The Song of Psalms Sermon Series

I just realized that I never posted the Psalm sermon series we did almost two years ago called The Song of Psalms. We highlighted a number of the genres within the Psalms. But better late than never.


Sermons

October 16, 2011 | Psalm 23 - The Lord is My Shepherd: Peace in the Shepherd's Arms
October 23, 2011 | Psalm 99 - The Lord is My King
October 30, 2011 | Psalm 8 - The Lord is My Lord
November 6, 2011 | Psalm 1: The Lord is My Delight
November 13, 2011 | Psalm 51:  The Lord is My Salvation
November 20, 2011 | Psalm 136: The Lord is My God
November 27, 2011 | Psalm 22: The Lord is My Deliverer
December 18, 2011 | Psalm 137 - The Lord is My Refuge



Previous Sermons

November 20, 2011 | Psalm 23:1 - The Peace of Contentment
August 2, 2009 - Psalm 23:2: Peace of Rest
August 9, 2009 - Psalm 23:3: The Peace of Restoration (notes only)
August 16, 2009 - Psalm 23:4: "The Peace of Comfort"
August 23, 2009 - Psalm 23:5: The Peace of the Shepherd's Sovereignty
August 30, 2009 - Psalm 23:6: The Peace of the Shepherd's Providence 


Other Links

Everything is Awesome But Nobody is Happy: A Late Night Sermon on Psalm 1
Spurgeon on Psalm 137
Repost | Justice and the Implications of Atheism: Doug Wilson Hits the Nail on Its Head
Weekly Recommendation - "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23"
Weekly Recommendation: "Traveling Light"
Weekly Recommendation - "Restore My Soul" 
Weekly Recommendation - "Finding Peace"


Other Series

The Sermon on the Mount Series
Matthew 1-18 | The King Has Come: The Gospel According to Matthew Series
The Last Week of Jesus: From Triumphal Entry to Triumphal Grave Series
The Tempter and the Tempted: Overcoming Temptation With the Gospel of Christ Sermon Series
Jonah: Salvation is From the Lord Sermon Series
Faith in the Midst of God-Ordained Storms Sermon Series
Ruth: Where Providence and Grace Kiss Sermon Series
Haggai: Consider Your Ways Sermon Series
God: Proper Theology Proper Sermon Series
Fruitie-Tales: Living By the Fruit of the Spirit
Basic Christianity Series
Revelation Study

We are Slaves: MacArthur on What We Are Redeemed From

More from MacArthur:

And when you ask people today, you know what I mean, when you define sin, how do people usually define it? I mean, gambling, drinking, committing acts of sexual sin. It's far more than that, that's sort of superficial. when you look at the Scripture's definition of sin it makes plain that we are in a prison cell and the prison cell is primarily that of alienation from God. And there's no jail break for us by our own hands. We are separated from God with the coils of a twisted self. Our self is tortured into ugly shapes of conceit and fear, resentment, rebellion. It's a slavery too terrible, too tyrannical for us to ever extract ourselves. And so we are in desperate condition. The punishment for this is damnation. The condition of unredeemed man is so pervasive it totally engulfs him and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it and God has promised to judge him for it.

He is degraded. He is defiled. Once a companion in the Garden of God he is fit only now to have fellowship with devils and demons. His flesh is filthy. His body is stained and need of cleansing. Its members and faculties are given to unclean thoughts and words and actions. There's no part of him that is fit for union with God. The Scripture says his tongue is deceitful, his lips are poisonous, his throat is like an open tomb, his eyes are full of adultery and pride, his ears are deaf to God's voice and truth, his hands do evil and his feet are swift to shed blood. His mind is depraved and reprobate. His heart is desperately wicked. His will is unrepentant and hard. He resists God. He refuses life. His conscience is evil. That's pretty comprehensive stuff.

It's not one faculty that sin has defiled, but like a strong poison it soaks in and eats through everything we are and man therefore is left in this utter darkness, darkened mind, groping, unable to comprehend the light, walking in all kinds of wickedness, doesn't know where he's going, stumbles, doesn't know why he stumbles or how to get up. And you can see the desperation. It is from that that he needs to be redeemed. That's what we were redeemed from.

