Why does Jesus send the disciples to the House of Israel and not the Samaritans and Gentiles? It seems like Jesus is playing favorites. However, when you look into Israel’s history, how they came about, and the reasons God chose them as His people, we see there is no room for boasting at all. They were raised up as God’s nation by His grace, and grace alone. The people of Israel have no reason to boast.
Hear the full sermon preached at Waco Reformed Church here.
Reading of the Law: Proverbs 11:29 (The wicked hardens his own heart. He doesn’t tremble when he commits iniquity. He is bold in his sin, and unrepentant. He will seek his own way. He is captain of his soul… but only for a time. The righteous, on the other hand, do not direct their own paths. He relies on the Father to do so, and submits to His providence.)
AOPG: Psalm 116:5-9
Confession of Faith: The Apostles’ Creed.
Old Covenant Reading : Deuteronomy 15:1-11
New Covenant Reading: Matthew 6:1-18
In the following sermon, we see Jesus expanding upon how the Pharisees twisted God’s Law for their own gain, when it came to their acts of piety. Jesus will address three areas in chapter 6, charitable acts, prayer, and fasting. In all three, the hypocrites turned these acts of piety into performance before men. Their goal was to make themselves see pious and holy. But because they were seeking the pleasure of men, and not God, their acts were considered abominable to God and rejected by Him.
This is not to say, we are not to do good works, especially charity, prayer, and fasting. Jesus expects us to do just that. But we are to do it with an attitude towards our Father in heaven, not man.
The Law is supposed to show us God’s perfect character—His holiness, His righteousness—and act like guardrails to keep us on track in living holy lives. It’s not about earning salvation; it’s about growing in sanctification, reflecting God’s light through our actions. Leithart calls this “redemptive righteousness”—good works that point others to God, not to us.
Then He zeros in on three acts of piety: giving, praying, and fasting. The problem wasn’t the acts themselves—those are good and expected—but the heart behind them. The Pharisees were doing them for the applause of the crowd, not for God. Jesus calls them out as hypocrites, saying don’t be like that. Don’t give to the poor to get a pat on the back. Instead, give quietly, secretly, for God’s eyes only.
He assumes we’ll be charitable, and the Old Testament backs this up, like in Deuteronomy where the Jews were told to care for the poor generously, but with discernment—not just handing out cash to the lazy, but helping those genuinely in need while preserving their dignity. It’s not about showing off; it’s about righteousness flowing from a heart that fears God and loves His commands, like Psalm 112 says.
When Jesus warns against “sounding a trumpet” to announce your giving, it’s like He’s calling out our tendency to crave recognition. I feel that—wanting people to notice when I do something good. But Jesus says that’s a dead-end reward, just fleeting praise from people. Instead, give in secret, and God, who sees it all, will reward you in His way. That’s the kind of righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees’—a heart focused on God, not the spotlight. It’s a challenge, but it’s how we store up treasures in heaven, not just chase vanity here on earth.
The sermon, rooted in John 20:1, explores the significance of Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week as the inauguration of the new heavens and earth, marking the end of the Old Covenant and the establishment of the New Covenant. It emphasizes that the gospel is not merely about individual salvation but the recreation of the world, the defeat of death, and the spread of God’s Kingdom through Christ’s resurrection. The sermon traces the Passion Week, aligning each day with the Creation Week to illustrate the transition from the old order to the new.
Palm Sunday (Day 1): Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem fulfills prophecy (Zechariah 9:9) but is met with fruitless palm branches, symbolizing Israel’s spiritual barrenness. Jesus, as the Light of the World, enters a darkened nation, highlighting the rejection by its leaders.
Cleansing the Temple (Day 2): Paralleling the division of waters in Genesis, Jesus cleanses the temple, separating what belongs to heaven from what is earthly, with the religious leaders rejecting Him, further showing their darkness.
The Barren Fig Tree (Day 3): Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree, symbolizing Israel’s failure to bear spiritual fruit despite being entrusted with God’s oracles. This reflects the third day of creation, where God brought forth fruit-bearing plants.
