CHRIST THE JUDGE
#491 CHRIST THE JUDGE
Scripture Acts 17:31, NIV Orig. 4-28-68
Rewr. 2-20-91
Passage: For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.
Purpose: Continuing a series for Easter on Jesus’ nature, here seeing Him as the One in whom ultimate judgment must rest.
Keywords: Christ Judge Judgment Revival Nature of Christ
Timeline/Series: Easter/Other
Introduction
Most of us, because of inoculations administered when we were children, have little fear of such diseases as small pox and diphtheria. However, contagious diseases are still a great concern. We are reading about the cholera epidemic in Peru. The Centers for Disease Control reports on other problem areas in the world. Here in our own country, HIV is a terrible risk. Deviant sexual behavior is not its only source. Every winter, millions of people regularly take flu shots in a sometime fruitless attempt not to catch the flu during the peak-susceptibility cold weather months. We want to think of ourselves as invulnerable to disease.
Thankfully, some things have been brought under control. Others are as death-dealing as ever they have been. We must be sensible in our approach to health. We must generate a healthy lifestyle. Even with one, we are not completely invulnerable.
One of the myths of the ancients was that of a man named Achilles. He was the son of Peleus and Thetis. His father was noted for bravery during the Trojan Wars. Because his mother perceived that he would follow in his father’s steps and would thus face danger, she feared for his vulnerability. While a baby, she dipped Achilles in the River Styx, presumably to thus cover him with a shield of protection. He was thus submerged over the entirety of his body except the one spot on his heel where she held him. The myth informs us that it was in that heel years later that Achilles was mortally wounded.
In our day, even, an Achilles heel is a personal weakness for which there seems to be no solution. We can protect ourselves and our families from a few of life’s dangers, but not all. We may spend a fortune in the process and yet be vulnerable.
The question raised by all of this is, “What good is an almost invulnerability?” Why would people work with such determination to protect themselves from the vicissitudes of life, and pay no mind to the facing of the judgment of God? It is this judgment that we seek to address this morning as a part of the nature of Christ.
I. It is a Judgment of Appointed Time. “He hath appointed a day.” There are places in the world where time means little. People live in routine existence. Sameness controls their lives.
For most of us, everything is by appointment. We work appointed schedules. Our children practice ball, music, art, taekwondo, by appointment. We even meet our friends by appointment.
A four-year-old told her parents, just after her fourth birthday, that she wanted a baby brother for her next birthday. As if by appointment, on her fifth, he was born. Her mother was barely home from the hospital when the girl said she wanted a sister for the next one. On that very day a little girl was born. The little girl came breathlessly into the room, but was interrupted by her mother asking, “Susie, how would you like a puppy for your birthday, next year?”
The judgment of God will be by decree. John 5:28f “The hour cometh in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”
II. It is Likewise a Judgment of Universal Scope. “He will judge the world.” Every evil scheme will fall under the searching eye of God. Paul had been brought out of Berea by his friends because of dangers. They came here to Athens. Doubtless, the same message that drove him from Berea, he preaches here. Remember, these are the philosophers, scholars, learned men. Architecture, art, philosophy know no equal. There are no advantaged people before God. The message is the same to all.
Read the message preached in Acts. The life of Jesus, the death, forgiveness. Why would Jesus go through the struggle of the cross if it meant nothing? What it means is forgiveness. What it means is deliverance from the resurrection of judgment.
III. It is a Judgment Administered in Righteousness. “He will judge the world in righteousness.” There is much injustice in our world. History alludes to its presence in every time, clime, and culture. Hitler is a prime example. Russia represses the Baltic States.
There are evident Biblical examples. Psalmist: 73:6-8 “Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; the imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock, and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high.” In v16 he continues: “it was too painful for me, until,” he said, “I remembered what is in store or them.”
How many times the man on the street has no idea what really happens in the halls of Congress, in the state house, among the military tribunals, in our private enclaves. –But God knows, and justice will be done.
IV. It is Judgment Administered by a Chosen Agent. “He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.” Christ is this specially chosen vessel on the basis of his character, because His talk and His walk have been without sin. His knowledge is flawlessly accurate. An Anglican burial service contains the words: “holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal.”
The 19th century Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte wrote “The righteousness of God is that righteousness which His righteousness requires Him to require.” How does this measure against John 8:15 “I judge no man”? He meant “to divide,” “to separate.” John 8:15, again. “You judge after the flesh. I do not.”
It is human to issue rewards on the basis of favoritism. But Deuteronomy 1:17 reads “You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”
V. It is a Judgment Consummated in Hope. “Whereof He hath given assurance to all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” Paul speaks of what they now have experienced. It was not so clear before. Job: “If a man die, shall he live again?” David: “I can go to him, but he cannot return to me.”
But it is clear now. Jesus, who was dead, lived again. Herein, the Christian witness is different from all others. For the Hindu, reincarnation offers only a proposed re-birth to a higher caste, or as a bug. Communism has a dead saviour whose coffin was a shrine.
The New Testament, however, declares that the resurrection brings the believer into a state of grace. Philippians 3:8f “. . . I count all things but loss, . . . that I may win Christ, . . . That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” Acts 17:18 “He preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.” John 11:25f “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” I Peter 1:3 “His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Conclusion
Donald Barnhouse tells of an encounter on the Celebes Island with a boy and a small monkey. The boy was selling the animal that he had trapped with a handful of rice placed in a gourd. The monkey placed its small hand into the opening for the rice, but once clutching the object of its desire, he could not pull the hand free through the small opening, and was thus captured. Sin is the object of our desire. Jesus enables us to be set free.
ORDINANCES FOR THE NINETIES
#483 ORDINANCES FOR THE NINETIES
Scripture Acts 8:35-39, I Corinthians 11:23-29 NIV Orig. 9-29-63
Rewr. 1-11-90
Passage: Acts 8:35-39
35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] [a Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
1 Corinthians 11:23-29
23 For I received from the Lord(A) what I also passed on to you:(B) The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body,(C) which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant(D) in my blood;(E) do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.(F) 27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.(G) 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves(H) before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
Purpose: Remind my people that the message and meaning of the Lord’s Supper have not changed.
