Below are the third section of Matthew Henry's comments on Leviticus 14:1-9. Since I am only addressing the broad theological point of restoration in today's sermon, I thought include a quotation from Henry. However, the whole section is worth sharing, so here is just that. If it was found that the leprosy was healed, the …
Fools mock at the guilt offering,but the upright enjoy acceptance. Proverbs 14:9 ESV This past Sunday, I preached a sermon over the guilt offering in Leviticus. When preparing to preach, there are always bits left on the cutting room floor that don’t make it into the final cut on Sunday morning. And when I …
Continue reading Fools Mock at the Guilt Offering | Proverbs 14:9
Given how topsy-turvy is our society’s understanding of marriage and sexuality, I very nearly preached a standalone sermon on Hebrews 13:4: "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." Yet since I intend to teach through Christopher Gordon's excellent …
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:16 ESV With preaching through the entire Epistle to the Hebrews, my thoughts for sermon-text divisions has been to choose large chunks …
Continue reading Not Ashamed to Be Called Their God | Hebrews 11:16
In last Sunday's sermon, I decided not to make much comment on Hebrews 9:23, except noting that it is the author's transition from speaking of the old covenant to speaking of Christ. However, if we slow down to read that verse carefully, a significant question arises: "Thus it was necessary for the copies of the …
Continue reading Why Did Jesus Need to Purify Heaven? | Hebrews 9:23
The following quotation is from Richard Phillips' expository commentary on the book of Hebrews: Complaining is a symptom of a deeper spiritual problem. If we grumble and complain, if we rebel and revolt, it indicates a very poor knowledge of God. Indeed, this was exactly the Lord's diagnosis of Israel, as we see in verse …
This past Sunday I introduced the passage of study with a quotation from N. D. Wilson about how life gets progressively more and more difficult, regardless of how much you have actually matured. It seemed to capture the essence of Israel's sudden battle with the Amalekites. Ready or not, battle was thrust upon them. And …
You may have noticed that Sunday's sermon had significantly less quotations than normal. That is because I ended up going in a different direction with the sermon than I typically do. Rather than focusing upon the centurion, the women, and Joseph in detail, I decided to largely focus on the three together as example of …
I frequently tell others that one of the most difficult parts of sermon preparation is deciding what to leave behind. Since God's Word is infinitely profitable, no one can ever mine the full depths of even one passage or one verse. Thus, after spending time in study, I have never come away wondering if I …
Over the past two Sundays, I preached two fairly well-known texts, Jesus calming the storm and Jesus healing the demoniac. While studying for the first sermon, I began to think about all the possible applications that could be made from that passage, yet increasingly, I became even more rooted in my conviction that Mark particularly …
B. C. Newton 