THE PARABLE OF THE LOVING FATHER

#379                                                THE PARABLE OF THE LOVING FATHER                                                                       

Scripture  Luke 15:11-32 NIV                                                                                                           Orig. 6/30/63 (10/81)

                                                                                                                                                                                    Rewr. 8/6/87 

Passage:  ¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.  ¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  ¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.  “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  ²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  ²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.  ²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  ²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’  ³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Purpose: In a series on the New Testament parables, here sharing with my people on the theme of human intemperance beset by God’s great love.

Keywords:          Disobedience                   Forgiveness        Revival                 Self-righteousness         Sin        

Timeline/Series:               Parable

Introduction

                Once upon a time there were two young children who went to spend the summer with their grandparents.  Their names were Billy and Sally.  They lived most of the year in the city, and a few weeks on their grandparents’ farm in the summer was a wonderful experience for them.

                Billy, like many little boys, was exceedingly curious.  He enjoyed all the different things, and animals that he encountered.  One day Grandfather had some work to do in the hayloft and it was too hot for Billy to help.  He was free to roam.  He picked up his slingshot and went out to play hunter.  Out beyond the barn, almost out of sight of the house, Billy had armed his weapon and had it ready.  Suddenly, Grandmother’s pet duck waddled around the corner of the barn.  Without so much as a flinch, Billy let fly his artillery.  His aim usually wasn’t very good, but this time he was right on the mark.  The duck lay dead.  He looked to see if anyone was in sight.  Then, scared though he was, he quickly buried the duck back of the barn.  That night at supper he couldn’t eat.  His grandmother asked if he was sick.  After supper he and Sally went to wash dishes. She said she wasn’t going to help, and if he complained she’d tell about the duck.

                You can imagine what the next week was like.  Billy was miserable.  Finally, one afternoon Billy went to his grandmother’s sewing room.  He stood around, picked up trinkets in which he had no interest.  Shuffled from one foot to the other.  “Billy, if you need to know it, I love you.”  Then came the flood of guilt and confession.  “Billy, I was sitting here by the window and saw the whole thing.  I wondered how long you would endure this bondage to Sally before you came to me.”

I.             First, Parables are Often Unique in Their Setting.  We can back up a couple of chapters.  Luke 13:22. “. . . Jesus went through the towns and villages . . . as he made his way to Jerusalem.”  Jesus is clearly conscious of the precious commodity of his dwindling days.  Luke 17:11 “Now on his way to Jerusalem”—his last.

                More directly, the scribes and Pharisees were murmuring about his friendship with sinners.  Luke 15:2 “[They] muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”  Aren’t you glad Jesus is like this?  You know where we would be otherwise.

                Thus Jesus shares 3 parables of lost possessions.  There is a lost sheep (15:3).  It doesn’t will to be lost. It just wanders away.  The shepherd seeks it until it is found.  It is lost! It is sought! It is found!  The finder rejoices.

                There is a lost coin (15:8).  It has no capacity to lose itself, or to understand its lostness.  The one discovering it lost, holds other things incidental until it is found.  It is lost! It is sought! It is found! The finder rejoices.

                There is a lost son.  He is lost, not because he wandered off, or was impassively misplaced, but because he chose to leave, to separate himself.  He was just as lost! He was sought! He was restored! His return causes joy for his father.

                The elder brother does not joy in return.  Nor does he find joy in his father’s joy.

II.            Next, We View the Lost Son As a Principal Character in Our Story.  V11: “A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.”  It is noted that Jesus does not call this young man a prodigal.  Keep in mind the religious bigots listening.  They are vindictive of Jesus’ openness to sinners.  We can measure both sons and their sin.  The younger was callous and rebellious; the older was censorious, retaliatory.

                We can learn that there are good things about this young man.  He is his own person.  He is ready to strike out on his own.  But he handles it poorly.  His immaturity shows he gives his father no chance to counsel him.  He is seeking only what is rightfully his. Deuteronomy 21:17 The right of the firstborn is a double portion.  He seems to be a man of simplicity and responsibility.  He discovers his mistakes, and blames himself.  He knows his best chance is starting over. At home? Enslaved?

                The Bible describes three kinds of enslavement: Bondsmen—respected family extensions; servant—subordinate but with status; hired servants—temporarily indentured.  The younger son is a man to whom repentance is not an unreasonable alternative.  V.17 “And when he came to himself, he said . . . I will go . . . and say . . . Father, I have sinned.”

                Don’t make the mistake of accusing him as an unthankful delinquent.  There is a mind sustained by childhood teachings.  There is a heart with gratitude for a loving father.

                There are interesting interpretations. Augustine: the “far country” represents the forgetfulness of God. “Came to himself” suggests restoration from madness.  Paul’s description in Ephesians 4:18, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance . . . in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”

III.           Then, We Must Consider the Older Brother Just as Lost in His Condescending Attitude.  V28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in.”  The elder brother stands in the parable for the hardhearted Pharisees who necessitated its message.  They did not share Christ’s concern for sinners.  We must consider our own attitudes.  As the younger was riddled by an uneasy conscience, this one purported to be without fault. V29: “I never disobeyed your command.”  He was unforgiving.  One-third of the estate has been lost.  His ledger-book mentality demands censure.  Even brotherhood is too high a price for acquittal.  Add to his other wrongs that of betraying his father’s joy.  Father: “this thy brother.”  Son: “This thy son.”

                The theologian George Buttrick wrote: “The far country is measured in motives rather than miles.”

                Finally, the parable shows no evidence of repentance for the elder brother.  Some suggest that it is a true story.

IV.          The Parable Remains Forever that of Loving Father.  V22 “But the Father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found.”

                There were some things that the father could do. The robe, best or first, showed honor and restoration.  The ring established the relationship and oneness (Wedding Ring, Class Ring, Super Bowl Ring).  The shoes, not worn by the lowest servants, were provisioned to sons.

                There were other things, however, that the father could not do.  He could not erase the wrong done: Billy could not revive the pet duck. He could not promise a second part of the estate.

                He depicts all the characteristics of the heavenly Father.  He waits patiently and lovingly.  He recognizes the repentant pilgrim.  He goes out to meet the weary son.  He interrupts the confession.  God is no stickler for law for law’s sake.

                A totally new picture of God emerges.  We saw the shepherd search for the lost sheep.  We watched as the homemaker searched for the lost coin.  We sense that the father is brooding for his lost son.  God’s concern for the lost is the brooding concern for what is of eminent worth.

Conclusion

                I have had recent occasion to reconsider the different attitudes allowed my Dad and myself in regard to God as Father.  When he was a lad, his dad deserted them.  He tried to run the tiny farm, but in failure, lost the only holding they had.  He has lived out his life without owning property: fearful of loss.  But the greatest disparity is that he knew no human counterpart to depict for him the true picture of God as one of zealous good will.