Conflict with Leadership (Day 4): Likened to the creation of luminaries, Jesus’ confrontation with the authorities foretells the darkening of their false light (Matthew 24:29). His death and resurrection will replace them with His ambassadors, the children of light.
The Lord’s Supper (Day 5): Corresponding to the abundance of life in Genesis, the institution of the Lord’s Supper signifies spiritual multiplication, feeding believers to bear fruit and fill the earth with God’s Kingdom.
Good Friday (Day 6): Paralleling the creation of man, Jesus, the Last Adam, dies on the cross, becoming the Tree of Life. His death restores access to eternal life, making believers a new creation and the Church His bride.
Holy Saturday (Day 7): Jesus rests in the tomb, mirroring God’s Sabbath rest. His silence in death disrupts the grave, preparing for the new creation.
Easter Sunday (Day 1 of New Creation): The resurrection on the first day signifies the start of the new heavens and earth, breaking the curse of death and rendering the Old Covenant obsolete. Worship on the first day (Sunday) reflects this new creation, distinguishing it from the Sabbath, which points to the old creation.
The sermon concludes with 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, emphasizing that believers, as new creations in Christ, are ambassadors of reconciliation, proclaiming the risen Christ and the new order He established. Worshipping on Sunday affirms the resurrection and the transformative power of the gospel.
The sin of adultery is so great, that Jesus’ remedy for it, is to pluck one’s own eye out instead of falling into it. Now, we know He is using hyperbole, but this shows just how wicked adultery actually is. It is a sin against one’s own body, against the body of another, against the spouse who is being robbed, but more importantly, against a Holy God, in who’s image is being violated.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’”
He finally begins to preach upon the Moral Law itself. This is the section of the Law that most people are vaguely familiar with (Yes, contradictory terms).
As Jesus teaches on the Moral Law, please notice what He doesn’t do. He doesn’t turn this into a morality lecture. He is indeed speaking on the Moral Law, but not in such a way that we come away with the reductionistic trope of “be good, do be angry.”
There are far more complexities to honoring this law than we like to think about. What Jesus says here, requires much more that a simple statement of moralism. He is requiring us to use wisdom in our lives, in order to keep the commandments.
Peter Leithart writes about this portion of Christ’s sermon:
“These instructions are not just membership qualifications. They are redemptive commandments, and Jesus is laying out the specifics of the redemptive righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.”
Women wearing head coverings in worship has become controversial here in the past few years. There are those who are steadfastly against it, declaring that it was merely cultural in Paul’s day, and now no longer necessary for women today.
For example, since I started putting this post together, Doug Wilson has come out with 21 Theses on Head Coverings For Women. You can read his position for yourself. But I would like to draw you attention to one of his points. Wilson asks:
Thesis #6: At Corinth, the men were covering themselves and the women were not. This leads us to wonder why.
Sixth, the men in Corinth were for some reason covering themselves in worship, because Paul tells them not to, and the women were uncovering themselves, because Paul makes a point of saying that if they pray during the meeting, or if they bring a prophecy, they must do so covered. What might those reasons be?
Apart from Doug’s added question, this is exactly what we believe the text to be saying. Men are not to pray covered. Women are not to pray uncovered. Wilson grants this point in this statement, and also shows that the issue is not cultural, because it is dealing with worship.
Those who oppose head coverings love to offer all kinds of cultural and Old Covenant references to show how coverings were viewed, and used, but miss the main point: Paul is telling the church in Corinth, and all the churches, what the cultural setting should be in the church, and he is rooting that cultural setting in creation.
Paul bases his arguments on creation, the hierarchy of Christ, the husband, and the woman, and for the purpose of the angels. In other words, it doesn’t matter what the Jews use to do, or what the Jews were doing. It doesn’t matter what the Romans used to do, or what they were doing. In fact, it doesn’t matter what the church has been doing today, but what we should be doing. Paul sets the culture for us, by rooting his arguments in the created order, and we are to submit to his instructions, as do all the churches (1 Corinthians 11:16).
