Christ the King Newton Sermons

“What we think about God will determine what we think about everything else. To speak of ‘God’ is to invoke the context for all understanding, that to which all life and thought are related: to the extent that we live and think at all, therefore, we do so in light of our understanding — whether explicit or implicit — of God. Theology, that is, is never merely ideation. It is always and inherently...

“What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?” — J. Gresham Machen Luke's Purpose (Luke 1:1-4) Rev. Nathan Barczi Luke 1:1-4

“We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt, and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ.” —John Stott Christmas Changes Everything (Galatians 4:1-7) Rev. Bradley Barnes Galatians 4:1-7

The tree of life my soul hath seen, Laden with fruit and always green; The trees of nature fruitless be, Compared with Christ the Apple Tree. His beauty doth all things excel, By faith I know but ne’er can tell The glory which I now can see, In Jesus Christ the Appletree. For happiness I long have sought, And pleasure dearly I have bought; I missed of all but now I see ‘Tis found in Christ the App...

“That feast will be, like most other marriage suppers, the fulfilment of long expectation. Our Lord has waited long for his perfected Church. He espoused himself to her before ever the earth was; but there was much to be done ere she was prepared for the marriage. The Bridegroom, too, had to leave his Father, and become one with his Bride by taking upon himself our humanity. For our sake, he did q...

“Maker of the sun, He is made under the sun. . . . In [the Father] He remains, From [His mother] He goes forth. Creator of heaven and earth, He was born on earth under heaven. Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless; filling the world, He lies in a manger; Ruler of the stars, He nurses at His mother’s bosom. He is both great in the nature of God, and small in the form of a servant, but so that H...

“My name from the palms of His hands Eternity will not erase; Impressed on His heart it remains In marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure, As sure as the earnest is given More happy, but not more secure, The glorified spirits in heaven.” — Augustus Toplady, “ A Debtor to Mercy Alone” Hope for God’s Community (Revelation 5) Rev. Bradley Barnes Revelation 5

“To witness the perpetual marvel of the world’s coming into being is to sense the presence of the Giver in the given, to realize that the source of time is eternity, that the secret of being is the eternal within time. … All week long we are called upon to sanctify life through employing things of space.  On the Sabbath it is given us to share in the holiness that is in the heart of time. … E...

“Holiness is thus not so much an abstract or a mystic idea, as a regulative principle in the everyday lives of men and women. ... Holiness is thus attained not by flight from the world, nor by monk-like renunciation of human relationships of family or station, but by the spirit in which we fulfill the obligations of life in its simplest and commonest details: in this way—by doing justly, loving me...

“Unfortunately, many modern Christians have been deeply formed within the surrounding culture, so that they have… come to see their relationships and marriages in purely individualistic terms. Their marriages are perceived as solely for their own benefit rather than existing also for the sake of the church and its witness in the world. It is no wonder, then, that Christian relationships are often...

“You should tell the devil: ‘Just by telling me that I am a miserable, great sinner you are placing a sword and weapon into my hand with which I can decisively overcome you; yea, with your own weapon I can kill and floor you. For if you can tell me that I am a poor sinner, I on the other hand, can tell you that Christ died for sinners, and is their Intercessor . . . You remind me of the boundless,...

“For the Scriptures teach me that God established two seats for men, a judgment seat for those who are still secure and proud and will neither acknowledge nor confess their sin, and a mercy seat for those whose conscience is poor and needy, who feel and confess their sin, dread his judgment, and yearn for his grace. And this mercy seat is Christ himself . . . There shall I take my refuge when I ha...

“The Scripture stories do not, like Homer’s, court our favor, they do not flatter us that they may please us and enchant us — they seek to subject us, and if we refuse to be subjected we are rebels.” — Erich Auerbach “In the self-assured world of modernity people seek to make sense of the Scriptures, instead of hoping, with the aid of the Scriptures, to make some sense of themselves.” — Nicholas L...

“You should tell the devil: ‘Just by telling me that I am a miserable, great sinner you are placing a sword and weapon into my hand with which I can decisively overcome you; yea, with your own weapon I can kill and floor you. For if you can tell me that I am a poor sinner, I on the other hand, can tell you that Christ died for sinners, and is their Intercessor . . . You remind me of the boundless,...

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” — John the Baptist when he sees Jesus, John 1 God Designed Community (Exodus 40:34-Leviticus 1:9) Rev. Bradley Barnes Exodus 40:34 - Leviticus 1:9

“[Christians] dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but no...

“Love has redeemed His sheep with blood; And love will bring them safe to God; Love calls them all from death to life; And love will finish all their strife.” — William Gadsby, “The Love of Christ is Rich and Free” Love Each Other with ‘Stranger Love' (1 Peter 4:7-11) Rev. Bradley Barnes 1 Peter 4:7-11

“ For Peter, identity begins with such questions as, ‘Who is my God? Whom do I trust? What is my community?’ The question ‘Whose am I?’ Has more weight than ‘Who am I? ” — Daniel M. Doriani A Living Temple (1 Peter 2:4-10) Rev. Nathan Barczi 1 Peter 2:4-10

“A sermon without Christ! As well a loaf of bread without flour in it. How can it feed the soul?” — Charles Spurgeon The Gospel, The Narrative that Animates Our Life (1 Peter 1:3-12) Rev. Bradley Barnes 1 Peter 1:3-12

“Because this act was done by this one, there and then, acts of reconciliation are more than an attempt to create reality by establishing imagined communities which offer a different sort of social space from that of the world’s routine violence.  Human acts of reconciliation are in accordance with the structure of reality which God in Christ creates and to the existence of which the gospel t...

“Paul’s emphasis on unity-in-diversity is grounded in the nature of the one God, who is holy Trinity. … Paul sees all persons of the Trinity as involved fully in creation, redemption, and salvation. All gifts come ultimately from God the originating and loving Father, but God gives them through Jesus Christ as Mediator, and they are appropriated by the enabling work of the Holy Spirit.” — Anthony...

“... so much American Christianity today comes packaged as inspirational uplift—sunlit, backlit, or candlelit. Furthermore, we are so accustomed to seeing the cross functioning as decoration that we can scarcely imagine it as an object of shame and scandal unless it is burned on someone’s lawn. It requires a considerable effort of the imagination to enter into the first century world of the Roman...

“ Q. 172. May one who doubts of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation, come to the Lord’s supper? A. One who doubts of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof; and in God’s account has it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly desir...

“The justice behind God’s creation of male and female and his arrangement of the different roles he chose for them may not always be apparent to us. Why one and not the other? But should we expect our finitude to understand the infinite, omnipotent, wise, good, lovely, gracious justice of God? Perhaps some inkling resides in the dance of the sexes, by which we reveal truth about the inner life of...

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship Freedom in Christ (1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1) Rev. Bradley Barnes 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1