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Gospels and Acts Scripture

Sin, Faith, and Service (Luke 17:1-10)

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Luke 17:1-10

1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

1.  Grateful that this was assigned as a complete section due to connection between them.

2.  Sin, Faith, and Service are the interconnected themes of this passage.

3.  DISCLAIMER:  This passage is for disciples.

a.  Do not confuse the root with the fruit.

b.  If one is not already a disciple of Christ, one does not become a disciple by practicing these things.

c.  You may listen in but do not confuse that Christ has different commands for different people.

4.  Verses 1-2:  1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin

a.  There is a very specific focus here.

b.  The type of sin in question is the type where one puts a stumbling block in front of another.

c.  A little one is caused to stumble in that he is prevented from coming to Christ.

d.  It doesn’t matter if this is a child, a new disciple, or one who would be a disciple.

e.  Christ is deadly serious about this.

f.  Rom 1:32 testifies to the nature of man in the Fall.

(1)  Men want to rebel in company.

(2)  If others are sinning like me then I feel like its normal.

(3)  The more people that do it, the more likely it is that it is right.

(4)  Men and women celebrate wickedness.

g.  Christ states it is better that a millstone be hung around a man’s neck and he be drowned than that he cause a man to stumble on his way to Christ.

h.  This is not just for the non-religious but the religious.

i.  This warning is for all.

j.  Christ is dead earnest that men and women come to Him for salvation.

(1)  The person who trips another on the way or inhibits that person faces a judgment worse than drowning.

k.  What if a child asks his father:  “Who is Jesus?  Why must people believe in Jesus?  Why is Jesus the only way?”

(1)  If that father says that the child need not worry about such things, he is stumbling his child.

5.  Verses 3-4:  .3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

6.  Paul turns His attention to life within the community of faith.

a.  Note He first states:  “If your brother sins”.

b.  Quiz:  What is your duty when your brother sins?

(1)  Ignore him.

(2)  Tell the Elders.

(3)  Gossip about him.

c.  Christ states that it is our duty to rebuke a brother who sins.

d.  You may say that this is more than I bargained for in the Christian life.

e.  I don’t like him.  He offended me.  This may cause me to have to repent of sins of my own.

f.  It’s easier if I just ignore him and focus on myself. He’s not worth my time.

g.  When we refuse to rebuke a brother, we are refusing to help him.

h.  When we refuse to rebuke a brother we are refusing to love him.

i.  This person names Christ and we say in our hearts:  “This person can go to hell as far as I’m concerned.  I have neither the energy or motivation to rebuke him.”

j.  How many times does Christ forgive you in a day?

(1) You who spat in unbelief in the face of God saw that same God hanging on a Cross for your sins.

(2)  You were an enemy of God.

(3)  By faith, Christ died from your sins and gave you life.

(4)  How can you fail to love who Christ loves?

(5)  How can you fail to rebuke another and display the riches of Christ’s mercy to them?

(6)  Imagine for yourself the joy of a brother who repents for your loving rebuke and is brought by your hand back to His savior’s arms.

6.  You may say:  This is hard.

a.  Simple answer:  Of course it’s hard!

b.  Where did you ever get the silly idea that being a Christian was easy?

c.  Nothing in the Christian life is accomplished according to our strength! Nothing!

7.  The apostles had the same response as evidenced by verses 5 and 6:  5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

a.  The Apostles do not say:  Give us faith.  They believe they possess faith.

b.  They ask for an increase in faith.

(1)  They believe there is something that they have to produce within themselves to have the power to do what Christ has commanded.

c.  There is no evidence from the Scipture or the historical record that mulberry trees around Jerusalem were being cast into the sea.

d.  The mulberry tree was a symbol for something immovable.  It had roots that could live for hundreds of years.

e.  In the Scriptures, the mustard seed is used in the parables as the smallest of seeds.

(1)  Christ is saying that the smallest of faiths can do this.

f.  We could talk for hours about how people misunderstand faith.

g.  The popular notion is that faith or sincerity is what empowers us for greatness.

h.  The apostles thought like many of us:  If I just had more power of faith then I could accomplish more.

i.  But faith is not a power.

j.  It is not the nature of our faith that is important.

k.  It is the Savior in Whom we have faith that makes all the difference in the world.

l.  People may say:  “I wish I had your faith” but the proper response is “Don’t desire my faith, desire my Savior!”

m.  Little faith gets the same Jesus that strong faith gets.

(1)  Christ is the powerful one.

(2)  Christ is our King Who subdues sin and temptation.

(3)  Christ is the fountainhead of all our blessings.

(4)  Faith is an act of trusting and clinging to the strong Savior.

n.  Christ is reminding His disciples that He has the power to grant what He commands.

o.  Looking within for power will always lead to failure but when we trust that Christ is powerful we can do all things through Him because He is powerful to do all things.

8.  Christ closes with this parable:   7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

a.  Christ knows our hearts.

b.  We may find ourselves, in Christ, forgiving and being forgiven.

c.  We may find ourselves serving others.

d.  Our indwelling sin convinces us that our service merits a reward for our hard work.

(1)  Even in the military, there is an expectation that we’ll get a medal at the end of our service when pay is our due.

e.  In the parable

(1)  The man is not very rich, has one servant.

(2)  The servant works in the field all day and then must change his clothes to make dinner for his employer.

(3)  The employer does not thank the servant for working in the fields.

(4)  The master does not thank the servant for making him a meal.

(5)  That is what he hired the servant for.

f.  We’ve been bought with a price.  The blood of Christ.

g.  Christ stormed the dungeons of sin and death by defeating the enemy who had us in bondage to sin and death.

h.  He have us new clothes to wear, put a ring on our hand, and called us His brother.

i.  We, who were enemies of God, have been adopted as God’s children.  We are precious in God’s sight and Christ conquers every foe that comes our way to destroy us.

j.  We are held tight in the grip of the Savior and He powerfully showers us with gifts for service in His kingdom.

k.  How can we look within and say:  “Christ, look how wonderful I am, you really are lucky to have me as your brother.  I’ve earned more blessings from you hand.”

9.  The story doesn’t end here.

a.  Christ does say to His servants:  “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

b.  Here, however, He is reminding us to not fix our eyes within ourselves but to fix our eyes outward to amazing grace.

c.  By grace you have been saved and are being transformed daily by the renewing of your mind.

d.  Be thankful and grateful always and realize that we are only doing that which God has gifted us with.

10.  Are you on the outside looking in?

a.  Perhaps you don’t know the reality I’ve been speaking about.

b.  If Christ is not your Savior and Lord then these are not the first verses you need to hear from Christ.

c.  Perhaps you feel the burden of your sin.  It oppresses you and you feel yourself alienated from God.

d.  Christ commands that you look up on the Cross.

e.  Christ did not come into the world to condemn for the world has already been judged for its cosmic rebellion against God.

f.  Christ calls you to look up on the cross and believe that He has put the power of sin to death on the Cross.  Believe upon Christ and all your many sins have been put to death with Him.

g.  Christ calls that you look at the empty tomb.

h.  Christ has conquered death by His indestructible life and proved Himself to be the Son of God.  All authority in heaven and earth is His.

i.  Look at Christ and believe that He has risen from the dead by His power.

j.  Cling to His feet.  He is your only hope in this life and the next.  You will be united to His indestructible life that gives you life and safeguards you as His own for eternity.

k.  Christ will conquer sin and temptation in your heart as He makes you into a new creation.

l.  Look up and believe that Christ has ascended on high and sit as the right hand of the Father.

m.  There He ever lives to pray for those who believe upon Him and conquers all His enemies.

11.  Believe upon Christ that you may be freed from sin!

12.  Believe upon Christ that He might free you to love your neighbor and to tell other hungry beggars where the bread of life is to be found!

13.  Believe upon Christ not because you have a mighty faith but because Christ is a mighty Savior!

Categories
Gospels and Acts Scripture

The Living Bread from Heaven (John 6)

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John 6:1-15

1After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

  • Where we pick up the story, Christ has already been rejected in Judea.
  • He is now in Galillee and will be rejected here.
  • He has already performed many signs and wonders. Belief is unacceptable.
  • A crowd gathers and Christ commands Philip to get them something to eat.
  • Philip performs a calculation that it will take about a year’s salary to feed them.
  • Christ provides not according to human calculation but by His own power. A lesson that His Apostles ought to know by now.
  • He feeds the multitude and they are excited.
  • The people correctly perceive that Christ is the Prophet that Moses foretold in Deut 18.
  • They incorrectly perceive the mission of that Prophet and Messiah.
  • They desire to make Him their King.
  • They expect, by their understanding, that the Messiah will kick out the Romans and usher in a golden age.
  • They are ready to make Christ their King by force according to their expectation that Christ will be a political conqueror and usher in goodness and plenty for their physical lives.
  • Christ withdraws, as He does so often, because He refuses to be the kind of Messiah that men expect and will only be the kind of Messiah that they need.

John 6:16-21

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

    • Much could be said here.
    • I want you to hear this portion so we don’t lose the flow of the account.
    • It’s enough to note that Christ and His disciples were now in Capernaum the next day.

John 6:22-27

22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

    • The people noticed Christ was no longer in the place where they had their bellies filled.
    • They went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.
    • Notice that Christ has thousands of followers Who are excited about them.
    • One might think He’s going to do everything in His power to keep them as followers.
    • Instead He rebukes them.
    • He identifies that their motivation for following Him is that He gave them bread to fill their stomachs.
    • He instructs them that they’re seeking the wrong thing from Him.
    • Christ is in their midst to give them eternal life and they only want enough food to make it through the day.
    • He’s calling them to faith and repentance.
    • Do they understand Him?
    • No.

 

John 6:28-34

28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

    • There appears to be eagerness to follow Christ and “do the works of God.”
    • Christ answers them that it is not their works that is critical.
    • It is the work of God that they need.
    • The work of God is that they would believe in Christ Whom the Father sent.
    • Do they understand?
    • No. They challenge him for a sign. They challenge Him to show more works.
    • The heart of idolatry is always more interested in the effects of a living God.
    • What the heart of idolatry does not desire is to truly worship the living God.
    • They call Christ’s attention to the provision of Manna in the desert.
    • Interestingly, they are on to something here because Christ’s provision here is John 6 is much like the provision of manna in the desert.
    • But the thing they miss is that they’re always interested in stopping at the sign.
    • They cannot perceive what the manna pointed to.
    • They cannot perceive what Christ’s provision of bread pointed to.
    • Christ is the true bread of heaven.
    • Everything important is standing in front of them.
    • Everything that manna and bread signified is fulfilled in their midst.
    • Do they understand?
    • No. They want the sign. They want bread.

 

John 6:35-42

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

    • Christ now tells them plainly what the bread has signified.
    • It has pointed to Him.
    • He has come in power and majesty.
    • He has plainly performed signs and wonders before their eyes to testify of His authority.
    • He has come down from heaven to give eternal life.
    • He has come to satisfy their hunger forever by His provision.
    • He has come to satisfy their thirst forever by His provision.
    • All who come to Him in faith will possess eternal life through His provision.
    • Yet it is not of man’s own doing that they will come to Him.
    • As we’ve already seen, the fleshly mind is in slavery to sin.
    • It can only perceive earthly things. It can only perceive concerns of itself and the world.
    • The Father must give people to Christ that they might come to Him.
    • Supernatural work is needed for the people to come to Christ.
    • And as surely as they come, the Son receives and holds on to all of them.
    • None shall be lost.
    • All who come to Him will be raised again with Him on the last day.
    • Do the Jews understand?
    • Do they perceive?
    • No.
    • Why?
    • Because the Father has not given them to the Son.
    • They are still stumbling in the blindness of sin in Adam.
    • So blind are they that they grumble before the living God as their forefathers grumbled in the desert.
    • They rebuke and ridicule Christ for saying that He is the bread come down from heaven.
    • Again, all their understanding is wrapped up in earthly things. This man is not bread.
    • This man is not from heaven.
    • We saw Him grow up in Nazareth.

 

John 6:43-52

43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

  • Notice Christ’s response.
  • He is pointing out the blindness I just underlined.
  • He knows very well they cannot perceive spiritual things.
  • He rebukes them for grumbling and again points out that the reason they are unable to perceive is that Father draws them to Christ.
  • Christ did not come to be understood according to the world’s understanding.
  • The world is captive to sin and its thinking is hostile to the mind of God.
  • God, by the power that created the world, needs to drag men into the Kingdom for they will never do so in their sinful state.
  • God, in His power, needs to conquer the sin that reigns men’s thinking that they may perceive Christ as the One sent by the Father.
  • And all who come by the Father’s power will be saved by the Son.
  • Christ reminds the people that they are just like their forefathers who could only perceive physical food in the desert.
  • The food fed them for the day but they all perished outside of the Promised land.
  • They perished because they never combined the food they received with the eyes of faith to look upon the Provider of that food.
  • Here, again, the true spiritual food that will give them eternal life is in their midst and they refuse to believe upon Him.
  • Christ tells them that He’s given His Body up for spiritual life.
  • His flesh will be that which provides the power for salvation.
  • All who look to His flesh, His sacrifice, for provision, will possess eternal life.
  • Do the Jews understand?
  • Do they perceive?
  • No.
  • They accuse Christ of cannibalism.
  • All they can understand is flesh.
  • All they can understand is bread.
  • How can a man give his flesh to eat?
  • He cannot according to the thinking of the world.

