"Go to Nineveh" -- Jonah 1:1-3

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon on the Minor Prophets from the Prophecy of Jonah (1)

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This Week's White Horse Inn

Body & Soul

If you poll a number of Americans on the topic of religion, you’re likely to hear many of them say that though they don’t identify with “organized religion,” they do consider themselves to be “spiritual, but not religious.” But why is this individualistic, private, and unaccountable version of spirituality attractive in our day? On this program, the hosts will be contrasting contemporary versions of spirituality, both inside and outside the church, with the beliefs and practices of classical Christianity as they continue their series on worship.

Body & Soul

Apologetics in a Post Christian Age (Audio) -- Basic Categories (Part Four)

Here's the audio from Wednesday Night's Bible study: "Basic Categories -- Therapeutic Moralistic Deism and the New Paganism"  Click Here

Previous lectures in this series can be found here (scroll down): Apologetics in a Post Christian Age

"Fear Not" -- Daniel 10:1-11:1

The Nineteenth in a Series of Sermons on the Book of Daniel

Throughout our time studying the Book of Daniel, we have read of YHWH using dreams and visions to reveal to his prophet information about the future of the land of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, and the temple of YHWH.  The purpose of this prophetic revelation is to encourage those Jews then living as exiles in Babylon–the former capital of the Babylonian empire, now occupied by the Persians.  The exiles find themselves under YHWH’s covenant curse because of Israel’s past idolatry and unbelief.  The good news is that this exile is about to end.  The bad news is that their struggles will not.  Daniel now learns that there is an invisible and spiritual war behind the day to day struggles of God’s people, a war which will be won by a coming of the Messiah.

During his remarkable life in exile, Daniel was called and equipped by YHWH to serve two of the greatest kings of that age: Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon) and Cyrus (the Persian empire).  YHWH has also revealed to Daniel that four great middle eastern empires will successively rise and fall–the Babylonian, the Persian, the Greek, and then finally, Rome.  Through the prophetic revelation given to Daniel, the exiles learn that they are about to return home and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.  But YHWH will also reveal that the glory days for Israel are past, and they will not return until the mighty fourth empire of these visions, Rome, is finally subdued after its direct opposition to YHWH and his kingdom.  YHWH’s final conquest will take the form of a messianic kingdom which conquers all of God’s enemies apart from the use of armies and political power, a victory won by a suffering Messiah who breaks the power of sin and undoes the curse.  

As recounted in chapter nine, Daniel was well aware that Judah’s seventy years of exile foretold by the prophet Jeremiah was coming an end.  Worried about his people, Daniel fervently prays for Judah (vv. 1-19 of Daniel 9).  YHWH answered him by sending the angel Gabriel who revealed to Daniel that a time of seventy weeks has been decreed for God’s people, a period which begins to unfold with the Persian king Cyrus’ decree in 538 BC, to allow the Jews to return to Babylon and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.  Furthermore, Gabriel explains that the seventy weeks will be fulfilled when a coming Messiah will finish the transgression, put an end to sin, atone for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal both vision and prophet, and anoint a most holy place (v. 24).  Gabriel also reveals that in the process of the Messiah redeeming his people, both Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed, and then Jews will be dispersed into the ends of the earth.  But the Messiah will complete his redemptive work and usher in the final jubilee and the eternal Sabbath at the end of the age.

So far in the dreams and visions of chapters 2, 7, 8 and 9, the focus has been on YHWH’s sovereign purposes for his people Israel, specifically how YHWH will keep his covenant promise to Israel, deliver his people from exile, and allow them to return to the land of promise.  Although there will be the rise and fall of nations and empires throughout Israel’s immediate future, these dreams and visions reveal that any future warfare and political intrigue reflect the unfolding of YHWH’s greater purposes.  Even times of trouble and turmoil are to be seen by God’s people as God working all things after the counsel of his will, and bringing all things into subjection to Jesus.  

Yet one more vision remains for Daniel to receive and recount in the final chapters of his prophecy (10-12).  A mysterious figure reveals to Daniel that an invisible war is taking place behind the history we observe and recount.  The vision which runs from Daniel 11:2-45 is the most comprehensive vision in the Book of Daniel.  Once again, it is intended to comfort the people of God, so that despite the difficulties they will continue to face when they return to Judah from their time in exile, God’s people understand that YHWH’s purposes will be accomplished–despite their troubles

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

The Pastor's Monday Morning Presser

h. t. Greg Smith

This Week at Christ Reformed Church (November 13-19)

Sunday Morning, November 19:  We take up the Prophecy of Jonah (as part of our series on the Minor prophets).  We'll answer the "Who?" "When?" "Why?" and What?" questions as we consider the opening verses (1:1-3) of Jonah.  Our worship service begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Afternoon:  We move to a discussion of prayer (Lord's Day 45, Q & A 116-119) in our study of the Heidelberg Catechism.  We will address prayer as the chief exercise of thanksgiving. Our catechism service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study (November 15 @ 7:30 p.m.):  We are continuing our series, "Apologetics in a Post-Christian Age."  This week's lecture addresses the new paganism.

