THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS

#065                                                        THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS                                                                               

Scripture Luke 2:1-20 NIV                                                                                                                               Orig. 12/24/61

                                                                                                                                                                               Rewr. 12/18/75,                                                                                                                                                                                         12/9/76 

Passage: In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.  ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Keywords:          Christ Birth                          Christmas

Timeline/Series:               Christmas

Introduction

                One of the most beautiful of all of the stories that have to do with Christmas, is a story that many people have never heard.  It is the story of The Shepherd Who Stayed.  I don’t remember who wrote the story, or even where it can be found.

                There was simply another shepherd who fell to his knees that night on the Judean hillside.  A man who was moved with the glory of the moment.  A man who, like other men, was overwhelmed at what he saw and heard.  This shepherd, however, rejected the angels’ invitation to see.  “You will find the babe,” the angel had said.

                Our shepherd friend was keeper there in the Judean hills to only a hundred sheep, but they were his responsibility, and he intended to stay at his post.  I hear more than words when he gives his reason for not going to “the City of David.”  God is at work in Bethlehem, he reasoned, and one shepherd less would not make a difference.  But a shepherd in the hills could make a great deal of difference before this magnificent night is over.

I.             The Message of Christmas is One of Fearsome Revelation.  2:15 Let us . . . see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.  It is beyond everything else, God’s message to his people.  You remember that it was the Word of God that brought this universe into existence. “And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.”

                You also remember that it was the same Word of God that adjudged the world. “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”

                It was God’s Word which introduced man to taint an otherwise perfect place.  But this perfection meant nothing without someone being capable of comprehending it.    It would have to be a being capable of destroying it.  Now it is God’s Word seeking to redeem the earth’s most irredeemable subject.  V11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

                The Revelation becomes more fearsome when we discover that it is from the Sovereign.  There is the evidence of authority. “The angel of the Lord came upon them.” “A multitude of the heavenly host praising God.” “The babe lying in the manger.”

                There is the signature of design: 

“There is no art without an artist, no building without a builder,

no history without a patriot and his dream.

“Nor can there be a planet without a planner, a plant without a planter,

nor even yet a man without a Maker of this scene.”

                The revelation becomes burdensome if we acknowledge man’s accountability without God’s trustworthiness.  Every individual capable of self-comprehension is responsible for his choices and his actions.  One of the critiques of our age is upon the misuse of alcohol, drugs—prescription and otherwise, tobacco, sex, and the health burdens that are left in the wake of their use.

                You may have heard about the emaciated man who went to his doctor about his general health.  The only thing the doctor turned up was that he smoked too much.  “You must follow my advice.  Your trouble is your smoking.  Cut out all cigarettes except after meals.”  Two months later he was back for a checkup.  He looked better. He had gained weight. “I don’t know how long I can eat 15 meals a day.”

                This self-responsibility passes over into even those areas of stress that we do not control.  There were reasons why the shepherds could be reassured by the angel:  The teachings of their fathers; the physical accommodations of the evening; conversations that such a night invoked; a star like no other star.  While they were stricken with fear, their stress was abated by what these men were before the angel appeared.

II.            The Message of Christmas is One of Joyful Exultation.  There was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 

                Joyful exultation is the result of faith.  They believed in a God of love whose purpose was to be known by his creation.  It was in the disciples’ fear of the unknown that Jesus said in Matthew 10:26 “Fear not, therefore, there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, nothing hid that shall not be made known.”

                It was acknowledging God’s sovereignty over the unknown which caused Paul to write in Ephesians 1:9 “Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.”

                Joyful exultation in faith culminates in understanding.  The story is told of Heinrich von Dannecker, great German sculptor of the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.  In his early years he won a name for himself in sculpting Ariadne and other Greek goddesses.  As he felt he was in his prime, he committed himself to what would be his major work.  It would be a colossal piece featuring the Christ.  He twice failed, but held to his purpose.  Finally, the work of a lifetime was complete.  It was all that he wanted it to be.  He later was approached by Napoleon to do a statue of Venus for the Louvre.  His answer was simple, “Sire, the hands that have carved the Christ can never again carve a heathen goddess.”

                Similarly, Lew Wallace, Civil War general, later governor of New Mexico, began work on a novel. It was to contain an atheist’s view of Christ.  The novel was Ben Hur.  The author became a Christian in his efforts to write such a novel.

                And understanding, when it is finished, brings fulfillment to the Christian life. V20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.   

                The shepherds believed a believable word and acting on such faith were rewarded for it.  They came to comprehend the involvement of God in the sameness of their lives.  They knew that God had appropriated to Himself, a message that would change their lives.  While they went back to the same sheep on the same hillside, their lives would never know sameness again.

                There is likewise given to us a believable word, but the reward of faith awaits the believer’s response.  How many of us have the gift of eternal life because we have believed?  Romans 6:23 The gift of God is eternal life.  John 1:12 As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Matthew 7:11 If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

                Though near to faith, how many are there who are yet victims of self-condemnation because they have refused the believable WORD? John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”  

                We have been given life that we might find the Saviour.  The angelic light penetrates the blackness of our somber nights announcing, “Christ is born . . . go ye . . . and ye shall find . . . Glory to God.  When they had seen it . . . they returned, glorifying and praising God.”

Closing

                I was reminded a few days ago of the testimony of a young Japanese student who was at Southwestern when I was there.  The war years had been tragic.  His brother-in-law dead in a kamikaze (divine wind) raid.  His sister takes her own life.  His parents had been in diplomatic service in Europe, but would not survive the war.  His conversion came as a student in Germany after the war, when he was given a portion of a German New Testament.  He tells of the time, at the start of the war, when they were given one hour to pack one suitcase, to then be extradited to their homeland.  He remembered watching his mother trying to make the decision about what to put in that suitcase.  She would put in objects of gold and silver, then ancestor-honoring porcelain, of great worth.  Finally she loaded the suitcase with woolens and foodstuffs.

*THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST*

REFLECTION, attached to this sermon in Rev. Skinner’s file

Henry W. Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along th’unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:

“There is no peace on earth,” I said,

“For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Till, ringing, singing, on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

THE THREE-FOLD GRACE OF GOD

#042                                                     THE THREE-FOLD GRACE OF GOD                                                                            

Scripture Matthew 5:5-13; 26:39 NIV                                                                                Orig. 7-5-64 (10-75) (4-85)

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 4/22/84 

Passage:  V5-13 ⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,^[a]
    but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’

V26:39³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Purpose:              Using Jesus’ teaching and example in prayer to remind us of the parameters of God’s grace in our lives today

Keywords:          Commitment                     Grace of God                     Prayer                   Christ Mediator                 Communication

Introduction

Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian leader of peaceful resolution, gained many of his most significant insights from Christ.  He is quoted as having said that he would have given more serious consideration to having become an avowed follower of Christ had it not been for some of the Christians that he had known.  It is still so, that the greatest hindrance to the Kingdom of God is usually found in the discordant events in the lives of those who are presumably members of the kingdom.

Dr. R.G. Lee entitled one of his favorite sermons, “The Menace of Mediocrity.”  In it he writes “Mediocrity is somebody with diamond and ruby talents, worth as little to God’s cause through the church as a punctured Japanese nickel is worth at a Chinese bazaar.”  In that message, he mentions another sermon entitled “Bantam Baptists.”  Dr. Lee said he could have preached the same message to any gathering.  He would only have had to change the name: “Midget Methodists, Peewee Presbyterians, Lilliputian Lutherans, Puny Pentecostals, Miniature Mennonites, or Diminutive Disciples.”