Keywords: Christ Ordinance Lord’s Supper Ordinance Baptism Communion
Introduction
There is a beautiful passage from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (250C77p123), that is most applicable in the context of the Lord’s Supper.
Then said Christian to the porter, Sir, what house is this? The porter answered, This house was built by the Lord of the Hill, and he built it for the relief and security of Pilgrims. . . . Now I saw in my Dream that thus they sat talking together until supper was ready. So when they had made ready, they sat down to meat. Now the table was furnished with fat things, and with Wine that was well refined: and all their talk at the table was about the Lord of the Hill; as namely, about what He had done, and wherefore He did what He did, and why He had builded that House. . . . Thus they discoursed together till late at night; and after they had committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they took themselves to rest. The Pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose window opened towards the Sun rising: the name of the chamber was Peace, where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke and sang,
Where am I now? Is this the love and care of Jesus, for the men that Pilgrims are Thus to provide? That I should be forgiven! And dwell already the next door to Heaven!
The potential thus in the Lord’s Supper is for us to dwell “next door to heaven.”
I. First, a Brief Word about Determining Our Beliefs about Ordinances. We must encounter the teaching of Jesus. His early ministry was similar to that of John. Acts 13:24 “. . . who preached . . . the baptism of repentance.” Similarly, He instructed the disciples. Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, . . . baptizing . . . in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Likewise He left His imprint upon the observance of the supper. So He led the disciples. So He instructed them to continue. Luke 22:19 “This do in remembrance of me.”
The early church left a relatively clear PICTURE of its practice. Denominationalism has altered it. Individual teachers have abused it. We have the early church with which to compare ourselves. The third determinant has to do with the message of the ordinance. We will deal with this shortly in describing our present beliefs. It is noteworthy, that foot washing, exemplified by Jesus, did not pass into general use. He didn’t advise its continuance, and we are hard pressed to find a celebrant. We ought to learn the humility thus pictured.
II. Next, a Brief Discussion about Our Beliefs. Baptism: Acts 3:36 “Here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Scriptural baptism is immersion. A.H. Strong writes that every place where the New Testament uses the concept of baptism either requires or mandates a meaning based on immersion. It is the immersion of a believer (Acts 8:37); there is no efficacy in a dunking in water not based on faith. Repeated immersions are a sacrilege because they espouse untruth. Baptism demonstrates a belief in who Jesus is, repentance and confession, and desire for discipleship. It is an act of obedience. Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized, every one of you . . . unto remission of sin.” It is a three-fold symbol of the Saviour’s life: Death--Romans 6:5 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, so shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection;” Burial and Resurrection—Colossians 2:12 “Buried with Him in baptism . . . risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God.”
It is a testimony of the believer’s faith in Christ and in His gospel. It is the prerequisite to the privileges of church membership.
The Lord’s Supper: It memorializes the death of Christ. Its elements are twofold: unleavened bread and available fruit of the vine. It is the appropriation of the sacrifice of another for ourselves. Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” It is the forecasting of His return. We are able to come to grips with this world as it is. We know that the ultimate change will happen only upon His return.
It is one thing more, it is an expression of obedience celebrated by the assembled church, according to Christ, the place of the supreme Lord, displaying a momentary picture of heaven.
Conclusion
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great British preacher, left a poem describing the supper.
Amidst us our beloved stands,
And bids us view his pierced hands;
Points to the wounded feet and side,
Blest emblems of the crucified.
What food luxurious loads the board
When, at his table, sits the Lord!
The wine how rich, the bread how sweet
When Jesus deigns his guests to meet!
If now, with eyes defiled and dim,
We see the signs, but see not him;
O, may his love the scales displace,
And bid us see him face to face!
Thou glorious Bridegroom of our hearts,
Thy present smile a heaven imparts!
O, lift the veil, if veil there be,
Let every saint thy glory see!
(250C77p169)
FAITH IN THE FACE OF FIRE
#480 FAITH IN THE FACE OF FIRE
Scripture I Samuel 17:26, 31-37 NIV Orig. 3-31-68
Rewr. 5-19-89
Passage: 26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
Purpose: To share a message in which we may compare our own faith with that of a young shepherd boy out of the hills of Judea. It is typical, isn’t it? When trouble is recognized, all of us look for a near-point of escape. But we want this text to help us to examine the courage of our faith. “FAITH IN THE FACE OF FIRE” is our theme.
Keywords: Faith Vision Courage
Timeline/Series: Biographical
Introduction
We cannot be absolutely sure that David fully understands the danger that he is taking upon himself. There were stronger men in the Hebrew army who had declined the Goliathan offer. There were brave men on the field of battle who agreed that a fight between two representative soldiers would be better for the two nations than the onslaught of blood-letting that awaited them. But Israel had no representative soldier who was the equal of Goliath.
David, in his youthful vigor, offers to go out in battle against this loud-mouthed Philistine. If that is all it is, youthful vigor, then he and his king and people are in serious trouble.
But when the showdown came, David went out “in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.” V40 “He went out with a staff, a slingshot, a bag of five stones, and faith.
Years ago, American soldiers were among those of a United Nations peace-keeping mission sent to the Congo to quell an uprising. These young soldiers were not sure what awaited them. To say they were anxious is an understatement.
Readers Digest, in its “Humor in Uniform” section, reported a dialogue that took place on the plane as it was preparing to land. An African American soldier turned to his white seatmate and said, “Ray, you are in more trouble than you have ever been in.” Ray, of course, wanted to know why. “Because,” said his friend, “if those Congolese soldiers come running toward this plane when we get off, I'm going to jump on your back and yell, ‘I got ‘im! I got ‘im!’
We don’t want to compare our courage with a young soldier, or even David. We do want to get a measure of our faith as compared with that evidence here.
I. The First Measure of His Faith is that it is Courageous Faith. V32 “Let no man’s heart fail because of him, thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” It does us well, from time to time, to remember that young soldiers are still being called to battle. We hear too little about their bravery. We hear more of the philosophical issues. A liberal press is often more interested in failure than in fortitude under fire. More of these brave young people have been sent to Panama.
Something like this happens on the spiritual level as well. Not only is the church under fire. The very character and integrity of Jesus is put to the test. “God is dead,” they say. “Morality is going out of style.” We Christians have a chance as never before, to stand by our faith. The enemies out there are Goliathan in proportion, but they are not invincible. As a soldier represents his battalion and a shepherd lad his people, we are to know where the power is in the confrontation with evil.