HINDS FEET IN HIGH PLACES

#298                                                          HINDS FEET IN HIGH  PLACES                                                                                

Scripture Habakkuk 3:17-19, NIV                                                                                                                    Orig. 9-20-89

Passage:  Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.  (For the director of music, on my stringed instruments.)

Purpose:              Continuing a series on the Old Testament prophets, here examining Habakkuk’s change from perplexity to praise.

Keywords:          Bible Study

Timeline/Series:               Sequential/Old Testament Prophets

Introduction

                The guide sheet covering the prophets of Israel and Judah shows Habakkuk as a contemporary of Jeremiah.  The same prevailing injustice that Jeremiah railed against, is the contention driving this prophet to deep consternation.

                Nothing about this man is known other than the historical setting that surrounded him.  His name appears only here in this book of three chapters. He was of the tribe of Levi, for he identifies himself as one of the temple singers (3:19)

                Paul knew him and so should we.  He three times extols his great statement of faith, “the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

                Romans 1:17 “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

                Galatians 3:11 “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

                Hebrews 10:38 “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”

I.             Note his perplexity.  Habakkuk 1:1 “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see”: Invasion coming from without—the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., in which the Babylonians claimed total dominance, and corruption arising within—Josiah has been dead a few years and his sons have come to the throne (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah). 

                He raises three questions.  How long? V2 “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” Why? V3 “Why do you make me look at injustice: Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.”  These questions assert both the evil of foreign powers, but also the corruption of religious/political leaders.  He pauses, and God answers these questions in a way unsettling to Habakkuk. V5-6 “For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans.”  Remember Jonah’s struggle with Nineveh.

Habakkuk responds with his third question, V 13b “Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously?”  V12 He remembers who he is addressing, and V12b he extols God’s promise: Israel will live and her enemies will die.  God’s holiness will not allow Him to betray His word.

II.            Next, see what persuades him.  Habakkuk 2:1 “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”  God’s three-fold plan for his prophet: He is to wait (2a, 3c), he is to watch (2a), and he is to write (2b).  Again God answers the prophet’s question with a recordable vision of five parts.  Woe against their insatiable greed (V6-8)—“because”; woe against their overarching ambition (V9-11)—“for”; woe against their cruelty (V 12-14)—“for”; woe against their inhumanity toward other people (V15-17)—“”for”; woe against their idolatry (V18-20)—“but.”

Habakkuk concludes ashamed that he has so rudely doubted. 2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple.  Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

III.           Finally, we hear the call to prayer and praise.  3:2 “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the  years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath, remember mercy.”  He stands convicted and convinced.  Nothing will stay him from faith. 

                Habakkuk 3:17-19 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

A TIME TO BUILD

#148                                                                     A TIME TO BUILD                                                                                            

Scripture  Nehemiah 2 NIV                                                                                                                                Orig. 8-31-62

                                                                                                                                                                                     Rewr. 4-1-77 

Passage:  In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, ² so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

I was very much afraid, ³ but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

⁴ The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, ⁵ and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”

⁶ Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.

⁷ I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? ⁸ And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. ⁹ So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.

¹¹ I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days ¹² I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. ¹³ By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal^[a] Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; ¹⁵ so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. ¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” ¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.

They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

Purpose: To call attention to the fundamental reality alive within the church, to discover the needs which are basic to its renewal and revitalization

Introduction

                Walk with me through this Old Testament passage by keeping in mind a New Testament event.  In Acts 12, we discover that the apostle Peter had been imprisoned.  King Herod had moved in persecution against certain of the believers.  He did not do so out of any conviction, but  because he discovered it improved his image with the Hebrew people.  As Peter was arrested during the Passover Celebration Herod’s plans were to execute him immediately after this religious holy week was past.  He had already executed the apostle James to the great pleasure of the Jewish leaders.

                The believers were earnestly in prayer in Peter’s behalf.  The night before he was to be executed, he was asleep, double-chained between two soldiers.  Four watches of four men each were charged with the responsibility of guarding this man.  The literal rendering of the Greek  here says, “And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon, and a light shone,” which is so much like the account of the annunciation to the shepherds.  Peter was awakened, and commanded to arise, as if from the dead; and as he did so, the chains fell off his hands and he was led from the prison, to find himself after a bit, alone in the street.

                The awakening activity was totally a work of the messenger of God.  He had been told only to arise quickly.  It was in the process of obedience that the chains fell from his wrists, and he was set free.  Awakening us to spiritual reality is the work of God.  Believing the message that is mandated by God’s messenger is up to us.  Which of us could have faulted Peter if he had looked at his double chains, and the guards on either side, and the knowledge that two more waited at the gate, had he assumed that any move toward freedom would simply hasten his death?

                Three factors are involved if we are to reckon with the resurgence of new life out of the old.

1. The initial awakening of God.
2. The illuminating command of God.
3. The infusion of obedience in the human will.

I.             This Can Only Begin in a Life Where There is an Insurmountable Void of Emptiness.  V2 Wherefore the King said unto me, “Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?  This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.”  Nehemiah  had already been through the worst of the  experience.  He knew God’s will.  The question was now how he could accomplish it.  This was compounded by a remorse and concern that had begun to escape his composure.

                For instance, if you were servant to one of these ancient, Oriental kings, you were not allowed the liberty of heartsickness.  Whether you feel like it or not, you act happy when the king is around.

                You see, the problem was not Nehemiah’s alone.  It belonged to the people.  V3 . . . “Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste,  and the gates thereof are consumed by fire.”   They too are out of touch with God, and they must likewise discover that God wills them into the fray that will accomplish His purpose.  How easy it is for the heart to grow fat and lethargic in complacency.  Just to hear Bible study once a week on Sunday is never enough.

                For instance, you recall the commercial of the company who makes weekends?  The poor soul is pictured sitting in that over-stuffed chair watching someone’s excitement, until he becomes  a part of the chair.

                What Israel needed was the One who really does make weekends, and weekdays also.  They are in captivity because they forgot Deuteronomy 28, “If you do not hearken to the voice of the Lord  . . . He will bring a nation against thee from afar.”  In 1:8, Nehemiah quotes Leviticus 26:33, “If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations.” 

                The Lord is the One working behind the scenes to awaken them.  He will work through Nehemiah, but also through Artaxerxes.  The initial step here must be  that of repentance:  Discovering that we are away from God; discovering  that that obvious reality is itself the work of God; discovering that He compels our return to Him, not for ourselves alone, but likewise for  those who fall under the sphere of our influence.

