THE HEART-CRY FOR REVIVAL
#081 THE HEART-CRY FOR REVIVAL
Scripture II Chronicles 7:11-18 NIV Orig. 9-27-64
Rewr. 3-17-77
Passage: 11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
17 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’”
Introduction
Over the past few years there has been a major thrust by some groups to maintain a proper balance of “truth in advertising.” This came about as a result of some advertising methods that were questionable if not downright misleading. Labels now must declare what is in a product, nothing more and nothing less. Advertising techniques must be true to the capabilities of whatever is being advertised. If not, the advertiser can be held liable.
Now, a new problem has arisen. The Madison Avenue boys in blue, or in blue jeans, whatever they are wearing now, have in their brazenness sunk to an all-time low. The admen and their clients are getting on the religious bandwagon. Someone suggested that “God is right up there with O.J. Simpson and Don Rickles.” The most disgusting to me is the ‘Jesus jeans’ ad. It depicted the rear view of a woman clad in a pair of these jeans, and across her rear was written a Bible quotation in Italian. Translated it read, “He who loves me follows me.”
A few months back, metropolitan newspapers in some parts of the country carried an ad introducing a new brand of whiskey called “King James Scotch Whiskey.” Before you get ready to argue their case, saying, “Why defend James when Robert would not offend us? Maybe it was not chosen for that reason,” know that on each side of the bottle appeared the phrase, “The King James version.” “Blue Nun Wine” asks their clientele ‘to try something a little sacrilegious.’
Playboy ran a full page newspaper ad picturing a priest reading their magazine. The lead line in the ad states, “I read Playboy and found God.” Even an old-line company like General Motors has gotten in on the act. An ad in Time magazine shows a group of nuns in traditional dress, with one of them saying, “The steering committee at the convent voted 5 to 0 in favor of tilt wheel. It’s been a blessing.”
For most of us, this is offensive. We ought to be stirred to express our opinions to the offending companies, their ad personnel, and also the newspapers and magazines carrying ads. My point this morning, however, is that the Christian community has just as much responsibility to advertise what it can produce and nothing more. We are advertising ‘revival’ and it is up to us to produce it.
I. The Heart Cry of Revival is Heard Because Of Who We Are. “If my people,” says the Scripture. The pagan world has always found its understanding of divine appeasement in biological reproduction. The happiness of the gods was seen in the success of human sexuality and agricultural abundance. I am presently reading James Michener’s The Source. It is an historical novel describing the level-by-level accumulation of history at a site called Makor. While Michener’s purpose is not spiritual, he has authenticated his facts. His view of the pre-Abramic Canaanites describes, with some taste and decorum, their appeasement of the gods through infant sacrifice, and sexual fertility rites.
Spiritually we owe a great debt to the culture and the evolution of the Hebrew people through whom God revealed Himself. They were the ones who taught us the open-heartedness of God for His creation. Exodus 6:7 “I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. Deuteronomy 32:9 “The Lord’s portion is His people.” Psalms 125:2 “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth forever.
The people of ancient Crete honored a statue of Jove which had no ears. They could not believe that any god would concern himself with the idle chatter of people such as they.
Through these Hebrews the discovery came of a faith relationship that was negotiable. I Samuel 15:22 (200-300 years after Moses), “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?” Psalms 51:16, “Thou delightest not in burnt offerings.” Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” II Chronicles 7:17, “And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments.” Recall also the experience out of the life of David (II Samuel 12) when Nathan comes to congratulate David at Solomon’s birth, and named Solomon “Jedediah,” beloved of the Lord.
Let it be finally understood that we are the people of God. We are duty bound to proclaim it so. Our responsibility is even greater in a world where faith and belief, and even a concept of God, are treated so shabbily. Four or five years ago a movie titled McCabe and Mrs. Miller hit the cinemas across America. The reviews gave ample evidence of what it contained. Some of you let your children see it. It contained every kind of immoral perversion that its “R” rating would allow. It took place in a little town called Presbyterian Church. The church was no more than incidental in the life and morality of the town. But, when the church caught on fire and was burning, it was those same people who were quickly on the scene saving the church. The message left with the viewer was of the utter irrelevancy of the church.
That is not unlike the cartoon carried on the editorial page of the Times-Picayune this week. It had been picked up from a San Francisco paper. A group of sour looking people were advancing on the porno shop with fire bombs. The next sequence shows the shop in ashes, but behind the shop the public library was also in ashes. You will never convince me that such as that is anything less than satanic intimidation.
Now hear me well brethren, we will never counteract contemporary, flagrant violations of spiritual trust, giving God, whose people we are, an hour of our time on Sunday morning. Let me suggest some ways that help determine whose people we are: Whose people, when on a given Sunday, 75% of adult membership absent themselves from Bible study; whose, when on a Sunday evening 80-90% regularly ignore discipleship opportunity; whose, when on Wednesday night 95% reject an opportunity for intercessory prayer; whose, when maybe no more than 2-3% spend any time taking to others about their Lord, their church?
II. The Heart Cry of Revival is Heard Because Of Where We Are. The One who says, “If my people” says also “will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face.”
What “if my people” means: That God has promised renewal; that Christians have the right and obligation to claim it. There are proper procedures to enhance it—humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, turn away from wickedness.
Consider first the need for humility. The first man after Adam to need revival was his son Cain. Genesis 4 tells the story. He knew to bring an offering to the Lord. Arriving at the altar, however, he, in effect said, “I will offer what offering I please and you can like it or lump it.” That may sound familiar.
Consider also the need for prayer. Acts 2:42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts 2:46 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” Acts 3:1 “Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer.” 3:6 “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give thee: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
Only after humility and prayer can we seek God’s face. Psalms 24: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.”
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
WHEN GOOD THINGS COME OUR WAY
#073 WHEN GOOD THINGS COME OUR WAY
Scripture Psalm 84:11 NIV Orig. November 24. 1963
Rewr. November 17, 1984
Passage:
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
Purpose: On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, to remind my people of the great goodness of God to His people.
Keywords: God Goodness Special Days
Timeline/Series: Thanksgiving
Introduction
Have you ever reasoned within yourself to see what it is that you really expect from God? Do we seriously expect God to bless us with wealth when so much of the world’s people go hungry?
I could not help but notice the disparity this week. U.S.A. Today featured an article on hunger in Africa. “Americans who have been to Ethiopia remember the silent children . . . . or women gathering grass for their families’ meals. Or children with bloated bellies tugging at the arms of visitors or lying on the road to stop food trucks.”
The disparity came a day or so later while reading an article in Newsweek. The article was entitled “America’s Nutrition Revolution.” It described a beautifully appointed salad bar. “No,” said the article, “it isn’t Malibu. It’s the Greyhound Bus Station in Chicago, hog butcher for the world.”