David, though young and without practical experience, had faith in God. For forty days Goliath had taunted Israel. David would stand in the gap.
On Wednesday night we studied Jonah. Because he went to Nineveh, the Northern Kingdom survived 50-75 years longer. It is also interesting to consider Daniel in light of the decree of Darius and Cyrus (Daniel 6:10f).
II. Next Measure David’s as a Confident Faith. V37 “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”
Faith always draws on prior experience. One does not have to travel far to see much and feel deeply. What enemies he had encountered had been summarily dispatched. Why not this taunter of God as well?
There were betrayers of such confidence. He took the form of David’s elder brother, Eliab. I wonder why we are not surprised, because we have been older brothers, or known them, or had them. Eliab accused David of “pride,” of a “naughty spirit,” of “neglect” of his sheep. Perhaps Eliab saw himself in his younger brother. What does it take to betray your confidence in your faith?
III. Then I See David’s Faith as a Charted Faith. V39b “And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these: for I have not proved them. . . And he took his staff, . . . and chose five smooth stones.” We must respond to the enemies around us with our strengths and not our weaknesses. That doesn’t reflect any inability to attempt the untried. But it early recognizes all that is to its hurt. It is one thing not to be in the House of the Lord regularly, including Sunday evening. It is something else when we choose things that dishonor Christ instead.
Faith faces openly the things that strengthen it: dealing regularly with the word; knowing that there is no substitute for prayer; acknowledging that evil is exorcized by confronting it. Such faith is the link-up of believers that we know as the church. Someone makes a grievous point: “Five out of every six churches in America could be dismantled without damage to the Christian mission.” That was something said not by a critic, but a friend. Now is not the time to think of other. If everyone in your church were like you are would it be of the five, or of the one?
IV. It is Next Visualized as a Conquering Faith. V50 “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone.” We know, don’t we, that it was not the weapon. V50 “There was no sword in the hand of David.” Neither was it experience or the lack of it. Strength did not win this battle, though perhaps weakness played a part.
Did you see the Dexter Manley article (MMS 5/19/89 NFL/SB/PB)? A pro football defensive end, at 27 he enrolled in the Washington Lab School to learn to read. “I had to humble myself. I had to walk into the Lab School and not pretend.”
Every success in the faith venture brings a greater capacity for faith. Faith in the face of fire is not the kind to avoid. It is the kind to cherish. It is the kind to nourish. There will always be negative influences. Armor was Saul’s attempt to control. There was Eliab’s disdainful rebuke. Too many of us would have been effectively out of action. Satan would have won the battle.
V. Before Leaving David, We Must Assess His Faith as a Contagious Faith. V52 “And the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines.” What did they see, these Hebrew men? Eliab saw an excitable boy. V55 Saul saw a “stripling.” V44 Goliath saw “buzzard meat.” David saw himself as v34 “shepherd,” v58 “son of Jesse,” v45 “servant of God.”
What they saw was sufficient to lift them out of their fears to face the fire of their own faith.
Conclusion
B.T. Bradley’s poem says enough with which to conclude.
Lord, when I am weary with toiling,
And burdensome seem thy commands,
If my load should lead to complaining,
Lord, show me thy hands, Thy nail-pierced hands, Thy cross-torn hands,
My Saviour show me Thy hands.
Christ, if ever my footsteps should falter,
And I be prepared to retreat,
If desert or thorn cause lamenting,
Lord show me Thy feet, Thy bleeding feet, Thy nail-scarred feet,
My Jesus, show me Thy feet.
O God, dare I show thee MY hands and MY feet
BIBLE STUDY
#477 BIBLE STUDY
Scripture Luke 14:1-24 NIV Orig. 3/13/68
Rewr. 3/1971, 12/1974
Passage: One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. 5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” 6 And they had nothing to say. 7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
Keywords: Banquet Disenfranchised
Timeline/Series: Bible study
Introduction
Luke records four of the seven occasions of Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath. (1) In Chapter 4, the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law; (2) in Chapter 6, the man with the withered hand; (3) in Chapter 13, the woman with an 18-year infirmity; and (4) here, a man with dropsy—an excess of body fluids, known today as edema.
It would seem that anyone so intent on upgrading man’s physical and spiritual condition would have drawn the immediate acceptance of the people. Jesus, however, was hated by many.
Jesus’ Attitude at the Supper. 14:1 Jesus never refused any man’s invitation to hospitality. He went into the house of one of the Chief Pharisees on the Sabbath day to eat bread. They watched Him: Jesus never lost patience with men even in times of stress.
Jesus’ Action at the Supper. 14:2-6 His first responsibility is the alleviation of human suffering. V4 And He took him and healed him and let him go. Attention is called to the Pharisees’ lack of value judgment. “Which of you will not remove your beast from a pit on the Sabbath day?”
Jesus’ Analogy About a Supper. 14:7-11 His teaching is always relevant. V7 He marked how they chose out the chief rooms. His teaching here is in regard to humility. V9 When you are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room. Humility is retained by examination and by comparison.
Jesus’ Advice to His Host at the Supper. 14:12-14 His advice is to examine our motives. V12 Do not invite your friends, your brethren, your kinsmen, thy rich neighbours, lest perhaps they also invite you. Their motives would be, perhaps, a sense of duty, self-interest, vanity, or an effort to befriend. The result will be blessing from God rather than men. V14 And thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee.
Apposition: Jesus Was Rebuffed By a Guest at the Supper. 14:15 The guest who said “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God,” was perhaps incensed at Jesus’ word to the host. What right had He, through healing, to contradict the Law? What right to instruct the spiritual leaders? What right to advise the Chief Pharisee? The guest might have said, “What do you know about blessing? He is blessed who is of the spiritual heritage of Israel.”
Application: Jesus Rebuked False Claims of the Jews at the Supper. 14:16-24 Even a word spoken to a cynic is spoken in kindness.
