the tomb, carrying their spices and oils, and they were shocked, and then terrified. They fell on their faces, not knowing what had happened or how to respond. The guards were passed out on the ground, the seal had been broken and the stone was rolled away, and two angels, who look like men, appeared, blazing with the Glory of God.

And the angels asked them two questions:

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?" He is risen! Why are you looking for Someone Who is alive in a tomb? You don't find living people in tombs.

"[Don't you] remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise?" He is risen! Don't you remember what He told you? Why didn't you expect Him to rise from the dead? Why did you expect to find a dead Body? Don't you remember?

"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (Matthew 16:21).

"As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, 'The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day'" (Matthew 17:22-23).

"And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 'See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day'" (Matthew 20:17-19).

What wasn't clear?

So the women all ran back to the disciples and told them that "He is risen."

But the disciples also expected Jesus to be dead; they thought He was a dead Body in the tomb as well -- that was their expectation. So Peter and John ran to the tomb, and they confirmed what the women heard and saw: He is risen.

And in the days to follow, Jesus would be seen, touched, and eat with over three hundred people, who became eyewitnesses to His Resurrection.

"Well," the sceptics say, "that's the story. But who knows if it really happened. Maybe He wasn't really dead. Or perhaps they just made the story up later."

There are a variety of insane theories about Jesus not really being dead. So consider, if you will, how all of these theories must go: after being beaten and tortured all night, crucified, stabbed, losing massive amounts of blood, and seemingly dying, He was placed in a tomb, with a stone rolled in front of it, and guards to keep anyone from removing the Body. Once everyone left, Jesus unwound the burial clothes, pushed the massive stone up and away from the tomb, from the inside, overpowered the Roman guards and/or convinced them to lie for Him, and then He disappeared into the wind, leaving His disciples to believe that He rose from the dead -- a belief that they so firmly believed, that for two thousand years now, they have been willing to be tortured and put to dead.

We have a choice, brothers and sisters, to believe that Christianity is the biggest and most cruel hoax ever perpetrated -- in which case -- somewhere there is real proof, and we ought to find it and expose this lie. Or, everything Jesus said was true.

Whatever expectation we come with, we are faced with the announcement that "He is risen." This is either the most horrifying blasphemy ever -- or it is true. There is no other choice.

There are many today who want to make Christianity some pedestrian moral system that teaches us to be good people. But the fact of the matter is that Jesus taught again and again that He is God.

If President Bush insisted that he is God Incarnate -- or if Senator Clinton demanded that we believe that she is God and worship her and look to her as the only way to salvation -- and masses of people believed -- would we say that such a thing was just teaching people how to be good and moral citizens? Would we say, "O, Lord God, Mr. Bush, you are a good man. Mighty Hillary, our Savior, you have saved a village by your good teaching"? No! We would say that this is either the greatest insanity ever perpetrated, or it is the truth. Someone who claims to be God, Himself, is not just a nice, normal person. He is either over-the-edge nuts, or he is God.

And we can't sit on the sidelines. We can't not make a decision based on the evidence. Saying that we don't take a stand -- that we don't have an opinion -- is the same as saying, "I don't believe."

If the claims of Christianity are true, if He is risen, then we know that Jesus has taken God's Wrath against us for our sins on Himself -- our debt has been paid -- and we have received His Righteous Life credited to our accounts. And we also know, if it's true, if He is risen, then we who believe will likewise be raised.

Paul puts it this way: "Now if Christ is proclaimed as risen from the dead, how can some of you say that this is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testify about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ" (I Corinthians 15:12-23).

I don't know what expectation you came with this morning. But I say to you: He is risen. Jesus is risen from the dead, just as He said. If you don't believe that is true, then also understand that you cannot say that Christianity is a good religion. If it's not true, Christianity is a horrible, deceitful, blasphemous religion. But if you do believe He is risen, if you believe in Him, you are forgiven, and you also shall be raised on the last day.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we gather to celebrate the Resurrection of Your Son, Jesus, the Incarnate God. We thank You for the witness and the evidence that He is risen. We ask that He would make Himself known to each one here this morning, and that each one here would honestly and surely respond to the declaration of the angels: He is risen. For it is in the Name of the Living Son of Man, Jesus, we pray, Amen.

"The Day Draws Near" Sermon: Hebrews 10:19-25

"The Day Draws Near"
[Hebrews 10:19-25]
April 6, 2007 Second Reformed Church

"And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twisted linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place. And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side" (Exodus 26:31-35).

