Lord's Day Sermons -- 9/24/23

[clawrence9008]

Hey all, I promise I didn't forget about this ! Please feel free to let us know what your pastor preached on in his sermon today and what you took away from it for edification and application for your Christian life. Also if you are a pastor, please feel free to let us know what you preached on today!

My pastor continued his series on Colossians with a great sermon on Col. 1:21-23. I really appreciate how slowly and thoroughly he is working through this wonderful epistle. He discussed 1) our past standing before God, 2) our present reality in Christ, and 3) our future hope in Him, though he talked most extensively about the first two. Expounded the hopeless and alienated state of unbelieving man outside of Christ and discussed how sinners can be reconciled to God. Remarked that reconciliation requires one to admit their need for it and to trust God's provision for it in the finished work of Christ; he used the OT sacrificial system and the story of the woman with the discharge of blood from Luke 8 to illustrate how ritual uncleanness was used to show sinners their spiritual state, and how we can come before God in Christ b/c He has taken our uncleanness and we have been granted His cleanness. Exhorted the unconverted and the converted alike to grab hold of Christ and continually trust in His sacrifice. Really appreciated how evangelistic this sermon was, and I have been greatly impacted by this sermon series thus far.

 

[Ploutos]

We were unable, for health reasons, to attend church today. I led in some readings and singing of psalms this morning and then we listened to a sermon by Kevin DeYoung on Leviticus 20. My wife and I have been trying to listen to this sermon all week but have been unable to get more than 10 minutes in, so we resolved on that with great determination for this morning.

We both thought it was an excellent and edifying sermon. He gave a very helpful explanation of the three-fold distinction within the law and made a point that the WCF is 1) spot on in making this distinction 2) not unique, as he traced back through church history and then from Scripture itself evidence for the doctrine. His exposition of the text itself was also very helpful and informative as he set them against the context of their times, addressing the common criticism that the Levitical laws are harsh and unreasonable by showing, among other things, how much more humane and gracious they were in comparison to other cultures of the time. He also gave helpful explanation of the function and purpose of these laws.

One interesting point that he made, which I had not heard before, is that some commentators believe that the punishments listed in such passages are (sometimes, but not always) "maximum" punishments - i.e., this sin CAN be punished up to this extent, but no further, implying that there is room for extenuating circumstances and case-by-case application of a lesser degree of punishment.

Is anyone else familiar with this line of reasoning? If so, what do you think of it? NOTE: I can move the question to a new thread if so desired.