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.

LIVING BUILDING STONES

#15                                                               LIVING BUILDING STONES                                                                                   

Scripture I Peter 2:1-12 NIV                                                                                                             Orig. 5/10/64 (10-81)

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 10-1-86 

Passage:  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Purpose:  To show that we are the Living Building Stones out of which the redemptive mission of God is brought to fruition

Keywords:          Mission, Church, Christ, Propitiation, Heritage, Fellowship, Tradition        

Introduction

                Octoberfest celebrations are underway everywhere.  Most of the people who are celebrating have no idea what the original concept was.  It would never occur to them that this is a harvest ritual.  They are totally void of any comprehension of meaning in relation to the bounty of God in general.  And the provision of Christ in particular.  How many people who are caught up in the wild melee of these celebrations will see them as a time of rededication, and of new beginnings?

                Werner Marx, Moravian missionary to South America, remembers his own childhood in the home of missionary parents in Tibet.  He remembers dedication services for new workers where fledgling missionaries were required to place both their hands on their head and declare, “Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel!”  Their lives were fixed to the place where they were, and they were to be prepared to be used of God to build what He would build.

                It is not inordinately visionary to think of ourselves in that same light.  We are “living building stones” to serve the place where we are.  We are not here by accident, you and I.  We are here a-purpose, and the purpose is God’s.

                You remember Walt Kelly’s comic strip, Pogo.  The characters were animals, but the gist of the strip was human relationships.  They were having trouble getting along with one another, and Pogo observed, “The trouble with us is that we are surrounded by insurmountable opportunities.”  He eulogized to his fellow-denizens of the swamp, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

I.             In the First Place, Living Stones are Provisional.  V9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy mountain, a peculiar people; for ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  Consider the analogy as it relates to building.  The architect determines the style of stone.  The workman rasps away any rough edges to bring the stone into symmetry.  The stone has only yielded to this superior wisdom.

                True Baptists have sustained a real romance with the local church.  We have rightly viewed it as the proper descendant of the body of believers found in the New Testament.  In the real sense, descendants also of Israel.  The physical manifestation of the Kingdom of God. 

But the Church in every age has faced the temptation to lose its outward vision.  The aging process does indeed bring on the hypochondria of deterioration.  This lends support to the discovery that two kinds of churches tend to grow: those newly started, who are able to sustain the freshness of mission, and those that “re-dream” the dream.  What we must discover are new ways to minister to those outside the local church.  We will not have many new people to come here.  The key is finding a means to the disenfranchised ones.  Consider the inner child of the past; bad childhood experience; the threat of surrendering some ingrained passion.  What we need first at First Baptist Church is not new people in town, but those among us who re-dream the dream.

One of the real problems of the late 1980’s is to deal with the burden of spiraling expenditure that eats away at what we ought to do for others and for God.  An editorial cartoon in NSW (10-81) is of two cave men exhausting their possessions trying to own the more powerful weapon.  Dr. Leslie Weatherhead wrote: “Picture in your mind a man of say a million years ago, grabbing his club and running for his cave because his enemy was in sight.  Then picture modern man in his imported suit grabbing his gas mask and running for his bomb shelter because the attack alarm has sounded.  Which is civilized?”

II.            Such Living Stones are Also Providential.  V4: “So come to Him, our Living Stone—the stone rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God.  Come and let yourselves be built, as living stones, into a spiritual temple; become a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  We are required to rethink the entire meaning of fellowship.  Clarence Willis in Oakdale attended regularly but would not unite with the church because of church suppers.  The problem at Corinth was with “Love Feasts.” Jude 12: “These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.  They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted, twice dead.”

But Jesus used “sup” as an analogy of faith.  Revelation 3:20: “Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”  So we have justification for fellowship meals. But Blackie’s thesis is right, fellowship is more than eating together, whether in the same room or under the same tree.

I remember a wedding reception in New Orleans, but Christian fellowship was on few minds.

Fellowship is not merely a joint walk by equals either.  What happens in too many marriages of those who seem supremely suited is that there is no spiritual unity between them.  The novelty wears off, and the bond comes unraveled.  Fellowship is a walk together in the dispensation of grace, God’s grace.  It is to be of the same mind as God, and of his Son, Jesus.

