Well, as you are well aware if you have been with us throughout most of this study of Hosea, most of the message of Hosea is a message of judgment. It is a message of warning. It is the Lord through the prophet bringing his people face to face with their sins and the Lord calling upon them to recognize the gravity of their sins and the truly destructive nature of their sins. This is the main message of Hosea. And yet what we cannot miss in the book, what is unmistakable, what appears interspersed all throughout the book is also the certain knowledge of God’s love, God’s amazing patience, his grace, his mercy, because throughout the book you have the Lord calling these people to repent. Don’t just recognize that you have sinned. Don’t just recognize where it all leads, but recognize it so that you are rescued from it. Turn from it. Turn to the living God. Receive his forgiveness and submit your life to him. Obey him. That is the purpose of the book. That is the goal of the book. [opening lines of the sermon copied from PDF]
Category: Sin
Philippians 2:12 and 13 with commentary by Albert Barnes
The two verses considered in this post are important to understand for encouragement and motivation. I believe that and have been reading through Philippians recently for help on the battle front of my own personal spiritual warfare. If you’re flagging in your own spiritual warfare, his words may also be of help to you.
Combat Between the Flesh and the Spirit – Puritan Christopher Love
This post contains 3 videos: a video short, a 17-minute excerpt of the full sermon from which the short came; and the full-length sermon. The Puritan Christopher Love addressed the matter of the Holy Spirit’s work in sanctifying the believer. He focused on two aspects: what the Spirit does to dissuade a believer from sinning; and what the Spirit does to sanctify the believer after he has sinned. Every Christian needs to understand this matter as well as possible such that he/she is receptive to the Spirit’s workings. Highlights are provided for the 17-minute excerpt; a link to some posts in this blog about Jonathan Edwards addressing these matters, but Edwards was not as thorough as Love.
Jesus’ Teaching on Marriage and Gender – Things Unseen – Sinclair Ferguson
This post contains a 6-minute video by Pastor Sinclair Ferguson which clarifies Jesus’ teaching on gender and marriage. With all the confusion in the 21st century church, he is a voice of reason that stands with God, His word and His Messiah. You may do what you want, but there are consequences, as Ferguson indicated in the brief video. Also, as some recently tried to say about Ferguson and other evangelicals from across the pond, their compassion is actually in line with God’s, not with man’s.
WHAT ARE THE 7 DEADLY SINS? – Got Questions Ministries
This very brief Got Questions Ministries article explains the 7 deadly sins from a biblical perspective.
The Tenth Commandment – Pastor Patrick Hines
This post contains a 14-minute excerpt of Pastor Hines sermon on the 10th commandment; the whole sermon was also posted for those who might want to hear it. The excerpt is accompanied by highlight points. Pastor Hines message was built around biblical contentment; he closed by relating that to commandment 10.
1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication… sinneth against his own body
In my daily reading, 1 Cor. 4-7, I spent time reading commentaries on the following verse. I wanted some clarity about the underscored portion of the following verse. I read several commentaries from the e-Sword Bible app on my iPhone, two of those commentaries are pasted in below: Albert Barnes and Matthew Henry. Barnes treats only verse 18; Henry, 12-20 of 1 Cor. 6. Scripture pasted in for those who would like to review it before reading.
Unity of Old and New Testaments [Part 2]
The purpose of this series is to show that Bible covenants cause the Old and New Testaments to have unity. The Old and New Testaments, are the revelation of One God to a people He is calling out of this world. One can easily see the truth of that statement if he/she looks at God’s plan of redemption via the covenants He entered into with mankind in order to restore him, to redeem him. Excerpts from John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion will be used to support my purpose statement.
Christian Affliction… Being Exercised… Blessed Fruits — C H Spurgeon
C H Spurgeon’s three sermon points were: the outward appearance of our trials; blessed fruitfulness of trials; and those exercised by trials. It is a 45-minute sermon that mentioned points I had never heard on this topic. The section about being exercised is very beneficial to know if you are in the midst of trials. All Christians will eventually be there. There are sermon highlights, and several term definitions.