tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89609080666027055982023-11-15T09:01:08.416-08:00Loving PreachingMike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-30451109527901838562010-10-21T04:31:00.000-07:002010-10-21T04:31:09.065-07:00Malachi 4: What do you expect from God? Healing?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -51.95pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Is it really worth it to follow Jesus? I mean, what difference does it really make? Would it not be better to hold some of the same beliefs, but just be less committed. You know a private Christian. Perhaps you could come to church at Christmas and Easter, but not really get involved: stay on the fringes. That kind of Christianity is at least considered respectable in many ways: Church for weddings, funerals and the like, but not fanatical; not obsessed by it; not really committed to a church, but just to private beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps I’m describing you, and you like it that way! You know that you don’t want to get sucked into the life of a church. You have enough to worry about without adding church to your list. And surely it wouldn’t make that much difference, would it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It certainly makes a difference in all kinds of ways that are not particularly pleasant. I mean, there is certainly little public respect any more for being a Christian – particularly outside of Anglicanism.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So, why would anyone want to actually give their lives to the service of the Lord?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Does it really make any difference at all – it doesn’t sem to, does it? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Does it make any diference to anything that matters. Let’s face it: if we think of those marriage promises, “for better for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer” those who are committed to the Lord certainly don’t seem to be any richer or any healthier than those who aren’t are they… and isn’t it a matter of opinion whether they are any better off at all? Certainly some of the people who appear kindest and most loving people that I know are not Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What difference does it really make?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What difference do you expect it to make… What do you expect from God?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Healing?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There are those who would call themselves Christians who suggest that that is exactly what all Christians should expect…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">John Wimber Power healing quote.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But it is not just those with little faith that suffer much. Often the most godly seem to suffer the most. It is those who speak up most for Christ who are most persecuted. It is seems to often be those who are most caring towards others who quietly suffer physically.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What then are we to do? Are we to be resigned to the fact that it is not worth it to serve the Lord, and retreat to a half-hearted faith at best? Or can we find true motivation for wholehearted and joyful service of the Lord?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is not a new question.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">450 years before Jesus came there were those asking exactly that question: it didn’t seem to be worth it: but Malachi reports not only their complaint, but also more than sufficient motivation to recognize that the Lord is indeed worth serving with all our heart and soul and mind and strength; far more in fact than if all was at stake were health, wealth and worldly happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Seek a new solidarity (3:13-16)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
Celebrate a new service (3:17-18)<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">See a new separation (4:1-4)<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Seize a new certainty (4:5-6)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Seek a new solidarity (3:13-15)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">13 “Your words have <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_1;">been hard (niv harsh</a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_1" id="_anchor_1" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_1">[MPGS1]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">) against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_2;">vain </a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_2" id="_anchor_2" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_2">[MPGS2]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">to <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_3;">serve </a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_3" id="_anchor_3" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_3">[MPGS3]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_4;">mourning </a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_4" id="_anchor_4" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_4">[MPGS4]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_5;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">before </span></a><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_5" id="_anchor_5" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_5">[MPGS5]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_6;">arrogant</a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_6" id="_anchor_6" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_6">[MPGS6]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> blessed. <span style="background: fuchsia; mso-highlight: fuchsia;">Evildoers</span> not only prosper but they <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_7;">put God to the test </a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_7" id="_anchor_7" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_7">[MPGS7]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">and they escape.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_8;">The</a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_8" id="_anchor_8" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_8">[MPGS8]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Lord <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_9;">paid attention </a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_9" id="_anchor_9" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_9">[MPGS9]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">and heard them, and a book (niv scroll) of <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2003; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_10;">remembrance </a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_10" id="_anchor_10" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_10">[MPGS10]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The people who came back from exile knew their history. They knew that on the day that the Lord brought Israel out of slavery, it made a huge difference in this life whether or not people were faithful. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A whole generation had died in the wilderness because they had not put their trust in the Lord’s ability to bring them into the promised land.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On the day when they made an idol of a golden calf, 3000 died. When they had worshipped Baal at Peor, 24000 died from a plague.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">By contrast, when the people trusted the Lord, he was with them in remarkable ways. He had brought them out of Egypt with 10 extraordinary miracles. He had parted the Red Sea for them. He had provided food from the sky and water from a rock. On one day the sun stood still miraculously until they achieved victory over an enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A generation ago he had brought them back out of exile, though many of the unfaithful had either died or been scattered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But now; now, it seemed to make so little difference. God didn’t reign down judgements on the ungodly; and he didn’t seem to bless the godly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So, what was the point?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Well, the point was that the Lord had not changed: there was sufficient motivation for them to serve the Lord, and that was the Lord himself. He was worth serving.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And part of what they needed was just to have a group of people who would encourage each other: “Yes, the Lord does seem<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to be working in ways htat we don’t understand. But he is the same Lord. He is still worth serving!” Why should we doubt him, just because he isn’t doing what we want… surely his plans must be better than our desires!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And so they were effectively renewing the covenant that the Lord had made with them at Sinai… or Horeb as it was called in that other great covenant renewal that had taken place in Deuteronomy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Like a married couple whose marriage had gone stale, they reminded themselves of how great the Lord was and that he was worth serving.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you are not a Christian, who do you gather around you to tell you what to think? You don’t let anyone tell you what to think, I assume… in what sense are you a product of your culture, and other influences? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Who do you listen to? What are your major influences?<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The BBC? Wikipedia?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Who do you trust to tell you the meaning of life? Your life is in their hands.How do you know they are trustworthy? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you are a Christian, who do you listen to? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Accountability relationships… <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>what is the area of your life where you are most likely to ast as if it is not worth serving the Lord. Your marriage? Your workplace? Your thoughtlife? Your prayerlife? Who knows about it? Who have you gathered around you to encourage you and hold you accountable?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you are a child, do you realise that as you grow, you are hearing more and more voices, and not all of them have the same understanding of the world. Some voices are trying to sell you things that you don’t really need… what that toy you hadn’t even heard of, but as soon as you saw the advert, you thought that you NEED it… you don’t. I hope you have friends who are not Christians: but who is being more an influence on what you are living for: you on them, or them on you?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I hope that more and more we should be a church where we are such an encouragement to one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Baptists have particularly seen this as a central part of what it means to be a church; they have often had church covenants, summarizing the bible’s teaching on how we should live together as Christians, and encouraging one another to live in this way. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Let me read a section of such a covenant from a church I formerly belonged to. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We will walk together in brotherly love, as becomes the members of a Christian Church, exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admonish and entreat one another as occasion may require.<br />
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We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, nor neglect to pray for ourselves and others.<br />
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We will endeavor to bring up such as may at any time be under our care, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and by a pure and loving example to seek the salvation of our family and friends.<br />
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We will rejoice at each other’s happiness and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other’s burdens and sorrows.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Pray for the elders of this church as we seek to lead this congregation to have such a covenant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Married couples: Realise that you are to renew your covenant vows not just at your 25th wedding anniversary… but daily… <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For them it was a temporary covenant that for the large part failed, for they fell away form recognising their absolute need for grace.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As a church, what does it mean for us to be those renewing our covenant with the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That is what we will do at the end of this service. The Lord’s supper is when we are reminded of the New covenant and its basis.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The function of the Lord’s supper as covenant renewal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are reminded that Christ is ultimate the one we are to gather around and listen to. We are reminded that we can only be heard by the Lord and accepted because of what Christ did.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In large part the renewal that came through those who gathered together in response to Malachi’s teaching was short lived. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There were for some centuries those who thought that they were carrying on the spirit of that group. They were determined that Moses’ law would indeed be upheld. But they left too little room for grace. They became a group that moved from encouraging obedience to trying to coerce others into obedience. In the end, that group, calling themselves the Pharisees would kill the one who would bring about the true fulfillment of all covenants.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Accountibility, and covenant renewal is only going to do us any good if we allow one another to speak God’s truth not just to our wills, but to our hearts; we cannot merely see obedience as a duty, but also as a delight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2. Celebrate a new service (3:17-18)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2158; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_11;">treasured possession</a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_11" id="_anchor_11" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_11">[MPGS11]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">, and I will spare them as a man spares his <span style="background: lime; mso-highlight: lime;">son</span> who <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2158; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_12;">serves </a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_12" id="_anchor_12" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_12">[MPGS12]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">him. 18 Then once more you shall <a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2158; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_14;"></a><a href="" style="mso-comment-date: 20081220T2158; mso-comment-reference: MPGS_13;"><span style="mso-comment-continuation: 14;">see </span></a></span><span style="mso-comment-continuation: 14;"><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_13" id="_anchor_13" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_13">[MPGS13]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_msocom_14" id="_anchor_14" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_14">[MPGS14]</a><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">the distinction between the <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">righteous</span> and the <span style="background: fuchsia; mso-highlight: fuchsia;">wicked</span>, between <span style="background: lime; mso-highlight: lime;">one</span> who serves God and one who does not serve him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The service the Lord requires of us is not the service of slaves, but of Sons. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The complaints had been wrong against the Lord, because they had thought that they were working for an immediate reward in the way that the hired worker wants his wages at the end of the week. But the Lord has a far greater service for his people. We are his children whose serve not for our wages, but because we have a share in the family business. And that business is all about displaying the glory of the Lord. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We serve not so that we can accumulate possessions on earth as our reward from the lord, we serve, because , as the Lord himself says in verse 17, being his treasured possession <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> our reward. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Think about heaven. What are you most looking forward to? The golden streets? Wondering what the fruit of the tree of life might taste like? Or being united to Christ? Can you imagine heaven without Christ there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“If you could go to heaven; have spectacular sunsets, no more disease, no more depression, all the friends that have gone before you, all the toys that you’ve ever wanted and Jesus not be there, would that be OK? My fear is that many in our churches are saved on that basis. They love what Jesus has to offer. Hell is hot – no-one wants to go there. Guilt is a bad experience, so I would like not to have guilt feelings, so if he could help with that that would be fine. I’d like marriage to go better and the kids not to play up. And if Jesus can do that for me bring it on. And you don’t have to be born again to want that. You just have to be born again to want Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There was a sense in which the whole Old Testament people of God were YHWH’s son. (Hosea 11).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But this section shows us that there would be division. A division between those who were sons only in name, and those who bore the family resemblance, because they longed to love and serve their father.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">BUT in the New Testament we are all truly sons.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do you see Christians as those slaving away for the Lord? Or as those who have found a new freedom. It is the service of the family business, not the service of the hired worker.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The most incredible thing is that our service would even be considered worthy of such a Lord. If we were only servants it would not be. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">“I will spare them as a man spares his <span style="background: lime; mso-highlight: lime;">son</span> who serves him”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you have a hired worker, if they don’t do the job right, they can do it again, or get no pay.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">we are having some work done in the manse at the moment. The workmen are excellent. But if they were not, we’d ensure that the job was done in the way that they were contracted to before they’d get paid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Is that how you think the Lord treats our service of him: sorry it’s not good enough – do it again. He would be right to do that. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords for he made the earth and everything that is in it. He deserves total and perfect service. But he spares us that; he takes delight in our feeble, mixed motives, flawed service. He is treats us as his children; his attitude to our service is like the mother who sits patiently with her 4 year old and listens to him try to read his first book. The words are very simple, yet th four year old stumbles over them, confusing his b’s and d’s. and yet there is delight on her face with every attempt that is being made, for she is treating him like her son.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How can the Great Lord accept such second-rate service?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do you fear that your service will be unacceptable to the Lord, so you shrink back from serving? NO! it is by God’s mercy that your service is acceptable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is only if we are in Christ, who has already fully served the Lord on our behalf. We are not serving to earn his favour, it is because those who trust in Christ fully have his favor already that we are freed to serve him. So great a service is due such a great king, that the best of our good deeds have enough sin in them to send us to hell forever. Yet our flawed obedience is acceptable to our loving heavenly Father, because Christ has already paid the price for all the sin in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">John calvin said of this verse: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We now see how these two things harmonise - that reward is promised to works, and that works themselves deserve nothing before God; for though God can justly reject them, he yet regards them as acceptable, because he forgives all their defects.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Because of Christ, every single joule of energy spent in service of the Lord is not wasted. It is not in vain! It is acceptable to the Lord as perfected by Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Then, my brothers and sisters, our service of the Lord can indeed be not only a duty, but a delight, when we know that, because of Christ, he is delighted in us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you are not a Christian, the Lord is inviting you this morning to become his child.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You cannot come through you effort; but you can come through Christ’s. this is where the Pharisees got it so wrong. They thought that by keep hundred of rules the Lord would accept them as sons,and they failed to recognize that they could only be Sons by trusting in God’s one and only Son.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Who are you serving today? Your career? Your marriage? Your real estate? Have any of them truly blessed you in the way that you hoped they might as you began with them. They are a blessing from the Lord; but they are not ultimate – they are gifts from him to point to him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">They will possess you, or the Lord will have you as His treasured possession.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">See a new separation (4:1-4)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">4:1 </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+3-4#f3" title="Ch 4:1-6 is ch 3:19-24 in the Hebrew"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[3]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven (furnace), when all the arrogant and all <span style="background: fuchsia; mso-highlight: fuchsia;">evildoers</span> will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">righteousness</span> shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the <span style="background: fuchsia; mso-highlight: fuchsia;">wicked</span>, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The fact that there seems so little difference between the lot of the righteous and the wicked is, says the Lord, only a matter of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">One day the difference could not be clearer or more stark. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Every good thing that we have in this world will be gone, if we do not have the one good thing that we all need.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The Lord will hold us all to account.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">And then, only that which has been in the service of the Lord will remain. The rest will be burned up.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Then those who have feared the Lord will have nothing else to fear. For when they see him it will be their joy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The very coming that for those who seemed to have everything is a day of weeping, for hose who seemed to have so little, but had Christ, will be a day of new freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">That day has already dawned.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It approached on that first Christmas, when the Sun of Righteousness himself was born.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It dawned as he died and rose from the dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It will reach its noonday strength when he returns, and every eye shall see him. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">What will that day be for you? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A day of joy completed, even as Christmas is joy begun; or a day or joy ended, even as this world will be passing away?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Do you fear the Lord?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps you think it almost impertinent of me to ask you if you are ready for that day. Perhaps you think it is just a very private matter, that shouldn’t really be talked about too much in public, and you wish we could just get onto the next carol!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But it cannot be merely private. Faith is deepy personal, but not private; for it anticipates this most public of days; the day where every eye will see the Lord jesus in his return, and in his light, everything else will be revealed. He is the Sun of Righteousness. Perhaps today we feel we can hide from him. We will not be able to on that day. But today, he calls us not to hide from him, but to bask in his light, that we might welcome him with joy when he returns.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Will he really?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps our last reason for wondering if it is all worth it, is the question of whether that day will really ever come.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Seize a new certainty (4:5-6)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their <span style="background: lime; mso-highlight: lime;">children</span> and the hearts of <span style="background: lime; mso-highlight: lime;">children</span> to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+3-4#f5" title="The Hebrew term rendered 'decree of utter destruction' refers to things devoted (or set apart) to the Lord (or by the Lord) for destruction"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[5]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For the original hearers Moses was to look back, Elijah was to look forward. For us, both are looking back. John the Baptist was the one who was to prepare the people for the first coming of jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Who will prepare you for the second coming?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The second Advent of Christ is as certain as the first.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps you doubt it… <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No, there is no doubt that Jesus will return. There is no doubt as to his verdict. It is as certain as the fact that he has already come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What will Christmas mean to you this year? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Will it be for you a grasping at your own past? An attempt to recapture something of the magical feeling that you remember as a child? Will it be ablout trying to generate that feeling for your children? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Or will your Christmas be a time of great joy, for you rest in the certain assurance that when the Son of Righteousness returns in his full strength he will be meeting you as his treasured possession. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 6;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><br clear="all" /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> <div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;"> <div class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Capitol hill Baptist church covenant. </span><a href="http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/we-are/governed/covenant/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/we-are/governed/covenant/</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br />
</div></div><div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;"> <div class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Mike%20&%20Hannah/Documents/twynholm/sermons/Malachi/Malachi%204%20sermon.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">John Calvin, commentary on Malachi 3:18.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div><div style="mso-element: comment-list;"> <hr align="left" class="msocomoff" size="1" width="33%" /> <div style="mso-element: comment;"> <div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_1" language="JavaScript"><span style="mso-comment-author: "Mike Gilbart-Smith";"><a href="" name="_msocom_1"></a></span> <div class="MsoCommentText"><br />
</div></div></div><div style="mso-element: comment;"><div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_14" language="JavaScript"> </div></div></div>Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-34061966139540034492010-10-21T04:29:00.000-07:002010-10-21T04:29:47.520-07:00Malachi 3: what do expect from God? Justice?<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What do you want from God? Justice?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="" name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done” so said Lord Hewart<o:p></o:p></span></span></a></div><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">“Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.” Blaise Pascal</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">“</span></span></span><a href="http://thinkexist.com/quotation/nothing_is_to_be_preferred_before_justice/149598.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Nothing is to be preferred before justice.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">” </span></span></span><a href="http://thinkexist.com/quotes/socrates/"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Socrates quotes</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><a href="" name="002346"></a></span></span><a href="http://www.wisdomquotes.com/002346.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Jimmy Carter</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">: The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><a href="" name="001596"></a></span></span><a href="http://www.wisdomquotes.com/001596.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Martin Luther King, Jr.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">: <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span> <div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps the most repeated quotation about justice is anonymous. In fact it is almost certain that millions of people have come up with it quite independently of one another:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s not fair! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We know that to be the cry that we head from our children from as soon as they can string a three word sentence together. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It functions as a catch all phrase for whenever a child is unhappy with what they have, particularly when they are comparing it to what someone else has. A bigger slice of cake. A treat that they are not yet old enough to enjoy. Bedtime when it’s clear that the grownups are going to be up for a long while, and you imagine that they are going to have so much fun without you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But it is not just the cry of a child is it? We have the same instinctive reaction of </span>indignation<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> at perceived injustice. Perhaps we no longer vocalize it – we have heard too many times as a child that it is only the cry of a spoilt child. But we feel it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We feel it when we lose something that we love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We feel it when our efforts come to nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We feel it when evil prospers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We’ve seen cries from a distraught family in the week whose son was tragically killed, and they feel that there will now be no justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel in the time of Malachi, in the 5<sup>th</sup> century BC in Jerusalem had a heavy sense of injustice. When they looked at other countries around them, they were pretty unimpressive. A small land; under the power of the mighty Persian empire, still having to pay tribute to the king of Persia – a kind of ancient near eastern political protection racket. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Compared to other times in Israel’s history it was unimpressive. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though the temple had recently been rebuilt, it had nothing of the grandeur of the old temple under Solomon’s reign. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Jerusalem there was no palace, for there was no king. Times were tough.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And there had been so much hope at the time of the return from exile that this would culminate in a golden age, surpassing even that of Davie and Solomon. For there had been prophecies that after the return from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>exile there would be a new king, the Messiah, who would be a lord like no other lord that has reigned in Jerusalem.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">All nations would bring tribute to HIM.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And the people were ready to cry out ot the Lord that the justice tha the Messiah would one day bring: that that day would be TODAY!!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do you want God’s justice?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Are there things in this world, or in your life, that would make you feel, “Lord why do you let them get away with it! Where is your justice?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Are you ready for him to answer that cry with his perfect justice?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To consider the Lord’s justice, and our true attitude towards it, Malachi 3 is going to ask us three searching questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do you truly want God’s justice?</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do you truly love God’s justice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do we truly want God’s justice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><span class="verse-num">17 </span>You have wearied the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”<br />
<span class="chapter-num">3:1 </span>“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts. <span class="verse-num">2 </span>But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. <span class="verse-num">3 </span>He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>.<span class="footnote"> </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2%3A17-3%3A15&src=esv.org#f1" title="Or 'and they will belong to the LORD, bringers of an offering in righteousness'">[1]</a> <span class="verse-num">4 </span>Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> as in the days of old and as in former years.<br />
