Identity

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 21 JUNE 2026 – MR CIARAN THOMPSON

ROMANS 8 VERSES 1 TO 17 

Well, I felt drawn to speak on the theme of identity. It's often good to look up when we look at a theme or a word or something like that, it's good to know what it actually means. So in the Cambridge English dictionary, the word identity is defined as a person's name, other facts about who they are, their reputation and characteristics, the fact of being or feeling a particular way, and it refers to information that proves who a person is. Our personal identity and the ways in which we identify are clearly foundational to our life, to our existence, to our sense of well-being and our ability to function in the society in which we find ourselves in. There are many self-help guides, aren't there, out there to try and help you boost your identity and think and feel better about yourselves. We hear a phrases or we use phrases like “I identify with that” or “I identify as a whatever”. Terms like identity cards, identity theft, false identity, identity politics and national identity are quite common in today's society. And the personal identities of the members of any country will shape the overall national identity and in turn this affects those who are born into the next generation in that nation. We know that social disorder leads to more insecurity for example. We I'm sure we've all heard of the phrase “broken Britain”, haven't we? And the UK and the Western world I think in general is suffering from an identity crisis really. We hear of people changing their gender identity and I think it's very difficult for children growing up in today's society. There's so much confusion even about the very basics of humanity really. Who would who would have thought that 10 or 15 years ago you'd hear of teachers who were sacked for misgendering a child? And they've even had teachers and church leaders encouraging children to identify as whatever they want rather than accepting the truth that they're a boy or a girl. And the BBC has promoted this as well saying that there are a hundred genders and this leads to so much confusion. And we know where confusion comes from don't we and disorder. And of course, today is Father's Day and one quarter of all children in the United Kingdom have no contact with their father. That is massively detrimental and explains a lot of the problems we have in the world. Boys, I think especially struggle. They're getting behind girls, aren't they, in school. They have for the last 30 years academically. And I think a lot of this is to do with the fact they don't have enough good male role models or father figures or their own father to be with them. The family unit has broken down and we know that one half of marriages end in divorce. But what led to this mess and this confusion? Well, decades ago, much of our national identity was rooted in Judeo-Christian values. the same in the United States where on the dollar bills they have “In God we trust.” What we saw in society was that people generally accepted that God and his ways, his principles, his values, his laws were at the top. They were the highest authority in civilization. Then the next thing was nation. You were willing to give up your life for God and for your country as it were. Then the next important strata of society was your community. There's a phrase that says “it takes a community to raise a child” and then your family and then after that you as the individual you are at the bottom as it were. But society's flipped that now where they say you know your the individual needs and the individual person should trump everything else. And also you had in the past God and his ways were also the foundation of all that. So, at the top and the bottom. The Bible says in Psalm 33 “blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” And in Psalm 11, “when the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” And from the Bible we get the very basic view right from the opening chapter of scripture of the Bible that we all of us in this room and everyone on this planet has been made in the image of almighty God. We are divine image bearers you might say. We have worth and value because we're made in his image. He's formed us and therefore we're also accountable to him as well. We are his creatures. We're subject to him. But because we've lost that sense much in in the UK and much of the Western world, people now behave in a way that they say, "Well, who are you to tell me what to do or how to behave?" People have lost that sense of respect for one another because they don't see each other as created in God's image or accountable to Almighty God. I think in the past there was a general agreement on what was the social norms and the right standings and now many are afraid to challenge social disorder because of the backlash that you may receive. Neighbours I think more in the past, even in my lifetime were perhaps more connected years ago perhaps based on the concept of love thy neighbour but now often many people on the same street don't even know each other's first names. And this has led to more social disorder, loneliness, crime, and mental issues, mental health issues. And it's easy for us to blame the world, isn't it? And say, "Look how the world has gone. Oh, it's fallen apart." But really, the church has a lot to answer for because it's the church's job to restrain evil and to promote respect and love, to promote ultimately the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only thing that can really bring hope and salvation as the scripture says. Well, in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul says that the stories of the Old Testament about Israel, God's people, Israel, were written as warnings for us, for all generations. He reminds his readers, he reminds the Corinthian church that God wanted to have an altar for people to worship him and to sacrifice in his temple. But sadly during the history of Israel, many false gods were worshiped and altars erected on high places which understandably angered the Lord. And this led to societal collapse and moral decline and exile for the people of Israel and for Judah. Israel got taken over by godless nations and I say exiled and then it took a period of time where they had to repent and God destroyed their enemies and then he brought them back to the land. And it happened a few times in their history as we know. The Bible says in the proverbs that “where there is no vision, no revelation, no prophetic dreams of God and his word, the people become unrestrained. But happy and blessed are those who keep his law, who stick to his word.” In the UK, and I think especially in Northern Ireland, we used to worship God at the Christian altar. You might say a key example of this was during the Second World War when churches were packed to the hilt when the Archbishop of Canterbury or Winston Churchill or the king called people to pray and every time people prayed and there was a national day of prayer and I think there was seven of them. The tide turned in our favour in the war. God intervened and he answered our prayers and we won the war against an evil ideology. But nowadays many people worship themselves. People have become very inward focused, haven't they? Me myself and I, you know, the unholy trinity, you might say. Singer and songwriter Bob Dylan years ago wrote the song License to Kill. It's nothing to do with James Bond. And he the lyrics say now man worships at an altar of a stagnant pool and when he sees his reflection he is fulfilled. Oh man is opposed to fair play. He wants it all and he wants it all his way. Later Bob Dylan actually became a born again believer. I don't know if you know that. And he was inspired by Christ's example and he and Christ's example of serving others in his command to love people as he loved them. and to love their neighbour as thyself. And he wrote the song, You've Got to Serve Somebody. And this actually became quite popular with some of his fans and other musicians. John Lennon wrote a sort of rebuttal song called Serve Yourself and he was very much about no you serve yourself you know whereas Bob Dylan was like no in serving others we become free. You see, when we reject God and his ways, we stop we slowly stop loving him and loving our neighbour ourselves and we begin to lose a sense of putting others first. But as someone once said, the word joy can be an acronym for Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. And that's where real joy is found and peace as well. The Bible is clear that or the New Testament in particular is clear that we are living in the last days. These days began with the first coming of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago. And they will culminate with his second coming. Acts 2, Hebrews 1, for example, make it clear we are in the last days. And Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, he says, "Now understand this that in the last days there will come much difficulty for people will be lovers of self." Have a look at these two images here. These are of Kim Kardashian, the reality star, the celebrity. She released a book in 2015 called Selfish. And they were just selfies of herself, just photos of herself. That's all the book contained. And then the following year, if that wasn't enough, she released a second book called with the advert More Me. And that tells you quite a lot, doesn't it? Paul goes on to say that “people will be lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” That to me sounds a bit like humanism, doesn't it? Having a form of righteousness and almost like godliness but without God. The American Humanist Association, their slogan is good without God. So many celebrities like Kim Kardashian and others preach values. They're very sort of I find particularly nowadays they're quite self-righteous buy they don't want God involved. And of course, when one generation rejects God, the next generation rejects godliness. And the blessings that you have from one generation become less and less with each new generation. There was someone though very special who was a key part of our society for decades who provided a link to better times. I think she was a person who retained her faith. She had an unwavering sense of duty and faith in Jesus Christ. And that was Queen Elizabeth II. Had she lived, she would have turned 100 this year, as you probably know. You can see there that she had a lovely glow in her eyes. I think a lovely grace about her. She was a naturally pretty woman, wasn't she? But there was something in her eyes. I think and her smile that reflected something very special and I actually believe it's because she knew the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said that the eyes are the lamp of the body and