OUTLINE 1.  The Heart of Biblical Repentance 2. True and False Repentance 3. Repentance -  A New Testament Overview 4. Biblical  Repentance is a  Spiritual Medicine   4. BIBLICAL REPENTANCE IS A SPIRITUAL MEDICINE  Psalm 51 I (and I suspect, most preachers) find preaching on repentance difficult. It is a subject that easily comes across as harsh and heavy – and those preaching the subject often seem to come across as angry. A note to all preachers: this is not about us. This is about God. And we are one of them which are called sinners. &nb ..read more

  OUTLINE 1.   The Heart of Biblical Repentance 2.   True and False Repentance 3.  Repentance -  A New Testament Overview 4.  Biblical  Repentance is a  Spiritual Medicine  We have been considering Psalm 51 which is the reflection of a broken and contrite man, who when overwhelmed by His sin and guilt, turns to God with a broken and contrite heart and he finds his peace with God once more.  The doctrine of repentance is not well understood nor well applied in our Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deistic age. The preoccupation ..read more

  OUTLINE 1.  The Heart of Biblical Repentance 2. True and False Repentance 3. Repentance -  A New Testament Overview 4. Biblical  Repentance is a  Spiritual Medicine   2. True and False Repentance Psalm 51; 2 Corinthians 7:5-13 The subject of repentance can be a minefield if we do not make a careful distinction between true and false repentance. The doctrine of repentance is complicated by the fact that our great enemy, Satan, is a skilled imitator. He disguises himself after all as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14,15).  The magicians of Egypt lik ..read more

 OUTLINE (4 Sessions)  1. The Heart of Biblical Repentance 2. True and False Repentance 3.  Repentance -  A New Testament Overview 4.  Biblical  Repentance is a  Spiritual Medicine   1. THE HEART OF BIBLICAL REPENTANCE  Psalm 51 When Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle door at Wittenberg on the 31st October 1517, the very first thesis read: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Matt. 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance”. We are going to say much about this. Some cont ..read more

  It is fitting that the last day of this year today falls on a Sunday, or as we prefer to call it – the Lord’s Day. We are bidding 2023 goodbye and look forward into 2024, comforted by the fact that despite a globally chaotic 2023 we may know that this world remains in God’s hands. For me personally it is also fitting to end my labours as a pastor of the Eastside Baptist Church among you on the Lord’s day.  I do so solemnly and yet gratefully. I have chosen this particular text from the book of Proverbs for this occasion, because it has been in many ways an anchor text for my life ..read more

  This is the last of my three farewell sermons in which I take the 16th chapter of Paul to the Romans. This chapter consists of a long list of personal greetings, along with some final instructions and a doxology. I want to use Paul’s outline to share some closing thoughts.  1.         16:1- 16 Greetings to… The bulk of this last chapter to the Christians in Rome contains a long list of people who had been a rich source of blessing to Paul. To them he sends his affectionate greetings. To begin with there was Phoebe (16:1-2).  Her name m ..read more

  This is the second of my three farewell sermons, in which I want to use the words of Samuel by which he addresses his final words to the nation of Israel. Again I remind you that I am not Samuel, and you are not Israel.  But there are abiding and useful principles here which we want to explore for  our benefit. 1.      SOME BACKGROUND TO  1 SAMUEL 12  Samuel was effectively the last Judge of Israel. He follows the book of Judges. In his days Israel was looking for a king (1 Samuel 8). Despite many warnings from Samuel concerning the manne ..read more

  And so it is that we must start the process of saying goodbye to this season of ministry - a 34 year ministry at our beloved Eastside Baptist Church. Truly, this time has gone by, “as a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). We are setting apart 3 Sundays, and with the help of some of the farewell speeches of Scripture, I wish to share some concluding reflections with you.  Everything under the sun has a starting point and a termination date. Joshua started to lead Israel after the death of Moses (Joshua 1) and here in the 23rd and 24th chapter, Josh ..read more

  The world changed on October 31, 1517.  Martin Luther[1], a Roman Catholic monk and a teacher at an Augustinian seminary had had enough.  He was greatly disturbed by the sale of indulgences. Let me explain.    A Catholic bishop, Albert of Mainz (1490 – 1545) was the overseer of two bishoprics, but he wanted even more power and influence. He desired an additional archbishopric over Mainz. At that time the practise of buying of such bishoprics[2] was the done thing. It was actually against church law to have more than one bishopric, but money talks. And greedy pope L ..read more

  The message of Malachi is addressed to a people who had lost touch with the living God. This wasn’t for a lack of love for them from God. We saw that the first 5 verses of chapter 1 began with a particular affirmation of love for God for His people. Here is a quick reminder that God chose Jacob (the father of Israel) and not Esau (the father of the Edomites) cf.  1:2. On what basis did God chose Jacob? See Deuteronomy 7:6-9.  God had not moved. On the contrary, God reminds them, “I the LORD do not change…” (3:5). When God seems far away, guess who has moved?  We saw tha ..read more