<span class="verse-num">5 </span>“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts.<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We demand it<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps it seems strange for us that the plea for justice is something that wearies the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Look carefully at how justice is being demanded: Israel was claiming that there were only two possible explanations as to why they were not prospering as they hoped. Either God delighted in wickedness, because those who were more evil than them seemed to be better off that them, or God was just negligent… he was absent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">They were not humbly petitioning the Lord for justice: they were accusing him of injustice… “God is either wicked or indifferent” they seemed to be saying. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That is a strong accusation to make against God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do we make it? Do we accuse God of giving preferential treatment to the wicked, or of being indifferent towards justice in this world? Perhaps you do. Perhaps you are not a Christian, and one of the reasons that you find it hard to believe in the God of the bible is that this world doesn’t seem to square up with a God who claims to be perfect in his justice. This world just seems so unfair. And if god is both just and powerful, he could stop it! He could stop all the injustice in the world far more easily than you or I could slam our feet on the brake when we see someone step into the road.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Or perhaps you are a Christian. Do you accuse God of being indifferent or immoral. Perhaps not verbally: but do you ever feel overwhelmed by a sense of injustice: that someone you should have a better life than you do? That God should have sorted out some mess in your life some time ago, and he’s wrong not to. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Or do we ever just find ourselves grumbling? Isn’t grumbling a sign that we think somehow that our life is not fair, and that someone the just God has been negligent or absent?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We should take note from this morning’s passage that God is wearied by such complaining and grumbling. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He is like a parent who knows that at that moment the very best thing for the child is not to demand an explanation for every decision that has been made, but to trust their parent. And, as we saw last week, he is the perfect father whose decisions are always good. We may question in search of understanding; we may not accuse in demand of explanation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">God, of course, does not get tired. He is eternal. Nor does he get fractiously impatient: for him a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">His weariness is an expression of how he will act towards us. Perhaps it is time to stop being so patient, if patience is seen only as inactivity. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He is weary because the demands for justice were not an objective plea for God to act justly towards all. They were a self-interested demand that God act in their favour. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The fact that without exception human beings have cried out it’s not fair speaks both of the universal sense of justice that we have as human beings. But the way it is almost always used to demand our own rights rather than uphold the rights of others, shows that our sense of justice is very biased. We are happy to plead for justice when we feel we are in the right. We are indignant that our adversary is being harsh or legalistic when we are in the wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Have you noticed how you are often most vehement in your blame of others when you are least sure that it wasn’t largely your fault?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">God sees through it. He knows not just the words we speak to him, but the motives of the heart. He sees motivations in us that we don’t even see in ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoCommentText"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As one commentator put it, “</span>“sinners are invariably inconsistent. The thief is always outraged when someone steals from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him</i>. The liar is deeply offended when someone lies to her. The cheat deeply resents that she has been defrauded, and the murderer wants himself and his family to live in peace.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are so quick to see how others have wronged us, and we are incensed, but we are too often like Tony Soprano, or some other mafia boss, who is ruthless towards those who would seek to harm him, when he himself is quite happy to have people murdered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As Paul writes in Romans chapter 2, “you therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someon else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are also condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things… and later in the same chapter: you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As Pink Floyd sang, “when you point your finger ‘cos your plan fell through, you’ve got three more fingers pointing back at you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do we really know what we are asking for if we are asking God to stop acting patiently towards evil, and bring everything to justice now? The fact is, that if our demands for justice were all met today, we would all be declared guilty before a holy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We cannot stand under it<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="verse-num">2 </span>But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Are you ready for the day when you will face the Lord? If your hope isn’t in the Lord Jesus Christ this morning... where is it? Is it that you will be able to stand before God’s judgement? Is it that you will have something clever to say in your defence... “You didn’t give me enough evidence!” </div><div class="MsoNormal">My friend all the biblical pictures of those who come unforgiven into the presence of Almighty God are terrifying. </div><div class="MsoNormal">People cry out to the mountains begging that they would fall on them, rather than face God. There will be no clever retort. We will be silenced before his holiness: his goodness: his righteous judgement.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Who can stand when he appears?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Is that what we are asking for? Do we really want this perfect God to come in judgment; or do we want the judgement of an idol that we control? Do we want the judgement of a God, where we can veto his judgement? Do we want a God that is like the genie that comes from Aladdin’s lamp? Awesome power, but only really to be used in the way that we would dictate?</div><div class="MsoNormal">If that is the God whom you want: a powerful, yet tame God, be careful before you appeal to the justice of the true and living God, for who can stand when he appears?</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He will judge<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In fact, the Lord would answer their prayers for justice on day, but not in the way that he supposed…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He delayed another 450 years. And even then, the answer was only partial: the full answer was still to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As we thought about earlier, Israel’s hopes for the coming of God in justice were focused on promised Messiah to come. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And the day on which he would come was called, “the day of the Lord”. You can read about it in many of the prophets. On that day the Messiah would come and vindicate his people, bring in a new age, and destroy God’s enemies. He would come in judgment and salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But when that Messiah arrives, there was a surprise. We saw in our series in Mark’ gospel that Mark quotes Malachi 3:1… yet he stops there. The coming of the Lrod doesn’t result in the immediate judgment that was expected by so many. He would ome in salvation in his first coming, and judgment in his second coming. So, in one sense the day of the Lord was the first Christmas. The Lord had come to his people, to bring salvation. But in another sense the day of the Lord is yet to come. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">God is still, 2500 years later, waiting patiently until he brings in his final judgment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For one who wa wearied by the pleas of “It’s not fair” 2500 years ago, he has acted in extraordinary patience. Where would we be if the Lord had fully an finally answered previous generations pleas for justice now? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you know the forgiveness of the Lord today, where would you be today if the Lord had come in judgment last year? 10 year ago? 20? 30? 40? 50? 60?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Our complaints that the Lord has allowed injudtice to prevail for so long, are complaints against the Lord’s patience that has brought us salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you don’t know the Lord, today is one more day when the Lord is being patient with you. He would have answered many people’s prayers if he had come in full and final judgment yesterday. Yet because of his patience, he has delayed one more day. There is no guarantee he will delay another.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Christmas is a wonderful thing to celebrate, because it shows for certain that God will answer all those prayers one day. The Messiah has come in salvation. It is therefore certain that he will soon come in judgment. He has done only half his promised work. He will complete it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In fact, he is the only one who can. Did you notice the rather strange description of him here? The Lord God is speaking, and he is saying that the prophet (fulfilled in john the batpist) who would prepare the way for the messiah, is in fact the himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“he will prepare the way before ME. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He uses both “me” and “he” to describe this Lord. He both sends, and is the messenger, the one sent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We see here that the Lord is in fact multipersonal: Father, Son and Spirit. And that the Messiah would be one of those persons. The son himself; sent by his Father to be the one who would bring about all his father’s purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And as such he is absolutely just, He is the one who lives a just life; and is able to exercise justice for others.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet even in his first coming, though it wasn’t the final judgment; it was a time of refining. He showed up those who truly loved the Lord from those who didn’t; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He caused Israel to being the right offering by being the right offering that they would offer up.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And it is through that work of drawing people to himself that Jesus becomes a refiner, rather than merely a destroyer. He transforms messed up, sin-ridden people into those who would love him and live for him. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But it is a radically painful process. Refining silver isn’t at all like polishing silver. When you polish silver, the dirt and oxide is on the surface and is fairly easily removed with the right polish, and a bit of a scrub. But when silver needs refining, the impurities in silver are all mixed in. you can’t dust them off. You must put the silver over an incredibly hot furnace: silver melts at 961°C. Then the impurities will float to the top and burn off. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That kind of refining is not comfortable. Our sin is not something on the surface that is easily repented of. It defines who we are. To repent means undergoing an entire remaking… we are to be melted down and purified.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If we are to have Jesus as our Lord we really need to LOVE God’s justice…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do you truly love God’s justice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps because God’s judgment is such a terrifying thing, perhaps you think that we are supposed to despise it, or be embarrassed about it, or just not really talk about it, because it is such bad news.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Well, no! Biblically, God’s judgment is fantastic news. It means that evil will not triumph. Its only bad news for us because we are evil. But god is unembarrassed about it. It is an aspect of his goodness, and we so rightly recognize whenever we feel that we have been treated unjustly and hope that there might be some justice one day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If we don’t love God’s justice we are saying no to Jesus refining us. </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For, you know that I said that Jesus has not come in final judgment. That does <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> mean that Jesus didn’t come in judgment. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In fact, whenever someone puts their faith in Christ, there is a real sense in which judgment day has come early. For we are not leaving it to God to judge our sin on the Last day, we are asking the Lord to reveal sin in our lives today and put it to death today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are asking the Lord to melt us; to bring our sin to the surface, and to burn it off. That is a painful, heart-wrenching lifelong process.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And if that is not a process that you are involved with, then you may have a great deal of affection for Jesus Christ, but you are not a Christian. Bowing to Jesus as Lord is an invitation to be refined.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Why? Because we love painful processes?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No! Because we have come to love God’s justice, and we want to see his character reflected in our lives. We want to act in ways that display his character, and don’t weary him and anger him. We have come to recognize that we were designed to be silver, and painful though it be to get rid of the dross, we will undergo whatever the Lord would do to transform us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is often said that the Lord takes people as they are. And that is absolutely right as far as it goes. If you have not put your trust in Christ yet, don’t think that you somehow have to undergo some self-purification process in order to make yourself acceptable to him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No, that is why Jesus came. Not one of us is acceptable, that is why Jesus died.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We come to Christ full of sin; but we also come asking to be purified. We come, acknowledging that when he is Lord there is no impurity that we would demand to hold onto, but invite him to melt us and reveal it to us, and though it be desperately painful, for our sin is our life, we will have him burn it off.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do we realise that the Lord wants to do this not just in our lives as individuals, but also corporately, as a church? He takes Twynholm as he finds it, but he will not leave it that way. We <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">belong to him</i>, therefore we must invite him to refine us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This means that we may not resort to a conservatism that says “We’ve always done it this way, so we have to keep on doing it this way.” No, how would we ever be refined if we insist that we continue to do everything the way we have always done it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We shouldn’t just have change for change’s sake, but we should always be re-examining ourselves by the word of God to ask if there are ways in which we could be more faithful, wiser, more loving, more joyful, more honest, more pure, more generous, more welcoming, more God-honouring than we have been in the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Protestant reformers understood this; they described the reformed churches as “Refomata semper reformanda est secundum verbum dei” “the church reformed is always reforming according to the word of God”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Pray that Twynholm would be such a church. Reformed the word, and always being reformed by it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How can we tell if we are? How can we tell if we love God’s justice? Are we at war with the things that God hates among us?<o:p></o:p></span></div><span class="verse-num">5 </span>“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Are we committed to waging war against the things that we find in our lives that the Lord judges here? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Sorcery: I don’t know if you’ve watched any of the bbc series “Merlin”. Hannah and I enjoy it – it’s very entertaining… but for a Christian, it obviously raises the question about sorcery: Merlin is a sorcerer, and both Arthur, and his Father, Uther Pendragon are against sorcery. Merlin is very much the hero of the series, and as an audience, we are led to think “If only Arthur and Uther knew the good that could come from sorcery they would be more nuanced in their opposition to it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Well, perhaps you are not tempted to sorcery (tarot / Jenkins Khan academy over the road). But perhaps you are tempted to the kind of arguments that would promote it not only in Camelot, but also in Israel. Surely, if good comes from it, it can’t be all that evil…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A little white lie that makes your wife’s face light up. Just a couple too many drinks or coarse jokes or immoral films that help me build better relationships with non-Christian friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do we take God’s side against what he has clearly declared to be sin, or do we feel we are in a position to negotiate with him on behalf of our sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">God alone knows all the consequences to our actions. He may in his great mercy to bring good out of evil, but that never justifies evil.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Note how much of what God is intent on judging here is prejudice and oppression. If we really want God’s justice, we will agents of his justice. We will be incensed not just when we are wronged, but when others, particularly those who don’t have a voice are oppressed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Clothes on our back<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When you come home from having bought a pair of jeans for you child for only £3, it’s tempting isn’t it to be concerned only with the deal that we got, and not the deal that the manufacturer got. Christians should be those who care about whether we are depriving workers of their wages by not caring about those who have worked for so long as they are out of sight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One significant blow to the strength of the slave trade in the 18<sup>th</sup> century were the number of Christians and others in the UK who would refuse to buy, or even taste sugar that had been made with salve labour.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It would be great if someone would take it upon themselves as a personal project to educate us as a congregation as to how we could better care for those out of sight, yet oppressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is why Christians are to be those who will speak up for other humans with no voice. On the 40<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the legalization of abortion Christians organized a march in Westminster. Only 1000 people turned up. Less than you would get to an average 2<sup>nd</sup> division football game.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Pray that this church, and the church in this land would be those who love god’s justice, and therefore seek to reflect it in ways that are costly to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do you truly trust God’s justice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><span class="verse-num">6 </span>“For I the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. <span class="verse-num">7 </span>From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ <span class="verse-num">8 </span>Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. <span class="verse-num">9 </span>You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. <span class="verse-num">10 </span>Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. <span class="verse-num">11 </span>I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts. <span class="verse-num">12 </span>Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts.<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Our only hope is in God’s promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How is it that we are not swept away by this perfect and just God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As we saw last week, it is because he is a promise making God. He had promised to bring a people to himself. He has made a covenant with us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He promises not to consume his people<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He has found a way<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Justice personified in Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Have you trusted that way<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Where would they be without the promise-keeping God. It is only that God is their God and they are his people that gives them any hope that there will be at least a remnant who will stand. There would have been no return from Israel... think of the church... why do we think there remains a church in England... is it just down to sociological reasons? NO! God has been preserving his people, so that there might be a witness to his name.</div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Is it because we have been a hugely faithful church? NO!</div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>What about Twynholm: why does it still exist? Is it because of the great men of the past!? NO!!! It is because he will have a witness to his name here.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How can you tell if you trust god in his faithfulness?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Where are you investing your life?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Finances: are you robbing GOD!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Israel there were in fact 3 tithes. Two would be paid annually, and one every three years. Thus the tithes were in fact 23 1/3 % <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And these were a strict law. By paying less than these tithes, they had broken the covenant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But was God unreasonable asking for such a tithe? After all, times had been better. There was real poverty – and it seems that there was also something of a food shortage caused by a disease or a destructive parasite. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No! This is the God of miracles who has promised that he will provide for his people if they remain faithful to him. V11… Why would you not be faithful to me, my people; well, if we didn’t keep enough back, we were afraid some insects might mean that we’d be in real trouble if we obeyed you. What’s dominating your life, fear of insects, or trust in the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps it’s not a fear of a crop destroyer, but a fear that your pension is suddenly worth a lot less than it was last year, or that your job seems less secure, or that cost of living seems to keep increasing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My friends, these are all reasons to trust God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">more</i> with your life, not less. Generosity is a measure of our trust in the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is easy for us as New Testament Christians to think that this section is irrelevant to us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Wasn’t the tithe just part of the Old Testament Law. As an obligation, yes; but as a free gift it goes beyond it. Both Abraham and Jacob are recorded as giving a tuthe. Abraham, the father of the faithful gives a tithe to Melchizadek, the representative of Christ. Like the New Testament believer, he gave not out of obligation, but in faith; but there is at least a pattern, if not a law of giving 10%.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And that makes sense doesn’t it? Should there be greater generosity because we are obliged, or because we are free!?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Israel, where the law was written on tablets of stone, and on scrolls, the law gave Israel a culture of generosity. They were to give away at least 23 1/3 percent of their earnings/. There were laws that would look crazy to an outsider: “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain!” What a razy law… you’ll just end up with less grain and one fat ox… but even in the way that Israel was to treat its animals there was to be generosity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As new Testament Christians we don’t need the law to encourage us to be generous. We have the gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What’s the least I can give????<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">NO! the gospel teaches us that we don’t have a God who gives the least he could rightly give, but the most! Praise God that he has not given us the lest he could rightly give, for then we would all be in hell already.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We may have been freed from the burden of the law, but the even better news for the Christian is that we are freed from the burden of a self-centered life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Therefore if we are giving a smaller percentage than we would have been required to give under the law it is a time to examine our hearts…. Not to suddenly feel under compulsion – we are not to give under compulsion, but to ask ourselves why we wouldn’t give freely. In what ways do our lifestyles say that we are too attached to this world?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In what way do our lives say that we don’t trust in God’s provision? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>We should live in ways that look entirely foolish to the world.</div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>You think that the best way to secure your future is through planning exactly how much you think you will need, and giving god what you think you know you can afford...? what foolishness!! You think that you will be more blessed if you are less generous!?!?!?!? Who is the God you think that you worship...? He is refining us so that we will be more like him. What is the limit to his generosity?</div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Test me in this! If you are to test the Lord it is to be more generous, and see if your life gets worse...!</div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Note, the blessings promised for the Christian are not material blessings... there might be real material hardship! I remember a time when my parents shared with me that they were working on that year’s budget, and the only way they could continue to increase the percentage of their giving that year was to decide not to have a car as a family. We’d never been without a car... that isn’t the sort of thing people do, to go without a luxury they have come to depend upon. But you know, I remember alot from that year or two when we didn’t have a car. I remember the incredible commitment of my mother going to do the weekly shop for a family of 5 with a shopping trolley. </div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>When you sit down and do your finances and plan how you intend to steward the Lord’s resources (it is all the Lord’s after all)... how do you work out how much you will give? Do you decide what you’d like to spend elsewhere, and then see what is left to the Lord, or do you decide the percentage you’d prayerfully like to give to the Lord this year, maybe up 1% or 2% or 5% from last year, and then plan how you will live of the rest. </div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The motivation isn’t guilt... it’s faith!!! Don’t give out of obligation. This is not the time when I’m thinking, “OK, what will be the most persuasive words that will end up with the maximum possible amount in the church coffers... Not at all. Money is not the bottom line at all; it is because it isn’t in our lives that we are freed to stop living for this world and invest in God’s kingdom.</div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Think what we could do as a church if 10% were thought of as the absolute bare minimum starting point, and that each year we prayed that the Lord would give us the faith to increase that percentage... </div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>What kind of blessing would we see? I don’t know! Would the Lord use it to enable us to send more missionaries overseas? Would the Lord enable us to appoint some administrative staff? Perhaps the blessing of us all having less money to spend on ourselves and therefore living less like those around us, and it being evident to them that heaven is real and worth living for.</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My friends, we should conclude.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Where is your trust today? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What evidence is there in your life that your trust is in Christ, and his eternal kingdom?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Lord is a just God, but he is also generous. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He has been generous more than anywhere else in sending his son to die our death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He has been generous in giving us time to come to repentance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He is being generous in giving us days, and homes and finances to invest in his kingdom. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do we really know this God? Do we want him? Do we love him? Do we trust him?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Let’s pray.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-11417686680329337412010-10-21T04:27:00.000-07:002010-10-21T04:27:12.149-07:00Malachi 2: What do you expect from God? Fatherhood?<div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What do you expect from God? Fatherhood? Malachi 2.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">"She's a bad mother," <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">"She's not normal, is she? You have kids and you love them. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">"I'm ashamed of my family, and thinking what people out there might think of me, knowing that it's my sister." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">"She's just degraded my family to be honest... and made a mockery of everybody."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So said , Karen Matthews' sister and brother in response to the guilty verdict of Karen Matthews in kidnapping and imprisonning her own daughter for 24 days so that she might get her share in the £50 000 reward money.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The nation is outraged when parents neglect, or even worse, abuse their children, particularly when it was for such calculating and self-interested reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not the only case in the news recently of such an abuse of the trust given to parents. We have heard the terrible accounts of baby P and others who should have received protection from their parents, but whose parents did not meet the mark.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What about God? If one of the names that God gives himself is “Father” does this raise questions for you as to the kind of Father that God is? If not only was Karen Matthews Shannon’s mother, but in a very real sense God was her father, and he knew where Shannon was even better than Karen did, why did <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he</i> let it happen? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One might of course, see God’s hand at work; Shannon was, after all found relatively unharmed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But not situations of abuse result in the safety of the one abused. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In what sense can God be seen as Father, when he allows so much evil to prosper in this world?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some Atheists have come on the offensive and suggested that the God of the bible may be like a Father, but he is like an abusive Father.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So Austen Cline wirtes, “When nonbelievers look carefully at stories in the Old Testament about God's relationship with his "children," it can be difficult to avoid the conclusion that the relationship looks an awful lot like those which characterize abusive families. The behavior, attitude, and demands of God in the Old Testament are very similar to the behavior, attitude, and demands made by abusive fathers and husbands. Why shouldn't this character simply be labeled as abusive?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let me read some of the verses from this morning’s passage...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#cen-ESV-23106D" title="See cross-reference D"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">D</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> the curse upon you and I will curse<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#cen-ESV-23106E" title="See cross-reference E"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">E</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. <span class="sup">3</span>Behold,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#cen-ESV-23107F" title="See cross-reference F"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">F</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> I will rebuke your offspring,<sup>[</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#fen-ESV-23107a" title="See footnote a"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">a</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">]</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#cen-ESV-23107G" title="See cross-reference G"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">G</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> spread dung on your faces, the<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#cen-ESV-23107H" title="See cross-reference H"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">H</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Judah has been<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#cen-ESV-23115W" title="See cross-reference W"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">W</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#cen-ESV-23115X" title="See cross-reference X"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">X</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. <span class="sup">12</span>May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant<sup>[</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#fen-ESV-23116e" title="See footnote e"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">e</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">]</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> of the man who does this, who<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%202&version=47#cen-ESV-23116Y" title="See cross-reference Y"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Y</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How are we to understand this as the words of the one to whom we Pray, “Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be your name.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are a Christian this morning, and you understand God to be your Father, what kind of Fatherhood are you expecting from him? Is it the kind of Fatherhood that makes sense of this messed up world? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are not a Christian and you are considering what it would mean to relate to God as Father if you came to put your trust in Christ, what should you expect? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would having God as your Father mean that he will protect you from every trial that you might face? If not, how can you know that God is worth having as your Father? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes our understanding of God as our Father becomes distorted; it is at these points that there is the need to clarify and meditate on the security and the beauty of a right understanding of being God’s children. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That father-son relationship was being particularly taken for granted in dangerous ways by God’s people Israel, 450 years before the coming of Christ; Malachi had the difficult message of revealing people their wrong assumptions, and challenging them to a more healthy view of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If we are to understand what it means to have God as Father, then this tough passage in Malachi 2 is a good place to start. It doesn’t hide from the hard truths about God’s Fatherhood, and yet presents a picture of God that is majestic and awe-inspiring. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In this chapter we shall find three things about what it means to live with God as Father, that we must understand if we are to see him clearly and enjoy him fully.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To live with God as Father means we are to<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Reflect his character<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Recognize his justice<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rely upon His Son<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f1" title="Hebrew 'seed'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[1]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f2" title="Or 'to it'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[2]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f3" title="Or 'law'; also verses 7, 8, 9"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[3]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f4" title="Hebrew 'they'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[4]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f5" title="Hebrew 'any who wakes and answers'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[5]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f6" title="Hebrew 'in it'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[6]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> And what was the one God </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f7" title="Hebrew 'the one'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[7]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> seeking? </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f8" title="Or 'And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[8]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Godly offspring. So guard yourselves </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f9" title="Or 'So take care'; also verse 16"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[9]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f10" title="Hebrew 'who hates and divorces'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[10]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f11" title="Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1-4); or '"The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[11]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Display his name… our relationship with him requires a covenant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">From the very beginning of the world, the way in which God has related to his people is through covenants. We read about three of them in the passage here. There was a covenant with Levi – a covenant for the priests. There was a covenant with the Fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). There was the covenant of marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A covenant is more than a mere agreement: it is the foundation of a relationship of dependence. When God forms covenants with people he is saying to them, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In one sense then, we are all in covenantal obligations towards God whether we know it or not. The very fact that God is our creator declares him to be our God, and that we are his people and ought to live under his rule. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But there as well as this general covenant with the whole of humanity (even fallen humanity, repeated to Noah) we saw last week that God has taken the initiative in bringing certain people into a deeper relationship with him. One where he is not just their father by right, but also in the reality of an enjoyed relationship.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are all spiritual runaways who, like the prodigal son, desire to leave the family home of God’s fatherhood, and seek our won way in the world. In the specific covenants that God makes, he welcomes and remodels what it means to be in relationship with him as Father.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We see three such covenants here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">i)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Levi (4-7)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts. <span class="verse-num">5 </span>My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. <span class="verse-num">6 </span>True instruction<span class="footnote"> </span></span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f3" title="Or 'law'; also verses 7, 8, 9"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. <span class="verse-num">7 </span>For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people<span class="footnote"> </span></span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f4" title="Hebrew 'they'"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The priesthood was given a special responsibility for running all of the affairs in the temple, and also for instructing people about the law.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 108.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Life and peace<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Because “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Where does our life come from…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This covenant relationship showed how we are entirely dependent upon God for our life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 108.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Fear<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Taught to onour the Lord: the sacrificial system itself was to teach people that unless they were holly they could not approach a holy God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 108.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">True Instruction<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Under the new covenant we are all priests: does our life yield true instruction? Does our life <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 108.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Walking with the Lord and causing repentance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Did you know that repentance was needed?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Writers like the atheist Austen Cline equating God’s demands that we honour him with the insecure demands of a viscious father demanding honour from us don’t fit… human parents are to be like God in some respects: they are to display his love, his care, his self-giving nature, his authority. But they are not to BE God. They are not to demand the honour that God alone deserves. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> deserve all our honour. It is manipulative for a parent to weigh down a child by saying, “Look, you owe me everything… you are my child and so you must live for me.” But with God, it is quite true; He has given us our lives; time you wake in the morning it is God’s new mercies that you are experiencing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Parents are given their children in trust: God is the true giver.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">ii)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 108.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He is the creator of the covenant<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This isn’t talking so much about the fatherhood of God over all of humanity, but of the way in which God is particularly Israel’s Father. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is something we saw last week: but it is good to restress it hear: God is the one who initiates and defines the covenant relationship. That is what his covenants with his chosen people show.. that he is the God who creates the conditions whereby we can have a relationship with him, not us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the Christianity Explored Course we are doing at the moment,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rico Tice talks about how he might go about trying to get an appointment with the queen… He stands outside Buckingham Palace with a placard suggesting a time for tea. Obvisouly it doesn’t work. If he is to have tea with the queen, it will need to be her initiative, not his.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How much more so with God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Have you ever said, “I like to think of God as being…” Well, that tells us a great deal about you and your desires, but it tells us very little at all about God. He reveals himself in covenants that he makes with us. We are called to respond in love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In fact, the root of idolatry is the desire to define God for ourselves rather than listen to his self-definition. That was why there were such strict laws in the Old Testament against intermarrying with foreign women in the Old Covenant. It wasn’t that God was a racist who thought that there shouldn’t be any racial intermarriage. There are plenty of positive examples of that in the bible: Moses and Zipporah, Boaz and Ruth, to name but two.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The prohibition was to marry a foreigner who hadn’t come to faith in the Lord and thus joined the covenant people of God. And, whenever we see Israel marry idolaters it is not long before Israel is joining them in their idolatry.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As we are to see in the next section, marriage is theologically defined for the Christian. That is, marriage isn’t primarily about the two people getting married, it is about the God they are trusting; have a look down at the verses about the marriage covenant: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f6" title="Hebrew 'in it'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[6]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> And what was the one God </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f7" title="Hebrew 'the one'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[7]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> seeking? </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f8" title="Or 'And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[8]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Godly offspring.