Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church

[Sung Psalm: 66] The English Standard Version says: "To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, etc., according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Every previous translation has separated the idea of election from the idea of exile. All previous translations give you the sense that you are elect in spite of the fact that you are an exile–or a sojourner–or a stranger. They sug...

Throughout the book of Kings, we have seen that our author has one basic test for a king: Does he do what is right in the sight of the LORD – or not? And what it means to do what right (or evil) in the sight of the LORD is always focused on worship. Worship will have profound consequences on everything else in life! Why do you do what you do in worship? Tonight we watch Ahaz conform his worship to...

Do you see what Paul did with Psalm 68? "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." In Psalm 68, God ascends on high and receives gifts from men. In Ephesians 4, God ascends on high and gives gifts to men! But Paul is not mis-quoting Psalm 68. Rather, Paul is thinking about the whole of Psalm 68 – not just verse 18. He blends verse 18 with verse 35 – because in...

We're back to the short, swift, boring narrative. One boring king after another. There are two periods in Israel's history where you see this rapid-fire style: 1 Kings 15-16 and 2 Kings 14-16. Both start with a Jeroboam, and then run quickly through seven kings. There are lots of conspiracies, coups, and dynastic changes. Israel is in turmoil. But of course, if you look at the layout of the book o...

We have come to the end of our journey through Psalm 119. As we come to the concluding pair of stanzas, we find a word that we have not heard much in the whole Psalm: "Praise" (verses 164, 171, and 175). In all of the intimate conversation between the Psalmist and the LORD, the word "praise" only arises here at the end. Even as the Psalter as a whole ends with a crescendo of praise (Psalms 146-150...

Have you ever noticed that the death of Elisha seems to be hanging in the middle of nowhere? We haven't heard from Elisha in the last four chapters. Indeed, after the anointing of Hazael and Jehu, Elisha disappears. Elisha had been anointed during the reign of Ahab. He took Elijah's place just after the death of Ahaziah. The bulk of his ministry was focused on the 12 years of Jehoram, the son of A...

As we draw near to the end of Psalm 119, the Psalmist makes it clear that the point of this prayer is a matter of life and death. A dozen times in Psalm 119 the Psalmist says "give me life." Four of those times are in today's two stanzas: verses 149, 154, 156, and 159. God created Adam after his image and breathed the breath of life into him. But in his rebellion Adam forfeited life. And ever sinc...

2 Kings 11 starts off with a bizarre episode of a grandmother killing all her descendants. We've heard in recent years of mothers killing their children, or children killing their parents, but it's rare that you ever hear of a grandmother killing her grandchildren! What is going on? Athaliah guarantees that she will have no legacy. All she cares about is what happens in her own lifetime. I suppose...

And so now in the last half of Psalm 119 we are looking at life in the "already" and the "not yet." Jesus Christ has established his kingdom. He is seated at the right hand of the Father as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But we do not yet see all things in subjection to him, rather, "we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor...

"I hate the double-minded" Is hatred ever appropriate for the Christian? The last line of our text today, verse 128, "I hate every false way," is much easier to handle. Of course we hate every false way. Of course we hate evil generically considered. But to hate the "double-minded" means that we are hating people. Is this just an Old Testament mindset? Or is it ever appropriate for a Christian to...

Last time we saw the beginning of the destruction of the house of Ahab, and tonight we will see its utter eradication from the face of the earth. This is a reminder to us of how our Lord Jesus Christ overthrows every antichrist. Every power that arrays itself against the Lord and his anointed will be overthrown. Last time we saw how Jehu is the only "christ" in the northern kingdom of Israel. He i...

[Sung Psalm: 16] This is an adaptation of Melito of Sardis' sermon "On the Passover" ("Peri Pascha"). A current English translation starts on page 37 of this book: https://sachurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/On-Pascha-Melito-of-Sardis.pdf

Do you remember Jezreel? Jezreel means (in Hebrew) "God will sow." But it was in Jezreel that Ahab turned a vineyard into a vegetable garden. The vineyard was a picture of Israel – the vine whom God planted in the land – the vegetable garden was a picture of Egypt. A vineyard takes years to develop, and lasts for generations. A vegetable garden may come and go, and may last for only a season. And...