the doorway to the soul. And the queen in her Christmas messages especially repeatedly espoused how Christ was the guiding light of her life. She said one year that the teachings of Christ provided a framework for her life and also an accountability before almighty God and she encouraged people to turn to him. She was good friends with Billy Graham and they had many conversations and she used to enjoy those conversations with him and the spiritual insight that he would give. There was a lovely story I heard by the preacher David Pawson. You've probably heard of him. And he spoke about how he was in a congregation once and he saw this very elderly, very wrinkled woman, but there was something about her face that sort of glowed as it were, you know, and he went up to her afterwards and he said, “you know, apart from my wife, he said, I must say that you are to me the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.” And she said, “you know, you're not the first person to say that to me.” And he said, “how is that?” And she said "Well, when I was a young woman, I was very plain and that was very difficult for me." She said, "But she said, I encountered the Lord Jesus when I was about 24." And she said that her demeanour and her face and everything began to change. And people used to comment on that. Kim Kardashian, the woman we saw in the previous slide, is a pretty woman herself, but she looks very augmented and plastic and self-absorbed. And I don't mean that in a judgmental way. We become like the people we spend the most time with, don't we? And we should all, Paul speaks about this in Corinthians as well, that we should reflect the beauty and the glory of God. Remember how Moses literally did and he was he was so bright people couldn't look at him. We're meant to have a joy and a grace in our face and in our manner that should reflect the Lord Jesus Christ. According to extensive research that was done in Time magazine in 2013, Jesus Christ came out as the most significant and influential person in human history. And some people say that history, that word is really his story. It's absolutely amazing. I think it's something we take for granted that actually nearly every country in the world has adopted a calendar that counts down towards his birth before Christ BC and then counts up AD. We're in the year 2026 because it's roughly 2026 years since Jesus came to be. Isn't that incredible that amazing? I think we're so used to it. We don't think and none of the calendars of the world did that. They've adopted them over centuries and it's become the normal calendar for pretty much every nation on earth acknowledges the person of Jesus Christ and counts the numbers downwards towards his coming and then upwards from I find that absolutely amazing. That tells you something about Jesus Christ. And yet he only lived 33 years. Only the last three or three and a half years of his life were significant. But he came to earth in obedience to God the father and set the perfect example of godly living. The Bible says many times that we are to take on board his identity. Could we please turn to Philippians 2 a very familiar passage. So from verse five, “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” So we are to have the mind of Christ, he says, “who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in earth on in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” We will see that one day when Jesus returns where every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. So Paul is saying we are to take on board his mindset. We are to live to think the way that Jesus did just as Jesus gave up all the riches and glory of heaven. He gave up his omnipotence, his omnipresence, his omniscience. He gave up all that to take on the form of a human being. We are to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him just as he humbled himself to death. Even death on the cross, even crucifixion, the worst, most excruciating suffering and death you could possibly imagine. And that passage is often seen as a theological statement like a creed. But it's more of a moral statement, isn't it? Because it's telling us about the nature of Christ that as I say, he gave up everything for us. He, the son of God, who shared in the glory of the father and the spirit for all eternity, God almighty. And yet he was willing to come down to our level and walk the dusty streets of Israel and Jerusalem and you know the word became flesh and dwelt among us. He pitched his tent among us. He wanted to come and live amongst us and show us the father. Paul says in Galatians he says I have been crucified with Christ. He identifies with the death and crucifixion of Jesus. And he said, "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. The life I live now in this body, I live unto the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." That was Paul understood his identity in Jesus. How much that the Lord had loved him that he gave himself for me.  He personalizes it. And Jesus himself knew his identity. He was secure in God his father. Remember at his baptism when God the father spoke these wonderful words over him, he said, "You are my beloved son. In you I am well pleased. I am well pleased." Now bearing in mind Jesus hadn't even begun his ministry, but he said, "In you, I am well pleased." And Jesus ministered then for the next three, three and a half years from a place of that approval. People, sorry to keep picking on Kim Kardashian, but people like her try, they get it the wrong way around. They're doing things to get our approval. They're trying to take selfies. They're trying to look at me, look at me. They're trying to get our attention and our approval. And of course, when that fades, they try and do something else. I remember there was a quote from Madonna, you know, another famous celebrity, and she said that she was never satisfied. She was quite honest about herself to give her credit. At least she understood there was a problem. She said, "I do these weird and wacky things because she said it gets attention." And then she said, "It fades and I feel really dull and normal." And she goes, "I can't bear that." So she goes, "I think of something else to do to get people's attention." That's why she does these ridiculous displays and dances and all sorts when she does her concerts and stuff. and she's never satisfied. She's in that constant kind of vicious circle of attention seeking. But Jesus, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, came from a place of approval. There was a place of peace. When you know, Jesus didn't have to be born again. We know that, but we do. And when we're born again, we receive the Father's approval. When we repent of our sins, God's approval rests on us just as it did on his son and we become sons and daughters of God, the father and brothers and sisters of Jesus. Also at Jesus baptism, remember how the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. So we see father, son, and spirit there. It's wonderful, isn't it? We see the trinity there. Paul says in Romans 8, "The spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. So, you've been adopted into God's family. And he says, By him, we cry Abba Father by the Spirit. The spirit within us testifies with our human spirit that we are now God's sons, God's children.” You see, my salvation isn't found in this book. my sense of assurance. It's found in the fact that the Holy Spirit is living within me. This book tells me how to find the assurance. But we have to remember it's the Holy Spirit living within us that that gives us the constant assurance that we are God's children and that we can cry out, "Abba, Father." We have the right then to call God father just as Jesus did. That's our identity in Christ, isn't it? Loved, adopted sons of the father, brothers of Jesus, brothers and sisters of Jesus, and anointed by the same Holy Spirit. The same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us. Just dwell on that. We need to meditate on that. Remember then straight afterwards, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted. He was there for 40 days as we know. It's interesting that at the beginning of his ministry there was 40 days and then at the end he was with the disciples for 40 days. Satan is the father of lies as we know. How did he tempt Jesus? On what basis did he tempt him? He said “if you are the Son of God.” The Father had just said “you are my beloved Son”. He had spoken that in front of a crowd of people who have been baptized alongside Jesus and he said “this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.” Satan says “if you are the Son of God”. So he's attacking his identity his sonship and Satan does the same to us or his demons do he questions our sonship and our identity in Jesus. He tries to destabilize it but again because Jesus overcame the devil at each turn and ultimately through the cross and the resurrection. We who are in Christ and if Christ is living within us by his Spirit, we can overcome the devil as well. We have victory. The Bible says we are more than conquerors. Not just conquerors, we're more than conquerors. Why are we more than conquerors? Because the victory's already been won. Jesus’ death and resurrection was sort of the nail in the coffin for the devil. And the Bible says that yes, the devil still has a degree of power, but he only has power over those who follow him. But for the rest of us who know the Lord, we are not under his power anymore. You see, when we repent of our sins, when we confess our sins, God will forgive and forget our sins. But the devil doesn't. We have to remember that. And he tries to remind us of past sins and bring them up. We need to learn how to speak to quote the scriptures to know the word of God in the Spirit, in a spiritual way just as Jesus did in the desert with the devil. Jesus quoted the right scriptures. He knew the word of God. He was the word of God in in flesh. A great scripture I find that we can personalize just as Paul personalized his identity with the Lord is 1 John 4:4 where it says “greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.” So if we feel that we're being attacked there's horrible thoughts coming into our mind and it does happen, we can say “no greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.” Satan is a defeated foe. We can say “no I am saved. I'm redeemed. I'm dearly loved and I'm forgiven. I don't need to be reminded of past sins because God's forgotten them. I don't need to be reminded of them. I'm not going to think about them. I'm not going to feel guilty for them because Christ has paid the price for them and I've repented and the work of the cross has been applied into my life.” There's a wonderful hymn from the I think it's the 18th or 19th century - His be the victor's name