But those to whom the kingdom was offered, rejected it: Because of vocation, and so immersed in work that there is no time for fellowship—“I have bought a piece of ground”; because of avocation, so taken with some novelty—“I have bought five yoke of oxen” (Did you know that 80,000 people a week see the Saints play football?!); because of invocation, in that the Mosaic Law says a man with a new wife will not go to war or be charged with business for one year—“I have married a wife.”
Closing
There are those to whom the Christian life is a melancholy and a dread. Swinburne, the poet, wrote, “Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean, The world has grown gray from thy breath.” John Ruskin, an English author, told of a jumping jack given to him as a child, taken away by a pious aunt with the remark that toys were not things for a Christian child. It’s little wonder that his brilliant mind turned to socialism and nature. Wesley founded a school where the rule was no play, “because he who plays as a child plays as a man.”
Jesus, however, pictured His Kingdom in terms of a feast.
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS BIBLE STUDY HAS BEEN LOST***
NO MORE CHANCES
#463 NO MORE CHANCES
Scripture Luke 13:6-9 NIV Orig. 2-16-68
Rewr. 10-26-81
Passage: Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’”
Purpose: Continuing the series on the parables to remind my people of the teaching of Jesus relative to our responsibility to use our opportunities.
Keywords: Grace Judgment Providence Revival Uselessness
Series: Parables
Introduction
As Jesus continued his teaching, one of his Judean listeners raised a question. There was no great love lost between the Judeans and the Galileans, and a report had been recently circulated that Pilate had stormed out against their rebellious character by having his guards strike some of them down even while they were offering sacrifices. The one who raised the question was implying that they probably got what they deserved. If there is any place that a right-thinking person ought to be safe it is at the appointment of sacrifice. If, therefore, harm fell to them there, it simply means that they are guilty as charged and got their just deserts.
Jesus then answers directly. Do you think that those Galileans were the chief sinners among Galileans because that happened to them?” Jesus then laid the burden of sin right at their feet. “No!” he said, “They were not necessarily the chiefest of sinners just because they were killed.” Then, addressing their own disdain of God’s purpose for them, he continued. “Unless you repent, you will also perish.”
Then he brought up the case of a recent natural disaster. The tower of Siloam in Jerusalem had fallen causing the death of 18 people. He implies that if such as this can happen in Jerusalem, then the people must think that these victims were somehow deserving what happened to them. Again Jesus addresses their own sin problem. “That is not the case.” He says, but unless you repent of your sin, then you will ultimately perish just as violently as they did.
He does not deny that these Galileans and these workmen in Jerusalem were sinners. There is just not anything that he can do for dead sinners. His concern is for the living and for their errant rationale that allowed them self-justification. They were not safe from judgment simply because they were Jews. They were not to be excused from the necessity of repentance simply because of the chance of their birth to a Hebrew mother. Thus he shared with them the parable of the barren fig tree.
I. The Parable Addresses Opportunity: The fig tree owned a special providence. V6 “He came seeking fruit thereon.” Perhaps the significance of a parable needs to be restated. It is a story with a hidden meaning. The significance of such a story is never in what is obvious. It is not about a fig tree, but what the tree represents. It must somehow relate to productivity.
If this is just about trees, then there are many factors to be considered: size, fertility, climate, etc. If about trees, it can produce only what it is. But if its meaning is about people then we startlingly discover that a person can do much more than just produce another being like unto himself. Not only can he improve upon what nature has given, he can do more. He can produce a thought, an idea, a word, and a deed which, by the way, may be good or evil.
It is a consuming thought to come to realize that the master of the orchard is conscious of every plant. He expects no more that the plant, or that which it symbolizes, is capable to produce. Of a fig tree, he would expect a fig. But of one created to produce more and better things, he would expect that also. The master of the orchard knows the opportunity of each of us and expects that of which we are capable.
II. The Parable Addresses Obstructions to Opportunity. The fig tree reminds us that uselessness invites disaster. V7 “Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.” Some would like to apply the parable to Jesus’ hearers, thus the Jewish nation. It is true that Isaiah foresaw such an eventuality. He describes the beloved’s vineyard “on a fruitful hill” and marks its destruction. Isaiah 5:1-7 “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. That more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it. The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness but heard cries of distress.”
We dare see not see it, however, as relating to other than ourselves. Judging a tree we examine its leaves—right size and of good texture; its roots deep and strong; its fiber soft, pliable, moist; but if it bears no fruit, cut it down.
III. The Parable Asserts Offensiveness. The fig tree will understand that nothing which only takes and does not give can survive. V7 “Cut it down, why doth it cumber the ground?” The literal meaning is why does this plant allow the ground to be reduced to inactivity? Not only is the tree useless, the soil beneath it is rendered useless. An interesting parallel exists with other parables: Prodigal—“Lost,” loss of wellbeing; Strait Gate—“Destruction,” loss of wellbeing; Fig tree—“cumber,” loss of wellbeing; Fig tree—“cut it down,” loss of wellbeing.
The message is a twofold one, for empires and for individuals. We must never passively keep someone else from achieving their spiritual best, and we must anchor our lives to a bold, assertive spiritual activity.
IV. The Parable Speaks of Obligation. By the grace of the keeper of the orchard, a second chance is extended. V8f “Let it alone for one year more. I shall dig about it, and if it bear fruit, well.”
We are not directed to do something about our past, for we cannot; Thomas Hardy wrote in The Ghost of the Past, “We two kept house, the past and I.” We are not to be dazzled by the future, for we cannot grasp what it may hold; Longfellow wrote in A Psalm of Life, “Trust no future howe’er pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead! Act, act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead.”
Be sure only of this, that God in Christ gives to each of us, to all, a second chance. Christ, on the cross, prayed “Father, forgive.” The foundling church offered to Israel a second chance to believe. Acts 13:46, First to Israel, “But seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” The nation, the denomination, the individual church, the believer, likewise understand that our very being (wellbeing) is “second chance.” The mind of the Father and the Son is the same that repentance spurned. The soil must be cleared for one who will repent.
V. Finally, the Parable Acknowledges Oblivion. The fig tree testifies that there is coming a last chance. V9 “If it does not bear fruit after this year, then, cut it down.” The judgment made by the gardener is based on its fruitlessness. It is not the fault of the gardener. It is not the fault of the soil. The fault rests only upon the agency judged. Understand this, please, of the judgment of God: It will always be upon spiritual potential denied. He will not judge any person for something they were incapable of doing. What one is capable of, and what one “wills” to do with that capability is, sadly, too often, two different things.
