Calvary Baltimore Weekly Sermons

See the attached PDF to navigate through today's passage, by clicking the button labeled "Jude Chiasm". The book of Jude has 25 verses, all arranged as a chiasm: a literary structure wherein the main theme is located in the center of the passage, and the verses surrounding it point to, and flesh out, the central theme. In Jude, we have 5 sections to the chiasm, structured like this: A-B-C-D - E -...

Malachi has a legal tone. It was written to a corrupted priesthood. These are the disputes between God and the people.  There are six (possibly seven) sections or disputations. Malachi might be the prophet Ezra, but his identity is not truly known. He was a prophet, writing around 450 BC.  v2-5... First disputation... This is not about the wrath or judgment of God, but the love of God! "I have lov...

They traveled 6 days before the transfiguration... may be a nod to Exodus 24:15... Moses spent 6 days in the glory cloud. Also, Adam was made on the 6th day, and now the new Adam will defeat the serpent the first Adam failed to defeat. Luke says 8 days, not 6. He delineates the time differently. The mountain... which one? Maybe Mt. Tabor. Maybe Mt. Hermon at Caesarea Phillippi... if so, it may be...

The big picture of the transfiguration: Peter announces Jesus is the Christ... the people don't really know what that means. Then Jesus describes what it means in Mark's gospel. Upon hearing he'll die to accomplish his mission, Peter rebukes him, assuming Jesus is simply doubting his mission, and Jesus rebukes him right back. Messiah will suffer, and we will suffer to follow him. Only the path of...

It's been Jesus the Messiah from the beginning, interacting with man... Abraham is responding to both the Father and the Son. He's called out as a gentile, and never becomes a Jew. Israel was originally a gentile country. He sees us and calls us out for his holy purposes from the beginning of time!  Joshua 24:1... Abraham wasn't merely a gentile, but an idolator. Yet God was able to use him! There...

The first audience for Mark would have been gentile Christians, likely under Nero. Nero was at fault for the great fire of Rome, and to deflect from his guilt, he blamed, even demonized Christians. He had them killed in the most brutal ways. So as Jesus is talking about the crucified believer inheriting the Kingdom of God, it's an encouragement to these persecuted Christians! It's not shameful to...

In Mark 1, Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, offering him all the kingdoms of the world without the suffering of the cross. Here in chapter 8, Peter is wanting the same thing. So Jesus calls him Satan, as he's setting his mind on the things of man.  When it comes to Jesus's love and compassion, we should follow his example. But should we also follow him in calling it as he sees it? Calling th...

Here, Jesus explains what is meant when Mark calls him the Christ in Mark 1:1: he's going to suffer, die, and rise again. Regarding the deutero-canonical books included in Catholic Bibles, 1 and 2 Maccabees for example were in the septuagint, used as a source for Bible translation. The works are mostly historical. Jesus contradicts the assertion made in those books that the Messiah will be a great...

In the book of Mark so far, Everyone has misunderstood who Jesus is. In chapters 1-8, faith is scarce. The main source for people's beliefs were intertestamental writings, nonbiblical sources such as the Psalms Of Solomon... which speak of the Messiah as a great military leader. They missed that he'd be the suffering servant spoken of in Isaiah!  Verse 31...  Jesus speaks here of his impending suf...

1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Samuel are written to be read together. It's interesting that the story of kings in Israel begins with a barren woman. Israel needs the promised seed from Genesis 3 to come and crush the head of the serpent! Eli represents a "blind priesthood"; lacking spiritual discernment, he does the opposite of what the people need. 1Sam 2... Hannah after her sacrifice pours out her h...

The Pharisees were looking for a sign... so Jesus didn't want to heal the blind man publicly. He at first says the people look like trees... 1. He wasn't always blind 2. It was as if he was briefly seeing people as "trees" in another dimension. If anyone would follow Jesus, he must carry a tree (cross). 3. 1 Enoch was popular, quoted in Scripture. chapter 3 verse 1... talks about people as trees....

Peter's confession begins the passion narrative, the road to the cross. v22-24... The people asked him to heal their friend, he touched his hand and spit on him and he was partially healed. Then he laid his hands on the man's eyes and he was healed completely.  Why the delay? A miracle in two stages. He didn't have to do it this way. He chose to... He's acting something out for our benefit. He's s...

