Sermons

This passage deals with the situation after Joshua's death, when the people of Israel, without a leader, came to live each doing what was right in his own eyes. At first the people showed obedience, for example by asking God who should go up first to fight, but in the end they served the idols of the Canaanite peoples and left God. This happened because, without strong leaders like Moses and Joshua, the people came to put their own judgment and experience ahead of God.

The sermon warns that trying to overcome sin by human righteousness is like climbing a wall of ice with bare hands. We cannot conquer the mountain of sin with our own ability or good deeds; only the rope of the grace of Jesus Christ is the way of salvation. The prayerful attitude the people of Israel showed at first shows that God answered them directly and gave them victory, and this came not from a leader's help but from a direct relationship with God.

We live in an age in which, even without a leader, we must rely on God directly through the Word and prayer. We must seriously reflect on whether stubbornly living by what is right in our own eyes is really the faith God wants, and whether, to climb the mountain of sin, we are relying not on a rope we have fixed ourselves but on the grace of Christ.

This passage deals with how God created a world without chaos, how human beings ruined its beauty through sin, and how judgment therefore cannot help but come. Through a providence that goes beyond human common sense, such as the Creator making plants before the sun, it makes clear that the order of the universe lies with God. It also points to the miserable reality of human beings who, through Satan's temptation, left God and entered the path of darkness, and to the spiritual confusion and pain they suffer as a result.

The sermon stresses that only those who follow Jesus Christ, who is the light, escape the darkness and receive the light of life. It warns that a soul that has grown distant from God through pride and sin comes under Satan's control and can only head toward destruction. On the other hand, those who acknowledge their sins and turn their hearts back to God receive forgiveness and salvation, and can enjoy peace and rest. Believers must, on the basis of God's word rather than the world's standards, train themselves to hold their lives up to the light beside the Lord who is the light, and to cast off sin.

The sermon asks whether the road we are on now is dark and painful, or whether we are turning to God and being saved. It urges us not to be shaken by Satan's temptations but to boldly drive them off in the name of Jesus Christ and rest in God's arms, leading the reader to reflect deeply on their own spiritual condition.

As a new year begins, this passage deals with facing the reality of how quickly time passes and with thinking about how believers should live. It stresses why, rather than being swept along by the currents of the world and repeating our regrets, we must live each day according to the Word. It says that the new year God has given is a blessing for growth rather than regret, and that through it we can experience the wonderful miracle of lives being changed among the people we love.

Recalling the past, when the people of Israel served idols and grumbled in the wilderness, it notes that believers too easily fall into the temptation of grumbling and idolatry when they face problems. But it says that when we do not leave God's side and obey according to the Word, God himself fights for us and protects us. It stresses that, in a spiritual world that cannot be understood by worldly knowledge or human reason, God's perfect law restores the soul and makes us wise.

It asks us to seek not people's recognition or praise, but God's approval alone, in a one-to-one relationship with him. Through those who went before us in faith, like Noah and the apostle Paul, who obeyed God's commands in the face of people's mockery or indifference, it shows that salvation depends not on how people see us but on God's choosing and calling. Just as Abraham left his homeland for an unknown future, it says that a relationship in which believers trust God's promises and obey is the true blessing.

The sermon asks what believers must hold on to so that they are not shaken by how others see them, and become believers approved by God alone.

This passage deals with two events: Noah's son Ham mocking his father's shameful state and being cursed, and Nadab and Abihu, sons of the priest Aaron, disobeying God's command and coming under judgment. The sermon focuses on how, although they had all received special blessings and opportunities, they lost that grace through pride and a lack of character.

The sermon explains that God gives a mission and opportunities even to people of evil character in order to bring the full measure of their sin to light and to judge them fairly. Just as a cup of water fills up and overflows, the sin that has built up day by day comes out in a final act, and that becomes the moment of judgment. It also warns that the spiritual heritage of parents or of those who went before does not automatically protect one's own character, and can even become an occasion for pride.

The sermon asks how believers should manage the opportunities of blessing they have received. It leads us to reflect on what comes of living without gratitude for the grace God has given and without a humble character, taking our circumstances for granted.

Reflecting on the meaning of Christmas, this sermon deals with the birth of Jesus not as a mere historical event, but as the starting point of faith in the invisible God. Through the example of the Roman official Theophilus, the passage explains how faith that sees the invisible God through the gospel passed on to us, even without seeing anything with our own eyes, leads to salvation. Such faith calls for an attitude that accepts God's covenant and the work of the Holy Spirit as fact, over the reality in front of our eyes.