II.            In a Vacuum of Personal Commitment, the Time to Build Continues with the Stark Confirmation of God’s Total Commitment to His People.  V4b-8 “So I prayed to the God of heaven.  And I said unto the king—Nehemiah makes his petition to return to and rebuild Jerusalem--. . . And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.”  The Old Testament is a revolving saga of God’s grace at work in the aftermath of His people’s repentance.  He asks  for no guarantees for He above all others knows that we are incapable of them.  He asks only that we commit ourselves to His principles.  He then helps  us to understand that the only way to accomplish this is to submit our will to His.

                The same grace which we have come to understand in the aftermath of Jesus, and that we are in danger of forgetting in a day of sophisticated snobbery, was the grace operative in the Old Testament.  Grace is not  just an unmerited gift.  It is not just such a gift form God.  It is the unmerited gift of life from the heavenly Father, who is the giver “of every good and perfect gift.”  Grace is God, communicating Himself to man, and entrusting this receiver with forgiveness and restored fellowship.

                In God’s total commitment to His people, there is His demand for our  honesty to ourselves and to Him.  It isn’t easy to be the people He expect us to be.  Nehemiah’s burden had been a long one, and it would be years before he would see it fulfilled.  Hanani’s return in the first chapter of Nehemiah “mourned certain days” four  months before petitioning the king.  The Jews had been back in Palestine 80 years or so, and had managed only a very  modest temple. 

                We often fail to consider God’s resources.  While the particulars are  hazy in that there were two men named Artaxerxes, there is little doubt that they were son and/or grandson of Xerxes (Ahasuerus) and thus, stepson of Esther.  Hear Mordecai say, “How do you know but that thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

                While we must remember that God’s commitment to us is for His will, we have no finer option than obedience.  Nehemiah had no way of knowing the king’s answer.  He had only Hanani’s report of deplorable conditions.  But a burden from God would not let him rest until he acted on the faith he had already expressed.

III.           It is a Time to Build, and Vitalization of Personal Renewal is the Foundation Stone.  “Opposition came in the wake of Nehemiah’s survey of the city.  It was an opposition that could have been formidable.  His climactic statement is a positive declaration of faith to God’s people.  V20 “The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build.”  To those who stood in the way his words left no doubt as to their intent. “. . . but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial,  in Jerusalem.” 

                As God’s people, we do not have time to quibble among ourselves.  The real opposition is from without, and as in Nehemiah’s day, Satan will leave  no stone unturned to divest us of our spiritual power, and sidetrack us on secondary issues.

                Are you committed to your Lord?  He must first be your Lord. In a day when sin’s colors are wafted in the afternoon breezes, people with strong moral persuasion are likely to compare themselves with others, rather than God’s holy ordinances.  Romans 5:19, “as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

                Are you committed to your Lord through His church which has a local, organizational entity, which is subject to change, as mandated by the people in the leading of God’s Holy Spirit?  Do you see that the option of obedience is still as demanding, and as totally rewarding, as ever?

                Renewal is the Foundation Stone upon which we can build.  I call you now in commitment to that high  hour.

Conclusion

                For Peter, as for Nehemiah, victory began in the council chambers of God’s grace.  Nothing would have happened apart from that.  One was facing death.  The other was facing a life of meaningless servitude to a chief of state.  Both had but to initiate a step of faith to see their lives transformed into meaningful service to others, empowered by the will and purpose of God.

A GLORY THAT IS FOREVER

#147                                                            A GLORY THAT IS FOREVER                                                                                  

Scripture Romans 11:1-36 NIV                                                                                                                      Orig. 10/28/62

                                                                                                                                                                                    Rewr. 8/1/85 

Passage: I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”^[a]? ⁴ And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^[b] 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷ What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, ⁸ as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that could not see
    and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”^[c]

⁹ And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
    and their backs be bent forever.”^[d]

¹¹ Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry ¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

²² Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. ²³ And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way^[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
²⁷ And this is^[f] my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”^[g]

²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now^[h] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³² For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and^[i] knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”^[j]
35 “Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”^[k]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Purpose:  Continuing the series from Romans, here showing the wisdom of God in saving His people.

Keywords:          Bible Study                         God’s Omnipotence                       Salvation

Timeline/Series:               Romans

Introduction

                It is interesting how prominently the Jews have figured in human history.  Time does not permit but a casual telling of the story that, as often as not, their prominence was their undoing. 

                The presence of the Jews (Hebrews) galled the Egyptians during Moses’ time to the point that it became the practice of state to see them become slaves.  This is similar to the intent of the Third Reich in our own century: The presence of wealthy Jews, and a race of people so content in their heritage, angered the German war lords to the point of holocaust.

                Individually, the activity directed at them has not been much different.  Do you remember Haman, the Agagite, and Mordecai the Jew?  Mordecai was just trying to be faithful to his religious beliefs.  He was not out to challenge anyone else, or to convert them.  But he so galled Haman that he went to his death in a challenge of supremacy.

                Every age has had its company of Jews who become prominent in their fields.  You have heard about the farmer who was a man who excelled in his work.  Well, Jews have a way of rising to the top, as cream over milk.  Perhaps that is the characteristic that has labelled them and marked them for hostility and persecution.

                Search any  area of interest, medicine, government, commerce, industry, and you will note leaders in extraordinarily vaunted positions who are Jews. ***TEXT LOST AT END OF THIS PARAGRAPH***

I.             The Glory of Grace.  V1 “I say then, has God cast away His people?  Certainly not!”  The saved remnant appear in prior lessons: Romans 9 is about God’s sovereignty and election, and Romans 10 is about Israel’s failure and Gentile belief.  The concept of remnant is not new. According to some accounts, Noah spent 120 years preaching and building.  Only his family joined him on the ark.  Genesis 6:8 “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

                The New Testament accounting shows that even Jesus had many who heard who did not believe.  Matthew 7:14 “Straight is the gate, and narrow the way, leading to life, and few there are that find it.”

                At Kadesh-Barnea, 12 spies went out. Ten returned, reporting there was no hope of success; only two believed.  The obvious illustration of Elijah shows a believing host.  Paul considers himself as proof of God’s constancy.

                It continues to Paul’s day and ours.  Every Jew who believes is of the people of God. “Remnant” refers to true believers.

                With a hardened heart, people can be earnestly and sincerely wrong.  V7f “Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were  hardened.  It is  not enough to be good.  It is totally inadequate to claim sincerity. 

The human heart is not dependable.  The Hebrews prove it.  Paul elsewhere has his own testimony.  Acts 26:9 “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”

II.            The Glory of Provocation.  V11 “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?  Certainly not!  But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.”  Out of the Jewish failure, faith has come to the Gentiles.  Romans 1:16, “For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”  The Gentile is given salvation.  The Jew is incited to desire.

                The nature of their problem is in Romans 10:3.  “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.”  The source of this deplorable condition is in Romans 11:8.  “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”  Here, Paul reiterates Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10.