In the sphere of worship, prayer, ministry, and administration, we have fellowship.  1 John 1:7 “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other.”  No, we don’t have to give up church suppers or dinners.  We don’t even have to hold them outside.  There is even some room for parlor games, the right kind, but they must be occasions of Christian fellowship.

Vance Havner said: “The church today needs time out to tune up.  We are so busy building a bigger orchestra, that we won’t stop to tune the instruments.  What good is a big orchestra if two-thirds of the members never show up for practice, or else are off-key when they perform?”

III.           So, These Living Stones are, Above All Else, Propitiational. V6 “Wherefore also, it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.  It no longer is an extension of Judeo/Christian traditions.  Upon this building stone all rests.  Notice verses 7 and 8. The craftsmen are at their work. The surveyor has found the site. The architect has fitted plans to the site. The builder has begun construction.  But all have discounted the capstone.

The only link to the past that matters is Christ. But our best link with Him is NOW.  Don’t ask where we have been but, rather, where we are going.  Do we walk together in Christ?  Are we STONES for the building?  Do we willingly fit into the chosen place?  Is it nothing more than Pogo’s “insurmountable opportunity”?  What is the church’s destiny? What is our church’s destiny?

Tonight, Sardis: “thou hast a name that thou liveth.”

In a few weeks Philadelphia: “Behold, I have set before thee an open door.”

Conclusion

                Most of us have had enough of Alice in Wonderland to remember the basics of the story.  Alice is at a crossroads, not sure what to do next.  She encounters the Cheshire Cat.  He enquires, “Where are you headed?” She responds, “I don’t know.”  To which he responds what must be the feeling of our Lord for many of us as well, if you don’t know where you are going, “Then it doesn’t matter!” Which road is taken at the crossroads?

                We Christians are to know where we are going, and which road leads to our destination.

                Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by.  That has made all the difference.”

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.

STEEPLE DEDICATION, FBC BERNICE, LA

#000                                                                 STEEPLE DEDICATION

                                                                             First Baptist Church

                                                                              Bernice, Louisiana

                                                                 March 15, 1987

                                                                                                                                                                    Orig. Date 3/15/1987

Old Testament Lesson                                                                                                                                                 Mr. Maury Davis

Psalm 27:4-6, 11-14

⁴ One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

⁵ For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

⁶ And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord

¹¹ Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

¹² Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

¹³ I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Prayer                                                                                                                                                                       Mr. Clifton McIntosh

New Testament Lesson                                                                                                                                     Mr. Kenny Culpepper

I Corinthians 3:9-14

⁹ For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

¹⁰ According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

¹¹ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

¹² Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

¹³ Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

¹⁴ If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

Special Music                                                                                                                                                                    Sanctuary Choir

“Come Ye Christians, Be Committed”

Responsive Reading                                                                                                                                                                         Pastor

He said to them, But who do you say that I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son  of the Living God.

Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

As the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also in Christ.

For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink in one Spirit.

He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone;

In whom the whole building being joined together, grows into an holy temple in the Lord;

In whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,  holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God  has assigned him.

For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Presentation                                                                                                                                                                                       Pastor

Prayer of Dedication                                                                                                                                                           Watson Goss

Chairman of Deacons

JUDGMENT DEFERRED

#865                                                                JUDGMENT DEFERRED                                                                                       

Scripture John 7:53-8:11                                                                                                                          Orig. April 3, 1991

Passage:  7 53 Then they all went home, 8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.  9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said.

Purpose: Resuming the study of John’s Gospel, here showing Jesus’ compassion upon the woman taken in adultery.

Keywords:          Christ, Mercy, Compassion

Timeline/Series:  Sequential/John           

Introduction

                One of the books that has been the most helpful to me over the years has been A.T. Robertson’s A Harmony of the Gospels(1).   Whenever I have needed to study parallel texts from two or more of the gospels, this book has been my teacher.  Additionally, there is a supplemental section dealing with texts that are to some degree troublesome.