We, who have been favored to live in a part of the world graced by the finer things of life must accept a responsibility to do with these things to the glory of God. Who then must face a more severe judgment? The Russian who grew up being taught that God was a capitalist plot? The remote tribesman whose only notion of God is the predictability or unpredictability of nature? The third world refugee who knows nothing so completely as he knows hunger? Or the polished citizen of a western culture who has the best of all things, but who ignores the clear warnings of sin, and judgment, and last chances?
Make no mistake, we are accountable. The divine gardener pleads “spare.” It is he who finally declares “cut it down!” Recall please the message of John the Baptist, the forerunner. He admonished Israel to repent, and then warned, “and even now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees: Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.”
Conclusion
We are called therefore to believe. That belief requires repentance, for we have sinned, and in spite of our sin the second chance has been given. Finally, acknowledging that second chance means that we choose to live in such a way that others understanding our commitment to life in our Lord Jesus Christ will begin to reckon their own lives in relation to Him.
THE PARABLE OF THE LOVING FATHER
#379 THE PARABLE OF THE LOVING FATHER
Scripture Luke 15:11-32 NIV Orig. 6/30/63 (10/81)
Rewr. 8/6/87
Passage: 11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Purpose: In a series on the New Testament parables, here sharing with my people on the theme of human intemperance beset by God’s great love.
Keywords: Disobedience Forgiveness Revival Self-righteousness Sin
Timeline/Series: Parable
Introduction
Once upon a time there were two young children who went to spend the summer with their grandparents. Their names were Billy and Sally. They lived most of the year in the city, and a few weeks on their grandparents’ farm in the summer was a wonderful experience for them.
Billy, like many little boys, was exceedingly curious. He enjoyed all the different things, and animals that he encountered. One day Grandfather had some work to do in the hayloft and it was too hot for Billy to help. He was free to roam. He picked up his slingshot and went out to play hunter. Out beyond the barn, almost out of sight of the house, Billy had armed his weapon and had it ready. Suddenly, Grandmother’s pet duck waddled around the corner of the barn. Without so much as a flinch, Billy let fly his artillery. His aim usually wasn’t very good, but this time he was right on the mark. The duck lay dead. He looked to see if anyone was in sight. Then, scared though he was, he quickly buried the duck back of the barn. That night at supper he couldn’t eat. His grandmother asked if he was sick. After supper he and Sally went to wash dishes. She said she wasn’t going to help, and if he complained she’d tell about the duck.
You can imagine what the next week was like. Billy was miserable. Finally, one afternoon Billy went to his grandmother’s sewing room. He stood around, picked up trinkets in which he had no interest. Shuffled from one foot to the other. “Billy, if you need to know it, I love you.” Then came the flood of guilt and confession. “Billy, I was sitting here by the window and saw the whole thing. I wondered how long you would endure this bondage to Sally before you came to me.”
I. First, Parables are Often Unique in Their Setting. We can back up a couple of chapters. Luke 13:22. “. . . Jesus went through the towns and villages . . . as he made his way to Jerusalem.” Jesus is clearly conscious of the precious commodity of his dwindling days. Luke 17:11 “Now on his way to Jerusalem”—his last.
More directly, the scribes and Pharisees were murmuring about his friendship with sinners. Luke 15:2 “[They] muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” Aren’t you glad Jesus is like this? You know where we would be otherwise.
Thus Jesus shares 3 parables of lost possessions. There is a lost sheep (15:3). It doesn’t will to be lost. It just wanders away. The shepherd seeks it until it is found. It is lost! It is sought! It is found! The finder rejoices.
There is a lost coin (15:8). It has no capacity to lose itself, or to understand its lostness. The one discovering it lost, holds other things incidental until it is found. It is lost! It is sought! It is found! The finder rejoices.
There is a lost son. He is lost, not because he wandered off, or was impassively misplaced, but because he chose to leave, to separate himself. He was just as lost! He was sought! He was restored! His return causes joy for his father.
The elder brother does not joy in return. Nor does he find joy in his father’s joy.
II. Next, We View the Lost Son As a Principal Character in Our Story. V11: “A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.” It is noted that Jesus does not call this young man a prodigal. Keep in mind the religious bigots listening. They are vindictive of Jesus’ openness to sinners. We can measure both sons and their sin. The younger was callous and rebellious; the older was censorious, retaliatory.
We can learn that there are good things about this young man. He is his own person. He is ready to strike out on his own. But he handles it poorly. His immaturity shows he gives his father no chance to counsel him. He is seeking only what is rightfully his. Deuteronomy 21:17 The right of the firstborn is a double portion. He seems to be a man of simplicity and responsibility. He discovers his mistakes, and blames himself. He knows his best chance is starting over. At home? Enslaved?
The Bible describes three kinds of enslavement: Bondsmen—respected family extensions; servant—subordinate but with status; hired servants—temporarily indentured. The younger son is a man to whom repentance is not an unreasonable alternative. V.17 “And when he came to himself, he said . . . I will go . . . and say . . . Father, I have sinned.”
Don’t make the mistake of accusing him as an unthankful delinquent. There is a mind sustained by childhood teachings. There is a heart with gratitude for a loving father.
There are interesting interpretations. Augustine: the “far country” represents the forgetfulness of God. “Came to himself” suggests restoration from madness. Paul’s description in Ephesians 4:18, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance . . . in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”
III. Then, We Must Consider the Older Brother Just as Lost in His Condescending Attitude. V28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in.” The elder brother stands in the parable for the hardhearted Pharisees who necessitated its message. They did not share Christ’s concern for sinners. We must consider our own attitudes. As the younger was riddled by an uneasy conscience, this one purported to be without fault. V29: “I never disobeyed your command.” He was unforgiving. One-third of the estate has been lost. His ledger-book mentality demands censure. Even brotherhood is too high a price for acquittal. Add to his other wrongs that of betraying his father’s joy. Father: “this thy brother.” Son: “This thy son.”
The theologian George Buttrick wrote: “The far country is measured in motives rather than miles.”
Finally, the parable shows no evidence of repentance for the elder brother. Some suggest that it is a true story.