Too many of us as Christians seem content to go through life with some such spiritual mediocrity as that mentioned in the child’s verse that many of us read to our children.

                “Solomon Grundy

Born on Monday,

Christened on Tuesday,

Married on Wednesday,

Taken ill on Thursday,

Worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday,

Buried on Sunday.

And that was the end of Solomon Grundy.”

I.             Grace is First Considered in Communication with the Father.  V6 “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place.”

It acknowledges the practiced humility.  It means to practice prayer.  It means that we are to do so even though we are not advantaged in the world’s eyes.

Charles Schultz has cartoon books for teens. Girl to Sunday School classmates: “I had to give up my secret closet of prayer.  Every time I went in there, all those cashmere sweaters made me feel guilty.”  Think how many of the world’s problems could be resolved if more of us were willing to be disadvantaged.  Ireland could become a land of religious harmony.  Central America could offer struggling third world nations a chance to be free and economically secure.  South Africa could resolve racial hostility.

It acknowledges practical meditation.  Clearly, we are to search for answers.  We are to do so with resolve in what the Father already knows. V8 “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask.” 

Jesus not only taught us so to pray, he exercised this option to the fullest.  Recourse to this grace is extended to each of us.  Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”  II Chronicles 32:8 “With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us.”  We seem to want Him removed out of our politics and government, out of our schools and homes. All that will be left is churches.  All that will be left is some social stigma, or worse, against believers.

Mediocrity is but a step away when we fail to be in touch with God’s grace through prayer.  It is to claim other resources than God.  It is to claim dependence on our own wit and charm. Luke 18:11 In Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, [I thank Thee that I am me.]”

II.            Grace Extends to Companionship in the Father.  V8 “Be ye not therefore like unto them; for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.”  It pertains to a day-by-day awareness of God, and His help.  Norman Vincent Peale: “Millions of men and women are creeping through life on their hands and knees merely because they refuse to rely on any power but self.”  Too many of us are too distracted by the myriads of things in our lives.  V7 Admonishes us “not us use vain repetition as the heathen do.”  It is to put the Lord first, and to know where we stand with Him. 

Remember the old radio ad of the dog sitting before an old timey speaker.  The caption says it all: “His master’s voice.”  It is to be obedient to Him.  “Too many Christians spend six days sowing wild oats, and the seventh praying for a crop failure.” 

Such companionship offers not only daily help, but also delivering help.  V13 “Deliver us from the evil one.”  People who are insensitive to Satan’s zeal, tend to discount his power.  It is amazing how many people respond to exercise, diet programs.  They eat the right foods.  They work out strenuously.  But these same people give no consideration to spiritual needs.  James 1:4 “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed.”

The promise of God’s help is in accord with the practice of faith.  I Corinthians 10:13 “God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able.”

Daily help, delivering help, becomes determined help.  V10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  We don’t come into the kingdom grown.  We grow in the pursuit of God’s will as we nourish our interest in it.  Our Daily Bread told of a tribal chief where missionaries were working.  “If you become better men and women by being Christians, you may remain so; if not, I forbid you to be Christians at all.”

III.           Beyond Communication and Companionship, there is Commitment.  Matthew 26:39: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

No person ever wanted to live, or had reason to live, like Jesus did.  “Let this cup pass.”  He thought of needs: hunger, disease, injustice. He thought of meaningless religion: unbelief, cynicism, error. He thought of misguided zealots: Jewish and pagan.  He thought of the disciples and their wavering faith: Judas’ rejection, Peter’s denial.

Jesus wanted to live.  “Let this cup pass from me.”  But greater than His desire to live was His determination to do God’s will.  Thus, grace is given: Grace opening to us the door to communing with the Father; Grace enabling us to experience companionship in the Father; Grace motivating us for commitment in the Father.

Conclusion

                The French painter, Emile Ranouf, has depicted on canvas what he calls, “The Helping Hand.”  It is of an elderly man in fishing gear, rowing a boat with a small girl at his side.  Obviously, there is great love between them.  Her small hands are also on oars.  He looks at her fondly.  The child has desire, but the strength is the grandfather’s.  Thus is a renewable parable of our relation to God.

WHEN GOD BECAME MAN

#012                                                           WHEN GOD BECAME MAN

Scripture Matthew 2:1-6                                                                                                                                 Orig. 12-19-71

                                                                                                                                                                                Rewr. 12-14-76 

Passage:  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Introduction

                To contemplate the birth of Jesus, one must also consider that earlier birth of a planet, and birth of the generic man upon that planet.  Back in the day when pollution was unknown, and ecology was unnecessary, man lived in what was a veritable Garden of Eden.

                Of the little that we do know about that place, there is this fact about man’s beginnings.  Around him were many trees.  Of two of these we know the names—the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge.  Imagination tells us what might have been names of other trees—virtue, strength, love, faith, obedience, trust, fidelity, honor.  It was the tree of knowledge that man was disallowed any access.

                You must be aware that there is a suitable recourse to knowledge when life is adequately lived.  By having life, man can achieve knowledge.  To have knowledge, however, is never any guarantee for life.

                Thus, when man chose knowledge and rejected life, a rerouting of man’s priority became necessary.  That rerouting ordered by God is declared in the story of the birth of Jesus.  “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.”

                And in His birth it is again declared—“I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.”

                The birth of Jesus, then, was not an historical declarative, but a contemporary imperative. And it was more.  It was when God became man.

I.             When God Became Man, There was Submission to the Limitations of the Flesh. He experienced extreme physical privation.  A prince born in a cattle stall—the wise men honored a king; the priests looked for a king; The Word foretold a king.  But even earthly kings are not so treated.  I remember the birth of England’s Prince.  The throngs waited amid regal glories for the natal hour.  I remember when the College of Cardinals elected a Pope.  I remember election night 1968.  I remember last evening, when the winning democrat pictured himself elected.

                Was such privation necessary for the “Tiny King?”  You remember, I am sure, that Satan promised Jesus the kingdoms of this world if Jesus would worship him.  But you must remember that this is a betrayal of trust.  The kingdoms of which he spoke were those of the King of Kings, and not Lord of Lords.  This KING, and no tiny king is HE, came to help man find His way back to God.  The king must be One with the subject who will honor Him.  Hebrews 4:15: “We have a high priest who feels our infirmities.”  His life and His ministry were to make it easier for man to believe—to reroute his priorities.

                This privation experience is necessary for us as well. We must die to the flesh, live unto God. Matthew 18:3 “Except you become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.”

II.            When God Became Man, There was Surrender of All of the Divine Attributes.  The power of God did not cease to be operative in the universe.  But in Jesus, God Himself, became the deliverer, the sin bearer, the rerouter of man’s priorities.

                Let’s be sure about our concept of a deliverer.  Television and movies have given us what is a poor substitute for the real thing.  There is always the same plot.  The father can’t or won’t pay the rent, the damsel won’t agree to the landlord’s proposal (it used to be one of marriage), so he ties her to the railroad track to await the hero sweeping in to deliver.  May I call your attention to the Biblical concept—He was wounded for our transgressions.  He was bruised for our iniquity.  The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.  With His stripes we are healed.  Even with His manliness, there was no compromise with purity and virtue. Hebrews 4:15 In all points He was tempted as we are, yet without sin.