It’s great to have a choice. It is greater still to know about nutrition, and to be able to eat accordingly.
Ethiopia and half of Africa is in what some call the worst famine of the 20th Century, and most Americans are more concerned about higher standards of living, better roads, less taxes, bigger amusement parks, and how to best invest our money.
Now what was that question again? Do we seriously expect God to bless us with wealth when so much of the world’s people go hungry?”
I. Good Comes from the Vision of God for His People. The text boldly proclaims “No good thing” asserting that good does not come by accident. Psalms 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Romans 12:9 “Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.” I Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
It is God’s nature to abhor evil, cleave to good, so it is expected of you and me. Thus, in those good things that we receive, we are to perceive them as His gifts of love to us. We are to be very careful that we not perceive only that which is materially advantageous as good.
One Sunday morning in New Orleans, the paper told a large story between the lines. Tulane won when Vandy failed to score from the one yard line in the last minutes of the game. The winning coach was quoted as saying “Just the grace of God.”
There is one all-encompassing guideline by which God determines the “good thing” which He will not withhold. Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.” What we receive is from the supply of his divine economy. Since He has other children, we are “joint heirs” to His riches in glory.” His promise is to “supply all your need.” Anything that you have that you do not need, you decide where it came from.
II. Good Comes from the Involvement of God with His People. “No good thing will the Lord withhold from them . . . .” In our pseudo-sophistication, either out of church or in church, many people have discounted God. What Paul wrote to the Romans in 1:22, what some will miss in tonight’s message: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
To discount God is to discount Him to our doom and to our perversion. Ethiopia is a case in point. They have been in the eastern bloc. Russia could supply them with arms; not with grain. Russia can’t feed her own. At the same time, America, with stored grain to stabilize prices, is more concerned about its economy than the starving people of Africa, or the poor around us.
God is the one constant in life. Bread and water are changing commodities. Heat (or cooling) and light seem to grow increasingly expensive. Even love and hate are cyclical, as seen in Ireland. But God never changes.
Moses defined for the people the meaning of their obedience. Exodus 23:25 “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless your bread and your water.”
So what is important??? The Bread and Water, or God’s Blessing? Jesus reached the same conclusion in The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:3). “Give us this day our daily bread.” Again, what is important? The bread! The water! Or the One from whom it comes.
III. Good Comes with the Invitation of God to His People. “No good thing will the Lord withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Some people seem to think that the answer is in sitting back and waiting for God to act. It is clearly in God’s vision. God foresaw for Israel a great blessing through David as King.
We are also dependent upon God’s Involvement. God accepted David as a shepherd lad, saw him through many character flaws to help him become. But make no mistake, the Invitation calls us to commitment of self. God calls us, invites us, to consider good on His terms, to acquaint ourselves with the world as it is. What prayer is said at your table? “I thank thee, Lord, that I am not as others are”? What if instead we might pray, “Help me to be worthy of the bounty of Thy love.”
Read again that beautiful 100th Psalm. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands, Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God, it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.”
God invites us to live in His world as His children. Accept His invitation to the upright walk. That’s not sinlessness. It’s putting Him first. Receive from Him the assurance of every “good thing” for our spiritual well-being.
Closing
Bro. Emory Wallace told this story of a father from Mobile, AL. His daughter was in jail in DeRidder. He called Bro. Wallace asking if he knew how she was doing. Her cynicism was uncontained until he told her about her father’s call, and of his love.
GOD SAVES HIS PEOPLE
#067 GOD SAVES HIS PEOPLE
Scripture Psalm 3 NIV Orig. 11/29/61
Rewr. 2/4/85 (6-77)
Passage:
1 Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”[b]
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
Purpose: To show the intent of God to translate all trials not only into understanding, but a sense of His purpose and love.
Keywords: Compassion Love of God Salvation Confession
Timeline/Series: Psalms
Introduction
The word “save” has many different meanings. Last week’s news told of a little two-year old boy who was saved from freezing to death though he already had ice in his veins.
When the Queen of England makes an official appearance we will hear the expression, “God save the Queen.” Its meaning obviously has the force of a prayer seeking God’s merciful benediction upon the reigning sovereign.
It even penetrates the temporal world of sport. A hockey goalie performs a “save” when he keeps the opposition’s puck shot from reaching the goal. In another form, the baseball player runs for his life to be safe on base.
The economist understands it in a totally different context. To save is to do the opposite of “to spend.” National fiscal policies center around getting people to hold onto their money, or to be free with it. I suspect that for most people “saving” in this sense has more to do with whether to drive to an out-of-town wholesale outlet, or to buy from a local retailer who has to charge more to survive.
The meaning here is quite different. “God saves His people” speaks of the act of God in behalf of those who have a special relationship to Him. The saving act is a delivering act. It may be temporary and immediate. It may also be permanent and _(illegible)_.
I. To Save is To Shield. V3 “But you, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head.” It acknowledges both trouble and temperance, grief and grace. I am persuaded no one is out of the reach of God’s grace who does not become so by stubborn refusals. The President spoke (2-85), hopeful of America’s spiritual values. Barbara Walters interviewed the Carters, incredulously asking “Do you really believe in God? Do you pray?”
For the Christian there is always evidence of God’s care. Paul reminds the Ephesians (6:14) “Put on the belt of truth, . . . integrity, let the shoes on your feet be the gospel of peace, to you firm footing; take the great shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all of the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
One of the consistent memories of childhood tells of parental concern for safety and gradual assumption of care.
It goes a bold step further to declare peace of mind and heart, even when trouble refuses to depart. V5 “I lay down and slept, I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.” It is the first of fourteen historically entitled. It is a Psalm of David, written when he fled from Absalom his son. How willing are we to live our lives in His will as He reveals it? Deuteronomy 6:6 “And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.”
How often do we examine our own personality quirks and work to change them? Matthew 5:43 reads “If you bring your gift to the altar and remember that your brother ought against you, leave your gift and be reconciled. . . .”
Do we take the irresolvable burdens to the Lord and leave them with Him? Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature . . . shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Psalm 5:12 “For it is Thou who dost bless the righteous man, O Lord, Thou dost surround him with favor as a shield.”
II. To Save is to Shelter, to Have a Safe-Guard. II Samuel 17:1 “Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight.” V6 “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.” To be so totally outclassed, yet confident is to know of secreted powers, and to know by what means we have access to those powers.
V4 “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me from His holy hill.” For David that hill was Jerusalem, Mt. Moriah. For us there ought also to be a place. There ought also to be a means. V4 “I cried unto the Lord with my voice.”