We also believe, as Bnonn Tennant so beautifully shows, that only God’s glory is to be seen in worship, therefore, women are to cover their hair. Bnonn writes:
The way in which we worship matters. To have another glory on display—a glory that simply by merit of being present is competing with (H)is, suggesting itself as worthy of appearing alongside (H)im—is embodied blasphemy. And glory that is present alongside (Him) suggests also that we may worship the creature, rather than the creator, who is blessed forever! Amen—and is thus implied idolatry.
You can read the full article here. You can also listen to Bnonn and Smokey (Bnonn’s wife) answer questions to objections here. Most of the objections they address, will deal with the statements in Wilson’s article, and others as well.
Just by looking at what the text actually says, like I do in my sermons below, and what Bnonn and Smokey do, we answer most of the objections people have.
I am sharing the three sermons I have preached on the subject of head coverings from 1 Corinthians 11. I did this back in April and May of 2023 at Waco Reformed Church. Most of our congregation has since adopted the practice. However, even those who do not accept the practice, are welcome to worship with us.
This first sermon not only deals with the hierarchy of those in the body of Christ, but also the culture in which Paul was working. It does answer the question: are head coverings a result of culture?
Second Sermon: Head Coverings and Prophecy
Third Sermon: Head Coverings and Glory
At Waco Reformed Church, we believe that it is right and proper for women to wear head coverings in worship. However, we accept that there are many men and women who are not convinced from Scripture to do so. Therefore we allow for those who are not convinced to act upon their conscience, as long as they don’t teach otherwise in our congregation.
Now, I do want you to see the allusion. It isn’t a strong one, but I think it’s there. In bringing the new heavens and the new earth, Jesus shows us how this will happen: through His people being salt of the earth, and lights unto the world. The salt brings about the new earth. The light brings about the new heavens.
Call to worship:Hebrews 12:18-24 (Keep it, same as last week).
Reading of the Law:Proverbs 10:30-32 (Dichotomy continues: righteous and wicked)
AOPG: Isaiah 1:18; Hebrews 12:24
Old Covenant Reading (read first): Ezekiel 47:1-5
New Covenant Reading:Matthew 5:1-10
(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)
Sermon – For Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven
Introduction –
Our text reads: “He sat on a mountain…” I’ve tried to show that more is going on than meets the eye. If we remain in an elementary understanding of Scripture, we will never see the true richness of what Jesus is doing. This is why I spent much of last Sunday’s sermon showing the significance of Jesus sitting on a mountain, teaching the people of God.
This means something. It shows us the greater spiritual reality of what takes place when we gather for worship, on the mountain, with the people of God, sitting at the feet of our Savior.
He is the Temple of God. We are the building blocks of that Temple. When we gather, true worship takes place. When we gather, He feeds us, and gives us drink.
The Apostle John also hits upon this theme as well, but not directly.
John gives us another picture of this reality.
Revelation 21:2-6
2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Part of the already/not yet reality)
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Including us) And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”
As Jesus sits on the mountain to teach, He is laying the foundations for this new city, this Tabernacle. He is setting up the fountain of the water of life, which we know from Ezekiel that it becomes a flowing river.
When Jesus started preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” the trickling of the river of life began. It then continued to grow into a stream. As Jesus teaches on the side of the mountain, that stream becomes a river flowing to all the people who hear. As His ministry continued, and He ascended into heaven, then the river flowed to the point that no one could cross it. It was too deep, too wide.
In other words, as we sit here this morning, the waters of life are a river that …(we) could not cross… for the waters of life flow around the world… the waters of life seek to sustain those who are citizens of the kingdom.
And it is the citizens of the kingdom that Jesus is speaking to.
Just a quick note: this is one of those sermons when I was able to focus in upon the importance of mountains in Scripture. Everything has meaning, and we need to see the symbolism in Scripture. In this sermon, I explain why mountains are so vital. For a hint of it, read the Call to Worship and it will help you see what I mean.