God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle -- the place of worship -- with rooms within rooms and courts within courts. The innermost room, the Holy of Holies, contained the ark of the testimony -- the ark of the covenant -- that box that contained the Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod, and some of the manna from the wilderness. In that holy place, the Glory of God would descend. And no one was allowed in that room, except for the high priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement. The room was separated by the ornate veil -- curtain. Anyone who entered that room presumptuously would be put to death.

At the moment Jesus breathed His Last on that first Good Friday, we read this, "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from the top to the bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split" (Matthew 27:51). And we can imagine those who were in the temple, running in terror, for the Holy of Holies was now open for anyone to see and enter. For hundreds of years, Israel had raised her children with the knowledge that if you glimpsed the Holy of Holies, you would die, and now, it was open to all.

But the author of Hebrews tells us not to fear, but to rejoice, for this is Good Friday. The Incarnate God lived and then died the horrific death of a criminal. He hung between Heaven and Hell, suffering God's Wrath, and being forsaken by His Father. And then, in victory, He tore the curtain from the ceiling to the floor, exposing the Holy of Holies. And our God says, "Come before Me with confidence."

"Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,..."

Therefore, as we saw last night, since Christ our Passover Lamb has been slaughtered for us. Since His Blood has been shed and placed on the lintels and doorposts. Since He is Perfect and Sinless, and offered Himself up for His people. Since He offered His Whole Self, Perfectly, Completely sacrificed on that cursed tree. Salvation is now. Jesus has made salvation now. From that first Good Friday, salvation is now. Don't wait until tomorrow -- there may not be a tomorrow -- salvation is now.

Therefore, since He gave Himself as the Perfect and Complete Sacrifice, He has the Authority to tear open the curtain that separated us, His people, from the Holy of Holies. As His Body was torn apart and His Blood poured out, for the first and last time, a Holy Sacrifice was given, the Old Testament sacrifices ceased, and we were credited with His Holy Life, so we can come into the Very Presence of God confidently.

Therefore, since Jesus assumed the office of the Great High Priest when He offered up Himself as the One Holy Sacrifice, He perfectly fulfilled the word of the angel of the Lord to Joshua, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: if you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here" (Zechariah 3:6-7).

Jesus is our High Priest in representing His people before God the Father. He assists us through His Sacrifice of Himself. And through that Sacrifice, He makes us acceptable to the Father. Whereas that way into the Holy of Holies had been only for the high priest through blood sacrifice and death, once a year, now all of God's people -- all believers -- have the privilege of coming into the Holy of Holies every time we gather to worship.

Therefore. Or, perhaps, so what? Or, who cares?

Brothers and sisters, we are in the presence of the Almighty God. Jesus is here in this place, and He ministers His Grace to us through the reading and preaching of the Word of God and as we receive the bread and the cup. The fact that you and I are here together and we have not been struck dead for daring to come into His Presence, ought to make us ponder, fill us with awe, and realize that we must be different people. People who truly come into the Presence of God are changed.

The writer of Hebrews calls us to three things in the text we read:

First, "let us approach God with a true heart in full assurance of faith."

As we join together in the Presence of God to worship, let us come before Him knowing that we are eternally right with God through Jesus Christ Alone. Now, that doesn't mean we don't sin any longer. Christians sin, and we ought to repent and confess our sin. What it means is that we have been changed inwardly and outwardly through Christ. Our evil conscience has been purified by the sprinkling of His Blood. Our body has been cleansed with pure water -- that is the symbolism of baptism -- by which we understand the process of sanctification. That we are being made in body and spirit -- in every facet of our being -- like Jesus. We are being made holy.

We are to come into the Presence of God knowing, believing, that everything that we are, all of our good, everything worthy in us, has been earned, bought, and credited to us by Jesus Christ Alone. This fundamental principle in holy worship is to come into God's Presence with liberty and boldness and confidence, because Jesus is our High Priest and Sacrifice. If we truly believe that salvation is all of Jesus, and nothing of us, then we are assured, because salvation has nothing to do with us and our decisions and our performance. It's all Jesus. Holy, Perfect, Complete Jesus.

Second, "let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful."

As we make our confession of belief each time we gather together, let us remember that the facts of the confession do not stand or fall with the Reformed Church in America. They do not stand or fall by Second Reformed Church. They do not stand or fall by Peter Butler, Jr. And they do not stand or fall by any one of us here.

Our confession of salvation in Jesus Alone, throughout all of the Bible, stands on the fact of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Our confession, and the fact of our salvation, stands on the sure and everlasting fact that our faithful Jesus has fulfilled the pledge that was made for centuries through the sacrifice of animals when He sacrificed Himself, the One Holy and Final Sacrifice. Our confession is sure because the Sacrifice of Jesus is sure. And since that Sacrifice is sure:

Thirdly, "let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another."

