Pastor James will post his Sermon Study Questions every Tuesday with the previous Sunday’s sermon. Our hope is for these study questions to promote deeper personal study and further edify our church body.
Sermon Study Questions – August 23, 2026
1. Read John 19:16-30.
2. Why is the historicity of Jesus as He is revealed in Scripture so important?
3. How does John inform us that the crucifixion was by God’s plan?
4. How is our “chief end “, or purpose, as human beings directly tied to the purpose for which Christ came?
5. How does John draw our attention to the true humanity of Jesus? Why is Christ’s humanity important to us?
6. How does Jesus’ thirst speak to us about what Jesus endured on our behalf?
7. What does Jesus mean when He cries out, “It is finshed.”?
8. What does Christ’s accomplishment on the cross mean for us today?
9. Why is it important for us to notice what Christ did not say on the cross?
10. Pray.
Reading of the Law – Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Prayer of Confession
Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, hallowed be Your name. Grant us this day the blessing of Your forgiveness and lovingkindness. We confess before You that You are worthy of all our trust and confidence, that You are all wise, all knowing, and righteous in all Your ways. You alone deserve our highest trust, honor, and dependance in all things. Yet, Father, we so often trust in ourselves and our own strengths and resources, our own works and wisdom rather than Yours. We are prone to forget You and wander from Your ways. Though You cannot lie and are faithful in all Your ways, we often put our trust in that which we can see and in what conforms to our understanding of how things should be. You give us life and breath and all good things, and yet trusting in You for all things and in all things is something that frightens us and we are slow to do. In this we have wronged You and have treated You as if You are a cold, distant, stingy, and untrustworthy God who does not, and will not, care for us and do us good in all things. Though You have given us the greatest demonstration of Your love, wisdom, and goodness in giving us Christ, we are fretful and worry about whether You will guide and care for us in all things. You have loved us and sent Christ for us when we were You enemies and we often act as if You cannot be trusted with all things that concern us.
Father, these are great sins against You and we ask that You would forgive us for the sake of Your Son. Please wash us and cleanse us by His blood and help us all to have great confidence in You. Help us to be humble before You that we would be quick to come to You in all things and for all things; trusting You above our own works and wisdom. Grant that our hearts would delight in trusting in You as our loving Father, filled with the joy of knowing Your love for us and the confidence that Your word is true and sufficient as the bedrock of our lives. Grant us this we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
Proclamation of Forgiveness – Isaiah 53:10-12
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Catechism – Q & A 125, Lord’s Day 50
Q. What is the fourth petition
A. “Give us this day our daily bread” means:
Do take care of all our physical needs1 so that we come to know that you are the only source of everything good,2 and that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing.3 And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and trust in you alone.4
1 Ps. 104:27-30; 145:15-16; Matt. 6:25-34
2 Acts 14:17; 17:25; James 1:17
3 Deut. 8:3; Ps. 37:16; 127:1-2; 1 Cor. 15:58
4 Ps. 55:22; 62; 146; Jer. 17:5-8; Heb. 13:5-6
OT Reading – Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.