Sermons

Through the apostle Paul's confession of the fierce battle within him between the law of sin and the law of God, the passage reveals how weak and self-centered human beings are. Paul came to recognize sin through the Law, yet he still gives in to the temptation of sin in his members and struggles, and this shows that the same is true of believers who have received Christ. We often mistake ourselves for 'good people' on the grounds of our moral superiority or good deeds, but true goodness comes from God and cannot be a matter of human standards.

The sermon uses the life and tragic death of Pastor David Wilkerson as an illustration, dealing with moments of pain and testing that human logic cannot understand. He devoted his whole life to drug addicts and gang children, but in the end his life ended in a car accident. Many people would easily take this as an unfair judgment or as God abandoning him, but the preacher stresses that this is an attack by Satan meant to make us doubt God, and that the moment every human way fails is exactly when God's love wins. Even in the hardships we face and in the shadow of death, we must remember that God is with us and that he has a plan.

We have lived believing in our own goodness, but when a great trial actually comes, we find our joy gone and ourselves resenting or doubting God. In this conflict, we must reflect on whether we are still judging situations in a self-centered way, or living in trust of Christ's will and God's sovereignty. When we see Pastor Wilkerson's death, what is the first thought that comes to us?

Much like the way a nation's constitution governs its citizens, this passage explains the role God's Law plays in exposing and ruling over human sin. The apostle Paul makes clear that the Law does not give salvation but is a tool that makes us aware of sin only while we are alive, and he teaches that believers who have died with Christ are in a state of grace, no longer under the rule of the Law.

Using marriage as an illustration, it explains that just as the legal bond ends when a spouse dies, believers, whose old self has died with Christ, are cut off from their relationship with the Law and enter a new marriage, under grace. But it points out that many believers are trapped in legalism, boasting of things like early-morning prayer or offerings, or living weighed down by guilt, and so are not enjoying true freedom.

The sermon warns believers not to cut off their relationship with God by binding themselves to rules or devotions of their own making, and reminds them that the purpose of the Law was to expose sin and bring us to Christ. It urges believers to admit their weakness, believe in the grace of Christ, and live lives that bear the fruit of righteousness rather than sinful passions. It asks what believers are holding on to so that they live not as slaves of the Law but as children of grace, enjoying true freedom.

This sermon deals with the flow of history in which the world's empires — Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome — rise and fall one after another. In particular, through the fact that King Cyrus is recorded as a messiah in Isaiah's prophecy, and the story of Alexander the Great reading the inscription on Cyrus's tomb and honoring it, it shows that human power too is under God's plan. It also links the interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel's deliverance from the lions' den and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, stressing that God is the ruler of history.

The sermon points out that believers should see the events of the world not as mere chance or the work of human ability, but as the process of God at work. Just as even Gentile kings like Cyrus and Alexander moved within God's prophecy and providence, it explains that the lives of believers too, from birth until they meet God, are within God's plan. So it urges believers not to cling only to visible circumstances or their own abilities, but to live relying on God's unchanging plan.

The sermon asks whether believers, in suffering or hardship, are showing the pride of forgetting God and thinking first of worldly matters or their own abilities. It also leads them to reflect on whether the time to repent and turn back through the opportunity God has given is still going on, or whether this is the last chance. It raises the question of how believers will live through the currents of the world, and whether they can believe that the path God leads them on does not change, and walk it.

This passage deals with the story of Daniel, taken captive to Babylon, who served several kings as prime minister in the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires. In particular, it shows God's sovereign work through two opposite outcomes: Belshazzar, king of Babylon, who proudly defied God, dies under a sudden judgment, while King Darius, who lived carefully, rescues Daniel from the lions' den.

The sermon points out that the kings' fates were decided by their attitudes. God gave Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar warnings and opportunities, but they were absorbed in their power and pleasures and did not repent. Daniel, on the other hand, prayed and trusted God with unchanging faith, however harsh his circumstances. His faith revealed God's greatness to the powerful of the world, King Darius and King Cyrus, and in the end it became the occasion that gave the people of Israel their return and hope.

It asks whether we are looking at the fast-changing world and the international situation in the news with spiritual eyes, and responding sensitively to God's warning signals. Please think together about what changes take place when we do our best in our own place while not giving in to the temptations of the world, and live in the fear of God.