                Our text for this evening, did not, however, receive such scrutiny.  He only adds a footnote.  “Most of the ancient authorities omit John 7:53-8:11.  Those that contain it vary much from each other.”

                The reference is to the fact that this passage is not found in but one of the early manuscripts.  Six of the best, according to Barclay, make no mention of it.  Two others leave a blank space where it should have been.  And the so-called “church fathers” do not mention it.

                It does appear in the Roman Vulgate, so Jerome knew about it in the fourth century.  Augustine and Ambrose comment on it, so it was known to them.  Other manuscripts that include the story, have it at the end of John’s Gospel, while some even insert it at the end of Luke 21.

                The best explanation I have read about this is that the early church had to deal so vigorously with paganistic sexual practices, that the story seemed a compromise.  Knowing the teaching of Jesus, this seemed to offer justification to those susceptible to more questionable practices.

                In spite of all these questions, the story is where it belongs, giving evidence of the gracious way that Jesus dealt with the people he encountered.

I.             Judgment Begins Actually with the Woman Herself.  V4 “They say unto Him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.”

                The law relative to adultery is quite clear, she had to know it.  In the eyes of the Jewish legalists, it was a serious crime.  Parenthetically, it may have been this Jewish influence keeping this from before the people.  It was the Rabbi’s teaching.  “Every Jew must die before he will commit idolatry, murder, or adultery.”  Leviticus 20:10 says that both parties shall die without specifying how they are to die.  Deuteronomy 22:13f is complicated and states that the woman can be stoned to death.

                Knowing all of this, she chose to live in this unacceptable, and illegal way.  We do not know if she was a wife or a betrothed.  Only that she was taken in the act.  We also know, however, that there is no mention of her partner.  They claim affinity for the law.  We do not know why they did not likewise bring the man.  We know that they had little interest in this wretched woman.  Their interest was entrapment.  Jesus is himself the object of their spite.  V6 “This they said, tempting him.”  Peirazo—“prove by soliciting to sin.” Zodhiates p.1720.  James 1:13 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted by evil, neither tempteth He.”

II.            The Next Turn of Judgment is on the Part of These Religious Leaders.  V3 “The scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery.”  They are performing a legitimate function.  Law is meaningless unless it is enforced.  Digressions from the norm must be treated without compromise.  Everything must relate to the severity of the offense. There is a difference in telling your child he can’t have a cookie, and telling him he can’t play in the street.  If it is life-threatening, he needs something to help him remember. Their interest was not in judging her but in judging Him.  Evidently, they cared little about the way she lived her life.  They are out to get Jesus.

III.           Their Point is that Jesus Make a Judgment Relative to This Woman.  V5 “Moses in the law commanded us, . . what do you say?”  V7 “They continued asking him.” The background is of Jesus being hounded by the religious leaders.  He was in Galilee as Chapter 7 begins “because the Jews sought to kill him.”  Now he has come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.”  Officers were sent to arrest Him.  There was division among the people. There were unbelieving rulers.  7:53: “And every man went to his own house.” 8:1 “And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.”

                They determine to use this woman for entrapment.  His reputation with the people is of mercy, the friend of sinners.  He could be made to appear to flaunt the law.  If he condemns her, however, he could be in jeopardy with Romans.  The immediate response of Jesus seems to be uncharacteristically vague.  He stoops and writes in the dirt.  Not graphein—“to write.” Rather, katagraphein—“to record against.”  Job 13:26 “Thou writest bitter things against me.”  It could be because of her shame, he forcibly takes his eyes from her—she would have been emotional, the state of her dress or undress may have shamed her.

IV.          Where Judgment Ultimately Takes Us However, is in Jesus’ Assessment.  V7 “He that is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her.” 

                It shows Jesus’ different set of values.  There is a sense of authority to expose the sinner.  Jesus sought to understand and redeem, find oneness with, show compassion for.  George Whitfield: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” B.H. Carroll reminding us of Song of Solomon 1:6: “Thou hast made me a keeper of vineyards, but mine own I have not kept.”  After golfer Ed Dunlop experienced vandalism against his property, he hung the [damaged] desk top in his office “to remind me to be more tolerant.” (Pro 2/9, p35)

                It shows a proper relationship to people. Their interest in this woman was to use her.  She was a tool.  We have a need to certify ourselves.  Do we care about people? What kind of people?  Our kind? What steps are we willing to take to redeem?