 

John 6:53-59

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

    • Christ is not content to leave them unoffended.
    • He speaks again clearly of spiritual things they cannot perceive.
    • He does so in a way that confirms to the fleshly mind the worst possible thing.
    • All they can hear is flesh, blood, bread, drink.
    • Christ is offering Himself.
    • He is laying forth the mission of the Messiah to save by His body and blood.
    • All who look to Him will be saved.
    • The Passover is at hand and Christ is clearly alluding to the Passover flesh that signifies Him.
    • These same people will soon eat the flesh of a lamb that is a mere shadow of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
    • Yet, they will not perceive the sign as pointing to Him.
    • Every sign is a brute object to them and they cannot perceive when the glory which it signifies is standing in their very midst.
    • Very God of very God!
    • Veiled in human flesh.
    • Come down from heaven.
    • God in a Tabernacle among them.
    • The Bread of Life sent from heaven.
    • The true Manna.
    • The Serpent lifted on a pole.
    • The Lamb of God.
    • The True Prophet.
    • The True Priest.
    • The True King.
    • Completely lost on the mind of men in slavery to sin and death.
    • O, how much we need the Father to draw us!

John 6:60-71

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

  • Imagine Christ giving a Church growth seminar.
  • 5000 eager disciples and that’s only counting the men.
  • Give a powerful sermon about the nature of the Gospel.
  • Offend everyone so much that only a dozen are left.
  • But Christ is well aware of what He’s doing.
  • He’s said it before and He says again that only those that the Father draws can come to Him.
  • He wants disciples Who seek Him for the provision He has come to give.
  • He’s not a coach.
  • He’s not here for your best life now.
  • His words are exclusive and ugly to the sight of men.
  • He turns now to His inner circle.
  • It’s like He’s saying: “How do you like them apples?”
  • Do you want to leave too?
  • Imagine the gall?
  • These men have left their professions for Him.
  • He had called them to be fishers of men and now most of the followers are gone.
  • “Do you want to leave as well?”
  • Take the moment in for a second. It had to give the Apostles pause.
  • This is not success as the world measures it.
  • Peter doesn’t really say: “Of course we don’t want to leave.”
  • In his reply is the hint that this didn’t sit well with anyone.
  • The Holy God makes men uncomfortable.
  • But, Beloved, Peter’s reply is exactly what Christ was after!
  • “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
  • This is hard Jesus!
  • I don’t think I understand all of this stuff.
  • You’re a hard man to follow sometimes.
  • But to Whom shall we go?!
  • We believe!
  • We believe you are the Holy One sent from God!
  • We believe that you have words of eternal life.
  • Where else is there to go?!
  • Sure, the world is more comfortable.
  • It doesn’t challenge us.
  • It doesn’t require that we give up our ambitions.
  • It doesn’t require that we depend on anyone but ourselves.
  • It doesn’t require that we be ridiculed and mocked for following some stupid Carpenter who is barely educated and talks about men eating His flesh.
  • But if we think like that then we’ll have bread for today and hunger again.
  • Lord, YOU ALONE HAVE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE!
  • I don’t understand you Lord but I KNOW YOU.
  • I’ll trust you in what I don’t understand and follow you to the bitter end.
  • I’ll believe the promise of eternal life because I’ve come to believe that Your Word can be trusted.

 

  • This, beloved, is what it looks like when the Father draws a man to the Son.
  • It’s not the quality of the man’s understanding.
  • It’s not the quality of the man’s works.
  • It is the power of the Father to draw men unto the Son by the power of His Word.
  • The man wakes up and is convinced he understands the world and reality.
  • Men are men.
  • Bread is bread.
  • Blood is blood.
  • Then, suddenly, out of the blue, the Word of God comes like a mighty conqueror.
  • It pierces the heart of men.
  • It wakes them up.
  • The world that seemed rightside up is now upside down.
  • The Savior who seems a rejected and despised failure is seen for what He truly is.
  • O, may you know the power of the saving hand of the Father to draw you to the Son.
  • May you fall down at His feet and cry: “I don’t understand it all but I’ve come to believe you are the Holy One sent from God. You alone have the words of eternal life. Save me! May I feed on your flesh. May I drink your blood. Give me the spiritual nourishment I have been lacking as I have been stumbling blindly through this world.”
  • Such a request, the Son is delighted to grant.
  • He will lay hold of you with such a strong Hand that none can pluck you out.
  • He will save you today and, on that glorious day of His return in Judgment, will raise you again on the last day!
  • Let us pray.
Categories
Gospels and Acts Scripture

Genesis 45

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Genesis 45

1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

21 The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. 23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Some may be disappointed that we’re still in Genesis as we enter Advent.  What does this have to do with Christ and the nativity?  What can this Old Testament history minister to you?  By God’s grace, I pray that you won’t be asking that question at the end of our time together this morning.

Before we get into Genesis 45, we need to back up just a little bit and remember that the chapter markers weren’t inspired and a beautiful story is broken up here.  Genesis 45 opens with Joseph overwhelmed with tears at Judah’s offer to be a propitiation for Benjamin.  Judah, Leah’s son, has promised his life for Rachel’s son Benjamin.

Joseph tells his servants to leave him alone with his brothers.  Joseph, up to this point, had been speaking through an interpreter and he suddenly blurts out in the Hebrew language “I am Joseph!  Is my father still alive?”

This is not happy news for the brothers.  Whatever grief they had over their sins is magnified.  They’re stunned.  They’re terrified.  They are so overcome with grief and fear at this point that they cannot speak.

This is not an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical where a chorus of joy breaks out because brothers are reunited.  This is real life and the brothers are terrified that a man with the power of Pharaoh has just been revealed to be the brother they plotted to murder and then sold into slavery.

This is it.  This is the end.

Joseph has every right to exact vengeance and has the power to carry it out.

But Joseph has compassion upon them and draws them close.

“Come near to me.”

“I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”

Joseph does not excuse their sin.  He calls it for what it was.  They sold him into slavery in Egypt.

What next?  What do they deserve?  By strict justice do they deserve Joseph’s kindness?  Do they deserve his love for them?

But Joseph is kind to them.  He is kind in a way that is surprising and he comforts them with this truth:

“Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

Joseph explains that the famine is going to last for five more years and then tells them again:  “…God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.”

Clearly, his brothers sold him into slavery.  They were certainly in the chain of events that led to Joseph being in Egypt.  Yet, as much as they were responsible for their sin in selling Joseph into slavery, they were not the only actors on the scene of history.

God was at work.

In fact, Joseph makes it more emphatic as to how he got where he was when he continues to explain and says:  “So it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

What Joseph is reminding the brothers of is God’s control of all things.  They ought to have remembered it in the story of their great-grandfather Abraham.  They ought to have heard it from their grandfather Isaac.  Surely they witnessed God’s control of all things in their father’s life and in their own experience.

This is God’s providence.  Providence is a word rarely used today because most people act as if history moves along aimlessly.  Yet providence is the truth that God controls all history and has a purpose in it.

Some are afraid to think of God being in control of all things.  Some will say that this makes him the author of sin or that it relieves men of responsibility for their actions.  But Scripture will have the last word.

God is in control of all things.  The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.  God knows the beginning from the end not because he looked down the corridors of time and saw how it would all turn out but because he ordained it all.

Men may try to twist this truth to escape the judgment of their wickedness and place the blame upon God for ordering history but God will have none of it.  Men are responsible for their actions and cannot shift blame upon God for sin and disobedience.

Whatever schemes men can think of, amidst all the tumult of an earth filled with sin and death, God overrules the counsels of men.  God does, by the hands of wicked men, what he has decided to do in history.  The sin belongs to Joseph’s brothers and so does the whole blame belong to them for their sin.  Yet God works wonderfully through their means and, from their impurity, brings forth his perfect righteous will and plan.  His method of acting here is secret, far above our understanding and Joseph does not give any more explanation as to the how of God’s overruling other than to state it.

Some have said that God’s Providence is like the language of Hebrew itself.  It can only be read backwards.

Joseph understands he is where he is, by God’s hand, to save the world and to preserve a remnant.  Looking back, he can see the sins of men clearly.  He can even recount his own sins.  But Joseph can also see how God interposed to prevent the evil of others who wanted to injure him.  Not only that, but Joseph can see how God turned every wicked design into good.

This is why Joseph uses this argument about God’s control as a source of comfort.  “God sent me here…” is Joseph’s argument.  He is able to reflect on the goodness of God and the undeserved favor he has been shown.  Even though Joseph himself is a sinner, God has overruled human history for his benefit and the benefit of his brothers.  Joseph is able to embrace the men whose dishonor God had covered with His grace.

This comfort reminds the brothers of God’s goodness.  All is not ruined.  All is not destroyed.  Whatever man has plotted to destroy, God has overruled to His righteous ends.  God’s goodness overwhelms all schemes and all hurts.  God’s goodness heals and they fall on each other’s necks and weep.  Not only has the plan of God saved a remnant from starvation, and the world along with it, but God has ordained the events so that the brothers would learn to love one another for the first time in their entire lives.

“Hurry!”  Joseph tells them.  He orders them to tell Jacob everything they have seen and heard.  There is no time to lose as the famine is severe and Pharaoh has given the fat of the land for Joseph’s family to live upon.

As you may recall, the whole story of Joseph began with fine clothes.  In verse 22, Joseph sends them back to their father with rich clothes.  The one despised for his rich garment blesses his brothers with rich garments and gifts to await them upon their return.  Their rich garments and the carts of Pharaoh are to serve as evidence to Jacob that Joseph is still alive.

Joseph warns them as they go not to quarrel along the way in verse 24.  They were still coming to grips with healing grace.  They were going to have to explain that their brother was still alive in Egypt.  Blame shifting might occur and then arguments over who was most guilty.  Instead of excusing their own sin in the matter, they needed to be reminded by their brother of God’s control.  This was a time for repentance and the remembrance of God’s goodness.

Years of mistrust are evident as Jacob refused to believe the news that Joseph was still alive but when he saw the gifts that Joseph sent with them, Jacob’s heart revived.

This story is so authentic.  Jacob doesn’t care how rich Joseph is.  Jacob doesn’t care about Joseph’s position in Egypt.  Jacob doesn’t even mention that he fears the famine.  His heart has been broken for years over a son he thought dead and all he wants is to see his son.

“It is enough:  Joseph my son is still alive.  I will go and see him before I die.”

Pastor Kittredge is fond of saying that, if you cannot see God in the everyday things of life that your faith is bound to be shaken when real suffering occurs.

We’re prone to think of the sun rising or a storm cloud passing or the seasons changing as the laws of nature.  Yet, they are God’s laws and the works of creation are seen throughout Scripture as a source of praise unto God.  Even in Revelation 14:7, we are going to “…worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Do you thank God that the sun rose today?  Do you see God in the regularity of the created order?  Do you thank God for the rainbow in the sky as a token of His covenant with all flesh?

Yet, as we look around us, there are plenty of things that tell us that things are not as they should be.  Pain, suffering, death are all around us.

These are not present because God is powerless over them.

This series is called The Genesis of Grace and Grace in Genesis.  Why?  Because only two chapters of Genesis didn’t require grace but everything after Genesis 3 has been grace.  In Chapter 3, Adam sinned against God and plunged all of mankind into death and sin and misery.  History should have stopped that day as God’s holiness and justice demanded that he destroy the creatures that raised their hands against Him in cosmic treason.

But God promised a Seed that would crush the head of the serpent and Providence has been God’s stage for the history of redemption.  Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now Joseph.  History unfolded as God ordained it.  Grace in the midst of the sin of His creatures.

The story will continue.  A remnant will be preserved.  Israel and his descendants survive starvation and history unfolds until a child is born in Bethlehem.

As we enter the season of Advent we need to be reminded that this is not a season where we celebrate Jesus’ birthday as if Jesus stands in need of us to wish him a happy birthday every year.

Rather, this is a season where we remember that all human flesh stood in utter need of a Savior.  We had been plunged into sin and misery by our first parents.

We were enemies of God and alienated from our purpose as creatures.

The history of the Bible recounts the deeds of men:  men and women used and being used, men and women suffering at the hands of the powerful, the weak are oppressed, and the wicked seem to flourish.

