Sermons

Through the prophet Malachi's final warning and the events of Elijah, this passage points to the essence of faith. Seeing the people of Israel offer formal sacrifices while drifting away from him, God announces that he will send John the Baptist so that they may repent. This is not simply a religious ritual but an important turning point connected to Christ's cross, which deals with the problem of sin.

The sermon stresses that believers must not waver between God and the world. Just as Elijah demanded a clear choice when he confronted the prophets of Baal, believers today must also clearly discern good from evil. A formal faith that simply attends church, or a state in which one studies the Word but does not truly believe in Christ, can both be condemned. True faith is enjoying the freedom gained in Christ and living in reverence for his name.

Looking toward the judgment and the completion of salvation that will come in the last days, how should believers live? It asks what it looks like to live a life that is not shaken by the world's temptations and persecution, that boldly proclaims the gospel, and that endures with the hope of taking part in the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Through the writing of the prophet Malachi, this passage deals with the fact that God records the reverence and good deeds of the righteous in a ‘book of memory’, and also records the deeds of the wicked, using them as the standard of judgment. God permits Satan's rule, but since he uses what is recorded as the basis when he decides final judgment and rewards, believers must act carefully at every moment.

Citing the visions of Daniel and John, the sermon stresses that the books will be opened at the judgment, and explains that believers who kept the faith through suffering will reign with Christ. Using the example of Abraham's obedience, it points out that since faith apart from works is dead, true faith naturally shows itself in good deeds and devotion. It also mentions the great tribulation and persecution believers will face in the last days, and warns that we must abandon formal faith and live honestly in the truth.

The sermon asks which side believers want to stand on, and asks whether we are checking every day that we are going the right way, carrying out the mission we have been given without being swept along by the currents of the world.

This passage deals with how Jehu, king of the northern kingdom of Israel, was anointed as an instrument of God's judgment and carried out judgment on the sins of the house of Ahab. Apart from any political ambition, Jehu obeyed God's command, judged King Joram and Jezebel, and saw to it that the prophecy Elijah had delivered was fulfilled without a single word failing. This process shows that God's word is surely accomplished regardless of human intentions.

Through Jehu's faithfulness and the miserable end of the house of Ahab, the sermon points to the truth that God's judgment will surely come. King Joram, who for a long time did not repent in spite of God's warnings and let down his guard, resembles us today, who grow used to daily life and live forgetting judgment even though the signs of the end are clear. It warns that God holds back judgment and waits for repentance, but that a fitting judgment awaits those who refuse to the end to leave the place of sin.

How should we look upon God's unseen work and the judgment that is close at hand?

Today's passage introduces Gresham's law, that bad money drives out good, and points to how, throughout society today, lies win out over truth and bluster over real ability. But God's work is the very opposite: he raises up one righteous person to overcome countless evils, and has believers take up the role of light and salt.

This passage begins with the story of the unnamed Shunammite woman. She obeys God's word at once, stays in a foreign land for seven years and keeps her household safe, and after returning receives the remarkable blessing of recovering the property she had lost, through Gehazi's testimony. In the story of Hazael, the Aramean commander, that follows, Elisha prophesies that he will become king, but through the way Hazael murders his master and seizes power apart from God's will, the passage shows that even under God's sovereignty, responsibility follows human choices. Finally, the record of Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, who left God, did evil, and were judged, confirms that even in a chaotic age when evil is everywhere, God alone is the ruler of history.

However full of bad money the world may be, when we live the life of good money, devoted and obedient before God to the end, God works through that small lamp. We must ask ourselves whether, without using the dark world as an excuse, we remain good money that God can take up and use, and live as good instruments to the end.

This passage deals with the severe famine and the siege by the Aramean army that the people of Israel suffered for disobeying God's command. The city of Samaria was reduced to such misery by hunger that even an animal's head and dung, things not fit to eat, were traded at astronomical prices. The king, though he sees the people's suffering, avoids his own guilt, blames Elisha, the man of God, and tries to kill him. This shows the typical attitude of shifting responsibility onto outside factors or other people rather than looking within when a problem arises.