                Did God want to destroy them?  Such is unthinkable.  Paul says “God forbid!”  Isaiah shows that this stupor is in response to their unbelief.

                Take care to note the end result.  The Gentiles are saved.  The Jews are provoked to believe.

III.           The Glory of Ingrafting.  V17 “And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.”  The imagery in Paul’s lesson is that Israel is the tame olive tree.  Gentiles are the wild olive tree.  On the trunk of the olive  tree, split by limbs broken off, a piece of non-native material is broken off because of uselessness.  In Romans 10:21 Paul recalls the words of Isaiah. “Concerning Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’”

IV.          The Glory of Future Promise.  V26 “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them.”  This says, “All of Hebrew stock will be saved,” or, it says that all Jews who come to accept this conditional right, in Christ will be saved.

V.            The Glory of Praise.  V33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.”  The Jew with his strong position in regard to God finds himself disavowed.  This total spiritual energy aimed at God’s people is to reach the unchosen.  That energy is then turned from Israel to the Gentiles, which will ultimately be the means by which the Jew is attracted to his prior post.

***THE CONCLUSION TO THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***

A FAILURE THAT IS ADDICTIVE

#141                                                        A FAILURE THAT IS ADDICTIVE                                                                               

Scripture Romans 10:1-21 NIV                                                                                                                        Orig. 9/23/62

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 7/25/85 

Passage: Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

⁵ Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”^[a] 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”^[b] (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’”^[c] (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”^[d] that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^[e] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”^[f]

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”^[g]

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”^[h] 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.”^[i]

¹⁹ Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”^[j]

²⁰ And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”^[k]

²¹ But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”^[l]

Purpose: Continuing a series from Romans, showing Israel’s failure to understand their relationship to God and faith.

Keywords:          Bible Study                         Law                       

Series, Romans

Introduction

                Quest is a major factor in one’s concept of dedication.  Do we envision a great task entrusted to us?  Do we apply ourselves to its success?

                It is said that the ship’s log used by Christopher Columbus on his first crossing of the  Atlantic repeats, “This day we sailed westward!” day after day.  When Cyrus Field was preparing to put in place the very first Atlantic cable, he first  made fifty trips across that great ocean to prepare for it.  Gibbon, the historian, wrote his autobiography nine times before he was satisfied with it, and spent twenty years on his greatest work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 

                More recently, this week’s news tells of treasure hunter Mel Fisher.  For sixteen years he has searched the waters off of Key West, Florida, for a sunken Spanish galleon, Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank in a hurricane in 1622 with millions in silver and gold.  The search cost Mr. Fisher the lives of a son, daughter-in-law, and another diver.  He is said to have greeted his divers every day for years with the statement, “Today’s the day!”  Last Saturday morning was the day.

                But the Jews, instead of seeing their relationship with God as a quest of faith, saw it as an endowment of merit.  As long as they were the guardians of the law, they were special.  Paul shows them that this is not so.  Faith must be the target of Jew and Gentile.

I.             The First Consideration Is Their Judicial Failure.  V4 “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

                We need a right picture about failure.  It  was not a failure of the law.  Romans 4:4f “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes . . ., his faith is accounted for righteousness.”  Psalm 32:1 “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

                It was  certainly not God’s failure. Isaiah 1:9  “Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a . . . remnant, we would have become like Sodom.”  Clearly, it was their failure.  Three times (Luke 12:56, 19:44, 21:24): “How is it you do not  discern this present time?”

                They were not without urgency.  There was will, determination, even excitement, but all in error.  Paul prays for their salvation.  He tells us that they are not.  He tells us that they can be:  II Corinthians 3:16 “When one turns to the Lord the veil is taken away.”  He tells us that they will be: Romans 11:26  ”All Israel will be saved.” 

Their failure is that they are looking to their  Jewishness, not grace, to save.  We are not saved by our Baptistness.  Others are not saved by their Methodistness, etc.  We are not saved by our churchiness.

II.            Next, We Look at Their Spiritual Failure.  V9 “If you confess with  your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that  God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  It speaks of grace, of God doing what we cannot, of appropriating the sin-covering function of Jesus’ death for our sin.  John 1:12 “As many as receive Him, to them God gives the power to become His children.”

                Apart from Jesus we are cut off from God.  So also were the Jews.  It is a terrible risk to assume someone may have attained the spirit of obedience.  It speaks too clearly of  confession. It localizes that confession in Christ Jesus. It did the Jew no good to confess his Jewishness.  It does no good to confess our churchiness.  V10 “With the mouth confession is made.”

                How long has  it been since we talked to someone about Christ?  Sunday School teachers need to talk to their pupils.

III.           It Speaks of Their Social Failure.  V14f “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And  how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”

                They chose what they could not save.  When the law is not passing out punishment for wrong it is failing.  One of our social concerns today is that the law is not always fair.  We don’t need a law that lets people get by with more; we don’t need a law that, as someone said, “you can get out of if you have money.”

                Mercy is a bestowal of grace. V4 “Christ is the end of the law,” the “termination,” the final reckoning.  It will  never go beyond this.  It is God’s last word on the subject.

                The Jew still has not learned that law and grace are antagonistic.  Romans 4:4 “To him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.”  Romans 11:6, “If by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise, grace is no longer grace.”

IV.          Paul Adds a Concluding Note of Proof of Their Failure.  Deuteronomy 32:21, God said to  Moses, “I will provoke them to jealousy.”  Isaiah 65:1 “I was found by those who did not seek me.”  Isaiah 65:2 “I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Conclusion

                The last entry in the diary of David Livingstone was: “Jesus, my Saviour, my king, my God, I rededicate my all to thee to be and to do for thee  the best that I can until the day is done.”  There is GRACE.  There is BELIEF.  There is CONFESSION.

                Dare any of us think that we can get by on less?  Jesus died for my sin, and it behooves me to daily honor that reality as it if were a badge on  the sleeves of my clothing, telling all of my fealty to Him.

IN THE WAY

#140                                                                          IN THE WAY                                                                                                 

Matthew 19:13-15 NIV                                                                                                                         Orig. 7-11-65 (9-73)

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 8-25-88 

Passage:  ¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵ When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Purpose: Approaching the new church year, to remind my people of our need to offer ourselves in service to the needs around us.

Keywords:          Christ the Saviour                             Heritage               Hunger

                                Children                               Home                    Special Day        

Timeline/Series:               New Church Year

Introduction

                Both of the presidential candidates are talking about things important to all of us: childcare, education, patriotism.  Private education has become a felt need for many parents.  We are reading more and more about parents who are being allowed to educate their children at home.