III.           When God Became Man, There was Subordination to the Holy Spirit.  It was as Jesus accepted the fact of God’s Will that He was empowered to accomplish it.  The hard fact of Jesus’ life was that He was willing to pay whatever price necessary to honor His heavenly Father—not human parents;  not national heritage, not unborn multitudes; certainly not the human blood suckers who demand that we be like they are or a little worse.  It is in the context of our willingness to honor our heavenly Father that we may be empowered for our task.  May. May. May… The doubt is not in God’s ability, but in our will.  John 14:12 “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these because I go to the Father.”

Conclusion

                I read recently an account of a lady in the frontier days of the old west who came to the attitude of dependence upon the Holy Spirit.  She lived with her husband in a mining town when gold fever was very high. 

                Someone told of an old prospector who lived alone in a shack back of town in the hills.  He was dying.  But about such a mean and vile man, no one cared.  She went to him when no one would even go with her.  He cursed her for coming.  At the mention of mother, he cursed her.  At mention of wife, he cursed her.  After several visits she despaired to go again.  Her little boy said “You didn’t pray.  Have you given up? Has God given up?” She spent a night agonizing in prayer.  She started visiting with a neighbor and her daughter.  The little girl’s laugh became the key to the old man’s heart.

                Our trouble is that we get bleary eyed and beatific over the birth of Bethlehem’s babe.  Then after Christmas, we just revert to our old thinking about living among all of those agnostics and we are afraid to let them know that Christ is out of the manger and in our hearts.

WATCHING JESUS

#018                                                                    WATCHING JESUS                                                                                           

Scripture  Luke 6:1-19 NIV                                                                                                                     Orig. June 19, 1985

Passage:  One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. ² Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” ³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” ⁶ On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. ⁷ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. ⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. ⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. ¹¹ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. ¹² One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. ¹³ When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: ¹⁴ Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. ¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Introduction

                The principle part of the text that we shall cover reflects the extension of controversy that had begun to center itself around Jesus.  The Pharisees, and to some extent, the scribes, had begun to question and then resent Him.  From that resentment was born opposition and then hostility.

                In the 2^nd verse, we have the 4^th of these conflicts, and verses 6-11 contain the last.  But we need to go back to chapter five to consider the first three.

                4:15       Jesus enjoyed popularity.

                5:17       Thusly, he draws the attention of the religious leaders.

                5:21       “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus had healed a paralytic with a statement of forgiven sins.  They did not recognize Jesus’ deity.  Unacceptable tendencies begin to emerge.

                5:30       “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Pharisees (separatists) could see religion in only one way.  (Calling Levi)

                5:33       “Why do the disciples of John fast often . . . Likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?”  Fasting: The Law prescribed one annual fast (Leviticus 16:29-31); after the captivity it had become four.  Luke 18:12, the Pharisee: “I fast twice a week.”

                5:36       Spirituality: “No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old. . . .”  Someone wrote, “New and old don’t mix.  When you know truth, you can’t be satisfied with other.”

                6:1          Jesus observed the Sabbath.

                6:2          “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath? (Plucking grains).  They did not understand His deity, or the Law, or yet the Sabbath.     

                6:6-11   They ask no question, but here is the consummate conflict. “Filled with rage, (they) discuss . . . what they might do to Jesus.”

                6:9          Jesus introduced a new law for an ineffective one.

                6:13f      Jesus called the twelve disciples/apostles.

                6:17-19 Jesus presented a new people of God.

                6:46        But no room is left for compromise.

                We note first the intent of these religious speculators.  5:17 “There were Pharisees, and teachers of the Law sitting by.  6:7 “And the Scribes and the Pharisees watched Him closely”—to watch suspiciously, underhandedly. 

I.             They Watched Him through Unforgiven Eyes. “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Mark 2:5f.)  They disputed Jesus’ right to say so.  They disputed that such could happen under these circumstances.  Sin, as they understood it, required traditionally prescribed values.

II.            They Watched Him through Separatist Eyes.  5:32 “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  (Mark 2:16f.)  They believed THEY were God’s only concern.  Pharisee meant “separatist.”  Their interpretation of the law kept them from associating with such people.

III.           They Watched Him through Snobbish Eyes. 5:33 “Why do the disciples of John fast, likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?” (Mark 2:18.)  They saw themselves as the true guardians of the faith.  They saw Jesus as something entirely different.

IV.          They Saw Jesus through Legalistic Eyes.  6:2 “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” (Mark 2:23.)  It is incidental that the question revolves around the Sabbath.  Jesus honored the Sabbath. He taught His disciples to correctly honor it.  They rebuke what He is allowing His disciples to do.  They are eating grain and it is the Sabbath; it was wheat or barley, and harvesting, threshing, winnowing, and preparing it were not lawful.  They equate combining and drawing one’s hand over the stalk.  The Pharisees had forgotten the claims of mercy because they were beset by rules and regulations.  Jesus quoted I Samuel 21:1-6, where David’s men ate the “shewbread” (Bread of the Presence).  If David was justified as a man of war defending himself, then what about Jesus, who was a man of love, peace, and mercy.

                William Barclay’s insight into “Have you not read what David did?”  An obvious “yes!” They did not bring an open mind to God’s Word.  They did not bring a needy heart.

V.            They Watched Jesus through Changeless Eyes. Jesus asks the question here. 6:9 “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” (Mark 3:5)

                6:5 Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. (Mark 2:28).  He defines the Sabbath as an agent for man’s well-being, not an institution to which man is responsible.  God ordained it as a day of rest and worship: rest for his body, worship for his spirit.  Matthew 12:12 puts it in the form of a positive statement. “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”  It is a story with characters: One who needs help—the man with the withered hand; the helper—Jesus; and those who define that help—the Pharisees.

VI.          Jesus Chooses His Disciples, 6:12-19.  V12 He spent a night in prayer. V13-16 He began calling the disciples.  He begins a concerted ministry.  V18 He is there [to teach]; the disciples are there to learn; the multitudes are there to hear and to be healed.

Conclusion (Luke 6:6-10)

• Faith called the infirm man to do what he could: “Stand forth.”
• Faith constrained him to do what he could not: “Stretch forth thy hand.”
• Faith compelled him to give credit as is due. “Go in praise to God” (Understood). Jose Cardena was asked about his leukemia.  “Would your life purpose be the same if you had not contracted leukemia?”  “Probably not,” he said.

THE PROPHECIES OF CHRISTMAS

#014                                                      THE PROPHECIES OF CHRISTMAS                                                                             

Scripture  Matthew 2:1-23                                                                                                                Orig. 8-25-63 (12-77)

                                                                                                                                                                               Rewr. 12-18=86 

Passage:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”  ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’^[b]”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”  ⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”  ¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”^[c]

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸ “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”^[d]

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³ and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Purpose: To share a Christmas message drawing from the great prophecies about Christ and His birth.

Keywords:          Biographical, Joseph                       Messiah               Prophecy                             Christ, Birth

Timeline/Series:               Christmas

Introduction

                It  has been more than thirty  years since I first drove north out of Alexandria on the highway that fronts church property.  That first trip through the pine forests of central Louisiana was with the young woman who would become my wife, to meet her parents.  Because four pastorates and twenty years would be spent in the central and southern parts of our state, that highway would  be one “much traveled by.”