Elisha delivers God's word that prices will return to normal, but the officer does not believe it and mocks it. In the end God frightens the Aramean army into flight, and has the news of deliverance brought by lepers who were waiting outside the city gate. The king had the facts confirmed by scouts, but because of unbelief, though he saw with his own eyes the moment Elisha's prophecy was fulfilled, he did not enjoy that grace and met his death. This shows that a heart that doubts God's work and complains ends up bringing even greater loss on itself.

In the darkness and despair of life, how should we respond, without blaming God or judging those who are weak? Let us think about what a faith that trusts God's ways and timing and waits for them looks like, and what lessons we should learn from the results that unbelief brings.

Through two events experienced by the prophet Elisha and his servant, this passage deals with how to keep the faith and look to God in moments of crisis. First, through the miracle of raising a lost axe head out of the water, it shows that God himself saves us from a spiritual state that no human strength can pull us out of. Then, in the desperate crisis when the Aramean army surrounds the city, the servant is afraid of the enemy's visible numbers, but Elisha prays and opens the servant's eyes to see the army of heaven.

The sermon stresses that we must open our spiritual eyes and recognize God's protection, so that we are not overwhelmed by the crises we see with our physical eyes or by the world's power. It also contrasts the king of Aram, who trusted only in visible power and was defeated, with Elisha, who showed grace even to his enemies and revealed God's true character, and through this presents the call to share the grace we have freely received with our neighbors and our enemies. It points out that a life that relies not on the world's standards but on God's sovereignty, and gladly passes on the love it has received, is the true confession of faith.

With what eyes are we looking at the world now, and with whom are we sharing the grace we have freely received?

This passage deals with a situation in which the people of Israel disregarded God's love and the honor due him, defiled the sacrifices, and went against the tithe, living sinful lives; and when God did not judge them at once, they even mocked him, saying, “We have not troubled God.” The people do not admit their sin, treat God's patience with indifference, and, seeing the wicked prosper, complain that faith is in vain.

Through the time of the prophet Habakkuk, it also makes clear that the reason God stays silent even as he sees the wicked gain power is not to put off judgment, but to give an opportunity to repent while he waits for the time of wrath. God declares that he will use the cruel Babylonians to discipline his corrupt people, pointing to the human weakness that will not turn back without suffering.

What attitude should we take while God is silent?

Today's passage tells how Naaman, commander of the army of Aram, suffering from leprosy, meets the prophet Elisha and is healed. A young girl taken captive from Israel tells him the only way his disease can be cured, showing how God reveals his power through the weak rather than through the powerful of the world. Yet Naaman tried to approach Elisha with his own authority and gifts, and the king of Israel commits the folly of missing God's opportunity.

To break Naaman's pride and his attachment to the world, Elisha gives him a command that is hard to understand. Naaman is healed only when he exposes his disgrace, bears the shame, and washes seven times in the Jordan River. This shows the principle that miracles happen only when we completely cast off the world's righteousness and our pride and obey, standing naked before God. By contrast, Elisha's servant Gehazi, though he had been at Elisha's side, is blinded by greed, tries to take the gifts for himself, and falls under a curse.

With what attitude should we stand before God in order to enjoy his blessing?

This sermon centres on the new commandment Jesus gave his disciples, ‘love one another,’ and asks what the true life of a disciple is. The passage does not simply emphasise service or giving; it calls for a love that sacrifices itself for the other, and says that this is the evidence by which all people will know them as disciples. Yet the sermon points out that believers in reality have dried-up hearts because of pride, and cling to a hypocritical faith that treats sin as fine so long as it can be hidden from God's eyes.