Much of modern psychiatric medicine is undergirded by confession. A present course is “life review.” As David confessed his sin, he was able to progress to other needs. Dr. Carl Rogers said that confession is “catharsis.” Dr. Rogers says this frees the individual from conscious fears, guilt; it brings to light subconscious feelings. I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”
With God there is no more important hindrance than that of our sin. God’s attitude toward our sin is consistent with His holiness. He wills to forgive. (In 2 Samuel 18 David entreated his aides to “deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom,” even though his commanders wanted to take off Absalom’s head.) There must be contrition on our part, and confession. Without constant vigilance we tend to lower our goals for living.
III. To Save is to Shepherd. Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” V8 “Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people.” The problem was a deep boding of failure. Not just a son who didn’t measure up, but a son who has set himself to oppose. More and more were saying “God can’t help you,” “God won’t help such a man.” There are not enemies enough to counter the burden of a son who has turned against one.
Yet, in such an intolerable posture, David sees himself as able to sleep, and to awaken with a sense of well-being. “I awoke” is cheerily to awake. Our grandson Ryan called out “Anna, get up! The sun is up!”
God’s promise to His people is always His shepherding love. Trouble may be all around. But to call upon the Lord is to expect a saving response. Psalm 23:4 “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
I dare not turn away without reminding us all that God saves through His Son. David looked to the promise of God in the coming Messiah. But we look back on what God has done in history. How can we dare to assert a faith in God that does not express itself in David’s vision?
Conclusion
God is shield to me, shelter to my life, shepherd to my soul.
One of Aesop’s fables takes the form of an oak tree that had stood for more than a hundred years. Finally it was blown over in a storm. It was swept off down the flooding river. Coming to rest finally near some reeds that had withstood both storm and flood, the oak asked, “How did you weather a storm too powerful for me?” The reeds answered, “You have resisted in all your pride and strength. And now the end has come.”
We must yield to wind and water. We must humble ourselves.
THE SINNER'S PREDICAMENT
#057 THE SINNER’S PREDICAMENT
Scripture Psalm 51 NIV Orig. 10-7-61 (3-77)
Rewr. 2-10-88
Passage:
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Purpose: To share with my people in an effort for all of us to deal with the gulf that exists between our sin and the holiness of God.
Keywords: Confession Greater Text Revival Conversion God’s Holiness Sin
Introduction
We do not lack illustrations of sin run amuck in human lives. The papers testify regularly in actual example what we know in foreboding moments of ourselves and people about us. What might our lives really be like if the Spirit of Christ were not a modifying influence?
Lately, we have read of the man in Arkansas who killed his wife, children, and grandchildren, apparently because the wife was threatening to leave him. A man in another state with a history of mental problems, killed his sister and her children during a visit because the grandparents were showing affection for them. In Utah recently, a woman and her family barricaded themselves in their homestead for several days to deny legal access; a law officer was killed when the confrontation finally came. The newspapers daily carry articles about child abuse, and many other scenes of social conflict.
Shades of Henry Lee Lucas! Do you remember him? The papers daily carried his story. The number of women dead by his hand (he claimed) reached an unbelievable 150. While some of these were later determined to be some sadistic exaggeration, he was linked to many of these cases. The first murder was his own mother, in 1960. He was imprisoned for that killing.
His judgment is not yet settled, a least as far as man is concerned. God’s justice, however, will not fail. His condemnation is not of a murderer of defenseless women. That for which Lucas stands guilty before God is that he refused to live under a standard of law outside of himself.
Davis describes for us in Psalm 51 the great discovery that he has made. That God is just. That His justice cannot be manipulated, intimidated, or confused. Whatever the sin, if it is unrequited, it faces the bar of God’s judgment.
- Sin’s Burden Is the Cause of the Sinner’s Predicament. V2 “Wash me from my iniquity. . . Cleanse me from my sin.” V3 “I acknowledge my guilt, and my sins confront me all the day long.” Any honest person will admit the problem with sin. The old spiritual “Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” David, being an honest man, had to come to terms with himself. V3 “I acknowledge my guilt.”
It is the good favor of God that we can see this from the New Testament perspective. Galatians 1:10f “Those who depend on obeying the law live under a curse. For the Scripture says ‘Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the law is under God’s curse.’ Now, it is clear that no man is put right with God by means of the law, because the Scripture says “He who is put right with God by faith shall live.’”
A few years ago, Patti Hearst went from the millionaire’s mansion to a cell block. She has been forgiven by society, by the system, and seems to be living a productive life. During her trial, however, her court-appointed psychiatrist laid out in sequence the sordid exposé of her life. Whether or not her sins came under the jurisdiction of God’s forgiveness remains to be seen. And He knows some things about Patti Hearst that were not made public at her trial. He likewise knows all about us.
Honest people should also admit that the real burden of our sin is against God. V4 “Against thee, thee only have I sinned.” Back up a moment, and look at the record. David caused a faithful woman to betray her husband on a kingly whim. To cover that indiscretion, he ordered this soldier husband to be put in mortal danger. The child conceived by this illicit union would die. David’s sons begin at this moment to learn the lesson of their father’s moral compromise. The nation Israel begins a date with destiny that will find the nation torn with division.
Get a good look at the deception. Uriah, the husband, was ordered home. He would not go in to his wife while troops of the king were in danger. He, himself, carried the order for his death. His own captain is used as an unwilling henchman.
David’s sin was also a betrayal of trust. There is no higher ethic than Hebrew law. Someone once said, “We have 35 million laws and no improvement on the Ten Commandments.” The basest malediction of the law is the failure to respect it as God’s law.
- We Must Also View Sin from the Perspective of God’s Nature. V3 “My sin confronts me all the day long.” It is the universal malady of the human race. Psalm 6:6 “All the night make I my bed to swim. I water my couch with tears.” Thus is the human dilemma, to be drawn down by the constancy of this struggle with sin. I Kings 15:5: “David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from any thing that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.” Ezra 9:6 “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.”
Or we treat it lightly, inconsequentially: Proverbs 14:9 “Fools make a mock at sin.” Micah 7:3 “. . . they may do evil with both hands earnestly.”
It is, first of all, the nature of God to perceive sin as it is. It is the energy toward which all of God’s energy is cast. It is the enigma compelling mortals to their doom. James 1:15 “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
It is the nature of God to will all men delivered from this treachery. Forgiveness through Christ is the means. Desire for forgiveness is as strong as the will to sin. Psalm 126:6 “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Luke 6:21 “Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.” It is remembrance of sin that brings the sweet rapture of divine forgiveness. It is this remembrance of sin that brings the sweet rapture of divine forgiveness. It is this remembrance of sin that here keeps David watchful and prayerful. Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
III. There Is, Finally, the Need to Share What He has Learned. V13 “Then I will teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. . . . My tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.”
