Faith Archives - Christ Church

Thankful for Who He Is (Troy)

Christ Church on November 12, 2023

SERMON TEXTS – SELECTED VERSE FROM THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

John 6:35

John 8:12

John 10:7

John 10:11

John 11:25

John 14:6

John 15:1

WHO IS JESUS?

If you ask a muslim, “Who is Jesus?” he will say, “Jesus, peace be upon him, is a prophet of Allah.” And while Christians will agree, He is a prophet of God, He is not merely a prophet of God. And of course when they use the term Allah (God) they mean a very different thing than we do. If you ask a Latter-Day Saint, “Who is Jesus?” they will say, “He is God the Father’s firstborn spirit-child in heaven and the spirit brother of lucifer. He was begotten on earth by God the Father by natural means, not by the Holy Ghost and is now one amongst many millions of other gods.” If you ask a Jehovah’s witness, they will say, “Jesus is not God almighty, he is God’s son. Jesus is God’s first creation, inferior to God the Father. And Jesus is actually Michael the archangel.” Like any lie, satan prefers to sprinkle truth in amongst falsehood so as to feign authenticity. Jesus is the son of God. Jesus is a prophet of God, but He is not created. His origin is one of eternity, begotten of the Father. He is the firstborn of all creation, but this is a title of preeminence, not descriptive of a point of time where he came into being. Like the person of the Father, the son has eternally existed. And so when Christians are asked who is Jesus, we recite the Athanasian creed.

HE IS THE BREAD OF LIFE

What meager means and humble beginnings does bread have. Surely there is not another recipe that has such ancient origins. And what meal can be called rustic if it has not bread? You will find it in the hand of a beggar, and likewise on a king’s table. You will see a wandering Israelite gather it from off the ground, and likewise see it be displayed in gold vessels in the tabernacle. It feeds the child, the adult, and the elderly. It nourishes us all. It feeds us all. And Psalm 104 says it strengthens a man’s heart. The Lord’s prayer instructs us to ask for this bread daily. And thanks be to God, he does not run out of it.

HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Who amongst us has not used the flash light app on their phone to see where they’re going, to look for something in the dark, to avoid bumping into something or tripping. Light mitigates danger, and it provides us with new opportunities as well. For the vast majority of human history, you did not travel at night. It was too dangerous. But now our vehicles shine light on Hwy 8 allowing us to travel safely with the knowledge that we are going the right way. Darkness is most content when its victims are blind and directionless. But Jesus Christ, the great physician heals the blind. When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” he says it while he is healing a blind man. A bit on the nose, but we need to be instructed as little children. The disciples mistakenly assume that the blindness was a result of the man’s sin or perhaps his parents. But Jesus says, “No, he is blind that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

HE IS THE DOOR AND THE GOOD SHEPHERD

A door by its nature is a separator. But unlike a wall where you cannot pass through to the other side, a door provides utility for both restriction and access. And in this case it is access to the sheepfold. Still waters are there, green pastures are there for the grazing, there is a hedge around us, and the shepherd armed with rod and staff, watches the walls, ready to catch the thief who climbs over. Our shepherd calls to us and we follow him, “This way to paradise. Come and find your rest all you who are weary and heavy laden.” We follow him to the door. But Jesus is not only the shepherd, but he also is the door itself. He is the separator.

HE IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE

Dr. Baucham says that there are four questions all human beings will wrestle with despite their religious beliefs or their lack thereof. They are: who am I? Why am I here? What is wrong with the world? And how can what is wrong be made right? It is the 3rd and 4th that I wish to address. What’s wrong with the world is a result of the fall: sin, guilt, shame, suffering, pain, depression, anxiety, woes of all manner, and finally death. These things are foreign alien invaders to this planet. Death is not a native resident. But Christ is the resurrection! He is the solution to righting wrongs. Dead things come back to life.

HE IS THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE

You woke up this morning and you assume that you will wake up tomorrow, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. I think we all want to reach our deathbed, look back at our life and be able to say, “I lived it for the Lord. I didn’t waste my days with nonsense.” I stand here as a 43 year old man. If the Lord blesses me with an average life span, I am more than halfway done. And as I think about or perhaps better stated, if I lament over how I conducted myself in the first half of my life, I don’t want to waste any more time. I want to spend my life encouraging you all. And I want you to spend your life encouraging each other.

HE IS THE TRUE VINE

Jesus Christ is the true vine. Psalm 80:8 says, “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.” This obviously is referring to the nation of Israel as being God’s vineyard. And this motif can be found all throughout scripture.

THANKFUL FOR WHO HE IS

In conclusion, do we have enough to be thankful for? Is who He is, enough? I would say it’s more than enough. We have 12 baskets full of leftovers. He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. He is able to bless us abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that we need, we will abound in every good work. Bring your tithes into the storehouse saints and see if he will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be enough room to store it. So as you sit together with your family this Thanksgiving, taste and see that the Lord is good! Amen.

They Shall Plant Vineyards and Eat the Fruit

Christ Church on July 23, 2023

Isaiah 65:17-25

INTRODUCTION

If you want to know how much trouble we can get into for disbelieving very good news from the LORD, then look no farther than Zacharias, John the Baptist’s father. The angel Gabriel told him that his barren wife, Elizabeth, would have a child even in her old age. His son would be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from the womb, and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Zacharias, surely overwhelmed at such a prospect, responded with something like, “Are you sure? Because my wife is very old.” For his unbelief, he was not able to speak until after John’s birth.