But God, all along, reminded His saints that He controls it all and is preparing a Seed that will deliver the captives.

And one quiet night, a poor man and his pregnant wife came to Bethlehem and very God of very Gods veiled himself in human flesh and was born in a feeding trough.  God became man that we might taste sin and death and misery no longer.  He came to die for His own.

He was to be the Seed that would crush the head of the Serpent.  He was to be the Seed promised Abraham as God walked between the two halves of the sacrifice alone.  He became the perfect lamb that God had promised Abraham when He held back Abraham’s arm from slaying His son.  He was to be Jacob’s ladder that connected heaven and earth.

All of history, all of God’s plan, had been a stage upon which to bring the Man forward and in to our view.  God had heard the cries of a Job, the cries of an Abraham, and the cries of a Joseph during the long, dark years.  He had heard the prayers of His Saints and their suffering and provided a final answer in the person and work of Christ.

Men had intended only to sin.  Men intended only to destroy but God had brought all of human history to His answer:  Christ would redeem men to Himself and provide the meaning and purpose of history.  Philosophy could not solve the mystery of God’s answer to the problem of evil and human misery.  Only God could provide the answer and His final Word was Immanuel:  God with us.  His final answer was Jesus:  God saves!

This is what Joseph saw dimly from afar.  This is what allowed him to forgive his brothers.  He understood that human sin was to be answered by the grace of God.  Whatever man had purposed to completely destroy in his folly and darkened thought, God would overrule and bless through.

And so, Beloved, as we just celebrated a national day of Thanksgiving and enter Advent, do you have joy in your heart for all the many ways God has blessed you this year?  You have life, prosperity, kids, job security, friends, and a Church family.  If this is a season of rejoicing for you then thank God for your rejoicing.

Yet this season is a time of suffering for many as well.

As you consider God’s control of all things, do you yet feel sadness and brokenness at the hard providences that have afflicted your life?  Have the sins of others left deep scars on your soul?  Does mental or physical anguish afflict you?

Do you cry out at night, in the dark, wondering “…when will suffering end?”

This is the Body of Christ.  This is an outpost of the Kingdom of God.  We do not ask you to be anything more than a needy sinner.  We don’t demand anything more of you than a willingness to be ministered to this season.  Don’t smile for our sakes.  Don’t tell yourself to be happy because the world expects it.

Christ’s call is not a call to look within for strength.  Christ’s call is not a call to pick yourself up by your boot straps.

Christ’s call is simply this:  Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Cast your cares upon Him.  Cast your grief upon Him.  Cry out earnestly and honestly to Him telling Him that this world is broken and the waves of its misery continue to crash against you.

God has provided the answer to the pits and white spaces of this life and that answer is Christ.

It is not purposeless.  It is not hopeless.

Don’t believe what your heart tells you.  Your life is not ruined.  You will not forever grieve.  You have not forever wrecked anything.  Christ has solved the biggest problem there is by granting peace with God for those that fall at His feet because they have come to the end of themselves.

Beloved, be thankful.  You heard me right.  Be thankful to God.

Be thankful even in your present grief.  Come to me after the Service and allow the elders and me to pray with you.  Allow the elders to comfort you.  Let us embrace you and weep with you over your sadness.  Let us be reminded together that God has promised an end to this present suffering as we groan in the time before Christ finally puts all under His feet.

One day, maybe not in this life, but one day all will become clear and you will see the tapestry that God has woven, for Christ’s sake, which will make all things clear.  For the time being, let’s walk together with God’s Word as a lamp unto our feet, and take each faltering step together.

You are not a stranger.  You are not defeated.  You are Christian!  You have been bought with a price.  You are God’s child.  Hear the Apostle Paul as He summarizes God’s glorious plan of history for His own:

Romans 8:18-25

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8:31-39

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;  we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Categories
Gospels and Acts Scripture

Luke 11:14-28

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Luke 11:14-28

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, “˜I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

As we continue in our series through the Book of Luke, Jesus has been travelling throughout the region of Galilee teaching the people and performing signs and wonders that testify to Himself.  His followers asked how to pray and, in Luke’s Gospel, the prayer ends at “”¦lead us not into temptation”¦” but Matthew’s Gospel reads:  “”¦lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.  For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”

On the heels of this teaching, Christ encounters a man who is under the power of the evil one.  Are we not commanded to confess Christ as Lord?  Yet this man is under the power of evil and cannot speak.  By Christ’s power, however, the man is freed and the people marvel.

But not all marvel.  There are those in the crowd who have continually hounded the Savior throughout His public ministry:  the religious leaders and skeptics.  Faced with the power of God in their midst, there were those whose religious understanding made it impossible for them to conceive that Christ was teaching the things of God because He taught contrary to the teaching of their Rabbis.  They reasoned that Christ truly had power but that power could not be from God because a man from God could not teach something contrary to their understanding of the Scriptures.  Instead of having their minds transformed by the power of God, their hearts were hardened and their foolish minds darkly reasoned that Jesus must be casting out demons by the power of the demonic realm.

The others who were blind to Christ’s power were the skeptics.  Notice, in verse 16, the text reads:  “others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.”

Do any of you find that just laughable?  Christ casts out a demon and the skeptics complain that they need a sign from heaven.  This is proof positive that no signs from Christ are sufficient to convince a foolish mind hostile to the things of God.

Christ rebukes their unbelief by pointing out something obvious:  a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.  Why, Christ asks, would Satan fight against his own kingdom?  Why would a ruler dispatch forces to destroy or defeat his own army?  It makes no sense and exposes their folly.  Thus, if Christ is casting out the kingdom of demons by the power of God then this is a demonstration that the Kingdom of God is among them.

The problem with the religious leaders and skeptics is that their minds are in bondage.  They can think.  They can reason.  Yet that thinking about spiritual things is imprisoned.  They are slaves to the way they view the world and all the power of Christ is interpreted through a distorted lens.

Yet, in a profound sense, this passage of Scripture is all about the remedy to bondage.  The Kingdom of God is in the midst of the people but they are not aware of what that power has been intended, from the beginning, to accomplish.

Christ, knowing the thoughts of the crowd, tells two parables:  the first is the parable of the Stronger Man and the second is the parable of the clean house.

In verses 21-22, Christ tells a short parable about a stronger man.  Simply put, when a strong man guards a house, the goods inside that house are safe.  Until, that is, a stronger man is able to overcome that strong man and plunder the goods.

The fascinating thing about parables is how subversive they are.  They are understandable and agreeable to common men on a certain level while a deeper meaning eludes them.  We all understand the idea that it’s good to have a strong warrior defend your castle.  You hire the best.  Yet, if a stronger foe defeats that warrior then your castle is in trouble.  The power that defends that stronghold has been overcome.

Yet, the people of Christ’s day were like many of us who measure the strength of God according to the kinds of strength that we naturally relate to.  We only think of power in its raw form and often desire it.  In a sense, this story would leave many of us with a wrong understanding that the Kingdom of God is just like political or military strength.  We’d be just like the Jews of Christ’s day who were waiting for a conquering Messiah who would free the Jews from the unclean Romans.  He would rally the Jews or use raw power to overcome the Romans and then all the good Jews would once again be a pure people in a pure land undefiled by all the evil people who were interlopers in their land.

The spiritual reality, however, is that it is all of mankind who is under bondage.  It is all of the Jews of Christ’s day and all of us who were in bondage to a strong ruler.  Sin and death have literally enslaved men since the sin of our first parents.  We assume that our thinking is right.  We assume that we see things and have common sense.  We assume that we do well and even please God.  Yet Romans 3:9-18 testifies of our true condition:

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off?  No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:  “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.  12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”  “The venom of asps is under their lips.”  14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

The Scriptures must be talking about evil people but not me.  My feet aren’t swift to shed blood.  I’m not a gossip.  My mouth isn’t full of curses and bitterness.

I can’t see that in myself.  I know there are others that are sinful and evil but I thank God that I’m not like those sinners.  I thank God that I’m in the Church and have been taught self-government.  I thank God that I’m not a Muslim and worship a false god.  I thank God that I’m not a Democrat and support big government.

Nicodemus came to Christ in John 3 in the middle of the night and knew that Christ had power from God but he just couldn’t grasp the things that Christ was teaching.  Christ responded: “”¦truly, truly, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God”¦.”

Do you know how Nicodemus responded?

He responded, in so many words:  “I just can’t make any sense out of what you’re saying.”  In other words, Nicodemus couldn’t see.

Blindness.  Slavery.  Darkness.  Futility.

This is our condition apart from Christ.  The Kingdom of God exists all around men and they cannot perceive it.

Why?

Because men are slaves to sin.  Men are in darkness.  Their mouths cannot testify of God but are mute to the things of God.  The strong man has them locked up and guarded.  The kingdom of this world consists of those born in Adam who are hostile to the things of God.  They are under the dominion of sin and death.

In 1 Sam 17, Israel under King Saul had gathered for battle against the Philistines and the Philistines sent out their champion.  His name was Goliath.  He was a giant.  His height and the weight of his armor and weapons were terrible.  Measured by any standard, the man was born to be a warrior and he stood and challenged anyone to fight him.  He cursed God and defied any idea that there was anyone who could defeat him in battle.  The whole of Saul’s army, including the king himself, cowered in terror for days because they saw strength according to common sense.  You don’t challenge the heavyweight champion of the world to a fight to the death.

Then, one day, a young shepherd boy named David walked up to bring food from his home to his brothers.  He saw this giant come out that day and curse the living God and his response was not one of fear but of anger that any man, however big, could challenge those with the Lord on their side.  All thought him a fool.  All thought him naïve.  Yet that young boy left armor behind and walked out of the ranks armed only with a sling and some stones.

Goliath scoffed at the tiny foe before him and promised David that he would be food for the birds.  David did not walk.  David did not weave back and forth.  David ran straight ahead and would meet certain death if that stone from his sling missed its mark.  David defeated the strong man and the Philistines fled in terror.

And so, when David’s greater Son came to this earth, many probably thought it would be another tangible victory and his success would be measured in strength and power they could see.

Yet, Christ’s power was to be manifested where nobody would have expected.  Christ’s power, manifest during His public ministry, pointed to His power over the kingdom of this world.  Christ’s power testified of His humanity and that He was God come in flesh.  Yet nobody could see it.

Christ, seemingly powerless, submitted Himself to the power of death on a cross.  He died the life of a scoundrel.  He died the life of the accursed.  He died the life of a failure in the eyes of the world.

His disciples walked away disappointed because, no matter how many times He testified that the Messiah had come to die on a Cross, they could not understand.  The Romans were still in power.  The Man they thought would deliver them with power they could see lie dead and broken and in a tomb.  Jesus was not the Messiah.  So much for salvation from the Romans.

Oh, but Beloved, there was unimaginable power on display!

As Christ writhed in agony on the Cross, it was not the physical pain that was most intense but it was Christ bearing in His flesh the sins of all of His people.  Christ died and when He died, the sins of His people died with Him.  Not only so but in a way we could never expect, the power of sin was put to death on the Cross.  He did not merely pay for the sins of many but He defeated the power of sin on the Cross.

And then He was laid in a tomb.  And on the third day He rose from the dead.  Death tried to hold Him down.  Death held with all its might but behold the Man! Do you ever just think about Christ taking that first step out of the Tomb?  One small step for Man, one giant leap for all of mankind!  Death was defeated by an indestructible life.  Try as it may, Death fought with the Savior but the Stronger man overcame and plundered!

When you think of Christ’s work for you do you only reflect on his payment for your sins?  Do you struggle, thinking it’s all up to you, against the power of sin in your life?  Hear, Christian, reality as it truly is in Romans 6:  “3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

You were not looking for it because you could not see it.  You were not aware of your bondage because it was natural for you.  Yet Christ died and we who believe are baptized into that death and we who believe have risen again.  Believe upon Christ and see.  Believe, also, with your new eyes that Christ has put the power of sin to death and that your life is bound up in Him.  The mute man did not ask to speak for he could not speak.  Christ broke the power of Satan that muted his voice so that he could confess, believe, and obey.

Thus, it is that Christ says in verse  23:  “23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

There is no neutral ground with Christ.  You are either in the kingdom of sin and death and cannot see the Kingdom of God or you have been set free from its power by the Stronger Man.

Some say this is a false dilemma:  only unimaginative minds set up either-or scenarios.  “I’m neither for Christ nor against Christ.”  Some believe they speak well of Christ, affirming Him a good man and moral teacher, but there are many paths to God.  Some say that it is closed-minded to claim truth for one way and completely reject another.  Beloved, this is the philosophy of those under sin’s dominion.  If we are not for Christ it is because we are still in the clutches of sin and very much against Him.  If you take offense and reply “I don’t see it that way”, my simple response is:  “I’m quite aware that you don’t see.”

