19th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read - (Romans 3:3-4 focus v3)


Message (Alan Burke)


Today we make a contract in many situations; party A says they will do this, party B says that they will do this in return. Like a phone contract, for example, your phone provider, whoever it is, provides you with a service that is dependent on you keeping your side of the contract, which is, of course, paying the bill or putting ‘credit’ on your phone. The provider will only provide you with the service if you keep your obligation. 


The Jews were the people of God; they even had the sign of the promises of God in circumcision, but the promises are only effectual if they are embraced; you need to believe in the promise, you need to have faith, you need to receive the promise. The problem is they hadn’t. God’s people had obligations; they were faithless to the promise of God. We see the pattern throughout Scripture; God has to constantly call His people back. His people did not keep their side of the covenant; they did not love the Lord their God with all their heart. Faith is not just believing in something to be true; it is living in response. That is why if you look back to Romans 1:5, we are reminded that we are called to the obedience that comes from faith. 


To this objection, Paul says not at all; these things do not nullify God’s faithfulness. Just because His people did not have faith does not nullify the years of God’s continuing faithfulness to the promises that He had made and He kept in spite of their faithlessness. For God is true, and every man a liar. That may not sit well with you, but all men are liars; all mankind, humanity, men, women, and children, we are all promise breakers. Only God is the one who has kept His promise completely. 


As Christians today, for those of us who love the Lord, it should not surprise us. God is true; we are not. We break promises, we lie. Thankfully, our salvation isn’t dependent on us; it is dependent on God himself through Jesus Christ. For God cannot lie because he is truth. He cannot lie; just because we do does not mean that God does. Just because his people were faithless, they did not have faith, does not mean that God’s faithfulness was nullified. Again, fast forward to today. We are not Jews but Christians; we are likewise, though the covenant people of God today. The sign of the  promises of the covenant has changed, from circumcision to baptism. The sign and seal today is baptism. If some who were baptised did not come to faith, should we simply do away with baptism? Should we forget the signs that God has given us? No, because baptism does not guarantee salvation; rather, it is an expression of God’s promise to all who believe. It points to God’s promises, His faithfulness, not to ours. If no one who was ever baptised had faith, it doesn’t nullify God’s faithfulness because God has kept His part of the covenant; it is we who haven’t kept our obligation. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q43 What is the preface to the ten commandments?
A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
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18th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read - Genesis 25


Message - Scott Woodburn


How would you define a well lived life? Let me offer some suggestions. The life we want will last for as long as possible. It will be a life full of good things and very few bad. It will be a life of good health and strength. We’ll dance at our great granddaughter’s wedding and we’ll maintain all our mental faculties. It will be a life of prosperity and wealth and when we die we’ll leave a nice little chunk of change for our family. Sounds good doesn’t it? I’ll not fault you for any of that. I hope to see 100 and get to preach at my great granddaughter’s wedding!


Yet there must be something more than earthly good. There must be something more valuable than the contents of our will. Chapter 25 sees the end of Abraham and it describes the end of his journey in this way “Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.” (v8)


Altogether Abraham had lived for 175 years. After Sarah’s death he had remarried to Keturah (v1) and together they had six children and numerous grandchildren (v2-4). He was able to leave all his wealth to his son Isaac (v5) and he was so well thought of that Isaac and Ishmael were reunited at Abraham’s funeral and together they buried their father in the family tomb (v9). Indeed long after his death future descendants continued to come in the line of Abraham. Ishmael saw his family grow (v12-18) and Isaac and Rebekah were blessed with twins called Esau and Jacob (v24).


As we examine all of this we could certainly say that Abraham’s life was a good one. Yet I think a phrase easily missed is that Abraham was gathered to his people when he died (v8). What does this mean? When Abraham died he was gathered up to heaven. Ultimately we can have all the treasures of the earth but they will be of no comfort to us as we enter Hell. Abraham was a rich man but died in faith knowing that greater riches were to come. Today Abraham dwells in the presence of Christ, saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.


There’s nothing more valuable than the Gospel but sadly Abraham’s grandson Esau wouldn’t agree. He was the first born twin of Isaac and Rebekah. Therefore as the elder brother he had the place of privilege when it came to his inheritance - this was his birthright. Esau came home from hunting one day absolutely starving and so he demanded some of his brother’s stew. Jacob agreed on the condition that Esau would sell him his birthright. Esau readily agreed for after all his primary need wasn’t a birthright but a belly full of stew.