Preparation for Worship:Matthew 21:21-22
Call to worship:Hebrews 12:18-24
18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard itbegged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stonedor shot with an arrow.”21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
Reading of the Law:Proverbs 10:27-29 (Note: Simple dichotomy)
AOPG: Isaiah 1:18-19
Old Covenant Reading (read first): Isaiah 14:12-15
New Covenant Reading:Matthew 5:1-2
(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)
Sermon – He Went Up on a Mountain
Introduction –
I don’t know if you have notice this or not, but my sermon titles about Jesus have been about Christ’s movements. Some of the titles are as follows: He Departed to Galilee,Jesus was led up by the Spirit, Walking by the Sea, and last week, Jesus went about… Today’s sermon is: He Went Up on a Mountain.
I’ve done this for two reasons. The first is that when I title a sermon, I want to use something from Scripture so that I can avoid the temptation to come up with some cheesy catch phrase. Cheesy titles are a bane to the pulpit because the one preaching is always having to come up with something clever, at least in his own mind. In one sense, that cheapens the word of God, and exalts the pastor for how witty he is.
I don’t want to do this.
But more importantly, by using a phrase directly from the text, I can bring Scripture to bear on the sermon, before I’ve uttered a word. Just by titling the sermon, He went up on a mountain, your minds are already thinking of the movements of Jesus. He is not stagnant in His ministry, but is moving about from place to place, preaching and teaching as many people as He can.
But secondly, the movement of Christ reminds us… that He was indeed, led by the Spirit, departed Galilee, walked by the sea, and went about…
All of these movements were purposely recorded by Matthew so that we would realize how much He moved around. These details help us see the truthfulness of Christ’s ministry.
And none does that more than what we are looking at this morning. Our text reads:
And seeing the multitude, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him, then He opened His mouth and taught them…
Reading of the Law:Proverbs 10:26 (Note to me: we have been called by our LORD to work… where we find ourselves being lazy, we need to repent).
AOPG: Romans 4:7-8
Old Covenant Reading (read first): Isaiah 61
New Covenant Reading:Matthew 4:23-25
(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)
Sermon – Jesus Went About
Introduction –
It’s not often that you can read a book of fiction and find true biblical insight. That is what happened when I was reading the Lord of the Rings to Heidi recently. I had finished reading about the Ride of Rohirrim, and in the chapter called The Houses of Healing, I had the “aha moment.”
The old wife, Ioreth, was tending to the wounded Faramir, afraid for his life. She then said, “Would that there were kings in Gondor as there were once upon a time, they say! For it is said in the old lore: The hands of the king are the hands of the healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known.”
It was at that moment, that I realized where it was that Tolkien came upon this idea, of the king being a healer.
He got the idea from the gospels, that show that our King truly is a healer.
And, this is what we should expect to find when it comes to the Messiah. Remember what was promised about the Messiah in the Garden of Eden: And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.
We are also told:
Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
Jesus has come to reverse the curse. He is not only coming to defeat Satan, but also the work of Satan. Jesus is our sacrifice. He is the One who redeems us. He is the One who heals us.
All this is necessary for us to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are beneficiaries to all of these things in Christ and without the regeneration that is necessary, we cannot be citizens of His Kingdom.
In this, we begin to see that Christ’s Kingdom is a different kind of Kingdom, with a different kind of King. The world offers us messiahs that can only lead by applying different levels of coercion.
But not Christ. He leads us by regenerating our hearts so that we believe. He leads us by working faith in us to believe. He leads us by bringing freedom from sin. He leads us and works in us by giving us the Spirit of God Himself. He leads by dealing with all that plague us. He leads us by dealing with His and our enemies. He is a different kind of King. He is a healing King.
Old Covenant Reading (read first): Jeremiah 16:14-21
New Covenant Reading:Matthew 4:11-17
(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)
Sermon – Walking By the Sea
Introduction –
Shortly after Jesus begins His public ministry, preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He is walking about and comes across a couple of fishermen.
The two men, were not the wise of the world. The world would consider them foolish, and weak, and base. Why? Because they were fishermen. They were not powerful. They didn’t have a lot of knowledge. You would not find these four men in the halls of Herod, making great speeches for this cause or that.