Christ then followed with a parable about the clean house in verses 24-26.  The main point here is not the nature of demons.  Christ’s point is that a man can come to taste the things of God but distorts that knowledge and limits its purpose to house cleaning.

Some of us may be that man.  We hear about the things of God and the only thing that strikes us about the Scriptures is our need to live a pure life.  We hear the preaching week in and week out and see it primarily as a recipe for clean living and self-government.  We see the good in Scripture and imitate the externals and reckon we are good men.  We read of sin in the Scriptures and see wickedness in everyone except ourselves.  We want prayer in schools, we want moral government, we want lower taxes, we want good neighbors, we want obedient children, and we want God to bless us for all the ways we’ve demonstrated our commitment.  We want power to subdue all the evil people and throw the bums out!  We want everything except a Crucified Savior who can deliver us from our bondage to sin.

And the power of sin deceives and appears, on the outside, to have left us.  We are a swept house.  Yet, all the time, the truth of the Word about our sin and bondage is bouncing off of us like rain on packed earth.  Nothing sinks in.  Notice in verse 24 that the demon says:  “I will return to my house from which I came.”

“I will return to my house.”  And when the power of sin comes back to manifest itself in the life of the “swept house”, it comes back more terrible than before.  The Pharisees were good men on the outside but when they continually rejected Christ, their swept houses were filled with the demonic power of sin and they became wicked beyond measure.  They despised the Savior and the things of God and plotted to kill Him whenever they got the chance.  We who would justify ourselves with our lives will trample the Son of God underfoot with the same vengeance.

The passage closes with an expression of excitement from the crowd.  A woman is so overcome by the excitement of the moment and the teaching of Christ that she yells out of the crowd:  Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”

I imagine Christ paused for a moment before He gently replied that those who are truly blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.

It’s not as if He hadn’t said the same thing to His mother when she and the rest of the family summoned Him while He was teaching and He reminded the crowd that His mother and brothers are those who hear and obey.  He wasn’t denying the blessedness of His mother here but her blessedness, by her own confession, was that God looked upon her.  She heard the things of God and submitted.

Just like this woman who cried out, the things of God have a way of exciting us.  There are things that we see and experience that may cause us to yell “Praise God!”  All sorts of religious experience are sought to inflame our hearts with excitement.

Yet, notice that it is those who hear the Word of God, and because they can hear, obey.  Obedience and hearing go hand in hand.  If we cannot hear, we will not truly obey and will merely be swept houses.

I can leave worship this evening excited about the things of God and then, at the crack of dawn, rise to shave my face and go off to work.  The ecstasy of the moment of religious worship will fade as life has a way of bogging us down in its drudgery and day-to-day burdens.

Yet, we have to consider that, if we have truly heard the Word of God, it is because we have been given ears to hear.  If we have truly seen the Kingdom of God it is because we have been given eyes to see.  If that transformation has occurred it was not because of our obedience or enthusiasm for God but because there is a Stronger Man Who has overcome sin and death on the Cross.

Our excitement needs to be born out of a life that has been set free from the power of sin.  It is the recognition that God justifies sinners.  It is the realization that Christ came to plunder the House of the Strong Man and found us cowering under its dominion and dragged us out of its dungeon.  He washed us in our baptism and calls us His friends.  He clothed us in His righteousness and calls us His beloved bride.

Sinclair Ferguson tells of a physician who is a medical missionary in Thailand.  The physician sent him a picture of a man with a huge grin from ear to ear.  Both his arms were amputated by this physician due to complications from the leprosy that oppresses his body.  But do you know what this man said to the physician one day?  He said:  “I’m so thankful for my leprosy because I would have never met Jesus Christ without it.”

That’s true experience.

Are we thankful for the Christ who conquers sin and death or are we excited about the power that surrounds the Savior’s work?

Once, we could not see the horror of our sin and its bondage.  Once, we could not speak of the things of God but uttered only curses.  Unexpectedly, we saw our sin and, in our terror, wondered how we could escape the wrath it deserved.

But then we looked up and saw our Champion hanging on a Cross.  We saw Him die and lay in a Tomb.  We witnessed the Son of Man rise from the dead.  The Stronger Man emerged, wounded from the battle, but He was utterly victorious!

A muted mouth is unstopped.  We cry out with new voices:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ““ 1 Cor 15:54-57

Categories
Epistles Scripture

Romans 6:1-11

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The following exhortation was given to the Korean Agape Church and translated into Korean.

Romans 6:1-11
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

One of the struggles we all have is how to properly understand what it means to be holy in Christ and how we are made holy by Him. We understand that we are saved by putting our faith in Christ but we often begin to think that our holiness depends upon us. Romans 6 reminds us that those who trust Christ are also made holy by the power of Christ. It is Christ in them that saves them and makes them holy.

Chapter 6 follows a teaching by the Apostle that leads some to lie about the Gospel. He reminds us that it is wrong to think that God wants us to sin so He can show how much He forgives us.

Verse 2 emphasizes this: “How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Before we were saved we lived in slavery to sin but we are no longer in Adam but in Christ. We have died to sin. We were in the house of Adam, we were in bondage to sin. We have now been set free by Christ and are no longer slaves to sin but have been set free.

Verse 3 then reminds us of the significance of our baptism. Our baptism reminds us that if we hav faith, we are baptized into Christ’s death. This connection we have with Christ does not stop with His death because He rose from the dead with an indestructible life. Again, because we are united with Him, we possess His indestructible life. We begin to see where the power over sin comes from.

Verse 5 confirms what Paul has just said: 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Paul doesn’t say this is a process where we prove to God that we’re worthy to be identified with Christ by our obedience. No. Our obedience is because we have life in Christ. We have been raised from the dead with Him when He rose. The apostle doesn’t write that a believer “might be” united with him but makes it most certain by saying “we shall certainly” be united with Christ. We must be made holy by Christ.

Verse 6 shows how wrong it is to think we can sin as we are still slaves. Christ’s death on a cross destroyed the power of sin. The old man was crucified with Christ on the Cross. Union with Christ in the crucifixion delivers us from the prison of Sin. This does not mean that we no longer sin but victory in the battle over sin is assured in the nailing of enslaving authority to the Cross. We are no longer controlled by a sin nature but by our slavery to Christ.

It is common for us to lose focus and to regard our sin as inevitable. Paul wants to lift us from looking inside of ourselves for power to battle sin and to look outward and up to the Cross where we see Sin nailed to the Cross of Christ. Our Savior has conquered that power on the Cross! The old man no longer has authority.

Earlier in Romans, Paul reminded us that we are declared righteous in Christ. We are not actually righteous, in ourselves, but counted righteous due to Christ’s payment on our behalf and the giving of Christ’s life to us. Verse 7 teaches that the power of sin has already been judged for us. By the act of the Judge, we are sure to be made holy because the power of sin was judged at the Cross for us.

Holiness is not achieved by a power we find within. No, the power comes because Christ has judged Sin itself. We know we can progress in holiness because Sin has been put to death and we know that no condemnation comes from the sin that continues in our members.

Verse 8 encourages us to think of ourselves as being an image of Christ ““ not only has the old self of sin been crucified but we now posses spiritual life in Christ. When we sin, we forget our union with Christ and deny what Christ has accomplished. When we remember who we are, we are empowered to give battle to sin and to live unto righteousness.

Verse 9 is our assurance of living with Christ. There can be nothing that can break or interrupt our participation in Christ’s life. There can be no reversal of his death to sin and falling back into complete slavery to its power. If this was possible then Christ’s very resurrection could be reversed or repeated over and over. Christ’s resurrection is final and it represents a complete break from the power of Sin. Christ submitted Himself to the power and judgment of sin. Death even ruled over Christ for a short time yet it was impossible that death could hold Him or swallow Him up. By rising from the dead, He defeated death forever.

Verse 10 is one of the most significant statements regarding the full meaning of Christ’s death ““ Christ died to sin. The Apostle has already noted that Christians are forever freed from the bondage of sin and death and again reminds us we are no longer subjects of its rule. He proves this by reminding why Christ died ““ He died that He would destroy sin. Christ not only dealt with the guilt of sinners on the cross but also with the power of sin. Death ruled but Christ broke its power.

Verse 11 concludes: “Because Christ triumphed over the power of death, those who are united to Him in death died to the power of sin and become dead to sin. Once again, the motivation and power of a Christian’s struggle with Sin is grounded in what Christ has accomplished.

We are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ. We are not commanded to become dead to sin and alive to God. Christ has accomplished this already for us. And it is not by considering the facts carefully that they become true. The Apostle’s command is that we are to think upon our union with Christ and fully appreciate what Christ has obtained for us. This provides the motivation and strength for our battles.

Beloved, we are no longer our own and no longer under Sin’s power. Our Sin is on the Cross and we are now bondslaves to Christ and bondslaves to righteousness. Christ’s death is once-for-all and He ever lives and so must we. When we lift our heavy heads away from the filth of indwelling sin and its alluring, idolatrous power, we look up to Christ and in Him we find that our hearts deceived us to Sin’s remaining power. Instead of sorrow over our pitiful state we praise God with the Apostle:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:3-10)