                We watched many changes.  Since much of it was in the National Forest, only as we approached the towns were there indications of people’s changing ways.  But even the forest changed.  An occasional tree hugging the right of way would be gone.  Places where the tree harvester plied his trade were in evidence.  We would see the void, where trees had been.  Next, the denuded landscape.  But by the next trip north, preseedlings would be in the ground beginning their inexorable growth.

                There were human changes as well.  At a central stopping place there was a break we regularly took.  It was a restaurant operated by a happy, God-fearing family man.  His daughters were grown and occasionally worked in the business.  His pride in them showed, not only in the pictures that adorned the walls.

                A much younger son was seen occasionally, and then over years, less and less.  He grew up during those years.  Graduated from Winnfield High School, went on to LSU, graduated there I believe, and became a pilot.  Then, on a later trip, Mr. Mercer told us that he was in Viet Nam.  An article in the Alexandria paper while we were still in Oakdale revealed that the young man was dead, shot down serving his country.

                The restaurant was still open on our next journey or two north, but things were not the same.  He, of happy countenance and friendly greeting, was not to be seen.  Then came the inevitable day, and a black, gloomy sign which read “Closed.”  It was understood that it also meant, “Not to be reopened.”  I do not recall whether other interests tried to make the Goat Castle thrive again.  I only know that it could not have been.  Now, the corner is marred by the memory of what was, and what is, and by what now occupies the corner on the south edge of Winnfield.

                It is a high price to pay to give one’s son, even if the cause is that in which one believes.  God gave His Son, knowing full well that for Him to be born would also be to die.  That’s an even higher price.

I.             There Is the Foretelling of His Birth to Wise Men.  It is not a prophecy in the Biblical sense.  There is scriptural intonation.  Numbers 24:16f “The utterance of him . . . who sees the vision of the Almighty, . . . I see Him but not now; I behold  Him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob; a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”

                Zechariah offers an apocalyptic image.

                Other verses allude to wisdom of men out of the east.  I Kings 4:30 “Solomon’s wisdom excelled . . . the men of the east.”

                We know something, of course, of those people and their distant land:

• In the east was Babylon, today’s Iraq, in the Tigris/Euphrates valley.
• Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, came from Abraham’s homeland, Mesopotamia.
• Egypt was the land of captivity, where some Jews remained.
  • The gospel song reminds us of this time:  “Wade in the water; wade in the water, children; wade in the water: God’s gonna trouble the water.”
• Ur, home of Abraham, is near modern-day Kuwait, which rests precipitously at the Northwest extremity of the Persian Gulf. 
• Jerusalem was the land of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-25), who prophesied 70 weeks (or years) until the coming of the Messiah.

The presence of these wise men demands two significant considerations: That the Messiah was known outside of Israel, disarming this as a political P.R. event, and that God intended faith in His Son to be the great, universal, foundation stone upon which hope and peace would be built.  Micah 4:2 “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”  Zechariah 2:11 “And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.”  Zechariah 8:23 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”

II.            There Is Prophecy Relative to Messiah’s Birth, Appearing Here As Questions of Those Men.  V2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?”  With all of their learning, there are yet surprises: Surprise that Herod knows not of this, that a king would be born away from Jerusalem, that the star will show them the very place of His birth, and that they would be “divinely warned” in a dream.

                But be very sure that the prophetic word of God knows no surprises. Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth that is to be ruler in Israel.”  The wise men asked about a king, but when Herod called on his own scholars, he inquired of “Messiah,” and of Bethlehem.

                At Bethlehem, the picture begins to form of God’s love.   Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the sky of parchment made; were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade: To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky  (Frederick Lehman). 

                At Bethlehem also, we begin to discover the degree to which God will go for those He loves.  It took someone like Jesus to save us.  We dare not treat it lightly.

III.           The Forecast of Direction to Joseph for His Family.  V13 “. . . an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take . . . go . . . stay.”  It is not Father’s Day, but perhaps it is:  A time to assume  joys and responsibilities; a time to learn of Joseph’s example; a time to bring joy to the hearts of 20^th Century Marys; a time for deepening relationships, of the spiritual sort, and of family.  God spoke  to Joseph.  He can speak to us: Through a dream then, perhaps now.  He speaks indisputably through His Word.

                The climax is that of obedience.  V14 “. . . He arose, . . . took the young Child and his  mother by night and departed for Egypt.” Knowing in obedience is doing.  The message is that of God’s providence. 

This is the Joseph of momentous decisions.  When he learned of the baby there were three choices:  Accuse Mary before the elders; simply put her away (Deuteronomy 22:26—sometimes the woman is helpless); accept Mary, and her baby, shelter them both, love them, and see the wonders of God.

When God persists in a plan, He provides the resource.  Three wise men from the east traveled for perhaps five months to provide resources for Joseph and his family in Egypt.

                Wise men still seek Jesus.

IV.          There Is Foreboding of the Murder of Children.  V16 “Herod . . . sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under.”

                Is it conceivable for one man to harbour such malice, suspicion, and fear?  But clearly, to the warped mind human life is just another expendable commodity, political not spiritual.  Besides that, it was not just another human life sought by Herod, not just another number recorded on the parchment of over-populated land mass.  This was the king/messiah they were asking about:  What is done with the old king when a new one asserts himself?

                There are still Herods about.  These people didn’t find Jeremiah’s prophecy all that shocking.  Nor did the people to whom Jeremiah spoke.  “A voice was heard in Ramah, . . . Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they were no more” (Jeremiah 31:15).

                Such are not born that way, they become that way.  “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power.”

                Christian social enterprise without Christ’s redemptive love is hate.  I read of the Mayas of Mesoamerica, and their trials chiefly through Spain’s lust for gold.  There were places in their own native land where they could not walk on the sidewalks until 1965.

Conclusion

                In these areas, the prophecies of Christmas chiefly speak.  They testify that God is at work, and that He is at work in the human world.  The prophetic scriptures were fulfilled.  The Messiah was born of the Virgin Mary.  He was called the “Son of God,” because He was.  He was named “Immanuel” meaning God with us. 

                Harold Lindsell, contemporary scholar, wrote in Christianity Today (12/77), “By the light of nature we see God above us.  By the light of the law we see God against us.  By the light of the gospel we see Jesus as Immanuel who is God with us.”

                Skeptics and apostates may question and deny, but they deny only their own reason, and assert their own faithlessness.  They do no injustice to the truth of God.

                We believe the prophecies of Christmas because they are true.  They are true because God intervened in history and brought them to pass.  The Babe of Bethlehem became Calvary’s Captive: The Lord of glory, at whose feet we fall, and to whom we pay homage.  Blessed Christmas season when once again we remind, and are reminded, that God has tabernacled among us and we have beheld His glory.

THE PREACHING OF JESUS

#008                                                            THE PREACHING OF JESUS                                                                                   

Scripture  Luke 6:39-49 NIV                                                                                                                      Orig. July 4, 1985

Passage:  ³⁹ He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.  ⁴¹ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.  ⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  ⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷ As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Purpose: Continuing a Wednesday night series from Luke emphasizing the preaching of Jesus

Keywords:          Luke, Christ, Preaching

Timeline/Series:               Luke

Introduction

                From the preaching of Jesus we have an example of preaching in the mold of Hebrew preaching in that day.  It not only helps us to understand the context of preaching in the way that He experienced it, but it also shows the variances that He added to for others to follow.