“Though the vile accuser roar of sins

that I have done

I know them well and thousands more

but Jehovah he knoweth none.”

In Ephesians 6, Paul gives us the armour of God and he gives us seven parts as it were and he bases it on the armoury of a Roman soldier that he would be familiar with at the time. He says that we don't wrestle with flesh and blood. In verse 11 we put on the whole armour of God not just some of it that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And he goes through the various parts. He says you are to “put on the belt of truth.” That is integrity. He says, “put on the breastplate of righteousness.” That's purity. He said, "Put on the shoes of peace." Shoes of readiness to spread the gospel of peace. That's tranquillity. He said, "Put on the shield of faith." That represents certainty.

He said, "Put on the helmet of salvation on your head.” That's sanity". And what he's saying there, I believe, is to fill your mind with the things of God. Protect your mind from the lies of the enemy because the battle is always in the mind. It begins in there. Sinfulness always begins in the mind. But if we fill our minds with the things of God, evil things can't get in so easily. We should meditate on our salvation. That's what the helmet of salvation is. Focus on my salvation in your mind, in your thinking. Have the mind of Christ as Paul says. And then he says, the sword of the spirit. That's sensitivity or tenacity. And the Holy Spirit can give us words at the time when we need them. Jesus said that, didn't he, when he said to the disciples, you will be persecuted, but don't worry, the Spirit of my Father will give you the words you need to say that no one can contradict or count. And then he says, “pray in the Spirit at all times.” In other words, allow the Spirit to guide your prayers to pray through you to the Father and Jesus. And we pray in the name of Jesus who intercedes for us as well. I've come across some Christians and they say that they do the hand actions, you know, for the armour of God. It's a nice thing on one level, but they miss the point that it's not a daily ritual. I don't think Paul is saying this is how you are to live. So in other words, he says when you say “put on the belt of truth”, make sure that truth is quite tight around you. You are a deeply truthful person. When he says “put on the breastplate of righteousness,” he's saying be righteous. Put on righteousness. You know when he says “put on the shoes of peace,” he's saying where you walk in this world, make sure that you are peaceful. Spread the gospel of peace. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, who bring peace, who bring joy” as we read in Isaiah. See, Paul says elsewhere, put on Christ. How are you supposed to do that? He's obviously saying, "Put Christ on like a coat, like a cloak. Wear him. Behave like him to those around you."

I just want to share something personal about me because you don't really know me that well. And I'll just share a little about myself. My own identity. Only in recent times, I would say that I've grasped more this sense of the importance of identity in Christ. I was born in the mid 80s and grew up then and into the 90s and naughties. That was my generation. And I come from a Roman Catholic background, an Anglo Irish one. My mom comes from County Mayo. My dad was born next to Aston Villa actually in Birmingham. And we grew up in Birmingham. I was one of six, the youngest of six. And there were very good Christian principles, which I know that Roman Catholicism is not a good expression, I believe, of Christianity, but there are certain principles that are compatible. There are good things. It is a strange mix of truth and deception really as I've found. So there was a positive side but there was a negative which there was Catholic guilt. It bred perfectionism. There's idolatry of course and it led to a distorted view of God. And the identity that I developed was one of insecurity. There was also violence in the home that I grew up in as well. It was quite difficult and it weirdly began the year that I was conceived or the year I was born actually. So that's all I knew for about the first 20 years really actually. And I started to develop this sort of performance-based life and of course that's quite draining at times. I was very very shy as well, highly sensitive, overly concerned with what other people thought of me or were saying about me, apologizing too much for things. Kind of apologizing just for living as it were. Feeling kind of, you know, scared or nervous just because of the environment I grew up in. Easily agitated and easily rejected as well and overly defensive at times. Now, that wasn't the whole story. There were good aspects as well. There were good aspects to my childhood. My siblings would all say that as well. There were certain, not to sound proud, but there were good aspects, I'd say, to my character as well. But I found that I often couldn't handle, for example, people disagreeing with me or correcting me. I would interpret that as if someone said, "Well, no, I don't agree with you on that or you've what you've done is wrong." I would interpret that rejection of something I've said or done as a rejection of me as a whole person. Oh, they're rejecting me when really they were just rejecting something I've said or done. So, I was confusing the two. And the biggest mistake I discovered that I was making, that the Lord has shown me, was I was expecting other people to be God for me if that makes

sense. I was putting them in the place of God. So I was expecting them to be perfect, to never let me down. And of course, when they did let me down, as they would, and I let people down. I would let people down all the time, just as we all do, I'd feel so upset and so rejected and why have they done that

kind of thing? And the Lord has shown me that I was kind of putting certain people in his place to an extent. And I would pray to God and God has worked through my life even from childhood and I had a faith in him. I came to know the Lord when I was only seven and God has worked through me ever since. But I was kind of putting people in his place often and kind of expecting too much of them. And bit by bit the Lord showed me that that was wrong. And he reminded me of certain scriptures. For example, Paul says, "Have no confidence in the flesh.” Remember the first commandment, “have no other gods before me." And in the Proverbs, it says, "The fear of man or trust in man is a snare." And there's been a few turning points in my life over the last five or six years and one this year as well. I've suffered for many years with a severe health condition and it's led to real sort of depression at points and joblessness as well. I haven't been able to work always because my health has been so bad. But I've really cried out to the Lord and particularly this year in the last six  months, the Lord has really spoken to me and promised me that he will heal me and has given me a real hope and I've drawn a lot closer through that suffering. I've drawn a lot closer to him as I've focused on who I am in Christ. That's helped me to overcome certain sins. I've noticed certain situations that don't upset me anymore that would have in the past. I've become more peaceful, gracious to people, more confident, not dwelling on past hurts or mistakes that I've made. And I enjoy my prayer times with the Lord as well more. And I can enjoy my health condition more as well. I found, you know, to be in Christ is to know that we are valued, that we're special in him, not because of anything within us. It's because of him in us and because of what he's done for us. It's because of who God is rather than who we are. Although we are special in God's eyes as well because we're made in his image, but we are fallen creatures without him. And with God's Spirit living within us, which is such a privilege beyond words, isn't it really when we think about it, we can do all things. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We must, as Paul says, we must identify with his suffering, his burial, his death, and his resurrection. We have to, as it were, die to self, don't we? We have to crucify the flesh and allow the old man to die, the old self, and so God can raise up the new man and Christ comes. Remember what John the Baptist said, “he I must decrease as he increases.” God who made him who had no sin to become sin for us so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. What a divine exchange. What a sacrifice. That Jesus who was the only sinless person who ever lived both God and man as well. He didn't just take on board our sins, he actually became sin for us. Remember he said “just as Moses lifted up the serpent on the pole, I will be lifted up.” He identified the very thing that was killing us and destroying us, Jesus became that. He took it on board and became that to take it away from us. And if we repent of our sins, as we know, if we confess the work of the cross, the achievement that Jesus made for us in his death is applied into our lives. But we must also focus on the resurrection. An observation I've made in the last year that I've been living in Northern Ireland is when the gospel is preached, it seems to end at the cross. And they say, "Oh, just remember to put your trust in what God did, the Lord did for you at Calvary.” And then it stops there.  But my Bible says that “if you confess Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart God raised him back from the dead, you will be saved.” We have to believe in the resurrection as well and preach the resurrection that Jesus is alive. Because putting it bluntly, coming from a Roman Catholic background, if we only preach the death of Jesus, we're no better than Roman Catholics, are we? Wherever you go into a Roman Catholic church, it's always Jesus dying or dead on the cross. But Jesus isn't on the cross anymore. He's alive and he reigns at the right hand side of the father. And we have to preach Christ crucified, yes, but Christ risen and exalted as well and Christ coming again.

I just want to end with just reading a few key passages from the writings of Paul all about our identity in him. They're all scriptures where Paul says the phrase “in Christ.”

Romans 8 verse 1, “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” So you see in Christ we neither debase ourselves neither do we promote ourselves.

2 Corinthians 1 verse 20 “no matter how many promises God has made to us they are yes in Christ.” So we have to persevere in believing that God will change us and change those around us who we find difficult.

2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone. The new is here.” So we have to stop allowing the trauma and the pain and the sin of the past from informing our present.

