excerpts from “No Little People, No Little Sermons” by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

“We are told that as Jesus passed by He saw a man blind from birth (John 9:1). You’ll notice that the disciples did not see a man they saw a question (John 9:2). One of the key distinctives we see in this text is that the disciples saw a question whereas Jesus saw a man. There are no little people…

You’ll notice that the disciples saw a question whereas Jesus saw a man and that was when the man was blind, but now when the man is no longer blind and he sees, his the neighbors now see him as a question and they will not be alone (John 9:8-11). It is not that they had totally failed to notice him, they noticed him as a blind man, and by definition in the New Testament times a blind man was a beggar. And they saw him and they understood, they thought they understood exactly what this meant. They had him pegged, they had him identified, they knew who he was, they ignored him, they felt themselves superior to him, they may have felt at some point pity upon him. But notice what does not happen in this text – no one ever celebrates the fact that this blind man sees. His neighbors do not, his parents do not, the Pharisees surely do not, and it appears that he notices it…

May we see that there are no little people… There must be no little sermons… There are no little texts, all Scripture is inspired by God. Paul makes it clear that there are no little texts, and because there are no little texts, because every single word of God is fully inspired, it is God speaking to us, it is God’s word…

If we get this, if we understand this, if we believe this, if stake our lives on this, if we establish our ministry on this, then we will never see a little person, we will never declare a little God, will never proclaim a little gospel, will never know a little truth, will never work up a little message, will never be driven by just a little conviction, will never be fueled by just a little passion, will never preach just a little sermon…”

— Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., No Little People, No Little Sermons – John 9

http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/03/04/no-little-people-no-little-sermons-john-9-2/

The testimony of the evangelists — Dr. Simon Greenleaf

“Let the evangelists be tried by these tests. And first, as to their honesty. Here they are entitled to the benefit of the general course of human experience, that men ordinarily speak the truth, when they have no prevailing motive or inducement to the contrary. This presumption, to which we have before alluded, is applied in courts of justice, even to witnesses whose integrity is not wholly free from suspicion; much more is it applicable to the evangelists, whose testimony went against all their worldly interests.

The great truths which the apostles declared, were, that Christ had risen from the dead, and that only through repentance from sin, and faith in him, could men hope for salvation. This doctrine they asserted with one voice, everywhere, not only under the greatest discouragements, but in the face of the most appalling terrors that can be presented to the mind of man. Their master had recently perished as a malefactor, by the sentence of a public tribunal. His religion sought to overthrow the religions of the whole world. The laws of every country were against the teachings of his disciples. The interests and passions of all the rulers and great men in the world were against them. The fashion of the world was against them.

Propagating this new faith, even in the most inoffensive and peaceful manner, they could expect nothing but contempt, opposition, revilings, bitter persecutions, stripes, imprisonments, torments and cruel deaths. Yet this faith they zealously did propagate; and all these miseries they endured undismayed, nay, rejoicing. As one after another was put to a miserable death, the survivors only prosecuted their work with increased vigour and resolution. The annals of military warfare afford scarcely an example of the like heroic constancy, patience and unblenching courage. They had every possible motive to review carefully the grounds of their faith, and the evidences of the great facts and truths which they asserted; and these motives were pressed upon their attention with the most melancholy and terrific frequency.

It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact. If it were morally possible for them to have been deceived in this matter, every human motive operated to lead them to discover and avow their error. To have persisted in so gross a falsehood, after it was known to them, was not only to encounter, for life, all the evils which man could inflict, from without, but to endure also the pangs of inward and conscious guilt, with no hope of future peace, no testimony of a good conscience, no expectation of honour or esteem among men, no hope of happiness in this life, or in the world to come. 



Such conduct in the apostles would moreover have been utterly irreconcilable with the fact, that they possessed the ordinary constitution of our common nature. Yet their lives do show them to have been men like all others of our race; swayed by the same motives, animated by the same hopes, affected by the same joys, subdued by the same sorrows, agitated by the same fears, and subject to the same passions, temptations and infirmities, as ourselves. And their writings show them to have been men of vigorous understandings. If then their testimony was not true, there was no possible motive for its fabrication.”