                Problems in the schools, public and private, are rife.  One is put in mind again of the Baltimore woman who brought suit against her county school board.  She claimed that her son, in choosing not to participate in what she called religious exercises, was being unduly ostracized.  At that time, the schools opened with scripture, and with the recitation of  the Lord’s prayer.  Children who did not wish to participate were allowed to excuse themselves  and leave the room.

                Two hundred years ago, and many of the years since, every school of higher education in this country was connected with some church denomination.  Except for the joint effort of Christian people, there would have been  no higher education on this continent.  Most of those colleges and universities are still around: Colgate, Bucknell, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, and many others.  They are, however, no longer denominationally aligned.  Then, the terms, “education” and “Christian education,” were synonymous. 

                In light of what is happening in education today, it  is no longer remotely conceivable that our children will not be challenged by spiritual things in public or private education.  We must be sure that our churches do our utmost to provide this vital service.  Every Christian is obliged to offer himself/herself in this essential kingdom service.

I.             First, There Must Be Education.  The words of Matthew are that Jesus “blessed them.”  It is a heritage of Judeo/Christian conviction.  Every person in this land is better off because of our heritage.  Many do not acknowledge it.  Yet, they feast on what these religious imperatives have given.  It is one God, living, loving, working through the evils of satanic influence.  Adam was warned after his compromise: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread.” 

                This life knows no true good that comes without cost. There is a truism: “There’s no free lunch.”

                Our heritage is not only Judeo-Christian, but set in a free republic.  Whatever your genetic origins, what would life be in those origins?  At once remembering the price paid by our forefathers for this, we are not that far removed from forebears who tilled the ground behind hand-forged plows, and unrelenting oxen, carrying a blunderbuss for protection.  You worry about the cost of living:  They paid dearly for meat and potatoes.

                The blessing is  that the Kingdom of God has come among us.  It is as near as breathing and sunshine.  It does not come with little children, but from little children who are brought to Him.

                True prosperity is not material but conditional.  The need of the hour is in the Kingdom of God.  So we are not the answer.  These, our children, are not the answer.  All of us become the KINGDOM.  That’s the answer.

                Since the Bible is taken from the school, we must pinpoint its value as never before.  We need sixty-seventy people involved in Christian education.  We have no more than half.  Church Training is an eight-cylinder engine beating on two.  Missions and music are hanging on the hope and whisper of half-a-dozen.

                We start next week.  What will you as a Christian be doing between morning worship services from one Sunday to the next?

II.            Secondly, We Must Grasp the True Vitality of the Home.  “Then there were brought to Him little children.”  The event here described is simply that of caring mothers bringing a child to some distinguished rabbi for a blessing.  It was a common occurrence.  It happened on the child’s first birthday.

                A question of responsibility is put forth.  What is the bottom-line charge?  It is, of course, parental.  The best thing the church can do for parents is to convince them.  Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  III John 4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

                In an age that seeks liberation from all strictures, some demands are to be put in place.  There is little efficacy in marriage.  The license doesn’t prove God is in it.  Being a biological parent is no proof of Christian manhood or womanhood.  The mystery content is found in commitment: commitment to God; commitment to each other forever; commitment that children will be reared in an atmosphere of love and trust.

                “My parents forced me” say the uncaring and the uncommitted.  “I will not force religion down them.”  Would you force air if suffocating? If cancer attacked, would you force treatment? Would you advise seat belts, helmets? 

                If they were hungry, would you not force food for them?  During the noon meal in this country, 1200 children worldwide will starve to death.  30,000 will die today. 12-18 million people will die this year.  Check the label to see where a gift was made.

III.           And Three, Certainly not the Least Important, Is to Encourage Them to Faith in Christ.  “Suffer the little children and forbid them not.  We  have long heard of parallelism in Hebrew prose.  Something uniquely important is repeated.  And as if to add further meaning, he repeats the concept positively then negatively.  “Permit” is followed by “do not forbid.”

                Perhaps we need to review some of the marvelous characteristics of childhood.  Trust is the first essence of children. They readily forgive even to the threshold of abuse.  They approach life with an eye for wonder.  Obedience is natural to them.  But disobedience is a learned ruse.  Childlike faith is to live in trust of God, to think first of obedience, to desire to be forgiving, to contemplate the wonder of God’s care.

                The best way to such faith is development over time, to so touch the lives of our children, to see other children whose lives can only be touched for good by the gospel.  No matter what the age of need, it is still this child-like faith offering opportunity—not childish, but childlike.

                And Jesus instructs us.  We are not to be negative influences. But more, we are to be positive motivators urging spiritual children of all ages to the gospel: to Jesus.

Conclusion

                We have approved our Nominating Committee report, and we have a full slate of workers.  Next, the Finance Committee gets to work on the budget.  It will need to be between $100,000 and $120,000.  Peter spoke for the early church: “Silver and gold, have I none; but such as I have give I thee.  In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.”   Such as we have also.                                              

A MIND TO WORK

#125                                                                    A MIND TO WORK                                                                                           

Scripture Nehemiah 4:1-6, 15 NIV                                                                                                    Orig. 3-10-63 (1-79)

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 4-12-88 

Passage: ^{[a] 1}When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, ² and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”  ³ Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” ⁴ Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of^[b] the builders.  ⁶ So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
¹⁵ When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

Purpose:   Using the occasion of the resettlement of Jerusalem to remind my people of the need to resettle our communities with the exercise of faith.

Keywords:          Dedication                          God’s Purpose                  Work                     Energy

Introduction

                We are watching with interest the proceedings in Panama.  We know that for some of our countrymen the stakes are high indeed.  Some Americans have invested everything they have in the country that tenuously oversees the great Panama Canal.

                Just a few years ago there was a similar circumstance in Iran.  Because of our oil interest, there were many Americans, and Louisianans, who had made that Middle East, Muslim country, their home.  Almost overnight they  had to leave.  Some  interviewed in the media indicated they were leaving behind everything they owned:  homes, cars, furniture, even bank accounts.  Those possessions were no longer worth the risk of holding on to them.  Most of these same people had taken those jobs years before, precisely because they promised lucrative material return.

                The departure of the Hebrews from Babylon was similar.  Though it was 2500 years earlier, it was from a site perhaps no more than 300 miles away.  They too had to decide about pulling up stakes and departing.  They had to walk away from many evidences of material prosperity.

                It was in Babylon that the Jews discovered what excellent tradesmen they were.  A few had become so wealthy that they refused to leave.  Many, most actually, remembered that they were the guardians of faith in the one holy and living God.  They must leave all and return to Jerusalem, because to its environs the Messiah would return.  Thus, with such a mind they set themselves to the tasks of return.  They had “a mind to work.”

I.             It Is with a Mind to Work That Hardships Must Be Faced.  V2:17 “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire; come, let us build up the walls of Jerusalem.”  2:19 [their enemies] “laughed . . . to scorn, and despised [them] . . . and said, ‘will ye rebel against the king?’”