What he has learned about himself:
- That sin is a problem of constancy.
- That there is a relief. I saw a church sign recently asking the question, “How do you spell relief?” The answer given was “P-R-A-Y-E-R.”
- That the best thing he can do for others is to live his faith openly. We are not responsible for “converting” people to God, to faith. We are duty bound, having walked through the jagged defile of sin’s anguish, to share winsomely what we have learned, experienced.
What he has learned about God:
- We must first note that it is a worshipful experience. “My mouth shall show forth thy praise.”
- It is a worship experience that is of the heart. We are told what it is not: V16 It is not sacrifice, burnt offering. We are told what it is: It is a restorative experience; “salvation”—deliverance from sin—deliverance from its consequences, as far as that is possible, and “joy”—it is to possess a special gift, and to possess it with understanding.
- What we can best communicate to others about God is His “salvation,” and to show it by the “joy” that issues forth in the believer’s life.
Conclusion
The name of David Livingston is known and associated with the cause of Christian missions. He served God faithfully in the continent of Africa. He was asked about how he stood up so well under the strictures brought on by the treachery and villainy he experienced at the hands of others. His response, “I have faults myself.”
We will do a better job relating to the sin of others, remembering that we have sins ourselves, and only the intercession of God can bring “salvation” and “joy” that issues forth from it.
Summary
David’s plea is a plea for cleansing. He found out long before that ritual doesn’t change anything, only relationship will set him free. The essence of true religion, then, is not ritual, but relationship. For cleansing to afford him the peace that he seeks, he must take the source of his separation from God before the bar of God’s justice. I Kings 15:5: “David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from any thing that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”
James Carter wrote the hundred year history of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home. He included a note about the move to Louisiana College in 1903. Kate Hawkins was matron. An outbuilding was used as a tool shed during construction, and an offer came to install bath fixtures in the outbuilding. We are told that Mrs. Hawkins refused this offer commenting that the children were not used to taking baths. Fortunately, for us, and for David, he was a man of unusual cleanness of spirit, and it is in that spirit that he addresses his God for forgiveness, and for renewed relationship.
MISSIONS: THE TUNE OF OBEDIENCE
#050 MISSIONS: THE TUNE OF OBEDIENCE
Scripture Isaiah 54:1-5; John 4:31-41 NIV Orig. 11-26-61
Rewr. 11-28-84
Passage:
“Sing, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.
4 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For your Maker is your husband—
the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
Purpose: To call attention to the clear teaching of Scripture as it gives us our mandate to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Keywords: Christ Redeemer Missions Church Obedience
Introduction
It was an Easter meeting of the Northampton Association in England. The year was 1791. The urgency of missions was a new and controversial theme for English Baptists. For as long as any of them could remember their belief had centered around Calvinism. They were known as Particular Baptists because they believed that God was a “Particular” God, and that only certain “elected” people would be saved.
At that meeting, men like Andrew Fuller and John Sutcliffe spoke to these assembled believers. But on this occasion, they spoke on the challenge of missions.
It was just one month later when many of these same pastors and church leaders assembled again. They were to induct a young man into the role of pastor of one of these churches. As a part of the program, this young man was to preach. He chose a subject which was a part of a study in which he was engaged. The title of his sermon was “The Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen.”
The young man who was assuming his first pastoral role was William Carey, the man who today is called “The Father of modern missions.” That day he referred to statistics. There were 731 million people in the world: 2 of 10 were Muslim, 5 of 10 were pagan, only 3 of 10 were Christian. Something must be done to point these lost multitudes to Christ.
John Ryland, the pastor who baptized [Carey], was present. He spoke up, “Sit down, young man: When the Lord gets ready to convert the heathen, He will do it without your help or mine.”
A year later, on May 30, 1792, [Carey] preached again to the Association. “Expect great things from God . . . Attempt great things for God.” Within a year, Carey and a Baptist surgeon named [John] Thomas would be on their way to India.
I. Foreign Missions Fulfills the Tune of World Diplomacy. V3 “Your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.” V35 “Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.” The world desperately needs to have an option to be Christian. It is Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist. It is Communist. How [many have] any chance to be Christian? A group of Christians emerged from a Jewish tour bus at the Dome of the Rock. The Muslim overseers had closed it for the day. The guide remarked to her driver, “I could do just as well without any religions.” Unfortunately, there are many Christians who act as if they agree.
Do you think Muslims will hesitate? Would see the world in Communism? Then we must support a mission program that reaches out in love.
Yes, missionaries are still making an impact with the Gospel. There are those who deny it. They say this person from another culture is not a messenger from God, but a harbinger of Western values. Baptist missionaries in most of the world are supporting national leaders. The good work for Ethiopian people is being done by the religiously oriented.
Here is the One Way that WE can creatively take a world stand. John Denver said in USA Today: “If one man is hungry, then I am hungry. If a child is starving, then my child is starving.” Missions is the one remaining best hope of the world.
II. It Not Only Fulfills World Diplomacy, but Church Deputation as Well. V35 “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields.” Matthew 28:19, 20 “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
There can be no doubt that we are to evangelize. A young clergyman asked the Duke of Wellington if it wasn’t useless to preach to Hindus. “Look to your marching orders, ‘Go, preach the Gospel to every creature.’” S3p252.
The message of Christ has not found fulfillment until we share it with another. Each one of use came to believe through the witness of another. Our faith witness ought to include family, neighbors, others. Family and neighbors we can reach; missions helps us to extend our hands around the world.
It is no little job. World population is presently approaching 5 billion. By the year 2000 it is expected to be close to 6 billion.
WORLD AREA POPULATION % CHRISTIAN [1984]
Western Europe 516 million 30%
Eastern Europe 425 million 5%
[South] America 384 million 3%
Africa 700 million 2%
Asia 2.9 billion 0.1%
North America 280 million 40%
To walk with Christ is to identify with His message. Matthew 24:14 “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.” Revelation 14:6 “I saw another angel . . . , having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Southern Baptist men gave 100,000 Bibles in Russia, and then they gave 100,000 Bibles again!
In preparing for Jonah last week, I read again why Jonah hated the Assyrians so. Do we want a Gaddafi or Khomeini or Khrushchev clone in control? God left the Jews because they became nation-centered.
90% of Protestant preaching is to English-speaking people. 90% or more of Christian wealth is in the hand of English-speaking people. English speakers make up 9% of the world’s population.
III. Missions Also is Necessary to Fulfill the Credibility of the Saviour. V34 “Jesus saith unto them, ‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” I John 4:14 “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” He continues to seek that accomplishment through men and women of faith and good will.
There are things that we can and must do. Be sensitive to the searchings of faith in the lives of people around us. Acknowledge that the means to winning the world is through the support of evangelically oriented missionaries. Take a prayerful look at what the Lottie Moon Christmas offering means in that purpose.