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The one flesh relationship is to be a covenant relationship between one man and one wife, to demonstrate the one God in whose image we are made...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Our marriages are to be self-consciously modelled on the Love that the one God has for his people; and the Love that the Father has for the Son, the son’s submission to the father, and God’s people’s submission to Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">How then can you have a marriage between a Christian and a Non-Christian that is doing this. The Christian and the Non-Christian will have fundamentally different understandings of marriage. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">And the marriage will be a partnership in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">something</i>. The very oneness of marriage defines it as a partnership. What is it a partnership if it is not in bringing glory to the one true God, through trust in his Son? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If you are an unmarried believer in the Lord Jesus, the application of this is quite clear; don’t enter into a marriage or potential marriage relationship with someone who is not a Christian. Don’t even flirt with the idea, any more than you would seek to flirt with the idea of bowing down before a bronze idol. I you have specific questions of application on this do come and ask me afterwards. In fact, the whole approach should be the other way round... if you are honest, what is it that you find most attractive about someone you might consider marrying? Pray that the Lord would work in your heart that you would find godliness more and more attractive, and worldly wisdom or beauty less and less significant. Regularly read through proverbs and find your spouse on the pages of that book so that you know what you are looking for before you find yourself meeting eyes with them across a crowded room.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If you are a believer already married to a non-believer, this doesn’t mean that your marriage is nullified. Perhaps you have been converted since your marriage. Perhaps you made a foolish choice of marriage partner. That is not the unforgiveable sin. This doesn’t relegate you to the status of second class Christian. We have all made very foolish choices in our lives. That is why we all need Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But we should all recognise the particularly tough calling that those married to unbelievers have in this world, to seek to model half of the relationship between Christ and the church when your spouse isn’t seeking to model the other half. Sometimes they will actually model it well without realising it; but it is hard not to be able to talk with your spouse about how you could better be bringing glory o the Lord in the way in which you love one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If that’s you, Seek the support, prayers and encouragements of others. You will need it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If you are married to another believer, there are many applications.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Be one who will support those who are married to unbelievers. Be one who would gently encourage those who are single and might be tempted into a relationship with an unbeliever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But, perhaps most of all, if you are married to a believer, make sure that your marriage is radically centered upon Christ. There are those who weep every night that they are unable to share their purpose in marriage with their unbelieving spouse: Let’s not be those who have believing spouses but might as well not the amount that we plan together how to bring glory to Christ in our marriages. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Your Christian life isn’t just something that you do together as a married couple. It totally defines your marriage: allow it to… what is it that settles an argument in your marriage: or a discussion, if you prefer t o call it that. Let’s have marriages where the only thing that will settle an argument is a clear conclusion that this is what will please the Lord… the only point in having a difference of opinion is never to be the husband’s opinion against the wife’s opinion, but only ever a different understanding of what would best please the Lord… and if that is the discussion going on, we will be reminded that one thing that certainly will please the Lord is when that discussion is taking place in a loving, listening, considerate manner.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This brings us onto the third covenant relationship that we find in this chapter: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">iii)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Marriage covenant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">She is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f6" title="Hebrew 'in it'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[6]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> And what was the one God </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f7" title="Hebrew 'the one'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[7]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> seeking? </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f8" title="Or 'And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[8]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Godly offspring. So guard yourselves </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f9" title="Or 'So take care'; also verse 16"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[9]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f10" title="Hebrew 'who hates and divorces'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[10]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f11" title="Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1-4); or '"The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[11]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As we saw earlier, the marriage covenant here, even though it is a covenant between a man and a woman rather than between God and people, is made to display something about God. His oneness:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We could certainly have a whole sermon, or sermon series on the idea of the “oneness” of God. His oneness has many implications: he is eternal; he is unchanging; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As it relates to covenant, his oneness is significant because it shows that he is Faithful. He doesn’t sign up to something that he thinks better of. He is utterly committed. If you doubt how committed he is to the covenant with his people, look at how he keeps promises over thousands of years. Look at the extraordinary lengths he went to to keep them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Look at the cross, and the cost he was willing to pay to rescue his people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> faithful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">He is the father who never gives up on his children; there is nothing that can separate those who are in Christ Jesus from the love of God. Not even our own stupidity, stubbornness and sinfulness. He will overcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">And that is why God has given marriage: to be a life-long union that would display his eternal faithfulness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">That is why he hates divorce. (see footnote of v16 – very hard to translate, but almost certainly ‘I hate divorce’)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">He doesn’t hate divorce because he is a kill-joy wants to tether people to the pain of an unhappy marriage. He doesn’t hate divorce because he imagines marriage always to be easy. He hates divorce because we are to keep our marriage vows as a model of how God keeps his. To break them is to tell lies about God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Every time we are unfaithful to our spouses in thought, word, or deed, we are telling lies about God, and calling him a promise breaker. And in divorce, where that promise is finally severed, we are saying that God is going back on his commitment to his people, or that it’s not worth being his.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">When people lovingly persevere in difficult marriages it is a great sign of our loving and persevering God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Now, I know that there are some of you who are divorced, and that too is not the unforgiveable sin. Also, the partners in a divorce, though both imperfect are not always both equally culpable. We don’t have time to go into more depth on the whole subject of divorce now, and the painful subject to how to rebuild life ater divroce, though we should be just as committed to loving and supporting the divorcee as we are to the Christian married to an unbeliever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I’d be happy to talk with you at the door, or to meet up for coffee in the week if you have further questions raised by this.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But in each of these three covenant note, that we are to display God’s character. This would be even more the case in the new covenant… <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The church, as the New covenant people of God is to be a display of unity, as we love one another. John 17:11<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are to be a church who realizes that HE takes the initiative, and we are merely to joyfully respond. That is why the majority of our morning services are not taken up by us singing or praying to him, but in us hearing from his word.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are to be a people who know that we are utterly dependent upon God for spiritual life and health, and come together before him in prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These are three reasons for our Sunday Evening Service… Make it a priority.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Recognize his wrath…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Do remember way back to the beginning of our first point, where we thought about how a covenant declares “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” The covenants then stipulate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> we are to live as God’s people, under his loving rule.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In one sense this is part of the blessing of being God’s people: the blessing of the calling to display his character… but the problem is that we choose a curse rather than a blessing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Imagine these three covenants to be a gallery of wonderful portraits of the character of God. Each of them making a Damian Hurst look like a worthless pretence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We’ve been given these priceless pictures to enjoy and live with. But we have taken black marker pens and scribbled all over it… You’ve probably all seen cartoons of the Mona Lisa with a rudely sketched pair of glasses and moustache. But imagine that the curator of the Louvre were to do that with the real Mona Lisa. He would loose his position immediately. In fact, it would have been far better for him if he had never had that position in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That is the position that covenant breakers should be in…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Their blessings have become a curse in the starkest possible terms.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f1" title="Hebrew 'seed'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[1]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f5" title="Hebrew 'any who wakes and answers'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[5]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f6" title="Hebrew 'in it'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[6]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> And what was the one God </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f7" title="Hebrew 'the one'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[7]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> seeking? </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f8" title="Or 'And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[8]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Godly offspring. So guard yourselves </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f9" title="Or 'So take care'; also verse 16"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[9]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f10" title="Hebrew 'who hates and divorces'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[10]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers </span><a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=malachi+2#f11" title="Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1-4); or '"The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers'"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[11]</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Priests had a wonderful charge to proclaim the character of God, and the people’s dependence upon him. But they abused it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We too have this charge<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Eldres: Pray for us<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Priesthood of all believers… seek to learn more about God, that you might be more faithful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel had a wonderful charge to display the character of God to a lost world by being distinctly different from the pagan nations around her. But Israel was so indistinct that members of Israel were happy to form the most intimate of partnerships with idolators. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What about us as a church? Do people find you strange in little obediences that the world will not understand?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel’s marriages were to be a display of the faithful God who had chosen them. Is it a consistent thing that Non-Christians would notice the marriages that we have as Christians, and understand that they must be built on more solid foundations than their own. Do they see Christ in them?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Is God harsh in punishing covenant breakers? Is he an abusive father who punishes his children for no good reason to out of all proportion to their crime? If we doubt the seriousness of unfaithfulness to God, we have not begun to understand who He is. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When we think of the stories of those who have mistreated the trust they have been given with their children, and we are outraged at what they have done to treat those who are so innocent, whom they should have loved, who they had a responsibility to have a relationship where they were working for their good and not their harm. When we think of that relationship and compare it with our relationship with God, we can do that. But God is not the abusive one in that relationship. We are. Every good thing we have he has provided for us. And we? Though he is infinitelymore innocent than any child. Though he is infinitely more worthy of of love; though we have an infinitely higher responsibility to work for his good and not his harm than we do even for our own children, we have treated him with contempt and abuse. He has given us everything and we have thrown it back in his face. We do this daily. Every time we sin against anyone, we are sinning far more against God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though he is the faithful God, we are in a word faithless towards him; like adulterous spouses; like abusive parents; like rebellious children. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What could be an appropriate punishment for whose who have broken faith with God? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">God is not harsh. He is infinitely just… but he is also infinitely kind. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If all the covenants we read about in malachi 2 show us that we are faithless, as even our own marriages daily show us, they point to our need of a new Covenant. A covenant where those who are faithless again and again can come and find forgiveness, rather than a curse. Where those who have caused others to stuble with their words, will not be made to stagger under the weight of their sin; where those who have desecrated the very presence of the Lord with us are not sut off from that presence forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How could there be such a covenant?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Only if there is one more faithful than us whose faithfulness can cover our unfaithfulness. Only if there is one who could take that curse from us and endure it himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We will hear in a little while the words of institution of the Lord’s supper…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“This is my blood of the New covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If we are to live as God’s children it will not be enough merely to reflect his character. It will not be enough merely to recognize his wrath. We need to Rely entirely upon<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his son.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rely upon his son.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The various covenants that God makes before the coming of Christ are not failures, though they most certainly result in curses. They display our need for a new covenant. By the time that Malachi was speaking Jeremiah had already spoken of it some 150 years earlier. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span class="verse-num"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">31 </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Behold, the days are coming, declares the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, <span class="verse-num">32 </span>not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>. <span class="verse-num">33 </span>But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. <span class="verse-num">34 </span>And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is in this New covenant we see that God is not only infinite in his justice; he is also infinite in his grace. He would not only rightly punish sin; in the person of Jesus Christ he would bear that punishment for his children, those he was calling to faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So, we return to the thought of the Fatherhood of God. Does God’s anger show him to be indeed a loving father…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Let’s conclude with seom words from Charles Spurgeon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is often more love in an angry father's heart than there is in the heart of a father who is too kind. I will suppose a case. Suppose there were two fathers, and their two sons went away to some remote part of the earth where idolatry is still practiced. Suppose these two sons were decoyed and deluded into idolatry. The news comes to England, and the first father is very angry. His son, his own son, has forsaken the religion of Christ and become an idolater. The second father says, "Well, if it will help him in trade I don't care, if he gets on the better by it, all well and good." Now, which loves most, the angry father, or the father who treats the matter with complacency? Why, the angry father is the best. He loves his son; therefore he cannot give away his son's soul for gold. Give me a father that is angry with my sins, and that seeks to bring me back, even though it be by chastisement. Thank God you have got a father that can be angry, but that loves you as much when he is angry as when he smiles upon you.<br />
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o:title=" "/> </v:shape><![endif]--><img alt=" " border="0" height="1" src="file:///C:/Users/MIKE&H~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1" width="30" /></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Go away with that upon your mind, and rejoice. But if you love not God and fear him not, go home, I beseech you, to confess your sins, and to seek mercy through the blood of Christ; and may this sermon be made useful in bringing you into the family of Christ though you have strayed from him long; and though his love has followed you long in vain, may it now find you, and bring you to his house rejoicing!</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-19745535469503643642010-10-21T04:25:00.000-07:002010-10-21T04:28:09.310-07:00Malachi 1: What do you expect from God: Love?<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What do you expect from God?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">How do you expect to relate to him?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Love? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Can we believe in a God of love when we see so much suffering in the world? Can we believe in a God of love when terrorists take over hotels and mercilessly murder scores of people? Is this a world which is in the power of a benevolent God?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Or bring it closer to home: can you believe in a God of love given the week, or the month or the year, or the life that you have had? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Are there times when it is very hard for you to believe that God is a God of love?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The very problem of evil is not really a problem for anyone who doesn’t believe that there is a loving God. If you are and atheist or an agnostic, you are most welcome to be here... but I wonder if you have realised that the fact that you are perplexed by evil in the world is in fact a sign that you maybe instinctively believe in God more than you realise. If there is no loving God then there should be no surprise if evil seems to triumph.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What do you expect from God? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The 19<sup>th</sup> century German journalist Heinriche Heine met with a priest on his deathbed; when the priest ased him if he thought that God would forgive him, he replied, “Of course he will forgive me; that’s his job!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Is that the kind of idea of God that you have. More of a heavenly grandfather than a heavenly father, who smiles down on the world with a benevolent grin, and who, despite it all has nothing but feelings of affection for all human beings, even those who turn their machine guns on innocent bystanders? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When we say that God is love, what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kind</i> of love do we mean?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Does God love everyone in the same way, or to the same degree? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">How can we experience that love?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">How should we expect to enjoy that love?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">How do you expect to know that you are loved by God? How do expect to experience that love? A warm feeling? An overwhelming sense of security? Physical blessings?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What is your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love language? </i>How do you expect to be loved? Do you expect God to love you in THAT way...?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="booktitle"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Five Love Languages</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="words"></a><span class="booksubtitle1"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Words of Affirmation, </span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="quality"></a><span style="color: #743852; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Quality Time, </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="gifts"></a><span class="booksubtitle1"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Receiving Gifts, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="acts"></a>Acts of Service, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="touch"></a>Physical Touch</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do we expect that God will be ultimately interested in loving us the way that we most like to be loved... or does our creator actually know us rather better than that?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament is a book that challenges us about our rather presumptuous expectations concerning God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We find his name only once in the whole bible, in Malachi 1:1. It’s possible that Malachi isn’t even his name: Malachi just means “my messenger” so that might describe his role as a prophet of God rather than his name.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is clear from the content of the book that Malachi is writing some time after the return of the people from exile in Babylon, after the Persian Empire overthrew the Babylonian empire and king cyrus allowed the exiles to return home.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">That had been a remarkable event in the history of Israel, a sign that God indeed was watching over his people. But by the time that Malachi prophecies, perhaps around 30 years later in about 450 BC, life seemed to be back to normal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps like Britain in the mid seventies, the great deliverance of the nation 30 years earlier seems rather less sweet, particularly as the reshaping of a broken society ws taking longer than might have been hoped. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Though by now the wall of Jerususalem had been rebuilt under Nehemiah and the temple under Ezra & Haggai, Jerusalem was certainly not the place it had been in the golden days before the exile.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Things had been worse. But things had been better. Everything seemed, well, just mundane.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It was a unique time in the history of Israel, but certainly not a unique experience in the life of believers...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">My brothers and Sisters, are there times when your Christian life seems mundane. The love f God is something you can affirm with your lips, but is it the driving force of your lives?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Why do we sometimes feel that God is distant; rela, but almost irrelevant. His love in the background rather than almost tangible in our lives?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">For this, and other questions we are going to turn today to Malachi.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Through this book we are going to look at four expectations we might have of God, and Malachi is going to help us to see whether our expectations are biblical, and whether we have really grasped the full significance of truly biblical expectation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What do you expect from God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This morning we’re looking at love... do you expect God to love you? In what way? What difference should it make.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Next week, dv, we’ll look at fatherhood: Do you expect God to be your Father? In what way? What difference does it make<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The following week we’re looking at justice: in what way can we expect God’s justice to prevail: what difference will that make?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And finally we’re looking at whether we expect healing? In what way: what difference will it make?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">So, to look at the issue of our expectations to love, let’s turn to Malachi 1 p. 968 in the church bibles.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><h4><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Malachi 1<o:p></o:p></span></h4><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><sup id="en-NIV-23091"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">1</span></sup></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><sup value="[<a href="#fen-NIV-23091a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mal%201&version=NIV#fen-NIV-23091a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</span></sup></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><h5><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jacob Loved, Esau Hated</span><o:p></o:p></h5><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><sup id="en-NIV-23092"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">2</span></sup></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">"I have loved you," says the LORD.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"> "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"> "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><sup id="en-NIV-23093"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">3</span></sup></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23094"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">4</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Edom may say, "Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
But this is what the LORD Almighty says: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23095"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">5</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You will see it with your own eyes and say, 'Great is the LORD -even beyond the borders of Israel!'</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<h5><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blemished Sacrifices<o:p></o:p></span></h5><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><sup id="en-NIV-23096"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">6</span></sup></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"> "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?'</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23097"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">7</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">"You place defiled food on my altar.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
"But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?'<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
"By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23098"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">8</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23099"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">9</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">"Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"-says the LORD Almighty.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23100"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">10</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">"Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23101"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">11</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23102"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">12</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">"But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.'<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23103"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">13</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
"When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><sup id="en-NIV-23104"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">14</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">"Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">As we look today at this question of God’s love... I’m going to ask you a personal question that I think will get to the heart of our expectations of God’s love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Why do we sometimes feel that God’s love is not enough?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is significant that in a book which is largely a rebuke for breaking the covenant that there was between God and his people, the starting point is love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When we struggle with indifference towards God, we are not called to grit our teeth and see if we can motivate ourselves to be a little more fervent. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We are not called to the locker room experience where, before the match we rev one another up to do our best in the match ahead by causing the adrenaline to flow through some exstatic experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">No, we are to love him because he first loved us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If our love for him is growing cold, it is because we are losing sight of his love for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And so, Malachi calls the people of Israel to recognise the depth of the love of God, and to recognise ways in which it has fallen out of the people’s sight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I pray that as we study malachi over the next four weeks the Lord would be opening our eyes to his great love for us; challenging our wrong assumptions, and shaping us to be a people motivated by his committed love to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We forget <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how </i>God loves us... <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">says the LORD.<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23092B" title="See cross-reference B"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">B</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> But you say, "How have you loved us?" "Is not Esau<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23092C" title="See cross-reference C"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">C</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> Jacob’s brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23092D" title="See cross-reference D"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">D</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> I have loved Jacob <span class="sup">3</span>but Esau I have hated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the many terrible things that Holywood has done in painting a shallow picture of love are those romantic comedies where love is all about spontaneous acts of extravagance. Love is when we feel so comfortable with someone that we can get a silly thought in our head and go right ahead and do it... like leaning dangerously far over the front of a steamship, or two people riding a bicycle made for one through the streets of a busy city. Love is thought of as being able to be spontaneously carefree with someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Certainly in the biblical pictures of love there is the intimacy and lack of shame in one anothers presence that such care-free moments encapsulate. But such intimacy is not what makes the love. It is one of the rewards of the love; the deeply hardworking, planning, self-sacrificing love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the kind of love that God points them to here...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is the love that keeps a promise made 1500 years earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Back in Genesis 12 God had made a great promise to a man called Abraham, who before that promise was a pagan from the area near Babylon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">God had made a promise to Abraham that he was intent in keeping.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He then passed on that promise in the most unusual way; he didn’t choose the firstborn son to be the primary focus of that promise for 3 generations. It was Isaac, not Ishmael, Jacob, not Esau; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jacob was given a new name by the Lord, “Israel” and his offspring were made into the people of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Then within Israel, the line that ended up being the kingly line was not as expected either.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The king came from Judah, not Reuben; Perez, not Zerah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is the love, that despite the incredible rebellion of his people continued to work to bring about the fulfilment of that promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">God love is a love of commitment and promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Notice how the covenant name of God “the Lord” saturates not just this chapter, but also the whole book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the kind of love that God has for his people: a covenant, where he makes promises to be the king who will bless his people, and calls his people to honour him as king in response.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But the striking thing about the covenants that God makes is that he is always the one who initiates him. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Too often we think of God as desperately hanging around hoping against all hope that someone will show him a bit of interest. Perhaps we think that he is lucky to have us here in church this morning, when we could be having a well earned rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">No! If we are God’s people it is not because we have diligently sought him out. He has done the seeking. He has initiated the covenant. The story of Jacob and Esau makes this abundantly clear: God decided that he was going to initiate a relationship with Jacob over and above Esau when they were both still in the womb, before either of them could take any kind of initiative towards him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And in the New covenant, his initiative is even more striking. As Paul writes in Romans 5<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">6</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">For<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%205&version=47#cen-ESV-28038J" title="See cross-reference J"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">J</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> while we were still weak, at the right time<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%205&version=47#cen-ESV-28038K" title="See cross-reference K"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">K</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> Christ died for the ungodly. <span class="sup">7</span>For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— <span class="sup">8</span>but<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%205&version=47#cen-ESV-28040L" title="See cross-reference L"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">L</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> God shows his love for us in that<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%205&version=47#cen-ESV-28040M" title="See cross-reference M"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">M</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you feel God’s love is distant? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Look at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> he has loved you, if you are in Christ. He knew that you would be a sinner in desperate need of someone to bear your guilt; and nearly 2000 years before you were even born he sent his son to bear every sin that you so deliberately and carelessly commit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The covenant we have is written in the blood of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">His love is not carefree; it is costly, it is deliberate; it is planned before we even existed. In fact, we read in the new testament that it was planned even before the world existed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The costly sacrifice of Jesus is described as the blood of the eternal covenant; it was always God’s plan, in love, to rescue his people through the death of his son. It was always the Son’s plan to take our flesh, take our sin, take our punishment. It was always the Spirit’s plan to apply the work of Christ to the hearts of his people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you feel that God’s love is distant? It can only be that you have wandered away from the cross. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Non Christian: this is the love that is being held out to you in the cross of Christ. You have experienced much of God’s love already, just by being one of his creatures. But unless you have bowed the knee to Christ, you don’t know this deep, committed, covenantal love that is offered to you in Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But recognise also that there is a warning as well as an encouragement here: God is a God of love; but he is not just love... that is, he does not love everyone in the same way; and his natural inclination towards sinful human beings is love <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> hatred...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This bring us to our second point:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We forget what we deserve.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span class="sup">2</span><sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23092A" title="See cross-reference A"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">A</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> "I have loved you," says the LORD.<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23092B" title="See cross-reference B"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">B</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> But you say, "How have you loved us?" "Is not Esau<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23092C" title="See cross-reference C"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">C</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> Jacob’s brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23092D" title="See cross-reference D"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">D</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> I have loved Jacob <span class="sup">3</span>but Esau I have hated.