Sermons on Hebrews (Page 2)
Got Milk?
T. David Gordon, under a fatal diagnosis of cancer (25% chance of survival and two months to live), wrote some choice words for preachers in his book, Why Johnny Can’t Preach. Here’s a brief sampling of what I read as an aspiring preacher in seminary… “[T]he entering seminarian today has the faculties of a sixth- to eighth-grader sixty years ago, and the seminary curriculum cannot make this seminarian an adult by the time he graduates.” “What I care about is the average…
The Book That Reads Us
Cornell University social psychologist David Dunning, studied the tendency for people to overestimate themselves. He found that those who were the least competent performers have the most inflated view of themselves. The study also revealed that their over-inflation wasn’t due to arrogance, but ignorance. Obviously, this can be true for Christians as well. We routinely flatter ourselves with false assessments of our own competence. We aren’t even aware of our pride, because we think we’re simply being honest. Jeremiah 17:9 ESV…
Striving For Rest
What are you hoping to change in 2023? Do you ever wish you could enjoy more rest (physically, psychologically, and spiritually)? “Rest” occurs 12x Hebrews 3:11-4:11. Primary application. Goal = why it’s important and how you might find it. Jesus > Everything • 1-2 Angels (Jesus speaks a better word, 1:1-2, 2:1-3) <<< Pay much closer attention! • 3-4 Moses (Jesus is worthy of more honor, 3:3) <<< Do not harden your hearts! We are too easily distracted by what is worldly and…
Exhort One Another Every Day
A new study from Pew Research Center concluded, “If recent trends in switching [changing one’s religious affiliation] hold, we projected that Christians could make up between 35% and 46% of the U.S. population in 2070.” Had Egypt conducted a survey of the trend of Israel’s growth while in slavery, they would have seen their own population eclipsed in fairly short order. Who could have predicted that almost the entire generation would die in the wilderness within forty years? Even though…
Do Not Harden Your Hearts
The bulk of our passage this morning is a direct quote from Psalm 95. That psalm opens with a familiar call to worship. We’ve used it several times to open our own worship service. Psalm 95:1 ESV Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Some bible scholars suggest that this psalm was liturgical and frequently used during the preamble of the service. So, as the author begins to quote a…
Jesus Is Greater Than Moses
Martin Luther provides a helpful definition of God Larger Catechism “A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol. If…
A Merciful and Faithful High Priest – Pt.2
I’m sure you have heard of this quote from George Bernard Shaw, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” I have noticed that many times—Business teachers have experienced one or two failed business endeavors. Marriage and Family Therapists come from broken or troubled marriages. Church planting coaches tend to be men whose own church plant failed. So why would anyone want to learn from those who have not tasted the glory of success? How could our Savior live a…
A Merciful and Faithful High Priest
Before knowing God, Jonathan Edwards had a fear of thunderstorms. “I used to be a person uncommonly terrified with thunder: and it used to strike me with terror, when I saw a thunderstorm rising.” But after his conversion, Edwards writes: “Now, on the contrary, [thunderstorms] rejoiced me. I felt God at the first appearance of a thunderstorm. And used to take the opportunity at such times, to fix myself to view the clouds, and see the lightnings play, and hear…
Perfect Through Suffering
In 1970, Stanford professor Paul Ehrlich published The Population Bomb, where he predicted that hundreds of millions of people would starve to death—regardless of any mitigating efforts we might implement. The opening sentence reads: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over.” He went on to blame nearly every social problem upon the fact that we simply have too many people. His doomsday prediction was based upon a faulty hypothesis that overpopulation of the planet had reach unrecoverable proportions. Ehrlich’s…
Crowned With Glory And Honor
In “The Good of Nationalism Pt 2”, Bradford Littlejohn notes the temptation Christians had after the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine: “In every age, Christians have been tempted to ‘immanentize the eschaton,’ translating the expectations of the eschatological kingdom of God into the midst of history. So it was for early Christians, dazed and delighted by the conversion of Constantine and the end of persecution: perhaps Christian Rome was to be the earthly political manifestation of the worldwide kingdom of…