If this is all true, if we believe that the Work is done and we can come boldly before our God, if we are assured because our Salvation is not based on our fallible selves, not based on our works, but on Him Who is making us His Own, then there ought to be evidences of that truth in our lives.

We ought to be provoking each other -- in a good way. The word there means "inciting, stimulating, strongly encouraging." We ought to be showing love to one another other, putting ourselves out for each other, helping each other to accomplish what is good and pleasing in the sight of God. We ought to encourage each other to continue to do good works. Now, understand, that doesn't mean encouraging foolish ideas, much less sin. And it doesn't mean telling each other that any idea we have is hopeless and useless, but you'll help anyway. It means that if someone is doing something good -- that we encourage her and help those good things to continue. And if someone doesn't know what good thing to do, that we make suggestions based on what we know of him and his abilities.

It especially means encouraging others not to neglect being in worship with other Christians -- to do all that we can to encourage each other to be at every worship service. Some people say, "Well, I worship God at home and in my own way." And it's true, we can meet God and worship Him in our homes -- we should be encouraging each other to pray and read the Bible and good Christian books at home. But we cannot rightly hear the Word of God read and preached and receive the sacraments if we don't join in worship with the people that Jesus saved. Christianity is not first of the individual, but of the people of God.

And we ought to be encouraging each other in all the good things that God has called us to do -- to worship, to be discipled and disciplined, to receive spiritual food from many and various sources, to grow in our life and faith, to forsake our sin, and especially the sin of sloth in spiritual things. "I'll pray when I get older. I'll read the Scripture when I get older. I'll do good works when I get older. I'll become a Christian when I get older." Salvation is now You may not get any older. Salvation is now.

"All the more as you see the Day approaching."

Which day? What is the writer referring to?

There are at least two different possibilities, and we may be wise to say both are right:

The first is the day of the destruction of the temple -- which occurred in 70 A.D. The book of Hebrews is largely concerned with how Jesus has fulfilled the sacrificial system -- a system that took place, largely, in the temple. So, the writer may have been referring to Christians understanding how Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial system, and beginning to live that fulfillment out, before the temple is destroyed and so many are lost for not having a place to sacrifice an animal.

A second possibility is the more general idea of the Second Coming. The writer may have been pressing Christians to live as people who can now stand in the Presence of God in the Holy of Holies, as an evidence to the world, before Jesus returns and it is too late to believe.

For us, the temple is destroyed, there are no more animal sacrifices, we understand that Jesus has died once, His sacrifice being Perfect and Complete, and we prepare to receive the bread and the cup and receive His Grace even this evening. But Jesus has not yet returned in the flesh -- yet He will.

So, let us understand what happened on that Good Friday. Let us rejoice that Jesus has brought us safely into the Holy of Holies by His Work. And let us be assured of our salvation -- because this is His Work Alone. Let us be assured of our sanctification -- because that is His Work Alone. And let us live lives of Christians, confessing our sure faith, working and worshiping as God's Salvation people, loving, encouraging, doing everything we can to make each others' lives better and more of a glory to Him.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, You have called us to be "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for [Your] own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of [You] who called [us] out of darkness into [Your] marvelous light. Once [we] were not a people, but now [we] are [Your] people; once [we] had not received mercy, but now [we] have received mercy" (I Peter 2:9-10). Cause us to live confidently, with assurance, and as a witness to Your Salvation. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.

"The Passover" Sermon: Exodus 12:1-28

"The Passover"
[Exodus 12:1-28]
April 5, 2007 Second Reformed Church

"Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.' They asked him, 'Where do you want us to make preparations for it?' 'Listen.' he said to them, 'when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, "The Teacher asks you, 'Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'" He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there." So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal" (Luke 22:7-13).

After four hundred years, God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let God's people free. But, as God had predestined, Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let Israel go free. So God sent plagues: First, the mighty Nile River was turned to blood. Then the land was covered with frogs, then gnats, then flies, and then the livestock became ill and died. Then God sent boils on the Egyptian people. Locus covered the land. And then there was darkness. But, each time, Pharaoh refused to let Israel free.

And then, the tenth plague: the death of the firstborn son. God was going to come during the night and kill every first-born son in the land of Egypt. Unless. Unless God makes a Way of Salvation -- and He did.

God told them to institute the Passover meal -- a celebration that Israel would celebrate every year to commemorate God's "passing over" them and not killing their firstborn. This would be the beginning of the year. They would begin their year remembering what God had done for them in saving them. And God told them that, in this is salvation:

They were to take a lamb, one for each family, and if a family could not afford a lamb, their neighbor was to share with them. Salvation, we understand, is first for a people. Just as they were saved from their slavery and death as a people, so we are saved, first and foremost as a people. Peter wrote that we are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for God's own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once [we] were not a people, but now [we] are God’s people; once [we] had not received mercy, but now [we] have received mercy" (I Peter 2:9-10).