Ephesians 2 verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ." At the Passover, the first Passover in the book of Exodus, God says, "I will pass over you when I see the blood." He didn't say, "I'll pass over you if you've got a lot of money, if you've got a lovely house, if you're particularly good-looking, if you've got a high standing." He said, "When I see the blood," and he says the same to us. He wants to see the blood of the Lord Jesus cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

Ephesians 2 verse 7, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

The powerful evangelist who thankfully was saved from the concentration camps during the Second World War, Corrie Ten Book said, "If you look inside, you will become depressed. If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. But if you look to Christ, you'll be at rest.” And I'll end with a quote from Jesus himself “Come to me, all ye who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and in me you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” That's Matthew 11:28-30. Over the last 20 years, I've done many visits to Northern Ireland. And God placed on my heart when I was only 15 that I'd be living on the island of Ireland. He gave me a heart for the Roman Catholics as I used to be one of them, but also for all people to reach out to people of all political and religious persuasions. And I think when I was about 19 or 20, he said, "You'll be living in Northern Ireland." Now, I thought it was going to happen a lot quicker than what it did. I only moved here last year, but over the last 20 years, God kept sending me over here and sometimes to the Republic of Ireland as well to do ministry. And in 2009, I and a friend of mine did some ministry in Rostrevor, you know, near Newry. And we were sitting in the park there, the most beautiful park, as I'm sure many of you know, Kilbroney Park, at the foot of the Mournes. And we saw a man driving two horses and he was pulling a trailer and it was a lovely image of these children with their parents, families being taken around the park, you know, being taken around by two horses. My friend who had grown up in rural Ireland, he grew up in County Roscommon on a farm and he knew a lot about horses and different farm animals. He looked at the horses and he said the yoke is uneasy. It's not balanced across above the horses that was connecting them. He said it's uneasy. He said, "One horse will have it too easy and the other horse will be clapped out by the end of the day." And there and then I understood what Jesus meant when he said, "The yoke, my yoke is easy and my burden is light." You see, Jesus comes alongside us and shares the burden, shares the load with us. And as we know, when he says easy, he doesn't mean, as we know, oh, everything's going to be easy from now on. It's going to be a bed of roses. What he means is he brings ease. He brings a lightness of spirit. He brings a sense of peace that passes all understanding. And as I say, he shares the burden with us. He comes alongside us on the journey. We must grow in our identity of Jesus so that people see in us something that they need and want, something that's missing in their lives. And on this Father's Day, we remember that Jesus came to reveal the Father to us. And in Christ, we can come closer to God our Father.

 

A touch of faith

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 14 JUNE 2026 pm – JASON CRUISE

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 to 9 and Mark chapter 5 verse 25 to 34 

Back there in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 we read “but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us.” There is a God in heaven and his love for you and for I is boundless. It's immeasurable and it's unconditional. You and I could never plumb the depths of God's love for a world of sinners lost and ruined by the fall. To think that God loves you and I so much that he was willing to send his only begotten son into this sin cursed world. To think that the Lord Jesus would come to suffer, to bleed, and to die in the place of fallen man. that he would come to lay down his life for you and for I upon that centre cross so that each and every one of us could be saved and one day have that home in heaven. But while the Lord Jesus was here on earth, while he dwelt here among man, he performed many, many miracles. He gave sight to the blind, he raised the dead to life, he made the lame to walk again and he healed those that were sick and infirmed. John 21 verse 25 “And there are also many other things which Jesus did the which if they should be written everyone I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” The Lord Jesus here on earth performed many, many miracles, three of which are recorded for us in God's word here in Mark chapter 5. In Mark chapter 5, we read about the demoniac of Gedara, that man who lived and dwelt among the tombs. That man who each and every day cut himself with the stones. How he was tormented and the Lord comes and he casts out the unclean spirits and that man came to put his trust in Christ. We think here of the account that we have just read concerning the woman with the issue of blood and how this woman comes to the Saviour and putting her faith and her trust in Christ, she is healed of her infirmity. Then we think lastly at the end of the chapter how the Lord Jesus raises that young girl of only 12 years of age to life again. We are thankful that in the gospel we present a Saviour who not only can give physical life but we present one in the gospel who is able to give a spiritual life. If you are listening and you are dead in trespasses and in sin, you can know the forgiveness of sins and you can be made alive in Christ Jesus. Would you not come to him and put your faith and your trust in him? John 10 verse 28 "I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” The Lord cast the demons out of the demoniac of Gedara. That would confirm to you and I Christ's power over demons. I think of how he heals the woman here with the issue of blood. That would confirm to you and I Christ's power over disease. And then he raises the young girl to life again. That would confirm to you and I Christ's power over death. The one that we present in the gospel is all powerful. He's all knowing. He's all sufficient. He's almighty. Do you know him? Do you know him personally? Can you look back to a time in your life's experience whenever you confessed him as Saviour and Lord?

As we consider this woman in Mark chapter 5 with the issue of blood you may find out that you have more in common with this woman than you first thought. Look at verses 25 and 26 "And a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse." The first thing that I want us to see concerning this woman is the sickness this woman endured. I see how long this woman has been affected by this condition. She has been affected for 12 long years. 12 long agonizing years. Every day she would feel how she was affected by this issue of blood. This woman's situation was critical. The word of God here refers to her condition as a plague. You can imagine this condition and how it affected her. This woman would have suffered emotionally. Every day she would have wondered to herself “Is there not something I could do today to make myself right? Is there not something I could do today to heal myself, to cure myself of this awful condition?” At the start, it would have been quite easy for this woman to have kept her condition hidden, to have kept it secret so that no one else knew. But you know, as time went on, it would eventually get worse and worse and worse. Her condition would have deteriorated. There would have been no hiding it. It began to take effects upon her health, it began to affect her everyday life. That reminds me that each and every one of us are born with an awful condition known as sin. There are 8.3 billion people around the world and all are born with that awful condition known as sin. You know at the start whenever we were born as a young baby sin is very hard to detect. But you know over a period of time sin would begin to manifest itself. It would begin to show itself. There would be no hiding it. From the time that first lie is told, it begins to steamroll, it begins to get worse and worse, each and every day, the sin condition would grow, and there would be no hiding it from those around about us. We read here that this woman has an issue of blood. And you know we are born with an issue of blood - sin has come down the bloodline. It has come down the bloodline from the first man, Adam, who sinned in the garden of Eden. And through that one willful act of disobedience, sin entered into the line of humanity and it has come down from Adam through every generation down through the bloodline and affects each and every one of us around the world. None is excluded, the preacher is included. All are affected by sin. That's why we must come and put our faith and trust in Christ. The only one who came, who lived that absolutely perfectly sinless life. The only one who was perfectly sinless and sinlessly perfect. The one who for no sin of his own hung upon the centre cross. There he took your sin, your guilt, your shame, my guilt, my sin, my shame upon his own sinless person. Maybe you're thinking to yourself, "Well, surely I'm not that bad." Each and every one of us are born with this condition. No one has not sinned. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 3, “for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” It doesn't matter what age you are. It doesn't matter your skin colour, your nationality, or your social status. Each and every one of us is affected by sin. It doesn't matter where you live or where you were brought up. It doesn't matter where you are on the social ladder. It doesn't matter if you live on the streets of some of the towns or the cities around our country. It doesn't matter if you were brought up on millionaire row. It doesn't matter if you're the king of England. Each and every one of us, the word of God tells us, is affected by sin, for all have sinned. Maybe you think that simply by living that good life, you think that by attending church on a Sunday morning, you think that by paying in, you think that by doing your charitable deeds that somehow that's good enough to get you into heaven. All of those things are good, but they will not gain you access into heaven. The Lord Jesus as he walked the scene of time, in John 14 verse 6, said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." How do you intend to get to God's heaven? There's only one way, and it's the way of the cross. Unless you come to the cross and put your faith and your trust in the one who died upon the cross, you will never be in God's heaven but you'll be down in that awful place that the Bible calls hell with no second chance and no rerun, no acquittal, no queen's counselor, no barister can ever get you an appeal and can ever get you released. I think about this woman and her condition and I think of how she perhaps at times thought, well, if I try this or maybe if I eat this, maybe that will work. And then eventually she would come to realize that none of those things can work and that they're all futile. Think of how she would have thought to herself, well, I can't cure myself. Now I'll try the doctors. Now I'll try the physicians, surely they can help. And she would have made her way along to one physician and another physician, to one doctor another doctor and they would all have made their promises and they would all have given their prognosis. Each and every one would have come with their remedies and came with their cures. But you know she would have found out that they were all futile. Maybe you think that maybe you can make yourself right. Or maybe you've tried philosophers. Maybe you've even tried religion. And you think church attendance will get you into heaven. Tonight you're saying, "I'll do this and I'll do that and I'll be okay. That will deal with the sin problem." No. No, no. The only one who can deal with your sin problem is the one who died upon the cross. Your condition if you're unsaved, is just the same as this woman with the issue of blood. Your condition is critical. This woman was affected for 12 years. I wonder how long you've been affected. 12 years, 20 years. 30, 50, 70, 80?  Affected by sin. And your situation is critical. This woman would have been affected not only emotionally, but she would have been affected socially for you see, under the Levitical law that we read of in Leviticus 15, this woman would have had to have separated herself away from the rest of society. This woman would have lived in total isolation. She wouldn't have been able to go to the temple or to the temple court. She would have been excluded from all religious and social gatherings. This dear woman was an outcast. An outcast of society. Not only is this woman affected emotionally and socially, but this woman was affected financially. We read in verse 26 how she spent all that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse as she has spent all of her money and still the condition is there. You can picture the seriousness, how critical the situation is that this woman is in as she has tried it all. She has tried everything. She has tried the doctors, the physicians. She has suffered many things. Hope is gone and the money is gone.