Remember that the way we live and talk, and the way we support our church and kingdom causes, tells people what we think about the credibility of the Saviour.
Conclusion
Do you know who Albert Einstein was? Perhaps the greatest brain in scientific revolution.
Do you know about Karl Marx? Probably the greatest mind behind 20th Century economics.
Do you recognize Sigmund Freud? The prime mover of psychology.
All were Jews!!!! But the need
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
BE STILL AND KNOW
#048 BE STILL AND KNOW
Scripture Psalm 46:1-11 NIV Orig. 8-18-63 (1-76)
Rewr. June 30, 1991
Passage: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Purpose: To share a Sunday evening message to encourage my people to be tuned in to things that are spiritually beneficial.
Keywords: Healing King and Kingdom Satan, Influence
Timeline/Series: Psalms
Introduction
Reading from a commentary on The Psalms, I came across a story from the pen of Dr. G.H. Morrison, a great scholar, archaeologist of the Bible land and its people. He told of a time when an archaeological dig was underway in the Biblical city of Shechem. He wrote that beneath that ancient city were flowing streams of water. Dr. Morrison said that during the busy hours of the day there was no evidence of those streams. The topography of Shechem was dry, the weather oppressively hot. But when night descended upon the city it was different. The streets and bazaars were quieted, the noise and confusion of busy people was stilled. In that quietness, the humming of those buried streams could be heard.
Years ago we took our little girls to Ridgecrest for the first time. We were staying in a cottage across the highway, and just at the base of one of the mountains. A small brook cascaded down the mountainside just behind the cottage. During the day, unless the girls dragged us out back to wade, we were oblivious to it. But at night, through our bedroom window, came the therapeutic sounds of that stream to our tired bodies.
Most of us have already mapped out our plans for tomorrow and the rest of the week. Do you suppose that some of the things that would otherwise be a healing blessing to us, we will not enjoy because we have programmed these things in a separate mode? We will be so busy with lesser things, that things of the Spirit will go unnoticed.
I. The Only Place to Begin is in Consideration of the Pace at Which We Live Our Lives. V2 “Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”
It is a text drawn straight out of the 20th Century. Is it Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines that continues to wreak havoc? Is it the sound of tanks, ripping cars and trucks apart? Is it the silence of malnourished children calling out their plight?
Elijah had a similar experience. I Kings 19: He had seen God work a miracle, but he heard the threat of a vindictive woman, Jezebel. In the wilderness, he encountered wind, earthquake, fire. There came finally, “a still small voice.”
The loud voices of ill will linger. Bertrand Russell: “All the labors of the ages, all the devotions, all the inspirations, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system.” H.G. Wells: “The end of everything we call life is close at hand and cannot be evaded.”
Even many with a religious bent saw Operation Desert Storm as the first phase of Armageddon.
The Psalmist saw in physical exercise the social upheavals of our day. Eastern Europe is being thrown upon political unrest. Today’s news magazine devoted its entire copy to racial unrest: “Only educated, white men” escape. Closer to home is the theological unrest dividing most denominations.
II. Then There is Consideration of the Pause. V10 advises “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” What better time to pause and reflect than on the occasion of an anniversary? Be still and consider what these 22 years have meant: A church at the far edge of a great city has become a potentially great church ministering in a neighborhood of roughly 50,000 people through a handful of committed people. There is a relationship of sharing with 350 member families, with at least 350 other families being touched by ministries.
Meanwhile, out on the periphery there are those who want the church to lie down and play dead. And there are some that are capitulating to the world and any church, Riverside included, must face that as a viable option. If some so-called religious leaders had their way, the choice given to the church would be whether the information on the tombstone listed suicide or murder.
The “Be still” of the Lord God didn’t mean throwing in the towel. It meant, “Be reminded again, as others have had to be, whence cometh your strength.” The word means to “relax.” One is reminded of the Sabbath-rest.
But remember, this was a purposeful cessation of activity. It is nice sometimes to cast away all responsibility, but for the Christian the cessation is to be creative. Too many people take an unwarranted sabbatical. Bible Study last week was a case in point. It was announced. It was on the calendar. We still had less than 15% representation of deacons.
I have a kind of dream for us for this year. It is that we can spread our necessary administrating out wide enough that enough people can share in it that it is no longer our priority; it is that we can minister rather than ADminister.
Vance Havner wrote in “Christ for the World” that “the trouble with churches today is that they have too much supper room and too little upper room.” What better place to “be still” than when we come into God’s presence? One person asked her pastor to tone down the “prelude” because she couldn’t hear what her friend in the pew ahead said.
III. Consider, Finally, the Peace it Institutes. V11 “The Lord God of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” We have a poor concept of peace these days. We think of peace as a state of warlessness. But peace is a state of personal experience in which we are called and challenged to express a life-altering faith in God. I like Mark’s account in Mark 4:36 of the stilling of the storm on the Sea of Galilee. “And He said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still.” Then to the disciples, ‘Have you not yet faith?’”
We know that God has promised His people peace. Yet far too many of us live in total frustration because we cannot get those around us to live like we want. Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
Read anew the tragic accounting of peace in Luke 19:37f. Jesus came near to Jerusalem, with the disciples rejoicing in what was seen. “Blessed be the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” The Pharisees told Him to rebuke His disciples because this is no time for peace. He said to them “If these should hold their peace, the stones will cry out.” He came to the city and wept over it. “If thou hadst known . . . the things which belong to thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.”
Paul would late learn the meaning of Jerusalem’s proffered peace, which the Pharisees and publicans, and too many prophets, priests, preachers, and other pretenders miss. “I have learned in whatever state I am, therein to be content.”
CONCLUSION
Would that I could communicate to you the real meaning of St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
GLADNESS OF HEART
#047 GLADNESS OF HEART
Scripture Psalm 96:9-13 NIV Orig. 12-5-61
Rewr. 10-29-87
Passage: 9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Purpose: To share a hopeful and heartening message at the funeral of a church member
Keywords: Funeral Joy
Introduction
Death and sorrow are inseparable. With the loss of one so intimately entwined with our lives, there are the sudden and sure pangs of grief and loss. At this point, Christians are no different. In fact, these feelings may be more inordinately felt.
To measure life by eternal scales is to feel with an intensity that others cannot know. It is sadness for the one parted from us, whose parting came under such struggle and toil. There is given to the believer, however, the potential even in such a place, to know peace, even to know gladness of heart.
At the heart of the cyclone tearing the sky
And flinging the clouds and the towers by,
Is a place of central calm;
So here in the roar of mortal things,
I have a place where my spirit sings,
In the hollow of God’s palm.