In Elijah, God was trying to provoke Israel to repentance by sending his prophet to the Gentiles. In Elisha, God has given up on Israel as a whole, but calls the remnant – the sons of the prophets – to faithfulness in spite of the apostasy of their rulers. Now, let's remember where we are in the book of Kings: the book of Kings starts with the establishment of the house of David; then tells of the...

One of the key words for stanza 12 was "forever" (olam). "Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens." (v89) "Forever, I will not forget your precepts" (v93) That same word continues to play an important role in stanzas 13-14 (verses 98, 111, 112). This pair of stanzas both opens and closes with "forever" and in the middle it talks about the path (verses 101, 102, 104, 105). In othe...

Nowadays we are very "present" focused. We are very shortsighted – only thinking about our immediate future: what we will eat, what we will wear, or at most what we will do in a few months or a few years. We buy computers that will last for 2-3 years. We have a "disposable" mentality – everything is designed to last for a few months or a few years. In such a transient world, "longing for forever"...

What should you think about when you sing these lines? "Although the proud smear me with lies, I keep your decrees from the heart. Their hearts are unfeeling and hard; I love what your precepts impart." Do you struggle with singing about the "proud" in this way? Do you feel "proud" – as though you are saying "I'm better than them"? We live in a day that delights in absolute equality. No one is bet...

Kings has told us stories of the battles between Israel and Syria. The military-political strife between Ben-Hadad and the northern Kingdom of Israel dominated the era of the Omride dynasty. Kings has also told us micro-histories - little stories of little people on whom God had mercy and preserved them in the midst of the apostasy of the nation. 2 Kings 5 tells a very different sort of story. It...

Today we are looking at the 7th and 8th stanzas of the Psalm. The seventh stanza begins with the letter "zayin." This seventh stanza is the stanza of memory – rooted in the word "zachar" which means "remember." Zachar is the first word of verses 49, 52 and 55. Even as the seventh day of Exodus 20 is the day of rest – and remembering - so also the seventh stanza of Psalm 119 is the stanza of rememb...

Our passage tonight is pervaded with death. It starts with a widow crying out, "Your servant my husband is dead." The Shunammite woman is barren (lifeless), and when God gives her a son, the son dies. The sons of the prophets nearly die of eating poisonous gourds, and a famine threatens death. (Indeed, next time we will see the living death–leprosy–that afflicts Naaman). Elisha is a prophet who br...

What was the sin of Jeroboam? Jeroboam had made two golden calves and told the people to worship Yahweh through the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. God had said for the people to worship him at Jerusalem, but the kings of Israel feared that the people would return to the house of David, and so they devised their own way to worship. (This is a good reminder that it is not merely who you worship, b...

Why does the Psalmist delight so much in God's law? Christopher Ashe gives three reasons: 1) The law in Psalm 119 combines law as command with law as promise; it encompasses the whole of God's gracious revelation... The 'law words' are at bottom 'grace words.' 2) Only Jesus Christ has gladly and freely kept every word of the law. The obedience of this one man is the necessary and sufficient basis...

We have come to the very center of the book of Kings! We have seen over and over in this story that the wages of sin is death. (We see that again tonight!) But in the ascension of Elijah we see the most profound sign of hope in the Old Testament! Why do I say the most profound sign of hope? Moses died here – and was buried by God. But Elijah is take up to heaven! Admittedly – in its own day, it mi...

Psalm 119 is known for being the most orderly and structured Psalm, with each of its 22 stanzas consisting of eight lines, each line beginning with the same Hebrew letter. But Psalm 119 should also be known for the way it talks about how disordered life can be. In fact, the rigidly ordered structure of Psalm 119 reminds us that in the midst of the seeming chaos and disorder that we face, nonethele...

When you hear "Psalm 119", what are your first associations? There are probably two things that immediately pop into your mind: 1) it is very long 2) it talks incessantly about the word of God With a little more study a third fact emerges: Psalm 119 is arranged as an acrostic. Each stanza has eight verses. Each of the eight verses in each stanza begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet....