The Delightful Danger of Drawing Near
Rev. Bruce Brown
December 6, 2020
II Samuel 6:1-11
I. The Desire of the LORD’s Presence (verses 1-2)
II. The Danger of the LORD’s Holiness (verses 3-9)
III. The Delight of Dwelling with the LORD (verses 10-11)
"But just as God is holy, so also the gospel of Jesus Christ is a holy revelation of salvation. We must not treat it casually. We dare not neglect the offer purchased by the death of God’s own Son. If Uzzah suffered a temporal death by violating God’s law, we risk a far greater, eternal death by rejecting the holy gospel of Jesus Christ. John 3:36 warns us, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Richard D. Phillips
The King and His Castle
Rev. Bruce Brown
II Samuel 5:1-25
November 29, 2020
I. The King Reigns by God's Pleasure (verses 1-5)
II. The King Reigns in God's Place (verses 6-12)
III. The King Reigns with God's Presence (verses 17-25)
"By faith, let us see Jesus as he is, exalted at God’s right hand in the heavens, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Eph. 1:21). Christ’s kingdom is now advancing by faith as new believers are gathered in, with the time soon ahead when all of creation will be transformed into the city of his glory and peace. Revelation 14:1 anticipates the coming scene of his glory, together with his gathered people: “behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Of this coming scene, the angels sing, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). Let us therefore hasten to make covenant with King Jesus through faith in his gospel, securing our own place in his city that will endure in glory forever." ~ Richard Phillips
The Wrath of the Weak
Rev. Bruce Brown
II Samuel 4:1-12
I. Assumptions Reveal Our Sin (verses 1-8)
II. Gratitude Remedies Our Idolatry (verse 9)
III. Justice Reassures God’s Saints (verses 9-12)
"It was a glorious thing for Israel to have in David a king who would enforce God’s bloody justice upon the wicked. But in Jesus Christ we have a higher sovereign and a better Savior. Christ is a king who not only inflicts justice on his enemies but who takes upon himself the penalty of his peoples’ sins, offering his own blood to save us from the severe judgment we have deserved. If in our waywardness we find God's mercy to seem severe, we nonetheless rejoice over every stroke, every loss, and every trial that leads us to the crowning mercy and the glory of knowing Jesus Christ.” ~ Richard Phillips
The Pursuit of Peace
Rev. Bruce Brown
II Samuel 3:1-30
November 15, 2020
I. Seeking Peace through Personal Advantage (verses 2-5)
II. Staging Peace for Personal Gain (verses 6-21)
III. Stalling Peace with Personal Revenge (verses 22-30)
“If we are to have peace and blessing in the church, then Christians must be led by those who are servant-hearted and zealous for the good of God’s people even at their own expense.…. For the believer in Jesus, the basis and the power of peace is Christ himself. For “he himself is our peace,” Paul writes, who has made all believers one “and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14). Sinners may have peace with the very God they have offended through the peace that Jesus gives through his own blood. And it is through born-again Joabs, looking on the Abners of their lives, their hearts melted with the peace of Christ, no longer burning with the fires of resentment and hatred, that Jesus extends, promotes, and offers his peace to a dying, divided, and sin afflicted world.” ~ Richard Phillips
A House Divided
“A House Divided”
Rev. Bruce Brown
II Samuel 2:12-3:1
I. The Death of Unity in Israel (vss. 12-17)
II. The Death Blind Obsession Brings (vss. 18-24)
III. The Deep Divide and Better Blood (vss. 25- 3 vs. 1)
“Do not be surprised that the best human efforts achieve less than we hope for. Often much less. Do not be disillusioned when what we do achieve is weak and fragile. It is (as it has always been) God’s work to bring in His kingdom. Only when He establishes his kingdom will we know the peace for which we long. Only when we remember Bethlehem will we pray authentically “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10)” ~ John Woodhouse
Kingdom Ambition
Rev. Bruce Brown
November 1, 2020
II Samuel 2:1-11
I. How the King Began His Reign (verses 1-4a)
II. How the King Extended His Reign (verses 4b-7)
III. How the King Was Opposed (verses 8-11)
“These events provide us with an opportunity to contemplate the reign of our LORD Jesus Christ. Our King Jesus has begun to reign, not in Hebron, but in Heaven. He is the King who in perfect obedience exercises God’s good rule. His Kingdom really is God’s Kingdom. His word (even to his would-be enemies) is a word of grace, extraordinary mercy, and kindness. He is the one who will bring the kindness of God to those who come to him.” ~ John Woodhouse
The Glory of the Church
Rev. Bruce Brown
October 25, 2020
Psalm 87
I. The Glory of Zion (verses 1-3)
II. The Congregation in Zion (verses 4-6)
III. The Joys from Zion (verse 7)
"Everything that makes life worth living comes from membership of Zion. Everything. We do not sing that some of what rejoices our hearts comes from what we may be proud of in this life - our citizenship, or education, or career success, or family - and that there is a little room at the end for a measure of joy that we find in belonging to the church of Christ. No! All the fountains that feed my life and give me joy come from being a member, by new birth, of the church of Jesus Christ." ~ Christopher Ash
Blessed to be a Blessing
Rev. Bruce Brown
Psalm 67
October 18, 2020
I. God’s Blessings on the Church to the Nations (verses 1-2)
II. God’s Blessings to the Nations Brings Praise (verses 3-5)
III. God’s Blessings and the Harvest (verses 6-7)
Our eyes, when we see the bounty that God has heaped on us, can never be focused simply upon our enjoyment of the bounty that God has given to us nor even in our thanksgiving to God for that bounty that He has given to us…but our eyes must turn to the nations. We must ask the Lord, like the Psalmist, that the nations too would share in His bounty. And so the believer longs for God to be served and praised through the salvation of people from every tribe and tongue and nation. This is an expression of the church's desire for the salvation of the nations." ~ Ligon Duncan
Glorying in the Gifts of Our God and Savior
Rev. Shaun Hurrie
II Peter 1:1-4
October 11, 2020
I. Glorying in a Faith of Equal Standing (verse 1)
II. Glorying in All Things That Pertain to Life and Godliness (verse 3)
III. Glorying in His Precious and Very Great Promises (verse 4)
I Peter 1:1-4 (ESV) Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
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