Edwin Markham
I. Gladness of Heart Comes in Knowing that the Lord Reigns. V10 “Say,” says the Psalmist, “that the Lord reigns.” How can there be tragedy that is not negated by that good news? Surely, there are regrets in such partings as this. But resentment, for the believer, is a thing impossible. For there is no untoward thing that cannot bring refreshment to the believing spirit.
“Time flies,
Suns rise
And shadows fall.
Let time go by.
Love is forever over all.”
English Sun Dial (Q1, II, p30)
He came to reign, and the heart in which he reigns is at peace. Isaiah 51:11 “The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion: and everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”
To know the Lord is to know redemption. It is to know that though the parting was a grievous one, the first greeting will be as happy as the last one was sad. It does us well to remember that peace is not a human condition but a divine complement.
A man on his deathbed (attributed to John Newton, writer of Amazing Grace) dictated a short letter that he wanted delivered to a friend. He started, “I am yet in the land of the living.” Suddenly, he directed the one taking the letter to stop writing. “Change that,” he said. “I am yet in the land of the dying, but soon will be in the land of the living.”
II. Gladness of Heart Comes in Remembering the Goodness of God. V13 “… the Lord cometh to judge . . . the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” It is here in the land of the dying that the gracious hand of God comforts his people. We are surrounded by heartache, struggle, a thousand other things that we would change if we could, even things that are meant to magnify God’s grace. It is in the struggle that we are best able to perceive the sovereignty. The returning captives would know the sheer, unadulterated joy of victory over their deepest sorrows.
Isaiah saw the day of return. Isaiah 55:12 “Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace: the mountain and the hills will break forth before you in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
It is his will to introduce us from this land of death, to one of life. James Tinsley has preceded us. Knowing what he now knows, he would not change a thing. He would plead with his renewed voice to be ready, for the time will come and for many, when they are least ready.
“I prayed to see the face of God, illumined by the central suns
Turning in their ancient track;
But what I saw was not His face at all—
I saw His bent figure on a windy hill,
Carrying a double load upon His back.”
--R. Perkins in Anthology of Modern Verse
Conclusion
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was asked by a respondent a question about his own death. She wanted to know, “How would you spend the next few hours if you knew you were to die at midnight tomorrow?”
He replied, “Just as I intend to spend them now. I would preach this evening at Gloucester. Again at 5:00 tomorrow morning. I would ride to Tewksbury to preach in the evening. Then to meet with the societies, and to go to friend Martin’s house. There I would converse and pray with his family, retire to my room at ten. Commend myself to my heavenly Father. Lie down to rest. And wake up in glory.”
GIDEON: MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR
#043 GIDEON: MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR
Scripture Judges 6:11-18, 22-23 NIV Orig. 11/4/62 (11/77)
Rewr. 10/4/85
Passage: 11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” 15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
Purpose: To lead my people in an in-depth study of Gideon and his spiritual resolution, and what we may learn thereby.
Keywords: Character God Power Missions
Timeline/Series: Old Testament Characters
Introduction
Gideon is called here a “mighty man of valor.” It is a term that can be misapplied. We usually go through a relatively simple process when we make such judgments about other people. Compared to another, how does that particular person measure up? Is Gideon such a “man of valor,” or is it that compared to those around him, he left such an impression?
Tennyson had to resort to fiction to find one who accommodated his own characteristics of human supremacy. He wrote of Sir Galahad
“My good blade carves the casques of men.
My tough lance thrusteth sure:
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.”
It is far easier to find those whose “hearts” are not pure, who are not “men of valor.” During New Orleans days, a young seminary friend stopped by my office. He was serving a church in the Bogalusa area, and was in the pastor’s office there. A church member came in with an armload of mops. He began to berate the pastor for allowing such a budget travesty. “Why had they bought so many mops that could only be used one at a time?” After the man had his say and left, someone in the room commended the pastor for keeping his cool under such an unnecessary outburst. My friend said that the pastor’s reply was a classic. “It really isn’t that hard to understand his feeling, when one is aware that the total sum of his contributions for the year is tied up in unused mops.”
Compared to Tennyson’s Galahad, few of us would be considered as “people of valor,” but compared to the “Bogalusa Badman” most of us could smile and be happy about what we are.
Gideon is clearly a “man of valor.” His are characteristics which God often chooses to bless.
I. It is to a Prepared Man that God Comes. There can be little doubt that Gideon spent long lonely hours at his vigil. He has poured out his soul beseeching God for an answer to Israel’s dilemma. Note his reply to the angel (v13) “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all of this happened to us?”
How often people are prepared for spiritual challenge by their distresses. Isaiah—“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” Hosea—Understood and revealed Israel’s infidelity by experiencing it in his own family. Martin Luther—Climbed the 52 steps of the “Scala Sancta” on his knees and spoke out against the church, fellow priests, and scholars; as a separated clergyman, in his arms little Magdalena lay dying—it nearly destroyed him, until he received God’s peace.
For others, it is the challenge alone that prepares them for their work. Too many of us think in terms of why we can’t accomplish something. There are some who consider only what they must. Gideon knew why this would be a most difficult undertaking. The Midianites were determined and ruthless. Israel was in a state of confusion. Even Gideon’s own house was torn down for idolatry. V25 tells of the statue of Baal in Gideon’s father’s house.
200 years ago, William Carey, the father of modern missions, had not yet gone to the mission field, had not yet begun to pastor, had not yet been baptized. We must remember that mission is a recent concept. His major challenge was to overcome not the hardships of the mission field, but the excuses of the people on the home front. It was too great a distance (but not for commerce); the people were uncivilized (but Paul went to Gaul and the Britons); the discomforts—but that’s for the missionary to decide; the language barrier—that didn’t stop the East India Company.
Yet others were prepared by vision. Against Gideon’s excuses the Lord responded 6:14, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
II. It is to One with Purpose that God Comes. It is not with only the sense of a purpose that God comes, as if the man alone is what God needs. It is the purpose, linking the man’s life with some noble cause.
God offers His strength to implement that of Gideon. V15 “So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.’” We see a nation come to grief. A family is described (Gideon was the son of Joash the Abiezrite whose own father was a Baal worshiper): Gideon is a man who views himself as an unlikely candidate for honor.
God’s strength is offered for God’s purpose. God has already given unconditional promises. Genesis 9:13 “I set my bow in the clouds as a sign of covenant between me and the earth.” Judges 2:1 “I will never break my covenant with you.” God never wills to leave us in distress except to our good. Gideon is that chosen vessel for good.