IV. The Parable Remains Forever that of Loving Father. V22 “But the Father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found.”
There were some things that the father could do. The robe, best or first, showed honor and restoration. The ring established the relationship and oneness (Wedding Ring, Class Ring, Super Bowl Ring). The shoes, not worn by the lowest servants, were provisioned to sons.
There were other things, however, that the father could not do. He could not erase the wrong done: Billy could not revive the pet duck. He could not promise a second part of the estate.
He depicts all the characteristics of the heavenly Father. He waits patiently and lovingly. He recognizes the repentant pilgrim. He goes out to meet the weary son. He interrupts the confession. God is no stickler for law for law’s sake.
A totally new picture of God emerges. We saw the shepherd search for the lost sheep. We watched as the homemaker searched for the lost coin. We sense that the father is brooding for his lost son. God’s concern for the lost is the brooding concern for what is of eminent worth.
Conclusion
I have had recent occasion to reconsider the different attitudes allowed my Dad and myself in regard to God as Father. When he was a lad, his dad deserted them. He tried to run the tiny farm, but in failure, lost the only holding they had. He has lived out his life without owning property: fearful of loss. But the greatest disparity is that he knew no human counterpart to depict for him the true picture of God as one of zealous good will.
HINDS FEET IN HIGH PLACES
#298 HINDS FEET IN HIGH PLACES
Scripture Habakkuk 3:17-19, NIV Orig. 9-20-89
Passage: Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. (For the director of music, on my stringed instruments.)
Purpose: Continuing a series on the Old Testament prophets, here examining Habakkuk’s change from perplexity to praise.
Keywords: Bible Study
Timeline/Series: Sequential/Old Testament Prophets
Introduction
The guide sheet covering the prophets of Israel and Judah shows Habakkuk as a contemporary of Jeremiah. The same prevailing injustice that Jeremiah railed against, is the contention driving this prophet to deep consternation.
Nothing about this man is known other than the historical setting that surrounded him. His name appears only here in this book of three chapters. He was of the tribe of Levi, for he identifies himself as one of the temple singers (3:19)
Paul knew him and so should we. He three times extols his great statement of faith, “the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).
Romans 1:17 “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
Galatians 3:11 “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
Hebrews 10:38 “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”
I. Note his perplexity. Habakkuk 1:1 “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see”: Invasion coming from without—the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., in which the Babylonians claimed total dominance, and corruption arising within—Josiah has been dead a few years and his sons have come to the throne (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah).
He raises three questions. How long? V2 “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” Why? V3 “Why do you make me look at injustice: Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.” These questions assert both the evil of foreign powers, but also the corruption of religious/political leaders. He pauses, and God answers these questions in a way unsettling to Habakkuk. V5-6 “For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans.” Remember Jonah’s struggle with Nineveh.
Habakkuk responds with his third question, V 13b “Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously?” V12 He remembers who he is addressing, and V12b he extols God’s promise: Israel will live and her enemies will die. God’s holiness will not allow Him to betray His word.
II. Next, see what persuades him. Habakkuk 2:1 “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” God’s three-fold plan for his prophet: He is to wait (2a, 3c), he is to watch (2a), and he is to write (2b). Again God answers the prophet’s question with a recordable vision of five parts. Woe against their insatiable greed (V6-8)—“because”; woe against their overarching ambition (V9-11)—“for”; woe against their cruelty (V 12-14)—“for”; woe against their inhumanity toward other people (V15-17)—“”for”; woe against their idolatry (V18-20)—“but.”
Habakkuk concludes ashamed that he has so rudely doubted. 2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
III. Finally, we hear the call to prayer and praise. 3:2 “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath, remember mercy.” He stands convicted and convinced. Nothing will stay him from faith.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”
ELIJAH, MAN OF MIRACLES
#162 ELIJAH, MAN OF MIRACLES
Scripture I Kings 18:22-39, 19:13-18 NIV Orig. 1-7-62
Rewr. 4-71, 8-14-74
Passage: I Kings 18:22-39 22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left,(A) but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.(B) 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call(C) on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord.(D) The god who answers by fire(E)—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.” 25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called(F) on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response;(G) no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”(H) 28 So they shouted louder and slashed(I) themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice.(J) But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.(K) 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar(L) of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.”(M) 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name(N) of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He arranged(O) the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” 34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 36 At the time(P) of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham,(Q) Isaac and Israel, let it be known(R) today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.(S) 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know(T) that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 38 Then the fire(U) of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate(V) and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
1 Kings 19:13-18 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face(A) and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left,(B) and now they are trying to kill me too.” 15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael(C) king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint(D) Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha(E) son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah(F) to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael,(G) and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.(H) 18 Yet I reserve(I) seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed(J) him.”
Introduction
The main problem that a preacher has after choosing Elijah for a sermon subject is the way in which the subject should be developed. Should I preach on his faith, his courage, his lack of faith, his fear or maybe even his perseverance. This is the kind of man that we respect, for there is never any doubt where he stands. When he is intent on serving the Lord, then he lets nothing stand in his way. When he has a frustrating problem, he doesn’t cover it over with a thin veneer of false piety. The thing different about him was that his moment of defeatism came just after he had won a major victory.
“To reach the port of heaven we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But we must sail and not drift or lie at anchor.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
When the victory was achieved, he had begun to drift, and he nearly piled up on the rocks.
Four words are all that are needed to suggest the stages in the life of this prophet of God. Food! Fire! Folly! Favor!
I. Food! 1 Kings 17:4 “And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.” In this period we notice several commands from God: V1 to tell Ahab of the looming drought; v3 to go to the brook Cherith (we note God’s provision and we note the contingency of his provision); and v9 to go to Zarephath. We notice the man of God being used to help others—providing a meal v13-16 and raising a dead child v17-22.
We notice much use of natural provisions. We notice also, the food from heaven. Elijah made his proclamation to Ahab, assuming that there would be days when he too would be hungry. Food has always been one of the besetting problems of mankind.
II. Fire! I Kings 18:29 “And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God.” Here we see the faith of this man: faith in God; faith in principles of righteousness; faith in his countrymen that they would agree to the test; faith in his mission—this is the point where we fall short.