Author's Forum (Friday November 17 @ 7:30 p.m.):  Dr. Steven Baugh will be giving a lecture on his new book The Majesty on High: Introduction to the Kingdom of God in the New Testament. 

Dr. Baugh has taught Greek at Westminster Seminary California since 1983 and New Testament and Greek since 1991. He is a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Dr. Baugh wrote the two main textbooks used for Greek I–III: New Testament Greek for Interpreters (third edition) and A First John Reader. His other recent books are a commentary on Ephesians in the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary series and The Majesty on High: Introduction to the Kingdom of God in the New Testament. Author's Forum with Dr. Steve Baugh

For more information on Christ Reformed Church you can always find us here (Christ Reformed Church), or on Facebook (Christ Reformed on Facebook).

"I Will Restore the Fortunes of My People, Israel" -- Amos 9:11-15

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon on the Minor prophets from the Book of Amos

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This Week's White Horse Inn

An Interview with James K. A. Smith

Are we shaped by the theology of Scripture and the patterns of Christian worship, or by the ideas of our increasingly secular culture and the patterns, habits, and routines associated with it? While many Christians in our day seem to understand the importance of acquiring a biblical worldview, James K.A. Smith argues that we often overlook the fact that more often than not we’re persuaded by alternative stories of the world, not through overt argumentation, but by what he calls “secular liturgies.” On this program, Michael Horton talks with James K.A. Smith, author of You Are What You Love, The Spiritual Power of Habit, and Desiring the Kingdom.

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Apologetics in a Post Christian Age (Audio) -- Basic Categories (Part Three)

Here's the audio from Wednesday Night's Bible Study -- "Basic Categories -- Civil Religion and Sheilaism"

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"A Strong Covenant" (The Seventieth Week of Daniel) -- Daniel 9:24-27

The Eighteenth in a Series of Sermons on the Book of Daniel

As famed philosopher-catcher Yogi Berra once quipped, “when you come to a fork in the road, take it!”  When we come to Daniel 9:27 and read of one who makes a strong covenant with the many for one week, we have come to such an interpretive fork in the road.  Is Daniel speaking about a future Antichrist making a seven-year peace treaty with Israel which marks the beginning of the tribulation?  Or is Daniel instead speaking of the coming of the Messiah, who makes a strong covenant on behalf of those whom he is about to redeem at the climax of his messianic mission?  The choice is fundamental as to how we understand this prophecy.  Christ or the Antichrist?

We have spent the last several sermons working our way though Daniel 9, a passage which includes the famous prophecy of the “seventy weeks” (vv. 24-27).  As we noted throughout our time in this chapter, this is one of the most disputed and difficult prophecies in all the Old Testament.  But everyone does agree that it is also one of the most important of Old Testament prophecies.  Although those influenced by dispensationalism see this prophecy as predicting a future seven-year tribulation period and a peace treaty between Antichrist and Israel, the prophecy makes much better sense when seen as a messianic prophecy, predicting the coming of Jesus (Israel’s Messiah) with great accuracy and specificity–the so-called “messianic interpretation.”

Based upon our time spent in this chapter previously, it should be clear that understanding the context and keeping the Old Testament background in mind are absolutely essential, if we are to interpret the “seventy weeks” correctly.  We begin by reminding ourselves that the seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 is a direct answer from YHWH to the prophet Daniel’s petitions offered in his prayer for the exiles in Babylon (the first 19 verses of chapter 9).  Daniel is well aware that the prophet Jeremiah foretold of seventy years of exile for the Jews now living in Babylon–Daniel among them.  Daniel is also aware that the seventy years are about up.  He knows that Jeremiah prophesied that YHWH promised that his people will be allowed to return to Judah to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple.  Knowing the day of release from exile is at hand, Daniel is greatly worried about his people.  Will they remember YHWH’s covenant promises?  Will they repent of their sin and unbelief?  

In his prayer, Daniel is deeply moved to repent of his own sins, as well as pray on behalf of his struggling people–Judah.  It is as a direct answer to Daniel’s fervent prayer for Israel on the eve of their possible return to Judah, that YHWH sends Gabriel to reveal to Daniel what the future holds for Judah, Jerusalem, and the temple–the purpose for the “seventy weeks” prophecy of verses 24-27.  The good news Gabriel reveals to Daniel is that the exiles will return to Judah, and they will rebuild the city, and the temple.  The bad news is that at some point in the future, Jerusalem will be left desolate once again.  But this is not a prophecy of despair.  Rather, it is a prophecy which foretells of the coming of Israel’s Messiah who will usher in the ultimate jubilee year, as well as the eternal Sabbath for the people of God.  The exiles will return home and rebuild.  But Jerusalem and the temple will experience desolation yet again, because a greater exile remains–separation from God’s presence due to human sin.  Desolation is not the final word, however, YHWH will send someone (a Messiah) to deal with the root of our exile from YHWH–the guilt of our sin.  This will be accomplished as the seventy weeks run their course.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here