Categories
Gospels and Acts Scripture

John 17

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John 17

Some of you might wonder why we’re jumping to one of the final episodes of Jesus’ walk on this Earth.  I hope, by the end, you’ll understand how this prayer of Christ’s fully captures why Christ came into the world, where He came from, and the hope that He left us.
I was talking to James the other night about the movie Talladega Nights:  The Legend of Ricky Bobby.  If you haven’t seen the movie, I don’t recommend seeing it.  It has little redeeming value.
In one of the scenes, Ricky is leading his family in grace and keeps addressing Christ as “Baby Jesus” during his prayer.  His good friend, Cal Naughton Jr., interrupts him and reminds him that Jesus was a grown man.  Ricky responds by stating that he likes the “Christmas Jesus” the best and likes to picture Jesus as a little baby.
Although the scene is blasphemous in many ways, it places a finger on how many people like to picture Jesus during the Christmas Season and why He is so popular this time of the year.  Baby Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, is cute and cuddly.  He’s not the Savior, the King of Kings, the Lion of Judah.  He’s safe because He’s a small baby.
Although Presbyterians have not historically celebrated religious seasons, today would actually be the Feast of Epiphany.  It was, traditionally, the date that celebrates the Incarnation of Christ, which is another way of saying that the Son of God took on human flesh.  At one point in Church history, today would have been the day in the Church calendar that Christ’s birth was celebrated but Christmas was added as a distinct celebration.  I bring this up because I want to make sure we understand that what just passed was not a birthday celebration but a celebration of God becoming flesh for us.
I received an email from my brother on December 18th reminding us all that Jesus’ birthday was in one week.  I gently reminded him of a few things:
1.  It is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December.  Shepherds were not out on clear nights in December in Israel any more than you and I were outside under last night’s stars.
2.  Nobody knows the calendar day that Christ was born.  The date was chosen for celebration but not because it was Christ’s birthday.  There is a 1 in 365 chance that it is correct.
3.  Christmas is a historical celebration that Christ came into the world to save men who were dead in their sins and trespasses.  Jesus doesn’t need a birthday cake every year but we very much needed Him to come and save us.
I believe it is fitting, then, that we consider John 17 to hear Jesus’ prayer for His disciples on the night He was betrayed.  It reveals profound truths about the person and work of Christ as well as how much we need the Son of God.
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
I’m moved to worship at how caring a Shepherd Christ was for His disciples.  He had just finished the Lord’s Supper with them, had washed their feet, and told them He was going to depart from them.  Christ was going to the place of physical and spiritual torment and understood that His own could not follow Him where He must go alone for their sake.  He did not want them to be discouraged and so He not only promised that He would send the Spirit but here, in a most tender way, He prayed for them in their hearing.
We’re promised by God that, when we ask according to His will, our prayers will be answered.  Here, does anyone doubt that Jesus’ prayer was answered?  We need to treat each of these requests as truths that we can stand within.  They are not wishful thinking but requests to a Father by the Son of God.
Jesus begins by noting that the hour had come for the Son of God to be glorified and giving eternal life to all that the Father had given Him.  This is not a command to the disciples but a fact.  Christ gives eternal life because His obedient life and death on a Cross secured eternal life for His people.  Eternal life is knowing this Christ.  Eternal life is coming to a knowledge of the Son of God made flesh who died for sinners under the wrath and curse of God for their disobedience.  Eternal life is eternal because it is born from above and no one that the Father gives the Son is lost.  Christ had not left any work to be done for His own to be accomplished to secure this inheritance.  He states, clearly, that He accomplished all the work that He was given to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
We can spend years meditating on this verse.  We’ll be in glory ten thousand years contemplating the wonder of this Truth.  In the fullness of time, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  During our responsive reading this morning we read from Philippians 2 where the Apostle exhorts us:  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
There is a heresy known as the kenosis theory that states that when the Son of God became flesh that He gave up some of His divine attributes.  That which is unchangeable changed.  We don’t have time to unpack all the theology around this and much is beyond human comprehension.  It is a wonderful Truth testified by the Scripture that the Person of Christ took on a human nature without ceasing to be God.  Christ is one Person with two natures.  He is fully God and fully Man without mixture or confusion.
But the Person of Christ did give something up.
The year 1991 seems like ancient history to the young people here but I remember, like it was yesterday, sitting in my Bachelor Officer Quarters watching the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas.  During the first portion of the hearings, chaired by then Senator Joseph Biden, Justice Thomas was reserved and answered every question in a measured manner.
And then accusations by a subordinate, by the name of Anita Hill, surfaced.  Whether you believe her allegations were true or not, the hearings took on a tremendous intensity.  Justice Thomas, when he returned, was no longer measured and reserved.  His opening statement following these allegations was in part:
“I think that this today is a travesty. I think that it is disgusting. I think that this hearing should never occur in America. This is a case in which this sleaze, this dirt, was searched for by staffers of members of this committee, was then leaked to the media, and this committee and this body validated it and displayed it at prime time over our entire nation. How would any member on this committee, any person in this room, or any person in this country, would like sleaze said about him or her in this fashion? Or this dirt dredged up and this gossip and these lies displayed in this manner? How would any person like it?
The Supreme Court is not worth it. No job is worth it. I’m not here for that. I’m here for my name, my family, my life and my integrity. I think something is dreadfully wrong with this country when any person, any person in this free country would be subjected to this.”
Justice Thomas didn’t care about the appointment to the Supreme Court anymore.  Take away the job and he did not care but he did care about this:  They had taken his name.  They had stolen his integrity.
Men work their entire lives making a name for themselves.  They guard their reputation and their name to the point that some cultures used to permit gentlemen to duel to the death over an insult to one’s name.
But here’s the thing.
Nobody had to ask the Son of God to lay aside His Name when He came to this Earth.  He laid it aside willingly.
Do you realize how many times Christ’s name was sullied while He walked this Earth?  Do you realize how many times He could have called down the fire from Heaven that everyone deserved?
He gave up His name.  He was despised and rejected of men.  There was not even anything of His appearance that would commend Himself to men.  He was born in a poor household and a manger was His birthplace.
We’ve been studying the glory of God as a theme in the redemptive plan of God for His people and one of the things that strikes you is what that glory does to men throughout redemptive history.  Every time the glory of the Lord came near the Tabernacle or the Temple, everyone had to leave.  It was too much.  God reminds Moses that nobody can look upon the face of the Lord and live.
And yet, the most amazing thing we have in Christ.  We could not approach God’s holiness and so God placed a veil of human flesh around His glory and came very near to sinful men.  Such things are too wonderful for me.
When Christ walked into a room nobody could tell that God was right there.  An unclean woman with a discharge of blood for 15 years touches Christ and His power heals her.  Lepers cried out:  “Master, have mercy on us” and He would walk right up to them and make them clean.  A sinful woman crawled up to Christ’s feet and wept on them and the Son of God did not recoil but reached out and forgave sin.
You see, beloved, Christ had to give up His glory because we needed Him to.  We couldn’t approach God without Him making it safe to do so.  God forgive me that I sometimes come into the presence of God and do not realize what an amazing privilege it is that I can enter boldly into the presence of God because Christ came in flesh and through the veil of His flesh I have access into the courts of the most High.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
Do you understand what a privilege it is to belong to Christ?  Do not listen when the world tells you that there are many paths that lead to the top of the mountain.  Have some loyalty to your Savior.  Have some respect for what He had to go through to secure redemption for you.  The Cross makes no sense if men only needed to be reminded of timeless moral Truths.
Christ’s disciples needed Christ’s prayers.  Peter had promised Christ that, even if everyone else should forsake Him, that He would stand with Him to the bitter end.  Christ rebuked Peter and told Him that Satan had requested Peter and that, if permitted, could handle Peter as easily as throwing up dust in the wind.  Peter would betray but, Jesus reminded Him, that Peter would turn back again.  Why?  Because Christ had prayed for Him and Christ’s prayers are answered.  Christ’s intercession was the reason that His disciples had received the Word when so many others had left Christ.  Christ would hang alone between heaven and earth and none would be with Him but His prayers ensured that His disciples would cling to that work and, by believing His Word, have everlasting life.
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
There is a common misperception by the world about those who claim what Scriptures teach about the preservation of God’s people.  It is sometimes called the perseverance of the Saints and some have the wrong notion that believers can somehow be proud that they can never lose their salvation.
But, you need to understand, the reason why the disciples would persevere was not something within their character.  If left to themselves, they would have all scattered.  If left to themselves, they would have remained enemies of God.  They would have hated God just as the Pharisees did.
What made the disciples remarkable was their Savior.  He kept them for His sake.  He had called and not lost a single one because nobody is strong enough to take from His hand.  He had even chosen Judas with the knowledge that He was not His own so that Judas could betray, of his own hateful will, the Son of God.
I don’t know what it is within the sinful human heart that hates the idea that God would glorify Himself by saving His own to the uttermost.  Even some that name Christ bristle at the idea that they’re privileged to have Christ intercede for them powerfully.  Where they ought to read these Words of Christ with joy that He saves His own to the uttermost, they want Him to simply leave men with the power to come and go as they desire.  There is nothing of the sheep tending themselves here but only the Shepherd powerfully interceding to secure His sheep.
Understanding that Christ calls us and keeps us close to His bosom ought to be the source of the greatest humility and comfort.  It ought to humble us for we realize that we are no more worthy of redemption than another.  It ought to comfort us to know that the Son of God, through Whom the universe was created, keeps us and promises that nothing can separate us from His Love.
Christ, after all, came not to gather seekers around Him.  Christ came to pursue men.  Christ came to seek and save the lost who were wandering in darkness.  Christ is the Seeker, we were the lost.  Christ calls us into His Kingdom through the power of His Word and we are comforted by the Truth that we have been made alive to be kept by Him and to glorify Him as He redeems a people to Himself.
Nothing breaks my heart more than witnessing how impoverished many in the Evangelical tradition are today.  They do not hear the Truth of the Gospel that ought to minister to them and remind them not only that Christ begins their salvation but is their salvation.  Many preachers operate according to something that is illegal in business called the “Bait and Switch”.  The bait and switch is where a salesman will lure you into a transaction with the promise of one price only to find out that the terms are switched once you commit to the offer.
Many Christians today have been told that once they believe upon Christ that they will be saved.  They embrace that Truth with joy and unload the burden of their sin to come to the Savior.  But then they are told that holiness is up to them.  They are no longer fed the Gospel but are given Sermons were they are reminded that they need to be sold out for Jesus and that they need to reform their lives.  Obedience, they are told, is the mark of a true Christian.
Indeed, obedience follows faith in Christ but that obedience comes from Christ.  It’s right here in the passage where Christ asks that the Father would sanctify the disciples.  It is not only the one time act of belief that Christ ensures but Christ is the power for the believer’s daily belief  and walk.
I’ve known men who believed the Gospel and then thought sanctification was up to them.  They are weighed down by their battle with Sin and losing daily and, before long, they’re crying out:  “How can a sinner like me be loved by a Holy God?”  Ministers of moralism can only point to the Law.  Be more serious.  Be more sold out.  Tell others about Jesus so they can enter your struggle.
Beloved, Christ is the indestructible life.  Christ is holiness and the fountainhead of salvation.  Be reminded again, Christian, that God saved you when you were His enemy.  Christ came to seek you out when you were walking in sin and darkness.  He has you in the palm of His hand and reminds you that none can take you out.  You will battle sin but Christ does not leave you.  He doesn’t simply come around when you’ve run out of the resources to battle sin by yourself.  His Gospel is the power every day.  His Gospel reminds you that you are His and that Sin has no power over you.  You will be sanctified in the Truth because Christ is your Life and He does not cast out His own.  Cling to Him.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Did you know that Christ prayed for you?  You are mentioned right here in the Scriptures.  Christ prayed not only for those present at the time of His prayer but prayed for those that would believe their report.  You are the object of Christ’s prayer.
Some of you might have noticed the vanity license plate on our Suburban.  It’s Hebrews 9.  I love that Chapter as it speaks so powerfully of the High Priesthood of Christ as He lives to make perfect intercession for His own.  It’s not as if Christ retreated to a faraway place to discover who might believe upon His name but He continually makes intercession for us.  He knows who believes upon Him because He prays for those that will believe.
Every event in your life has been the subject of His intercession.  That you heard the Gospel and responded to it:  thank Christ for His intercession.  That you are becoming sanctified:  thank Christ for His intercession.  That all things work together for your good:  thank Christ for His intercession.
One day, Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.  You will walk up to the bar of His judgment and the Judge will ask by what right do you have to be acquitted of your sins, which are many.  But then, the Judge of all the Earth will come down from His seat and stand next to you as your Defense Attorney and say:  “This is one of my own.  I have paid the full penalty for His sin.  My righteousness is his possession.”
And as Leonard reminded us last week, a crown will be given to you and your Savior will say:  “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
And what will be able to do except weep for joy and say:  “Lord Jesus, it was all you.  You prayed for me.  You held me in the palm of your hand.  What good did I ever do that was not by Your gracious Hand?”  And we will lay our crown at Jesus’ feet because He gets all the glory.
But you also see in this prayer that this is not only about the world to come but about the unity that Christ’s Church will have in history.  Christ prays that we would love one another.  Christ prays that we would be united in the Truth.
You see, our salvation is personal but it is not to be thought of as merely personal.  Christ is saving a people that we are privileged to be around.  We not only ought to love one another but we will love one another because Christ has secured it.  The Apostle John reminds us that nobody can even say that He loves Christ if He does not love His brother because love of the Brethren has been secured in Christ.
But this Love is not a Love that has no content.  It is grounded in the Truth that we have been sanctified unto.  God has revealed His Truth in His Word and, as Ephesians 4 testified to us today in our meditation, Christ gave us Pastors and Teachers that we might be united in Truth.
Leonard will be starting a series next week on the Officers of Christ’s Church.  We live such individual and compartmented lives in modernity that we tend to think of Church as a gathering of people who share notions of Truth that have been arrived at independently.  Each of us, we reason, studied the Scriptures and came to fairly common views, and so we worship at a Church with people who share our view of Truth.
But Truth is not an object that gets shaped by the organ of the human mind.  Truth is not something that we arrive at by our own power or by our own sentiment.  Truth is what corresponds to reality the way God sees it and it has been revealed by His Word.  The Gospel comes to us outside of ourselves and announces our salvation and sanctification and then challenges us that our minds need to be renewed by God’s Word.  Leonard and our Session are not merely independent travelers with us on a journey to apprehend that Truth but have been commissioned by God to lead us into the unity of Truth.
In the end, Christ’s prayer is a reminder of the amazing nature of Grace.  It’s the kind of Truth that the prophets of old longed to understand.  This great Truth that the Messiah would be a man but also God.
If left to ourselves we would have willingly remained enemies of God and justly perished for our Sins.  But the Son of God came down to Earth to come near to sinful men and lived a life of perfect righteousness.  When men could no longer stand the holiness of God in their midst, they hung the Son of God between heaven and earth and He took the full weight of the wrath of God for Sin for those who believe upon the Son and look up to the place of Curse.  Because death could not hold Him, He rose again on the third day and ever lives so that we might have eternal life.
Believe upon Christ Jesus.  Know the Son Who Knows you by name.  If you hear His voice it is because He has long sought you and loves you with an everlasting love.  Believe upon Christ because He knows you by name and your faith is a result of His loving intercession.  Live in Him, not because you have the power within you, but because His life secures power over sin.  Love the Brethren because they are united with you in mystic sweet communion in the Son of God.  We are His body.  Be united in the Truth because Christ is Truth.
And because Christ has prayed for His Church, may we all look forward to the day when we are presented spotless and blameless as His Bride and enter the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Categories
Law Scripture

Genesis 21

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Genesis 21 (ESV)

 
1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” 8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt. 22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
Genesis 21:1-2 notes: 1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.
Something that we need to do when we’re reading the Scriptures is remember that the text brings forward characters for the purpose of teaching us something. Sometimes we can get lost in the story itself and not keep track of what is said or done. Notice how the story emphasizes that the Lord visited Sarah “just as He said” and did to her “just as He promised”. One of the refrains of the Scriptures is how things come about just as God has promised or just as He said. In your reading of the Scriptures, start taking note how often it is recorded that things happen just as the Lord said or promised they would. I was struck, when we were studying Exodus together in Sunday School, how it seems that everybody had forgotten that God had promised that, after 400 years, He was going to lead the people out of Egypt.
But God didn’t forget. God never forgets. His Promise is going to come to pass. It doesn’t matter much whether His people want it to come to pass. It will happen.
Here, of course, it is a joyous occasion. Abraham, a 99 year old man, and Sarah, his 89 year old wife, were told by God that they would conceive and bear a child. One year later, as the Lord Promised, a child was born. This occurred, as verse 2 states, “…at the time which God had spoken to him.”
God said it.
Doesn’t matter much who believed it, because…
That settles it.
Now, you don’t have to have a medical degree to realize how remarkable that is. That’s why it’s so important to note that God “visited” Sarah. Everybody understood that this couldn’t have happened by just natural means. Of course every birth is by the sustaining power of God because He upholds the universe by His power. It’s only our lack of spiritual discernment and gratitude that we think of the sun rising or the birth of a child as some natural event according to some law outside of God.
But, if the fact that the sun came up this morning and even now utters forth speech about God or that every birth is an occasion to thank God, how much more so was everyone reminded that this birth was very clearly the power of God at work and could never be thought of as being under Abraham and Sarah’s power to bring about in the strength of their flesh? In fact, Romans 4 notes that the birth of Isaac is to be thought of as God bringing the dead to life. It’s a picture of faith and the fact that it is God who saves. It is God who brings life. The Promise was going to come about in such a way that only God could get the glory.
 