This passage invites us to see a man who has no regard for the eternal things of God and another man, not perfect by any means, who understands the significance of the promises of God. One sells his birthright for a bowl of stew and the other takes every opportunity to claim the birthright for himself.


So what does a well lived life look like? Perhaps one full of years, full of joy and full of stew? I offer you one instead that is full of Christ and His Gospel. Hear the long gone voice of R.S. Candlish on a well lived life “Is the Christian full? Is the pilgrim satisfied? Is he ready to depart? Not because he can reckon some seventy revolutions of the sun in his lifetime, or maybe eighty, or even like Abraham one hundred and seventy-five. Nor is it because he can say of the various sources of interest and pleasure upon the earth, I have drunk of them all. But it is because he has eaten the bread of heaven and drawn water out of the wells of salvation; because he has been filled with the fullness of God; because he has been made a partaker of the unsearchable riches of Christ.”


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Q42 What is the sum of the ten commandments? The sum of the ten commandments is, to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.
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17th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read - (Romans 3:1-2)


Message (Alan Burke)


So far in the book of Romans, Paul has been making it clear that whatever we may think is a reason for our own confidence before the Lord, no matter who we are, we have none! Unless, of course, our confidence is in Jesus Christ and what he has done. What Paul has been doing is the dismantling work, the wrecking work, tearing down all the nonsense that people choose to believe; he wants to remove the false assurance, the false security, false comfort, and presumptions that many people have in their relationship with God or more often their presumed relationship with God that isn’t based on fact, rather it is a figment of their own imagination. 


Last week, Paul had been addressing specifically the relationship of the Jews with the Law, but the name of God was being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of them (2:24), as well as addressing Circumcision and the confidence that was placed in the sign. As Paul did, he reminded them that a man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly; it must be inwardly (1:28-29). Ultimately, the problem was religion, for they had a deficient understanding; they had the sign of the covenant without the inward reality, so it was meaningless. The question now posed by Paul is one that would no doubt have been raised from what he had just said in chapter 2, which is that of advantage. Asking what advantage is there in being a Jew and circumcision? The answer comes, and it is clear: in every way, there is advantage! 


Look to what he says in v2, “First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God”. Now I have the NIV, if you have the ESV or KJV, they both say “Chiefly” instead of “First of all”, simple reason, the Greek word used literally means first, but notice there was no second, so this is not a first of an argument of, first, second, third that Paul rhymes off to deal with this objection rather it is chiefly, the first of important and it’s not that the Jews were better off in every way economically, politically, strategically, socially, militarily, it might have been the case for those things at different times in their history but those things are neither here nor there, they didn’t matter, but what did is that they were entrusted with the very word of God. 


You’ll read oracles in some translations. What was chiefly of their advantage was that they had the word of God, they had His oracles, they had His revealed will, the living and active Word of God, namely, the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. While both Jew and Gentiles are both equally guilty because of their sin, the Jews themselves had an advantage that the Gentiles did not have, that the nations around did not have, they had the word of God. For throughout points to the need of salvation by another, it speaks of God’s promised Messiah, the seed of the woman, the Lord of David. God had been making clear to His people that what they needed to do above all things is to put their faith in Him. 


I want to take this passage from a different angle as we close. Now, Paul, as you can see, is talking about the advantage of being a Jew or the value of being circumcised. We are not Jewish culturally, nor are we circumcised, but if you are reading this, you more than likely have grown up in the Church of Jesus Christ and would identify as a Christian one who has been given the covenant sign and seal of baptism. Do you know that you have so many advantages that there are people that surround you who do not have? But identifying as a Christian and being baptised does not save. I’m often confronted with people who have attached some superstitious nonsense to baptism and the Lord’s supper, but these things do not guarantee salvation. If Paul were writing today, he would remind us that membership, baptism, the Lord’s supper do not guarantee salvation. Jesus warned us that we may honour him with our lips but our hearts are far from Him. What we need, just as the Jews need, was faith, to have a heart transformed by the person and work of Jesus Christ. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q41 Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?
A. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments.
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15th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read - Genesis 24


Message - Scott Woodburn


Abraham was entering the final years of his life and yet he was still resolutely focused on the fulfilment of God’s covenant. Abraham would soon die but he knew his son Isaac would carry forward his Gospel hope and so like all good parents he started to make plans for his son’s future.


