Sermons

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.

In this passage the apostle Paul declares that everyone in the world is a sinner, and points out the hopeless state of human beings, who can never become righteous through the Law. Like people adrift at sea after a shipwreck, humans who boast in the world without realizing their own sinfulness will in the end have every mouth stopped by the waves. The Law was given to expose this human helplessness, and it makes people confess that they cannot save themselves.

Yet even in human despair, God is already sending the ship of salvation. For, as the Law and the Prophets testified, a righteousness of God has been revealed through Jesus Christ. This is free grace, given without distinction to all who believe, only through faith in Christ and apart from any human good deeds or merit. This event, in which he tore down the wall of sin by the blood of the cross and brought reconciliation between God and people, leaves humans no ground for boasting at all.

Even so, people still boast of their own deeds and try to build a Tower of Babel of pride. We must guard against the foolishness of mistaking the good deeds that naturally appear as a result of salvation for a condition of salvation or something to boast about. God accomplished salvation not by human merit but by the law of faith alone — have we forgotten this amazing grace, and are we still struggling to win God's approval by something of our own?

This passage stresses how corrupt human nature is and declares that there is no one righteous. Quoting the Old Testament, the apostle Paul makes clear that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are under sin. It warns that those who chase the pleasures of the world even after experiencing God commit the sin of nailing Jesus to the cross again.

Like King Saul, those who take grace lightly and become proud lose their spiritual perception and come to death. David, by contrast, relied on God even in suffering and was protected, but after becoming king he drew away from God and could not escape the bondage of sin. This shows that human beings are sinners by nature and, being under Satan's rule, cannot free themselves from sin.

Sin lights the wick and in the end leads to ruin, and it makes the human heart as corrupt as an open tomb. The way of those who do not know the way of peace is always nothing but ruin and accusation, and without the fear of God one cannot find the way of truth. The sermon asks believers to repent, putting on the whole armor of God and resolving to die daily, in order to stand against Satan's schemes.

Today's passage deals with the apostle Paul pointing out the formal religion and the sin of Jewish believers, and with the truth that human unrighteousness cannot tarnish God's truthfulness. Paul criticizes the reasoning of the Jews, who had received a special covenant and the Law from God, yet sinned and then excused themselves by saying they had become a tool for revealing God's righteousness. This is like the absurd reasoning of a son who says he will sin more in order to show off his father's goodness, and it stresses that human sin cannot hide God's holiness.

The sermon firmly rejects the sophistry by which the Jews tried to escape judgment, claiming that their disobedience had become God's glory. It makes clear that God does not tolerate excuses that turn pride in being the chosen people, or the grace they have received, into arrogance, and that those who sin must rightly face judgment. It also declares that human sin does not cancel God's promises or his plan for the Messiah, and that God alone is true and faithful.

It makes us think about whether we can forget all the grace and blessings we have received, justify our sin and blame God, and about how we should believe and obey the character of God, who remains true even amid human unrighteousness.

Today's passage deals with the apostle Paul sharply confronting the Jews who boasted in the Law and taught others. Although they had received God's word, they fell into pride instead and lived lives opposite to their own teaching, stealing and committing adultery. Paul rebukes their double standard of teaching others while not teaching themselves, and makes clear that formal religious rituals alone cannot glorify God.

The sermon warns that the more grace and knowledge we receive, the greater the responsibility, and that when our words and actions do not match, we become instead a tool for dishonoring God's name. In particular, it stresses that if those who call themselves pastors or teachers teach only as a formality, without examining their own qualifications, they will only bring on God's wrath. It conveys that true faith lies not in outward acts but in living a changed life by the Holy Spirit's leading, and that such an obedient life is the true glory given to God.

We must keep asking whether those who teach others are really living by that word, and whether our lives glorify God. What must we prepare in order to become true Christians who please God, not with a formal confession of faith but with a life born again by the Holy Spirit?

Through Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman, this passage reveals the true meaning of worship. At a time when Jews and Samaritans were quarrelling over the place of worship, Jesus taught that what matters more than place or form is knowing God as Father and worshiping in spirit and truth. This means more than simply gathering in a church building; it means an attitude of knowing God fully in the Holy Spirit.