The sermon explains that the true character of believers is like a lamp that gives off light, and emphasises that the prayers of brothers and sisters who faithfully keep the faith amid hardship and persecution are God's instrument for changing the world. In particular, it says that humble love begins only when we acknowledge our human limits, that we cannot climb the mountain of sin, and realise that we are saved by the grace of Christ alone. It warns that outward show and pretence in the life of faith will vanish when tested by fire on the last day, and that what God remembers is the small devotion of sincerely loving our brothers and sisters and interceding for them in prayer.

The sermon asks what answer believers will be able to give when they stand before Christ on the last day and look back on their lives. It leads us to examine whether we are living the life of true children: casting off the world's boasting and a faith of pretence, obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit, and giving the Lord rule over our lives. Through this sermon the reader is led to reflect on whether their faith truly practises the commandment to love one another, or whether they are still living a hypocritical life with a dried-up heart.

Life is one hardship after another, and we are weak beings who can lose what we rely on at any moment. Today's passage records four miracles through the prophet Elisha, and the first is the story of a widow who, after her husband's sudden death and because of debt, faced the danger of having her two sons sold as slaves.

With no way to get by, the woman did not look for a human solution in the face of the creditor's threats, but went to Elisha. Elisha told her to prepare the one jar of oil she had at home and empty vessels borrowed from her neighbours, and the woman poured out oil until every vessel was filled. As a result the oil kept flowing without stopping until all the vessels were full, and she was able to sell it, pay her debt, and save her family.

This miracle came not from the woman's little oil but from the good character she had shown her neighbours and her obedient faith in God. God does not work forcibly all on his own; he uses the small faith and fruit we have as his instruments. And when the Holy Spirit is at work, we must shut our hearts and focus, so as not to mingle with the world.

If we do not look down on the grace we now enjoy or on what we have, and rely on God alone in our place of weakness, what amazing solution will we experience?

This passage records how the allied armies of northern Israel and southern Judah went to war against Moab, and how a victory that seemed certain, with water supplied and the enemy about to be defeated through God's help, ended in failure. Victory had been promised through the prophet Elisha, but at the last moment of the battle the king of Moab offered his son as a burnt offering, and great wrath came upon the army of Israel, and they left the battlefield. This event, which many Bible scholars regard as a difficult problem, is not simply a military failure; it shows the spiritual crisis that those who have received grace go through when they fail to face their own sin.

The sermon points out that God loved and helped Jehoshaphat to the end, even though he allied himself with wicked kings, but that they took that grace for granted and covered up their own sin. God governs the outcome of battles, but he brings judgment on those who fail to show his holiness along the way and who glorify their own sin. Even after experiencing God's miracles and receiving answers, we face the contradiction of still not being free from sin and not walking with God.

When we face moments of hardship and failure that we cannot bear, how should we discern whether it is simply fate or a punishment from God to set us upright? And in the very place where we seemed to have won by God's grace, we are led to look back on whether we truly repented of our sin and submitted completely to God, or whether we sat in the place of opposing God by displaying our own righteousness.

This passage deals with a time when the house of God lay in ruins because the people of Israel did not bring their tithes and offerings. God points out that the people have turned away from his ordinances and calls them to return to him. But the people ask in reply how they are to return, saying they do not know, and even deny the rebuke that they have robbed God. This shows the corrupt state of their faith: they did not fear God, and lived for the world and for themselves.

God commands them to bring the tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food, and tells them to test him by it. This is not simply a material demand but a way of showing clearly the blessing from heaven and the curse that a life of obedience brings. God promises concrete protection and abundance to those who obey, such as keeping back the locusts and not letting the fruit of the vine fall before its time. On the other hand, a curse follows those who rob God, and this is an earnest exhortation from God, who loves his people, to help them not to sin.

We must realise that what God wants is not simply an offering of money, but a sincere life and faith that obey his word. Believing God's promise that for those who bring the whole tithe he will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing with not room enough to receive it, how should we think about what testing God in this way will actually bring about?