We see the fearlessness of Elijah. There were 450 prophets of Baal, and one of God, Elijah; their offering was dry, his was wet. V26 They danced on the altar, and Elijah came near. We see the fire from heaven: Some people take more to convince.
III. Folly! I Kings 19:4 “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” It has always been true that man cannot live forever in the mountain peaks. To get from one peak to another we must go through the valley, a valley of despair and a valley of hope. The greatest of men have had occasion of stumbling. The food of heaven is weak when mingled with humanity: In Exodus 16:3 the people of Israel asked if it would have been better to remain in Egypt and die. Martin Luther’s wife, Katherine, put on a black dress one day when Luther was depressed and despairing. Luther asked, “Are you going to a funeral?” “No,” she responded, “but since you act as though God is dead, I wanted to join you in the mourning!” Exactly what Luther needed to hear (source: unknown).
IV. Favor! I Kings 19:13 “What doest thou here. Elijah?” V15 “Go . . . and anoint.” V18 “Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal.” God had erased forever that moment of weakness; William James says that sin always leaves its mark. God has given Elijah a new challenge, a task that would be impossible to attain in his lifetime—the preparation of Elisha.
The lesson in life: Never look back on our attainments, look forward to what can yet be.
Conclusion
When Thomas Carlyle had completed his first volume of The French Revolution, he entrusted the manuscript to John Stuart Mill for proofreading. A few days later, Mill was forced to return and tell Carlyle that the manuscript had been destroyed. A chambermaid had used it to start a fire. Carlyle remarked to his wife that they must never let Mill know the seriousness of the matter—serious because the Carlyles were penniless, and because he had destroyed all of his notes.
The next day he made this entry in his diary: “It is as if my invisible school master had torn my copybook when I showed it and said, “No, child, thou must write it better.”
A TIME TO BUILD
#148 A TIME TO BUILD
Scripture Nehemiah 2 NIV Orig. 8-31-62
Rewr. 4-1-77
Passage: In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, 2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”
I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. 9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.
10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.
11 I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 12 I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. 13 By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal[a] Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; 15 so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”
Purpose: To call attention to the fundamental reality alive within the church, to discover the needs which are basic to its renewal and revitalization
Introduction
Walk with me through this Old Testament passage by keeping in mind a New Testament event. In Acts 12, we discover that the apostle Peter had been imprisoned. King Herod had moved in persecution against certain of the believers. He did not do so out of any conviction, but because he discovered it improved his image with the Hebrew people. As Peter was arrested during the Passover Celebration Herod’s plans were to execute him immediately after this religious holy week was past. He had already executed the apostle James to the great pleasure of the Jewish leaders.
The believers were earnestly in prayer in Peter’s behalf. The night before he was to be executed, he was asleep, double-chained between two soldiers. Four watches of four men each were charged with the responsibility of guarding this man. The literal rendering of the Greek here says, “And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon, and a light shone,” which is so much like the account of the annunciation to the shepherds. Peter was awakened, and commanded to arise, as if from the dead; and as he did so, the chains fell off his hands and he was led from the prison, to find himself after a bit, alone in the street.
The awakening activity was totally a work of the messenger of God. He had been told only to arise quickly. It was in the process of obedience that the chains fell from his wrists, and he was set free. Awakening us to spiritual reality is the work of God. Believing the message that is mandated by God’s messenger is up to us. Which of us could have faulted Peter if he had looked at his double chains, and the guards on either side, and the knowledge that two more waited at the gate, had he assumed that any move toward freedom would simply hasten his death?
Three factors are involved if we are to reckon with the resurgence of new life out of the old.
- The initial awakening of God.
- The illuminating command of God.
- The infusion of obedience in the human will.
I. This Can Only Begin in a Life Where There is an Insurmountable Void of Emptiness. V2 Wherefore the King said unto me, “Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Nehemiah had already been through the worst of the experience. He knew God’s will. The question was now how he could accomplish it. This was compounded by a remorse and concern that had begun to escape his composure.
For instance, if you were servant to one of these ancient, Oriental kings, you were not allowed the liberty of heartsickness. Whether you feel like it or not, you act happy when the king is around.
You see, the problem was not Nehemiah’s alone. It belonged to the people. V3 . . . “Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed by fire.” They too are out of touch with God, and they must likewise discover that God wills them into the fray that will accomplish His purpose. How easy it is for the heart to grow fat and lethargic in complacency. Just to hear Bible study once a week on Sunday is never enough.
For instance, you recall the commercial of the company who makes weekends? The poor soul is pictured sitting in that over-stuffed chair watching someone’s excitement, until he becomes a part of the chair.
What Israel needed was the One who really does make weekends, and weekdays also. They are in captivity because they forgot Deuteronomy 28, “If you do not hearken to the voice of the Lord . . . He will bring a nation against thee from afar.” In 1:8, Nehemiah quotes Leviticus 26:33, “If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations.”
The Lord is the One working behind the scenes to awaken them. He will work through Nehemiah, but also through Artaxerxes. The initial step here must be that of repentance: Discovering that we are away from God; discovering that that obvious reality is itself the work of God; discovering that He compels our return to Him, not for ourselves alone, but likewise for those who fall under the sphere of our influence.
II. In a Vacuum of Personal Commitment, the Time to Build Continues with the Stark Confirmation of God’s Total Commitment to His People. V4b-8 “So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king—Nehemiah makes his petition to return to and rebuild Jerusalem--. . . And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” The Old Testament is a revolving saga of God’s grace at work in the aftermath of His people’s repentance. He asks for no guarantees for He above all others knows that we are incapable of them. He asks only that we commit ourselves to His principles. He then helps us to understand that the only way to accomplish this is to submit our will to His.
The same grace which we have come to understand in the aftermath of Jesus, and that we are in danger of forgetting in a day of sophisticated snobbery, was the grace operative in the Old Testament. Grace is not just an unmerited gift. It is not just such a gift form God. It is the unmerited gift of life from the heavenly Father, who is the giver “of every good and perfect gift.” Grace is God, communicating Himself to man, and entrusting this receiver with forgiveness and restored fellowship.