                Dr. W. Barclay refers to Paul Tournier’s “A Doctor’s Casebook in the Light of the Bible.”  How fond the Bible is of people’s names.  Exodus 33:17—“I know thee by name.”  Isaiah 45:3 (Cyrus): “I am the Lord which call thee by thy name.” Dr.  Tournier’s patients were more than gallbladders or lungs.

                Consequently, Jesus gives us His attitude toward sin.  Only the sinless has the right to judge sin.  Matthew 7:1 “Judge not that ye be not judged.”  One of the two choices left is apathy.  Philippians 2:21 “All seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ’s.”  Amos 6:6 “They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”

                The remaining and appropriate attitude is the helpful spirit.  Jesus does not tell her that her sin does not matter.  He tells her she deserves a second chance.  A point of great importance is that there will be a last chance.

                “How I wish that there was some wonderful place, called the land of beginning again,     

                Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all our selfish grief

                Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door, and never put on again.” –Louisa Fletcher

                John 5:14 “. . . behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”  Impatience is the last and worst thing.

CONCLUSION

                Lee Atwater is dead.  He is Chairman of the RNC. Quoted (MMS 11-3-90) “I have found Jesus Christ.  It is that simple.  He’s made a difference, and I’m glad I found Him while there’s still time. . . .  For the first time in my life, I don’t hate somebody.” (Card 91:4-7)

1Robertson, A.T. (1950). A Harmony of the Gospels. Harper & Row.

WHEN THE WINE RUNS OUT

#858                                                          WHEN THE WINE RUNS OUT                                                                                 

Scripture  John 2:1-12                                                                                                                      Orig. October 17, 1989

Passage:  On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Woman,[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b] 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8  Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” 11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

Purpose: Continuing a study of the gospel, here calling attention to Jesus’ beginning of appeals to his disciples for their faith.

Keywords:          Bible Study          Miracle                 Series, John        Christ, Glory

Timeline/Series:               Bible Study/John

Introduction

                This is not to be a treatise on or against the use of beverage alcohol. If it were, I would use some other text.  This passage has a much deeper, much more lucid meaning for us to grasp.

                But I will give you a testimony.  I will remind you that alcohol remains the true nemesis of our times.  I grew up in a home where it was the principal source of strife.  The absence of it frustrated my father, the presence of it was my mother’s strongest antagonist.  I can still remember times in young childhood when my dad was picked up for public drunkenness.  It was not a difficult decision for me to make to decide that my children would not have to struggle with that, nor their mother.  I contend, to this day, that leaving the use of beverage alcohol out of my life has cost me nothing, and gained me much.  That’s all I have to say on the subject.

                Let us now get back to what the text does say.  Let’s see that when Jesus and his disciples (Andrew, James, Simon Peter, Phillip, Nathaniel, and John) arrived, Mary was already there.  She may have been an official part of the proceedings, a hostess, if you please.  It could well have been a kinsman who was the groom.  Some say John himself.  For instance, the women who come to the garden tomb to prepare the body of Jesus are identified.  One is called Salome (in Mark).  Matthew mentions another woman, without naming Salome, and calls her the mother of Zebedee’s children.  They say, then, that Mary and Salome were sisters.

                Mary’s responsibility in the household was certainly official.  She saw that the refreshments were gone, and that embarrassment was ahead.

I.             So, Jesus Has Begun His Earthly Ministry.  V1 “The third day was a marriage in Cana, of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there.”  The form of the verb “to be” suggests station. It is imperfect—she has been there all along.  Jesus came at her request.  Six extra guests didn’t deplete the wine.  His purpose was to define his role for the disciples. 

                The groom made his choice, makes arrangements, and has come to his father’s home, or to his new home.  His guests waited there.  Her guests entered after their return.