<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23093E" title="See cross-reference E"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">E</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." <span class="sup">4</span>If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the LORD of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called 'the wicked country,' and 'the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.'" <span class="sup">5</span><sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23095F" title="See cross-reference F"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">F</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The love that God has for Israel was displayed as being even more stark precisely because of what he did with Israel’s brother Esau.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This leads us to one of the hardest doctrines of the bible to accept. In one sense it is easy to understand, and it is taught very clearly both hear and elsewhere: we read another very clear passage in Romans 9, that quotes this very verse, Malachi 1:2 – Dean will have the responsibility of preaching of that verse from Romans this evening.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Wayne Grudem has some helpful words on how to approach passages like this that are not hard to understand, but hard to accept:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“In spite of the fact that we recoil against this doctrine, we must be careful of our attitude towards God and toward these passages of scripture. We must never begin to wish that the Bible was written in another way, or that it did not contain these verses.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The idea that God has an initiating love that brings some people into a covenant relationship with him raises a difficult question: what about those with whom he doesn’t initiate like that. If Israel is loved, what about Esau, who is hated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The good news of election has the corresponding bad news of reprobation: that is, those whom God does not elect to salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The way that this truth is consistently applied in the bible is not to cause some strange paradox between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility and expect us to solve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">No, it is to humble us, and to cause us to praise God for his kindness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When Israel was to look at Esau’s descendents, Edom, and see a nation that didn’t have that special relationship with God, they were not to look at them and just say – oh, but of course God would love us and not them!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">No! They were to say, v2, “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">There is no difference between them; Jacob was no better than Esau; Esau might have sold his birthright for a single meal, but Jacob tricked his father, cheated his uncle and manipulated his brother. God doesn’t choose the good over the bad.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He takes two evil brothers, blesses both in many ways; both receive abundant blessings from the Lord. But of those two sinful brothers God initiates a covenant relationship with only one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And the other is to show the one all the more his blessings.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are a Christian, do you have brothers and sisters who are not? You know that God didn’t save you because you were better than them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And so the nation of Edom, Esau’s descendents were to be a contrast to Israel: this is what you too would be if I had not initiated my covenant love with you, says the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">All your plans would come to nothing. All would end up hopeless for you. But because I have loved you, you can know for certain that there are promises I have made that stretch out before you into eternity and will never be revoked.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What do you do living in a nation that has turned its back on much of the Christian heritage that it once had. Do you tutt? Do you look down on others? Or do you ask, “why has the Lord in his mercy seen fit to love me, when I don’t deserve it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">No, we are no better than them; we are probably worse. But we have good news that we can share with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If we feel that the love of the Lord is distant, not only have we wandered away from the initiative that God took in sending his son to the cross; we have taken our eyes of the penalty that we deserved and he took.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We all deserve to be in hell yesterday. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">You’ll notice, that when people ask me how i am, I often use the reply that CJ Mahaney taught me, “I’m better than I deserve.” Start using it, and meditating upon it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Pray the Lord enables you to have good conversation with others because of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I was in the supermarket this week; the man at the checkout asked me how I was. I replied, “Better than I deserve.” He looked surprised, and said, “What are you then, a tax man?” No, far worse than that, i said. Well what are you, “I’m a church pastor” I said. He looked confused.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And you know, at that moment I felt pretty good about myself, and I thought, I can’t really tell this man that I deserve hell can I? And I didn’t. I don’t think I had spent enough time that day confessing my sin and thanking God for his incredible underserved love in my life. If I had, I’d have been delighted to have expanded more upon the fact that I deserved to have my life be a wasteland. I deserved to have every plan I’d made torn down, for I had dared to build to my own glory in defiance of he God who made me. I deserve to have a sign placed above my head that reads, “the wicked man”. I deserve to be have everyone who meets me shout in my face, “the person with whom the Lord is angry for ever.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This is not because I have low self esteem that I understand this about myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is because I stand before a holy God and know that I fall far short of His glory.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is because I know that God would have been entirely justified in choosing to save nobody.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He would have brought glory to his name in pronouncing those words not just on the sons of Edom, but on the sons of Adam – the whole human race.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When we begin to understand the goodness and holiness of God who cannot stand in the presence of evil, as we read in Psalm 5, the most shocking truth is not “Esau I hated”. It is “Jacob I loved”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">As tom Schreiner writes, “Most of us instinctively feel that God ius obliged to save people. When we remember that God could justly condemn all to hell, then we realise that it is merciful that he saves any at all. Rights have become so prominent that it is tempting to think that we have a right to be saved. Such a conception minimises sin and is human idolatry at its worst. Scripture clearly asserts that those who are destined for hell" deserve to be sent there. Hell testified to the infinite heinousness of sinning against God’s glory. Any sin against God is of infinite proportions because of His infinite majesty.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">God grieves the loss of those who god to hell. Jesus seeps tears over the destruction of Jerusalme. But God is unembarrassed about hell. It will bring him glory in displaying his justice. It is not a sign of his failure, but of his justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a little cliché that people have often said that is a dangerous half truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">God hates the sin, but he loves the sinner. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I mean, its true. God hates all sin. God loves all sinners. But he also hates sinners. Did you hear that in Psalm 5 that we read together earlier:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span class="sup">4</span>For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;<br />
evil may not dwell with you.<br />
<span class="sup">5</span>The<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%205;&version=47;#cen-ESV-13979F" title="See cross-reference F"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">F</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> boastful shall not<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%205;&version=47;#cen-ESV-13979G" title="See cross-reference G"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">G</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> stand before your eyes;<br />
you<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%205;&version=47;#cen-ESV-13979H" title="See cross-reference H"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">H</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> hate all evildoers.<br />
<span class="sup">6</span>You destroy those who speak<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%205;&version=47;#cen-ESV-13980I" title="See cross-reference I"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> lies;<br />
the LORD abhors<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%205;&version=47;#cen-ESV-13980J" title="See cross-reference J"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">J</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He hates wickedness; but he also hates evildoers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Evil may not stand before him, but neither and boastful people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We cannot so easily separate out sin from the sinner. Sin is not just something that I have; it is something that I do, and more than that it is something that I AM.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If God hates sin, then there is a whole lot of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me</i> that God hates.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a whole lot of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> that God hates too. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He loves all human beings because he made us all, he knows us all better than we know ourlseves, and he knows that we are made to be able ot have a relationship with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But, isn’t this a sermon about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love</i> Mike, I hear you saying. We started by talking about how we sometimes don’t feel that God loves us, and now we had a good few minutes thinking about God’s hatred... how can that help us!!!?!?!?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is; but we will realise all the more how incredible God’s love is when we realise that it is his enemies; it is those he naturally hates, that he loves in Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And he hates us in Christ. In the cross all his judicial hatred of sin was focussed upon the one who bore that sin. Upon Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And so, Christ becomes the one who has a sign placed above his head with a criminal charge. It is Christ whom people publically mock. It is Christ who is declared the one with whom the Lord is angry.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">How does this help us?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Because when God’s hatred of our sin is poured out upon Christ, we are released to know only his love. The Christian doesn’t need to fear God’s hatred. The Christian can be confident of god’s love. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If you trust Christ yet fear that God may have some residual hatred for you, look to the cross. Would he have sent his beloved son to die if even that were not enough to enable his people to receive his love?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“I have loved you!” says the Lord to his people... when we see the cross, we know the answer to the question “how have you loved us...” by sending his only Son, so that whoever believes in him SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Why should I gain from his reward. I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you know this love?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">You will only find it at the cross.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">How can you tell if you know it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you love God?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It was clear that the people pf Israel in Malachi’s day hadn’t really grasped God’s love by the way in which they were so slapdash in their love for God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We forget <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who</i> loves us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Those of us who profess to be Christians would rarely be so bold or brazen as to declare our hatred for God. No, we stand up on Sunday morning and sing to him “Worthy are you Lord to be thanked and praised and worshipped and adored.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But what about our lives... do they declare that we honour his name or despise it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The priests in the recently rebuilt temple seemed to think that they were slaving away pretty hard for the Lord: the work was so hard it was a burden: (v13)... but the long hours in the temple were not hours of delight at the privilege of serving the Lord, but hours of carelessness. They thought that so long as they were serving the Lord, it didn’t matter <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> they were serving the Lord. Their attitude was like that of the elder son in the parable of the sower: I’ve been slaving away and you’ve given me nothing! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you sometimes feel like that about the Lord... that you serve him, but you feel nothing of his love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">That will lead to a slap-dash service that betrays a lack of appreciation for who the Lord really is. For them it meant that they paid little attention to his word, and exactly how their priestly duties of offering sacrifices were to be performed. They were happy with blemished sacrifices. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">They did not know that there was a reason why the animals must be perfect: they were pointing towards the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus to come. They didn’t know why, and so they didn’t trust that the Lord knew why.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Is your service ever like that. When things seem burdensome, will you trust that the Lord knows why even if you don’t, and he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> worth serving?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">They had not merely forgotten <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> the Lord loved them, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who</i> he was. As priests they would often have the Lord’s name on their lips, as they taught and prayed – we’ll see more about that in chapter 2 next week. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do we forget this in our service of him?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do we complain to him that serving him in the roles he has given us is mundane, or dreary or burdensome? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Work can certainly be hard and frustrating; but when we see it all as a gracious opportunity that the Lord has given us to serve him, the great king it is transformed. The most mundane service becomes to us service of the great king.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m reminded of a house that had a sign over the kitchen sink: “Divine service performed here 3 times daily.” If our king would see fit to give us the task of washing dishes, or changing nappies, or tudying our bedrooms, or taking orders from a harsh employer, or trying to love a difficult spouse, then we should rejoice that this is another opportunity to bring glory to him. In fact, the less appealing the service is in worldly terms, the more we are able to show that we are not ultimately serving an earthly master. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">6-7<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23096H" title="See cross-reference H"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">H</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> a father, where is my honor? And if I am<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23096I" title="See cross-reference I"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=malachi%201&version=47#cen-ESV-23096J" title="See cross-reference J"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">J</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> But you say, 'How have we despised your name?'<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps sometimes when we don’t feel that God’s love is very real to us, it is because we are trying to relate to him in the wrong kind of way. Though he loves us in incredibly gentle and personal ways, his love is not defined by our predetermined love languages. He loves us not in the way that we would most want, but in the way that would most open our eyes to who he is. It is the best possible way in which he loves us, not the most comfortable possible way.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We know this even from the times that earthly fathers have loved, don’t we. The love of the father that sometimes says, “No, you may not have that second candy floss; no, you may not go to THAT party; No, you will not speak to your mother like that; yes, you will write to thank your grandmother for that present you really didn’t like very much; yes, you will come to church this morning.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you trust that he is both Father and Master? As Father he knows how to love his children best. As Master, he is able to see what is best and to bring about the most loving results i or life possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">That love is most enjoyed when we stop complaining about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> he wants us to serve, and start enjoying <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him</i> and trusting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">his </i>wisdom in our service.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The very fact <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> we may serve him is an incredible honour. We will care more about this than the fact that we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i> serve him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are a member of this church: how do you decide in what way you will serve? DO you think that God has given you particular gifts, and so you must serve in those ways that most express those gifts... that seems very self-centered to me: instead see what are the particular <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">needs </i> of this congregation, and go serve in those ways... the important thing is that you wholeheartedly serve the Lord, not that you serve in the way that you most want to serve.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">... building a cathedral...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Are we building a cathedral of praise to the :Lord?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We forget <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> he loves us.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Did you notice God’s preoccupation with his own name and honour through this passage.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">v. 5<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">v6<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">v11<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">v14<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This is why god loves us. It is why we serve him. Everything exists ultimately for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">his</i> glory.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps you think it unattractively selfish that God should create us not to delight in ourselves but to delight in him. I that is so, you have not realised who he is. It would be selfish of him to encourage us to live for anything less than his glory, when his glory is the greatest good in existence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jonathan Edwards says that it would be like the sun, in humility deciding to hide its rays from us, lest we would become too preoccupie with its radiance. But if we are cut off from the rays of the Sun, we are cut off from life! It is right that the warmth and light of the sun should be enjoyed. How much more is it right that the Lord should present himself as the one in whom we will find all our joy, and purpose; for he alone can give it to us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps we sometimes don’t feel God’s love, for we don’t realise that he loves us enough to take away other things that we might live for, so that we might live alone for his glory and his fame, and know that everything else pales into insignificance compared to the radiant light of his glory.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Is that why you get out of bed each morning? Is it so that the Lord might be glorified even as you serve him in ways that the world might seem crazy. And when people ask you, “Why would you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> that?” “Why haven’t you given up!!” do you reply, “Because he has loved me!”. My Lord for whose glory all things exist has loved <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me</i>, though I deserve only his hatred.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">David Brainerd was a missionary to Native Americans in the North Eastern States of the United States in the first half of the 18<sup>th</sup> century. He was a frail man, who eventually succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 29.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But his journal shows that he was a man gripped by the glory of God in all his service, whatever the apparent fruit, whatever personal trials he was undergoing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Let me conclude by reading a few entries from his journal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday, January 6. 1745. Being very weak in body, I rode for my health. While riding, my thoughts were sweetly engaged for a time upon "the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which brake in pieces" <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink94"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6Ny53amVvLjExNzIwNDkuMTE3MjA1Mi4xMTcyMDYwLjExNzIwNjU=#note94" title="view footnote">ed</a> all before it, and waxed great, and "became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink95"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6Ny53amVvLjExNzIwNDkuMTE3MjA1Mi4xMTcyMDYwLjExNzIwNjU=#note95" title="view footnote">ed</a>: And I longed that Jesus should take to himself his "great power" <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink96"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6Ny53amVvLjExNzIwNDkuMTE3MjA1Mi4xMTcyMDYwLjExNzIwNjU=#note96" title="view footnote">ed</a>, and reign "to the ends of the earth" <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink97"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6Ny53amVvLjExNzIwNDkuMTE3MjA1Mi4xMTcyMDYwLjExNzIwNjU=#note97" title="view footnote">ed</a>. And oh, how sweet were the moments wherein I felt my soul warm with hopes of the enlargement of the Redeemer's kingdom! I wanted nothing else but that Christ should reign, to the glory of his blessed name.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Thursday, January 9. Was still very weak and much exercised with vapory disorders. In the evening, enjoyed some enlargement and spirituality in prayer. Oh, that I could always spend my time profitably, both in health and weakness!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday, May 23 1746. In the morning, was in the same frame of mind as in the evening before. The glory of Christ's kingdom so much outshone the pleasure of earthly accommodations and enjoyments, that they appeared comparatively nothing, though in themselves good and desirable. My soul was melted in secret meditation and prayer, and I found myself divorced from any part in this world; so that in those affairs that seemed of the greatest importance to me, in respect of the present life, and those wherein the tender powers of the mind are most sensibly touched, I could only say, "The will of the Lord be done"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday, July 7. <b><span style="color: #cc3300;">My</span></b> <b><span style="color: #cc3300;">spirits</span></b> <b><span style="color: #cc3300;">were</span></b> <b><span style="color: #cc3300;">considerably</span></b> refreshed and raised in the morning. There is no comfort, I find, in any enjoyment without enjoying God and being engaged in his service. In the evening, had the most agreeable conversation that ever I remember in all my life,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink226"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6Ny53amVvLjExNzIwNDkuMTE3MjA1Mi4xMTcyMDYwLjExNzIwNjU=#note226" title="view footnote">5</a> upon God's being "all in all" <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink227"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6Ny53amVvLjExNzIwNDkuMTE3MjA1Mi4xMTcyMDYwLjExNzIwNjU=#note227" title="view footnote">ed</a>, and all enjoyments being just <i>that</i> to us which God makes them, and no more. 'Tis good to begin and end with God. Oh, how does a sweet solemnity lay a foundation for true pleasure and happiness!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The last entry was one week before his death, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday, October 2 1747. My soul was this day, at turns, sweetly set on God: I longed to be "with him" that I might "behold his glory" <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink107"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6OC53amVv#note107" title="view footnote">ed</a>; I felt sweetly disposed to commit all to him, even my dearest friends, my dearest flock, and my absent brother, and all my concerns for time and eternity. Oh, that his kingdom might come in the world; that they might all love and glorify him for what he is in himself; and that the blessed Redeemer might "see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied" <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink108"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6OC53amVv#note108" title="view footnote">ed</a>. Oh, "come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Amen" <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink109"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6OC53amVv#note109" title="view footnote">ed</a>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8960908066602705598&postID=1974553546950364364" name="nlink110"></a><a href="http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy42OjQ6OC53amVv#note110" title="view footnote">8</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-23851348579076727932010-10-21T04:20:00.000-07:002010-10-21T04:20:22.390-07:00Mark 16 the Risen King<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It has been hailed as a history-making ground breaking achievement. And it is certainly remarkable that a nation such as the States has been transformed from a society where an African American may not take the seat on a bus or a place in a school from a white to a society that has overwhelmingly voted to put a young African American Man in the White house.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Whatever you think of Barak Obama’s politics, it has been heartening to almost all that the USA is a nation that is now socially inclusive enough not to allow the</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> colour</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of a man’s skin be determinative in the political height to which he might climb.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet some of the headlines in the papers that were able to get the results of the US election by the Wednesday morning print run were almost apocalyptic in their congratulation of Barak Obama in being elected the first ever African American President of the United States. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The guardian, “Change has come”: The times, “this is our time”,. The Sun, “One giant leap for mankind”. Perhaps less apocalyptic was the Star’s “Yanks very much!” “A new world dawns” writes the Express<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Obama himself, in his acceptance speech made this wise remark: “</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Change doesn’t really come in a day does it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On Remembrance Sunday we are reminded that cataclysmic change comes at a cost. We remember that freedom is often bought with the blood of many. The fact that there has been significant enough change in America to be able to elect an African American President comes the other side of a civil war over a century ago and the blood of others in the civil rights movement only 40 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The jury is certainly out as to whether the election of Obama will really bring any significant change, and whether that change will be for the better, and whether that change will last.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">History is full of defining moments that did bring real change. We can see that from the benefit of hindsight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">D-Day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But as time goes on we become more distant observers, and so need to have a day called remembrance Sunday, lest we forget.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But our focus for the day is a change that came quietly one Sunday morning. Initially it was announced to a handful of women, who froze in terror at its announcement. But we shall see why this was the most significant turning point in the whole of history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If we are to understand the shape of history at all, we must understand what happened on that day, and its true significance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Turn with to the last chapter of Mark’s gospel, Mark 16.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1</span></span><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(</span></sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24866A" title="See cross-reference A"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24866B" title="See cross-reference B"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">B</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> When the Sabbath was past,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24866C" title="See cross-reference C"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">C</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Mary Magdalene and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24866D" title="See cross-reference D"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">D</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Mary the mother of James and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24866E" title="See cross-reference E"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">E</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. <span class="sup">2</span>And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">3</span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away<sup> </sup>the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" <span class="sup">4</span>And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24869G" title="See cross-reference G"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">G</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> it was very large. <span class="sup">5</span>And<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24870H" title="See cross-reference H"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">H</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24870I" title="See cross-reference I"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> dressed in<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24870J" title="See cross-reference J"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> a white robe, and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24870K" title="See cross-reference K"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">K</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> they were alarmed. <span class="sup">6</span>And he said to them,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24871L" title="See cross-reference L"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">L</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. <span class="sup">7</span>But go, tell his disciples and Peter that<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24872M" title="See cross-reference M"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">8</span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Marks’ account of the first Easter is the briefest and most enigmatic of the four gospels. In fact it is so brief and so surprising that fairly early on, probably early in the second century, people began to add extra endings. You’ll see one such ending in the brackets in your bible, 9-20. Those verses just contain a summary of other material that we find in the other 3 gospels. But the earliest and most reliable manuscripts don’t have it, and even some of the early manuscripts that do have it note that it wasn’t original.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some who want to deny the resurrection suggest that this brief account in where the only actual witness to a risen Christ is an angel shows that the earliest accounts didn’t have Resurrection appearances at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That will not do though, for though Mark is probably the earliest gospel, it is certainly not the earliest resurrection account, as most if not all of Paul’s letters have already been written, including 1 Corinthians 15, in which Paul catalogues many resurrection appearances of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">3</span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28705F" title="See cross-reference F"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">F</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28705G" title="See cross-reference G"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">G</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> for our sins<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28705H" title="See cross-reference H"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">H</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> in accordance with the Scriptures, <span class="sup">4</span>that he was buried, that he was raised<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28706I" title="See cross-reference I"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> on the third day<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28706J" title="See cross-reference J"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> in accordance with the Scriptures, <span class="sup">5</span>and that<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28707K" title="See cross-reference K"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">K</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> he appeared to Cephas, then<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28707L" title="See cross-reference L"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">L</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> to the twelve. <span class="sup">6</span>Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. <span class="sup">7</span>Then he appeared to<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28709M" title="See cross-reference M"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> James, then<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28709N" title="See cross-reference N"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">N</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> to all the apostles. <span class="sup">8</span>Last of all, as to one untimely born,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2015&version=47#cen-ESV-28710O" title="See cross-reference O"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">O</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> he appeared also to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But it seems here that Mark has another purpose in leaving the gospel more open-ended. He leaves the women in the same place that we are left as the reader. We have heard the news of the resurrection, we have not yet seen the risen Christ. But just as surely as those women saw the risen Christ, as was well known amongst the readers already, so too we will surely see him one day, and we too will be dumbstruck just as they were when they came to realise that he is indeed risen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A new day has dawned (1-3)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The devotion of the women can hardly be overestimated. They had been there at the cross when all others had fled; they had observed where Jesus was buried. They had bought spices, or aromatic oils at the very earliest moment that was allowed for purchasing things after the Sabbath was over. They had come to the tomb at first light. They were willing to go to the tomb 36 hours after Jesus had died… His battered body might already have begun to decompose. They had prepared themselves for this act of mourning and respect for one they had loved, anointing his body, not to prevent decay, but to prevent an overpowering smell for others who might want to come and mourn near the tomb.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet even in the way in which the incidents are told in these verse, there are hints that this would not be the beginning of a third day of mourning for the women.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For this was an entirely different kind of day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What was the day that went before: it was the Sabbath, the last day of the week which had been the Jewish holy day since the time that God called them as a nation, in remembrance of the fact that the Lord himself rested on the seventh day from all his creating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Thus the fourth commandment had been “</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. <span class="sup">9</span><sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2020&version=47#cen-ESV-2061K" title="See cross-reference K"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">K</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, <span class="sup">10</span>but the<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2020&version=47#cen-ESV-2062L" title="See cross-reference L"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">L</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2020&version=47#cen-ESV-2062M" title="See cross-reference M"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">M</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> sojourner who is within your gates. <span class="sup">11</span>For<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2020&version=47#cen-ESV-2063N" title="See cross-reference N"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">N</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Sabbath was therefore right at the heart of Old Testament religion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But that central day of Old Testament religion had just passed, and with it Old Testament religion itself had passed, for a new day, of the new covenant had dawned.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Matthew Henry put it like this.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Never was there such a <i>Sabbath</i> since the Sabbath was first instituted as this was, which the first words of this chapter tell us was <i>now past;</i> during all this Sabbath our Lord Jesus lay in the grave. It was <i>to him</i> a Sabbath of <i>rest,</i> but a <i>silent</i> Sabbath, it was to his disciples a melancholy Sabbath, spent in tears and fears. Never were the Sabbath services in the temple such an <i>abomination to God,</i> though they had been often so, as they were now, when the chief priests, who presided in them, had their hands full of blood, the blood of Christ. Well, this Sabbath is over, and the first day of the week is the first day of a new world.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The next verse, too talks about the sun that had risen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mark had begun his gospel with an allusion to Malachi 3, “Behold I will send my messenger before you.” Here is the last chapter he alludes to Malachi Chapter 4: “but for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason for this day of hope is of course the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So significant an event is it, that from that point onwards even Jewish Christians didn’t meet on the last day of the week to celebrate the Lord’s rest. They were not like Muslims who meet on the 6<sup>th</sup> day of the week to celebrate the creation of Adam.