Not only do we see here the sickness that this woman endured, but secondly, I want us to see the Savior that this woman encountered. Look at verses 27 to 29. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched his garment for she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.” Notice that opening line of verse 27 “when she had heard of Jesus”. Thankfully around that area around Capernaum someone has told this woman about the man called Jesus. The word of God doesn't tell us who told her. The reason the word of God doesn't tell us some of these things is simply because we don't have to know. But someone has come and told this woman about the man called Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, and how he would be able to heal her, how he would be able to cure her condition. I wondered about that conversation, would she have said, "But I have no money left to offer. I have nothing now to give." Did someone tell her that thankfully there is one, the Lord Jesus who is able to offer a remedy to your condition and his remedy comes without money and without price. That's just like salvation this evening. If you are wondering, "How could I ever be made right and made ready for a home in heaven?" There is one who died for you upon the cross to make salvation available and it is available without money and without price. All you simply have to do is come in repentance and put your faith and your trust in him. We read in verse 27 that she came in the press behind and touched his garment. That tells me that this woman, as she made her way through the crowd, through the multitude, she was not going to let anything or anyone get in the way of her coming to Jesus. What's holding you back from getting to the Saviour? Is it the crowd? Is it family? Is it friends? Is it work colleagues? Maybe you are concerned with what they might think, that they would laugh at you. Your friends may laugh you into hell, but they'll never laugh you out. As this woman makes her way through the crowd nothing's going to get in her way. Don't let anything get in your way of coming to the one who loves you. Don't let anything get in your way of coming to the one who died for you upon the cross. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 5 verse 8 “but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The love of God is so immense and so immeasurable. Why do you still stand in rebellion towards the Savior? Why would you not come and put your faith and your trust in him? Notice what this woman says in verse 28. She says, "If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole." That word “whole” in the original Greek is the word for saved. What is this woman really saying? “If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be saved.” Mark tells us how she touched his garment. Luke tells us in chapter 8 that she touched the border of his garment. Matthew tells us in chapter 10 how she came and touched the hem of his garment. You will know that the hem or the border is the last piece. It's that finished work. It's the finished piece. And here this woman has come and she has simply reached out and she has touched the hem, the border, the finished piece. If you would only come and rely upon the finished work of Christ upon the cross you could be saved. Simply coming and relying upon Christ, putting your faith and your trust in him and in his finished work. Notice the opening line of verse 29. It says, "And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up.” In the original Greek, really the word is immediately. Think of this woman and all that she has suffered throughout the years and all of the doctors and the physicians, all that it has cost emotionally and socially, financially, and now she is healed in an instant simply by coming and reaching out to the Saviour. Immediately she was cured. Immediately she was healed. The haemorrhaging has stopped. You could be healed of that awful condition of sin. That awful condition that will keep you out of God's heaven. If you would only come in repentance and put your faith and your trust in the risen Christ. Maybe you are saying "Well, I'm not going to get saved tonight, but I'm going to get saved some other night. There's a mission and it's coming to such and such a place. I'm going to go to the mission and I'm going to get saved at the mission. There's a preacher and he's going to come and he's going to preach in such and such a place and I'm going to get saved at the gospel meeting there.” Don't put it off. None of us know if we'll even make it home safely tonight. None of us know if we'll see the light of tomorrow. We read there in Proverbs 27 verse 1 “boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” You may have all the good intentions that someday you'll get saved. But you know there are many people tonight in a lost eternity and they too believed that one day they too would get saved. But that day never came. Death came and just in an instant they were ushered out into God's great eternity. They were unprepared, unforgiven, and unrepentant. If you were to leave the scene of time and go out into eternity before the gospel mission comes or before the preacher comes to such and such a place to preach, if you were to go out and leave the scene of time before then, before you had got saved you are going down into that awful place the word of God calls hell and there is absolutely no way back. Why not come just like this woman with the issue of blood and reach out to the Lord Jesus and simply lay hold upon him, trust in him and his finished work? If you would only come in repentance, acknowledging that you have lived that life that has been an offense to the holiness of God, acknowledging that you're a sinner and that you're lost, in need of salvation you can be born again of the Spirit of God and know your name recorded in the roll book of heaven, the Lamb's book of life.

Look at verses 30 and 31 “Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said unto him, "You see the multitude thronging you, and sayest thou, who touched me?" You can picture the great multitude surrounding the Savior. The Lord Jesus knows that there's a woman who has touched him. You see, among that great multitude of people there was one who simply reached out an empty hand of faith and laid hold upon the Savior. If you would only come and do that, you would be saved. This woman had come to an end of herself. She has tried everything else. She has tried all that the world has to offer. She has tried all the advice of the doctors, and it all has been found to be futile. Notice what she says in verse 28. She says, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be made whole." What a demonstration of faith. Faith forsaking all, I trust him. Why not forget about all that the world has to offer. Forget about all the things that other people are maybe trusting in tonight and simply come and put your faith and your trust in God's son. You will be made right and made ready for a home in heaven. Come and put your faith in him. That's how you get saved. The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the person of Christ alone. Who or what are you trusting in tonight for eternity? Anything other than Christ is futile. Anything other than the cross tonight is futile.

We have thought here about the sickness this woman endured, the Saviour this woman encountered. But now I want us to think about the salvation this woman experienced. Look at verses 32 to 34. “And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, and be healed of thy plague." You can picture the scene between the Lord Jesus and this woman as he turns around to see her. The Lord Jesus who is all knowing, knows who has touched him. But he wants this woman to come and to make that confession of faith. This woman comes and tells him all the truth. I have no doubt that she told them of all the doctors that she had visited. How she had suffered many things, how that she had spent all that she had and how she heard about him. How that she has come to believe upon him and believe upon what he can do. We read in Acts 16 verse 31 “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” It doesn't say you might be saved or you could be saved or there's a possibility you will be saved or if you pay in enough you'll be saved. If you're a good enough person, you'll be saved. No it says “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” It's a sure and certain salvation and is freely available this evening. The great salvation, the great healing that this woman has experienced. Notice the Savior's response. He says, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and be healed of thy plague." As that woman made her way home that day, I believe that there's no preacher could put into words the joy that this woman now experiences, the contentment and the peace that she now has. Not too long before this woman would have been so distraught over her critical condition, always getting worse, never better, and thinking to herself that death is fast coming down the line. And yet here she is that day healed, cured, her condition taken away. Such is the love of Jesus. The word of God tells us in John chapter 3 verse 16, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” You will notice that that verse begins with God and then it ends with life. God is the giver of life. It doesn't matter if it's animal life or plant life or human life or spiritual life. Life begins with God. You could have spiritual life if you would only come in repentance and come to the Lord tonight to know that joy of sins forgiven and know that you're made right and made ready for a home in heaven. Would you not come like this woman with the issue of blood and simply by faith reach out an empty hand and lay hold upon the Saviour? This could be your last opportunity. You might never hear the gospel preached again. This time tomorrow evening you could already be in eternity. The scriptures tell us “it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.” Each and every one of us has that appointment with death. None of us know when our appointment could be.

Look at chapter 6 verse 56 "And whithersoever he, that is the Lord Jesus, entered into villages or cities or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment. and as many as touched him were made whole.” The news that this woman had been healed of her condition had travelled throughout the country. Many people had heard how the woman came with the issue of blood and how she has had that critical condition for 12 long agonizing years and just in a moment of time, she came and she laid hold upon the finished work. She laid hold upon the border, upon the finished piece of his garment, and she was healed. And I believe that upon hearing this, there's a multitude of people and they make their way to the Savior that they too might reach out by a hand of faith and lay hold upon the Savior. You know there are many around the world and they have come to put their faith and their trust in the Lord. What a multitude of people have come by faith to rest upon him and upon his finished work. Would you not come? Would you not come and simply rest upon him? Rest upon what he has done for you upon the cross. You know if you can't point to a certain place and say, “I came to know the Saviour there, or that's the spot there that I came to put my faith and my trust in Christ.” If there's nowhere that you can take us to, then there's no better place than here. I'm thankful that the one that we present to you in the gospel, the one who died upon the cross is no longer dead. For we are thankful that we can tell you that the cross is bare, that the tomb is empty, that there is a throne in heaven where the son of God, the Lord Jesus, sits in regal splendour at his Father's own right hand. He calls unto you, “come unto me all ye that labour under heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” We read in Amos 4 verse 12 “Prepare to meet thy God.” We are all going out to meet God – will it be as Saviour because we have put our faith and our trust in him or will it be as judge? Death is sure, judgment is certain, eternity is long. Would you not come to Christ? The scriptures declare, "Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation."