Gideon is a proof text for people caught in the mire of Spiritual lethargy. Perhaps we see characteristics that are reminiscent of Gideon in us. What would be our reaction to an angel? “You’ve come to the wrong house. Let me get a roadmap and help you on your way.” But God chooses to use us in His cause. There are injustices. You do feel unworthy. “Accept my purpose and I will use you.”
Gideon would succeed where others had failed because God’s purpose would become his purpose.
III. Finally, it is to Anoint with Power that God Comes. Gideon reaches out for some tangible evidence that he has not dreamed this. He prepares an offering (v19). A rock becomes an altar of proof (v21). The first test came quickly. God said “cut down the grove belonging to your father.” Gideon selected men of his own servants as others were not to be trusted. When Gideon’s life was endangered, his father said “If my son has offended Baal, let Baal act.”
Still, Gideon needed assurance. Gideon challenges God to show by a particular sign that it is His work he is doing. If the fleece is wet with dew and the ground around it is dry, “I will know your intent.” V37.
When the day of battle comes, Gideon is instructed to disarm and go into battle with 300 who drink water funny. (Chapter 7)
How like us this is. Of all the ages we think ourselves the least likely candidate; of our father’s houses, I find me the least able. We unite our voices in asking God, “Why?” Do we hear Him say, “Go in this thy might”?
As a physicist said, “If there is no law in physics between me and my goal, I can get there.”
Conclusion
Herbert Lockyer wrote that, without doubt, Gideon is among the brightest luminaries of Old Testament history. His character and call are presented in a series of tableaux. We see:
1-Gideon at the flail—the young man was threshing wheat when the call came to him to become the deliverer of his nation. History teaches that obscurity of birth is no obstacle to noble service. It was no dishonor for Gideon to say “My family is poor.”
2-Gideon at the altar—Gideon was God-fearing. His own father had become an idolater but Gideon vowed to remove the idols. No wonder they called him Jerubbaal, meaning “discomforter of Baal.”
3- Gideon and the fleece—Facing the great mission of his life, he had to have an assuring token that God was with him. God condescended to grant Gideon the double sign.
4-Gideon at the well—How fascinating is the incident of the reduction of Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 10,000, then to only 300. The few, choice, brave, active men and God were in the majority against the swarms of Midian. God is not always on the right side of big battalions.
5-Gideon with the whip—The men of Succoth and Penuel made themselves obnoxious, but with a whip of thorns Gideon meted out to them the punishment they deserved.
6-Gideon in the gallery of worthies--It was no small honor to have a place, as Gideon has, in the illustrious roll named in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, where every name is an inspiration, and every character a miracle of grace.
THE LORD'S INTERVENTION
#040 (continued from #035) THE LORD’S INTERVENTION
Scripture Joel 2:18-3:21, NIV Orig. Date 11-14-71
Rewr. 4-26-89
Passage:
18 Then the Lord was jealous for his land
and took pity on his people.
19 The Lord replied[a] to them:
“I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,
enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
an object of scorn to the nations.
20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise.”
Surely he has done great things!
21 Do not be afraid, land of Judah;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the Lord has done great things!
22 Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23 Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm[b]—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the Lord your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.
28 “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors
whom the Lord calls.[c]
3 [d]“In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[e]
There I will put them on trial
for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,
because they scattered my people among the nations
and divided up my land.
3 They cast lots for my people
and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine to drink.
4 “Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done. 5 For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.[f] 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.
7 “See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. 8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
“I am strong!”
11 Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
and assemble there.
Bring down your warriors, Lord!
12 “Let the nations be roused;
let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit
to judge all the nations on every side.
13 Swing the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
for the winepress is full
and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”
14 Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will be darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
16 The Lord will roar from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the heavens will tremble.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.
17 “Then you will know that I, the Lord your God,
dwell in Zion, my holy hill.
Jerusalem will be holy;
never again will foreigners invade her.
18 “In that day the mountains will drip new wine,
and the hills will flow with milk;
all the ravines of Judah will run with water.
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house
and will water the valley of acacias.[g]
19 But Egypt will be desolate,
Edom a desert waste,
because of violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they shed innocent blood.
20 Judah will be inhabited forever
and Jerusalem through all generations.
21 Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?
No, I will not.”
The Lord dwells in Zion!
Purpose: Continuing a study in the Prophet Joel, here describing God’s response to His people’s repentance.
Keywords Bible Study God, Sovereignty Repentance
Series/Timeline Minor Prophets Sequential
Introduction
The concluding part of chapter 2 gives much of the weight of choice to those who believe the book to be apocryphal. He speaks of “wonders in heaven,” of “blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke” in the earth. The sun is pictured becoming dark, the moon, bloodlike. It is the terminology of the doomsayers. But Joel is a simple prophet who loves God, and who loves his people, and his wish is to call these people “back” to God.
I. He Holds Out to Them the Prospect of Intervention. V18f “Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity His people.” V21 “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice; For the Lord will do great things.”
What will be seen first are material blessings (vs 18-27): An abundance of crops, v19; deliverance from military peril, v20a; restoral of what they lost, v25—the stripped catalpa tree would be restored, the frost-bitten potatoes rejuvenated.
The second consideration is of spiritual blessings (Joel 2:28-32), when God’s Spirit comes to bring grace to His people (V28): on sons and daughters, on old and young, on bond and free. In a day of utter darkness, there will be light, v31. In a day of wasting, there will be a remnant to carry on, v32.
II. A Final Word Describes a Judgment of World Proportions. Joel 3:2 “I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people, . . . whom they have scattered among the nations.” It is a temporal judgment because of the mistreatment of God’s people: “They have scattered my people;” “they have parted my land;” “they have abused the guiltless.”
The judgment will be thorough. There is accusation, v3, “They have cast lots for my people.” There is investigation: They have taken treasures, v5—not of God’s house, but of God’s; they have abused God’s people, v6. As they have done, so will it be done to them.
There is condemnation, v9, “Prepare war, wake up the mighty men”; they are to make plowshares into swords. Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 use the imagery, but it is reversed, and it is to God’s own people.
Joel paints a vivid picture of the final confrontation of the forces of flesh and the power of God. V11 “Assemble yourselves and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together, round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.” The heathen will appear in the valley of decision (Jehoshaphat). A day of terror is described.
III. The Concluding Thought Is of Blessing Upon Believers. V16b “The Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” God will be their hope. V16b “The Lord will be the hope of His people.” God is their dwelling. V17 “I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion.” God is their sufficiency. V18 “And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord.” God is their protector. V1--Egypt and Edom are described as desolate. Is the mention of Judah post-exilic? V20-21 “But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.”
WHO CAN ABIDE THE DAY OF THE LORD?
#035 WHO CAN ABIDE THE DAY OF THE LORD?
