Called to Contentment
Rev. Bruce Brown
Exodus 20:1-2, 17
October 4, 2020
I. How Do We Break This Command? (verse 17: Romans 7:7-11)
II. What Does This Command Require? (verse 17; Phil. 4:10-13; I Timothy 6:6)
III. Enjoying God Forever. (verse 17; Psalm 73; Rev. 4:11)
“We are all, of course, creatures of desire; God made us so… But desire that is sinfully disordered needs redirecting, so that we stop coveting others’ goods and long instead for their good, and God’s glory through it. When Thomas Chalmers spoke of “the expulsive power of a new affection,” he was thinking of the way in which knowledge of my Savior’s love diverts me from the barren ways of covetous self-service, to put God first, others second, and self-gratification last in my concerns. How much do we know in experience of this divine transforming power?” ~ J.I. Packer
Nothing But the Truth
Rev. Bruce Brown
Exodus 20:1-2, 16
September 27, 2020
I. What Truth Forbids (verse 16; Deut. 17; Matt. 15)
II. What Truth Demands (verse 16; Psalm 51; Matt. 5:33-37)
III. Becoming a More Truthful Person (verse 16; John 18
"Lying insults not only your neighbor, whom you may manage to fool, but also God, whom you can never fool. A truth telling, promise-keeping God who "cannot lie" (Titus 1:2; Numbers 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29) and who wants to see in us his own moral image, naturally "hates... a lying tongue... a false witness who breathes out lies" (Proverbs 6:16-19). Lying is part of Satan's image, not God's, and we should not wonder that "every one who loves and practices falsehood" should thereby exclude himself from God's city (Revelation 22:15). There is no godliness without truthfulness. Lord, have mercy!" ~ J.I. Packer
Do Not Steal
Exodus 20:1-2, 15
September 20, 2020
Rev. Bruce Brown
I. What Standard Lies Behind the Commandment? (verse 15; Matthew 25; Luke 16)
II. How Do we Steal from God and Others? (verse 15; Deut. 25; Romans 13; II Samuel 15)
III. God’s Solution for a World of Thieves (verse 15; II Corinthians 8:9; Luke 19:8)
“Now be honest. We have been stirring up thoughts about ways of stealing. Has it struck you that you yourself have been stealing in some of these ways? If so, God calls you now to repent (which means, change) and make restitution to those you have defrauded. Zacchaeus, the artist in extortion, expressed his repentance by promising to restore fourfold all the money he had taken unjustly (Luke 19:8) … That showed spiritual reality. How much reality of this kind is there about us?” ~ J.I. Packer
Committed Faithfulness
Exodus 20:1-2, 14
September 13, 2020
Rev. Bruce Brown
I. The Foundation of the Seventh Commandment (verse 14; Genesis 2:18-25; Ephesians 5)
II. The Function of the Seventh Commandment (verse 14; I Corinthians 6; Matthew 5:27-32)
III. Flourishing in Obedience to the Seventh Commandment (verse 14; Revelation 19:6-8)
This is what a biblical understanding of marriage looks like: a relationship of sexual complementarity, the kind which (if all the "plumbing" is functioning) can produce children, a husband and wife showing forth the mystery of Christ and the church. Once you have these building blocks in place, the seventh commandment makes sense as something more than divine decree. There is an internal moral logic that renders every kind of adultery, fornication, bestiality, homosexuality, and prostitution a violation of the divine design." ~ Kevin DeYoung
Preserving Life
Rev. Bruce Brown
Exodus 20:1-2, 13
September 6, 2020
I. What Does the Commandment Prohibit? (verse 13; Exodus 21; Matt. 5:21-26)
II. What Does the Commandment Promote? (verse 13; Rom. 13; Duet. 22:8)
III. The Power of this Command in the Hands of Jesus. (verse 13; Matt. 5:43-48)
"As murder story writers assume, and as most of us learn in experience, we have in us capacities for fury, fear, envy, greed, conceit, callousness, and hate which, given the right provocation, could make killers out of us all... When the fathomless wells of rage and hatred in the normal human heart are tapped, the results are fearful. "There but for the grace of God go I." Only restraining and renewing grace enables anyone to keep the sixth commandment." ~ J.I. Packer