4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Isaac is the first infant to receive the sign of circumcision. This was not only a sign of God’s Covenant with Abraham but a seal that God would most certainly bring that Promise about. Even as his baby boy screamed in pain as Abraham performed a bloody act, Abraham understood that this member of Isaac’s flesh was going to bring forth the Promised Seed in the fullness of time. Abraham was Promised descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens and here it was, in his hands. He only saw one of that great number promised but understood that this was a sign and a seal that, through him, all the nations of the Earth would be blessed.
In fact, the sign being applied to infants was a very visible signification that this Covenant was about grace. Isaac couldn’t promise on that day that he was going to believe. He couldn’t promise that he would bring this great promise about. Rather, a helpless 8-day old child received this Promise in his flesh and, throughout his life, he would have a very visible reminder that it was God that was strong to save and it did not depend upon, begin, or end with him.
Everything about this story just overflows with grace. It overflows with God’s Promise. It overflows with God’s goodness.   What other response could there be than joy? What other name is more appropriate for God to give Isaac than “laughter” as God’s grace causes an overflow of joy in His servant Abraham and his wife Sarah? Sarah says it all: “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Nobody, except God, that’s who. Who would have thought to walk up to a 90 year old woman and ask her to be a wet nurse? 90 years old and she’s nursing Isaac! Can you imagine the joy  for a barren woman to receive a child at the age of 90?! Anyone that loves the things of God wants to walk up to this aged woman and simply laugh with her and share her joy over what a good God has done for her. Indeed, those who love God want to laugh with her over what God has done for them in confirming His promise in such a remarkable way to leave no doubts for our wavering hearts!
But not all the laughter at the downpayment of this Covenant Promise was the laughter of joy: 8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”
The weaning period of a child in the Ancient Near East was about 3-4 years and the culture normally celebrated this occasion. Why? Not because the mother was done nursing but because many children did not make it to the age of 3-4 during this period. So Abraham threw a party to celebrate that the boy was growing in stature and the text simply indicates that Ishmael was laughing at Isaac and, for some reason, Sarah flew off the handle. Even though previously we rejoiced over Isaac’s birth being a cause for laughter, we all know the difference between being laughed with and being laughed at.
Ishmael’s was the laughter of scorn.
But something in our minds wants to say: “Come on Sarah! Get some perspective. Ishmael is only 16 years old. You want to throw them out just for laughing at your son Isaac?”
It’s tempting to soften the blow on this point but I think we need to realize, first of all, that the Scriptures actually paint what Ishmael was doing as very serious. Perhaps we need to be challenged by the Scriptures at this point where we tend to view youthful sin as less serious than adult sin. The Apostle Paul brings this episode to the forefront as an example of unbelief in Galatians 4. He presents it as an allegory of the sons of the flesh – those that trust in the flesh – as persecuting those that are the children of the Promise. To put it bluntly, Ishmael’s sin was one of unbelief.
There’s a part of us, because we are so carnal, that can hardly blame him. Which of you, if you were the firstborn son of the father of a mighty promise, would rejoice at the idea that your kid brother, by another mother, is the heir to that mighty promise?
I’m the firstborn. I’m stronger. I’m smarter. This kid is barely out of diapers and I’m supposed to be excited that he’s God’s choice?!
I’ve witnessed many people mishandle the story of Ishmael as if God, in His choice of Isaac as the Promised line, seemed to almost force Ishmael to unbelief. But Abraham was never told to keep the things of God from Ishmael. Ishmael was circumcised with the rest of the family years earlier. Ishmael could have recognized the sign of circumcision in his own flesh and rejoiced even at the idea that it was his baby brother through which this promise of salvation would come to pass. He could have been willing, like King Saul’s son Jonathan, to give up everything knowing that blessing was to be found by clinging to God’s Promise and not to the claim of the flesh.
It’s never a minor thing when a child does not believe in the things of God. I fear we’re so accustomed to the way we view “religion” in our country that we confuse civil freedom concerning religion with the ultimate judgment of God. We need to remember that all unbelief is sin. Our children are sinners and under the wrath and curse of God unless they are in Christ. This should not evoke terror in believing parents but it should evoke seriousness about the things of God because it’s very clear in Scripture that God takes unbelief very seriously. All sin bears the penalty of the wrath and curse of God.
 
11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away.
This broke Abraham’s heart. I think the distance in time removes the pain that is in this story but this is sad. God commanded Abraham to separate Ishmael from Isaac for Isaac’s good. It telescopes the separation that the people of Israel would have from the unbelieving people in the land. These kinds of separations are not meant to make us happy that we’re better than others but to remind us that we live in a fallen world and that the things of God often break up families because of the devastating effects of Sin that were introduced by the Fall. How many here, like me, can relate to the heartbreak that Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother do not share the love of Christ?
 
And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Don’t feel guilty about having compassion for Hagar and Ishmael here. I don’t want to minimize how sad this story is. Hagar and Ishmael wandered in circles in the desert and ran out of water. Can you imagine the pain in a mother’s heart as she had to put her son under a bush and walk off into the distance so she didn’t have to watch him die?
As she wept, however, God once again visited Hagar. Remember, God had promised Hagar, years before in the desert, that Ishmael would become a mighty nation. For the sake of Abraham, God would make this boy great. In one sense, how could Hagar have thought the boy was going to die because God had promised, years earlier, that he was going to become a mighty nation? Yet, it’s the pattern over and over, that God Promises something and we look to our circumstances, as painful as this was, and measure reality by them instead of what God has said. It was impossible that Ishmael was going to die and notice how the text says that God “opened her eyes” and she saw a well of water directly before her. Right at the very spot that she sunk into depression convinced she was going to perish is the very spot God planned to save them from death.
And the text relates that the boy flourished. Ishmael became an expert with a bow and his descendants long after were known for their ability with that weapon. As God had promised, for the sake of His love for Abraham, he did make Ishmael great as a nation.  But don’t make the mistake that this blessing was fundamentally one of salvation. He didn’t become great in terms of his faith, according to the text, but became mighty in strength and number. We need to remember that God gives every intellectual and spiritual gift that men enjoy but, sadly, Ishmael and his descendants didn’t see this as a matter of grace and seek to worship God for their blessing. Instead, his descendants measured their blessedness according to their own strength and, like so many of us, didn’t glorify God and worship Him for their many gifts.
The closing portion of Chapter 21 is another fitting contrast between grace and human strength. This great king Abimelech had been cursed for taking Sarah into his harem when he thought she was Abraham’s sister. He knew enough of the power of God not to mess with Abraham and returned Sarah to him. Now he appeared again to Abraham desiring to make a Covenant with him.
Abimelech sensed that Abraham was going to become a mighty nation and wanted to make a Covenant with him to ensure that, when he did become great, that his descendants wouldn’t be on the short end of the stick. In other words, he measured the worth of what Abraham had according to power. Abraham had been promised to become a mighty nation and a blessing to all nations through peace with God but all Abimelech could see is the “cash value” of making a treaty with a great nation. Beloved, while it is true that Christianity can improve the blessedness of life under the sun, we are not to proclaim the value of a good life now to a lost and dying world. It is peace with God that we proclaim.
Abraham had to add a special addendum to that Covenant by giving sheep so it would be clear to Abimelech that this well that he dug in Beersheba was his. Beersheba became the dwelling place of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when he returned before going into Egypt. You’ll even see, throughout the Old Testament, the phrase “from Dan to Beersheba” as shorthand for all of Israel as Beersheba marked the southern extent of the Promised Land.
We have in this Chapter the contrast of God’s Promise of grace compared to the Sons of Men who measure themselves by strength. We see Isaac, a son of such joy that we break into laughter that God’s Promises are so wonderful as to confirm them by bringing life out of death. We see God showing forth His grace in the circumcision of an infant. We see the surety of God’s Promises throughout to confirm, in real history, that He is Who He says He is and that, despite all the waiting, God is trustworthy.
We also see, however, a young man who can’t stomach the idea of his baby brother being the heir to that Promise. We see him becoming strong and skilled in his own strength. We see a local monarch who visits Abraham to make a treaty because all he cares about Abraham’s God is that it “works for Abraham” and makes him someone worth befriending.
A couple of weeks ago I saw one of the books entitle Do Hard Things laying on a chair. I joked to one of the teens: “Is there a shorter version of this book that I can read?  This one seems kind of long?”
The irony was lost on him because he helpfully explained there was a workbook that neatly summarized the contents.
Rebellion, sloth, and low expectations may be the cultural good of the teen years these days but the Bible still teaches otherwise. My wife and I enjoy watching American Idol and I’m always dumbfounded that young adults come forward to sing and are genuinely devastated when Simon tells them that they cannot sing. Mom always heaped false praise upon their accomplishments and this is the first time in their life that they haven’t been praised for failure. At least Paula leaves them with the thought that they still look beautiful.
Consider our movie heroes as well. Something I’ve never liked about the Harry Potter movies is that everybody thinks Harry is so cool because magic comes to him so naturally and easily. He’s good at it with virtually no effort compared to the hard work that his friends put in to their schoolwork: the first day at Hogwart’s and he’s on the broom flying polo team. Real life isn’t like that. Wasted genius is practically a proverb in real life.
But, with everything we just learned in this passage, I want to make sure each of you young people understands something that needs to drive you to your knees. I want to ensure all of us parents and older people understand the same thing that we might pray earnestly with concern for the children of our own Covenant community.
Kids listen to me.
Teenagers pay attention.
Adults, if you remember nothing else, remember this:
 
Ishmael did hard things.
Ishmael started with his Mom and a well in a desert and made a great name for himself as an archer and a warrior. He became a mighty nation. He became great by any human standard. He wasn’t a slacker. He applied himself to everything he did.
But did He know God? Did he ever know the surpassing riches of His grace? Did he ever look down at his own circumcision that was a daily reminder that God saves all those who put their trust in Him? Did he ever learn to laugh at the incredible Promise of God and the amazing birth of his baby brother and rejoice that God was doing something amazing that would bless the nations? Or did he simply think: “I don’t need that, look at what I’ve done by my own hands?”
Parents, do you pray for your kids? Do you ever talk to them and tell them: “Son, I want you to apply yourself because God wants us to glorify Him in our hard work but, more than anything, I want you to believe in Christ.”
Do you ever think to yourself: “More than anything else, I want to see my children’s children call upon the name of the Lord.”
Does the thought of your child forsaking the Covenant of Grace that he or she has been baptized into drive you to your knees?
“Oh heavenly Father, help me teach my children to call upon the name of the Lord. I have no strength within me to convert their heart. Please, Lord, call them to yourselves. Salvation is in Your mighty Hands. Cause them to cling to Christ all the days of their lives!”
You see, that boy Isaac grew and had two sons and one of them ended up just like Isaac’s big brother.
A hunter. A warrior. A mighty nation.
Oh, how Isaac loved his son Esau.
But then one day Esau sold his Promised birthright for a bowl of soup!
The Promise of God on the one hand. Soup on the other.
“What good is the Promise of God to me? I’m famished.  Give me the soup!”
But, in spite of all the sin of men, that everlasting Promise unfolded inexorably until 2000 years later, in the fullness of time, God’s grace burst forward in a dazzling array that took away the breath of the entire world.
God became flesh and dwelt among us.
And, oh, how He did hard things.
He did impossible things.
He came down from glory and took upon Himself the form of a servant. Despised and rejected of men who loved their sin, God veiled Himself in human flesh and came near to Sinful man to be obedient in their place. The Promised Seed walked right into the teeth of sin and misery and obeyed with a perfect righteousness that only He could accomplish. Nearly all of those who were heirs to that Promise rejected Him and many saw only in Him an ability to achieve political power.
But, in the end, Christ had come for a totally unexpected purpose. So unexpected was His mission that the entire Nation turned against Him, slapped the Son of God across the face, and yelled “Crucify Him!”
Embracing the place of Curse that His own deserved, He hung between heaven and earth and took upon Himself the sins of all who look to Him, away from themselves, and believe. With His death, He put to death Sin as power and on the third day, because death could not hold Him, He rose again so that all who trust in Him might have eternal life.
Paul reminds us in Romans 5: “6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Beloved, THAT’S the Promise. In God’s perfect time, the Seed of Abraham did everything we could not do so that God could bring us to Himself and make us His children: children not of the flesh but of faith according to that glorious Promise.
Does that stun you?
What does this kind of grace evoke in you?
God has brought you from death to life.
You, who were once an enemy of God, God has died for to make you His friend.
Let us exult together with Sarah: “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me!”
Categories
Gospels and Acts Scripture