                Mary reports to Jesus the embarrassment of having run out of wine.  This is fermented juice of the vine.  Without refrigeration, it’s the only alternative.  I remember when Ann opened Welch’s grape juice out of an unplugged refrigerator. 

                Mary’s direct comment to the servants suggest some official position.  Wealthy or poor cannot be derived. It is important that we note Jesus’ presence at ordinary events.  Jesus was not an ascetic like John the Baptist. Luke 7:34 “The son of man came eating and drinking, . . . a friend of publicans and sinners.”

                A comment must be made relative to the miraculous in Jesus’ ministry.  Remember, John calls it a “sign” (sémeion) as he does throughout.  John also uses numbers with significance.  “And the third day” concludes a description of the first week.  He has revealed six disciples, a number for incompleteness.  Interestingly, there will be mentioned six waterpots.

                Also, John selects only seven miracles. There were 35-40 in the gospels.  Several are reported by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.   Five of the seven only John records.  Here; healing the nobleman’s son (John 4); making the lame man walk (John 5); feeding the 5,000 (John 6); calming the storm (John 6); restoring sight to the blind man (John 9); and raising Lazarus (John 11).

II.            He Begins This Earthly Ministry Coming to the Rescue of a Bridegroom in Distress.  Undoubtedly, he has put his seal on the institution of marriage.  Nearly every marriage ceremony affirms this.  I would remind you that marriage is of divine, not Christian, origin.  The institution preempts expensive ritualism and legal documents.  Marriage is commitment to another person and to a divine mandate.

                Mary calls upon Jesus to offer aid.  Remember the status of her faith.  She was chosen. She is celebrated in the Magnificat (Luke 1:47), “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”        

                The aid he has come to offer is to define his Messiahship. He “manifested forth His glory” (v 11), that “his disciples believed.”  The answer given to Mary is not as sharp a rebuke as it sounds.  She is already called “mother of Jesus,” though this is the FIRST sign Mary knew her son.  She may well have known John the Baptist’s identification of Jesus.  She would conclude that “His time had come.”  The hour of public assertiveness is on hold in concern for the disciples.

                By the way, “woman” (gynaika) is exactly what he called her from the cross in John 19:26.

III.           There Is a Spiritual Meaning Here Open to Each of Us.

                V3 “They have no wine.”  When the wine runs out, when that upon which all else depends is gone, what do we do?  When life’s exhilaration vanishes, where do we go?  He decided to provide the wine, but the true miracle is the message delivered to his disciples.  To the six:  “What will you do when the exhilaration turns to exhaustion, execution?”  To all of us: “To whom (what) do you turn ‘When the wine runs out’?”  Surely you have experienced it. The sun hides, birds hush, songs die.  Life’s elixir becomes tainted.  What do you do “when the wine runs out”?

                It is in this context, then, that Jesus works a miracle.  He instructs the workers to fill the six waterpots.  2-3 firkins would be 25-30 gallons.  Water was always identified with purification (i.e., salvation).  Isaiah 44:3 “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.”  53:12 “he poured out his soul unto death.”  55:1 “He poured out his soul unto death.”

                When the waterpots were filled to the neck, to the brim, it was not enough.  Stone pots filled represent law.  Filled, they suggest that now the law has been filled full.  There was a stone pot for each of the six disciples.  Six means “not enough,” incomplete.  What do you do when the wine runs out?  When all else comes up short?  A hundred gallons of wine makes for a happy wedding, but who can make it happen?

                F.W. Boreham (T47.8p209) quotes the old violinmaster to his pupil “before you have finished the world will do one of three things with you.  It will make your heart very hard, it will make it very soft, or else it will break it.”  When exhilaration becomes exhaustion, when the wine is gone, what do you intend to do?  Jesus still holds the answer.

                A final comment must be made on verse 10.  “Thou hast kept the good wine until now.”  Where but in Christ does exhilaration follow exhaustion?  The world insists the best be used first.  Beauty spends itself for maturity.  Youth surrenders in time to age.  And the world counts them losses. 

                The believer who stands by his faith sees it become.  Jesus said to Nathaniel in John 1:51 “Hereafter.”

                The choicest blessings of marriage await the exhaustions of time.