                4:8 “And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.”

                Where there is this intent to serve, limitations do not distract.  Success does not rest upon numbers alone.  There were some Jews still in the country from before captivity.  According to Ezra 2, 49,697 returned, including servants. Only 245 mules returned, but  more than 6,000 donkeys.  Others of their people would join them from time to time.  Ezra was a priest, a religious leader who led in law and building the temple.  The Temple was 20 years in building.  A half century later Nehemiah would discover it still without unanimity. 

                There must be distinction between Jew and Samaritan for this unique national character to emerge.  There was going to be opposition.  They had to know who they were, and how the will of God related to them.

                I knew a young man in seminary with a serious physical disability.  He wanted to be a pastor.  Much stood in the way.  Would a church of “whole” people call him as pastor?  He became a pastor in Fort Worth of a church of people with disabilities.  He knew himself, and how he fit into the will of God.

                Today, also, whatever the  hardship is, commitment in the Lord is the solution.  Nehemiah was given the key to the king’s storehouse.  2:8 “A letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest that he may give me timber.“ But by hard work this resource was used.  2:18b “So they strengthened their hands for this good work.”

                If I could always choose my church hardship, it would be financial every time. People with a love for the Lord will rally around financial need.  Big budgets don’t necessarily go with compassionate hearts.  We are always better off with people who  have little to give besides love, because they have “a mind to work.”  People who give of their possessions are not easily led to give of themselves.  It would do all of us well to consider how advantaged we are.

How to live on $100 a year:  Get rid of all your furniture except one chair and one table.  Throw out all TV sets, lamps and radios.  Dispose of all of your clothing but your oldest dress or suit; one pair of shoes may be kept for the head of the family.  Shut off the water, gas, electricity.  Remove all appliances from the kitchen, keep . . . a small bag of flour, some sugar, salt, a few moldy potatoes, a handful of onion, some dried beans.  Take away the house and move the family into the toolshed.  Your neighborhood will be a shantytown.  Move the nearest medical help ten miles away . . .a midwife.  Get rid of your car.  Forget about newspapers, magazines, books. You won’t miss them because you must also give up literacy.  Count your emergency fund at $5. . . .  No bank books, pension plans, insurance policies.  Cultivate three acres as a tenant farmer.  You can expect $100 to $300 a year in good years for cash crops.  Pay a third to the landlord, at least a tenth to the money lender.  Plan to take off 20 to 30 years in life expectancy.  Millions do. . . , in fact, half of the people in our world actually live on $100 a year.”  (Pulpit Helps – January 1979)

                If you had to get by on less, could you still exercise your faith at your present level?

II.            It Is with a Mind to Work That We Accomplish the Purpose of God.  4:6 “So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half  thereof: for the people had a mind to work.”

                Up to now, theirs  had been a work of furious futility.  They knew too little of themselves.  They discounted God as a viable presence.  They were intimidated by the godlessness around them.

                But in responding to the vocal challenges around them they were victorious.  Ezra 6:14 “And the elders of the Jews builded and prospered, through the prophesy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo.”  Haggai 2:9  “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith Jehovah of hosts; and in this place will I give peace.”

                We also must deal with our extremities in coming to terms with the purpose of God.  Our most basic excuse is “I don’t have time!”  We find time for what we want.  We waste huge segments on things that do not profit:  Fill out a timesheet sometime; how much TV you watch might surprise you.

                We also claim not to know how as an excuse.  Some of the things that we take great pleasure in were first devised by people who didn’t know how.  Some of the things that we are singularly competent in now, we once knew nothing about.  Edison knew nothing of electricity.  Bell knew not about telephones.  Wilbur and Orville couldn’t fly no matter how hard they flapped their arms.

                When God’s purpose becomes our purpose, we are no longer hindered by human weakness, but instead we are stimulated by divine strength.  The best beginning place is in salvation.  The Psalmist’s question was asked in 116:12 “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?”  His answer, 116:13 “I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.

                Whatever it is to which we put our hand, if it is of value, we seek to accomplish it in God’s purpose. It was God’s wall.  He would see to it. Thou must be of the mind to work.

ON TO JERUSALEM

#121                                                                   ON TO JERUSALEM                                                                                          

Scripture Luke 9:51-62 NIV                                                                                                            Orig. October 12, 1985

Passage:  ⁵¹ As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; ⁵³ but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them^[a]?” ⁵⁵ But Jesus turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ Then he and his disciples went to another village.

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Purpose:  Continuing a series from Luke, declaring the way of discipleship

Keywords:          Bible Study         Discipleship

Timeline/Series:               Luke

Introduction

                As Luke opens the door for Jesus to begin His  journey to Jerusalem, he opens a whole new segment of the story  that he intends to tell.  Not only that, he begins accounting what is not otherwise told of the life of Jesus.

                Through Luke 9:50, Luke’s account is a parallel account with Matthew and Mark.  From here on to chapter 19 he will tell vignettes of the life of Jesus which are told only by Luke.  Perhaps as much as 90% of these ten chapters do not otherwise appear.

                This phase of Jesus’ life is called the Perean Ministry of Jesus.  Up to now, it has been the Galilean ministry.  Perea was across the Jordan River from Samaria.  Its name comes from the Greek word for “across,” peran.  It was the ancient name for what is now called Transjordan

                As Jesus started for Jerusalem, He determined to take the shortest route which would have been straight through Samaria.  He sent messengers on ahead to arrange lodging for them.  However, when the Samaritans with whom they talked discovered that they were Jews on their way to Jerusalem, they refused to accommodate Jesus and His disciples.  We have heard much of this bad blood between Jews and Samaritans.  Jesus intends a kindness, which they quietly  rebuff. 

                We talked of John recently and his change from “son of thunder”  to “disciple whom Jesus loved.”   We see evidence here of what he was originally.  He and James wanted to call down “fire” from heaven on these wretched Samaritans for daring such a discourtesy.

                This detour is not the way convention dictates but the way conscience demands.

I.             A Brief Look at Old Prejudice and New Anger.  V 53 “But they did not receive Him because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.”  We should not read into this any sentiment against Christ.  They probably knew little. They opposed these Jews expecting lodging.  All of us need to learn to be careful in what we shut out of our lives.

                Jesus used the opportunity to teach.  First note that the believers were as misguided as the unbelievers.  The Samaritans concluded that Jesus was a typical Jew.  The disciples concluded that Jesus shared their anger at such intemperance. Perhaps they were recalling II Kings 1:10-12, when Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume messengers of King Ahaziah. 