Scripture Joel 1:1-2, 11 Orig. Date 1/20/65
Rewr. Dates 4/26/89
Passage: The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel.2 Hear this, you elders;
listen, all who live in the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell it to your children,
and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.
4 What the locust swarm has left
the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have left
other locusts[a] have eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you drinkers of wine;
wail because of the new wine,
for it has been snatched from your lips.
6 A nation has invaded my land,
a mighty army without number;
it has the teeth of a lion,
the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vines
and ruined my fig trees.
It has stripped off their bark
and thrown it away,
leaving their branches white.
8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth
grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
9 Grain offerings and drink offerings
are cut off from the house of the Lord.
The priests are in mourning,
those who minister before the Lord.
10 The fields are ruined,
the ground is dried up;
the grain is destroyed,
the new wine is dried up,
the olive oil fails.
11 Despair, you farmers,
wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
12 The vine is dried up
and the fig tree is withered;
the pomegranate, the palm and the apple[b] tree—
all the trees of the field—are dried up.
Surely the people’s joy
is withered away.
13 Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;
call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
and all who live in the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for that day!
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.[c]
16 Has not the food been cut off
before our very eyes—
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 The seeds are shriveled
beneath the clods.[d]
The storehouses are in ruins,
the granaries have been broken down,
for the grain has dried up.
18 How the cattle moan!
The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;
even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 To you, Lord, I call,
for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness
and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals pant for you;
the streams of water have dried up
and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.
2 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
nor ever will be in ages to come.
3 Before them fire devours,
behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
behind them, a desert waste—
nothing escapes them.
4 They have the appearance of horses;
they gallop along like cavalry.
5 With a noise like that of chariots
they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle.
6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale.
7 They charge like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
not swerving from their course.
8 They do not jostle each other;
each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
without breaking ranks.
9 They rush upon the city;
they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
like thieves they enter through the windows.
10 Before them the earth shakes,
the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
11 The Lord thunders
at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
Purpose: Beginning a Prayer Meeting series dealing with the Minor Prophets, here introducing Joel’s call to repentance.
Keywords: Bible Study Judgment Repentance
Timeline/Series: Minor Prophets Sequential
Introduction
One thing is sure, the author, Joel, called the “son of Pethuel” has witnessed a frightsome event and he likens it to the “day of the Lord” (2:1). Little is known about him other than his fixation on the priesthood, and the region surrounding Jerusalem. There is no scriptural documentation. Other Joels are mentioned (I Chronicles 5:54), but nothing is found to tie them to this Joel.
The name means “Jehovah (or the Lord) is God.” His name probably does mean that he came from a family, whether out of Reuben as some believe, or out of Jerusalem herself, that worshipped the Lord God.
When he wrote is anybody’s guess. Pre-20th Century scholarship favored a pre-exilic view. He is positioned with Hosea and Amos among first mentioned prophets. Amos and Hosea are known from the 8th Century B.C.. The enemy nations are the Philistines, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Edomites. However, these were enemies after the captivity as well.
The lack of a reigning king fits the time when Joash was made king at age 7 (II Kings 11:21f). The priests actually governed the people.
But such circumstance fits a post-exilic date as well. There was no king. The priests ruled. The enemies were no longer Assyria and Babylon. But the message does not depend upon the selection of a date.
It is important to decide if the text is apocalyptic, allegorical, or actual. Those who take the first position say the locusts represent the enemies of God’s people in the end times. The allegorical view would represent these locusts as the traditional enemies of Israel. To see an actual locust invasion is to see Joel describing a natural event as an actual intervention of God to bring the people to repentance.
II Chronicles 21-22 may describe the period. Jehoram, fifth from Solomon, was a wicked king. There was a carrying away of people and possessions by enemies (II Chronicles 21:17). At Jehoram’s death, Ahaziah, his youngest son, became king. He was assassinated by Jehu, and his mother, Athaliah, ascended the throne. It was she who killed the royal sons, only to have Joash hidden by the priests.
I. Successive Plagues and Drought, Joel 1:1-20. V4 “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.” It is a scene of total destruction. Who has seen it before? Who will see its equal again?
The different names are thought to be the various stages in the life cycle. William Thomson was a 19th Century American missionary who worked for 25 years in Ottoman Syria. He writes in The Land and the Book: “Their number was astounding; the whole face of the mountain was black with them. On they came like a living deluge. . . . It was perfectly appalling as we watched this animated river as it flowed up the road, and ascended the hill above my house. For four days they continued to pass on toward the east . . . they devoured every green thing . . . . The noise they made in marching and foraging was like that of a heavy shower on a distant forest. . . . They all pursue the same line of march, like a disciplined army.”
The effect of all of this will be felt throughout the land. Desolation was as of a drunkard denied his bottle, v5. Despair was as of the young bride whose husband-to-be dies on her wedding day, v8. Desperation was as that of the farmer whose crops are destroyed at harvest, v11.
Thus, Joel issues his first call for repentance, v13-15. It is directed first to priests. The elders are to be brought together. The people are to assemble in “the house of the Lord.” It would be a “solemn day,” v14, a day to “cry out” danger.
Don’t lightheartedly pass over the semblance of the “house” of God.
Thus, in this context, Joel perceives “a day of the Lord.” He was given “the word of the Lord,” v1. He senses that word has directed him to an event, and the people are to be warned. Is it the activity of God’s righteous indignation? Is it man’s abuse bringing recompense on his own head?
The news told of the plight of an Australian sheepherder. Animals were dying by the hundreds. There was a caption with a picture of thousands of thirst-ravaged livestock: “Why doesn’t God hear their prayer? Who brought them to a dire land in such numbers that their needs could not be met?”
II. This “Day of the Lord” is Imminent, v 2:1-11. “For the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” The meaning of the phrase: The prophets used this term of deliberate intervention by God—popularly, it was used of God’s intervention to bless Israel, curse their enemies. Amos used it as Joel here: “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! . . . The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.” It is a day of judgment and justice.
Joel uses the phrase five times: In relation to an event (1:15); as a symbol of a coming judgment (2:1,11)—also v31: “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into ‘blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord’”; as a warning that personal response is required, v3:14—“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision or the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”
III. A Parenthetical Call to Repentance is Issued. V1f “Turn ye even to me with all your heart, . . . rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful.” Disasters of the gravest magnitude may be circumscribed, v13. Their “turning” must be acceptable—from the Hebrew “shub,” for returning. It appears over 1000 times in the Old Testament, 111 by Jeremiah. The same word is used in v14 of God.
Religious pretension without heart performance is hypocritical and useless. God has the power to act in response to our faith. The people of faith and covenant must act: Observe a feast (v15); gather together for declaration of unity (v15, 16); forgo personal liberties and pleasures, v16b. Let the priests express before God the will of the people for intervention.