The promise of God was centred around a child who would come to destroy the works of the devil. He would come in the line of Abraham and in order for this to prove a reality, Isaac was going to need a wife. Abraham had two conditions for his son’s bride. Firstly, she was not to be a Caananite (v3). The line of promise was not to be tarnished by those who had no regard for the Lord. The Canaanites would one day be judged and so Isaac’s wife should come from Abraham’s home in Mesopotamia and not Canaan. Secondly, although Isaac’s wife should be from Mesopotamia, Isaac should not return to that place (v6). Abraham wanted his son to remain in the land of promise and not to be making his life elsewhere.


Abraham’s servant promised his master that he would strive to fulfil his wishes (v9) and soon the servant travelled to the land of Mesopotamia (v10). But how does someone go about finding a wife? The servant was no fool and turned to the means of prayer. He said “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.” (v12-14)


The Lord God would indeed show steadfast love to Abraham, his hopes for his son Isaac would come to pass. Almost like she had been dropped from heaven itself, before the servant had even finished praying, a beautiful young girl called Rebekah appeared carrying water (v15). She served Abraham’s servant (v18) and gave his camels water to drink (v20) and soon it was clear to all involved that Rebekah was to be the wife of Isaac. She received her father’s blessing (v50-51) and made it clear that she would leave Mesopotamia and follow Abraham’s servant to Caanan. Later as Rebekah’s journey neared its end she saw Isaac meditating in a field (v63-64). Soon their introduction was made and Rebekah became Isaac’s wife and quite fittingly we are told that “he loved her” (v67)


I’m challenged by this passage to broaden my horizons past the immediate concerns of the day and to consider more than 2021. Let me ask, what do you wish for your children? To pass their exams? To get a job? To settle down? These are all good things and we should pray for them to come to pass. Yet Abraham’s concerns were greater. He was mindful of the promises of God and longed for his son’s marriage so that the Gospel would not fail.


How then should we pray for our children? Let me suggest that we are faithful in praying that they would know Christ and love His church. That they would marry in the Lord and raise Godly children. That they would give their time, money and talents to the work of furthering the Gospel and that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren and the next generations who we will never know or see would trust Christ and proclaim His name. May our prayers go beyond the horizon of 2021 “for the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100v5)


Pray (acTS)


Sing

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Q40 What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience? The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law.
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14th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 2:25-29) 


Message (Alan Burke)


We are all familiar with to some extent how God gave circumcision as the sign of the covenant with Abraham. It was a sign of God’s promises. It was to be placed every male among the people who was eight days old. When a gentile converted to Judaism, they were circumcised, for it was the visible sign and seal of their entry into the people of God, as well as every male in that household, no matter what age, would have been circumcised, as was the case for Abraham and is the case today if you convert to Judaism (Ge 17:12–13). But it is a sign of the reality of God’s promises, not of an inward reality. The backdrop to that which Paul writes is that of those who were insisting that circumcision was central to salvation, that it was a requirement for salvation. Yet the sign bestowed upon the Jews was only a sign, a sign that was but a visible manifestation of the reality of the promises of God, but it meant nothing until the inward reality to what that visible sign testified came about. Circumcision pointed to the need for regeneration, for God to work in the hearts of people. The sign without the reality is meaningless. God looks at the heart, and what was needed was a circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, as Paul testifies to here. 


Jews who knew and understood the scriptures knew that the sign testified to the inward reality that God would do, how God would give a new heart and put a new spirit in his people, removing the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh (Ez 11:19, 36:26). The sign does not save; a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly and spiritually. The efficacy of circumcision was not in its observance, it was not because of any virtue in it, or the one that administered it, but by the work of God. They had confused the sign with the reality, and the sign without the reality is meaningless. While Paul was speaking of, in effect, his kinsmen, for he was a Jew by birth, there is a challenge for us. The sacrament of Baptism that is given to us is a sign of what the Lord has done for His people. He is the one who must work; it does not mean that there is an inward reality; there is no such thing as water baptism that regenerates, that makes one a “Christian”. It is not a christening as some people seem to think it is; it is a baptism, it is a sign of the promises of God, it is not a sign of faith, rather it is a sign of the covenant of Promise, it is a sign of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is reliant on God to work in the hearts and lives of individuals.


We are not saved by being baptised or participating in the Lord’s supper but by the work of God in us, through Christ that is applied to us by the Holy Spirit. For the unbeliever, they are nothing more than a superstitious ritual; they will not bring blessing; in fact, for the unbeliever, taking the signs of the covenant will bring stricter judgment (Luke 12:41-48). All of us need a right understanding of the gospel hope that we have, and the signs that we have been given of baptism and the Lord’s supper will point us more to the grace of God that He includes us and our children in our promises, but they are but signs and seals of an inward reality; salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone!