Jesus’ advice to them is to examine their spirit.  V55 “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.”  This is not contained in the Greek.  Could it express their strongly negative approach to the Samaritans?  He rebuked their discipleship.  Lincoln said, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”

II.            Here Jesus Begins a Segment of Teaching About the “Way.”  These are Three Tests of Discipleship.

 First is the test of consecration.  V57 Lord, I will follow you wherever you go.”  He has already addressed this in 9:23 “If anyone desires to come after Me, let  him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”  The word “follow” is the verb form of “attendant.”  Now one spontaneously responds.  Wherever you go, I will go.  Have you ever  thought about your response to Jesus?  Jesus reminds him of the variables.  He has observed popularity. He has seen the crowds, hoopla.  What happens when the fun is gone? John 19:30, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.”

                Second is the test of obedience.  V 59 “Follow me.”  “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”  We need to examine the picture that forms.  Is it of a man whose father is in a coffin, a man who wants to attend the funeral?  Look again! The oldest son had the responsibility of funeral arrangements.  He wanted to postpone Jesus’ invitation until a more convenient time.

                William Barclay tells of a brilliant young Arab who was offered a scholarship at Oxford/Cambridge, whose response was “I will take it after I have buried my father.” His father was forty, and in excellent health.  The heart of the question to all of us is “What are we doing that is more important than the Kingdom?”  Discipleship demands obedience.  Soldiers are called to make sacrifices.

                Third is the test of authenticity.  V62 “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.”  Following Jesus is for “keeps,” as someone says.  It calls for  sincerity of purpose.  But one must give up his family? No, but his priority must be the Kingdom.  The ancient Oriental “farewell” might last for weeks.  In Genesis 24:55, after Abraham’s servant identified Rebekah as God’s chosen for Isaac, her mother and brother asked for her to stay 10  days. But the servant said, “do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way.”  And Rebekah went with him.

                Too many people say “I will follow…

                …but…”

                …when…”

                …if…”

                Too many Southern Baptists say “You can’t be my friend unless…

                …you believe in inerrancy.”  The  inerrancy card is inflammatory.

                …you deny ordination of women.”

                …you went to an unconventional seminary.”

Conclusion

                Jesus advised His disciples to understand of  what spirit they were.  When the sermon is five minutes over; or the special message didn’t gel;  or someone you don’t care for shares your pew; or you are reminded of some little deed done, or big deed not done.  “What spirit are you of?”

                When the Scottish Presbyterians first came to Northern Ireland, their faith was unacceptable. Their ministers were considered dissenters and were not allowed.  These people  of faith chose to row the miles back to Scotland on each Lord’s Day to take Communion and to worship.  What spirit are we of?

THE COMPONENTS OF GROWTH

#115                                                      THE COMPONENTS OF GROWTH                                                                             

Scripture  Mark 4:1-20 NIV                                                                                                                            Orig. 12/11/83

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 8/19/86 

Passage:  Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. ² He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: ³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” ⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”¹⁰ When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables ¹² so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’^[a]”

¹³ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴ The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵ Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸ Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰ Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Purpose: Continuing a Prayer Meeting series form Mark, sharing with my people the need to commit oneself to the task of learning the Kingdom of God.

Introduction

                Helen Keller once responded to a student’s question about the difficulty of blindness by responding that it was worse to “have eyes and not be able to see.”  She merely wanted to shock the shortsighted into the realization that one must pursue for understanding, even of the Kingdom of God.  The hearer must not only be aware of the words spoken, he must heed them with the intent to understand and believe.

                There is a great host of people, to whom the gospel has been revealed, yet who choose not to believe.  Opportunity may be extended.  Obligation is clearly demanded. Open heartedness is the need of the hour.  But all too often, opinion is allowed to cloud the mind and close the door of faith.

                The issue addressed by Jesus in this parable is simply in determination of whether we hear Him or another.  Matthew 13:15 (context) “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should turn again, and I should heal them.”

                Isaiah 6:9-10 “⁹ He said, “Go and tell this people:

“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.^[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,  understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”

Mark 4:24 “And He said unto them, ‘Take heed what ye hear.’”

Luke 8:18 “Take heed therefore how ye hear.”

I.             The First Component Is the Seed as the Hearing of Faith.  V4 “. . . as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside . . . v5 other fell on the rocky ground . . . v7 and other fell among the thorns . . . and others fell into the good ground.”

                Recall the occasion of this teaching, somewhere in Galilee with a large crowd, curious, concerned, confused, contentious.  He was positioned to teach effectively (Mark 3:9). They saw also the fields, paths, sower, and birds.

                As the parable revolves around seed, we must briefly examine it.  No distinction is made in the quality of the seed.  Farmers go to great length to compare seed types and their yields, using computer records and magazine recommendations.  Here, the seed stands for “the word of the Kingdom.”  Luke 8:12 “The seed is the word of God.” Mark 4:14 “The sower soweth the word.”

                What we know is that in every instance the right seed is used.  I Peter 1:23 “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever.”

II.            The Next Component Is the Soil: The Heart Seeking Fulfillment.  V4f “. . . wayside . . . stony ground . . . among thorns . . . good ground.”

                The wayside hearer has a hard, beaten, worn pathway.  There is good seed, but no soil.  Seeds  roll before the wind, and are scavenged by birds.  The seed does not even germinate.

                The stony ground hearer has good seed, but the soil is poor.  The seed did germinate, but no depth of earth existed to offer moisture.  Without roots it wilted under a hot sun.  This is the hearer who listens but does nothing with what he hears.

                The thorny ground hearer has good seed and good soil, but competition for soil moisture and  nourishment is acute.  For instance, at an athletic contest there are ability and desire; victory often belongs not to ability but to desire.  Player and coach communication are the key.  How preoccupied are we at Bible study or worship or witness opportunities?

                The good ground hearer has good seed and good soil. Growth begins quickly with singlemindedness.

III.           The Final Component Is that the Sower Is God.  V3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.”  Jesus, in Matthew 13:18, calls this the “Parable of the Sower.”  Note that there were  no distinctions in the quality of the seed, nor in the intent of the sower.  The singular difference is the soil.  The sower, however, is not incidental. We perceive that he stands in the place of God.  Little else is known. Mark says, “Listen! Behold!”

                Other scriptural references to sowing are:

                Ezekiel 28:25, “I gathered Israel from the people among whom they were scattered.”

                Amos 9:15, “I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up.”

                Matthew 13:37, “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man.”

IV.          Lessons

                No farmer plants his seed minimally.  Farmer Buddy Fairchild replanted with 80% growth.  God will not do less than we.  II Corinthians 9:6 “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he that sows bountifully will reap also bountifully.”