Luke 15

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Luke 15

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

When Sean called me about a week and a half ago asking me if I was interested in teaching this evening I hesitated only for a moment. I’ve been very busy lately yet I love to be able to share the Word of God.   
When Sean told me I could teach on any topic I knew, almost immediately, what I desired to teach because this is one of my favorite parables in the Bible. The problem with teaching on this text is that it is so well known by many people who can probably recite the details by the mere mention of the title.
In a 1988 study, a sociologist named Marcia Whitten authored a work entitled All is Forgiven, wherein she analyzed hundreds of sermons on Luke 15 delivered by mainline Presbyterian and Southern Baptist Churches. The mainline Presbyterian Churches saw in the Parable a teaching about the need for social acceptance of the downcast. Southern Baptist preachers, however, emphasized the troubles that the Prodigal Son faced when he left the boundaries of a Godly home and got into “sex, drugs, and rock and roll.” Many of you probably have received typical treatments but I hope to demonstrate the power of the Gospel herein.
It is vitally important, in understanding the parables in this Chapter that we begin with verses 1 and 2. Once again we encounter the Pharisees’ criticism of Christ. They complain that Christ receives sinners and even eats with them. No righteous man, in their thinking, would sully himself by spending time around sinners much less sharing a meal with them.
Christ, as was His habit in many teaching situations, responded with three Parables. In the first parable He recounted the great lengths that a good Shepherd will go through to seek out one lost sheep and the rejoicing that ensues when that lost sheep is recovered. The second parable noted the great lengths a woman will go through to find a lost coin in her household. She will literally tear the house apart in search of this wayward coin and rejoices with the entire town upon its discovery. Both of the first two parables would easily resonate with the culture of Christ’s day but to understand the impact of the third parable you’re going to need to take off your 21st Century glasses and journey with me back to the Jewish culture of Christ’s day.
Once upon a time there was a man who had two sons. One day, his younger son came up to him demanding his share in his inheritance.
Right away, jaws should drop. Jewish sons do not demand their inheritance of their father. The inheritance is to be received upon the death of the father with the firstborn son receiving a double portion. The younger son was basically saying: “Father, I wish you were dead. I want my inheritance now and your life is in my way!” The son showed utter disdain for his father. The proper response for a father in this culture would have been to slap his son across the face for disrespect and he had every right to disinherit such a scoundrel. The Pharisees would have been pleased to hear that this was the father’s response.
Incredibly, however, the father granted the son’s request. The inheritance, after all, would have been in the land of the estate. It’s not as if the father had a bank account or stocks he could simply sign over. He would have had to sell a portion of his estate to a buyer at a reduced price with the guarantee that the buyer would receive this land at the father’s death. Do you realize that the penalty for moving a boundary marker in the Law was death? A capital crime. Land was the family’s inheritance and generations had labored to pass the estate from father to son and to build wealth that would bless future generations. This father had, inexplicably, cashed generations of labor in to give cash to this worthless boy.
The boy left home where he squandered this money in reckless living. What had taken centuries to accumulate was blown quickly. What a scum bag. What a wretch! The parables are full of scorn and curses for the foolish who waste their money. Utter ruin will be their end! The Pharisees would have lectured the father that such was to be expected. What was he thinking after all?
And then a famine hit.
And the boy was in a faraway land having squandered his money.
And he began to be in want. His friends left him for such are the friends of folly.
Ah what delight to the heart of a Pharisee. The boy was reaping his just reward. Surely he would die of starvation and the Pharisees would wring their hands with glee about the destruction of the unrighteous.
But the boy managed to find employment feeding pigs.
Excuse me, did you say he was feeding pigs?
By pigs, do you mean the unclean animals that Jews were forbidden to eat or touch?
A Jewish boy feeding pigs?!
But this employment was not feeding him well to the point that the boy envied the pigs for their meal of corn husks.
We don’t know how long this went on but, one day, it dawned upon him: “Even my father’s servants have plenty to eat. I know I can’t go back as a son. I’ve blown any opportunity for that. I understand that, in this culture, I am shamed beyond measure. Perhaps if I return home I can be hired on as a slave and at least I’ll be treated well.”
At this point the Pharisees would have been pleased with the boy. Now we’re talking! That’s right you sinner! That’s right you unrighteous wretch! Return to your home town in shame.
The tradition had a proper process for reconciliation. The boy would be expected to go into his home town and wait at the town center for a few days. During this time the town people would have come and heaped shame upon the boy.
Don’t you realize what a wretch you are?!
Don’t you realize what you have done to your father?!
For shame! For shame you unrighteous one!
Then, after a period, the father would come and the boy would express his utter shame to his father and promise to perform reconciliation by working off what had been squandered. Surely, for such an offense the boy would have had to work his entire life to earn back even a portion of what he had squandered. Only after restitution by work, however, would this boy have truly earned the right to reconciliation. Reconciliation through restitution. Forgiveness and acceptance by works!
But, beloved, this is where the rage in the Pharisees would have begun to boil over. This is where the Gospel is so offensive to so many who see religious duty as a way to buy God’s affection.
‘BUT’, the text reads, ‘while the boy was far off, the father was moved with compassion.’
I used to wonder how parents could single out their childen in a large crowd by the sound of their cry. They all sounded the same. But now that I have four kids, I’ve come to recognize the walk of my children, their smell, the way they walk, their laughs, their cries of pain and sadness and fear – many details a parent who loves his children knows well.
The father had long been looking for his son and he saw a figure in the distance. ‘Yes, that’s the boy! That’s the walk of my son.’ Shoulders hunched over in grief. Gaunt. Weary. Worn out.
The son was heading for the town.
And the father RAN to him.
He ran!
This is not the 21st century. Old men of Christ’s day did not run. It was undignified. It was shameful. In order to run in the long, flowing robes of that culture a man had to hike up his robe. The expression “gird up your loins” refers to the fact that men, in battle, had to hike up their robes and tuck them into their belt in order to run and move in battle. But, except in war, it was considered shameful to bear one’s legs so much so that Jewish tradition taught it was preferable for a priest to let his robe drag in the blood on the temple floor rather than lift the robe lest their legs be exposed.
But the father, in the most undignified manner, ran to his son.
Why the hurry? Was it simply a desire to hold him again.
He ran because the boy was approaching the town center. He was approaching the place of shame.
Oh yes, sin had occurred and shame was due but, beloved, the father ran to ensure that the shame would be his own. Shame would be borne by him and not the boy he loved with an everlasting love!
The father threw himself upon this boy that reeked of pig manure and kissed him.
Sinclair Ferguson once remarked about a longtime friend who had received great honor from the Crown of England for her ministries of mercy to the poor. She told everyone at this ceremony, however, that when it came to dealing with the poor, it was her husband who had the most amazing ability to deal with the incredible stench of feces and urine that the poor reek of. He could minister up close to such men without flinching. How, one wondered to him one day, was he able to do it? He answered: “It’s easy. I picture the filth of my own sin that Christ had to wade through to save me and all physical filth pales in comparison.”
The son found himself now in this loving embrace and the son spoke to his father what he had rehearsed: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But his words stopped.
What else had he planned to say?
He planned to ask to be made a slave in the household.
But he stopped.
I believe he stopped because the embrace of the father squeezed the very breath out of him. The second part about being made a slave was unacceptable. You see, beloved,
in the Kingdom of God, there are no slaves. There are no servants that earn affection from their father.
There are only sons!
‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet!’
A robe?
A ring?
Shoes for his feet?
Only sons wear these. This boy had squandered his inheritance. He had sinned away every right to be called a son in this house. The father, however, was granting him EVERYTHING based on NOTHING THAT THE SON DESERVED! The boy received every good thing and every privilege of sonship based on NOTHING THAT HE HAD DONE!
 ‘And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’
It’s not as if meat was easy to come by then and they didn’t have refrigerators to store leftovers. Killing a fatted calf was an extraordinary event, which meant a celebration for the entire community. It was a celebration not of the righteousness of a son earning a father’s love but the lavish love of a father who was granting sonship to a man saved alive!
And so the party ensued and the elder brother returned from the field, laboring into the evening. He wanted to know what was going on.
What?! That unrighteous scum bag has returned? My father is holding a party for him? He’s not only treating him like a son but he’s eating with him?
The elder son was so incensed that he refused to even go into his father.
A celebration was going on in the light while the “righteous” man, the elder brother, was standing outside gnashing his teeth at the redeemed son and the gracious father.
But the father came out to him pleading to come in to the light.
The son responded: ‘He might be your son but he’s not my brother. That scum is beneath me!  HOW DARE YOU! Do you realize how much I’ve SLAVED for you all these years. Not once, in all that time, have you given ME so much as a goat so I can have a party with MY friends.   Give me MY due for my labor. I’m not going in to celebrate with you and your house. I have MY friends and I want to earn the right for reward so I can celebrate with my own friends.’
And the story ended abruptly with a celebration going on in the light with the self-righteous elder brother in the darkness gnashing his teeth.
It’s been said that there are three kinds of people in this world:
The first kind are those that don’t care a thing about the things of God. The power of God is manifest all around them. Some even hear of the mighty works of God in Scripture to save me from their sin and they meet it with indifference. God is not magnificent. He is a bore.
The second variety are those who are religious slaves so they can put God in debt to them. I will perform acts of contrition. I will deny myself food and pleasure. I will strap a bomb onto my chest and yell “Allah Akbar!” to a glorious death. Quid pro quo. I do for God and He must do for me.
The grace of the father would be too much for the Pharisees and the story did have a conclusion. That elder brother, and all his Pharisee friends, took the Son of God, who is the father in this tale, and beat him and brought him to Pilate to have Him put to death. There is no room for the mercy of God among the elder brother’s friends. The offense of the Cross that all must bow before it to receive forgiveness and have their own shame placed upon the Son is too much to bear.
The third kind of person is he who recognizes he was once dead in sins and trespasses. But God found him and made him alive.
Beloved, open your eyes. Look around you. Do you see the filth of your sin?
God has appointed a day, calling it ‘Today’. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.
The yoke of your sin is very great. Oh how you have sinned just this past week. Just today, in fact. How could anybody that belongs to the father sin like you have? Surely, you have told yourself, God could not accept this?!
Plod back to where you began and realize that you have no rights to enter the Father’s house.
But stop, for a moment, and look up.
Look up away from yourself. Look up!
What is that in the distance?
It’s the Son of God and He’s running. He’s flying to you.
Look to Him. See what He has done. He is taking your filthy clothes that reek of your sin and has worn them on the Cross. He died to take away your sins and satisfy the wrath of God that you deserve.
He embraces you and covers you with a clean robe. It is the robe of His perfect righteousness. He has risen from the dead with an indestructible life and lives that we live forever more in Him!
Full inheritance. Full sonship in Christ. God gives every blessing not for anything we have done and until you understand that amazing grace you have not rested in the arms of the Father’s embrace.
‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’
All heaven rejoices. Let those that love the Father because He has given them every inheritance crowd in. Today is the day of Salvation for all who hear the voice of the Father! Slay the fatted calf for tonight WE CELEBRATE!”
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Gospels and Acts Scripture

Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:1-11)

