Lord's Day: February 1, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Law & Gospel Distinction Scripture: Psalm 11:7; 1 John 1:9–2:2; Deuteronomy 32:3–4; 1 John 3:4; Romans 7:13; 1 Corinthians 5:6–8; Matthew 5:29–30; Romans 8:6–8; 1 John 3:8–10; Ecclesiastes 7:20, 29; Mark 10:18; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10–12; Galatians 2:21; John 1:29; Galatians 4:4–5; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22–24; Romans 5:19; 4:3–8; 2 Corinthians 5:20–21; Ephesians 4:20–24; Philippians 3:20–21

For Yahweh is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face. Psalm 11:7

• Two of the most important subjects in the entire Bible: sin and righteousness

I. “…so that you may not sin.”

• According to God, we are all sinners, born guilty under the Law of God.
• What is your life’s purpose? To not sin?
• Who are you a child of?
• The Belgic Confession, Article 22: The Righteousness of Faith

II. The Gospel According to Righteousnesses

• Are you righteous?
• The Bible describes different kinds of righteousnesses with respect to God and man, which summarize the entire story of the Bible, the whole counsel of God, and reveals the true gospel to us:

1. The Righteousness of God
2. Original Righteousness
3. Self-Righteousness
4. The Righteousness of Jesus Christ
5. The Imputed Righteousness of Believers
6. The Renewed Righteousness of Believers
7. The Culminated Righteousness of Believers

An Orthodox Catechism, Question 60: How are you right with God? Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.(a) Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them,(b) and even though I am still inclined toward all evil [in my flesh],(c) nevertheless, without my deserving it at all,(d) out of sheer grace,(e) God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,(f) as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me.(g) All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.(h) (a) Rom. 3:21-28; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil 3:8-11 (b) Rom. 3:9-10 (c) Rom. 7:23 (d) Tit. 3:4-5 (e) Rom. 3:24; Eph. 2:8 (f) Rom. 4:3-5 (Gen. 15:6); 2 Cor. 5:17-19; 1 John 2:1-2 (g) Rom. 4:24-25; 2 Cor. 5:21 (h) John 3:18; Acts 16:30-31

Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com

See Carlos E. Montijo, ‘Series: Biblical Church Discipline’, ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church: El Paso, TX, January 2022 [accessed 25 October 2025].

Lord's Day: January 25, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone Topic: Authority Scripture: Matthew 23:1–4; Luke 4:16–21; Exodus 18:13–26; Deuteronomy 1:11–18; Ezra 10:1–6, 10–12; Nehemiah 13:23–30; Matthew 7:29; John 8:14–15, 19; 1 John 2:23; John 9:39–41; Mark 7:13

2“The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3therefore all that they tell you, do and keep, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them." Matthew 23:2–3

• Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees, who do not practice what they preach, insofar as what they preach/teach actually agrees with Moses and the prophets, the sacred Scriptures, the written Word of God.

I. The kathedra of Moses

• Moses’ seat is not some extrabiblical, “infallible” tradition or authority that is outside of or independent of what is written by God.

II. What saith the Scriptures?

• Exodus 18:13–26, Deuteronomy 1:11–18, Ezra 10:1–6, 10–12, Nehemiah 13:23–30

III. God always requires His leaders to be called and qualified, without hypocrisy.

• Both then, in Israel (kings, scribes, priests, prophets, judges, etc.), and now, in the church (pastors, elders, teachers, etc.)
• Pharisees and Sadducees emerged, and seated themselves in the authoritative teaching chair of Moses (Matt. 23:2-3)—but, were they actually called and qualified by God to do so?
• The scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees were denounced by Christ as hypocritical, unbiblical usurpers and abusers of authority.

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

Scripture quotations marked LSB are from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com

Lord's Day: January 18, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone Topic: Church History Scripture: Malachi 3:13–4:6; Acts 3:24; John 10:22–23; Luke 1:11–17; Matthew 11:7–15; John 10:27–29

4“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and judgments which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. 5“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh. 6“And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.” Malachi 4:4–6

• These words mark the end of the Old Testament, the last of the Old Testament prophets, and the beginning of the 400 years of silence.

I. These are “The 400 Years of Prophetic Silence,” the Intertestamental Period

• Although there was a glaring prophetic silence in Israel, there was also great political and spiritual change, and turbulence. No new Scripture was given at this time, though the entire Old Testament was eventually translated into what became the next universal language of the time—Greek.

II. No prophet had come to Israel during that time, no God-breathed Scriptures had been written.

• “So there was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to appear among them.” (1 Maccabees 9:27)
• John the Baptist

III. Now we have an historical, prophetic, biblical context to the apocryphal writings.

• The issues surrounding the apocrypha do focus on what they say and teach, but especially on how they are regarded and used by religious traditions and churches.

IV. What are the apocryphal books? Do they evidence God’s breath?

• None of the apocrypha claim to be inspired by God; on the contrary, some explicitly claim to be mere human writings, in part because they acknowledge that prophecy had ceased during that time.
• All of the apocryphal books were written during the 400 years of prophetic silence.

V. The apocrypha contain various errors and contradictions

Type

Count

Examples

Chronological

6

Tobit 14:15, Judith 1:1, Baruch 1:2, 1&2 Macc death of Antiochus

Geographical

2

Tobit 1:4–5 (Upper Galilee), Judith 1:1 (Nineveh)

Historical Figures

5

Nebuchadnezzar in Nineveh, Holofernes, Ahasuerus

Authorship issues

2

Wisdom, Sirach (post-Solomon)

Embellishments

4

Judith, Susanna, Bel, Tobit (as parable)

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

Scripture quotations marked LSB are from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com