 

Joseph seeks his brethren

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 14 JUNE 2026 – JASON CRUISE

GENESIS 37 

In our Old Testament scriptures, we read of many people that point to the person and the work of Christ. We think there of the tabernacle and the wilderness. We think of Solomon's temple. We think of Noah's ark. We think of the ark of the covenant. We think of the scapegoat. We think of the red heifer. We think there of Isaac upon the altar. We think of the Passover lamb in Exodus 12. We think of the brazen serpent.  We think there of Moses the prophet and deliverer. We think of Melchizedek the priest king. We think of Aaron the high priest. The list goes on and on and on. All of these things and all of these people fit into a Bible category that we call typology.

Here in the book of Genesis, we read about a man called Joseph. And in the life of Joseph, we find many similarities and many parallels with the person and the work of Christ. You will know, of course, the love and the bond that there was between the father and the son, between Jacob and Joseph. How Jacob he made his son that coat of many colours. How Joseph had the dream and there in that dream he dreams about his sheaf and it rises up and it stood up and the sheaves of his brethren came and made obeisance or bowed down to Joseph's sheaf. How he dreams about the sun and the moon and the 11 stars, they come and they pay obeisance onto Joseph bow down before him. Those dreams were looking forward to a time beyond the suffering and the pain and the agony that Joseph was to endure in the pit in the prison in Egypt. How he would suffer there. How there in the pit they would bring him out and they would sell them to the Israelites, be taken down into the land of Egypt and suffer much. But the dreams that he had were looking ahead beyond that to a time whenever he would sit in authority and sit in power as the prime minister of Egypt. I think about the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 26 and verse 64, Christ is standing before Caiaphas, the high priest "Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven." The Lord Jesus was looking to a time that was yet to come, whenever he would be sat down in regal splendour, in power and authority, a time that was to come away beyond Calvary. A time that was beyond what he would endure at Golgotha. Because of the coat that Jacob made for Joseph and because of the dreams that Joseph had his brethren hated him – verse 4, “they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.” Verse 5 tells us they hated him yet the more. Verse 8 we read “and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.” In verse 11 we read “and his brethren envied him.” We see here the hatred that Joseph's brothers had for him and how that hatred grew and how it was boiling up within them. No doubt Joseph was well aware of how his brethren thought and how they felt towards him. But you know despite that in verse 13 we read how Jacob says to Joseph, “come and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, here am I.” Joseph was willing to be obedient to his father and to go to seek the welfare of his brother. He says, "Here am I.” Think of the bond and the friendship and the closeness, the communion that Joseph enjoyed with Jacob there at Hebron. Joseph was willing to go and to seek the welfare of his brethren. It was no easy task. In verse 14 we read “so he sent him out of the vale of Hebron and he came to Shechem.” It would have been a distance of about approximately 50 miles that young Joseph had to travel in order to come and seek the welfare of his brethren. Despite the distance, despite the dangers, despite the hatred Joseph was willing to go in obedience to his father. Perhaps God has been speaking to you lately to do a work for him. In Isaiah 6 the Lord speaks to Isaiah "Who shall I send and who will go for us?" Isaiah responds by saying "Here am I. Send me.” Has the Lord been speaking to you lately, to do some work for him? Maybe it's only to a neighbour across the street. To go and inquire why you haven't seen them lately. Maybe someone who used to attend but now has stopped. Have we, have you and I been willing to say those words, Lord, here am I send me? Have we been obedient to the Lord? Joseph is obedient to his father Jacob. Are you and I like Joseph? Are we obedient to our heavenly father? Are we willing to do what he asks of us?

Verses 15 to 17 Back in the verse number two, we see Joseph feeding the flock of his father reminding us of the Lord Jesus, the one who in John 10 is the good shepherd. But whenever he comes to Shechem, he finds that his brethren are not there and so he goes that extra distance - another 15 miles to Dothan. Joseph the seeker. Remember how the Lord Jesus left the splendour and glory of heaven but he came much more than 50 miles. He came all the way from heaven's glory. Joseph has made his way there to Shechem. He could have said, "Well, I've come this far. This is what my father wanted me to do, and I think this is far enough." But, you know, he went the extra. He went all the way to Dothan. That reminds me of my Saviour, the Lord Jesus. There in the garden of Gethsemane, he could have called an angel from heaven but he didn't. He went all the way to the cross at Calvary. He did not stop short. We read about Dothan in Joshua 24 verse 1 “And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before God.” Joshua goes on to say in verse 15 “choose you this day whom ye will serve whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Shechem was a place of decision for Joseph either to turn back or to go on. Shechem was a place of decision for the children of Israel whether to serve the false gods or to serve the one true and living God. The decision that Joseph made at Shechem had an impact for the rest of his life. Whenever Joseph came to Shechem he meets a man who asked him “what seekest thou” and Joseph gives the reply “I seek my brothers.” That would remind us of our Saviour the Lord Jesus. He could have stopped short in the garden of Gethsemane. He could have said “I've come far enough.” He could have called 12 legions of angels. That's 72,000 angels. The scriptures tell us "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." He went all the way to that place called Calvary. There in the garden of Gethsemane he said “not my will but thine be done.” At the end of verse 17 we read “and Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan.” He went all the way. Before he gets to his brethren the hatred that they have for him is boiling up within them and in verse 19 we read of his brethren “behold this dreamer cometh.”  In the original Hebrew they refer to him as the master of dreams. What can we do with him? You can see the hatred that they have within themselves.

Look here at Reuben in verses 21 and 22. Here is Reuben and he well knows that's what's that what's going to take place is wrong. Reuben feels unable to stand up and to speak out loudly enough and tell his brethren how that they are wrong. He has him put into that pit believing that he's going to deliver him later on. Reuben here fails in speaking out loudly and clearly enough. None of us could point a finger at Reuben because there are many times that you and I have failed to stand up and speak out whenever we see those around about us saying things that are wrong or maybe involved in things that are wrong. We have that opportunity to speak out yet like Reuben we fail and we fail so miserably. May you and I be bold enough to speak up for the Lord.

Now look at the words of Judah in verses 27 and 28. His eyes are upon what is temporal, on what is the material. He asks in verse 26, "What profit is it if we slay our brother?" Judah is only interested in the money. In the Hebrew if we translate it into the Greek, the name Judah means Judas. And of course, that would remind us of none other than Judas Iscariot, a man who for 30 pieces of silver betrayed the Lord Jesus. A man who in the gospel we would often say kissed the gates of heaven yet passed through the gates of hell. Judah’s eye was not upon that which is eternal but rather was upon that which is material and temporal. We need to always keep our eyes upon that which is eternal. The Lord Jesus in Matthew 6 verse 19 said "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." We are only pilgrims here on Earth. We are only passing through. Your citizenship and mine today is in heaven. Don't get caught up with the material. Don't be like Judah. But keep your eye upon that which is eternal. They sell young Joseph to these merchant men, these tradesmen, these businessmen and they bring him down there into the land of Egypt. They have come with all their spices and all their balms and now in the slave market. I picture in my mind young Joseph as he stands there in the slave market and I wonder as he stood there, did anyone realize that here is one who is going to be a greater blessing than all the spices and balm of Gilead. The one who was the shepherd at Hebron. The one who was the seeker at Shechem would become the Saviour in Egypt. What a picture of Christ he is. We are thankful today for that one that you and I have put our faith and our trust in the one who came to seek and to save you and I.

