Madison Reformed Church

Many good morality stories warn us to be humble instead of prideful. But Scripture alone gives sufficient reason to be humble: the command to be humble and the promise to be exalted has already be embodied by the Savior Jesus, and because we are exalted through him, all the benefits of Christian humility come into clear focus. 

The Heidelberg Catechism is a summary of the main teachings of Christianity, put in Question & Answer format. In this sermon, we cover Scripture's teaching about our misery in sin, God's grace in the gospel, and our thankful response, otherwise known as  guilt, grace, and gratitude.

When God does a new thing, he gives us a new song to sing about it. He acts, and we praise. In this Christmas Day sermon on Psalm 96, we find ourselves caught up in the song that heaven and nature are singing, a new song about the wonderful work of salvation, accomplished by the Savior.

In this last sermon in our series on the 10 Commandments, we learn that coveting is when our desire goes wrong. Either we want something that God says is bad, or we want something more than we want God. Scripture shows us that this tenth commandment is deeply related to the first—Paul says "covetousness...is idolatry."

The full Festival of Lessons & Carols — 9 Scripture readings and carols telling the story of redemption. A 10-minute reflection on Luke 2:14 begins at 37:25.

There’s a mystery at the center of Scripture too. Many puzzle pieces are given throughout.  Paul explains here at the very end of Romans that God has revealed this mystery to be a powerful message—the gospel about Jesus Christ. And when we receive that message, we grow in faith and in obedience.

Sociologists have called this the “ information age.” With all this data and all the facts of history and the sciences at our fingertips, we have never been more confused about what the truth actually is. The ninth commandment—you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor—is grounded in God himself. To tell a lie is to go against God himself and his reality. But we are called to uphold Go...

Ever felt like throwing in the towel on your faith? The world that Zephaniah spoke to was a complicated. Our world is different, but still complicated. And the people of God then and now have faced temptation to give up. But Zephaniah had some good news: "The King is in your midst," and this King is our Lord Jesus Christ, who has come to save.

The 8th commandment—you shall not steal—speaks directly to our attitude about possessions: money and property. In this sermon,  we look at the marks of greedy stewardship on the one hand, grateful stewardship on the other, and how Christ makes the difference.

At the heart of Psalm 72 we are introduced to a King whose reign and rule are so wonderful that all nations, people, and even all kings of the earth bow before him to bring him gifts. This Psalm gives us a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is like with our Lord on the throne—a Righteous, Universal, & Everlasting King.

Renewed by the Holy Spirit, we are called in the 7th Commandment to avoid adultery and all sexual sin. This can be true of us because of how the Lord has acted toward us and for us, specifically in terms of his commitment to his people  and especially through his purifying blood shed on the cross.

In Isaiah 63–64, a watchman was set upon the walls of Jerusalem, who prayed that the Lord would "rend the heavens and come down." This prayer was answered climactically in the first advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who took on our flesh. In this sermon from the 1st Sunday in Advent 2022, we learn how to pray this same prayer with joy and repentance.

In this catechism sermon on the 6th commandment "you shall not murder," we learn that with Christ’s help, we are not only to keep ourselves from the root of murder (which is hatred), but we are also called to do the opposite of murder, which is to preserve and protect our neighbors. 

To know God is to thank him. He is not only the Almighty God, but kind and generous to his people. And this is supposed to lead us to constant gratitude. But if we're honest, we're not very thankful people. In this sermon from our Thanksgiving Eve service, we learn from Romans 1 the reasons why we are to give thanks to the Lord.

Jesus has no problem with tradition, unless tradition is treated as more important that God's Word. In this passage from Mark 7, Jesus demonstrates that no man-made traditions can deal with our greatest problem—defiled hearts.

Parents and children alike are sinners in need of the grace of God. In this sermon on the 5th commandment "Honor your father & mother," we explore the ways that God being our Father equips us to obey this command.

Nate Osner (Reformed University Fellowship, Purdue) teaches from Matthew 7 with the guidance of the Westminster Shorter Catechism to helps us understand what prayer is and what prayer is not .

Nate Osner (Reformed University Fellowship, Purdue) opens up a passage in Galatians where the Apostle Paul challenge us with this questions—will you belong to Ishmael in a slavery of your own righteousness or to Isaac and the promise that God's righteousness has been given to you?

In this story from Mark 6, Jesus walks on the water, and the disciples respond to him with hardened hearts. One of the most common temptations that we face as Christians is to harden our hearts to the Lord—to misunderstand who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Instead, we are called to recognize him as the Lord of glory and receive his benefits.

In this sermon on the 4th command, we learn that God's own eternal rest is the ground of our observance of the Sabbath, and that we apply the Sabbath to our lives in two main ways: (1) our weekly Lord's Day celebrations, and (2) our daily rest from evil works.

In this world, it is hard to feel truly satisfied.  But in this famous story of the feeding of the 5,000, we are given a glimpse of where satisfaction may be found. Jesus reveals himself to be the compassionate Shepherd from heaven, who denies himself in order to feed his people until they are satisfied.

At some point, everyone uses God's name. We hear it in our services and sermons, but we also hear it in the profanity of people around us. How do we use God's name rightly? By coming to terms with his almighty power and his wonderful grace. In this sermon on the 3rd Commandment, we learn some of the ways to use God's glorious name in a reverent way.

Last week we saw a painful episode in which Jesus himself faced rejection . Today, we come to a passage that challenges us to see ourselves in that same story. In fact, the message of these verses is nicely summed up by what another book of the Bible says: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Because our Savior suffered rejection, his followers mu...

There are many who hear the term “10 commandments” and immediately are turned off. All they can think of is rules and condemnation. Psalm 19:10 says this about God’s commandments: “They are to be more desired than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” In this sermon, we begin the 1st Commandment and learn how to turn away from idolatry.

Rejection is hard. But it really depends on who is doing the rejecting, and who is being rejected. In this passage, Jesus is a prophet who is rejected by his hometown. Yet he demonstrates that he has the marks of God’s ultimate Prophet—the one who truly reveals the way to be saved. The response he receives teaches us that we must not allow our familiarity with him to lead us over time to push him...