Sermons

This sermon looks at the situation in the Middle East and the rapidly changing world of technology from a biblical point of view, and points out that the signs of the end times are already clearly appearing. Going beyond frightening memories from childhood, it explains that totalitarian control and the development of superintelligent technology are now taking place as preconditions for the appearance of the Antichrist. In particular, it warns of the reality that artificial intelligence and data-collection technology threaten human dignity, and that through them a structure of rule that binds the whole world into one is nearing completion.

The sermon gives direction on how believers should live in such a confused age. It urges that even though the last day comes like a thief, we must stay awake as those who belong to the day, not to the night. It stresses that in order not to be deceived we must take up the shield of faith and love, hold on to the hope of salvation, and keep ourselves pure so as to win the spiritual battle. It says that even as the world turns against Christianity and morality collapses, what we need is not fear that judgment is about to fall, but a heart that longs for Christ's return.

Finally, the sermon closes by saying that believers should not be lazy but encourage one another, and live lives that rejoice always, pray, and in everything give thanks. It says that although we cannot stop what is evil, what matters is to keep the faith to the end and to prepare ourselves as the bride. The sermon asks whether believers can have the faith to wait for Christ's return with joy and eager anticipation rather than fear, and to cry out, 'Come, Lord Jesus.'

This passage deals with an age when corrupt priests despised God by offering unclean sacrifices, and with the event of God himself coming into the world to become the eternal High Priest. Through the account of Abram giving a tithe of the spoils to Melchizedek, the king of righteousness, after winning a battle, it sheds light on the true office of priest that existed even before the Law, and on its meaning.

The sermon stresses that no act or devotion that human beings offer is accepted by God without the blood of Christ. Believers do not offer animals as sacrifices; they become people who offer God offerings in righteousness through faith in Jesus' cross and resurrection. It also points out that, remembering that God does not change, we must live lives that truly fear God, not a faith of pretence.

It asks what believers should hold on to as they live, and how they should trust God's unchanging promises.

This passage emphasises the sacredness of marriage made before God, and sternly rebukes the sin of husbands who abandon their wives and marry foreign women. Like the union of Adam and Eve, husband and wife must leave their parents and become one, and the passage makes clear that this is not merely a legal union but a covenant relationship with God. Yet the people dishonoured God's holiness by mistreating or abandoning their wives and marrying foreign women who worshipped idols. As the cases of Solomon and Rehoboam show, the faith and character of parents are an important factor in shaping their children's destiny.

The sermon points out the double-minded attitude of performing religious rituals outwardly while sinning in daily life. It makes clear that the reason God does not accept the people's offerings lies in the breakdown of their families and their false faith. In particular, it treats a husband's mistreating his wife or abandoning the wife of his youth as a grave sin that grieves God. It emphasises that God wants upright families in order to raise godly offspring, and that the character of the head of the household determines the family's peace and the children's growth in faith.

Finally, it warns that God's holding back judgment in patience does not mean he forgives sin. When judgment is delayed even though they sin, the people protest by asking where the God of justice is, but this is an attitude that abuses grace. Should we not, instead of taking God's patience for granted, repent and build godly families?

This passage deals with what the prophet Elijah went through before his ascension in order to establish his disciple Elisha as his successor. Before crossing the Jordan River, Elijah tells Elisha three times to stay behind, but Elisha refuses, firmly resolved to follow his master to the end. Because of Elisha's persistent companionship and faith, Elijah promises that he will receive a double portion of the grace of the Holy Spirit, as he desired.

Elisha witnesses his master's ascension with his own eyes and gains not a vague faith but assurance, and afterwards he carries out his mission, performing many miracles. In particular, in healing the bad water of Jericho and bringing God's judgment on those who mocked him, he shows how God protects believers and works on their behalf. The passage emphasises the importance of an obedience that truly loves God and seeks to understand his will, rather than formal religious acts.

We are led to think deeply about how to discern the stumbling blocks and temptations we meet on the journey of faith, and how to keep a faith that perseveres to the end and walks with God even amid the world's mockery and persecution.