— Dr. Simon Greenleaf, Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University;
this excerpt is taken from his book entitled The Testimony of the Evangelists, Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice

Excerpts from St. Augustine’s Christmas Day sermons

“God became a human being, so that in one person you could have both something to see and something to believe.” — St. Augustine, Sermon 126

“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise” (Psalm 51:15); of that Lord through whom all things were made (John 1:3); and who was Himself made among all things; who is the revealer of the Father, creator of His mother; the Son of God from the Father without mother, the Son of man from His mother without father… The Word Who is God before all time became flesh at the appointed time. The maker of the sun was made under the sun. He Who fills the world lays in a manger, great in the form of God but tiny in the form of a servant; this was in such a way that neither was His greatness diminished by His tininess, nor was His tininess overcome by His greatness.” — St. Augustine, Sermon 187

“He lies in a manger, but He holds the whole world in His hands; He sucks His mother’s breasts, but feeds the angels; He is swaddled in rags, but clothes us in immortality; He is suckled, but also worshiped; He could find no room in the inn, but makes a temple for Himself in the hearts of believers. It was in order, you see, that weakness might become strong, that strength became weak. Let us therefore rather wonder at, than make light of His birth in the flesh, and there recognize the lowliness on our behalf of such loftiness.” — St. Augustine, Sermon 190

“He so loved us that for our sake He was made man in time, through Whom all times were made; was in the world less in years than His servants, though older than the world itself in His eternity; was made man, Who made man; was created of a mother, whom He created; was carried by hands which He formed; nursed at the breasts which He had filled; cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word without Whom all human eloquence is mute.” — St. Augustine, Sermon 188

“He who was God was made man by taking on what He was not, not by losing what He was... Let Christ, therefore, lift you up by that which is human in Him; let Him lead you by that which is God—man; let Him guide you through to that which is God.” — St. Augustine, on 1 John, 23, 61

remembering our justification, redemption, & reconciliation — Elyse Fitzpatrick

2 Peter 1:1-13

“One reason we do not grow in ordinary, grateful obedience as we should is that we’ve got amnesia; we’ve forgotten that we were cleansed from our sins. In other words, Apostle Peter is saying that on-going failure in our sanctification (the slow process of change into Christlikeness) is the direct result of failing to remember God’s love for us in the gospel (2 Peter 1:1-13). If we lack the comfort and assurance that His love and cleansing are meant to supply, our failures will handcuff us to yesterday’s sins, and we won’t have faith or courage to fight against them, or the love for God that’s meant to empower this war. Please don’t miss the import of Peter’s statement. If we fail to remember our justification, redemption, and reconciliation, we will struggle in our sanctification.” — Elyse Fitzpatrick

Excerpt from St. Augustine’s Christmas Day sermon

“Righteousness has looked down from heaven. in order that people may have a righteousness which is not their own, but God’s…

Unless He had a human birth, we would never attain to the divine rebirth; He was born that we might be reborn. Let nobody hesitate to be reborn; Christ has been born; born with no need of being reborn. The only ones in need of rebirth are those who have been condemned in their first birth.

And so let His mercy come to be in our hearts. His mother bore Him in her womb; let us bear Him in our hearts. The virgin was big with the incarnation of Christ; let our bosoms grow big with the faith of Christ. She gave birth to the Savior; let us give birth to praise. We mustn’t be barren; our souls must be fruitful with God.

The birth of Christ from the Father was without mother; the birth of Christ from his mother was without father; each birth was wonderful. The first was eternal, the second took place in time. When was He born of the Father? What do you mean, when? You’re asking about “when” there where you won’t find any time? Don’t ask about “when” there. Ask about it here; it’s a good question, when was He born of His mother. When was He born of the Father is not a good question. He was born, and He has no time; He was born eternal, from the eternal, co-eternal. Why be astonished? He’s God. Take divinity into consideration, and any reason for astonishment disappears.

And when we say He was born of a virgin, it’s a great thing, you’re astonished. He’s God, don’t be astonished; let astonishment give way to thanksgiving and praise. Let faith be present; believe that it happened. If you don’t believe, it still happened, but you remain unbelieving. He agreed to become man; what more do you want? Hasn’t God humbled Himself enough for you? The one who was God has become man.”

— St. Augustine, sermon # 189