Sermon Shorts from Spurgeon — Sermon 23: Thoughts on the Last Battle

If ye would be saved by works, men and brethren, ye must be as holy as the angels, ye must be as pure and as immaculate as Jesus; for the law requires perfection, and nothing short of it; and God, with unflinching vengeance, will smite every man low who cannot bring him a perfect obedience. If I cannot, when I come before his throne, plead a perfect righteousness as being mine, God will say, “you have not fulfilled the demands of my law; depart, accursed one! You have sinned, and you must die.” “Ah,” says one, “can we ever have a perfect righteousness, then? Yes, I will tell you of that … thanks be unto Christ, who giveth us the victory through his blood and through his righteousness, who adorns us as a bride in her jewels as a husband arrays his wife with ornaments.

From the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 1, Sermon 23 by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Smoke and Mirrors Exposition

I am sensitive to politicians who misuse Scripture. (Please note that a lot of politicians do this, regardless of political affiliation.  I fault any who do this, regardless of what letter they have after their name.)  Today I read a news article where a presidential candidate used a verse inappropriately.  I’m going to call this particular error “Smoke and Mirrors Exposition” which I define as taking a verse out of context to support an issue in which the verse has no bearing on the issue at hand.  With this particular error, oftentimes the same issue supported by the politician is clearly condemned by other passages of Scripture. Continue reading

Usury: Does the Bible Explicitly Prohibit It?

One of my pet peeves is politicians misusing Scripture.  I don’t care what letter they have after their name or what their political persuasion is.  Here the topic is usury in the Bible as it relates to U.S. interest rates.  (Relating these two things is a stretch anyway, since the biblical text’s statements about usury were between individuals, but here we go.)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-religious-right_n_5cde4ba3e4b00e035b8d3c38

usury interest

usury

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The Seventh Day

It took God just 6 days to create everything.  This is a testimony to His omnipotence.

Genesis 2:1-3  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

That creation was “finished” means that there was no more creation out of nothing (ex nihilo).  All physical matter had been created.  Of course, the created matter could change through various means (chemical, nuclear, etc.), but from this point, matter could neither be created or destroyed (First Law of Thermodynamics).  Continue reading

Living Under Grace

Christians have an obligation to live a life of holiness in honor of their God Who is holy (Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:15-16) and provided a holy sacrifice for their sins in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.  This is the only reasonable response believers have (Romans 12:1).  Paul wrote of this in the Epistle to the Romans.

Romans 6:11-15 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.  14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.  15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Continue reading