Whenever we come to verses 31-33, we find that these brothers of Joseph, have a dilemma. They have a great problem. What are they going to tell Jacob? In that great roll call of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 we read about, the great man that Jacob was. But yet, you know, as a young man, he was a man that you and I would have wanted to stay well clear of. For Jacob was a deceiver and he was a twister. And here now these sons of Jacob, they have brought the coat of many colours dipped in the blood of the young goat. A W Pink in his commentary, would make a link here between the coat dipped in the blood and the day of atonement. My mind goes back only 10 chapters to chapter 27 where Rebecca takes the skins of the kids of the young goats and she puts them upon Jacob. And Jacob goes into the presence of his father Isaac and there he deceives him, and he receives the blessing. Now his own sons are seeking to do the very same thing to him. Jacob's sons, of course, weren't there whenever Jacob deceived his father, but I have no doubt that they heard about it. It was something that was talked about - how Jacob deceived his father and how his sons deceived him. We must watch the example that we set to those that come after us. Guard your testimony today. Watch your witness for the Lord. You and I are setting examples that others will follow.

Verses 35 and 36. The Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh’s and captain of the guard. Jacob refuses to be comforted. He  believes that a wild beast has come and killed his son. If you and I could go back in time and see Jacob there that day and put the question to him, “if you had known all that you believe has happened to Joseph, if you had known all that he will suffer, would you have sent him? Whenever you think about the fellowship and the communion and the relationship that you had with him in the vale of Hebron would you have sent your son?” I am sure that Jacob would have said “if I had known all that would befall my son I would never have sent him.” There are many parallels and many similarities between the life of Joseph and the life of Christ. But here we find a great contrast, a great difference. No doubt Jacob wouldn't have sent his son if he had known all that would befall him. Think of our heavenly father, how despite the fact that he knew all that would happen to his son, despite the fact that he knew all that would befall him at Gethsemane and at Golgotha. Despite knowing all the wickedness, the harm, the pain, the torture, the anguish that his son would experience, he was still willing to send them, still willing to send them. To suffer, to bleed, and to die, and to be the Saviour of the world. I put the question to you, the one who died upon the cross. The one that the Father sent knowing that all that would befall him. I ask you, do you know him? Do you know him personally? He is the only Saviour of sinners. If you don't know him today, come and put your faith and your trust in him, and you'll know the joy of sins forgiven and the assurance of a home in heaven.

 

Two Buildings, Two destinies

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 8 JUNE 2026 – PASTOR HENRY CASKEY

Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 to 29

Matthew's gospel chapters 5, 6 and 7 are commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. It tells us in in chapter 5 verse one “and seeing the multitudes he went up onto the mountain and when he was set his disciples came onto him.” Now these would be the multitude no doubt that were following on from chapter 4 of Matthew's gospel. You'll read there in chapter 4 at the end of it about the multitudes following after the Lord. They came because they wanted their loved ones healed. They came to hear him. They had witnessed his miracles and now they come to listen to him, to preach, and to teach. In verse one of chapter 5, it says, "And when he was set.”  In other words, he was just as in that particular occasion like the rabbis of old, they would sit down to teach the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ went up onto the hill and he began to teach the word of God. The people had gathered and Jesus wanted to reach and teach them. He was going to teach them things that would bring a stability in their life. He was going to speak about building on the right foundation. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul, that great preacher of the New Testament scriptures likened himself to a master builder. “The master builder lays a good foundation. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Then the Lord Jesus Christ finishes up his teachings. He brings it all to a closure just with this little portion of scripture from verse 24 on. It starts with the word "Therefore”. He stops them in their tracks. They've been listening so well. “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine.”

The desire to hear. The Lord picks out two men. He points who are setting out to build their houses. Now the reality is the meaning is spiritually deeper than that. He's only taking this illustration of them building their houses, but he wants to point men and women to the stability of building a life upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It's important tonight that our lives are built upon him. The importance of a good foundation. If the house is set upon a good foundation, it will end well. There's no question about it. When time is taken and patience is taken just to get that right foundation the house shall finish well. If your life is built on the foundation of Christ, thank God you'll end well. Why? Whenever you came and you put your trust and your faith in the Lord Jesus, Christ when you came to that the foot of that old rugged cross and you realized that you had sinned, you realized that you came short of the glory of God and you realized that this man, this one hanging upon the middle cross was the one that God sent to be the sacrifice for your sin and for mine. Whenever you realized you had sinned and this is your Saviour and you took him and you built your life upon him, you are building for eternity. Whenever it comes to that time when you close your eyes and death it will be absent from the body and present even with the Lord. It's a wonderful, wonderful confidence to have. The apostle Paul tell us that “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God?” Do you remember how the people were drawn to the master and his word? Do you remember how those soldiers that were sent out to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ and they came back to the Pharisees. The Pharisees asked them why they hadn’t brought him. They said, "No man spake like this man spake." So you can imagine this multitude sitting around the the hillside on that particular day. They are just sitting wrapped in every word that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks. Then he says, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine.” He is going to get to the crux of the matter. In Mark chapter 2 in Capernaum, you remember the Lord Jesus Christ came to that little village and there he went into a little house and he wasn't that long in the house until the news got around. The crowds were gathered so thick that particular day that he barely had room to preach the word of God. Do you remember Lydia in Acts chapter 16? My what an example that girl was. She was in Philippi. She was a seller of purple. She set up her stall in Philippi and she was selling her wares but then came the Sabbath day. She folded all up that day because there was a little meeting that was taking place just outside Philippi. It was just down beside the riverside. The word of God was going forth and she had a desire to go and hear the word of God. She wasn't even saved but she had a desire for the things of God. She had a desire for the word of God. She went down to the riverside and as she listened to the word of God, it says God opened her heart. When the apostle Paul opened up the word of God, when he began to preach the word of God, God began to move in a mighty way. Here were two men and Jesus pointed to him. They had a desire to hear the word of God. Do you remember Nicodemus in John's gospel chapter 3? He was a a Pharisee, a leader of the Jewish people. He was a man who would have read and studied the word of God. He was a man who would have preached the word of God. A man who prayed, a man who led the worship in the synagogue. And there he was sitting one evening in his own home. He would have been a very wealthy man, a very rich man. There was more things going through his mind that evening. He was pondering this name of Jesus. He had been hearing about the things that were happening in the community, how he had preached and how he had healed. Maybe he thought it was time that he should be hearing this man for himself. He made his way through the streets of Jerusalem to where the Lord Jesus Christ was. And there he began to ask him questions. He said, "Rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles except God be with him.” Then the Lord Jesus Christ started to speak to him. There was a desire in his heart to go and hear what the Lord Jesus Christ had to say. Do you have a desire for the word of God? Jesus said one man went out and he did what he was supposed to do. He applied the word of God to his life. He's like a man who built his house upon the rock. Everything was good. But then the other man listened to the words of God and he went out and he just set them aside. His life was a disaster. Maybe you have heard so much about the Lord Jesus Christ. You've heard so much preaching about him. You've heard how he left the splendours of heaven. How he left the praise of angels, and he stepped forth into this old world. He was born of the Virgin Mary, and there he suffered at the hands of the religious leaders. There he bled, and suffered, and he died upon that old rugged cross. Maybe you know all that. You have heard it time and time again. There's a desire in your heart this evening. Why? Whenever we come to sit in the word of God and we turn there to Genesis chapter 3 and we see the creation of God and we see a stamp upon the whole creation. He says everything he made, he says it was very good. Then we come to Isaiah chapter 53. We see the suffering servant. The Lord Jesus Christ suffering and bleeding and dying for a lost mankind. Maybe it is time just to stop at that stage and to ponder through it and to read it. Just like the Ethiopian eunuch as he travelled up from Jerusalem. He was sitting with the word of God open. He was pondering through the word of God. He was taking time. He was taking patience to go through the word of God. He had a desire for it and God showed him his great need of salvation and Philip had the joy of stepping up into that carriage and pointing him to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice now Jesus changes to something of the directions that he's given here. Jesus is speaking now about hearing and doing. It is one thing to hear the word of God, but then we've got to apply the word of God, and we've got to do the word of God. One man hears, but he does nothing about what he hears. It just falls upon deaf ears. He hears the teachings of God but he just simply turns his back and he walks away. James says that is like a man who beholds his natural face in a glass. He takes a look at himself in the mirror and he sees what alterations needs to be made to his appearance before he goes out, but he doesn't do anything about it." This is a man looking into the word of God. He sees himself in the mirror of God's word. He sees that he's a sinner. He sees that he needs to come to Christ. He sees that he needs forgiveness of sins, that he's needs to be reconciled to God because at that moment in time he's separated from God. To die in that state will mean he will be separated for all eternity. He sees that in the word of God. He hears it from the teachings of God, but he just turns his back and he walks away. Jesus likens such a man to a foolish man. He paints that wonderful, wonderful picture of this man going out to build his house, but neglects to seek out the best foundation. That's what the Lord brings it down to. He says, "That man that hears my word and doesn't do it, he's like a man that goes out to build a house and he wants to get that house up as quickly as he can and so he just builds upon the sand. It's going to come to ruin." We need to follow the directions. Did you ever set out to build something that's bought as a flat pack? Well, it is a great trial. You will open up the box and there's about a hundred sections and about 10,000 screws and nuts and bolts and all these directions. A fits ito B and C then goes into D and all this sort of thing. You know, it's all very well to see it sitting on the floor but if you hadn't the directions, even with the directions, it's quite difficult. If you hadn't those directions, you could get nowhere. Do you remember Thomas? He asked the Lord "We don't know where you're going. How do we know the way?” And Jesus looked at him. He said "Thomas, I am the way, the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." If we miss the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, if we miss the cross of Calvary tonight, we will miss a presence with God throughout the ages of eternity. That's how serious it is tonight. Multitudes tonight, good, well-meaning people are trying to find heaven their own way. They have their ministers who tell them, "You're okay." There'll be ministers today who stand behind the sacred desk and they'll tell their congregations, "You're okay. You just do the best you can. You come to your church, you take your communion, and you have nothing to worry about." And sadly, souls are being lost even as we speak tonight with such teachings. You see, there's directions tonight. Do you remember in Acts chapter 16? Do you remember that man that we read about there - the Philippian jailer? Do you remember how he Paul and Silas was put in his charge. He put them in stocks and closed the cell door. He fell soundly asleep. He had no conscience whatsoever. Didn't worry about it. These were two children of God. He maybe heard them preach in the street. He maybe heard about Lydia getting saved. He maybe heard about the little damsel that was demon possessed and how she was delivered and now she lived a different life. He maybe knew all that, but he put his head on the pillow and he went to sleep. And then you remember how that evening, his whole life began to fall apart at midnight. He ran into where Paul and Silas were, he got down before them and said "Sirs what must I do to be saved?" Remember the direction that the apostle Paul gave him. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." It is believing in him tonight. It's not believing in a church. It's not believing on a communion table. It's not believing in the best things that we can do. It's believing in him tonight. Your salvation is in a person. That person is the Lord Jesus Christ suffering and dying on the middle cross just for you. Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ died upon that cross, he was dying alone. He was dying to atone for your sin and for my sin.  