Through the sins committed by Saul and David, today's passage looks at what the nature of unforgivable sin is. When the prophet Samuel did not come in the urgent situation of war, Saul himself offered a sacrifice that God had not appointed, and David fell into lust and committed adultery and murder. On the surface, Saul's act seems excusable because of the circumstances, but God did not forgive it. David, on the other hand, repented immediately when he heard the prophet Nathan's rebuke, and was forgiven. The difference lies not simply in the size of the sin, but in how each of them treated the law and authority God had established.

The sin Saul committed was blasphemy: trying on his own to change the law by which God had set the office of priest. He ignored God's command out of his own judgment and pride, and this led to the sin of resisting the Holy Spirit. David, too, at first justified his actions without knowing the reality of his sin, but when he realized the truth and repented fully, he opened the way to salvation. The sermon warns that we must not break God's absolute law because of human circumstances or excuses.

We must guard against committing the sin of pride as Saul did, ignoring God and putting our own judgment first. Believers must acknowledge God's holiness and live respecting the law he has established. Then whose path should we follow, Saul's or David's, and how should we understand why that difference is decisive?

At the Christmas communion service, this passage deals with the meaning of the Lord's Supper, which Jesus instituted on the night he was arrested by giving his disciples bread and wine. It makes clear that Jesus came to this earth in the flesh so that God's covenant would be fulfilled, and that his death on the cross was also part of that plan. Unlike the Jews, who thought they were made clean by the blood of a lamb, Jesus declared that his own body and blood are the true means of salvation, forgiving sin once for all and establishing the new covenant.

The sermon stresses that communion is not a mere ritual but an important act of remembering and proclaiming Jesus' death, resurrection and return. Through the bread and wine, believers must grasp the heart of Jesus, repent of their sins and come before the Lord. It also says that in striving to keep the Law we realize our need for Jesus Christ, and that this brings believers true peace. Making clear that, unlike the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, communion does not become the body of Christ but is an act of remembering him, it urges believers to take care not to resist the Holy Spirit.

It asks how, as God's children, we can enjoy peace without fear in the fast pace of the world. As we meditate deeply on the Lord's grace through communion, what should our attitude be as we look to God, who helps us live as more beautiful believers?

This passage deals with the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were thrown into the furnace for refusing to bow down to the golden image set up by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Risking death, they refuse idolatry and show their firm faith that they will obey even if God does not rescue them. Their refusal to give in, even before the king's threats, reveals their identity as people who have already died with Jesus on the cross.

The sermon stresses that believers must be not slaves of sin but servants of righteousness. Just as the apostle Paul urged us not to present our members as instruments of unrighteousness, believers must offer their bodies to God and strive so that sin does not rule over them. The miracle of four people walking together in the furnace shows that Jesus Christ is with them, and this is a promise that God is with believers when they keep his word and obey. God does not judge believers who are under grace by the Law, and he helps them turn their wrong lives around.

Believers must choose what kind of faith they live by from day to day, and whether they will use their members as instruments of righteousness or of unrighteousness. Jesus' exhortations to the seven churches show what eternal life and rewards are given to those who overcome. When believers abide in grace with gratitude and obedience, God walks with them to the end and leads them into his kingdom. How must believers strive so that sin does not rule over their bodies, and what faith must they keep for the blessing of eternal life?

In this passage Paul changes direction and explains how believers whose sins have been forgiven should live. Having until now stressed the condition of sinners and the need for grace, Paul now urges those who have been declared righteous to live with perseverance and with a heavenly hope. Sanctification is not simply living a morally good life; it comes about through a life of knowing God's will and obeying out of a loving heart.

But the misunderstanding can arise that because grace abounds, it is all right to sin more. Paul says firmly that we who died to sin cannot live in it any longer. This helps us grasp the meaning of baptism: that we died and were buried with Jesus on the cross and have entered into the new life of the resurrection. What matters is not a formal baptism, but believing that, united with Christ, our old self was crucified and the body of sin was put to death.

Just as God held back the pursuing Egyptian army when the Israelites crossed through the middle of the Red Sea, believers also face suffering and temptation in this world. But God protects and leads us, and this shows that even Satan's plans play out under God's sovereignty. Believers must grasp this truth deeply and live according to God's will, not the world's judgment.