This passage deals with the covenant of life and peace that God made with the priests of the tribe of Levi. The priests were called to be messengers who teach God's law rightly and lead the people in purity, but many priests became lazy and corrupt, did not proclaim the truth, and defiled the offerings. God shows fierce anger at the disobedience and corruption of these priests, and emphasises that their lips should keep knowledge and that the people should seek the law at their mouth.

The sermon points out that the priests' failure was not simply a personal matter; it led the whole people to death and brought judgment on the nation. God warns that he will cast them off, as though spreading the dung of the sacrifices on the priests' faces, and sternly rebukes the sin of perverting justice and taking bribes for the sake of power and wealth. These ancient warnings apply just as they stand to pastors entrusted with the Word and to believers today. Believers must not know faith only as knowledge, but live out the six days of the week by faith and offer pure worship.

Believers must stay awake, holding the sword of the Spirit, to guard their souls from the temptations of the world and the smooth talk of heresies. We must not justify our own sin because others sin, or ignore God's law in the name of common practice. God unchangingly keeps his covenant and requires us to live by his word, and he warns us not to live lives that are identified with the corrupt priests. What kind of faith will you choose?

This passage deals with the scene in which Ahaziah, king of northern Israel, falls ill and sends messengers to inquire of the god of Ekron, and with how God, angered by this, brings judgment through the prophet Elijah. Despite his sinful life, Ahaziah seeks idols rather than repenting before God, and shows his arrogance by opposing God's messenger. By God's power Elijah brings judgment on the king's soldiers and proclaims that God is the Lord of life.

The sermon points out the nature of sin: in moments of crisis people look first to what others think or to the powers of the world, rather than to God. Ahaziah and the first two captains of fifty were destroyed as they opposed God in their own strength, but the third captain of fifty humbly feared God and his life was saved. This shows that human will or authority cannot preserve life, and that there is salvation only when we obey God.

In life's crises and at the crossroads of choice, we must decide whether to trust God or to look for the visible solutions of the world. What does a life that entrusts sovereignty over life to God alone and obeys his will really look like, and how should we live it?

This passage deals with a time when the people of Israel and their priests defiled the sacrifices they offered to God, disregarded his grace, and mocked him. God points out that they were bringing not healthy offerings but sick and blemished ones, trying to use him. This goes beyond a mere question of ritual; it is a spiritual corruption that exposes their complaints against the Creator and their lack of thankfulness.

The sermon points out that such an attitude is, in the end, an act of despising God. Just as the priests' corruption put the whole nation in danger, a faith today that seeks only blessings and tries to use God is also a serious problem. It warns that God does not accept offerings brought with deceit, and that we can enjoy his grace only when we sincerely repent and live holy lives. Like King David's earnest prayer, what is required is a true faith that serves God as Lord without being shaken by whether circumstances are good or bad.

The sermon asks why believers must not fall into the world's temptations and greed, but live in obedience to God's unchanging word. It also raises the question of what wisdom enables us to live as believers who keep the faith while waiting for Christ's return.

This passage covers the life of Jehoshaphat, known as a good king of southern Judah. He removed idols and showed reverence for God, but he made fatal mistakes, such as making an alliance with the wicked King Ahab and joining him in battle. In particular, his going into battle disguised as King Ahab, even though he was in danger of death, raises serious questions about the situation of the time and his identity as a man of faith.

Through these actions of Jehoshaphat, the sermon points out the spiritual pride and complacency into which people thought to have good faith can easily fall. It points out that when God gives great blessing, the mistaken confidence that one can keep the faith in any situation led in the end to an alliance with those who hate God. It also tells of his path to restoration: when trouble came, he cried out earnestly to God, did not fight in human strength, and relied on God alone, going out with praise.

Yet considering that the mistakes Jehoshaphat repeated, and the chain of evil left unbroken because of them, affected even his children, we must take care not to trust our own faith too much. The sermon closes at the point where we look back on ourselves, asking whether we are truly standing honestly before God and whether our heart right now is one that pleases him.

This sermon deals with the corrupt priests whom God rebukes through the prophet Malachi. God points out that although the priests should have offered unblemished, healthy sacrifices, they placed sick and injured ones on the altar. They kept the good offerings for their own gain and treated God with what was left over, and without even recognising their own sin they questioned God in return. This is the grave sin of despising God's name and treating his table with contempt, and it shows that the corruption of the priests leads to the spiritual ruin of the people.