Then I want you to see something about the difficulties that appear. The Lord Jesus Christ says, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine." How important hearing these sayings are. Then he isolates these two men. He says, "I want to give you an example of hearing my word." He says they are like two men going out just to build two houses. It's as simple as that. He says one man hears and he goes out and he does what I tell him and he builds his house. He builds on a good foundation and things are safe. The other man goes out, he neglects and his life's a disaster. Notice the difficulties that appear. The one man goes out and he digs down deep onto the solid rock and he brings his stones and his bricks and he begins to build. The other man, he didn't go to all that bother. He just went over across to a sandy place and he began to build upon the sand. I am sure for those two houses, one was just as good as the other. Maybe the same contours, maybe the same doors, maybe the same windows, maybe the same shape, maybe the same size. Everything was okay at that stage. But then we see the difficulties came. Verse 27 "The rain descended, and whenever the rain descended, the little streams began to fill up. And when the little streams began to fill up, the rivers began to fill up. And when the rivers began to fill up, there was an overflow. And my, they just come in around those two houses. And the winds were blowing at their strongest. And the house that was built upon the sand, it just fell flat. And great was the fall off it. I'm sure that man was very disappointed. For the man or for the woman not trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation, the message is so very, very simple. When life is okay, you're okay. But when things turn aside, I'll tell you, it's so difficult. It's so difficult. Whenever sickness comes, maybe whenever unemployment comes, maybe whenever family divisions come, or maybe when the waves of death begin to flood over your soul, that's a time of trial. What will you do then? If you haven't built upon this sure foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be lost and lost for all eternity.

I read the story of a an atheist recently. The man had no time for God whatsoever and often denied God at every opportunity. He was a fairly outspoken man, quick to condemn Christianity but he was on his deathbed and his friends had gathered around him. As he lay there he began to get very agitated. His friends were trying to encourage him. They laid their hands upon him and said "John, hold on. Hold on, John." The man lying upon the bed, he looked up into the face of his friends and he said, "Hold on to what?" You see, he had nothing at the end. 

When those difficult times come, we need that sure foundation.

There is the destruction that falls. This man can only now stand and watch his house fall apart. He is helpless. He can do nothing. He didn't build upon the foundation and now the house is beginning to fall around about him. It is crumbling around about him and he steps to watch it falling. There is nothing that he can do about it. He can't retrace his steps. Jesus says, "That's the man  who has heard my word. That's the man who knew what he should have done. That's the man that turned his back and walked away and his life has fallen apart. This is the picture of a man's life without Christ. coming to that last moment, that last breath. His life is in ruins and past, and a lost and Christless hell looms out before him. The last great enemy to be fought is the enemy of death and it overtakes us. And now we must go all the way of the earth. That's what the Lord is getting at here. That is what the Lord's speaking about tonight. Sadly, you remember in the Old Testament scriptures that young man Achan for whom destruction came. It was the battle of Jericho, the first battle as they entered into the promised land. God took Joshua to the one side and he told him that Jericho is going to be his victory. He gave him the pattern of how these walls of Jericho would fall. He told them about walking around it every day for six days. On the seventh day the walls fell down flat. But God told Joshua “this is my victory and the spoils of this victory are mine and you're not to be taking any of the spoils.” I'm sure Joshua rehearsed that time and time again to his army. One of the soldiers was a young man called Achan. No doubt he listened to what God had to say. When they went into Jericho and the walls fell flat, you remember what Achan did? He saw the silver and the gold. He saw the Babylonian garment that was so beautiful and why he could not just lift his eyes off it. He could not get away from the fact that it was there ready for the taking. He knew God's word. God's word says the spoil is mine. But that young man, he gathered all up and he took them and hid them in his tent. But you remember the destruction that came to him and to his family because of that one act and the destruction that came to the whole nation because in the very next battle, they were defeated. That's what sin does. That's what the disobedience to God's word does. Jesus says, "The man that goes out and doesn't do my way, he hears my sayings, but he doesn't follow them through. He doesn't apply to his heart. He says he's a foolish man.” Paul could say in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 12 that at that time he was speaking to those Ephesian believers, but he was taking them back to a time when they weren't saved. "At that time, ye were without Christ and ye were without God and you had no hope." What an awful state. Can I take you back to that moment before you were saved? That you were without God and eternity was looming. You had no hope. What a terrible state to be in. On the cross of Calvary, he atoned. He reconciled you back to his God but you've got to claim it. You've got to come now and claim that atonement even for yourself. Will you be like the foolish man? You will forget about them and you will build your house as it were on the sand and one day it'll collapse around you. Or will you be like that wise man tonight and build upon the solid rock?

There was a young man during the awakening of the 59 revival. He came under the hand of conviction. Neighbours of his were getting saved. Men and women were getting saved around about him and he come under conviction. He had been to a few of the meetings and God had really spoken to him. He was a young man, a young farmer, but he had his eye on a bigger farm. His uncle had promised him that when he would pass away, the farm would be his. But the young man had come under conviction at the preaching of the gospel of saving grace. And he showed signs of getting saved. And one night the old uncle came to him and he he says, "Now listen," he says, "If you get saved, you can say goodbye to the farm. The farm's not yours." because he said, "I will not have that in my family." He says, "I don't want you to get saved." He said "The farm will go. It will go to someone else." So the young man couldn't get past that. It was a stumbling block. And so he chose the farm. Many years later, that man, a much elderly man was lying on a deathbed. A young pastor went to see him. He started to speak to him about the things of God. Asked him if he was saved. The man now lying on his bed, said "No. I made a bad bargain in the 59 revival." He had missed his opportunity.

Don't miss your opportunity of salvation. Don't miss it. Come to Christ when you have the opportunity and trust him as your Saviour and trust him as your Lord.