As people who have died and risen with Christ, we must not become slaves of sin but enjoy freedom. When we overcome our sinful nature by the Holy Spirit's leading and live with our minds set on the things of heaven, we can be protected from Satan's attacks. Then how should we put this amazing grace and the fact of our union with Christ into practice in daily life?

This passage deals with the miserable condition of humanity, over which death came to reign because of Adam's sin. Through the disobedience of one man, Adam, all his descendants came to be sinners under the power of death, but it proclaims the contrasting truth that through the obedience of Jesus Christ, the last Adam, many receive the blessing of being made righteous and of eternal life.

The sermon points out the foolishness of people who try to gain salvation by relying on the Law, and stresses that the Law is nothing but a rotten rope that actually exposes sin. It makes clear that true salvation comes not by human effort or righteousness, but by having our sins covered and being declared righteous through God's grace, completed on the cross. It also warns that believers who have received this grace must see their lives change through inner transformation and obedience, and that false faith means a state of never truly being changed.

The sermon reminds us that the true way of salvation is for believers to leave behind the wall of the Law and come under the grace of Jesus Christ, enjoying peace and rest. We must admit our sinful nature and live as those covered only by the blood of Christ, set apart from the world and holding a heavenly hope. Confident that God will lead believers when they hold on to the truth without doubting, the sermon asks why, when it is time to come to God, we must come boldly without hesitating.

This passage introduces the Puritans' settlement in America and the origin of Thanksgiving, explaining how they were able to give thanks to God even amid severe tribulation and persecution. Just as the success of farming depends on the weather and on God's sovereignty, it stresses that human life too is governed by God, and that it is right to give thanks to him.

The sermon deals with how believers who have peace with God through faith should look at the tribulations of the world. Tribulation is painful, like pressing out the juice of grapes, but through it we learn perseverance and, by way of proven character, come to hope. Just as a diamond shines after going through polishing, the sufferings of believers are understood as a precious process that gives glory to God. It also explains that the Holy Spirit gives perseverance and hope in the midst of tribulation and pours God's love into our hearts.

Just as the atoning love of Jesus Christ saved sinners, believers must know this grace and be able to rejoice even in tribulation. It presents a life that is not afraid of the world's persecution, holds firmly to the love of Christ and perseveres as the place of true thanksgiving. The sermon asks what true joy believers gain when they live not with pretended thanks, but sure of God's love and hope through the proven character that suffering brings.

Through Abraham's believing and obeying God's promise, this passage deals with how salvation came not through the Law but through faith. Even when it was impossible for him to father Isaac at a hundred years old, Abraham did not doubt God's word, and even in the extreme test of offering Isaac on the altar of burnt offering he trusted God. The sermon stresses that although Abraham sometimes made wrong choices out of human anxiety and weakness, in the end he realized that human effort is futile and reached a mature faith that relies on God alone.

In particular, it sheds light in depth on the painful inner conflict and spiritual battle Abraham must have gone through as he offered Isaac. Through the way his spirit, even amid physical pain and fear, focused on God and found peace, it shows that true faith lies in overcoming emotional conflict and looking wholly to God. It also explains that Abraham's faith was not only for his own sake, but so that it would be counted as righteousness for all believers who believe in Jesus Christ as well.

The sermon asks believers to learn, in suffering and trials, the patience of waiting for God's timing rather than trying to solve things by human strength. It leads them to reflect on how a pure faith in the God who raises the dead makes a life steadfast, and the reader looks back on what they are holding on to in their own life, and how that faith is growing through suffering.

Today's passage deals with the story of how, when Abraham fully believed God's promise even when it seemed he would have no descendants, God counted his faith as righteousness. It makes clear that Abraham, going beyond the limits of the flesh, believed that Christ would come and rejoiced, and that because of this all the believers of the Old Testament were declared righteous by faith.

The sermon points out the pride of people who mistakenly think they gained salvation by their own efforts or deeds, and boast of it. Stressing that grace is not the wages of those who work but the gift of God, who justifies the ungodly, it warns against thinking of devotion as payment for grace. It also explains that when we rely on Christ and persevere through suffering and trials, we can confirm Christ's work within us.

We need to think deeply about how we are receiving the grace of salvation we were given freely, and with what attitude we should live in order to keep that faith.