Honor to Whom Honor is Due
Rev. Bruce Brown
August 30, 2020
Exodus 20:1-2, 12
I. What is the Nature of this Honor?
II. Who is Due this Honor?
III. Why Do We Need this Commandment?
“Children need parental guidance more than they know and impoverish themselves by rejecting it. The long life promised in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16 to those who honor their parents is not guaranteed to any Christian, but it remains true that children who flout their parents suffer loss. They forfeit a degree of human maturity and make it harder for themselves to honor a Father in heaven.” ~ J.I. Packer
Remember the Sabbath Day
Rev. Bruce Brown
August 23, 2020
Exodus 20:8-11
I. The Reason for the Commandment (verses 8, 11)
II. The Restrictions of the Commandment (verses 9-10
II. The Revisions to the Commandment (verses 8-11)
III. Remember the Sabbath Day (Isaiah 58:13, 14; Matt. 11:28-29)
"The underlying principle is clear - namely, that we must honor God not only by our loyalty (first commandment) and thought - life (second commandment) and words (third commandment), but also by our use of time, in a rhythm of toil and rest; six days for work crowned by one day for worship. God's claim on our sabbaths reminds us that all our time is his gift, to be given back to him and used for him." ~ J. I. Packer
No Greater Name
Rev. Bruce Brown
August 16, 2020
Exodus 20:1-2, 7
I. What’s in a Name? (Verse 7; Psalm 8, John 17)
II. Taking God’s Name in Vain (verse 7; Leviticus 24, Matthew 7, II Peter 2)
III. No Other Name (verse 7; Matthew 28, Acts 4:12)
If you want a simple summary of the third commandment – a New Testament exhortation putting in positive language all that is required of us – here it is: Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everyting in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). We obey the third commandment by living as Christians, by speaking and doing everything accord to the family name. For when we do all that we do – and do it in Christ, for Christ, and through Christ – we show that his is the name we value, the name we love, and the name that is above all names.” ~ Kevin DeYoung
No Graven Images
Rev. Bruce Brown
Exodus 20:4-6
August 9, 2020
I. The Commandment Frees Us from Wrong Images of God (Verses 4-5; Exodus 32)
II. The Commandment Focuses on God’s True Nature (Verses 4-5; John 4:21-24)
III. The Commandment Forms Future Worship (Verses 5-6; John 14:7-10)
“This (commandment) forbids, not worshiping many gods (the first commandment covered that), but imagining the true God as like yourself or something lower. God’s real attack is on mental images, of which metal images are more truly the consequence than the cause… No statement starting, “This is how I like to think of God” should ever be trusted. An imagined God will always be more or less imaginary and unreal.” J.I. Packer
No Other Gods
August 2, 2020
Rev. Bruce Brown
Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 6:4-9
I. The Intolerance of this Command (Exodus 20:3; Matthew 10:34-39)
II. The Importance of this Command (Exodus 20:3; Mark 10:17-22)
III. The Intensity of this Command (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
IV. The Intent of this Command (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
"The great commandment, the first one, said Jesus, is to love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind (Matt. 22:37). Quoted in Deuteronomy 6:4ff., where it is introduced with a reminder that the LORD is "one," meaning "the only one"... this saying shows us what loyalty to God requires. It calls for love, responding to God's love in making and saving you; and it demands total concentration of purpose, so that in everything you do there is just one thing you aim at - pleasing and glorifying the LORD." ~ J.I. Packer
The Role of the Law
Rev. Bruce Brown
July 26, 2020
Exodus 20:1-3 (and various)
I. The Law Grants Light (verses 1-2)
II. The Law Leads to Life (verses 1-2; Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:24)
III. The Law is Kept in Love (verses 1-2; I John 5:3; Matthew 22:37-40)
IV. The Law of Liberty (verses 1-2; James 1:22-25)
"Law-keeping is that life for which we were fitted by nature, unfitted by sin, and refitted by grace, the life God loves to see and reward; and for that life liberty is the proper name." ~ J.I. Packer Growing in Christ