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are Christians. We meet on the first day of the week to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. In the rest of the New Testament this is the consistent pattern. The first day of the weeks became known as “The Lord’s day” because on that day the Lord rose.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We do not celebrate God’s rest in creating this world in which we live: we celebrate the beginning of God ‘s new creation. And so, that rising Sun marked that new creation, for the Son of God himself was risen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you are not convinced that the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened, here’s another piece of evidence for you to consider: why would a 1200 year old custom, written on the blocks of stone of the ten commandments themselves be changed if nothing significant had really happened on that first Easter Day? This isn’t a later story made up by Jesus’ followers. They weren’t expecting it. Three of them were on the way to the tomb to complete the funeral that they hadn’t had time to hold in the rush to get him buried before the Sabbath.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As we saw a couple of weeks ago, the men were all so fearful and disappointed that they weren’t anywhere to be seen. They were not in the least part expecting a resurrection. They certainly weren’t looking to found a new religion. Yet, with the dawning of that day, Jesus Christ broke back into their lives and turned their world upside down, so that within days they are ready to preach publically that they had seen the risen Christ, and there were ready to die for that belief. Early church records say that all but one of the 11 remaining apostles were martyred for what they preached happened on that first Easter Day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are celebrating remembrance Sunday today to give thanks for those who made great sacrifices in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the world shaping events that took place in two world wars. And it is appropriate that we should take time each year to ensure that we do not forget that without those sacrifices we would be living in a very different world today. I wonder how many of us would even be alive today had those wars taken a different course.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But the shaping of history through wars pales into insignificance compared to the way in which that day shaped history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There are now but 4 remaining British veterans of WW1. Only one of those fought in the trenches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henry John Patch is now 110 years old. Soon there will be none left. They fought to buy freedom; but for each one who receives that kind of freedom, he can enjoy it only as long as he is given life in this world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The freedom the was brought about on that first Easter day is of an entirely different order. For, just as Christ was raised from the dead, those who have their trust in Christ are given a new freedom to live life in this world in a restored relationship with their maker, but that freedom doesn’t end with death. NO! In<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a world where Christ has been raised the freedom the other side of death is greater. We will then be free not only from the penalty of sin, but from it’s very influence in our lives. We will be free, with our resurrection bodies to go on loving and serving the Lord in an unfettered way that we can hardly begin to imagine whilst we still reside in these sin drenched self-serving bodies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A new day has indeed dawned… Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Because on that day the Risen</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Saviour</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is revealed….<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Risen</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Saviour</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is revealed<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">3</span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24868F" title="See cross-reference F"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">F</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" <span class="sup">4</span>And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24869G" title="See cross-reference G"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">G</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> it was very large. <span class="sup">5</span>And<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24870H" title="See cross-reference H"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">H</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24870I" title="See cross-reference I"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> dressed in<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24870J" title="See cross-reference J"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> a white robe, and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24870K" title="See cross-reference K"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">K</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> they were alarmed. <span class="sup">6</span>And he said to them,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24871L" title="See cross-reference L"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">L</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. <span class="sup">7</span>But go, tell his disciples and Peter that<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2016&version=47#cen-ESV-24872M" title="See cross-reference M"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you." </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The stone weighing around two tons had been rolled over the tomb. It was rolled there by means of levers, but would have dropped into a groove prepared for it. It would have been considerably harder to remove it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But, to their astonishment, as they look up and see the tomb ahead of them in the early morning light, they can see that it is already rolled away… Someone’s got there first, they think. They was in through the entrance. There would have been an antechamber before entering into the burial chamber itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And they are astonished. The person who had got there first meets them. He looks like a young man, but as he speaks it becomes clear that he is an angel. He hosts the women as they enter the tomb, and he proclaims that Jesus is risen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Note how the resurrection is therefore revealed to these women in two ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The facts. The tomb is empty: the body is gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The explanation of the facts: He is risen: and the explanation would not stop there: the angel reminds them to look back to the explanations that Jesus himself had given already: v7: there will you see him, just as he told you; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Bear facts are not self-interpreting. As we have seen with Obama, the bare fact that he has been elected does not tell us what significant role he will actually play in shaping the history of the US or the world; that will take the analysis of hindsight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There is the bare fact of the empty tomb itself. Jesus was not where he had been laid. Nobody denied that bare fact. We read in the other gospel accounts that the roman and Jewish enemies of Jesus knew where the tomb was and knew that it was empty. They had to come up with an alternative explanation of the empty tomb, and the one that fitted the bill was that the disciples stole the body. That remained the official explanation of the empty tomb in Judaism until into the 13<sup>th</sup> Century AD.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you want to explore more whether the resurrection really happened, I’d encourage you to attend the Christianity explored course that begins tomorrow. Come and see me afterwards.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So too, even the bare facts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ are not self-interpreting. We could believe that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead and not come to recognize the significance of that fact. I remember when I was a student there was a debate hosted between a Christian society and a secular society about whether the Resurrection of Jesus happened. A friend of mine went along who was a law student; at the end of the debate he said that he was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the resurrection really did take place. Did he immediately submit his life to the risen Christ? No, there was no sign that he did. His life didn’t change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In order to understand the significance of the resurrection as the most significance event in the history of the world we must look more carefully at the bible’s explanations of the resurrection, not just its descriptions of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Note some hints here: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is the crucified one who has been raised.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the new Testament the resurrection makes sense only in conjunction with the crucifixion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As we saw last week: in the crucifixion Jesus bore the penalty for sin; he was separated from his Father, and endured the hell of God’s righteous anger.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I had an interesting conversation with someone after the sermon with someone who said that they thought that Jesus being a scapegoat who takes the punishment we deserve was a lovely idea, but was probably too good to be true… It was certainly Jesus’ own understanding of his death beforehand: as we read back in chapter 10:45 Jesus said, “The Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Well, his explanation might seem too good to be true; but if he predicts both his death and then his resurrection, we should begin to take his explanations of his death rather more seriously.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The meaning and not just the merely fact of the resurrection would be particularly important for one sinner we have been following in Mark’s gospel. Did you notice the special mention he gets in the angel’s announcement?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“verse 7, go tell his disciples and Peter…”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In a very real sense, it was difficult to call Peter a disciple. Barely more than 48 hours earlier he had followed Jesus to his trial only to deny three times that he even knew him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It may have seemed that a resurrected Christ might be bad news for Jesus. You abandon your closest friend at the moment of his downfall, and then suddenly he rises to extraordinary power. Perhaps revenge would seem the most likely response.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But not for Jesus. He wants to meet Peter too; and you will remember that extraordinarily moving encounter that Jesus has with Peter as John remembers it in John 21; three times Peter had denied Jesus, three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021;&version=47;#cen-ESV-26904AA" title="See cross-reference AA"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AA</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021;&version=47;#cen-ESV-26904AB" title="See cross-reference AB"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AB</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021;&version=47;#cen-ESV-26904AC" title="See cross-reference AC"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AC</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> my sheep. <span class="sup">18</span><sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021;&version=47;#cen-ESV-26905AD" title="See cross-reference AD"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AD</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021;&version=47;#cen-ESV-26905AE" title="See cross-reference AE"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AE</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." <span class="sup">19</span>(This he said to show<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021;&version=47;#cen-ESV-26906AF" title="See cross-reference AF"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AF</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, <sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021;&version=47;#cen-ESV-26906AG" title="See cross-reference AG"><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AG</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> "Follow me."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What does this have to do with the resurrection? It is in the resurrection that Jesus not only proved what he has achieved on the cross, it is as the risen Saviour that he applies that work to our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is on the cross that Jesus won the salvation of all his people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is as the Risen Christ that he will send his Spirit to bring his people to saving faith in him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is as the Risen Christ that Jesus confronts us with our sin, our guilt, our need of forgiveness, and then points to his finished work on the cross as the answer that we most desperately need. It is as the Risen Christ that he calls us to bow before him, and acknowledge that he is our only hope, and he has become our central joy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3) The witnesses are awestruck<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps one of the clearest reasons that people saw fit to add onto the end of Mark’s gospel is the surprising response of the women that we see in verse 8.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The angel has just commanded them to “tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee, but that isn’t what they do: they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Apologetic: the first witnesses were women…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Speaks much of the way in which Jesus encourages women to be disciples, and to pursue Christ as much as men. Speaks against the idea of a made-up story.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 108.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1. In a chauvinistic world women’s testimony was worth half of men’s in court.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 108.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2. It is recorded that they are the first witnesses… Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But now also, they don’t immediately tell anyone; imagine that standing up in court: and why didn’t you run about telling the whole world this cataclysmic news?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“err… we were scared!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But why were they afraid. This seems to be a very different fear than had gripped the disciples three days earlier on the night when Jesus was arrested and they all fled.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There the fear had been fear of people and what they might do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Here is an entirely different fear. They are afraid not of people, but of Christ himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is the same fear that we have seen throughout the gospel of mark. The fear of the crowds when Jesus cast out demons, the fear of the disciples when Jesus calmed the storm, the fear of Jairus when his daughter who had died was raised to life by Jesus, the terror of the disciples when Jesus walks towards them on the water, the terror of Peter, james and john as they see a glimpse of what this glorious Christ will be like in the transfiguration.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Certainly the angels charge is a response that they must</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> fulfil</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. As the first witnesses to the empty tomb, they must tell the others. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We too, if we have come to know the risen Christ, must speak. We cannot have this great news and keep it to ourselves. We have not recognised Jesus as Lord if we refuse to proclaim him as Lord. What more joyful thing can there be than to make this good news known. The one who was crucified for our sins has been raised so that he might give us new life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But proclamation is not the first response to the good news.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The right response to the Risen Christ is first of all fear. The women were not disobedient in not immediately running to tell everyone. They were</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> paralysed</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by fear; a reverent awe of realization<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is the kind of fear that is reserved in the old Testament for God alone; we heard Moses terrified response in his encounter with God in the burning bush. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the announcement of the resurrection, it all comes clear to the women. This Jesus whom they have known and walked with and eaten with is God himself. It was the moment that would define the rest of their lives. What could they do but walk away in utter silence, in awe?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Will our response be the same?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The story of the resurrection is well known still to most people. But we live in a world that lives as if it had never happened. Jesus is seen to be just another figure who made history. Perhaps even the most significant. But his story is confined to history; it is remembered perhaps with the thankfulness with which we remember those who fought in the wars of a dying generation. But what seems relevant today is the more recent news of Elections won, crises looming and <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the light of eternity the most significant thing that will happen this last week is not that a new president has been elected; nor that interest rates have been cut; nor that a world took time to remember its dead. The most significant thing that will have happened this week will have been that around the world there have been people this week, who for the first time have been awestruck by the realization that Jesus Christ is the risen savior. And they have walked into the next day, new people, living no longer for this world and its dreams, but for the Lord who sits enthroned and will soon come to usher them into their eternal reward.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-12047695708874763052008-11-11T04:24:00.000-08:002008-11-11T04:29:04.673-08:00Mark 15: The Crucified KingThis sermon was first preached at Twynholm November 2nd 2008.<br />The audio is available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/11/02/sermon-for-november-2-2008/">here</a>.<br /><br />With the familiarity that we have with images of crosses hanging not only at the front of many church buildings, but also around people’s necks, made out of silver or gold, it is almost impossible for us to begin to comprehend how offensive an idea the cross was in the ancient world.<br />It was not a symbol of devotion or religion, but of shame and scorn. In fact, the earliest image of the cross that has been found is not in a church building. It is a piece of graffiti drawn in mockery. A quickly sketched image of a man raising his hand in worship can be seen next to another image of a man with a donkey’s head. Next to this image are the words, “Alexamenos worships his god.”<br />In the minds of the Romans, crucifixion was so hideous a death that it was not legal to execute a Roman citizen by crucifixion, however terrible his crime had been. It was reserved for slaves or non-roman criminals of whom the most brutal was to be made.<br />The very word cross was so offensive that in 63BC Cicero had said, “the very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only form the person of a Roman citizen, but from his thoughts, his eyes, and his ears.”<br />Even the word “cross” was never mentioned in polite society – perhaps like the word bastard today. The meaning is clear, but the offense is real.<br />In the minds of Jews the cross was understood to be not only the most horrific punishment that humans might inflict upon one another, but it was also seen as a sign of God’s judgment upon the one crucified. For in the law of moses itself we read, “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23(D) his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for(E) a hanged man is cursed by God.(F) You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.”<br />So cursed was the idea of crucifixion that if a man were to hang overnight on a cross the whole land would be defiled.<br />The cross remains odious to many who would claim to revere Christ. So, Islam denies that Allah would have allowed a prophet such as Jesus to face the shame of execution upon a cross.<br />Even some claiming to be Christians find the traditional understanding of a crucified Messiah so offensive that they too have sought to soften the idea by re-interpretation.<br />So, the well known media face of Christianity, and presenter of ‘songs of Praise’ has dismissed the idea of Christ taking the punishment for others sins on the cross as ‘cosmic child abuse’, saying instead that the cross should be understood primarily not as God punishing sin, but of Christ turning the other cheek.<br />In Mark’s gospel the cross it utterly central.<br />Already Jesus has spoken several times of its necessity.<br />In Mark chapter 15, that we are about to read, Mark does not shy away from using those utterly offensive words, “cross” and “crucify.” 11 times in 20 verses.<br />So, if the cross in undoubtedly the most offensive idea in Christianity, why have Christians for 2000 years understood it to be so central and so necessary? Why did Jesus die?<br />As we turn to Mark chapter 15, we shall see that the question can be answered in different ways.<br />1) From the perspective of those who crucified him<br />2) From Jesus’ own perspective<br />3) From God’s perspective.<br /><br />1) An ironic coronation<br />2) A deliberate self-sacrifice<br />3) A punishment that brings peace<br /><br />The cross as seen from the people<br />Jesus Delivered to Pilate<br /> And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole Council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so." And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4And Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you."<br /><br />But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.<br /><br />Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9And he answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" 10For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12And Pilate again said to them, "Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" 13And they cried out again, "Crucify him." 14And Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him." 15So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.<br /> 16(S) And the soldiers led him away inside(T) the palace (that is,(U) the governor’s headquarters),[b] and they called together the whole(V) battalion.[c] 17And they clothed him in(W) a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18And they began to salute him,(X) "Hail, King of the Jews!" 19And they were striking his head with a reed and(Y) spitting on him and(Z) kneeling down in homage to him. 20And when they had(AA) mocked him, they stripped him of(AB) the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they(AC) led him out to crucify him.<br /> 21(AD) And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22(AE) And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23And they offered him wine mixed with(AF) myrrh, but he did not take it. 24And they crucified him and(AG) divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25And(AH) it was the third hour[d] when they crucified him. 26And the inscription of the charge against him read,(AI) "The King of the Jews." 27And with him they crucified two(AJ) robbers,(AK) one on his right and one on his left.[e] 29And(AL) those who passed by derided him,(AM) wagging their heads and saying,"Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30save yourself, and come down from the cross!" 31So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.<br /> 33And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 35And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Elijah." 36And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." 37And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"<br /> 40There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.<br /> 42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.[j] And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.<br />1) An ironic coronation<br />Though the Sanhedrin had decided that he was worthy of death on the grounds of blasphemy in chapter 15, they were not able to carry out the sentence. They did not have the right to practice the death sentence. And even though they sometimes ignored this, and raise a crowd to stone someone to death, as in the case of Stephen, this would hardly do with Jesus. He had a groundswell of popularity among the people. It would have been political suicide for them to have him stoned to death at this point.<br />But if they could have him crucified, that would serve them very well. It would then be seen by all that God was on their side; for not only would he be reviled by the Sanhedrin, he would be cursed by God himself. This meant that they needed the Romans to execute him.<br />Blasphemy wasn’t going to cut any ice as a reason to die for the Romans. Though they tolerated the Jewish religion, they certainly weren’t going to execute anyone for blaspheming it, Pilate least of all. He had been quite happy to commit the most utter blasphemy when he had killed some pilgrims on a previous occasion and then mixed their blood with their sacrifices.<br />So, they came up with another charge.<br />Judging by the occupants of the gaol at the time, there had been an uprising against the Romans, perhaps led by Barabbas. Those involved were facing execution that very day. Perhaps they could tar Jesus with the same brush of political revolt against Rome, and they knew exactly how to do it.<br />Jesus had been talking about ‘his kingdom’. He had made great claims to be the Christ, again a kingly title. Well, any claim to the throne was a challenge to the rule of Caesar, and so they sought to persuade Pilate to execute him for his claims to be king.<br />We have heard from the very beginning of Mark’s gospel that the kingdom is near. As the gospel unfolded it became clear that the kingdom was near precisely because Jesus is the Christ, the king.<br />Now it is as king that he is crucified.<br />Pilate knows the real reason they had handed him over:<br /><br />Verse 10: “he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.”<br /><br />Pilate cannot find a charge against him.<br /><br />V14. “why, what evil has he done!”<br /><br />And yet he is not ultimately concerned with what is right, but what is convenient.<br />How often do we see ourselves acting like Pilate: we don’t realise the weight of what we are doing, but do that which pleases the crowd.<br /><br />Pilate releases one who is truly guilty of the charge of which they accuse Jesus.<br /><br />Barabbas was a real insurrectionist. He genuinely did pose a threat to Roman rule; yet he is released and one who is innocent dies in the place of the guilty.<br /><br />Because the charge was that Jesus was presenting himself as a king, the soldiers see this as an opportunity for their own amusment.<br />They realise that this whole trial has taken place inside a palace; so mockingly – as an act of brutal irony they stage a coronation ceremony for Jesus.<br /><br />They call together the whole battalion – there would have been a large guard of men in Jerusalem at the time. There had been a recent uprising, and Passover was a time of heightened political tension. If it was an entire battalion, there would have been up to 600 men, mockingly posing as Jesus’ subjects. Perhaps some of them had lost comrades in the recent uprising, and they were keen to take revenge on anyone who might call themselves a Jewish king.<br /><br />A soldiers cloak, twisted thorns and a reed were used as mocking royal robes, crown and sceptre.<br /><br />And they show him no mercy.<br /><br />The thorns dug into his head, and then, as he was beaten round the head with the cae, the thorns would have gone deeper.<br /><br />He had already been flogged back in verse 15. So he would be a pathetic and ludicrous image of a king.<br /><br />The image then changes from coronation to a mock royal procession. With Jesus so beaten that he is unable to carry the cross beam, they rope in a passer by;<br />Even as they crucify him, the mockery continues.<br /><br />It was a common custom with crucifixions to put on a piece of paper the crime for which they were crucified. Some would have the word “murderer” hung round their neck, others would have the word “thief” shoved in their face. Jesus mockingly has the term “king of the Jews” placed on the cross, as if the cross itself was his throne; criminals were crucified with him on his left and right, so that he would be placed mockingly between two of his highest ministers.<br /><br /><br />The scene was perfectly designed to cause people to mock him; and so they did; 29-32<br /><br />All kinds of people who saw him were mocking him. Soldier, passers by.<br /><br />The chief priests plan to have him crucified has had its desired effect. They observe the pathetic state that Jesus is in, and without callous glee add their own mockery. Nobody could take seriously his claim to be a king now: the whole idea was clearly ridiculous.<br /><br />But the irony runs far deeper. Six times Jesus is mockingly declared king in this passage.<br />Yet this is the very time at which his kingdom is being established. This is the very time in which he is being enthroned;<br /><br />The 18th century pastor J.L. Reynolds put it like this<br />WHEN Christ uttered, in the judgment hall of Pilate, the remarkable words?"I am a king," he pronounced a sentiment fraught with unspeakable dignity and power. His enemies might deride his pretensions and express their mockery of his claim, by presenting him with a crown of thorns, a reed and a purple robe, and nailing him to the cross; but in the eyes of unfallen intelligences, he was a king. A higher power presided over that derisive ceremony, and converted it into a real coronation. That crown of thorns was indeed the diadem of empire; that purple robe was the badge of royalty; that fragile reed was the symbol of unbounded power; and that cross the throne of dominion which shall never end.<br /><br />Those who mock him shout to him “he saved others, but cannot save himself” not realising that it was Jesus’ decision not to save himself that was the only way in which he would save others, including themselves if they would trust in him.<br /><br />The soldiers who bowed before him in mockery will bow before him with not just a battalion, but along with every other knee that has ever been.<br /><br />If the king on the cross are the focuses of the first 32 verses of the chapter, the rest of the chapter is dominated by the death of Jesus.<br /><br />There are several witnesses to Jesus death.<br /><br />Both Romans and Jews involved in putting him on the cross are witnesses to his death.<br />It would have been the official role of the centurion to ensure that he was dead – on pain of death.<br />He was a professional executioner, who would have well known the difference between one who had merely swooned, and one who was really dead.<br /><br />That’s why Pilate summons the centurion when he is surprised at how quickly he died.<br /><br /> The centurion – Roman<br /><br /> The women -disciples<br /><br /> Joseph –Jew<br /><br />Jesus certainly died.<br /><br /><br />Why did Jesus die?<br /> The envy of the Sanhedrin<br /> The cowardice of Pilate<br /> The brutality of the soldiers<br />Yet, there was a more powerful story going on all along.<br /><br />The cross from Christ’s point of view<br />2) A deliberate self-sacrifice<br /><br /><br />As we read through the account, we keep getting presented with ways in which Jesus might be released from the burden of his suffering. And yet rather than take any of these opportunities, he deliberately goes to the cross.<br /><br />o He does not answer, but agrees with the charge...<br /><br />o He could have persuaded Pilate<br /><br /><br />o He could have been released instead of Barabbas<br /><br />o He could have been released because there was no charge<br /><br />o He could have had the pain numbed by the myrrh, but he refused it.<br /><br />o He could have come down from the cross and saved himself.<br /><br />o He could have proved to all who he was, but would have saved nobody but himself.<br /><br />o He could have called Elijah to come and bring about the beginning of his judgement upon the whole world.<br /><br />Even his death itself is extraordinary. The centurion recognises how strange the manner of jesus’ death is.<br /><br />o The loud cry: this is something that nobody can do upon the cross... Finally there is not enough energy to breathe.. Jesus cries out... he is not unwillingly succumbing to death; he is willingly, determinedly giving up his life to his Father.<br /><br />Chalke’s idea that the cross is a kind of cosmic child abuse completely misses the fact that Christ is not some unwilling victim. As we sometimes sin of Christ: he chose the cross. He had so many opportunities to turn aside from the cross; and he chose none of them. He chose the cross.<br />At any point he could have walked away. He chose to stay there. As we read in Hebrews 12 he endured the cross. So different to us: we have not resisted temptation even to the point of shedding our blood. He endured the cross, despising its shame.<br />As Jesus says in John 10<br />I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep. No one takes it from me, but(AC) I lay it down(AD) of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and(AE) I have authority to take it up again.(AF)<br />If you ever doubt that Jesus is worth following – look to the cross. This is our king. Do you doubt that this king who endured all this for you is worth living for? No, he is worth it. As the writer to the Hebrews continues:<br /> 3(H) Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or(I) fainthearted. 4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?<br />If you ever doubt that Jesus really wants what is best for you, look to the cross. He would not have endured the cross unless it achieved the very best for you. He is not a harsh king who makes unreasonable demands of his followers. He lays down his life for his sheep. You can trust him.<br />What is it in your life that you feel would be too costly to obey Jesus? Following Jesus is not an easy road. But it is the only good road. Life under his rule is true life.<br />We begin to see the life that Jesus brings even in the words of the centurion. As Jesus dies he realised that Jesus is unique.<br />Not just a man, but also God’s own son. Perhaps for a polytheistic roman this isn’t a full statement of understanding, but in his words he speaks better than he knows, and models the response to this good news that we are to have.<br />Perhaps Simon too came to know the one whose cross he carried, for there seems little other reasons why his sons’ names would be known to the readers of the gospel.<br />To follow Jesus does mean to be willing to be hated and reviled by the world just as he was – but when we see this beautiful saviour, does anyone else’s opinion really matter?<br />If you ever doubt that Jesus<br />Why did Jesus choose the cross?<br />How then, does Jesus self-sacrifice bring in the kingdom and usher in his subjects into that kingdom?<br />The cross from The God’s view<br />3) A punishment that brings peace.<br />o It was the Lord who struck him<br /> The fickle decisions of crowds and rulers are in his sovereign hands.<br /><br /> As we thought about at the beginning, Crucifixion itself is a sign of God’s curse. Curse is the punishment for breaking the covenant with God.<br /><br /> It is not the punishment the we deserve.<br /><br /> Jesus had talked about a new covenant in his blood. In the Old covenant, there were blessings and curses: blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.<br /><br /> In the new covenant there are blessings and curses too. But all the curses of the covenant fall upon Christ on the cross. If you belong to Christ, there are only the covenant blessings for you!<br /><br /> 13Christ(B) redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written,(C) "Cursed is everyone who is hanged(D) on a tree"— 14so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might(E) come to the Gentiles, so that(F) we might receive(G) the promised Spirit[a] through faith.<br /><br />Are there times when you do not consider the Christian life a blessing? There is only blessing from the Lord for his children; not always the kind of blessing we want: sometimes the blessing is the blessing in sharing in Christ’s suffering; sometimes it is the blessing of having a loving heavenly Father who disciplines his children. But there is not remaining curse for us; Christ has born it all.<br /><br />This curse from God is pictured not just in the cross itself, but in the darkness that fell.<br /><br />Darkness is a common picture of God’s judicial anger in the bible.<br /><br />o Darkness falls on the whole land at Passover.<br /><br /> 21Then the LORD said to Moses,(A) "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be(B) darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt." 22So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but(C) all the people of Israel had light where they lived.<br /><br />o The place that should have been the light has darkness.<br /><br />o The darkness falls also on Christ. There was no pool of light falling on Jesus: instead the darkness focuses on Jesus – he is willingly cut off from his father.<br /><br />o The cry: My god, my god, why have you forsaken me.<br />We cannot hope to begin to understand the suffering that Christ endured in being separated from his father’s loving presence.<br />God the son eternally knows and enjoys the love of his Father. Yet for those six hours on the cross he is utterly forsaken by his Father. His father withdraws that love that only the Son and the Spirit have sully known., and instead pours out his wrath – his righteous anger.<br /><br /> 2 pictures of hell here.<br />• 1. The picture of separation from God<br />• 2. The picture of being in the presence of God’s wrath.<br /> He withdrew his loving presence<br /> He poured out his righteous anger<br /> “If Christ was not truly forsaken by his Father during His execution, then no atonement occurred, because forsakenness was the penalty for sin that God established in the old covenant. Therefore, Christ had to receive the full measure of that penalty on the cross.” (R C Sproul)<br /><br />Do you have any doubt of the existence of hell? It shows that we live in relatively shelterd times that mean that so many people rather hope that there is no hell. I remember being struck by watching a documentary about someone who had worked to try and bring some of the perpetrators of war crimes in bosnia to justice. Towards the end of the programme he said, having seen such terrible crimes where lives were cut short so pointlessly and mercilessly, “I hope there is a heaven”... but after being here, I hope there is a hell too.<br /><br />My friend, if you have any doubt if there is a hell, and whether God will send people there, look at the cross. There Jesus – God’s own son endured hell. A withdrawal of God’s loving presence, a pouring out of God’s judicial anger. If there was anyone who bore sin whom the Lord would choose to overlook that sin, it is his Son. Yet even when God’s Son bears sin, God will not overlook justice: he punishes that sin in his son with hell.<br /><br />Hell will be a reality for all who have not been joined to Christ by faith, and had their sin punished in him. Yet for all who would ever put their faith in Christ, God’s wrath is appeased.<br /><br />o The Lord is appeased<br /><br />The cross doesn’t merely picture something. It is not merely and example.<br />The cross doesn’t merely speak something – it doesn’t just teach us that Jesus is king.<br /><br />The cross achieves our salvation.<br />God declares it to be so.<br />Jesus gave up his life: who actually killed him? God took his life. In Luke’s gospel we read that those last words are "Father,(C) into your hands I(D) commit my spirit!"<br /><br />He gives up his life for his father to take it.<br /><br />God accepted his son’s sacrifice on behalf of his people. Because the shepherd was sacrificed the sheep are freed from our guilt. The price has been paid.<br /><br /> He ripped the curtain – the curtain in the temple / tabernacle had for 1500 years had functioned as a big NO entry sign into the presence of God. Only the high priest was allowed to enter, only once per year after sacrifices. If anyone else entered, they would die.<br /> Such is God’s holiness that he cannot have sinful human beings in his presence. His righteous anger at their sin would burn out against us.<br /> Yet now, the door is open...<br /> Why? Has God changed? No, he is just as holy. Have we changed? No, we are just as sinful.<br /> But, Christ has born the guilt of his people, so that his people might be received with his righteousness.<br />Perhaps you wonder whether god would really forgive you! You are painfully aware of your sin.