In God’s total commitment to His people, there is His demand for our honesty to ourselves and to Him. It isn’t easy to be the people He expect us to be. Nehemiah’s burden had been a long one, and it would be years before he would see it fulfilled. Hanani’s return in the first chapter of Nehemiah “mourned certain days” four months before petitioning the king. The Jews had been back in Palestine 80 years or so, and had managed only a very modest temple.
We often fail to consider God’s resources. While the particulars are hazy in that there were two men named Artaxerxes, there is little doubt that they were son and/or grandson of Xerxes (Ahasuerus) and thus, stepson of Esther. Hear Mordecai say, “How do you know but that thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
While we must remember that God’s commitment to us is for His will, we have no finer option than obedience. Nehemiah had no way of knowing the king’s answer. He had only Hanani’s report of deplorable conditions. But a burden from God would not let him rest until he acted on the faith he had already expressed.
III. It is a Time to Build, and Vitalization of Personal Renewal is the Foundation Stone. “Opposition came in the wake of Nehemiah’s survey of the city. It was an opposition that could have been formidable. His climactic statement is a positive declaration of faith to God’s people. V20 “The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build.” To those who stood in the way his words left no doubt as to their intent. “. . . but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.”
As God’s people, we do not have time to quibble among ourselves. The real opposition is from without, and as in Nehemiah’s day, Satan will leave no stone unturned to divest us of our spiritual power, and sidetrack us on secondary issues.
Are you committed to your Lord? He must first be your Lord. In a day when sin’s colors are wafted in the afternoon breezes, people with strong moral persuasion are likely to compare themselves with others, rather than God’s holy ordinances. Romans 5:19, “as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
Are you committed to your Lord through His church which has a local, organizational entity, which is subject to change, as mandated by the people in the leading of God’s Holy Spirit? Do you see that the option of obedience is still as demanding, and as totally rewarding, as ever?
Renewal is the Foundation Stone upon which we can build. I call you now in commitment to that high hour.
Conclusion
For Peter, as for Nehemiah, victory began in the council chambers of God’s grace. Nothing would have happened apart from that. One was facing death. The other was facing a life of meaningless servitude to a chief of state. Both had but to initiate a step of faith to see their lives transformed into meaningful service to others, empowered by the will and purpose of God.
A GLORY THAT IS FOREVER
#147 A GLORY THAT IS FOREVER
Scripture Romans 11:1-36 NIV Orig. 10/28/62
Rewr. 8/1/85
Passage: I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”[a]? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[b] 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”[c]
9 And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”[d]
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is[f] my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”[g]
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now[h] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[i] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”[j]
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”[k]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Purpose: Continuing the series from Romans, here showing the wisdom of God in saving His people.
Keywords: Bible Study God’s Omnipotence Salvation
Timeline/Series: Romans
Introduction
It is interesting how prominently the Jews have figured in human history. Time does not permit but a casual telling of the story that, as often as not, their prominence was their undoing.
The presence of the Jews (Hebrews) galled the Egyptians during Moses’ time to the point that it became the practice of state to see them become slaves. This is similar to the intent of the Third Reich in our own century: The presence of wealthy Jews, and a race of people so content in their heritage, angered the German war lords to the point of holocaust.
Individually, the activity directed at them has not been much different. Do you remember Haman, the Agagite, and Mordecai the Jew? Mordecai was just trying to be faithful to his religious beliefs. He was not out to challenge anyone else, or to convert them. But he so galled Haman that he went to his death in a challenge of supremacy.
Every age has had its company of Jews who become prominent in their fields. You have heard about the farmer who was a man who excelled in his work. Well, Jews have a way of rising to the top, as cream over milk. Perhaps that is the characteristic that has labelled them and marked them for hostility and persecution.
Search any area of interest, medicine, government, commerce, industry, and you will note leaders in extraordinarily vaunted positions who are Jews. ***TEXT LOST AT END OF THIS PARAGRAPH***
I. The Glory of Grace. V1 “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!” The saved remnant appear in prior lessons: Romans 9 is about God’s sovereignty and election, and Romans 10 is about Israel’s failure and Gentile belief. The concept of remnant is not new. According to some accounts, Noah spent 120 years preaching and building. Only his family joined him on the ark. Genesis 6:8 “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
The New Testament accounting shows that even Jesus had many who heard who did not believe. Matthew 7:14 “Straight is the gate, and narrow the way, leading to life, and few there are that find it.”
At Kadesh-Barnea, 12 spies went out. Ten returned, reporting there was no hope of success; only two believed. The obvious illustration of Elijah shows a believing host. Paul considers himself as proof of God’s constancy.
It continues to Paul’s day and ours. Every Jew who believes is of the people of God. “Remnant” refers to true believers.
With a hardened heart, people can be earnestly and sincerely wrong. V7f “Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were hardened. It is not enough to be good. It is totally inadequate to claim sincerity.
The human heart is not dependable. The Hebrews prove it. Paul elsewhere has his own testimony. Acts 26:9 “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”
II. The Glory of Provocation. V11 “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.” Out of the Jewish failure, faith has come to the Gentiles. Romans 1:16, “For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” The Gentile is given salvation. The Jew is incited to desire.
The nature of their problem is in Romans 10:3. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.” The source of this deplorable condition is in Romans 11:8. “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” Here, Paul reiterates Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10.
Did God want to destroy them? Such is unthinkable. Paul says “God forbid!” Isaiah shows that this stupor is in response to their unbelief.
Take care to note the end result. The Gentiles are saved. The Jews are provoked to believe.
III. The Glory of Ingrafting. V17 “And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.” The imagery in Paul’s lesson is that Israel is the tame olive tree. Gentiles are the wild olive tree. On the trunk of the olive tree, split by limbs broken off, a piece of non-native material is broken off because of uselessness. In Romans 10:21 Paul recalls the words of Isaiah. “Concerning Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’”
IV. The Glory of Future Promise. V26 “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them.” This says, “All of Hebrew stock will be saved,” or, it says that all Jews who come to accept this conditional right, in Christ will be saved.
V. The Glory of Praise. V33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” The Jew with his strong position in regard to God finds himself disavowed. This total spiritual energy aimed at God’s people is to reach the unchosen. That energy is then turned from Israel to the Gentiles, which will ultimately be the means by which the Jew is attracted to his prior post.
***THE CONCLUSION TO THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***