May 26, 2013 | Why the Cross Matters
June 2, 2013 | Jesus Wins: Christus Victor  
June 9, 2013 | Jesus Won: Christus Victor
June 23, 2013 | The Courtroom: Sola Fida


For more:
The Heart & Soul of Christianity: MacArthur on Redemption
A Victorious People: John Stott on Christus Victor & the Vocabular of the First Christians
"The Cross of Christ" by John Stott: A Review
Its Not Just a Theory: Stott on Penal Substitution
John Stott on the The Human Enigma 
Allison: A History of the Doctrine of the Atonement
"Salvation Brings Imitation": Piper on Christus Exemplar
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 1 - Introduction
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 2 - Christus Exemplar and the doctrine of sin and depravity
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 3 - The History of Christus Exemplar
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 4 - Christus Exemplar and Humility
Sanctification Demands It: The Necessity of the Atonement
"Death by Love" by Mark Driscoll
"In My Place, Condemned He Stood"
"It is Well"
"Precious Blood": A Review 

Archeological & Historical Evidence of the Exodus

Sunday we surveyed the story of Exodus in our study of the doctrine of redemption. The prototype of what the Bible means by "redemption" is the Exodus story. Thus redemption includes freedom from bondage and a leading to the promise land. In light of that I was reminded of our study of Exodus a number of months ago and some of the resources I posted in light of it. Below is one of those posts in addition to other resources available on the book of Exodus you might find beneficial.


I must admit that the archeological and historical challenges surrounding the Exodus and Israel in Egypt have been a difficult part for me. I have been told for years that there was no evidence that Israel had ever been in Egypt, that they were redeemed by a former, adopted prince of Egypt, and that they wondered in the desert for 40 years. Though I have since learned that there is some evidence supporting the contrary, I have not heard much scholarship supporting the biblical record. Below is a video suggesting that there is in fact evidence of Israel in Egypt and the Exodus and it comes from a respectable scholar. Though I have not seen all of this lecture yet, but this is a great presentation showing evidence of Israel in Egypt and the Exodus.



Lecture with Dr. James Hoffmeier from Lanier Theological Library on Vimeo


HT: Justin Taylor


I would also point you to this History Channel special that I saw parts of a few years ago that seeks to show that there is some evidence of the Exodus and Israel in Egypt. The host tries to make a natural explanation for the supernatural events, but I post it only because there are some interesting points made. The host has been known to make some wild, inaccurate claims before perhaps most famously is his assertion that the lost tomb of Jesus had been found.





Also consider this exciting movie called the Search For the Real Mount Sinai.





Originally published February 25, 2012


For more:
The Mountain of Fire: A Documentary on Mount Sinai
The Prince of Egypt: Moses and the Burning Bush Scene
The Prince of Egypt: The 10 Plagues
Prince Of Egypt - The Parting & Crossing the Red Sea

The Heart & Soul of Christianity: MacArthur on Redemption

Here's a gem from John MacArthur:

The word that I want to draw to your attention here is the word "redeemed...redeemed." That is the heart and soul of Christianity, redemption. Our message is a message of redemption. It's easy for us to get distracted into a myriad of other things, but this is the focus that God would have us to have.

The conference I was speaking at this last week, the question came up about...how do we present the gospel? And when we present the gospel, what are the most defining components of the gospel that we must present? 

The answer to that question is really bound up in the concept of redemption. It's one of the great words, it's one of the great titles of Christ, Christ our Redeemer. The question is whether or not we really understand the full richness of that term.

. . . 


Our responsibility is not to moralize the unconverted, it's to convert the immoral. Our responsibility is redemptive, not political. We do not have a moral agenda. We have a redemptive agenda. And none of us should be surprised that we couldn't...we couldn't reform the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan himself. our message is not morality, it has never been morality, our message is redemption. That has always been and always will be the pure and true message of the church. And I hope that people who have literally spent their time and millions upon millions of dollars trying to moralize the unconverted will now turn their attention to trying to convert the immoral.