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Luke 6:1-11

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, f is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
As we continue our study through the Gospel of Luke, we come to two stories that center around a conflict with the Pharisees over the observance of the Sabbath.  It is tempting, perhaps, to simply see the Pharisees being concerned with the Law while Christ is concerned with helping people but that would be to misunderstand the nature of this conflict.
The problem today, by and large, is not that most take a strict view of the Law but that they don’t even stop to consider the Law at all. The Sabbath, especially, has fallen into disfavor and there is collective amnesia that, somehow, God included the observance of the Sabbath in the Ten Words that He delivered upon Mount Sinai. What was God thinking, after all, that He would care that we would set one day out of seven for Him? What about my “Me Time”? I understand I shouldn’t kill a man but observe the Sabbath? Why are they even on the same list?
It is actually quite natural that the Pharisees would be concerned about the Sabbath. The fraternity of the Pharisees was originally founded for the purpose of seeking to take seriously the Law of God after the Babylonian captivity. In the Law of God, God had commanded that the Nation of Israel celebrate a Sabbath Year once every 7 years. Israel was in captivity for 70 years because the Nation had disregarded the command of God to give the land a rest one year in every seven for 490 years. And so God judged the Nation by taking them out of the land and giving the land rest for the 70 years they had neglected to celebrate.
Thus the Pharisees, after the captivity were like a child who had burned his hand on a hot stove. A hot stove is very useful but if you touch the burner it is quite painful. A child, properly disciplined, will return to the stove someday and use it properly. But one way around never getting burned is to never go near the stove again.
That’s the nature of the fleshly approach to Law keeping: set up an entire set of man-made rules that put a fence around the Law. One way to keep away from violating the Sabbath was to put a big fence around it and tell everybody to never go near the Law by keeping all the regulations. Keeping the regulations, then, replaces actually keeping the Law because, if the Law is all about not crossing a certain line, then drawing closer lines is even better. Eventually, the fences erected were the only things the Rabbis meditated upon. Pharisees became experts in the regulations.   The rabbis drew up a catalogue of thirty-nine principal works, subsequently subdivided into six minor categories under each of these thirty-nine, all of which were forbidden on the Sabbath.  On this list of regulations was a prohibition against picking heads of grain. That was considered to be “reaping”.
Christ was walking through the fields with His disciples on the Sabbath and the disciples were hungy. The Law permitted a hungry man to glean the edges of crops for food. It’s not as if they were eating a gourmet meal but they were famished and were rubbing the heads of the grain and eating raw grain.
Suddenly the Pharisees appeared. It’s almost like Swiper the Fox in Dora the Explorer at the ready to steal. Were they following Christ around simply so they could spy out liberty and judge that a line had been crossed?
They accused Jesus and His disciples of desecrating the Sabbath not because the Law had actually been broken but because their regulations had been broken. The disciples had ignored the fence the Rabbis had put around the Law. They were observing the Law but the Pharisees could only see their fence.
Christ first rebuked them with a question that would cut to the heart of any Pharisee: “Haven’t you read the Word of God?” You sage keepers of the Word, don’t you remember David, when he was fleeing from Saul for his life came to the Tabernacle with famished troops and received the showbread from the altar? The Law very strictly required that this bread was for the Levites alone and neither David nor his men were Levites.
According to the letter of the ceremonial Law, the High Priest had, in fact, violated the Law but Christ commended this decision. Why? Because a more important principle, a weightier matter, was at hand, and that was the sustaining of human life.
The Pharisees, in fact, were so focused upon the ceremonial precision of the Law that they missed the purpose of the Law altogether. We’ve already seen a remarkable episode earlier in the Gospel of Luke where Christ reached out and touched a leper. Every time I read that I shudder with amazement at what that signified under the Law. Lepers were unclean. Touching them made a person unclean. But Christ, the Clean One, touched a leper and made him clean. How long had it been since that leper felt a human touch because, ceremonially, the Law could do nothing but keep men away. It was the same thing for the paralytic healed by Christ – the paralytic was excluded from the Assembly for his plight but Christ restored him.
We all know the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Do you know why the two men passed by on the other side of the road when they saw a man that appeared to be dead? Because they were priests and they would have been defiled had they touched a dead body. The irony of that parable is that the Samaritan, scum of the Earth to a Jew, was the neighbor. He’s the only one who fulfilled the Law to love neighbor.
You see, Galatians 3 reveals an important truth about the Law of God as the Apostle Paul was railing against Judaizers who were corrupting the Gospel just as the Pharisees did here. The Covenant of God begins with God redeeming a People to Himself by the work of Christ. Blessing comes by faith in what God Promises to do. It was that way with Abraham and the Promise has always been God saying: “The Seed of Abraham will be your Righteousness. Believe!” Righteousness comes by faith. It always has because our own righteousness comes up short every time.
Why then the Law? Why create rules for the Sabbath? Can it be so that we prove to God we’re serious about His commands and then find acceptance? No, you are already accepted in Christ but now see the Law of God with new eyes. See in it the nature of the God you love and use it as a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path that you might learn about God and yourself and train yourselves in righteousness. He’s not your Judge, if you’re in Christ, but your Father.
We all understand rules for our children, do we not? We forbid certain things because they harm. We command certain things because they are good. The end of these things is that they grow to see the wisdom behind the rules and the letter of the rule is replaced by a walking in wisdom. Eventually, we don’t have to hold a hand as we cross the street because an adult is wise enough to enjoy the paved road without our help.
But the Pharisees are like adults who never learned the wisdom and all they know is the rules and don’t understand the blessing that the rules were designed to direct to.
The Sabbath was not created so that man would be a slave under its crushing requirements but was intended to bless man. Those of us redeemed by Christ get the tremendous privilege of an entire day devoted to the worship of God. We get to cast off the cares of the world and meditate upon the Word of God all the day and enjoy the fellowship of God and His people.
I understand that, to the flesh, the Sabbath seems like the most boring thing in the world when you have Costco and sleep and NFL football to replace it but are these things really the pinnacle of the enjoyment of a redeemed conscience? I realize that our flesh does not love to enjoy the Sabbath. It doesn’t love the things of God but the Law is intended to serve as a trainer of the conscience to direct us to the things of above and to cast aside the things that serve our flesh. We are foolish if we neglect the Law as a lamp unto our feet to guide us into how we might taste and see that the Lord is good.
Recently, I’ve been convicted of my own sinful sloth. I often don’t prepare myself to enjoy the Sabbath. I treasure my leisure and so I sometimes come to worship sleepy from staying up too late on Saturday night. I forget to buy milk the day before and so I’m tempted to deprive another man of the rest that God has given all men one day in seven. I don’t pray that I might come to the Word hungry and expectant, eager to be filled by the Words of Life.
I’m convicted because I am Christian. I have been created anew by the Gospel to delight in the things of the Lord. The Lord’s Day is my delight. What a privilege it is to be in His presence all the day long: a son in my Father’s house in communion with my fellow heirs.
As Christ continued with the reminder to the Pharisees, He told them something that should have stopped them dead in their tracks: “The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.” Who can be the Lord of the Sabbath but God alone for He, alone, hallowed it by resting from His creation on it. God did not need rest but invited man, on Adam’s first full day on the Earth, to rest with Him. Even as the Pharisees wondered that Christ forgave sins, we have another plain example to these hard-hearted men that the God of the Universe was the subject of their rebuke. The Sabbath is Christ’s and it is in Him that we have any rest, for we would only be in toil and bondage under sin. The Pharisees stole His Law, intended to bless men to enter into God’s rest, and they had twisted a blessing into a yoke of bondage.
As the Gospel continues, on another Sabbath, Christ was teaching in the Synagogue – worshipping with the people of God. The Holiness of God, clothed in human flesh was very near and blessing people with words of life and all the Pharisees had a front row seat. They were not there to be taught but only so they could catch Him violating their petty rules about healing on the Sabbath.
Christ knew their hearts and so He called out a poor man with a withered hand. The Pharisees looked right past a man in need. They could care less about his need. All they could think about is the regulation and that the Son of Man had the gall to violate their rules! Christ asked a simple question: Is is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm?
Do you see the hypocrisy of the Pharisees? On the day of rest, on the day that God had invited His people to find rest in Christ, these men wanted to destroy the Son of God! Unfortunately, their regulations did nothing for their conscience. Where’s the rule that you can’t plot to kill the Son of God on the Sabbath? They were bent out of shape that Christ is going to do good on the Sabbath but their sin blinded them to the fact they were murdering Christ in their heart.
But Christ’s work would not be stopped by Sin. He looked directly into the face of Sin. He looked directly into the eyes of the hateful Pharisees, agents of the Devil who had twisted His Law to destroy and commanded to the man: Stretch out your hand! Where Pharisaical rules could only enslave, He freed! Where their rules could only leave a hand useless and dead, He brought forth life!
Beloved, God created the world in 6 days and all very good. On the 6th day, He stooped down and, with special care, created man out of the dust of the Earth. With a tender love, He put His mouth up to the first man and breathed life into Him and, with that breath, His very image. As the man opened his eyes, the first thing He saw was the face of God. Oh, the vision that Adam saw! What a loving Father!
When God rested the next day, the first Sabbath, and invited Adam to rest with Him, do you suppose Adam complained that he got to spend the whole day in communion with His Father?
When Adam fell, and we with him, mankind ran away from God and tried covering himself with leaves to protect himself from the Holiness of God. Gone was face to face communion with the God of the Universe. But God, even then, was gracious to His foolish children and, in their presence, slayed an animal and covered them.
Man fell from communion with God and the enjoyment of rest. All was toil. Pagan societies like France after the Revolution tried to go to 10 week days and it crushed men under the weight of toil because we’ve been designed by our Creator to rest one day in seven. We foolishly think we know better and, in our folly, would work ourselves to the bone headlong into the hell, There, we would deservedly face the wrath of God for our disobedience.
No Sabbath.
No communion with God.
For eternity.
But God is rich in mercy. While we were still His enemies, while our flesh hated the sight of Him, while we groped in the darkness in the futility of our self-worship, God the Son took on our weak flesh. He was hated and despised. He walked alone in obedience that was foreign to us. He preached to men and served the Law of God with a holiness and compassion that our flesh hated and so, in men’s hatred, they put Him to death for it.
But, to our amazement, Christ was there willingly. He was our High Priest offering His sinless flesh as a propitiation for our filthy Sin. Dying on the eve of the Sabbath, our Lord remained in the grave throughout the Jewish Sabbath, working for our benefit and putting to death Sin and death.  On the third day, the Lord’s Day, death could not hold Him! He rose from the grave in victory over death and we were raised in newness of life with Him!
Oh, how I love you Son of Man, Savior. You invite me into Your holy presence in sweet communion with the Body You have redeemed to Yourself. I cry out with the Psalmist:
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise!
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob!
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!
I am your son, in Christ, and thank you that I once again have communion with you. I come boldly, expectantly, into Your very presence through the veil of Christ’s flesh and delight in the rest I had today. Better still, I know that I shall, one day, see You face to face, and rest forever!
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Review of God and Caesar – Selected Essays on Religion, Politics & Society, by Cardinal George Pell

Review of God and Caesar – Selected Essays on Religion, Politics & Society, by Cardinal George Pell.

Edited by M.A. Casey; published by Connor Court in Australia, the Catholic University of America Press everywhere else.

Less that 190 pages, this is a collection of ten essays by Australia’s foremost Roman Catholic cleric.

The topics covered include: The Law and Morality, Catholicism and Democracy, The Case for God and Human Dignity, Human Rights and Moral Responsibility.

Quite readable generally, most of the essays flow in a very conversational way which reflects their origins as speeches. I’m not overly familiar with Roman Catholic doctrine & semantics, but I was able to understand most of what Pell was trying to say.

In as much as the book has a central theme it is the rejection of the primacy of conscience.

There is a widespread view amongst religious and non-religious Australians that people should follow their conscience in almost all things. Do the best you can, and it will all come out in the wash.

Pell refers to this as the ‘Daffy Duck Heresy’. If someone sincerely tries to do the right thing, well, that’s all that matters.

Pell’s answer is that people should submit their consciences to God (and of course by implication, the Roman Catholic Church).

While I agree with his central premise that we must submit our consciences to God, the rub for the Protestant comes when determining what the will of God is. For the Roman Catholic, it is easy: what does the Church say the will of God is?

Of course, we have a ‘great cloud of witnesses’ in Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon, Hoeksma & etc to turn to, but ultimately, far more responsibility is put on the conscience of the Reformed Christian than the devout Roman Catholic. We are called to test what we read and hear with a Berean spirit, and ultimately, decide for ourselves what the will of God is.

Cardinal Pell is a bit of an institution here in Australia. As he points out in this book, roughly 50% of the Australians found in a church each Sunday are Catholics attending Mass. Along with Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, he is the ‘goto guy’ when the media wants a comment from a prominent religious conservative.

Unlike America, Australia does not have a strong Baptist movement. We have no Jerry Falwells, no Pat Buchanans, no James Dobsons. Whether this is a good thing or not is another discussion, but the fact is that for most Australians, the pro-life movement is represented in Australia by Cardinal Pell.

It will come as no surprise then that this book contains a strong argument for pro-life values. I think it will be Australia’s loss when Cardinal Pell passes from public life, as I am not aware of any other champion of the unborn within the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, certainly not in the caliber of Pell.

My main criticism of the book is the way it ignores the massive & vital role of Protestantism and the Reformation in the development of modern democracy.

Pell puts it euphemistically; “The Catholic Church was slow to give public approval to democracy.” Indeed.

Still, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the intersection of faith and civil government, especially in Australia.

Three stars.