It also stresses that God does not show partiality, and points out that discriminating against people in the church by wealth, status or appearance is sin. Speaking honestly about the weariness of ministry as a pastor and the difficulties of caring for church members, it says that God knows each person's weaknesses and shortcomings and loves them all the same. It says that true peace is found not at the world's finish line or in competition, but by standing at the starting line God has set for each person.

We look at whether we judge ourselves, or discriminate against others, by other people's eyes or the world's standards. It asks whether, in the place God has set for us, we can lay down complaint and fear and run holding only gratitude and hope.

In this passage the apostle Paul points out the sin of all people, Jew and Gentile alike, and strongly rebukes the attitude of thinking oneself righteous and condemning others. Paul warns that those who outwardly keep the Law and act like people of faith, but inwardly live proud and hypocritical lives, will face the same judgment in the end. He makes clear that God looks at the heart rather than outward deeds, and that boasting of one's own goodness and judging others can turn into a rebuke that comes back on oneself.

Through the parable of the wedding feast, it also exposes the foolishness of those who ignore the invitation to salvation that God has sent even to unworthy sinners, and sink into worldly life. Even though God has given the robe of salvation through Jesus Christ, he does not tolerate an attitude that takes it lightly and tries to live by one's own standards. We must face the reality that many people instead use God's kindness as an excuse to sin, and despise the opportunity to repent.

We must remember that God searches the heart, so he can never be deceived. When we do not miss the opportunity to repent that he gives even at this moment, and turn back humbly instead of being drunk on our own righteousness and condemning others, we can truly live a life worthy of those who are saved. We must look at whether our hearts right now are set on knowing God, or on following our own interests.

Today's passage deals with the process by which people who know God, yet keep him at a distance and worship idols, become corrupt. Although the existence of God the Creator was plainly revealed through all things, people feared the light, rejected the truth and fell into vile passions. As if respecting their choice, God did not help them repent but gave them up to their reprobate minds. This is not mere standing by; it is a process of severe punishment in which they sink into the swamp of sin and end in destruction.

In particular, because believers have knowledge of God, they receive a stricter rebuke than people who are ignorant of the ways of the world. Knowing God yet not doing his will is storing up wrath, and it neglects the responsibility of those who have been saved in a world that has already been judged. Behind today's sexual immorality and moral collapse lies the choice of people who do not keep God in their hearts, and we must not forget that this is a sin deserving death.

Believers must resist sin with the help of the Holy Spirit, even amid Satan's temptation and the world's pressure, and live as new creations in Christ. But many know their sin yet leave it alone, or even approve of other people's sins. In this dark age in which God has given them up, we look again at whether God is at the center of our hearts, and ask whether we will choose a life of true repentance and new birth.

This passage deals with the situation in which, although there is clear evidence by which God the Creator can be known, people suppress the truth themselves and choose darkness. Because humans were made in God's image, they can naturally know God, but they lose a thankful heart, love darkness rather than light, and come to live in sin.

The way the first man, Adam, disobeyed God's command and sinned, then would not admit his wrong and only made excuses, overlaps with the way believers are today. Rather than facing their disobedience and the consequences of their sin, people blame their circumstances or others and avoid responsibility. God sees this human pride and foolish heart, and gives them up to fall into the way of idolatry, worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator.

The sermon points out how dark and dangerous are the hearts of people who reject God and exchange the truth for a lie, and warns that they are caught up in idols and illusions of their own making and heading down the way of death. Believers are led to reflect deeply on how, in such a dark age, they should carry the light of truth, proclaim the gospel, and lead themselves and their neighbors on the right way.

This passage deals with the apostle Paul's earnest desire to preach the gospel to the believers in Rome. Although the Roman believers already had faith, Paul wanted to strengthen their faith through a spiritual gift, that is, the gospel, so that they would not be shaken by the darkness and lusts of the world. He stresses that believers must not simply perform religious rituals, but deeply grasp the love and grace of Christ and live in them.

The sermon warns believers not to take the gospel for granted and become proud. It points out that the gospel is not only for the people of the world, but is the power of salvation that those who already believe need even more urgently. It also stresses the spiritual comfort and growth that come from sharing the gospel with one another in fellowship, showing that this is a true community of faith. Just as Paul preached the gospel to everyone, believers too must examine their faith and put the gospel first in their lives.

The sermon asks whether believers' faith is truly grounded in God's righteousness, and how they should live so as not to lose the power of the gospel.