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Sing


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Q39 What is the duty which God requireth of man?
A. The duty which God requireth of man, is obedience to his revealed will.
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13th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read - Genesis 23


Message - Scott Woodburn


The message of modern living is that you can be whatever you want. If you work hard enough then nothing and no one can stand in your way. Do you remember being told that as a child? Perhaps you still believe it? But what happens if your dreams don’t come true? What happens if you never seem to find the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end?


We have grown fond of Abraham and his family. We’ve journeyed with them through highs and lows but as a new chapter begins, death visits the home of Abraham. His dear wife Sarah had reached 127 years and died. Even the heroes of the faith in Scripture one day died. No one was or is exempt.


Sarah had died in faith but she had not seen the fulfilment of all God’s promises. Certainly she had laughed at the birth of her son but the descendants of Abraham were not yet as numerous as the stars in the sky nor had they yet taken possession of the promised land.


Abraham knows this too well. He is a wanderer in the land and has no right to buy property (v4). Perhaps this seems like an inconsequential point but for Abraham it is huge. Where will he bury his wife? God has promised the land to the descendants of Abraham and so he wishes to bury his family on the land that one day his greater family will possess. Therefore the purchase of a family grave in the promised land was a matter of faith. It was a sure sign that Abraham believed one day God's promise would be fulfilled.


Abraham treats the Hittites with grace. He bows before them and eventually offers 400 shekels of silver as the price he wishes to pay for the cave of the field of Machpelah. The deal is done and Abraham buries his beloved wife in the family tomb.


As always Scripture interprets Scripture. Here’s what we read in Hebrews 11 “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." (Hebrews 11v13) Abraham and Sarah had received promises that were not fulfilled in their lifetime. Not every dream came true before death. Not every promise was fulfilled before the Lord’s upward call.


It is this way for every single Christian. We know the promises of God and we believe them, but sometimes life feels so incredibly hard. What do we do? Do we give up? Perish the thought. We have received the Gospel promises by faith and although death will surely visit us, we will die in faith. We know that there is more than this present life and world. We know that God is true. We know that our faith is not in vain.


Today we still wait for the completion of God’s work. We wait for the return of Christ. We may not see the pot of gold at the end of life's rainbow but regardless, our desire is for a better country, this is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called our God, for he has prepared for us a city. (Hebrews 11v16) Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!


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Q38 What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?At the resurrection, believers, being raised up to glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.
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12th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 2:24)


Message (Alan Burke)


Back in my school days, there were many, many times I remember the entire school getting a rollocking from the Head Master or the Deputy Head because of how the school was getting a bad name because of our actions. Now it wasn’t all of us, but everyone knew fine well who it was, and it was never me, and I know it wasn’t me because I took my blazer and tie off and put a hoodie on. If everyone else had the same sense, we’d have avoided those school assemblies. What had happened that caused the rollocking? Well, the reasons were many and varied, but the school’s name was mud because of some individuals.


The result of the attitude among the Jews in v17-23 was that it had caused God’s name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles. God’s name was mud; it was mocked, but it was much worse than my school’s name. This is not a new indictment that was being labelled against the Jews; this had been said of God’s people before in salvation history. In Isaiah and in Ezekiel, the Lord, through the prophets, had condemned His people for how God’s name was blasphemed among the Gentiles (Isa 52:5, Ez 36:22). Because of the sin of God’s people, it caused the name of the Lord to be blasphemed. The issue here in Romans was one of hypocrisy, claiming to have a higher standard as God’s people than is met with reality. This last indictment on one level is not shocking, but it is heart-wrenching that the sin of God’s people was such that it led to the name of God being blasphemed among the Gentiles. 


Sadly, today there are many who cause God’s name to likewise be blasphemed. “If that is what a Christian is, I want nothing to do with it”. Ever heard that? I have heard it and understood why it was said, and the result is much worse than the school I went to getting a bad name; rather, it is our God getting a bad name because of His people. In part, for the Jews that Paul singles out, it was because of a deficient understanding of God and His law that they were hypocritical, claiming to have a higher standard as God’s people than is met with reality, and for us, it can be any number of reasons. There is one that it shouldn’t be for, though, and that is claiming to have a higher standard as God’s people than is met with reality. 