They got up every day, went down to the sea, and fished for a living. On the Sabbath day, they went to the synagogue for worship. They were married, had families, … they were quite normal.
Yet, as Jesus is walking, He approaches them and gives them the irresistible call to follow Him.
And in calling these men, Jesus then begins to fulfill the prophecy made by John the Baptist before Jesus was baptized. What did he say about Jesus?
“His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Notice how John informs His audience. He makes it clear that Jesus is the One who will be doing the work of the Kingdom. He will have a winnowing fan in His hand. For us, that may not mean much. But the winnowing fan was used to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Here, John is using it as an illustration showing that Jesus will separate His righteous ones from the wicked of the world. Jesus will divide His followers out from the chaff. Jesus will bring those who belong to Him, into His barn. Jesus will take the chaff and burn it up in the unquenchable fire.
Reading of the Law:Proverbs 10:12-18 (Solomon’s tidbits…).
AOPG: 1 John 1:8-2:2
Old Covenant Reading (read first): Exodus 32:1-9
New Covenant Reading:Matthew 4:1-11
(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)
Sermon – You Shall Worship
Introduction –
Back some 10 or 15 years ago, when I used to listen to talk radio, there were two shows that I really loved. One was the Herd, with Colin Cowherd. He covered sport and regularly would offer insight that other sportscasters missed.
Sometime though, he would offer real gems about life. He would often point out that people will project what the feel toward you without saying it, especially when it came to relationships. He made the case that when a woman leaves a man in marriage, that usually the only one surprised is the man. She had been giving the signs all along. All the friends and family saw it coming, but the man remained in the dark. He didn’t want to know.
The other show that I would listen to was the Rush Limbaugh show. He made a similar statement about liberals and Democrats. His statement was that if you watched them long enough, they would tell you exactly who they were, and what they wanted to do. They couldn’t hide who they were.
I bring this up, because in this last temptation of Christ , we will see that the devil is telling us who he is, and what he wants.
In telling Jesus: “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
We see who the devil is: he is a counterfeit god. He wants to usurp God in every way imaginable, and his most cunning trick of all is to get men to worship him. This is why he saves this temptation for last, and why he uses it against Christ. He wants Jesus to worship him.
He wants us to worship him.
He wants every man, woman and child on the planet to worship him.
Reading of the Law:Proverbs 10:8-11 (Solomon’s tidbits…).
AOPG: Psalm 85:1-3
Old Covenant Reading (read first): Deuteronomy 6:10-20
New Covenant Reading:Matthew 4:1-7
(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)
Sermon – You Shall Not Tempt
Introduction –
Last week we began working our way through the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. In that temptation, Jesus recapitulated Adam in the Garden of Eden.
(Recapitulation is to repeat something in concise form. For the purposes of Christ, He is repeating what Adam went through, without falling into sin. He is doing what Adam failed to do, but under far more severe circumstances).
For Adam had everything he needed to live in the Garden. There was only one thing withheld from Adam in the Garden. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam did not need the fruit of that tree to live. The tree was meant to be a blessing, once Adam proved his obedience.
Instead of living in obedience to YHWH, Adam stretched out his hand, and ate of the one thing God did not give him. He took what was forbidden to him.
At that moment of sin, Adam obtained for the first time in his short life, the knowledge of evil. His heart had become evil. He didn’t believe the LORD, and believed the serpent instead. In that moment, he fell from God’s grace.
Hopefully you see the contrast with Jesus, who is the Last Adam. He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, where He fasted for 40 days. Then at the end of that fast, the devil came and tempted Him in two areas: the first on his Hunger, the second on His Deity.
This wilderness setting also shows us that this is a recapitulation of Israel’s time in the wilderness, when they were without water, and they tested God, instead of trusting Him.
Jesus is not only walking the steps of Adam, but the steps of Israel. The reason for this is because Israel was considered to be God’s son. By this, we mean the entire nation was to be a son to God, and He was to be their Father. Therefore, the true Israel does what is necessary to please the Father. He goes to wilderness, goes through a fast which included water, and please the Father.