                Our text contains eleven verses.  There are at least six distinct ideas contained therein.  The themes are: Following those who don’t know where they are going; relationship of teacher and pupil; reality therapy; a tree and its fruit; good and evil persons; and building a house.

                Herein is the essence of Hebrew preaching.  The Jews had a word for it: charaz, meaning “stringing beads.”  The preacher, in order to maintain interest, was taught to hurry from topic to topic.  The Book of Proverbs is a fairly good example of such preaching.

                Here, we have an example of using this kind of contemporary communication.  But He was not limited to this.  We find Him broadening the base of preaching by using it to convey specific truth through teaching.  He controlled the manner of His preaching as surely as He did the message.

Rule #1—We can Share Effectively Only What We have Come to Grasp Sufficiently.  V39 “Can the blind lead the blind?  Will they not both fall into the ditch?”  The blind person is totally helpless with anything he has not experienced.  The blind person is helpless.  It is remarkable what some have achieved within their limitations.  There are golf tournaments for the blind.  A blind woman named Vera painted her house in New Orleans.  To try to take another where we have not been is a risk.  There are compensations for sighted persons, such as maps, aids. 

                There is room for consideration of both literal and metaphorical blindness. The Greek word tuphlos refers to either kind of blindness.  Its use here seems to suggest a literal blindness (physical).

                There are variances of blindness.  Some don’t see; some won’t see; some can’t see.  Helen Kellen spoke at Southern Seminary and said, “The worst thing is to have eyes and not be able to see.”  V40 “A disciple is not above his, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.  Perfect/perfected—katertismenos in the Greek—suggests mending torn or broken nets.  In Matthew 4:21, “He saw James and John, . . . mending their nets.” Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in a trespass (fault), you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.”

                There are compensations for blindness whether literal or otherwise. If literal, there is a cane, guide dog, surgery, miracle; if none of these work, there is always the arm of a friend. It is  so for metaphorical blindness, but the helper must first be able to see.

                The Golden Rules of Teaching

• A teacher is a hinge on which one’s future swings.
• We teach more by our walk than by our talk.
• Sometimes, an ounce of Christian living before a pupil is worth a ton of talk.
• It is not what the pupils remember that constitutes knowledge, but what they cannot forget.

Rule #2—Misshapen Attitudes Affect Us both as Teachers and Learners.  V41 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?”  There is another consideration of “don’t, won’t, can’t.”  What these two have in common:  Both have been rendered incapable of sight; both have seemingly correctible conditions.  Now, a look at the ways they differ: a speck v. a plank or sawdust v. a saw log; accident v. carelessness; knowledge v. ignorance; beyond control v. self-control.

                Dr. Criswell told about preaching in an Oklahoma revival.  Members came, but a wife and husband went to sleep. When the power suddenly failed, the husband woke up in the dark.  “Dr. Criswell,” he shouted, “Stop preaching and pray for me!  I’ve gone stark blind!”

                Don’t work to change others until you’ve made room for change in your own life.  A psychiatrist is an M.D. who goes through psychoanalysis himself.  As Edward Wallis Hoch wrote, “There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us, that it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us.”

Rule #3—Good and Evil are Alike Products of Human Personality.  V 45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of the heart brings forth evil.”  Obedience to the highest good we know is the final test. Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.”  Psalm 1:2 “His delight is in the law of the Lord.” 

                The tree is known by what it produces.  I have two plums in my yard.  One is surrounded by little plums from last year’s fallen plums.  The other I race the birds to them. My tomato plants are not producing.  In the same way, the human heart produces what it is.  Does God see the maliciously evil differently from the ignorantly evil?  The evil done in the name of religion? The hostages! [1979-81]

Rule #4—What is in the Human Heart is Given Expression with What We Say.  V45 “Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”  What does one say under pressure?  What does one habitually say? What do we say when no one hears?

Rule #5—They Are Happy Who do not Exchange Future Advantage for Present Pleasure.  V48 “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.”  The house builder is a useful illustration. He built his house during the dry season in the river bed.  When the rains came it was more difficult and more expensive. 

                We often have a choice between immediate convenience and long-term good.   Many people have trouble choosing what can’t be seen, such as the essence of spiritual decision.  Let us rebuke carelessness of spirit, as the University President whose goal was to raise a Christian family.  Let us require steadfastness; 1 Timothy 6:19, “Storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”  Let us restore hope.  Storms do come.

***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***

THE GREAT PHYSICIAN

#003                                                                THE GREAT PHYSICIAN                                                                                       

Scripture  Luke 5:27-32                                                                                                                                     Orig. 6/21/64

                                                                                                                                                                                    Rewr. 8/1/87 

Passage:  ²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.  ²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  ³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Purpose:  To share with my people various spiritual sicknesses and that only a sense of sin leads us to the One who can heal.

Keywords:          Christ, Saviour                   Faith                      Doubt                   Sin

Introduction

                The years have passed far too quickly.  We have watched with fascination, and sometimes with dismay, the progress of American space missions.  We remember particularly some of the earlier ones because we watched our TVs with our hearts in our throats.  We read the responses of the returning astronauts.

                I remember the cosmonaut who returned loudly proclaiming that if heaven is out there, he saw  no evidence of God.  It was only a few weeks later that an American astronaut responded, having viewed what’s out there with eyes of faith, and having seen great evidence of God everywhere he looked.

                Later, someone, I forget who, added a footnote to this debate.  It is a message not to be overlooked.

“Nothing has been found up there that has changed the ground rules down here.  Nothing has been gleaned along the Milky Way which has made the good life easier or the wrong less attractive.  There is nothing out there that can warm one heart chilled with loneliness here, or bandage one mind that’s bleeding to death from doubt, or forgive one sin that has turned one soul prematurely grey. . . .”

I.             It Is the Self-Righteously Sick Who Need the Physician.  5:31 “. . . not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”  He is the person who has answers even to questions which haven’t been asked.  Scribes and Pharisees were smart men.  They had read the writing and knew the mind of God.  Why do you associate with such? (Levi). 

At Simon’s for dinner (7:36), Jesus was approached by a sinful woman, who anointed Him.  Simon concludes, “If he were a prophet he would know the kind of woman she is.”

People are often flippant about the mind of God.  Psalm 25:14 “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.”  Romans 11:34 “Who hath known the mind of the Lord?”  I Corinthians 1:25 “The foolishness of God is wiser than men.”

Besides this flippancy about God, there are those who gloss over their own sin.  They are not so forgiving of others’ sins.  It should be our most accessible trait.  The Bible shows the character of God.  Evidence described a Christ who lived it.  But day by day we are surely overcome by our failure even to come close to the expectations of God.  John 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin.  Now . . . they have no excuse for their sin.”

We must also consider the parent refusing to acknowledge spiritual responsibility.  A great man once spoke of his majestic city, saying that if allowed to do so, he would go to the highest place in that city, call all the citizens together, and ask why they were turning every stone to scrape wealth together, yet taking so little care and concern for their children to whom they must one day relinquish all. The man was Socrates, speaking in Athens in 400 B.C.

II.            It Is the Cynically Sick Who Need the Physician.  “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have . . . come . . . to call the righteous . . . to repentance.”  The cynic sees only the ugly in our society.  We will do well to dispense with false ideals.  Sin and hypocrisy among well-meaning people are too easily spotted.  