 He then gives the following story:

I remember when I was a little boy I read a book, a little book, left an indelible impression upon my mind. It was about a little boy who made a little boat. He got some pieces of wood and he kind of carved them out and glued them together and made a little boat and put a little mast on it and made a little sail and attached it to the boat and worked very hard with his little tools and produced what to him was a very special little sailboat, and painted it up the way he wanted it. Went down to the lake nearby to sail it. It was carried along, however, by a strong breeze and eventually got beyond his reach and then it went out of sight. He was sad about losing this little prize of his own craftsmanship.

And later walking through the little town he lived in he noticed it was for sale in the window of a shop. He went in and told the shopkeeper that it was his and he tried to lay claim to it. He was not believed, however, and the man behind the counter demanded that if he wanted it he'd have to pay for it. He'd have to buy the very boat that he had made with his own hands.

He went home, broke open his little piggy bank and found that he had just enough money. So he returned to the shop, put the money on the counter and bought back his little boat. It was surely his then, twice his, he said, because he not only made it but he redeemed it.
Made by the Creator and then redeemed by the Creator.

 May 26, 2013 | Why the Cross Matters
June 2, 2013 | Jesus Wins: Christus Victor  
June 9, 2013 | Jesus Won: Christus Victor
June 23, 2013 | The Courtroom: Sola Fida


For more:
A Victorious People: John Stott on Christus Victor & the Vocabular of the First Christians
"The Cross of Christ" by John Stott: A Review
Its Not Just a Theory: Stott on Penal Substitution
John Stott on the The Human Enigma 
Allison: A History of the Doctrine of the Atonement
"Salvation Brings Imitation": Piper on Christus Exemplar
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 1 - Introduction
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 2 - Christus Exemplar and the doctrine of sin and depravity
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 3 - The History of Christus Exemplar
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 4 - Christus Exemplar and Humility
Sanctification Demands It: The Necessity of the Atonement
"Death by Love" by Mark Driscoll
"In My Place, Condemned He Stood"
"It is Well"
"Precious Blood": A Review 

June 23, 2013 | The Courtroom: Sola Fida

I am a little late in posting this, but our fourth sermon in the series "The Cross is the Crux" regards the motif of the Courtroom. It is there we find that though we are guilty before God the Judge, on account of Christ's work at the cross we are declared righteous.

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ² Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³ What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ⁴ May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written,

“That You may be justified in Your words,
And prevail when You are judged.”

⁵ But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) ⁶ May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? ⁸ And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come”? Their condemnation is just.

⁹ What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; ¹⁰ as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;
¹¹ There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
¹² All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
¹³ “Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their paths,
¹⁷ And the path of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰ because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.


²¹ But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.





Audio
Notes


May 26, 2013 | Why the Cross Matters
June 2, 2013 | Jesus Wins: Christus Victor  
June 9, 2013 | Jesus Won: Christus Victor
June 23, 2013 | The Courtroom: Sola Fida


For more:
A Victorious People: John Stott on Christus Victor & the Vocabular of the First Christians
"The Cross of Christ" by John Stott: A Review
Its Not Just a Theory: Stott on Penal Substitution
John Stott on the The Human Enigma 
Allison: A History of the Doctrine of the Atonement
"Salvation Brings Imitation": Piper on Christus Exemplar
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 1 - Introduction
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 2 - Christus Exemplar and the doctrine of sin and depravity
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 3 - The History of Christus Exemplar
Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 4 - Christus Exemplar and Humility
Sanctification Demands It: The Necessity of the Atonement
"Death by Love" by Mark Driscoll
"In My Place, Condemned He Stood"
"It is Well"
"Precious Blood": A Review 

June 30, 2013 | 1 Corinthians 6:9-14

Here are the audio and notes from Sunday's sermon taken from 1 Corinthians 6:9-14. Next week we will return to our series on the cross by looking at the doctrine of redemption.

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

¹² All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³ Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.





Audio
Notes