                The responsibility for receptivity is our own.  Keep the components clear, encourage children, influence others.  The end result is judgment on what we do with what we have.  I Corinthians 2:14, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.”  Galatians 6:8, “He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

Conclusion

                I remind you that  the land we eagerly wait to plow and to plant in the spring owes us no bountiful crop; it owes us  only the right to get out of it what we can and will.  The schools of the parish owe  no student an education; but he is owed the right to pursue the fullest of which he is capable.  God’s creative genius does not owe the nations peace; He owes us the right to pursue peace and to show that we are worthy of it.

A MISSIONS MANDATE

#098                                                               A MISSIONS MANDATE                                                                                      

Scripture  Psalm 96:1-13 NIV                                                                                                                            Orig. 12-3-61

                                                                                                                                                                                Rewr. 11-28-79 

Passage:  ¹ Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
² Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
³ Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

⁴ For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
⁸ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the Lord in the splendor of his^[a] holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.
¹⁰ Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.

¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
¹² Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
¹³ Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness

Purpose: To call my people to the high goal of response to the nobility of the task found in missions, and doing all that we can to further His cause.

Keywords:          Missions              God’s Word        Jesus the King

Timeline/Series:               Lottie Moon

Introduction

                A pastor friend here in the city share a counseling burden through which he had recently gone.  It had to do with a 22-year-old mother of two children, whose husband had tired of the boredom of relationship and went off looking for his thing.  Her inability to cope with this situation, the responsibility, the loneliness, the inequity, brought her finally to her pastor’s study.

                Before the hour had passed, He knew that she was facing far more than just this debilitating circumstance.  He recognized that this young woman’s life was in jeopardy.  Somebody was going to have to do something, and soon.  Discovering that there was no one else who would help, my pastor friend went to the Orleans Parish coroner’s office.  There he was advised to secure the services of a lawyer who could appeal to the courts for this woman’s admission into a mental health unit.  This in turn would enable the Court to order the appropriate agencies to take action on behalf of this young woman.

                Before this process could be secured, my friend’s counselee took her own life.  I do not know what happened to the young husband, and I must honestly say I do not care.  I do not know what happened to the two small children, bereft first of their father, who did not love them, and then of their mother, who most assuredly did.  But for them I do care.  Our responsibility in missions is facing up to the fact that we are living in a world fraught with the burdens of broken relationships; destitute with the inequities with which some people brutalize other people. We are living in a world where we Christians are the only ones who have the answer.  Our responsibility is to heed “A Missions Mandate” for the world’s sake.  The world, like this desperate young woman, cannot long cope with what is happening to it.  We American Christians are spending our time trying to find a negotiated answer, which will permit someone else to do the dirty work, when the only answer is in the giving of ourselves.

I.             A Missions Mandate Declares the Purpose of Missions.  V3 Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people.  The principal purpose is to reveal God’s love.  This aspect of God’s character has taken a beating.  Only its truth has enabled this love to break through the barriers of human pretense. 

                I surely do not need to do more than remind you of the injustices carried out in the name of Jesus.  The Arab, Khomeini, is not the first of his kind to preach his gospel of hate, and murder, in the name of God.   God will deal with him and his kind appropriately, but we best be ready to stand by our guns.  This present crisis may yet involve us all.  Perhaps it is an appropriate time to remind you that Muslim faith was under the gun of its founder, Mohammed, who conceived it as a mixture of Jewish, Christian, Greek, and Roman influences.  Of all of the great prophets, he passed himself off as the greatest, even the Holy Spirit promised by Christ.

                How many people do you know about whose lives would be very, very different if there were just one person to show them love?  In that purpose inspired by love is the offer of salvation.  It is an offer made unconditionally.  It is an offer made irrevocably.  My insurance company sold me a policy to protect my car. They didn’t tell me at the time, but part of that policy was conditional and revocable.  The coverage on breakage becomes deductible after I file a couple of claims.

                It is an offer made through Jesus because only in Him is God’s love fully measured.

                Involved with that purpose is the understanding that we who follow Him must declare His glory before all people.  Nothing else portrays His love as Jesus does.  The Jews had failed as a people to respond to this love.  Amos 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

II.            A Missions Mandate Proclaims the Message of Missions. V10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved.  Our principal message is to tell the world that the Lord reigns.  No greater service can you render your king than to let him reign in your heart.   No greater gift can be given from the human heart than to announce yourself subject unto your Lord.

                Years ago, an English king went to hear a little-known minister.  As the scripture was being read, the King whispered something to his consort.  The minister turned from the scripture and declared: When the lion roars, the other beasts are silent; when the kings of the earth speak, then all others become quiet; but when the King of Glory speaks, even the kings of the earth shall keep silent and listen.

                To say that our Lord reigns is to acknowledge that He has the temper of human history under His hand.  In 1812, Adoniram Judson went to Burma, paid for, by the way, by the offerings of other people.  He labored there for six years before he had his first convert.  He spent untold numbers of hours translating the Bible into the Burmese tongue.  In all of his ministry there, part of which was spent in jail, he witnessed only a few hundred conversions.  How many of us, knowing such rigors, would have advised him that it wasn’t worth it to spend his life that way.  Yet, because they have the message, because one man’s life stood under the Lordship of Christ, there are hundreds of thousands of believers in that place today.  Can you think of one place where, because you lived there, there is one person who has become a believer?

                Can you think of one place where, because you lived there, one person became a believer who otherwise would not?  We are bearers of a seed that will propagate itself.  We are to see that it gets to some.  They then must see that it is taken to others.  

                Those through whom you heard and believed were faithful.  Will those who wait for you be so fortunate?  In the library at the Prague, there is displayed a triad of medallions dated 1572.  On the first. Wycliffe, the Bible translator, can be seen striking sparks from a stone.  On the second, the great martyr Hus is seen kindling a flame from the sparks.  The last contains the image of Martin Luther holding high a flaming torch. They were an Englishman, a Bohemian, and a German, united in faithfulness.

III.           A Missions Mandate Elicits a Picture of Our Victory Through Missions.  V12f Let the field be joyful and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord: for He cometh, He cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.    

                Make no mistake about it, God’s offer of salvation is offered to all mankind.  Are you inclined to doubt your ability and capability?  So am I!  It was for this very reason that the disciples heard their Lord, and they looked at the multitudes around them, and observed the handful of loaves and fishes.  John 6:9 “What are these among so many?” 

                The same One who strengthened the faith of those first disciples offers us His strength today.  There is that most-quoted of verses  Philippians 2:10f  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, . . . And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

                It is unquestionably the destiny of the people of God.  Habakkuk viewed this destiny when he declared, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”   Isaiah proclaimed it when he wrote  “The wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together; and the little child shall lead them.”  Micah believed it. “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation shall not rise up against nation, neither shall they study war anymore.”   And John in Revelation gave a final testimonial.  “After this I looked, and beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, from every nation and from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb.’”           

                Isn’t it time for you to give your life to Jesus?  Isn’t it time to stop playing religious games when so much is at stake?