We shouldn’t think, “Oh, that naughty Zacharias, we wouldn’t do that.” He was a priest. He was called a righteous man. And he was burning incense in the temple, much like we are now when this whole affair took place. The tidings from Gabriel weren’t just medium-grade glad. They were cosmic glad. So are ours today from Isaiah’s prophecy.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

God declares that he will create new heavens and a new earth (v. 17). He will create Jerusalem, rejoice in her, and banish her tears (v. 18-19). The child shall die at a hundred years old in this new creation, and sinners will be cursed (v. 20). But His chosen people will work and enjoy the labor of their hands (v. 21-22). The fruit they produce will not spoil because they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their children with them (v. 23). In this new creation, God will answer their requests before they even have the prayer meeting (v. 24). In this new heavens and new earth, peace reigns on the holy mountain of the LORD; the serpent eats the dust (v. 25).

I CREATE JERUSALEM

Many saints are quite familiar with the truth that God makes us new. He washes us. He replaces our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. In this, we rejoice and will continue to rejoice. But Isaiah tells us that God not only makes us new, but He also makes our surroundings new. He makes above us and below us new. He also makes a New Jerusalem.

Some want to push these new surroundings and the promises associated with them out to the end of the world at Jesus’ final coming. But we have sinners being accursed in this new heavens and new earth. We also have death. That signals to us that the new heavens and new earth which God creates have already come upon us with the first advent of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Jesus came to earth, He came to cut a new covenant. The blood of that new covenant is like new wine. Christ said new wine requires new wineskins. Due to fermentation, old wineskins will burst if you put new wine in them. The old age could never handle what Christ came to do. He has come to save us, yes. And so look at yourself in the mirror and rejoice. And He has come to save the whole world. So take a look around and rejoice at just how widespread the glad tidings are.

PLANTING VINEYARDS, EATING FRUIT

In this new age, the promise is that we will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. This is a potent promise, an AR-15 promise. So we really should make sure we know how to operate this one.

We are not permitted to take this promise and test God. “Ah, God said I will plant and eat the fruit, so I will plant in winter and reap in spring.” That is not faith talking. And faith is always the way the promises of God are appropriated.

Also, we may not mistake God for a cosmic vending machine. God’s promises are not fulfilled robotically. And they are not fulfilled impersonally. The promises we trust are not random road signs that we spot without knowing who hammered them into the ground. We trust the words of our Father.

With that said, He has told us that we will reap what we sow. We should labor with that confidence. “You will not be blessed in your doing,” is a lie. “Maybe you will be and maybe you won’t be but you just need to work anyway” is a more subtle form of the lie. You are not to simply work. You are to work in faith. And God has said that the fruit of your hands will not be eaten by your enemies.

AND THEIR OFFSPRING WITH THEM

In this new Jerusalem that God creates, He blesses His elect and their children. This is one of the clearest and most invigorating promises in a book full of promises—”they [mine elect] are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them” (v. 23).

There are two basic ditches to parenting. On one side, you abdicate your responsibility to train them, letting them run wild without instruction, correction, and parental intercession through prayer. On the other side, you attempt to assume the responsibility of teaching and discipline, but you do so as worried as a squirrel in a nutless world facing the encroachment of a long winter.

Both of these ditches are marked by the same lack of faith. Has God really said that your children are with you as seed of the blessed of the LORD? Why yes, yes He has.

BEFORE THEY CALL

In this new creation in which we find ourselves, God meets our needs before we ask. Where were you when the LORD came to you? In the grave. What were you asking Him for when you were six feet under in your sins? Nothing. The same sovereign grace that met us back then, keeps meeting us in this new heavens and new earth. The Christ who gave you life keeps giving you life. The Christ who saved you keeps saving you.

Your job is to grow to expect this without ever getting quite used to it. Look around, you are chest deep in the blessings of God. When you are standing there in the days to come neck deep in the blessings of God, go ahead and ask Him, “Lord what I have done to deserve this? I didn’t even ask for this much” His reply will be, “Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create” (Isaiah 65:18).

Faith & Works

Christ Church on September 9, 2021

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Collegiate Reformed Fellowship is the campus ministry of Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow, Idaho. Our goal is to teach and exhort young men and women to serve, to witness, to stand fast, and to mature in their Christian Faith. We desire to see students get established in a godly lifestyle and a trajectory toward maturity. We also desire to proclaim the Christian worldview to the university population and the surrounding communities. CRF is not an independent ministry. All our activities are supplemental to the teaching and shepherding ministry of CC & TRC. Students involved with CRF are regularly reminded that the most important student ministry takes place at Lord’s Day worship.

Sola Fide | Reformed Basics #4

Christ Church on December 23, 2020

So if you put your faith on a slide for a microscope, and stare at it for hours, perhaps muttering exhortations to it, the one thing you can be sure of is that it will not grow. But if you learn to look away, if you learn to look to Christ, and if you turn to Scripture, you will find that your faith-precisely because you weren’t paying attention to it—has been quietly growing.

Assurance of Salvation (Practical Christianity #3) (King’s Cross)