Also, recalling how the people of Israel made images, served them as idols and suffered for it, it points out that believers must guard against invisible idols, putting the world's standards or their own pride ahead of God. Just as David, led by the Holy Spirit, foretold the resurrection of Christ and was not shaken even in suffering, believers living today must take suffering as refining and deepen their trust in God. It stresses that when the waves of the world crash in and hardships come, we need perseverance and prayer to hold our place as believers, trusting in the rest and victory God has already prepared.

Believers today, who testify that the prophecy has been fulfilled and that Jesus has risen, must live proclaiming the gospel even more boldly than David. It puts the question of living a humble, devoted and thankful life, holding on to the promise that on the last day he will repay each according to what they have done. It leads us to reflect on what we must hold on to in order to hope for the invisible, eternal kingdom as if we saw it with our eyes, and to go beyond the suffering of this earth to joyfully enjoy the reward God has prepared.

This passage deals with the scene in which Jesus, after his resurrection, appears to his disciples and leaves his final words. It sets side by side the women, including Mary Magdalene, who went to the tomb, found it already empty, and heard the news of the resurrection from the angel but could not easily accept it, and the disciples, shut in by fear and doubt. People have the weakness of finding it hard to believe God's work and the fact of the resurrection unless they see it with their own eyes or touch it with their own hands.

The sermon points out that this human attitude comes not simply from ignorance, but from a stubbornness that wants to be true only to one's own experience and feelings. The women took spices with them because they had forgotten the promise of the resurrection and stayed within the customs for the dead, and the disciples had locked their doors out of fear. Even so, Jesus, while rebuking their foolishness, kept appearing to them to the end, gave them peace, and poured out the Holy Spirit on them. This shows God's deep love and patience, so that they would believe the unseen spiritual reality and carry out the mission of the gospel.

We already hear the promise of the resurrection and the second coming through Scripture, yet we look back on whether we still live bound to the reality we can see. We should live believing in the authority to forgive sins and the protection of the Holy Spirit given by the risen Jesus, and trusting his promise to be with us to the end of the age. Today, though we have not seen the resurrection with our own eyes, we must choose whether to hold firmly to that promise and carry out the mission of sharing the gospel, or to remain in doubt and fear.

This passage deals with the event in which, as Jesus carried the cross toward the hill of Golgotha, Simon of Cyrene, who happened to be there, was compelled by Roman soldiers to carry the cross. Simon had come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover and was caught up in a sudden situation that made him share in Jesus' suffering, and along the way he gradually came to understand Jesus' endurance and the meaning of his atonement.

The sermon points out that the cross Simon was compelled to carry became the occasion that opened his spiritual eyes and led him to meet Jesus as Savior. Though it began in fear and against his will, Simon, having witnessed Jesus' death firsthand and experienced the resurrection, was changed into a devoted believer, and his family too became a household of deep faith, greatly loved by the apostle Paul. This shows how an event that seemed like chance, contrary to human intentions, can lead within God's plan to remarkable blessing and spiritual change.

We must meditate deeply on what grace comes when, like Simon, rather than moving according to our own will or circumstances, we take on the suffering and mission God has prepared, even unwillingly, and obey. Today's passage asks how great a blessing returns to a life that keeps an unchanging faith even in the face of the world's temptations and fears, and carries out the mission God has given.

This passage deals with the scene in which the Roman governor Pilate puts Jesus on trial. The Jewish leaders give false testimony and press Pilate in order to have Jesus put to death, and Pilate, fearing a riot, finally hands down the sentence to crucify the innocent Jesus. Through all of this, Jesus keeps silent to the end instead of defending his innocence or pleading his case.

The sermon points out that Jesus' silence was not a mere lack of response, but a necessary choice he had to bear for the sake of God's plan of salvation. Pilate could have made a good decision, but committed sin for his own interest and safety, and Judas, though he regretted what he had done, could not make a spiritual judgment and came to ruin. The crowd too, not knowing the truth, joined with the wicked and shouted for Jesus to be killed, which warns of the judgment that comes when we go along with the crowd without wisdom.

Even amid mockery and pain, Jesus could not explain how his silence would save them. Understanding this heart of Jesus, we must think deeply about how we should answer those who mock us, and what patience and silence are needed for the salvation of souls.