In the sermon, the priests of the Old Testament are likened to the spiritual stance of pastors and believers today. Just as the apostle Paul kept an unchanging faith in every circumstance, believers must handle both wealth and hardship with trust in God. On the other hand, the attitude of offering good things to the rulers of this world while calculating and begrudging what is given to God is that of an unjust steward. God wants not the offering but the sincerity and honesty of the one who offers it, and pretended worship or selfish giving is regarded as an insult to God.

The sermon leads believers to look back on whether, regardless of their circumstances, they are offering God complete devotion and worship without complaint or doubt. It also leads them to reflect on whether they neglect what they give to God by following the world's standards, or treat their offerings as a means of gaining blessing. The sermon puts to the reader the question of what a life that fears God and truly serves him is.

This passage deals with the event in which Ahab, king of northern Israel, receives a prophecy of his own death through the prophet Micaiah before the battle of Ramoth Gilead. Ahab listens to the flattery of false prophets and tries to escape God's wrath, but ends up walking the road to judgment, while Micaiah, even under the king's anger and torment, delivers what God has said without adding or taking away anything.

The sermon contrasts Ahab's hardness of heart, which would not bend its stubbornness despite the warning of judgment, with Micaiah's bold obedience in proclaiming the truth at the risk of his life. It also points out the folly of people who want to hear only pleasant words, and emphasises the stance of wise believers who take rebuke and counsel as opportunities to grow. Reminding us that God's warnings of judgment are an act of love that gives us the chance to turn back, it urges a life that fears God rather than the fears of the world and follows his true will.

Do we, like Ahab, reject the truth, bound by our own thinking, or do we, like Micaiah, obey God's word? Are we willing to bear the pain of cutting out the bitter roots and self-righteousness within us now, and are we doing our best to walk only in the way of Christ?

This passage explains, by contrast, the sturdiness of a work made of stone, which endures the years, and the weakness of a castle built of sand, which easily crumbles before the waves. It warns that believers' faith is the same: a faithful belief centred on God's word is like stone that does not shake even in hardship, but a faith of outward show can vanish without a trace as circumstances change. In particular, through the history of Edom and the parable of the prodigal son, it makes clear that what is built by human effort and pride will in the end be thrown down when God removes his hedge of protection.

When God sends rebuke and warning, complaining against it or resisting it is the same as walking the path of judgment by one's own choice. God's voice calling us to repent of sin and turn back is not for the benefit of our human relationships, but a signal of grace to guard us from Satan's schemes. However much we marshal the world's knowledge and reason to justify our own way, apart from God we cannot build anything firmly, and in the end everything comes to nothing.

The difficulties and collapses we go through may not be simple failures, but signals from God, knocking on our hearts and calling us into deeper fellowship. We are led to look back at the crossroads of choice where we now stand: whether we will be those who, like Edom, refuse to let go of our pride despite the warnings and keep complaining, or whether, like the prodigal son, we will acknowledge our sin and decide to return to the Father's arms.

This passage deals with the spiritual corruption of the people of Israel who had finished their exile and returned to their homeland, and with the warning of the prophet Malachi, whom God sent. Though they had come back after seventy years of suffering, the people complained against God and mocked him because of the hardships of their situation and the lack of prosperity. Along with the corruption of the priests, the people drifted far from God through formal worship and offerings and through sins such as marrying foreigners.

The sermon compares this attitude of Israel with Esau of Edom, and points out the danger of a faith that treats God's grace lightly and pursues only its own benefit. Although God had already chosen them as his people and poured out countless graces, the people clung only to the visible realities before them and doubted God's unchanging love. This shows the human nature that reveals its evil intentions when answers are slow in coming, even after experiencing grace.

We need to look back on whether we are demanding immediate solutions to our problems and prosperity, and pressing God for answers. We ask ourselves whether we are committing the folly of complaining while trusting what we can see rather than the invisible God, and whether we are seeking only blessing without having restored a clean heart through repentance.