Advertise on podcast: Christ the King Newton Sermons

“Proverbs divides humanity into two classes: the wise and righteous over against fools and the wicked.  These wisdom and ethical terms are correlative, for though they do not mean the same thing they have the same referent. … a wise heart produces righteous behavior, and a foolish heart produces wicked behavior. On the other hand, righteousness is not merely behavior but a way of being.  In any case, there is no third category, no in-between.” — Bruce Waltke The Wise and the Fool (Proverbs 10:8,17; 13:4,20) Rev. Nathan Barczi Proverbs 10:8,17; 13:4,20

“As PT Forsyth says, “It is an item of faith that we are children of God; there is plenty of experience in us against it.” The faith that surmounts this evidence and is able to warm itself at the fire of God’s love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from other sources, is actually the root of holiness.” — Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life Wisdom, Lights, Action (Proverbs 6:20-25) Rev. Bradley Barnes Proverbs 6:20-25

“Pleasure looks for treasures, it promises kingdoms, it assures lasting loves, it pledges undreamed of intimacies, instruction without a guardian and conversation without hindrance. Pleasure promises a life bereft of anxiety, a sleep devoid of disturbance and wants that cannot be satiated. We read: Entangling him with many words and alluring him with the snares of her lips, she led him even to her home. He was beguiled and followed her.… Everything there was confused and contrary to the order of nature.” — Ambrose of Milan, 4th c. A Way that Leads to Life (Proverbs 7:1-20) Rev. Nathan Barczi Proverbs 7:1-20

“I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom. But, I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. Why should I gain from his reward? I can not give an answer. But, this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.” - Stuart Townsend, How Deep The Father’s Love for Us A Father's Command (Proverbs 4:1-9) Rev. Bradley Barnes Proverbs 4:1-9

“You call upon whatever you love: you call upon whatever you draw to yourself, whatever you wish to come to you. Therefore if you call upon God for this reason, in order that money may come to you, that an inheritance may come to you, that worldly rank may come to you, then you are calling upon those things that you desire may come to you; but you are making God the helper of your desires, not the listener to your needs.”— Augustine of Hippo The Call of Wisdom (Proverbs 1:20-33) Rev. Nathan Barczi Proverbs 1:20-33

“True wisdom is not a set of principles but a supernatural person. And we receive this wisdom not simply through acts of the will but through the transformation of our heart and desires by worshiping him.” —Tim Keller, God’s Wisdom for Navagating Life The Enticement of Unjust Gain (Proverbs 1:8-19) Rev. Bradley Barnes Proverbs 1:8-19

“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. ... “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out. And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” — Job 28:12–13, 23-28 What is Wisdom (Proverbs 1:1-7) Rev. Nathan Barczi Proverbs 1:1-7

O to Grace how great a debtorDaily I’m constrained to be!Let that grace now, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts above. -Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Robert Robinson Those Who Seek (James 5:19-20) Rev. Bradley Barnes James 5:19-20

“You see, there is “prayer” and there is God-given prayer. The former is superficial, the work of orphans who may be religious people but who are unwilling to surrender human independence to the leadership of Christ. God given prayer and praise have as their essence a waiting on God, a willingness to be wrought upon by the hammer and the fire of the Almighty, until the chains of self-centered desires fall away from the personality, and the love of Christ becomes the deepest hunger of the inner life.” —Jack Miller, Heart of a Servant Leader The Power of Prayer (James 5:13-18) Rev. Bradley Barnes James 5:13-18

The first coming of Christ the Lord, God's Son and our God, was in obscurity; the second will be in sight of the whole world. When he came in obscurity no one recognized him but his own servants; when he comes openly he will be known by both good people and bad. When he came in obscurity it was to be judged; when he comes openly it will be to judge. ... Silent when accused, he will not be silent as judge. And he is not silent now. By no means; when people of today recognize his voice and despise him, Scripture assures us he will not be silent...- Augustine of Hippo The Lord is Coming Back (James 5:7-12) Rev. Nathan Barczi James 5:7-12

“If a person has grasped the meaning of God's grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn't live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God's grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn't care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn't understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just.” - Tim Keller, Generous Justice Generous Justice (James 5:1-6) Rev. Nathan Barczi James 5:1-6

These troubles and distresses that you go through in these waters are no sign that God hath forsaken you, but are sent to try you whether you will call to mind that which heretofore you have received of his goodness, and live upon him in your distresses. —John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress Our Defining Journey (Hebrews 2:6-10) Rev. Rick Lints Hebrews 2:6-10

“Neither the nature of any created thing,… nor the weakness of the flesh, can prevail against the will of God.  For God is not subject to created things, but created things to God; and all things yield obedience to his will.” —Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.5.2. Divine Promise (James 4:13-17) Rev. Nathan Barczi James 4:13-17

Nietzsche says that the illusion of willpower rests on our tendency to identify with the part of our soul that commands, not the part that obeys. On one hand, the will is desire. On the other, the will is necessary only when you need to act against your desires. The will is both problem and solution, and to fight will with will is to end up even more entangled.—Meghan O’Gieblyn For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. … Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! —Romans 7 Living in Peace (James 4:1-12) Rev. Nathan Barczi James 4:1-12

“Love for our neighbors, then, like love for ourselves, involves something vastly more significant than the meeting of individual needs. It involves God’s reaching out in us and through us to build a kingdom, a sphere of rulership, in which his will is done in the fallen world as it is in the sinless heavens; in which cruelty and disorder and the distortion caused by sin are supplanted by love, order, and righteousness. Loving obedience to God produces much more than individual goodness, respectability and the alleviation of suffering. It builds the kingdom of heaven.” -Richard Lovelace, Renewal as a Way of Life Earthly Wisdom vs Wisdom from Above (James 3:13-18) Rev. Bradley Barnes James 3:13-18