While Scripture is clear that we will always fall short of the Glory of God in this life, but that should not be an excuse; when we sin, we should confess it, we should bear one another’s burdens; if we are harbouring hate against another, it needs to be dealt with. If we have a broken relationship, try to mend it; are we paying our bills on time, are we good at knowing everyone else’s business, are we always coveting, do we think our sin doesn’t matter because they don’t hurt anyone, are we full of judgement against others, only happy coming to worship when it suits our seclude? There are so many ways that we can regularly cause the name of God to be blasphemed because of our example and witness. On this side of glory, we will never be sinless; we should show that for us, while we are sinners, that the accusation of hypocrisy is not valid because we are not pretending to be sinless, to be something that we are not. When we are confronted with our sin, we should be those who are willing to do something about it; otherwise, the name of the Lord will be blasphemed because of us.


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Q37 What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The souls of believers are, at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves until the resurrection.
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11th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read - Genesis 22


Message - Scott Woodburn


It has been said about Genesis 22 “So long as men live in this world, they will turn to this story with unwaning interest. There is only one scene in history by which it is surpassed; that where the Great Father gave His Isaac to a death from which there was no deliverance.”


This is a famous chapter and one that captures our interest. This is the chapter where we hear the Lord’s command for Abraham to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice him upon a mountain in the land of Moriah (v2) and it is a chapter where we see the extraordinary faith of Abraham.


He had waited years for the birth of his son Isaac. You can imagine how he would have loved and cherished and adored his child and yet at the command of God Abraham rose and began his journey to the mountain where he would take his son’s life. What on earth was going on?


Scripture interprets Scripture and later in Hebrews the Apostle shines Gospel light on Abraham’s dark day. We read in Hebrews 11v17-19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, 'Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”


Faith is a receiving and resting in Christ as He is offered in the Gospel. The Gospel had been preached to Abraham (Galatians 3v8), he believed it and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham had received and rested in Christ and therefore he knew whatever God commanded was right. If it was the Lord’s will for Abraham to kill his only son, then it must be for good. If it was the Lord’s will for Isaac to die, then Abraham believed that God could raise him from the dead.


We have seen that Abraham was no perfect man but on that day long ago, by faith, he raised a knife to kill his son at the Lord’s command. Now of course the Lord does not require human sacrifice, indeed to God such an action is an abomination. So what we see here is the refining of Abraham’s faith and it was proved to be pure gold. As he lifted his eyes he saw that the Lord provided a ram as a substitute for the sacrifice (v13).


The Gospel is everywhere in this chapter. If Abraham was anguished at the death of his son, we can only imagine the anguish of the Father as Christ was nailed to the cross. If Abraham rejoiced to hear Christ (THE angel of the Lord) telling him to stop, we can only imagine the horror of Calvary when no voice stopped the cross. If Abraham journeyed to the mountain to sacrifice his only son, we marvel as Christ willingly makes his way to Golgotha where He would be the sacrificed substitute.


In type and in shadow we see the glory of the Gospel in Genesis 22. Abraham believed that all the promises of God would come to pass and not even death could stop the Lord. We believe this too. The Lord does not require you to kill your child but from all people everywhere he requires repentance and faith. The one who has trusted in Christ will not be put to shame and by faith in Jesus not even death can rob us of our inheritance.


Jesus is the greater Isaac. He is the true sacrifice. He is the substitute for His sinful people. Hear Him today “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11v25-26)


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Q36 What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.
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10th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 2:17-24)


Message (Alan Burke)


As Paul continues, he now turns his attention to the Jews’, but this isn’t Mr average that he is speaking about; rather, he is making the example of those who had a deficient understanding of what God had done in covenanting Himself to His people. The issue was that there was a generally held belief among the Jews in Paul’s day that your salvation was pretty much guaranteed because of who you were, because you were part of God’s covenant people. Like if your Da was a policeman, assuming that that would be enough to make sure that you never got in trouble with the law, or that you were alright because your Da was such and such and such and he could pull a few strings and get you out of trouble. 


So you thought you were alright because of who you were, or rather who your Da was, or family; you were a Jew, part of the people of God, so you were fine. Then on top of that, the law and circumcision, you were given God’s word and the sign of his promise, but there was a problem with that. In reality, when one understands the law that was given to Moses rightly, then there comes a knowledge that the law and circumcision will do nothing for you; what you need is a saviour. 