Why doesn't Jesus give the Pharisees a sign? He knew they'd still view him as a deceiver, as he didn't follow the man-made traditions they consider on par with Scripture. In Mark 3:22, they already claimed he performs his miracles demonically. They've tried to create a no-win situation for him. No sign will be given... three thoughts: 1. Jesus is giving a master class in how to handle difficult pe...

In today's passage, Mark moves from a gentile-centric account to one focused on the Pharisees. Their demands for a sign from heaven come not from faith, but from a lack of it; they're trying to test Jesus (like Satan did), and he's having no part of it. We see the same story in Matthew 16:2... Here, we find that the Pharisees can read lots of things, but are not able to read the signs of the times...

1 Sam 1:15-28 Hannah is barren; she represents Israel. Eli represents the high priests of Israel, with a bad eye, spiritually blind. He's a wicked father who has put his wicked sons in charge of the temple. Hannah is godly, but a woman of great anxiety... anxiety is a given in this world; everyone experiences it and it's not necessarily a sign of weak faith! When Eli tells her, "may God grant your...

Fire is more than a physical element in Scripture. It's the very essence of God's presence, his consuming love, and the transformative power that shapes us into his image. From the burning bush that wasn't consumed to the flames that danced on Pentecost, we see that God invites us to dwell in his glory without being destroyed. God designed the entire universe to teach us about himself. Even his na...

Jesus loves all people; he feeds Jew and Gentile. He provides for those who put their faith in him; he's the Good Shepherd who provides for his flock. So much of Jesus' work rendered him "unclean" by the Pharisees' standards; he completely rejected the oral tradition of the Pharisees. Jesus' journey was not direct through the region. It appears he went out of his way to reach the Gentiles in this...

Mark 7:31-8:10 Jesus healed a deaf man, and we know from elsewhere that the Pharisees are upset with his breach of cleanliness. He told people not to tell about the healing, but they did anyway, so the crowds became even more of a problem. Then Jesus feeds the 4000, primarily gentiles, around the Decapolis. He'd fed the 5000 (mostly Jews) before, and now it's the gentiles' turn.  Jesus has compass...

In this passage, we're being introduced to the fact, by and large, that the gentiles will be the ones who accept Jesus as Lord. Jesus withdrew from Tyre and Sidon because he felt he has to leave. In parallel with Elijah, he meets a Syrophoenician woman, then tests the woman (with the parable about bread), and he heals her child. Tyre and Sidon were supposed to be part of the tribe of Asher, but we...

Jesus first came to the Jewish people... Feed the children (Jews) first, then the puppies/dogs (gentiles).  This gentile woman from the region that gave us Jezebel was the first person outside the apostles to hear and understand a parable... and this is the only time in the gospels that Jesus concedes another person's point! And he heals her daughter. God is opening the eyes of the gentiles. This...

Nothing outside a man can come in and defile him. Jesus explains this to the apostles from inside a house; the Pharisees want him dead, but it's not yet his time, so he often meets indoors, in secret. The disciples ask Jesus to explain the parable because they need God to open their eyes. 1Cor1:21-25... the wisdom of men is foolishness to God. Only the Spirit of God can regenerate the unregenerate...

When the traditions of men become law, they can divide and devastate the people of God. The Hebrew oral traditions strayed from the main point of the Law, and ended up dishonoring what God actually requires. This is why we adhere to Scripture alone as the final authority! It's not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out (evil thoughts, sexual immorality, etc.) Jesus says all food...

1 and 2 Samuel (two parts of one work) and 1 and 2 Kings (also two parts of one work) are sequential, and should be read together. There's been a great apostasy in Israel as we start 1 Samuel. Samuel was born to become a lifeline for Israel, a precursor looking ahead to Jesus. Polygamy is described here, not endorsed. Hannah is the favored one, despite her initial inability to conceive. Elkanah to...

When you follow God's leading, sometimes you later look back and it looks completely different from what you thought he was calling you to. But if we're following his will, he is with us! Jesus touches the unclean to heal them, and the Pharisees challenge him for his uncleanliness. Jesus prioritized the unclean and reached out to them, and the Pharisees prioritized their oral traditions. In the se...

Let's not be nitpickers and fault finders! Some good marriage advice: don't major in the minors. Satan likes to take those little irksome things and amplify them.  We are to genuinely love one another, not just give them our words but give them our hearts. Don't follow the commandments of men over the holy scriptures! When man's teaching disagrees with the Word of God, we go with the ultimate auth...