<br /><br />My friend, with all due respect, your sin is worse than you think it is. All of our sin is. But the cross is a more sufficient sacrifice than we think. If you doubt that God would accept you even if you put your trust in Christ, consider that torn curtain!<br /><br />Perhaps you know that Christ bore your sin, but you go through times when you feel so dirty that you feel you can’t approach God in prayer. Confess your sin; know that it was to save sinners that Christ died. Come once again to the cross. He did not go to the cross merely to wipe our slate clean. He went to the cross to bring us to God.<br /><br />Jesus did not go unwillingly to the cross, the father didn’t unwillingly accept the sacrifice. There is no small print; he is not trying to trap us; if we know Christ as our Lord, then he is our Saviour. He is delighted to be so. It has all been paid for 2000 years ago. It is finished.<br /><br />(V) Therefore, brothers,[c] since we have confidence to enter(W) the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by(X) the new and living way that he opened for us through(Y) the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21and since we have(Z) a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts(AA) sprinkled clean(AB) from an evil conscience and our bodies(AC) washed with pure water. 23(AD) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for(AE) he who promised is faithful.<br /><br /><br />Why did Jesus die?<br /><br />Jesus died because of the envy, the cowardice and the brutality of men.<br />Jesus dies because we are sinners deserving God’s judgement. It was a sinful world that crucified Christ.<br /><br />Because of that we are under the wrath of God.<br /><br />If this world feels God-forsaken at times. If this world feels lonely and cruel it is because we have forsaken God and turned to worthless idols.<br /><br />As enlightened dwellers of the 21st century, we sometimes laugh at the pagan gods that were worshipped in ancient times. But we have to admit that the modern gods are far more pitiful.<br /><br />The Australian theologian Peter Bolt writes,<br /><br />“we serve the ‘no god’ pf money, and yet we still cannot buy our way out of the grave. We run after the god of Pleasure, and yet we know deep down that we ‘eat, drink and be merry’ because´tomorrow we die.’<br /><br />In the cross we have a glimpse into what it means to be fully god-forsaken. We have a glimpse into hell. But it is in that glimpse into hell that there is any hope at all for a God-forsaken world.<br /><br />For Christ bears that hell, that we might enter his kingdom, and share his glory.<br /><br />Why did Jesus die?<br /><br />Jesus died because he chose to face hell in our place<br /><br />Jesus died because God the just was satisfied to look on him and pardon me.<br /><br />As one pastor has written:<br /><br />Because the sinless Savior died, my guilty soul is counted free; for God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me. On what basis did God pass His justifying sentence? Not on the basis of righteous deeds which we have done because "all our works are filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). God knew the worst about us and accepted us for Jesus' sake. The verdict which He passed on us is final and no one can produce new evidence of my sinfulness that will make God change His mind.<br />It is finished<br /><br />Amen.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-92082141581973268072008-11-04T09:18:00.000-08:002008-11-04T09:21:34.398-08:00Mark 10: The Sacrifical KingThis sermon was first preached at Twnholm Sept 14th 2008.<br />audio available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/09/14/sermon-for-september-14-2008/">here</a><br /><br />W E Henley had had a hard life. When he was only 19 his father died with massive debts, leaving, as the eldest of 6 children trying to help his mother make ends meet.<br />But he himself was not strong: he had suffered from t.b. aged 12, and had lost a leg as a result.<br />Though not physically strong he was tough. RL Stevenson had modelled the one-legged pirate Long John Silver on Henley’s unstoppable character.<br />Nowhere did Henley encapsulate this spirit of determination so eloquently as in his poem, Invictus, “Invincible”, written 6 years after his father’s death in 1875.<br />He wrote, <br />In the fell clutch of circumstance<br /> I have not winced nor cried aloud.<br />Under the bludgeonings of chance<br /> My head is bloody, but unbowed.<br /><br />It matters not how strait the gate,<br /> How charged with punishments the scroll,<br />I am the master of my fate;<br /> I am the captain of my soul.<br />We might consider these brave words from the pen of a man lying in a hospital bed.<br />And they certainly proved a source of inspiration to him. A little before writing the poem Henry had been told that his only chance of survival was amputation of the other leg.<br />Soon afterwards he was discharged, and lived on for another 30 years.<br />In many ways Henley encapsulates the dogged determination that so many Brits have been taught to aspire to. <br />His legacy was seen during the Blitz, where despite extraordinary hardship and loss, the people of London gritted their teeth and battled on.<br />Popular British culture continues to echo similar sentiments. <br />Perhaps less eloquently than Henley and Kipling but no less forcefully,<br />In 1997 Chumbawamba sang<br />I get knocked down<br />But I get up again<br />You're never going to keep me down. <br />Though such words all have an impressive bravery and determination do they prove a viable philosophy of life: I am the master of my fate. Trusting yourself when all men doubt you. I get knocked down, but I get up again?<br />A rugged determination that will help to to get back on your feet and rise to the top?<br />Is this the quality that separates the leaders from the followers; the shepherds from the sheep?<br />Well, though such a self-dependent form of leadership might be inspirational to many, Jesus presents a radically different model in Chapter 10 of Mark’s gospel.<br />Christlike leadership is not self-satisfied (1-12)<br /> 1(A) And he left there and went(B) to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.<br /> 2And Pharisees came up and in order(C) to test him asked,(D) "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" 4They said,(E) "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away." 5And Jesus said to them, "Because of your(F) hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6But(G) from the beginning of creation, 'God made them(H) male and female.' 7(I) 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,[a] 8and(J) the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9(K) What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."<br /> 10And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11And he said to them, (L) "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, 12and(M) if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."<br />- There can be an approach to Jesus that is actually very self-satisfied. We come to him, assuming we are fine, and if there are any problems, they must be with Jesus not us.<br />- We can even think that we are doing this as religious people who believe the bible. We find in the bible everything we want to find, and we dismiss as a wrong interpretation anything that might be uncomfortable to us.<br />This was the approach of the religious leaders who were coming to speak to Jesus. They were pretty sure they had everything right; but they didn’t like Jesus and wanted to catch him out.<br />It was a well chosen question, because there were two answers that Jesus might have said and either one of them would get him in trouble.<br />- You may remember that John the Baptist had made an enemy of Herod because of what he said about Herod marrying his brother’s divorced wife. <br />- John the Baptist had eventually died for standing up against Herod’s actions.<br />- Well, if they can get Jesus on record to say that that divorce and subsequent remarriage was illegal, then maybe Herod would do away with Jesus too; but if he wouldn’t say that, then he would have lost face with the crowd that thought John the Baptist was in the right.<br />But for Jesus, losing face is not the point at all. He only cares about what is right, not what is convenient. And he reveals the Pharisees own self-satified approach to the law that they claimed to love so much.<br />“What did Moses command you.” Was a key question – for the debate on the legality of divorce usually turned on the interpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1 – the verse the Pharisees allude to.<br />“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and(A) he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house”<br />The debate would centre around what counted as “some indecency”-could that be anything that the husband didn’t like, or was it only in the case of adultery?<br />Pharisees, functioning as divorce lawyers would argue about whether a particular divorce was permissible under the law.<br />But Deuteronomy wasn’t the only book that Moses wrote. He also wrote Genesis; and in the very first 2 chapters of that firs book of the bible we see God’s intention for marriage –and it was not that it would end in divorce.<br />5-7 <br />5And Jesus said to them, "Because of your(F) hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6But(G) from the beginning of creation, 'God made them(H) male and female.' 7(I) 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,[a] 8and(J) the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9(K) What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."<br />That which God promised for every marriage “the two shall become one flesh” has become a present reality in every marriage, “they are no longer two but one”. And why did he do this – well, he made them male and female as his image bearers. The character of God himself is to be displayed in marriage.<br />Is God looking for reasons that would permit him to break faith? No! He is faithful and committed to his people.<br />Divorce is therefore a terrible reality. It tells lies about God, and therefore is one of the most painful things that anyone can go through in their lives, and we should have great compassion on anyone who has felt that pain.<br />John Piper said in a sermon on this passage, ““For many of you who have walked through divorce, the very word brings up a huge sorrow, loss, tragedy, disappointment, anger, regret, guilt . Few things are more painful than divorce. It cuts to the depth of personhood like no other relational gash. <br />It is more emotionally heart-wrenching than the death of a spouse. Death is usually clean pain and divorce is usually dirty pain. In other words the enormous loss of a spouse in death is compounded in divorce by the ugliness of sin and the moral outrage and the sense of being wronged.”<br />SO why did God allow it?<br />Because of the hardness of our hearts… not because he wants to make lives easy for the hard of heart, but because he wants to expose the hardness of our hearts towards him.<br />Divorce was permitted that there would be a picture in Israel of the devastation of covenant unfaithfulness-a picture that would be picked up by the prophets of the way in which we God’s people had been unfaithful to him, and therefore he divorced them.<br />And yet, the extraordinary thing about this picture is that the God, who has every right to divorce his wayward wife Israel – is the one who instigates and pays for reconciliation with her. The book of Hosea beautifully illustrates this incredible love. Hosea’s wife had not only become and adulterer, but a prostitute. <br />Hosea 3: <br /> 1And the LORD said to me,(A) "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods ..." 2So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a(B) homer and a lethech[a] of barley. 3And I said to her, "You must(C) dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you." 4For the children of Israel(D) shall dwell many days(E) without king or prince,(F) without sacrifice or(G) pillar, without(H) ephod or(I) household gods. 5Afterward(J) the children of Israel shall return and(K) seek the LORD their God, and(L) David their king,(M) and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the(N) latter days.<br />My brothers and sisters; we do not have time to outline a full biblical picture of divorce and remarriage. Please do come and talk to me or one of the other elders if you have questions.<br />But we do have a need both to care for those who have gone through the pain of divorce, and to support marriages so that it will not happen. We need to hold one another accountable.<br />Don’t be too proud to get help in your marriages. If you have troubles, talk and pray with other godly couples.<br /><br />We must be aware of the kind of approach to God’s law that the Pharisees have. The approach that asks “what is permissible” rather than “what is best”.<br />And we must be very careful not to begin with what I want.<br />The number of times I have had conversations about really difficult pastoral issues, and people have said to me, “well I want to do this, and the bible doesn’t seem to have any specific command against it”, we just have to say, <br />“OK, what is God’s design for you life. It isn’t to ask, can I get away with this, but is this going to encourage me to please my Lord, and best display His incredible grace to the world?”<br />If the starting point is OUR desires, then we are unlikely to approach God’s word with open ears and ask what his desires are.<br />“We’ve got to want to …!!!” No we don’t!!!<br />Let’s not just ask the question,”is this permissible?” but ask also, “Is this beneficial”?<br />Where would we be if Jesus himself had stood on his rights? Was it permissible for him not to go to the cross? He had a right not to go – he didn’t deserve it –but he did that which would most honour his father, and the only thing that could save us. He sought his adulterous bride, the church, by laying down his life for her.<br />Christlike leadership is not self-satisfied with our own convenient answers, but will be satisfied with doing that which will bring most glory to Jesus and bring most good to those we lead, whatever the cost to ourselves.<br />Christlike leadership is not self-important (13-16)<br /> 13(N) And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples(O) rebuked them. 14But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, (P) "Let the children come to me;(Q) do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15(R) Truly, I say to you, whoever does not(S) receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." 16And(T) he took them in his arms and blessed them,(U) laying his hands on them.<br /><br />Who do we stop coming to Jesus by our own sense of self-importance? <br />Note Jesus’ indignance at the disciples. “Oh Jesus is far too busy for children… run along now.!”<br />Who d’you think you are… If Jesus is far too busy for children he is too busy for all of us, for we are no more important than them. <br />We live in a very strange and hypocritical culture when it comes to children. In one sense our culture is so child-centered: people live their lives around their children; some models of care assume that a child knows what is best for him or her even from infanthood. We go from demand feeding to children having the right to demand whatever they like.<br />But on the other hand we have a society that is killing its children. <br />Metaphorically in the kinds of pressures that can be placed on a child to perform in various ways; <br />Even physically, we are killing children by their hundreds of thousands in the place they should be most sheltered from harm –in the womb. <br />People have complained this week about the disruption to 85,000 holidays as people face the inconvenience of having to find another way home.<br />But last year alone in the UK 198,499 innocent human lives of British residents were silently and legally killed in this country; 50,213 in this city. <br />We have not grasped the truth that underpins Jesus’ teaching both on marriage, and Christ’s love for children. The truth that every human being is made in God’s image. <br />Dean’s going to help us reflect more deeply on this truth this evening. But when every human being is seen as an immortal soul created by God to give Him glory, our mistreatment and dismissiveness towards them is seen as mistreatment of God himself, whose image they all bear.<br />This is a world with so much pain...<br />... we must be compassionate about the pain.<br />- We should be the ones there comforting the divorcee<br />- We should be the ones comforting the mother who have a grief she feels she can’t even talk about because she is responsible for the death of her child that the world has told her she had every right to treat as if it were worthless.<br />- If either of these issues have affected your lives, I hope that you would be able to talk to people in the church and that you would find compassion.<br />- But we need to be the ones who also hold out a better hope.<br />- The hope that doesn’t come from self-satisfaction or self-justification, but that comes from knowing that we have rebelled against God, the world is in a mess, but we have a saviour in Jesus Christ.<br />- We cannot even begin to speak into a world torn apart by divorce or abortion until we admit that we are a guilty world. The pain is a result of the guilt; and we need forgiveness.<br />- The world so often thinks that we can only offer compassion if we somehow affirm the choices that people have made. Real compassion does not come through encouraging a self-righteousness that says that every sin is excusable. We have a better hope than that. Real compassion comes from facing up to our terrible guilt before God, but seeing that there is one who has born that guilt.<br />- WE must come to Jesus like little children coming to a loving father, and asking for forgiveness.<br /><br />We must love children and all other human beings: but we must also be like them, in our dependence upon God for forgiveness.<br />Our faith is not to have become old and cynical, but young and trusting.<br />In Britain we pride ourselves with not being gullible, as if gullibility were the worst possible thing. Cynicism is far worse than gullibility. Cyncism about God is the first sin… doubting God’s motives; doubting that he is worth trusting. Cynicism will cut us off from him. <br />And it is not the product of wisdom, but of blind foolishness that doesn’t see his beautiful and glorious character for what it is. To put our trust in him isn’t a foolish and gullible move; he will not betray our trust; he will not send us away; he will welcome us just as we see him welcoming these children. We will be safe in his arms, and he will bless us, because he will have forgiven us.<br />Christ-like leadership is not self important.<br />Christlike leadership is not self-righteous (17-31)<br /> 17(V) And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and(W) knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to(X) inherit eternal life?" 18And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19You know the commandments:(Y) 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" 20And he said to him, "Teacher,(Z) all these I have kept from my youth." 21And Jesus,(AA) looking at him,(AB) loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go,(AC) sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have(AD) treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 22(AE) Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.<br /><br />The man’s question betrays his self-righteousness.<br />“What must I DO to inherit eternal life?”<br />Jesus doesn’t immediately answer the question, but points out that only God is good. Do you think that you can DO something to gain eternal life? Well,you can if you are good- truly and always good. But that excludes everyone except God.<br />The man might be able to kid himself that he has kept external commandments like not murdering or committing adultery. But he has not realized that he has broken the first commandment: have not other gods before me: <br />Jesus’ question expsoses the young man’s love for his possessions showing that they were his God.<br />He would not give up even temporary possessions to gain the treasure of eternal life with God. He preferred them to God.<br />It’s a tragic picture at the end of verse <br /><br />22(AE) Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.<br />What is in danger of making your life a misery, because you would choose that gift, and in doing so forfeit the giver?<br />Why did Jesus ask him a question that would expose something in his heart that would make him so sad? <br />Because of verse 21.<br />21And Jesus,(AA) looking at him,(AB) loved him, and said to him,<br />Jesus exposes false gods in our life not because he hates us. But because he loves us. My friend: recognise the idols in your life. What is it that if Jesus asked you to leave it behind, you’d walk away from him before you walk away from that thing.<br />Pray that Jesus would open your eyes to see your idols and open your heart to love him more than them. So that you might not walk away from him sad, but leave them behind and run into Jesus’ arms rejoicing. <br />Jesus comments in 25<br />25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter(AM) the kingdom of God." 26And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him,[c] "Then who can be saved?<br />We are so used to Jesus words “blessed are the poor” that we may fail to grasp the impact of passages like this. It was obvious to most people that it was the rich who were blessed. God had blessed them by giving them more stuff. And it was often assumed that that blessing was a sign of approval.<br />Don’t assume that God’s blessing is a sign of God’s approval. As a church we mustn’t assume that. It would be possible to appear to be very successful as a church but to do so in a way that would be met with God’s disapproval.<br />But the disciples realized that if it was hard for a blessed person, then it is hard for everyone. <br />Yes, exactly, it is impossible, says Jesus, with man. But possible with God. God can grant us a righteousness that we cannot achieve ourselves. Jesus had asked the question of the man “why do you call me good?” that was a better question for the man to mediate on than his self-righteous claims that He was good enough.<br />He isn’t good enough. We are not. But Jesus is; he alone is God become man, who has lived a perfect life; he has perfect righteousness; how will God do the impossible of bringing the kingdom of heaven to those who are not righteous? By having someone else live a righteous life on their behalf, and die a sinner’s death on their behalf. That is the only good news we have for a broken and sinful world, but it is enough.<br />Even then Peter fails to understand: 28Peter began to say to him, "See,(AP) we have left everything and followed you." 29Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you,(AQ) there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and(AR) for the gospel, 30who will not receive a hundredfold(AS) now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands,(AT) with persecutions, and in(AU) the age to come eternal life. 31But(AV) many who are first will be last, and the last first."<br />Perhaps we can’t earn a way into God’s kingdom, perhaps we can pay him back once we are in…<br />No! God is no man’s debtor. In fact, even though we were thinking last week about the dangers of an overrealised eschatology –thinking that all the blessings of heaven are available to us here and now; it is possible to have an underrealised eschatology, suggesting that there are no blessings now.<br />No; there are wonderful blessings now – not least of which is the church. The church, a blessing, you say! Yes – we have a family where we are blessed; not because it is easy, no but because we have the encouragement along the difficult road. Travelling companions encouraging us along.<br />Chrislike leadership is not self-righteous.<br />We can’t earn Jesus’ acceptance. We can’t pay Jesus back. He will give us blessing after blessing if only we will trust him. Tough blessings today -immerearble blessings eternally.<br />Christlike leadership is not self-serving (32-45)<br /> 32(AW) And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and(AX) Jesus was walking ahead of them. And(AY) they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33saying, "See,(AZ) we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will(BA) condemn him to death and(BB) deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34And they will(BC) mock him and(BD) spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And(BE) after three days he will rise."<br /><br /> 35(BF) And James and John,(BG) the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us(BH) whatever we ask of you." 36And he said to them, (BI) "What do you want me to do for you?" 37And they said to him, "Grant us(BJ) to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left,(BK) in your glory." 38Jesus said to them, (BL) "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able(BM) to drink the cup that I drink, or(BN) to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" 39And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, (BO) "The cup that I drink(BP) you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized,(BQ) you will be baptized, 40but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant,(BR) but it is for those for whom it has been(BS) prepared." 41And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42(BT) And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles(BU) lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43But(BV) it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[d] 44and whoever would be first among you must be(BW) slave[e] of all. 45For even the Son of Man came not to be served but(BX) to serve, and(BY) to give his life as a ransom for(BZ) many."<br /><br />What a contrast between the desires of James and John and the direction of Jesus.<br />The road to Jerusalem accompanying the Messiah was surely full of expectation. Surely David’s son would be crowned king once he arrived in Jerusalem. And then, what would become of his disciples? Who would get to be prime minister? Who would get to be chancellor of the exchequer? <br />James and john thought that a little campaigning with the future leader behind closed doors would stand them in good stead – surely there was no harm in asking. Was there? We should be careful what we ask for.<br />Jesus would go to Jerusalem. And he would be crowned king of the Jews. But he would be crowned with thorns, and dressed in a purple robe in mocery; all people, Jews and gentiles would bow down to him- but will(BC) mocking him and(BD) spitting on him, and flogging him and killing him.BE<br /><br />There were indeed two who were seated on mocking thrones on his right and his left – but they were robbers, sentenced to die with him. <br />Is that the glory that you want, James and John? Asked Jesus. You will share in that kind of glory if you follow me; like me <br />And they did. James was the first of the apostles to be executed. John faced exile.<br />This is the leadership of Christ. The leadership that knows his fate that awaits him in Jerusalem and sets his face towards it.<br />45<br />He did so in order to save, rescue those he led.<br />Gospel<br />Loving leadership not serving himself, but those he would save:<br />Thou who art God beyond all praising<br />All for love’s sake becamest man<br />Stooping so low but But sinners raising <br />upwards by thine eternal plan<br />Christlike leadership is not self-dependent (46-52)<br /> 46(CA) And they came to Jericho. And(CB) as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus,(CC) a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47And when he heard that it was(CD) Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48And many(CE) rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man, saying to him,(CF) "Take heart. Get up; he is calling you." 50And throwing off his(CG) cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51And Jesus said to him, (CH) "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him,(CI) "Rabbi, let me recover my sight." 52And Jesus said to him, "Go your way;(CJ) your faith has(CK) made you well." And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.<br />We had begun with Henley’s poem. It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the captain of my fate; I am the master of my soul.<br />We like Bartimeaus are not the captains of our fate, though we may attempt to be the masters of our soul. We are blind beggars unable to find our way to God; we are sat helpless by the side of the road; but there is great news. Jesus has come. <br /><br />Our only hope is to cry out “Son of David have mercy on me.”<br /><br />And if we do, we can be sure that he will not pass us by; for faith in him will save us.<br /><br />Then we would be delighted to leave behind anything that the Lord would call us to-Bartimaeus leaves behind even his cloak!”<br /><br />My friends, the scroll is indeed charged with punishments precisely because we have been the captain of our own souls. And yet if we have taken Christ as our captain we <br />Let us conclude:<br />If you would aspire to be a leader (and all of us are to be leaders if we follow Jesus. To follow Jesus is to take on the mantel of leading others to Jesus.) But a leader must be first of all a follower.<br /> We are not to be self-satified, for we will find satisfaction only in following Jesus. <br />We are not to be self-important, for we have come to recognise that he alone is of ultimate importance, and we are to approach him like little children. <br />We are not to be self-righteous, for we will realise that God alone is righteous, and that it is impossible for us to be righteous in God’s sight. But in Jesus living a righteous life in our place God has done the impossible. <br />We are not to be self-serving – Christ has ultimately served us in ransoming our lives from slavery to sin, and the penalty of hell, so that we are freed to serve others. <br />We are not to be self-dependent, for without him we are blind beggars. And with him, we may follow him first to the cross, and then to glory.<br />We are to be restored in the image of God, once again to lead not for ourselves, but for his glory alone, for we long to see that day when we will enjoy his glory forever.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-36769763454673817032008-11-04T09:00:00.000-08:002008-11-04T09:17:32.422-08:00Mark 14: The Suffering KingSermon first preached at Twynholm.<br />audio available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/10/26/sermon-for-october-26-2008/">here</a><br /><br />Mark 14 sermon<br />“A global problem requires a global solution.”<br />So said the president of the European commission, Jose Manuel Barroso when talking about the need for the world to work together to combat climate change. <br />Similar ideas have been echoed in recent weeks in regard to the global economic crisis. <br />So, on Wednesday this week the White House announced a meeting of financial leaders from the world’s 20 largest nations. An official at the white house said, "It will be the first summit to bring the leaders of the G20 together to discuss the present financial issues".<br />“A global problem requires a global solution.”<br />What about in the realm of religion? <br />The bible outlines for us a far greater problem than a world economic crisis, or a global ecological catastrophe. <br />Is that the purpose of the church? Is the worldwide Christian church the solution to the problem of human separation from God. Is it by us working together to call people to submit to God’s rule that a solution will be found? Those who are, by copying Jesus example of servanthood to reverse the trend of rebellion against God.<br />After all, we have seen over the past 13 chapters of Mark’s gospel Jesus spending an inordinate amount of his time with just 12 followers. Would these twelve be the seed of a worldwide movement that would produce the solution to the world spiritual crisis?<br />There are of course religions that see themselves as exactly that: a worldwide movement for the transformation of people by the people in submission to God. <br />That is what the word “Islam” means. It is a call for people to bring themselves into submission to Allah’s will.<br />But that is not the nature of Christianity. <br />As Jesus’ life approaches its climax, the crowds that had welcomed him less than a week earlier were nowhere to be seen. Other crowds would cry out for his execution. <br />And his 12 closest followers? Were they the beginnings of a global solution? No. <br />One would be his betrayer.<br /> Another would publically disown him three times. <br />All the others would flee in terror. <br />If Jesus’ intention had been to found a worldwide movement, then he had utterly failed. <br />This was no global co-operative solution. He was utterly alone.<br />And yet Jesus claims that this moment of utter rejection was not the failure of his mission. It was its centre. Throughout Mark’s gospel, Jesus has said several times that he must die alone. Here we find him making his final preparations.<br />Please turn with me to Mark 14.<br />There is so much in this chapter that we could easily have spent all 16 weeks that we’ve been looking at mark’s gospel just in this chapter; so we are just going to look at 4 aspects of what is happening here.<br />The Lamb is prepared (1-21)<br />The cups are exchanged (22-25, 32-42)<br />The shepherd is struck (43-49, 53-65)<br />The sheep are scattered (26-31, 50-52, 66-72)<br />The Lamb is prepared (1-21)<br /> 1(A) It was now two days before(B) the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes(C) were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2for they said, "Not during the feast,(D) lest there be an uproar from the people." <br /> 3(E) And while he was at(F) Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,[a] as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4There were some who said to themselves indignantly, "Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii[b] and(G) given to the poor." And they(H) scolded her. 6But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7For(I) you always have the poor with you, and whenever(J) you want, you can do good for them. But(K) you will not always have me. 8(L) She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand(M) for burial. 9And truly, I say to you, wherever(N) the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told(O) in memory of her." <br /> 10(P) Then(Q) Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to(R) betray him. <br /><br /> 12(S) And on(T) the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they(U) sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?" 13And he sent(V) two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,(W) 'The Teacher says, Where is(X) my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' 15And he will show you(Y) a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us." 16And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. <br /> 17(Z) And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18And as they were reclining at table and eating,(AA) Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me,(AB) one who is eating with me." 19They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, "Is it I?" 20He said to them, "It is(AC) one of the twelve,(AD) one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21For the Son of Man goes(AE) as it is written of him, but(AF) woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!(AG) It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."<br />The Passover had been THE great act of salvation in the Old Testament. <br />For 400 years the Israelites had been Egypt, and now they were oppressed slaves. With 10 extraordinary miracles the Lord had brought them out of Egypt, the most remarkable of which was the Passover. <br />Every firstborn son in Egypt was to die. There would be a death in every household. But the Israelites were told that either the firstborn Son could die, or a lamb could be sacrificed, and its blood poured out upon the wooden beams of the doorposts. Then the angel of death would pass over that house and the Son would be spared. The Lamb had died instead.<br />Terrified, the Egyptians let the Israelites leave slavery that very night – they even gave them vast gifts of gold to try to get rid of them. <br />The slaves were freed because the Lamb had died.<br />Every year they were to reenact the scene. <br />The preparations were to be very detailed: each element in the meal that they were to eat was to remind them of the great rescue. <br />They were only to eat unleavened bread – bread without yeast to remind them that the Lord accomplished the salvation so quickly that there was not even time to let the dough rise. They were to dip the bread in bitter herbs to remind them of the bitterness of the slavery from which the Lord had released them. They were to drink wine….<br />But central to the whole meal was of course the lamb. The lamb that reminded the people of God’s mercy and his salvation.<br />Our passage begins 2 days before the Passover. Jerusalem was teeming with people and so many lambs were to be slaughtered – estimates vary from tens of thousands to over a million lambs.<br />Every priest in Israel should have been busy with the preparation to sacrifice the Passover lambs. <br />But the chief priests have rather different Passover preparations that they are making.<br />V1. And the chief priests and the scribes(C) were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him.<br />Meanwhile Jesus is in Bethany, about three miles outside Jerusalem.<br />In an act of great extravagance, an unnamed woman (possibly Mary) pours a whole bottle of perfume that would make Coco Mademoiselle look cheap. The whole bottle is smashed – they’ll be no scraping the excess of the floor to save it for a later date. It was worth more than a year’s wages… Gone in a moment, poured over Jesus head.<br />Is that ridiculously extravagant? <br />In a world of poverty, is there not a better use, say the disciples. After all, this is Passover: couldn’t the money be used to give some of the poor a proper Passover meal, rather than blowing it all in one seemingly pointless gesture?<br />Jesus’ comments are incredible. <br /> She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7For(I) you always have the poor with you, and whenever(J) you want, you can do good for them. But(K) you will not always have me. <br />Her act was beautiful for 2 reasons. One reason was to do with Jesus’ identity. “You will not always have me”.<br />If we have come to realise who Jesus is, then there is NO extravagance that is too great for us in our devotion to Jesus. <br />Too often we think that if it is the Lord’s resources that we are spending, we should be frugal lest we waste something that belongs to him. <br />That sounds much more like the fearful servant in the parable of the talents than this extravagant love that this woman pours out upon her Lord. If we have resources that the Lord has given us, let’s not delay in planning how we might wisely invest them in his kingdom for his glory. <br />True devotion will have an element of extravagance. <br />Married women, imagine its your 25th wedding anniversary and your husband has been keeping the plans of the evening out a closely guarded secret: the night arrives but you end up at the local fish and chip shop. Would that lack of extravagance speak of true devotion?<br />Do people say to you: “Well, I can understand you being a Christian. But aren’t you taking this all a little too far?” be encouraged – our extravagant devotion should make no sense to those who don’t realise who Jesus is!<br />Perhaps you are shocked that Jesus seems to have such disregard for the poor.<br />Were you involved in the campaign, “Make poverty history.” Though I had a great deal of sympathy with the cause, Jesus seems not to agree with its title. “You will always have the poor.” This is not a callous statement we are not to care for the poor. We are. But we are to be even more concerned about the glory and honour of the Lord Jesus Christ than we are of the welfare of the poor.<br />That is why the preaching of the gospel must remain the primary work of this and every other local church. <br />The church is not the solution to the world’s problems. The good news of Jesus is. We must point people to him and particularly his death.<br />This is the second reason that Jesus commends the woman. <br />She has anointed my body beforehand(M) for burial<br />This is the heart of his mission, we will see more of it in a moment.<br />But there are further preparations. <br /> 10(P) Then(Q) Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to(R) betray him. <br /><br />Judas is making his own preparations. What a contrast, between the extravagant devotion of the woman, and the extraordinary spitefulness of Judas. She had given a costly gift. He betray for money – far less than the price of that jar of perfume. <br />In those two acts are found all the acts of men and women. Each act is either an act of devotion to Christ, or of betrayal. An act of delight in Jesus as Lord, or an act of rejection his Lordship. And act of giving all for him, or an act of taking all for self.<br />And then the following day there were yet more preparations: for the Passover meal itself. <br />We read of the bread, the wine, the furnishing, the bowls for dipping in the bitter herbs.<br />But the key element to the meal is not mentioned at all.<br />Where is the lamb for the meal?<br />Jesus is the lamb.<br />All those plans: all of them were together working toward the sacrifice of Jesus at Passover.<br />No longer would there be tens of thousands of Lambs slaughtered; but there would be one perfect lamb.<br />For there was one even more significant who was making preparations for that day; V21. <br />21For the Son of Man goes(AE) as it is written of him, <br />God himself had sent prophets over the centuries to prepare for that day. The day at the centre of all of God’s plans to redeem people from slavery to sin was at hand. His plan will prevail over all other plans.<br />The chief priests’ plans to kill Jesus, the woman’s plan to anoint him, the celebration of the Passover, Judas’ plans to betray him would all be woven into God’s great plan to bring about salvation through the sacrifice of this lamb.