The Jews were in a sense no different from the Gentiles, for they needed a saviour just as much. Yes, the Jews were God’s people; they had a special place in salvation history; they had been given the law, but they relied on it; they bragged about their so-called relationship with God, rather than allowing the law to confront them with the reality of their sinfulness and how they needed a Messiah, for they just as we all do fall short of the standard that the Lord expects, the being perfect righteousness. Paul makes the point that the Jews were good at telling other people how to live, but ultimately they failed to see the implications for their own lives. Now remember this isn’t every Jew that Paul speaks of here, but he is making a point of those who preach against stealing and steal, who say people shouldn’t commit adultery and commit adultery, who abhor idiots and rob temples, who brag about the law and dishonour God by breaking it. Yet there is a sense in here, while every Jew was not guilty of acting out these things and breaking the law of God by their actions, they all each one left them in shatters as we all also do. 


Remember the words of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount where He reveals the intention and the scope of the Law, how He challenges His hearers about what they had made the law correcting their misunderstandings, how the Law was supposed to reveal their sin but they had made it a crutch on which to support their sin. There in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 He addressed murder, anger, adultery, lust, all of it to make the point that the issue is the heart of the individual as much as the action. The reformer John Calvin in his commentary on this passage is insightful on these verses, because he draws a line from those whom Paul spoke of, ie the Jews, to us, saying “we are here warned, not to flatter ourselves when we have performed only some portions of the Law, … while we care not to drive away and to eradicate the sinfulness that lies hidden in our hearts” (paraphrased for readability). As God’s people today we need to avoid the trap of judging ourselves against what is socially acceptable to those around us rather than the Word of God; instead, we need to turn to our sin and when we judge ourselves against the perfect righteousness that God demands then we know just how good the good news of the gospel is for we have one who achieved that righteousness for us, Jesus Christ.


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Q35 What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
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8th August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read - Genesis 21


Message - Scott Woodburn


God is faithful to all that He promises. We often doubt Him and we sometimes wonder if He has forgotten us, but with certainty I say that God is faithful to all that He promises. In Genesis 21 we finally see the fulfilment of His promise to give Abraham and Sarah a son. This was an extraordinary promise. Abraham and his wife were nearing the end of their lives. How could such a couple ever have a child? With God all things are possible.


The time came for the Lord to visit Sarah as He had promised and He blessed her with a son called Isaac which means “he laughs”. Sarah had once laughed at God’s promise but now she understood that her new born and circumcised son (v4) would cause many to laugh at Sarah’s story (v6-7). This wouldn’t be mocking laughter but laughter filled with joy and praise as future generations considered the extraordinary promises of God.


If many would laugh with joy, unfortunately Abraham’s other son Ishmael laughed with scorn. One day Sarah saw Ishmael laughing at his little brother. We can’t be sure what Ishmael was doing but the connotation is that it wasn’t good. Perhaps he was mocking his brother? Perhaps there was a laugh with an underlying threat? We don’t know but Paul certainly suggests that the older brother persecuted the young brother (Galatians 4v29).


With God’s permission (v12) Hagar and Ishmael were sent away and after their water ran out they found themselves in a hopeless position. Hagar put her son under a bush to die (v15) and she left him for she did not wish to see his death (v16). But do you remember what we said at the beginning of this devotion? God is faithful to all that He promises.


Ishmael was not the promised child but the Lord had made it clear that he would have a future. The angel of the Lord (we believe THE angel of the Lord is Christ in the Old Testament) repeated the promise of God. Ishmael would not die under the bush but instead God would make him into a great nation (v18). Then the Lord provided a well of water for Hagar and her son (v19). God is faithful to all that He promises even to those who feel like hopeless outcasts.


As the chapter closes Abraham and Abimelech enter into a covenant relationship that would see any tension between the two men disappear. Abraham had dug a well that had been seized by Abimelech’s men. At that place Abraham gave Abimelech seven lambs to show that he had in fact built the well. The place was called Beersheba which means the “well of seven” or the “well of the oath”. If this covenant required both men to be faithful to their promises then it reminds us of a greater covenant in which God promises to be our God and we His people.


My brothers and sisters, we are instant people living in an instant age. We no longer want to wait for anything but instead prefer immediate gratification. Should we wait until tomorrow? No thanks we much prefer right now. Yet sometimes we are called to wait on the Lord. We may think Him to be slow and perhaps forgetful but He is neither of those things. I know and believe that our God is faithful to all that He promises. If He has said it, then He will do it. How can I be so confident? Because Christ’s tomb remains empty and He stands at the right hand of the Father. In Jesus all the promises of God are yes and amen. Friends, look to Jesus today in your waiting. Trust in Christ  in your doubts. Nothing is too hard for Him. God is faithful to all that He promises.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q34 What is adoption? Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.
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