There are legitimate claims of hypocrisy in the church.  But people who use hypocrisy as an excuse can’t afford to be hypocritical.  If you stay away from church, for example, you must also find businesses without hypocrisy.  Be careful that those who teach your children are above hypocrisy.  Plan ahead so that your funeral coach driver is without such sin.

The cynic sees Christ not as physician, but as meddler.  But for Christ’s intervention, he could be openly amoral.  John 15:24 “If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.”  No, they would just be consigned to the region of the damned, of the earth, earthly.  But for Christ, gold would be our eternally adorning God.  I Peter 1:18 “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold.”  But for Christ, our children would be the fruit of fate, not faith.

III.           It Is the Pseudo-Religiously Satisfied Who Need the Physician.  5:31 “It is not the healthy who need a doctor . . . .  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  Such is often the person without spiritual values—unmoved, unmotivated, satisfied not to be last.  Regrettably, even using Philippians 4:11 as proof text:  “ . . . for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content,” ignoring what Paul went on to say: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

                Morality for too many people today is staying out of jail and out of the doghouse.  Many excuse themselves saying the New Testament standard is outdated. In a cartoon, two people stood before a painting by one of the great masters.  One said, “I’m not impressed.  Are you?”  The other, “The painting is not on trial.  We are!”

                The values of our day become more confused.  In Steinbeck’s novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, the son of his protagonist won an essay award through plagiarism.  When confronted by his father after the award was taken away, the young man said, “Who cares? Everybody does it . . . .  Don’t you read the papers? Right up to the top!”  This is not a barb at youth.  It is a stab at the pathetic example set for youth.  When we come to doubt the reasons for the things we do, we are in trouble.

IV.          It Is the Seeking Sick to Whom the Physician Comes.  V32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  First of all, the truly righteous know their state before God.  Psalm 112:7 “His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”  Isaiah 32:17“The effect of righteousness will be quietness and assurance forever.”     

                The true seeker, though yet unredeemed, knows the hope of salvation. He is standing under the burden of sin:  Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  He knows that a day of reckoning must come: Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ.”  What he may not know is the fullness of this salvation and its availability:  Romans 15:13 “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound.”

                There are times, as a true seeker, that I fear for my role as pastor of First Baptist Church.  Oh, we are baptizing our children.  But what else of significance? How much closer to the Lord are you?  What would a roll call of  deacons, Sunday School teachers tell us?  How excitedly do you take your place on Sunday morning? Why do you not come back on Sunday evening? Wednesday? Why do you make no effort to further missions activities of your church?

                My fear is in the full realization that God will not suffer through an ineffective leader to the spoil of His church, and this church is a precipitous one.  It’s time then, for a lot of us, as true believers, to begin thinking repentance.

Conclusion

                I found a paragraph at the conclusion of a sermon written 20-25 years ago telling of the critical nature of contemporary events.  A journalist had published a book, Two Minutes till Midnight.  A missionary had delivered a much-publicized message entitled “Wake Up or Blow Up.”  A piece in the newspaper had told of individual B-52s on air alert, carrying explosive power equal to twelve times the explosives dropped during all of World War II.  During that same time, a statesman had spoken of people living under a “balance of terror.”

                Armageddon is a Biblical reality, and we may be closer than we think.  Whatever else may be on the brink, it is time to seek peace.

JESUS FOLLOWERS

#002                                                                    JESUS FOLLOWERS                                                                                          

Scripture  Luke 5:27-39                                                                                                                                      Orig. 7/14/63

-                                                                                                                                                                                Rewr. 4/10/85 

Passage: ²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.  ²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  ³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  ³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”  ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”  ³⁶ He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

Purpose: Continuing a study from Luke, calling attention to some who early came to be followers of Jesus

Keywords:          Bible Study

Timeline/Series:               Luke

Introduction

                The first part of our study has to do with the call of a tax-collector to be a Christ-follower.  The scripture makes clear that they were a hated breed, and the reason is clear.  The Romans didn’t have an IRS.  There were  no computers to foul up, and there were no refunds to grant.

                They assessed a certain district the amount of taxes that were to be paid, and then sold the collecting rights to the highest bidder.  The officials didn’t care how much or how little money has actually collected, just so long as they got their assessed gross.

                It is easy to see how such a program could be abused, and how thieves with strong-armed tactics would tend to become the tax-collectors; and how they could become hated by the people.

                U.S.A. Today did a piece this week on numbers of assaults on IRS agents.  It’s up 50% in the last five years.  The article centered around a citizen’s going after some agents with his unregistered AR-15 rifle as they were about to seize his Cherokee in lieu of payment.

                The point is that tax people still are not all that popular, especially this time of the year.  We all know that it has to be done, and that our system, while not perfect, is the best available.  Yet tax people are not popular folks.

I.             The Selection of Matthew.  V27 “After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, ‘Follow me.’”

                At this point there were only four who were followers of Jesus—Simon, Andrew, James, and John (Matthew 4 and Luke 5).  Jesus already envisioned calling more.  But He must teach even these four.  A lesson they need to learn is based on human worth and repentance.  These were simple men, and thus were easily teachable.  Both Mark and Matthew include the disciples at the feast.

                Jesus’ method was to reach out to people who needed Him.  It had nothing to do with “who” they were, or “what” they had.  It had to do with “how” the perceived themselves in relation to God.  There are down-and-outers and up-and-outers, but chances are the ones walking alone are  more open to spiritual profferings.

                A major purpose here is to communicate the need for repentance.  Remember, his link with John in Matthew 3:1: “John, preaching, saying ‘Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’” Matthew 4:17: Jesus said “Repent,  for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

                At the feast Jesus will have occasion to illustrate repentance. Levi the publican becomes Matthew.  Many  publicans are at the feast to hear Jesus.  They need repentance.  Many religious leaders are contemptuously looking on.  They need repentance also.

                There is a terrible danger in the lives of many contemporary religious folk, that their religion becomes a shield against repentance.

II.            Secondly, A Question to Jesus About Why His Followers Are Different.  V33 “Why do the disciples of John fast, likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”  We need to try to get to the real question.  Why don’t your followers fast?  Why don’t your people commiserate rather than celebrate?

                Don’t disdain fasting.  I don’t know but one other thing that would more for the pastor and people of Transylvania Baptist Church—That’s prayer.

                The time comes when Christians ought to fast. Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the fast that I have chosen?  To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke.” 

“Yoke” is used to gain advantage.  Orthodox Jews like orthodox religionists of today believed that religion was supposed to make one appear uncomfortable.  They endured the Sabbath.  We take it in two hour units.  They fasted on Monday and Thursday (6a.m. to 6p.m.).  They put ash on their faces to show their fasting.

Anytime we are in such stricture of soul that our time with God is not interrupted for nourishment, whether by design or by forgetfulness, it is fasting.

Jesus uses the occasion of the question to share three parables:

(1) The true spirit life is like a wedding feast.  V34: “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?”  We are not compelled to do what we wish not to do.  We are not denied things because they are pleasurable.  We are simply promised that living life in faith based on the Word of God is what brings true happiness.