<br />If the Lord used those evil plans for good, does that mean that Judas and the priests were not responsible? Not at all.<br />but(AF) woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!(AG) It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."<br />Do you realise that there are some people for whom it would have been better if they had not been born? God’s sovereignty over evil in the bible is never an excuse for evil. Yet it is a comfort that His plans will prevail despite all evil.<br />All takes place as God himself decrees.<br />The lamb is prepared.<br />Christ the lamb would be slaughtered for us.<br />The cups are exchanged (22-25, 32-42)<br /> 22(AH) And as they were eating, he took bread, and after(AI) blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take;(AJ) this is my body." 23And he took a cup, and when he had(AK) given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24And he said to them, (AL) "This is my(AM) blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for(AN) many. 25Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."<br />32(AX) And they went(AY) to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33And he took with him(AZ) Peter and James and John, and began(BA) to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34And he said to them, (BB) "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and(BC) watch."[d] 35And going a little farther, he fell on the ground(BD) and prayed that, if it were possible,(BE) the hour might pass from him. 36And he said, (BF) "Abba, Father,(BG) all things are possible for you. Remove(BH) this cup from me.(BI) Yet not what I will, but what you will." 37And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38(BJ) Watch and(BK) pray that you may not(BL) enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 39And again he went away and prayed,(BM) saying the same words. 40And again he came and found them sleeping, for(BN) their eyes were very heavy, and(BO) they did not know what to answer him. 41And he came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?(BP) It is enough;(BQ) the hour has come.(BR) The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."<br />Of the four cups of the Passover meal, some looked back, and others forward. <br />The Four Cups represent the four expressions of deliverance promised by God Exodus 6:6-7: "I will bring out," "I will deliver," "I will redeem," and "I will take."<br />It was only the fourth cup that was drunk after the meal.<br />It was the most significant, called the cup of blessing, for it anticipated the time when God would dwell with his people again. Since the presence of God had left the temple some 600 years earlier, this was the great hope.<br />Jesus reinterprets that cup around his death. <br />“This is my(AM) blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for(AN) many”<br /> Through Jesus blood there would be a new covenant, or agreement between God and men.<br />Through Jesus death, we can be restored into a right relationship with God...<br />It isn’t the cup we deserve to drink.<br />For there is another cup that is talked about in the Old Testament. Not a cup of blessing, But the cup of curse. Not the cup of a covenant with God, but of abandonment by him. The cup of God’s wrath, his righteous anger.<br />As you read the Old Testament, and ask what cup we should receive from God, it becomes clear that we most certainly deserve the cup of God’s wrath.<br />Isaiah 51 talks of how all Jerusalem had drunk that cup.<br />Jeremiah 25 had shown that all the nations of the earth should drink this cup.<br />28:And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts:(BB)You must drink! 29For behold,(BC) I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished,(BD) for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.<br />Perhaps it sounds wrong that God would actually be angry with us. He’s doesn’t loose his temper… this is a considered, righteous anger. He is insenced at the evil of our hearts. <br />We taste something of His anger when we read of the innocent suffering at the viscious whim of those who should have loved them. <br />Many who read the news this week felt something of that incensement of such evil when we read of the father who murdered his own 16 month old daughter by snapping her back. she was found to have 7 other fractures as well as other injuries, none of which had been treated, some dating back months. <br />Yet, if we had eyes as pure as the Lord’s that same righteous anger would burn not just against his evil actions. But against our own selfish, hateful, capricious, lustful, proud, self-righteous, apathetic, thoughts and deeds. And we have committed all these against one we should have loved more than we love our daughters: against the perfect, holy God who made us and gave us life. <br />God: J.I. Packer: “Men are opposed to God in their sin. God is opposed to men in his holiness.” <br />CJ Mahaney “Considering how our sin must appear in God’s sight, why are we even here and breathing?”<br />The cup of God’s wrath is what we should drink. <br />That was what Jesus was preparing to drink in Gethsemane. Jesus is no coward shrinking away from physical suffering. He is facing metal anguish at a level under which we would all cave before we even came close to it.<br />Is it possible?<br />In one sense it is possible. We could all be condemned to hell.<br />But it is not possible that God would leave sin unpunished. To do so he would have to deny his own righteous character. He would have to say that such evil as exists in this world does not matter.<br />There was no other way for Christ to save us, than to drink that cup to the dregs.<br />He understands his Father’s holy anger, for He is his Father’s son – just as holy, just as righteous, just as incensed by evil. He knows that for anyone <br />William lane, “Jesus had gone to the garden to be with his Father. But in his father’s presence what opened up to him was not heaven, but hell.”<br />Two cups: the cup of blessing has been given to us. Thecup of enjoying being in God’s presence for ever. That should have been Jesus’ cup and his alone!<br />The cup of God’s wrath is before Jesus: that should have been ours.<br />The temptation for him to turn away from that cup was so very real.<br />CJ: “AS we watch Jesus pray in agony in Gethsemane, he has every right to turn his tearful eyes towards you and me and shout, “this is your cup. You’re responsibile for this. It’s your sin! You drink it.” This cup should rightfully be thrust into my hand and yours. Instead, Jesus freely takes it Himself... so that from the cross He can look down at you and me, whispers our names and say, “I drain this cup for you – for you who have lived in defiance of Me, who have hated Me, who have opposed Me. I drink it all... for you.”<br />What are we to do!?<br />- Non Christian: both cups are before you. One you, like all of us deserve. The other is offered you by Christ.<br />- Will you drink the cup of God’s wrath?<br />- Or, will you trust that Christ has borne that for you, and will you take up the cup of blessing that he offers?<br />Christian:<br />Rejoice!<br /><br />Rejoice! The cup of God’s wrath has been drunk to the bottom!<br />It no loner sits before us.<br /><br />- The cup of blessing is OURs. <br /><br />- It is the most solemn act in the history of the world that Christ drank the cup of wrath; but our response is not to be merely mournful. We must mourn over our sin, yes.<br />- Making light of sin is to be banished from the Christian church when we read of what our Saviour suffered for it.<br />- But he did so for our JOY. <br /><br />He did so that we might drink the CUP of BLESSING. And he will drink it with us one day in untold exuberant happiness. Did you see that in verse 25?<br /><br />Perhaps we find this hard to grasp today for so many of our happinesses are of the most trivial kind. But the deep joys of this world are solemn joys. The birth of a child after the pain of labour, the blessed memories of a loved one who has passed. The solemn vows taken at a wedding.<br />There is no deeper, or more solemn joy than the joy of receiving the cup of blessing because our savior has drained the sup of wrath.<br /><br />Guilt gone.<br />Punishment gone.<br />Fear gone.<br />Alienation gone.<br /><br />Romans 8: because He has drunk the cup, we are given His Spirit… and we may cry Abba Father. <br /><br />And the promise of the rest one day:<br />Suffering: gone<br />Temptation:gone<br />Confusion: gone<br />Weariness: gone<br /><br />Communion with God<br />Seeing God<br />Energy to worship him as he deserves…<br />Words that truly honour him.<br />Spirits that are constantly inclined towards him <br />Joy that is rightly centered upon him.<br />Joy that looks to Christ with tears that he would drink that cup for us.<br /><br />All because he drank that cup to the dregs.<br /><br />The shepherd is struck (43-49, 53-65)<br /> 43(BS) And immediately, while he was still speaking,(BT) Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard." 45And when he came, he went up to him at once and said,(BU) "Rabbi!" And he(BV) kissed him. 46And they laid hands on him and seized him. 47But one of those who stood by drew his(BW) sword and struck the servant[e] of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? 49(BX) Day after day I was with you in the temple(BY) teaching, and you did not seize me. But(BZ) let the Scriptures be fulfilled."<br />53(CC) And(CD) they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. 54(CE) And(CF) Peter had followed him at a distance,(CG) right into(CH) the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with(CI) the guards and(CJ) warming himself at the fire. 55Now the chief priests and the whole Council[f] were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 56(CK) For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony(CL) did not agree. 57And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, 58(CM) "We heard him say,(CN) 'I will destroy this temple(CO) that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another,(CP) not made with hands.'" 59Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. 60And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?"[g] 61But(CQ) he remained silent and made no answer.(CR) Again the high priest asked him, "Are you(CS) the Christ, the Son of(CT) the Blessed?" 62And Jesus said, "I am, and(CU) you will see the Son of Man(CV) seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." 63And the high priest(CW) tore his garments and said, "What further witnesses do we need? 64You have heard(CX) his blasphemy. What is your decision?" And they(CY) all condemned him as(CZ) deserving death. 65(DA) And some began(DB) to spit on him and(DC) to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, "Prophesy!" And the guards received him(DD) with blows.<br />Jesus had just predicted in verse 27 that the shepherd would be struck.<br />And he is.<br />In this one chapter more evil is done to Jesus than any of us will face in our lives, and this is even before his flogging and execution in the next chapter.<br />- betrayed by a beloved disciple<br />- arrested by the temple guard<br />- deserted by all his disciples<br />- the trial he faces here would be a farce if it were not so seriously intent of his destruction.<br />It was illegal in all kinds of ways.<br />- It takes place at night<br />- In an illegitimate place<br />- There is no hearing for his defence<br />- The arrest and the trail begin before there is even a charge. In fact the death sentence is decided upon, and then they try to find a charge that would match the sentence.<br />- The witnesses for the prosecution all contradict each other. <br />- The defendent isn’t merely imtimidated: he is mocked; he is struck in the face; <br />accused of a crime he didn’t commit<br />- but despite all this, he is condemned by such a court.<br />- and , at the very moment this is happening, his closest follower: the rock on which he would built his church denies that he even knows him.<br /><br />The ironies of this section are too many to list: here are but a few.<br />- The one who most emphatically insists he will stand by Jesus, is most vehement in his denial.<br />- Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss: precisely what we are beckoned to do to find mercy in Psalm 2: kiss the Son.<br />- As Peter denies knowing Jesus, he brings down curses upon himself, the very thing that we receive if we are left without knowledge of Christ.<br />- It is the great shepherd who will be sacrificed as the Passover Lamb. <br />- The high priest asks Jesus why he has no answer, when in fact nobody has been able to bring any charge that would require an answer.<br />- Men stand in judgment over the one before the God who would judge them.<br />- Jesus silence speaks more powerfully than all their words.<br />- In attempting intimidating him with their fury, they are unaware that he has already resolved to face a far greater fury from God. <br />- The high priest rends his clothes in disgust at the blasphemy of Jesus calling himself the Son of God; yet the blasphemy is his violent attack upon God’s Son.<br />The sheep are scattered (26-31, 50-52, 66-72)<br /> 26(AO) And when they had sung a hymn,(AP) they went out to(AQ) the Mount of Olives. 27And Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away, for it is written, 'I will(AR) strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' 28But after I am raised up,(AS) I will go before you to Galilee." 29(AT) Peter said to him, "Even though they all fall away, I will not." 30And(AU) Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before(AV) the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." 31But(AW) he said emphatically, "If I must die with you, I will not deny you." And they all said the same.<br />50(CA) And they all left him and fled. <br />A Young Man Flees<br /> 51And a young man followed him, with nothing but(CB) a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.<br />66(DE) And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67and seeing Peter(DF) warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus." 68But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you mean." And he went out into the gateway[h] and(DG) the rooster crowed.[i] 69And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, "This man is one of them." 70But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, "Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean." 71But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know this man of whom you speak." 72And immediately the rooster crowed(DH) a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, (DI) "Before the rooster crows twice, you will(DJ) deny me three times." And he broke down and wept.[j]<br />They all fled. If we had been there, we too would have fled. We are not to scorn Peter, or the other disciples. We are to identify with them. We do not stand alongside Jesus in his hour of suffering. We abandon him. He alone stands.<br /><br />Peter was unable to keep his promise.<br /><br />Three times he denied Jesus.<br /><br />How often do our proud claims that our discipleship will outmatch anyone else’s. That we will not fall into this or that sin again. That this time we will devote ourselves to him more fully. How often do such boasts end with us remembering the words of Jesus, and breaking down in tears. <br /><br />There would not be another alongside Jesus going to his death with him because of his love for him.<br /><br />The problem of our rebellion against God is indeed the global problem. All other problems spring from that problem. <br /><br />Yet all the co-operation of all the people in the world could not begin to solve it. The resolutions of the most vehement disciple cave within a night and end in curses. The co-operation of the whole world would just multiply the curses. We cannot even contribute to the solution. We are the problem.<br /><br />The solution can come from Christ alone.<br /><br />Jesus would drink that cup entirely alone.<br /><br />He would be the sole Passover lamb who would bear the sins of the world.<br /><br />For those who deserted him. For the scattered sheep. In the original Passover a lamb died in place of the firstborn son. Now God’s Son would die in the place of the scattered sheep.<br /><br />Let’s end our meditation in the words of an old hymn. We’ve not sung it here before, so we are not going to sing it now, but we will be learning it this evening, Lord willing.<br /><br /> Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended, <br /> that men to judge thee have in hate pretended? <br /> By foes derided, by thine own rejected, <br /> O most afflicted! <br /><br />2. Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? <br /> Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee! <br /> 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee; <br /> I crucified thee. <br /><br />3. Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered; <br /> the slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered. <br /> For our atonement, while we nothing heeded, <br /> God interceded. <br /><br />4. For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation, <br /> thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation; <br /> thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion, <br /> for my salvation. <br /><br />5. Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee, <br /> I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee, <br /> think on thy pity and thy love unswerving, <br /> not my deserving. <br /><br /> <br />Lost material….<br /><br />From introduction:<br /><br />As we have seen in reading through Mark’s gospel over the past few months, Jesus clearly portrays the heart of the human problem to be the problem of the human heart. So, in chapter 7:20-22 he had said, <br />“What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' " <br />The radical result of such uncleanness Jesus describes as hell. 9: 43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.[c] 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[d] 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48where <br /> " 'their worm does not die, <br /> and the fire is not quenched.<br />The problem of our guilt before God, that exacts such a terrible punishment from God could not be more serious. We could not be more lost.<br />And Jesus has been clear that he has come to bring a solution to this problem.<br />42(BT) And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles(BU) lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43But(BV) it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[d] 44and whoever would be first among you must be(BW) slave[e] of all. 45For even the Son of Man came not to be served but(BX) to serve, and(BY) to give his life as a ransom for(BZ) many."<br />Is the solution to the problem of our broken relationship with God of such magnitude that it can only be resolved by a global solution?<br />Point 1<br />If God himself has entered this world in Jesus Christ, who has died for us, and we may know him as Lord, we cannot take things a little too far. We can go the wrong way: but we cannot press too far down the road of extravagant love to the Lord Jesus.<br />----------<br />It’s real cloak and dagger stuff: Jesus has eagerly desired to eat the Passover, and ensures that he would not be arrested until after that meal is finished: so even the disciples, don’t know where they are going. Judas would not be able to betray him until after they had eaten.<br />The preparations for the meal are made.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-28866068477346615282008-10-18T16:57:00.001-07:002008-11-04T09:17:32.423-08:00mark 13: The Returning KingSermon first preached at Twynholm October 9th, 2008.
<br />Audio available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/10/19/sermon-for-october-19-2008/">here</a>
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<br />Mark 13 sermon.
<br />The world is in turmoil…
<br />… As well as the world economic crisis, there
<br /> In the province of Orissa in Eastern India the wave of violence against Christians that began in August continues unabated.
<br />In the past 2 months 300 villages have been cleansed of all Christians. More than 50 people have been murdered. 18,000 injured, and an estimated 50 000 made homeless.
<br />Those who return to the village will often be taken, covered in petrol, and told to renounce Christ and embrace Hinduism, or the petrol will be lit.
<br />This wave persecution has began Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was murdered. Those in his organisation blamed Christians for the attack, though only last week it has become clear that Christians were not involved at all, as Sabyasachi Panda, one of Orissa's most wanted Maoist leaders took responsibility for the killing.
<br />The persecution that allegedly began because of the murder continues, even though someone else has take responsibility for it.
<br />What would cause such utter hatred?
<br />One Hindu leader explained. “all we are doing is reversing the conversions that Christians have been doing, exploiting poverty”
<br />How should we see such persecution?
<br />Persecution: it is a reason for despair?
<br />What hope is there in the face of such persecution…?
<br />What does it tell us about the world we live in that people are so persecuted for bearing the name of Jesus Christ?
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<br />In the passage we are about to read from Mark’s gospel, Jesus will say, “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake!”
<br />We should certainly be unsurprised if those who follow Christ are treated better that Jesus himself was.
<br />But the passage we are going to read will also raise other questions about how to understand mass persecution and other catastrophic events. For in this passage Jesus will talk not only about persecution, but also about “the end” and about “signs”. Are we to understand the persecutions in Orissa as a sign that the end of this world is near?
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<br />How are we to understand Jesus’ teaching on Signs? The context of the conversation begins about Jesus teaching of cataclysmic events that will unfold in Jerusalem. If we are to be faithful to Jesus in understanding signs, are we to keep an eager eye upon the Middles East pages of our favorite newspaper or website?
<br />Should we skeptical about any teaching that suggests that there will be an end to this world? Is such eschatological discontinuity dangerous teaching that causes people to forget their responsibilities for this world? Is it those countries that have a higher percentage belief in the nearness of the end of this world who take less responsibility to care for the environment, the physically poor and the unhealthy?
<br />And finally, what difference should it make? What difference does our knowledge of the approaching end make to the way in which we live today?
<br />To hear Jesus teaching on these and other questions, let’s turn now to Mark 13.
<br />Page 1024.
<br />This is the longest section of Jesus teaching in the whole of Mark’s gospel.Because it’s one section of teaching, we’re going to read the whole chapter at once.
<br />Chapter 13 comes as the climax of 3 chapters in which Jesus has talked about how the temple in Jerusalem had missed it’s purpose of welcoming the coming Messiah, and would therefore be judged.
<br />Here Jesus speaks most clearly about what shape that judgment would take. It would be completely destroyed.
<br />Mark 13: let’s hear what God is saying to us this morning.
<br /> 1(A) And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!" 2And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings?(B) There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."
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<br /> 3And as he sat on(C) the Mount of Olives opposite the temple,(D) Peter and James and John and(E) Andrew asked him(F) privately, 4"Tell us,(G) when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?" 5And Jesus began to say to them, (H) "See that no one leads you astray. 6(I) Many will come in my name, saying,(J) 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray. 7And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars,(K) do not be alarmed. This(L) must take place, but the end is not yet. 8For(M) nation will rise against nation, and(N) kingdom against kingdom. There will be(O) earthquakes in various places; there will be(P) famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
<br /> 9(Q) "But(R) be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten(S) in synagogues, and you will stand before(T) governors and(U) kings for my sake,(V) to bear witness before them. 10And the gospel must first be proclaimed(W) to all nations. 11And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over,(X) do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say(Y) whatever is given you in that hour,(Z) for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12(AA) And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13(AB) And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.(AC) But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
<br /> 14"But when you see(AD) the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be ((AE) let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15(AF) Let the one who is on(AG) the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17And(AH) alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19For in those days there will be(AI) such(AJ) tribulation as has not been(AK) from the beginning of the creation that(AL) God created until now, and never will be. 20And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for(AM) the sake of the elect, whom(AN) he chose, he shortened the days. 21And(AO) then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22(AP) For false christs and false prophets will arise and(AQ) perform signs and wonders,(AR) to lead astray, if possible,(AS) the elect. 23But(AT) be on guard;(AU) I have told you all things beforehand.
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<br /> 24"But in those days, after(AV) that tribulation,(AW) the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25and(AX) the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26And then they will see(AY) the Son of Man coming in clouds(AZ) with great power and glory. 27And then(BA) he will send out the angels and(BB) gather(BC) his elect from(BD) the four winds, from(BE) the ends of the earth(BF) to the ends of heaven.
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<br /> 28"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near,(BG) at the very gates. 30(BH) Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31(BI) Heaven and earth will pass away, but(BJ) my words will not pass away.
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<br /> 32"But concerning that day or that hour,(BK) no one knows, not even the angels in heaven,(BL) nor the Son,(BM) but only the Father. 33(BN) Be on guard,(BO) keep awake.[a] For you do not know when the time will come. 34(BP) It is like a man(BQ) going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants[b] in charge,(BR) each with his work, and commands(BS) the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35(BT) Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come,(BU) in the evening, or(BV) at midnight, or(BW) when the rooster crows,[c] or in the morning— 36lest(BX) he come suddenly and(BY) find you asleep. 37And what I say to you I say to all:(BZ) Stay awake."
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<br />Chapter 13 is certainly the most debated chapter in Mark’s gospel; Christians would disagree even with one another about much of the interpretation of the passage. Perhaps you will disagree with some of the details of what I’m going to say.
<br />But let’s also make sure that we can see the wood for the trees. There are some things that come through extremely clearly, and without controversy.
<br />We are going to look at some of the details as we go through, but I hope that the main points are clear and uncontroversial. It is in fact an immensely practical passage. In 33 verses of teaching there are 19 imperative verbs.
<br />“Don’t be alarmed, be on your guard. Don’t be anxious. Say whatever is given you. Understand, flee, don’t go down, don’t enter, don’t turn back, pray. Do not believe it. Be on your guard. Learn. know. Be on guard, keep awake. Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake.
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<br />1. Do not be alarmed (1-23)
<br />2. Be assured (24-31) (learn, know)
<br />3. Stay awake (32-37)
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<br />1. Do not be alarmed (Run up to destruction of Jerusalem) (1-23)
<br />a. Don’t be alarmed by Jesus’ teaching. (1-4)
<br />The last couple of days had been extremely unsettling for the disciples. You’ll remember in the Chapter before Jesus and his disciples had arrived in Jerusalem some of the disciples had had very high hope for what would happen when Jesus entered the city. James and john had asked if they might be the ones who get to sit at his left and right hand at his coronation.
<br />The elation had continued as Jesus entered Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna. But they had been stunned by the way in which Jesus had clashed with the temple authorities rather than been welcomed by them.
<br />One of the disciples seems almost to be hinting to Jesus that surely the temple must have its part to play in any future kingdom. His words in verse 1 sound very like the kind of thing encouraged in Psalms that focused on the future glory of Zion, such as Psalm 48.
<br />1(B) Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
<br /> in(C) the city of our God!
<br />His(D) holy mountain, 2(E) beautiful in elevation,
<br /> is(F) the joy of all the earth,
<br />Mount Zion, in the far north,
<br /> (G) the city of the great King.
<br />9We have thought on your(P) steadfast love, O God,
<br /> in the midst of your temple. 11Let Mount(S) Zion be glad!
<br />Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
<br /> because of your judgments!
<br /> 12Walk about Zion, go around her,
<br /> number her towers,
<br />13consider well her(T) ramparts,
<br /> go through her citadels,
<br />(U) that you may tell the next generation
<br /> 14that this is God,
<br />our God forever and ever.
<br /> He will(V) guide us forever.
<br />Jesus, they’re saying, Get with the party, we should be glorifying in the city of Jerusalem and her temple. It is the joy of the whole earth, and surely will be again, won’t it, when you are king?
<br />Jesus’ response is as forceful as it is shocking:
<br />“Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down!”
<br />This was VERY alarming. For the disciples. Four of them call a private meeting with Jesus to try to understand.
<br />It seems that there is no space in their understanding for a world without a physical temple. For them, the end of the temple must mean the end of the world.
<br />And so, for the rest of the chapter, Jesus addresses not only their question about when the temple itself would be destroyed. He also says why this is not the end of the world – in fact it would be a sign that the world has entered a great new age; but then he moves onto talking about the end of the world itself.
<br /> So, there are three things in view, that correspond to our 3 points
<br />1)The times running up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. (They should not be alarmed)
<br />2) The significance of the destruction of the temple: this should assure them rather than bewilder them.
<br />3) And end of this world. This should cause us to be prepared…
<br />So, Jesus’ teaching shouldn’t alarm us.
<br />b. Don’t be alarmed by false teaching.
<br />In this section about the run u to the destruction of the temple there are a couple of times that Jesus warns of false teachers who would come… 5-7, 22-23.
<br />Cataclysmic times are a breeding ground for false teachers.
<br />When people see their own world crumbling around them, it is easy to think that it is the end of the world. And others might exploit that thought.
<br />In 1987 Edgar Whisenart wrote the book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988.
<br />It sold 4.5 million copies.
<br />It had rather different effects that Jesus words, “do not be alarmed”.
<br />The final shout: Rapture report 1989. Predicted that the Rapture would occur in 1989.
<br />Apparently that one didn’t sell quite so well!
<br />Jesus teaching here is supposed to have the opposite effect of the panic created by many who have tried to explain him!
<br />Jesus is teaching us to exercise discernment. People will make wild claims. Some will even claim to be Jesus, or to know exactly when he is coming.
<br />But Jesus wanted to make the disciples be very clear that the cataclysmic events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem would not be the end, whatever people were teaching.
<br />c. Don’t be alarmed by wars (though they be terrible they are not the end)
<br />The rumours of war began inAD66 as the tension between the Jewish religious leaders and the occupying Roman forces reached melting point. The son of the high priest himself led a successful attack on a roman garrison in Jerusalem. After a few early victories, and a pause due to the death of the emperor, the final assault on Jerusalem was ruthless. It was besieged for some months. Those inside were soon without any source of food. The Jewish historian Josephus writes a chilling account of the utter barbarism that the city was reduced to.
<br />He summarises, “Neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ver breed a generation more fruitless in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world.”
<br />I don’t know if he knew Jesus words in verse 19.
<br />Those who tried to escape were crucified. As those besieged in the city looked over the wall, they would have been faced by tens of thousands who had been crucified.
<br />Eventually the general in charge of the attack pressed home.
<br />the city was sacked and On july 29th/30th AD70 the temple was destroyed.
<br />One report said there were 600000 men, women and children killed on that day. Antoher, that 1.1 million were killed in the siege.
<br />But, the extraordinary thing was that the Christians were not there. They had all fled some years earlier. Why? Well, it seems that they had understood verse 14.
<br />Perhaps some of you are intrigued to know what “the abomination that causes desolation was”. Well, we don’t know. There were several events that it might have been. There was a zealot with blood on his hands who served as a highly unqualified high priest. The Roman standard, roman coins a pagan statues were all in the temple at different times.
<br />We don’t know whether the abomination of desolation is one, all or none of these things.
<br />And we don’t have to! The sign of the abomination that causes desolation isn’t for us. It is for Christians living in Jerusalem before its destruction. And they got it! They fled.
<br />One question you might have is, why did it take so long? If the religious authorities murdered Jesus. The sacrifices of the temple were fulfilled in Jesus, why did it take 40 years before its destruction.
<br />Well, there were other things that had to happen about which also Jesus doesn’t want them to be alarmed.
<br />Don’t be alarmed by persecution (though it be severe, and hurtful for it is a gospel opportunity and it will be cut short)
<br />The time running up to AD70 was an intense time of persecution for Christians. They were persecuted by Jews for recognizing Jesus as the Messiah; they were persecuted by Romans. But Jesus says that this is to be used for the spread of the gospel. (9-11)
<br />It was important that the whole world, who had heard Psalm 48:
<br />Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
<br /> in(C) the city of our God!
<br />His(D) holy mountain, 2(E) beautiful in elevation,
<br /> is(F) the joy of all the earth,
<br />The temple was instituted by God to prepare not just Israel, but the whole world for the coming of the Messiah. Old testament religion had been a come and see religion. If you wanted to find out about the Lord, you came to the temple in Jerusalem, and you saw! But with the coming of Christ, he was the temple, and his people were the temple.
<br />It was important that the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ would reach people’s ears before the news of the destruction of the temple. The honour of the Lord was at stake. The temple had not been destroyed because God’s plans had failed, and he was no longer to be sought. The temple was destroyed because God’s plans had been fulfilled and he was no longer to be sought in Jerusalem, but in Christ.
<br />- I wonder if we take the same attitude to persecution that Jesus calls the first disciples to.
<br />- Look closely at verse 11 “when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say!”
<br />If I’m honest, I’m not sure that that would be the main thing I was anxious about. I might be more anxious about what they are going to do to me, than about what I am going to say! But if we have realised that the gospel must be preached to all nations.
<br />If the preaching of the gospel was the reason for the delay of the judgement upon Jerusalem, it is also the reasons for the delay of the judgement upon this world. The Lord wants people to trust in Christ, even those who are persecuting us.
<br />Being persecuted is a great opportunity for the gospel. For it is revealed in persecution whether we really have a hope outside this world.
<br />That’s the case in Orissa at the moment. Those who will refuse to renounce Christ, knowing that he match will be lit are showing that they know for sure that the flames will only bring them to be with him.
<br />But it is the same in the smaller and more subtle persecutions that we face.
<br />Do we have friends who have never scoffed at us about anything until we began to follow Jesus. Why not, because we didn’t have any reason to do anything they’d want to scoff at. We were happy to live lives that pleased other people. But now, by being scoffed at we are making it very clear that we have one whose opinion we care about.
<br />Jesus calls us to pray for those who persecute you. What compassion we should have for those who hate us for Jesus’ name’s sake. What a terrible jeopardy they are in if they so hate the name of Christ that they would even hate his followers. Pray that as people scoff at you, or worse, that you would care more about whether you say the right thing than about what exactly happens to you.
<br />But don’t be anxious; trust that the Spirit will give you the words to say. Pray that you would indeed say them, for Holy Spirit himself intends to speak through you.
<br />As for ourselves, what should we care about most when facing persecution. We should care whther we endure. (v13)
<br />Jesus here is aluding to the last verse of the book of Daniel, that will be our passage for meditation tonight. Pray that we as a congregation would be far more concerned about our endurance in trusting Christ than our comfort, our popularity, our prosperity.
<br /> In praying for the persecuted church we should pray for endurance even more than we pray for relief. For if they have no relief from persecution but endurance, they have Christ forever. God forbid that they have relief but no endurance, for then their relief would be short-lived.
<br />For though the destruction of Jerusalem was the worst suffering faced by any city in the history of the world, there will be a far worse eternal suffering to come for those who are found to have rejected Christ.
<br />There was a sign that pointed to the coming destruction of Jerusalem.
<br />But the destruction of Jerusalem itself was a sign. A sign of the certainty of a cataclysmic heavenly event that was to give Christians great assurance.
<br />2. Be assured (24-31)
<br /> 24"But in those days, after(AV) that tribulation,(AW) the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25and(AX) the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26And then they will see(AY) the Son of Man coming in clouds(AZ) with great power and glory. 27And then(BA) he will send out the angels and(BB) gather(BC) his elect from(BD) the four winds, from(BE) the ends of the earth(BF) to the ends of heaven.
<br />The Lesson of the Fig Tree
<br /> 28"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near,(BG) at the very gates. 30(BH) Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31(BI) Heaven and earth will pass away, but(BJ) my words will not pass away.
<br />Many people think that jesus is utterly mistaken here. They assume that the ‘coming’ that Jesus is talking about is the coming of Jesus back from heaven to judge the world. It is understandable why.
<br />
<br />Very similar imagery is used in Revelation 1:7 about Jesus’ coming on the clouds. And yet Jesus says here that “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
<br />But the coming that Jesus is talking about isn’t necessarily him coming back to earth. Jesus is alluding to Daniel 7.
<br />But listen carefully to Daniel 7:13-14.
<br />13"I saw in the night visions,
<br />
<br /> and(AA) behold, with the clouds of heaven
<br /> there came one like a son of man,
<br />and he came to the(AB) Ancient of Days
<br /> and was presented before him.
<br />14(AC) And to him was given dominion
<br /> and glory and a kingdom,
<br />that all(AD) peoples, nations, and languages
<br /> should serve him;
<br />(AE) his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
<br /> which shall not pass away,
<br />and his kingdom one
<br /> that shall not be destroyed.
<br />The Son of Man comes on the clouds to His Father, the Ancient of Days.
<br />This is exactly what Jesus had been talking about in the previous chapter of Mark 12, when he quoted psalm 110, “the lord said ot my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”
<br />So, what’s going on. Well, the horrifc earthly act of the death of hundreds of thousands in Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, described here in terms of “the sun being darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” They are a sign of the coming of the Son of man.
<br />Why?
<br />Christ has entered the real temple in heaven… so the model has been torn down, never to be
<br />As Marcos, preaching on Psalm 110:1 last Sunday so helpfully showed us, Christ has presented his completed sacrifice to God in heaven. Christ Had cried on the cross, “It is finished”. Now the Father proclaims in heaven, “It is accepted.”
