Theological term
Works of Mercy
4 sermons · All terms
The Healing of a Blind Man, Part 2
John 9:13–34 records the formal interrogation of a man born blind by the Pharisees following his healing by Jesus. The passage exposes the willful unbelief of Israel's religious leadership — men who suppress plain evidence, commit perjury, and wield coercion against a helpless witness — while simultaneously tracing the healed man's growing confession of Christ, from 'he is a prophet' to 'if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.' The sermon argues that opposition to the Son of God is always opposition to the Father who sent him, and that the courage to confess Christ in the face of exclusion and shame is the mark of genuine discipleship.
The 4th Commandment (Part 2)
The fourth commandment's demand for Sabbath observance does not dissolve at the close of the Old Covenant; it runs through redemptive history and finds its New Covenant expression in the Lord's Day. Working through Matthew 5, Matthew 12, and Hebrews 4, this sermon argues that Christ upheld the moral law in both doctrine and practice, that his resurrection on the first day of the week grounds the shift from Saturday to Sunday, and that Hebrews 4:9's use of 'sabbatismos' constitutes a positive, unequivocal New Testament Sabbath ordinance for the people of God. The moral principle — one day in seven set apart for worship — is trans-covenantal; only its ceremonial aspect, the specific day, is conditioned by the covenant one inhabits. Believers are called to approach the Lord's Day not as a burden but as a gift that functions as a weekly foretaste and down payment of the eternal rest secured by Christ's finished work.
2LCF Chapter 22 - Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, Part 1
The fourth commandment, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy' (Exodus 20:8–11), is grounded not in Mosaic legislation alone but in the creational ordinance of Genesis 2:1–3, where God's sabbathing after six days of work establishes the one-in-seven pattern binding upon all his image-bearers. The Deuteronomy 5 parallel adds redemption alongside creation as a second rationale, and these twin foundations carry into the New Covenant. Surveying Genesis 2–4, Exodus 16, Mark 2, Isaiah 56 and 58, and Jeremiah 31, this exposition demonstrates the trans-covenantal utility of the Decalogue and argues that the Sabbath is not a burdensome restriction but a gracious gift through which God's people enter into fellowship with their Creator.
The Lord of the Sabbath, Part 1
Matthew 12:1–8 presents the Pharisees' accusation that Christ's disciples violated the Sabbath, and Christ's five-fold response that exposes their misinterpretation of God's law. Working through the examples of David, the priestly ministry, the superiority of Christ over the temple, and the prophetic word of Hosea 6:6, the sermon argues that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath — the one to whom the Sabbath institution pointed from its creation in Genesis 2. The Pharisees' legalism, built on the Mishnah's 39 categories rather than Scripture, condemned the guiltless and revealed both antinomian abuse of the law and a failure of mercy. The sermon closes by calling hearers to distinguish authorized Sabbath works (necessity, piety, and mercy) from the twin errors of Pharisaic legalism and contemporary license, and to rest in Christ himself as the fulfillment and Lord of the Sabbath.