(2) The true spirit life is like a piece of new cloth.  V36 “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one.  It will tear, and they do not match.” The Greek word for “tear,” pronounced “sxisma,” is our word for “schism.” The first three usages are about religious division. There is a present struggle in the Convention.  Jesus is not demeaning of the Old Testament but, rather, the way they looked at it.  They could not repair it by  attaching some new ideology over an old error.  Jesus was certainly not certifying that the new is better than the old.  He wanted to get to the heart of truth and build thereon.

(3) The true spirit life is like fermenting juice.  The life situation is that these were not bottles but goatskins. The Greek word pronounced “bota” is our word for “boot.”  Old skins are weak, cracked.  Fermentation will penetrate.  What Jesus is teaching is that people who know will  not choose the new wine over old. The value is in the aging, the changing.  The good comes from the new in the process of change.  Work through a new thought for it to become truth.  Leave room for repentance to be contained in your vessel of speculation until it ferments into truth.

Closing

                George Whitefield, 1700’s, said in one of his sermons, “You see, brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, what great blessings are treasured up for you in Jesus Christ and what you are entitled to by believing on His name. Take heed, therefore, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called.  Think often how highly  you are favored; and remember, you have not chosen Christ, He has chosen you.”  (Whitefield’s Sermon Outlines,  Eerdman’s Publishing 1956, p.122)

THE PARABLE OF TWOS

#005                                                               THE PARABLE OF TWOS                                                                                      

Scripture  Matthew 7:13-14                                                                                                                           Orig. 12-08-63

                                                                                                                                                                       Rewr. 10-81; 5-9-91 

Passage:  ¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Purpose: Sharing a message from this early parable of Jesus reminding us all that choices all around us need to be based on both reason and faith.

Keywords:          Decision               New Birth            Eternal Life         Judgment

Timeline/Series:               Parables

Introduction

                We call this “The Parable of Twos” because herein are two gates, two avenues, two companies, and two destinies.  We are told that they are not alike in any eventuality.  One almost compels us to choose it, the other beckons  only under the circumstance of privation and struggle.  But the advice of Jesus is to think the matter over carefully, and choose for eternity, not for the here and now.

                We have few songs that testify of “wide gate and broad way.” Many, however, instruct us about the “way” we need to follow.

                Listen as they are sung.  Footsteps of Jesus: “Tho’ they lead o’er the cold dark  mountain.”  I Have Decided to Follow Jesus:  “Tho’ none go with me, I still will follow; Tho’ none go with me, I still will follow; Tho’ none go with me, I still will follow; No turning back, no turning back.”  O Master Let Me Walk with Thee: “O Master let me walk with thee In lowly paths of service free; Tell me Thy secret, help me bear The strain of toil, the fret of care.”  The Master Hath Come: “The Master hath called us, the road may be dreary, And dangers and sorrows are strewn on the track; But God’s Holy Spirit shall comfort the weary; We follow the Saviour and can not turn back. The Master hath called us, though doubt and temptation May compass our journey, we cheerfully sing: ‘Press onward, Look upward,” through much tribulation The children of Zion must follow their King.”

                This parable came at the  end of a lengthy discourse known today as “The Sermon on the Mount.”  People were hearing Jesus for the first time.  They were told, in effect, that “life is hard.”  It certainly was not going to be easy to follow Jesus.  They were told in that sermon of the need for “meekness,” of the tribute of those that “hunger for righteousness.”  He spoke to them of the clear mandate of the law opposing killing, but of a higher law that addressed hatred.  Jesus said that prayer was a sacred trust, and forgiveness, a spiritual necessity.  7:12 “All things ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

I.             The Parable of Twos Shows Us First that There are Two Gates.  V13 “Wide is the gate,”  v14 “strait is the gate.”  The words themselves help us.  “Wide” gives us our word “plateau,” platys.  “Narrow” is the word stenos from which we get “stenography,” or narrow, lined writing.  Luke 13:24 “Strive (agonize) to enter through the strait gate.” 

It is brought down to choice in its simplest form.  If I am buying shoes and only two pair fit, I take one pair and leave the other.  But if there are a dozen possibilities, it is more difficult.  When I was a boy, ice cream was available only in vanilla and chocolate.  When I take my grandson to Baskin-Robbins, it will be different.

We can set this simplicity in religious context as well.  There were those who heard Jesus, and believed.  There were others who did not.  Some listened to His message.  Others rejected it.  It is the application of two gates, one identified with Jesus, the other, not.  The gate imagery piles up on us.  One is colorful, filled with boisterous people; a refreshment stand interrupts.  The other is inconvenient, and must be carefully approached; people seem serious to the point of foreboding.

It really should not surprise us that there are only two choices.  Deuteronomy 30:15 “See, I have set before you this day, life and good, and death and evil.”  I Kings 18:21 “And Elijah said, . . . if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal . . . .”

II.            The Parable of Twos Goes on to Affirm Two Ways.  “Wide is the gate . . . that leadeth to destruction . . . Strait is the gate . . . which leadeth unto life.”  No doubt, all of us have measured life in terms of broad ways and back roads.  I haven’t been east or west on Highway 80 for more than a few miles in years.  Remember how glad we were to get back in this auditorium from the confinement of the Fellowship Hall?

                It was our good fortune to live in New Orleans while old Tulane Stadium was around.  The word “concourse” was reserved for airports.  At Tulane Stadium everything was jammed tightly together.  After the game, you squeezed through the aisle,  then the gates, then it got difficult.  You had to get your car out of someone’s yard. 

                Now, we have the Louisiana Superdome.

                While the two gates refer to broad and narrow, the two ways are destruction and life.  This is encroaching on two destinies. We will look at that last.

III.           The Parable of Twos Tells Us Also of Two Companies.  There is a consortium of “many,” and another of “few.”  The gate through which the two companies have passed is symbolic.  John 14:6 “Jesus said, . . . I am the way, . . . no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”  John 10:7 “Then said Jesus . . . , Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door . . . .”  It is interesting that there is no other differentiation.  They don’t come from different districts.  They have no specific nationality.  Wealth, education, physical status seem to offer  no criteria of involvement. 

                The ONE thing that separates them is Jesus.  He has taught them about God’s Kingdom.  He described a religious value system.

                In this sermon, He has so spoken.  Matthew 6:1 “Do not announce  your alms before men.”  6:7 “When you pray, use not vain repetitions.”  6:17 “Fast . . . not unto men, but God.”  6:21 “Where your treasure is, so is your heart.”  6:24 “No man can serve two masters.”  7:24 “A wise man who built his house upon a rock, . . . [another] built . . . on sand.”

IV.          In Conclusion, It Is the Parable of Two Destinies.  Some are passing through the gate and along the way to destruction.  Those who have rightly chosen, are passing through to life.  It is so easy to become enthralled with the “broad” way.   

                The things with which we occupy ourselves are not necessarily bad things.  Ann  and I attended some Mardi Gras activities while in New Orleans.  Locals were there in droves.  Revelers came from around the country.  Money was spent irretrievably on junk.  There were excesses of flesh jeopardizing health.  Bad disposition remained for weeks.  It took weeks to clean up the clutter.  Too often there was a dead child who had taken too big a risk chasing a doubloon. 

                Having seen Canal Street under these circumstances left an indelible view of this text. Canal was dubbed “the world’s widest thoroughfare.” 

                Those things may do nothing more than keep our eye off of the main things in life.  Let this “broad” way remind us that there is a “narrow” way.  This narrow  way leads to “life.”