Salvation is for a people.

They were to take a lamb without blemish and offer it up for sacrifice. Salvation, we understand, must come through a Perfect and Sinless One. God expected and would only receive the best possible sacrifice that could be offered up. God would not receive a sacrifice that was tainted or malformed. God is a holy God, and the only appropriate sacrifice, the sacrifice that will save, must be a perfect sacrifice. Again, Peter wrote, "Know[] that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that lamb without blemish or spot" (I Peter 1:18-19).

Salvation comes through a Perfect and Sinless One.

The lamb was to be killed; his blood was to be shed, and then the blood was to be placed on the lintel and the doorposts. The lintel is the horizontal beam; the doorposts are the vertical. What symbol were they making? What image were they symbolizing as necessary? Salvation, we see, only comes through the shedding of blood and by being covered with it. The writer of Hebrews wrote, "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." Israel deserved God’s Wrath, just as much as Egypt, but there is salvation through and in blood sacrifice.

Salvation only comes through the shedding of blood and being covered by it.

God told them that they were to roast the lamb over a fire and eat all of it, every part of it, until it was gone, and anything left, was to be burnt up in the fire. The lamb, the sacrifice, was to be totally consumed in its entirety. Nothing was to be left. Salvation only comes through total devotion -- total sacrifice -- and such a salvation effects the whole self. This should not surprise us -- what did Jesus say was the royal law? What is the most important, the most foundational law, but that law calling for every single part, every facet of our being, to be given to God in love? "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30).

Salvation only comes through total sacrifice and such a salvation effects the whole self.

God told them that He would pass-over all those homes with the blood , but all those who did not have the sign of the lamb's blood on their door, all those who had not sacrificed and eaten the lamb, those families would have the first-born die. For the cost of unbelief is everything. "Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians; and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead" (Exodus 12:30).

We're told that "by faith [Moses] kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them" (Hebrews 11:28). The cost of unbelief is everything. It is the one sin God will never forgive (Matthew 12:31).

God also said to bake unleavened bread for the journey -- bake bread without yeast. Why? Because when it was time for them to leave Egypt, they would have to leave -- at a moment's notice. They would not have time to let bread rise, and punch it down and then let it rise again before baking it. It was to be made and baked immediately, so they would be ready to go at a moment's notice. And so we understand that salvation is now -- there is no time to wait. Paul wrote, "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (II Corinthians 6:2b). We don't know what tomorrow will bring; only God knows tomorrow.

So, now is the time of salvation -- there is no time to wait.

God told Israel to end the Passover week in worship. After they had recounted the salvation of the people by God, they were to join together in worship. And the angel told John to "keep the words of this book. Worship God" (Revelation 22:9b).

On Maundy Thursday, Jesus fulfilled the Passover: what thousands upon thousands of sheep could not do for all eternity, Jesus the Lamb of God did. He did for the people He came to save. He is without spot or blemish. He was killed and His Blood was spilt. He was completely consumed. And He calls us to believe -- and to believe now -- for tomorrow it may be too late. Tonight we remember the institution of the Lord's Supper, the fulfillment of the Passover, a place where we meet our God and Savior now, in a meal that we celebrate until His Soon Return.

"When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.' Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, 'Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.' Then he took a loaf of bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But see the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!' Then they began to ask one another, which one of them it could be who would do this" (Luke 22:14-23).

The time is gone. The bread and the cup are on the table. And Jesus calls us to come. If we have believed, Jesus invites us to come. To meet with Him and receive His Grace.

Let us worship with prayer:

Almighty Savior, we thank You for providing Salvation for us, even as You fulfilled the Passover. Thank You for making us a people for You. Thank You for Your One Sacrifice. As we receive the bread and the cup, give us Your Grace, and may we know anew what You have done, and may it cause us to worship, again and again. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.

LCA?

I was in a Lutheran Church this week, and I was talking with one of the choir members. Since we are in New Jersey, I asked, "Is this an LCA Church?" And he said, "No, we're Missouri Synod. Do you know what that means?" I said, "Missouri Synod is the conservative branch." And he answered, "But don't worry, we're probably the most liberal Missouri Synod church on the East Coast. We believe in the ordination of women, and I'd be willing to bet, within forty years, we'll look at the whole discussion of [full inclusion and ordination] of homosexuals with the same amazement as we look at the way we used to treat blacks." I said, "You're probably right..." And he said, "Besides, there's hardly anything said against homosexuality in the Bible."