Redeemer Church of Waterford

No one doctrine of the Bible can be taken in isolation from all of the other doctrines of the Bible. In 2 Peter 3, Peter's emphasis is a reply to the scoffers of his own day who denied the second coming of Jesus. But he places his reply in the context of five foundational Bible doctrines: Revelation, Creation, Eschatology, Redemption, and Sanctification.

What is my place, purpose, and role in the church? Before we can answer that question, we have to answer two others which Paul addresses in our text: what is the church? and how does anyone become a part of the church? Paul defines the church by giving us four pictures: a body, a community, a family, and a building.

Why does Paul glory only in the cross of Christ? Because he has come to see the futility of his earning a righteousness of his own by strictly observing the law. In the cross, he sees that God has eradicated Paul's works of righteousness and ours by condemning sin in the flesh of His dear Son, imputing to us the righteousness of His only Son by our faith in Him.

In his Second Epistle to Timothy, Paul sets the context for the Second Coming of Jesus when he contrasts loving the appearing of Jesus (chapter 4) with the competing desires of self-love, the love of money, and the love of pleasures (chapter 3).

In one verse from his letter to the Philippians (3:10), Paul gives to us the whole objective of the Christian life. What is the Christian life all about? What is its purpose? Its aim? Its goal? Its end? What is the thing that which most identifies us as followers of Jesus Christ?

Why is the cross offensive to modern sensibilities? The rational wisdom of this world, wisdom that is acquired through our experiences and observations, cannot comprehend - cannot even abide - the foolishness of the cross. Understanding what God was doing in Christ on the cross comes only through the Holy Spirit as He reveals "the hidden wisdom" of God which crushes the pride of man.

A Holy God demands of His sinful creatures a holiness equal to His own. How do we attain this holiness? How can we be reconciled to the holiness of God?

What was happening on the cross of Calvary? If Jesus was the Son of God, what is HE doing THERE? To ensure that our response to the cross is not one of sympathy or sentiment, we must have an understanding of exactly what God was doing in Christ on the cross.

Our wisdom, our strength, and our wealth all come from God. Just as quickly as these were attained, they can be lost in the providence of God. Therefore we have nothing to boast in except the Lord's lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness, which we can never lose.

Who is Jesus and why did He come? The only place from which an authoritative answer can come is from the testimony of the apostles: what they saw and what they heard.

Having defined Positional Sanctification and Progressive Sanctification in the previous message, we now go on to a consideration of the practical aspects of our sanctification.

Due to a technical issue, the first several minutes of this sermon were not recorded. The first name we see in the Book of Ruth is Elimelech, which means, "My God is King." The baby born to Ruth and Boaz is named Obed (the grandfather of King David) which means, "One who serves." The last word in the Book of Ruth is David, the one whom God chooses to be His Servant King.

The story of Ruth is a technicolor portrait of the Bible's unfolding drama of God seeking a bride for Himself. If you want to know what God's love for his people looks like, you need look no further than the story of Ruth and Boaz. What are the implications for our own marriages?

The house that Ruth built is the answer to three prayers: the prayer of Naomi in Ruth 1, the prayer of Boaz in Ruth 2, and the prayer of the elders of Bethlehem in Ruth 4. The answer to these prayers connects Ruth the Moabitess with Eve the Mother of All Living in Genesis 3, and with Mary, the Mother of Our Lord in Luke 2.

If you want to stop struggling with sin, stop struggling with sin. Stop focusing your efforts on overcoming sin. Rather, redirect your efforts to memorizing and meditating on the word of God, which will sanctify you by moving you away from the presence of sin and toward the presence of Christ.

From the beginning of chapter one, Naomi has been working on a rewrite. She wants to eliminate the pages of her story that are filled with loss, and sorrow, grief, and bitterness. She wants the exciting life, filled with car chases and rooftop leaps, leading to a happy ending where the father saves the children and he holds them in his arms. But what Naomi cannot see in the dark shadows of her gri...

The rampant sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, the abuse of young women by a doctor they ought to have been able to trust, 60 million babies aborted in the United States since 1973, all affirm God's word when He characterizes our world as one of ungodliness and unrighteousness. Why is the world as it is? For the Christian there can be only one answer: sin.

The kinsman Boaz takes this virtuous woman Ruth and covers her and redeems her in the same way our kinsman Jesus has covered us and redeemed us. When Solomon described the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 it is quite possible he had the reputation and character of his great-great grandmother Ruth in mind.

We act. But a Sovereign God is always acting in our acting.

What kind of church does Redeemer Church aspire to be? An ordinary church as defined by the early church in Acts 2: God calling (Acts 2:39) and adding (Acts 2:47). The church receiving (Acts 2:41) and continuing (Acts 2:42). What characterized the early church was the ordinariness of their practices: hearing the word, fellowshipping in the word, worshipping in the word. The result: “the Lord added...

We work our way line-by-line through one of George Herbert's (1593-1633) theologically rich poems to discover God's Sovereign grace at work in our salvation to not only save us - but to hold us fast.

When our hearts are out of tune because of sadness, we must tune them to the keynote of our Sovereign Lord, whose care for us is constant, even in the worst of circumstances. Tuning our hearts to the Lord requires a controlling spirit of thankfulness for His love and faithfulness through private meditation and public praise.

The presence of the Babe in the manger shouts that God has taken notice of us in our sin and misery, and through the Babe, He will exalt us if we remain mindful of our low estate.

Boaz is a worthy man, a near relative of Ruth's father-in-law, and therefore qualified under the Old Testament law to rescue this stranger from the covenant through covenant love - and in doing so, Boaz points to a greater Redeemer to come, who will rescue us.

The bitterness and emptiness which closed chapter one has now given way to sweetness and fullness through the continual kindness of Boaz - a close kinsman of Elimelech - expressed in his superabundant provision and care for Ruth. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end."