                There is a final thought from the word’s meaning.  Two Greek words define “life.” Bios (biography) means duration, manner of life.  Zoe (zoology) is life in its absolute sense.  1 John 1:2 “. . . We . . . show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.”  John 1:4 “In Him was life; and that life was the light of men.”

                About destruction, several words contain the idea of loss: Luke 15 parables (sheep, coin, son). The idea is that of loss of well-being.

                The idea here, in Matthew 7:13, is more.  It is the impact on everything worthwhile.

A WORD OF PERCEPTION (Fourth Word from the Cross)

#075      A WORD OF  PERCEPTION (Fourth Word from the Cross)

Scripture Matthew 27:45-46 NIV                                                                                             Orig. Date 4/1/62 (3/80)

                                                                                                                                                                     Rewr. Dates 3/25/87 

Passage:  45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[a] lama sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).[b]

Purpose:  Continuing the Words from the Cross series with a special emphasis placed upon the sovereignty of God in behalf of His Son and His people.

Keywords:          Christ, Death                      Sovereignty, God                             Commitment

                                Judgment                            Suffering

Timeline/Series:               Words from the Cross   

Introductions

                Somewhere, Thornton Wilder has a significant line that declares “In love’s service, only wounded soldiers will do.”  In that context, then, it should not seem unusual to us, or unreasonable, that Jesus became a “wounded soldier.”  It was to that end that Old Testament prophecies foresaw Him as “man of sorrows.” But we must interpret that correctly.

                Here we discover the degree to which Christ would go as a “wounded soldier.”  More, it testifies that there is no degree to which He would not go “in love’s service.”

                Eli, Eli; lama sabachthani? That is, My God, My God; Why hast Thou forsaken me?

                What pain hurts more than aloneness?  What hurt weighs more heavily on us than that of feeling forsaken, especially unjustly forsaken?  Off-beat theologians have emerged, and in their effort to explain, have explained away this text.  Jesus, they say, had lapsed into delirium.  Others, that though conscious, the pain rendered Him verbally out-of-control.  Yet others suggest that He was not forsaken but simply felt so.

                Jesus did not ever give in to the flesh.  Why should we think it is happening here?  There was  neither unconsciousness, uncontrolled delirium, nor mistaken anguish.  Jesus felt forsaken because he was forsaken.  For sin to be effectively dealt with, it was necessary for God’s complete disposition of it to take place.  Christ was the instrument through which that disposition took place.

                After having seen the great dancer, Pavlova, perform, someone asked her to explain the artistic meaning of her dance.  She stood there drained of the last bit of her energy and replied, “Do you think I would have danced it if I could have said it?”  For Jesus, words are an inarticulate description of God’s intent to save.  The cross must be endured if we are to have perception of God’s love.

                I.             It is Perception, First, of Supernatural Covenant.  Luke 24:44 “. . . all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, . . . , concerning me.”

                Surely, this is not the only time that Jesus questioned the strange events of His life.  Perhaps, as a small boy, He wondered of the unique events of His birth.  Luke 2:19, “She pondered these things.”  Perhaps, as an adolescent, He questioned why things of interest to others His age, did not interest Him.  Luke 2:49, “. . . Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”  Even as an adult, it shouldn’t surprise us if He wondered, despaired of unbelief all around.  Matthew 22:5, “They made light of it and went . . . away.”  Mark 3:5, “Being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.”

                And whenever such times had enveloped Him, He always before had felt the deeper wealth of assurance.  Boyish questions were answered with meaning of His name—Jesus: “He would save His people.”  Adolescent wonderings were assuaged by His own love for the Father, and the Father’s house. 

                As an adult,  little could have been more obvious than the signs of God’s presence.  At His baptism, there had been the voice boldly declaring “Thou art my beloved son.”  During the temptation in the wilderness “angels came and ministered unto Him.” 

                Starting at Cana one day at a wedding:  John 2:11, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”

                On a mountain side one day: Matthew 17:1f, “. . . There appeared . . . Moses and Elijah talking with Him.”

                Toward the end of His ministry, at Bethany:  John 11:41f, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me.  And I knew that Thou hearest me always: but because of the people  . . . that they may believe . . . Lazarus, come forth.” 

                Even with all of this, His plea is the plea of a man alone. Not over-wrought psyche playing tricks; not low pain-threshold binding reason.  It is divine covenant being completed with all of its wretched consequences.

                There had likewise been 3 words to the cross.  “If Thou be the Christ, come down,” was the one thing He could not do.  “He saved others, Himself He cannot save,” was a true saying.   “Remember me, when. . .” was a reminder that we, too, have our crosses in following.

                II.            It is Perception of Superhuman Commitment.  John 12:46 “I am come a light into the world.”  There are, of course, those who argue that Jesus was not forsaken.  They claim some physical distress, that Jesus simply quoted Psalm 22 in its present context.  Psalm 22:23: “Praise Him ye who fear the Lord; . . .  do Him honor; stand in awe of Him. . . For He has not scorned the downtrodden, . . . but gave heed to him when he cried out.” 

                But the point is, here at Calvary, was commitment in the flesh.  Luke 22:44 “Being in agony He  prayed more earnestly; and His sweat were as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”  It was the kind of commitment forever an example to us.  John 11:42, “. . . because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou has sent me.”  Luther and Calvin (233T20p139) say that these were hours spent in the torments of the damned.

                Rambach said in Meditations On the Sufferings of Christ,  “God was now dealing with Him not as a loving and merciful Father with His child, but as an offended and righteous judge of an evildoer.  The heavenly Father now regards His Son to be the greatest sinner to be found beneath the sun, and discharges on Him the whole weight of His wrath.” 

                It is time, then, to pursue the measure of our own commitment.  Isaiah 53:9f “He made His grave with the wicked . . . He was numbered with the transgressors.  Galatians 3:13 “. . . redeemed us from the curse . . . being made a curse for us.”  Philippians 2:8 “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

                What kind of commitment do we offer to compare with that?  We expect to be painless Christians.  An hour or two on Sunday morning is as near to Calvary as we intend to go.  I forgot my checkbook so I’ll rattle some change God’s way.  We plan our commitment around mediocrity.

                III.           That Brings Us to Consider Superficial Circumstance (Uncircumstantial)  “Why  hast Thou forsaken me?”  Jesus surrenders to the high cost of God’s will.  So are such times when we likewise must.

                As Gideon (Judges 6:13) “If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?  As Elijah (I Kings 19:2) under Jezebel’s threat he “arose and went for his life,”  As Job (Job 30:20) “I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not hear me.”  The psalmist (Psalm 73:13) “. . . Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence.”  All would stand before us to declare faithlessness on their part, faithfulness on God’s part.

                So often, that that is real in our experience is to become the circumstance of God’s blessing.  Yes, Jesus was separated from the Father, forsaken even.  But to remain as companions of sin is to remain separated from the Father.  Our hope of restoration was fulfilled by Christ on the Cross.

Conclusion

                Back in the early part of this decade the USS Hope made the newspapers for the last time.  That ship, having brought medical aid to tens of thousands in third world nations, was trapped on a sand-bar on its way to the scrap yard.

                There are too many people who have given up on hope.  But we Christians must be the first to proclaim it.  Because of God’s covenant, and Christ’s commitment to it, I can find reason to trust even in the most circumspect of circumstances. Ships of the sea, even ships of state, may flounder, but Christ gives me reason to believe through every consequence of my life.