<br />The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem is the final earthly sign that Christ’s death really was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. That God really has forgiven the sins of all who trust in Christ.
<br />GOSPEL.
<br />Heb9:24For Christ has entered, not into holy places(AV) made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God(AW) on our behalf. 25Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as(AX) the high priest enters(AY) the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is,(AZ) he has appeared(BA) once for all(BB) at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
<br />The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem is the final sign that this meal that we shall share today is not an empty ritual.
<br />The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem is also the final sign that our evangelism is not in vain. V27
<br />27And then(BA) he will send out the angels and(BB) gather(BC) his elect from(BD) the four winds, from(BE) the ends of the earth(BF) to the ends of heaven.
<br />
<br />Because the Son of man’s sacrifice has been accepted by the Father, he has sent out his spirit, and preachers of the gospel, and angelic hosts to ensure that not one of those that the Lord intends to save will be lost.
<br />They will be gathered to him from every nation under heaven by the preaching of the gospel.
<br />What are we to learn from this?
<br />We are in the last days. Just as spring leaves tell us summer is coming, so the destruction of the temple tells us that the destruction of this world is coming. If the temple, the model of God’s presence and sacrifice on earth has been destroyed to give way to its fulfilment in the reality of god’s presence and sacrifice in Christ. So too this earth itself will soon be destroyed to give way to its fulfillment in the new heavens and the new earth.
<br />V29 So also, when you see these things (finally answering their question right back in v.3) you know that he is near.
<br />So, then. How will we know that he is really near; what will be the sign that he is even closer than he was in 70AD.
<br />We won’t know. There are no more signs. That was the last one.
<br />Note that there are no more signs between v30 and v31. There are the things that happened within a generation; and then there will be the passing away of heaven and earth.
<br />This world is passing away. But Jesus’ words will remain forever. Are we in the world for the sake of his words going out; or are we listening to his words, and yet desperately trying to hold onto this world?
<br />
<br />So we are to e ready for the moment when this world passes away. We are to stay awake.
<br />3. Stay awake (32-37)
<br />In the last 6 verses Jesus moves to talk about the very end. All the other things would take place within a generation. The end, nobody will know when it will happen. Not even the angels, not even the Son. We are not to be looking towards the middle east, or to earthquakes, or to famines, or to the evangelization of all nations, or to persecutions or to signs and wonders or to a great tribulation to realise that Jesus might come today.
<br />These all happened within a generation. From that point he could have come any day?
<br />If we are honest, why do we want signs…? If Jesus says to us 4 times in 5 verses “stay awake” he is making the point fairly clear that he could come at any time. If we are to be ready at any time then why do we want a sign to make sure we are ready? Actually, the reason we want signs is so that if we decide the signs are not all there, then we feel we have a little more time to get ready. Jesus says, Get ready!
<br />The return of Christ may happen ANY moment: v35…
<br />Any moment.
<br />How much more effective for the kingdom we would be if we really believed that Jesus was coming back?
<br />Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, had an unuasually fruitful life.
<br />Climbing Boys Act, the Factory and Ten Hours Acts, Mines and Collieries Regulation Acts, the establishment of ragged schools, training ships, and refuges for boys and girls, his share in the abolition of slavery, the protection of lunatics, the promotion of the City Mission and the Bible Society.
<br />When asked of how he could be so productive he replied,
<br />"I do not think that in the last forty years I have ever lived one conscious hour that was not influenced by the thought of our Lord's return."
<br />Do we recognise the privilege it is to have Jesus Christ as Lord; and to spend every moment of it in his service?
<br />We are so sinful and lazy aren’t we? Perhaps if we knew how many days we have to serve, we would relax, and think that we have plenty of time to invest our lives in Jesus’ service tomorrow.
<br />But we don’t know that we have another day. We should thank him that he hasn’t told us when he will return, so that we can make sure that we are ready today, and we can live every hour in his service as if it were our last.
<br />Would our calendar look different if you knew this was the last week you had? Live knowing that it might be.
<br />He is such a wonderful Lord, so worth serving.
<br />Though we might be persecuted for serving him, none have suffered like he did, not even at the destruction of Jerusalem.
<br />We might face the scorn of our families, but Jesus was betrayed by a kiss from one who had been as close as a brother.
<br />If we are hated by everyone, then their hatred was poured out more venomously upon Christ.
<br />Though times of tribulation are cut short for the sake of the elect, the tribulation that Christ faced would not be cut short. He would drink to the dregs the cup of God’s wrath. Why? For the sake of the elect.
<br />If the temple was defiled by all kinds of abominations, none of them matched the way in which Christ was defiled;
<br />The temple was torn down; and the temple of Jesus body was destroyed; on that day too the sun was literally darkened and the moon gave no light.
<br />Christ suffered God’s wrath, more fully even than the city who suffered the world’s greatest ever tragedy.
<br />Yet he is the one who fully endured it to the end.
<br />It is finished, he cried.
<br />It is accepted, cried his father.
<br /> But the stone the builders had rejected has become the cornerstone. This crucified, messiah, who faced the greatest tribulation of all has entered heaven with great power and glory.
<br />What moment of life do you have left that you would not spend in His service?
<br />
<br />Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-36181290321770113072008-10-18T16:56:00.008-07:002008-11-04T09:17:32.424-08:00mark 12: The Hated KingThis sermon was first preached at Twynholm on October 12th 2008.<br />Audio available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/10/12/sermon-for-october-12-2008/">here</a><br /><br />The headlines have been focusing on the financial markets more in this last week than in living memory. The FTSE 100 index is often on the front page of the Financial Times. But looking at the front pages of all the newspapers there’s been financial news on the front page of broadsheet and tabloid alike. But rarely is it on the front page of the Mail, Mirror and Sun as it has been this week.<br />Investments don’t look too certain…<br />I was having lunch with someone this week who told me that the only business that seems to be thriving at the moment is those who sell safes, as a significant number of people have been getting their money out of the bank and keeping it at home in cash! <br />Perhaps Thursday’s headline on the Prime minsters discussion with the Icelandic banks in the Mail “cold War” didn’t match the FT’s precision “FTSE looses a fith of its value in a week”, but the focus was the same.<br />The fear are what the markets anticipate in terms of what else will be lost in the coming months: how many will lose their savings,<br />How many will lose their pensions?<br /> how many will lose their jobs?<br />how many will lose their homes? <br />Such instability does cause us to re-asses what it is that we have had as our goals; where we have ben investing not just our finances, but our lives.<br />What have been some of the goals of your life that you have been working towards? Are they at risk?<br />Where is your life invested?<br />What have you invested? <br />What kind of return are you looking for?<br />You might think it strange that the bible has rather more investment advice that you might think. Yet it is rather different advice than you might be given from a financial advisor. The investments are rather different than those you can make in your bank or stock market. <br />But, we shall see this morning as we look at Mark 12, that they are far more secure; if investments in this world look shaky this week, there will come a day when they will be revealed to be far less secure, and far more costly than we ever imagined.<br />Turn with me to Mark 12. (Page 1022)<br />In mark 12, Jesus is continuing the contoroversy that he had begun in the temple. In 12:1 the “them” that he is speaking to is the same group as in v27: the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. As you may remember, they comprised the Sanhedrin, and they were looking for a way to find a charge against Jesus that would stick.<br />But Jesus exposes both their hypocritical motivation, and their self-defeating folly in rejecting him, when he was in fact their only hope.<br />We are going to see in this chapter <br />Those who reject Jesus will be rejected (1-12)<br />Those who set traps for Jesus will themselves fall into them (13-27)<br />Those who miss Jesus out will miss out on Jesus (28-44)<br /><br />Those who reject Jesus will be rejected (1-12)<br /><br />Read 1-12<br /> 1(A) And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted(B) a vineyard(C) and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and(D) leased it to tenants and(E) went into another country. 2When the season came, he sent a servant[a] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3(F) And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4(G) Again(H) he sent to them another servant, and(I) they struck him on the head and(J) treated him shamefully. 5(K) And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6He had still one other,(L) a beloved son.(M) Finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7But those tenants said to one another,(N) 'This is the heir. Come,(O) let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8And they took him and killed him and(P) threw him out of the vineyard. 9What will the owner of the vineyard do?(Q) He will(R) come and destroy the tenants and(S) give the vineyard to others. 10(T) Have you not read(U) this Scripture:<br /><br /> (V) "'The stone that the builders rejected<br /> has become the cornerstone;[b]<br />11this was the Lord’s doing,<br /> and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"<br /> 12And(W) they were seeking to arrest him(X) but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they(Y) left him and went away.<br />The story would have had a familiar ring to it for chief priests and scribes and elders – for it picks up a story from Isaiah. <br />Turn with me to Isaiah 5, p687<br />1Let me sing for my beloved<br /> my love song concerning his vineyard:<br />My beloved had(A) a vineyard<br /> on a very fertile hill.<br />2He dug it and cleared it of stones,<br /> and planted it with(B) choice vines;<br />he built a watchtower in the midst of it,<br /> and hewed out a wine vat in it;<br />and(C) he looked for it to yield grapes,<br /> but it yielded wild grapes.<br /> 7(J) For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts<br /> is the house of Israel,<br />and the men of Judah<br /> are his pleasant planting;<br />and he looked for justice,<br /> but behold, bloodshed;[b]<br />for righteousness,<br /> but behold, an outcry![c<br />So, the similarities are striking: so, we assume that the vineyard is again the members of God’s people, Israel. The watchtower was generally thought to signify the temple, and the winepress the altar. <br />The owner of the vineyard is the Lord, and he is rightly angered by the circumstances. <br />But you’ll notice also some subtle differences between the two parables.<br />1) The story isn’t told against the vineyeard itself, against the whole nation of Israel, but against the tenants – the religious leaders who were supposed to look after Israel. <br />They realise this in Mark 12:12.<br />They knew he had spoken the parable against them<br />Jesus is making a devastating accusation. The religious leaders wanted to make sure that there would never again be a day when the Lord could condemn Israel for bring fruitless. Yet Jesus is accusing them that they don’t really want fruit for the glory of the Lord, but for their own purposes.<br />If they had been concerned about the glory of the Lord, they would have welcomed the prophets. But the last of the prophets, John the Baptist, had been murdered by Herod, and they had been fairly pleased he was gone.<br /><br />- It is possible to want fruitfulness for our own ends rather than the Lord’s glory. <br /><br /><br />I was looking through an old membership role of this church, and saw numbers of members at 300, 400, nearing 500. Wouldn’t it be great if it was like that again, I thought. But was it really the name of Christ that I wanted to see restored, or merely the name of Twynholm. What is Twynholm? If the Lord chooses to restore the honour of his name in Fulham through some other vehicle we should rejoice.<br /><br />We can tell if we want glory for ourselves or Christ best when it is most indanger of being take away from us. Do we hold on for dear life, or gladly hand it over.<br />The tenant considered the fruit their own: so much so that even when the heir himself came, they were ready to kill him, lest he should steal their glory.<br />He is the beloved Son. We’ve heard this before from the lips of God from heaven at the baptism and transfiguration. Now Jesus proclaims himself the beloved son of Psalm 2 openly in the temple. Would they welcome him as God’s great king? No! They would kill him.<br />We are rightly horrified when we hear stories of people who murder for money, as if a uman life is worth so little.<br />What a terrible crime to kill the Only Son of God in hope that you might steal glory for yourself.<br />But that is what we have done, as a human race; jew and gentile alike, when the son came, we crucified him?<br />Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?<br />Alas, my treason, Jesus has undone thee.<br />‘TWas I Lord Jesus, I it was denie thee,”<br />I crucified thee.”<br />Jesus warns them that if we persist in holding onto glory for ourselves, we will lose everything.<br />9What will the owner of the vineyard do?(Q) He will(R) come and destroy the tenants <br />They had hoped to hold onto the fruit for themselves. But if you will oppose Jesus, you can be sure that one day He will oppose you. And you will not be able to bear that opposition in all of eternity. <br />But this story is not without hope...<br />- There is another big difference from the original story in Isaiah 5. There the vineyard was town down and went to ruin.<br /><br />Isaiah 5: 5And now I will tell you<br /> what I will do to my vineyard.<br />I will remove(F) its hedge,<br /> and it shall be devoured;[a]<br />(G) I will break down its wall,<br /> and it shall be trampled down.<br /><br />- Here, there would be new tenants.<br />- Q) He will(R) come and destroy the tenants and(S) give the vineyard to others. 10(T) Have you not read(U) this Scripture:<br /><br /> (V) "'The stone that the builders rejected<br /> has become the cornerstone;[b]<br />11this was the Lord’s doing,<br /> and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"<br />Jesus shifts the parable from vineyard to temple. The very one they slew, the son, would be raised again; is the stone that will be the pinnacle of a new temple: a temple in which we may be bricks. We are that temple if we trust in the risen son. The Lord has delighted in taking his rejected Son and highly exalting him in heaven. <br />Is our delight in that Son? The new tenants are not like the old tenants, given charge of a piece of land in the middle east, and a tiny nation that lived there. No, they are incorporated into a vast body; a multinational, multiethnic body that covers the whole globe and unites in praising the Risen Son giving all the glory back to God.<br /><br />This is marvellous in his eyes: is it marvellous in yours?<br />Those who reject Jesus will be rejected (1-12)<br />- But those who welcome the Son will receive an inheritance<br /><br /><br />Those who set traps for Jesus will themselves fall into them (13-27)<br />The Sanhedrin continues to look for ways in which to carry out its murderous intent against Jesus, even after the warning of the parable. <br />They come up with another plan that they think if failsafe, but once again Jesus not only outsmarts them, but reveals their hypocrisy.<br />a. Render unto Caesar<br />13(Z) And they sent to him some of(AA) the Pharisees and some of(AB) the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14And they came and said to him, "Teacher,(AC) we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For(AD) you are not swayed by appearances,[c] but truly teach(AE) the way of God. Is it lawful to pay(AF) taxes to(AG) Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?" 15But, knowing(AH) their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why(AI) put me to the test? Bring me(AJ) a denarius[d] and let me look at it." 16And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesar’s." 17Jesus said to them, (AK) "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." And they marveled at him. <br /><br />The hypocrisy with which they ask the questions is contemptible. "Teacher,(AC) we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For(AD) you are not swayed by appearances,[c] but truly teach(AE) the way of God.’ <br />True, but if they believe that, why are they trying to kill him?<br />But their hypocrisy runs deeper: if they were so against the Roman rule that they were unwilling to pay its taxes, why would they even carry the money. Jesus doesn’t have a denarius, but they do!<br />The money was an abomination. Not only did it bear the image of the Pagan Roman emperor deified in the picture, and the inscription said, “Son of the Divine Augustus”<br />Yet they were happy to use this idolatrous currency to suit their own purposes. There were just not so happy to pay the tax. <br />Jesus words are extraordinary. <br />"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s."<br />Jesus make the most significant comment in the history of the word as to how we are to live as God’s people under godless rulers. We are to submit to governing authorities even at times we find them harsh, unless they are commanding us to disobey the Lord. <br />In other words, Civil disobedience is only permissible for Christians when civil obedience would imply disobedience to the Lord.<br />And why? <br />Just a few days later Jesus would stand before a roman ruler who had his life in his hands: john 19<br />Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" 11Jesus answered him, (N) "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”<br />Whether it is paying your taxes, or submitting to the rulings of the courts, Christians are declaring that they are under a higher authority; in rendering unto Caesar what is Caesars we are rending to God what is God’s. Even in civil obedience we can be investing in our heavenly kingdom.<br />Yet for the hearers there were more far reaching consequences... were they handing over the fruit of the vineyard to the one to whom it belonged? <br />How can you tell? How can you tell if you are rendering to God what is God’s? Is being an upstanding citizen the full extent of it? No, if the coin bore Caesars image, eachone of us bears God’s image. To render to God what belongs to him is to give ourselves up entirely to his service.<br />That is the investment we are called to make.<br />Having been foiled once, they don’t give up.<br />b. Marriage at the resurrection<br /> 18And(AL) Sadducees came to him,(AM) who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that(AN) if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man[e] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."<br /> 24Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are wrong, because(AO) you know neither the Scriptures nor(AP) the power of God? 25For when they rise from the dead, they neither(AQ) marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26And as for the dead being raised,(AR) have you not read in(AS) the book of Moses, in(AT) the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying,(AU) 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong."<br />The Saducess were different the Pharisees in two major ways. Firstly they held the 5 books of Moses to have a igher weight than the other books of the old testament.<br />Secondly, as we read in v18, they did not believe in the resurrection. (And as the old cheesy joke puts it, that’s why they’re so sad, you see).<br />Jesus claims that even after being the slaughtered Son he will become the central stone assume that there would be a resurrection. And so the Sadducees think that they might have him here. Their somewhat ludicrous story was trying to make the idea of the resurrection look ludicrous. Would heaven really be a place full of women with seven husbands, or a place where 6 marriages have to be annulled?<br />But once again, Jesus’ answer is penetrating. <br />If the Sadducees revered Moses, there could be no more critical passage for them than the extraordinary encounter that Moses has with the Lord who appears to him in a burning bush.<br />It is the defining moment of God’s self revelation in the entire Old Testament, as he explains that He is Yahweh, the great “I AM”.<br /> Yet when he describes himself as the great unchanging all-powerful I AM, he says ) 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob' people who had been dead between 300-400 years. <br />And the very reason that God was appearing to Moses was to fulfil promises that he had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. <br />Was this I AM so powerless that he couldn’t fulfil those promises when they were still alive? <br />No this promise-keeping God was keeping promises to those whom he had kept alive, so that one day they might be raised and enjoy sharing in the inheritance.<br />They had not seen the power of God. They had not understood even the Scriptures that they claimed to love so much. Their God was too small, with purposes too limited.<br />When the great capstone has returned and been revealed to be the one in whom the whole temple of God’s people hold together, the purpose of marriage will be fulfilled. <br />If marriage is to be a picture of unity, self sacrifice and love, it finds its fulfillment not in eternal nuclear families, but in the unity that the community of the redeemed will have with God’s beloved Son. There will be no more marrying or giving in marriage, for we shall all be united to him.<br />We live in a world where marriage is all about the people getting married. <br />People imagine that we can define marriage for ourselves, to say about ourselves whatever we want to say. I was at a wedding yesterday, and it is so tempting, even at a Christian marriage to think that it is all about the bride and groom. <br />But it is only temporary. Till death us do part. But it is a picture of something that will last forever.<br />When you go to hear your favorite band live, it doesn’t matter if it’s the Prague symphony orchestra, Pink Floyd or the Pigeon Detectives. When the lights dim, you take off your ipod and stop listening to the copy. The real thing’s beginning. <br />When our lifeless corpses are raised and given new life in the resurrected world, the copy in marriage will give way to the reality in Christ. We will be like the angels, not because of some sentimental notion that we’ll grow wings, but because, like them we will see Christ face to face.<br />The intimacy of marriage now is to be an ipod nano anticipation of the face to face elation with Christ then.<br /> As Paul writes in Ephesians 5:, marriage is a picture of Christ’s love for his people.<br />Too often I think that Christians hold onto a traditional view of marriage because we are traditional, not really because we are Christian.<br />So, for example our opposition to homosexual marriage too often sounds like it comes from mere squeamishness, rather from a deep sorrow about the lies that homosexuality tells about Christ and his church, as if Christ laid down his life for another Son of God, rather than for his bride the church.<br />No, we are to love those in homosexual relationships; bring all your homosexual friends to church; and if you haven’t got any homosexual friends, make some. But let them see the gospel of Christ who laid down his life for one who was radically different from himself as the only picture that will provide a more beautiful alternative to them than their current lifestyle choices.<br />Homosexual marriage is wrong because it tells lies about Jesus and his church. But what about our marriages? Too often our marriages tell the lie that Christ is harsh, or disinterested, or patronizing because we husbands treat our wives like that. Too often our marriages lie that the church is calle to to manipulate, ignore or infuriate Christ, by the way in which wives treat their husbands. No, we have a wonderful model in Christ and the church – let’s tell beautiful trust about Christ in our marriages. <br />Married couples: talk with one another about how well your marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. Husbands, ask your wives ways in which you have been unlike Christ in your love for them. And be Christ-like in the way in which you listen to the answer.<br />Wives, ask your husbands ways in which they could more reflect their honour for Christ in the way they relate to you, and don’t punish them for answering you!<br />If you are not married, which fills your life with more eager anticipation: the possibility that you might one day enter into a relationship that models Christ’s relationship with his church; or the delight that you are already in that relationship with Christ, and one day it will be perfected?<br />Ok, all of you… it’s time to be honest with yourself now. Are you disappointed that there will be no sex in heaven? <br />Guys, you’re either nodding, or you’re aspleep, or you’re lying. <br />What other joy in this world do you hope will be the same in the next? We are not to invest in this world. For all the joys are but a glimpse of the coming joy of being with Christ.<br />In “The weight of glory” C S lewis says,<br />The books or the music in<br />which we thought the beauty was located<br />will betray us if we trust to them; it was<br />not in them, it only came through them,<br />and what came through them was longing.<br />These things—the beauty, the memory of<br />our own past—are good images of what we<br />really desire; but if they are mistaken for<br />the thing itself they turn into dumb idols,<br />breaking the hearts of their worshippers.<br />For they are not the thing itself; they are<br />only the scent of a flower we have not<br />found, the echo of a tune we have not<br />heard, news from a country we have never<br />yet visited. <br />How often our silly arguments are constructed to protect the scent and the echo and the news, when all they do is rob us of the flower, the tune, the country itself.<br />It is a foolish and dangerous thing to laugh at yourself for how cleverly you have outwitted Jesus. How clever our arguments can sound to ourselves as we rehearse them. Perhaps this might be attitude of the whole life; or it might just be the defense of one area of our lives from his Lordship.<br />But one conversation with the Lord Jesus and these very learned men and their well rehearsed arguments looked very foolish indeed. <br />Those who lay traps for Jesus will indeed fall into them.<br />We are not so clever. But he is the master surgeon who can lower our defenses to accuse us, so that he might humble us, and then embrace us into his.<br />Those who set traps for Jesus will themselves fall into them (13-27)<br />But those who are humbled before him will be raised and welcomed into eternal joy.<br />Those who miss Jesus out will miss out on Jesus (28-44)<br />Among those in the temple there was at least one who was a great deal less hostile. He didn’t seem openly hostile to Christ, nor is he presented here as trying to trap Jesus.<br />a. The greatest commandment<br /> 28(AV) And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" 29Jesus answered, "The most important is,(AW) 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God,(AX) the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31(AY) The second is this:(AZ) 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment(BA) greater than these." 32And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that(BB) he is one, and(BC) there is no other besides him. 33And to love him with all the heart and with all(BD) the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself,(BE) is much more than all(BF) whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."(BG) And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.<br /><br />It was a common conversation among teachers of the law to ask which commandment was greatest. It’s an important question, for if our designer gives us commandments, they tell us what we are designed for.if there is a greatest commandment, it tells us what the central purpose of our lives should be.<br />What is a human being?<br /><br />One who invests his or her whole life in the love of God…<br /><br /><br />What resources do you have? <br />Where are they all to be invested?<br />In the love of God...<br />The scribe and Jesus agree what a human being is. One who will find their purpose only in fully loving God.<br />Why then is he “not far from the kingdom of heaven”?<br />For the law was not enough. To know what we are to do is no good. We don’t do it.<br />We need God to give us not just a law, but to rescue us. We should love God and invest all for his glory, but we have made some other very bad investments with our life, that pay out with untold misery.<br />Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Though not far from the kingdom of God he had not entered it. Nobody can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again, and believes in the Son.<br /> 35(BH) And as(BI) Jesus taught in the temple, he said, "How can the scribes say that(BJ) the Christ is the son of David? 36David himself,(BK) in the Holy Spirit, declared,<br /> (BL) "'The Lord said to my Lord,Sit at my right hand,<br /> until I put your enemies(BM) under your feet.'<br /> 37David himself calls him Lord. So(BN) how is he his son?" And the great throng(BO) heard him gladly.<br /><br />But there are some who cannot pretend that they can earn their way into God’s favor through keeping the law. The fact that they give with greater abandon shows that they know that their inheritance is already secure.<br />b. the widow’s mite<br />38(BP) And in his teaching he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39and have the best seats in the synagogues and(BQ) the places of honor at feasts, 40(BR) who devour widows’ houses and(BS) for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."<br />The Widow’s Offering<br /> 41(BT) And he sat down opposite(BU) the treasury and watched the people(BV) putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42And a poor widow came and put in two(BW) small copper coins, which make a penny.[f] 43And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you,(BX) this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her(BY) poverty has put in everything she had, all(BZ) she had to live on."<br /><br />If we are nt secure in the rescue of the Son. In the share of the inheritance that we have eternally secure for us with Christ, then we will try to grab what we can for ourselves in this life.<br /><br />That is how the scribes, the religious teachers lived their lives. They were respectable, but uncaring. They received much, but helped little. Those in greatest need, the widows, who had no source of income were left destitute. <br /><br /><br />She may appear the poorest, but she is far richer.<br />We may see her as a victim of circumstances, and of a corrupt leadership who have led the nation into the social evils that leave her with nothing. <br /><br />We might pity her...<br /><br />But Jesus doesn’t pity her. He sees in her a joy that means that compared to here it is those who gave safely out of their riches that are to be pitied. <br /><br />She has shown that she is a creature who is more valuable than her coins, and more valuable than this earthly life.<br /><br />She loves the Lord her god with all her heart and all her soul and all her mind and all her strength.<br /><br />She knows that in the greatest commandment is given the creator’s clearest blueprint for the human life. <br /><br />One of the things that we are hoping to do is set a budget for this church. I pray that the lord increases the amount people give to the Lord’s work here, not first and foremost because of all the great plans that we have as elders as to how we spend the money. That’ll be fun investing it in God’s kingdom. No but I pray that as it would be such an encouragement to see this congregation more and more to declare its independence from the desires and demands of this world.<br /><br />Her gift shows that she is investing in what will really last. The world to come.<br /><br />As Lewis concludes "The weight of glory"<br /><br />- There are no ordinary people. You have<br />- never talked to a mere mortal. Nations,<br />- cultures, arts, civilization—these are<br />- mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of<br />- a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke<br />- with, work with, marry, snub, and<br />- exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting<br />- splendours. This does not mean that we<br />- are to be perpetually solemn. We must<br />- play. But our merriment must be of that<br />- kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind)<br />- which exists between people who have,<br />- from the outset, taken each other<br />- seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no<br />- presumption. And our charity must be a<br />- real and costly love, with deep feeling for<br />- the sins in spite of which we love the<br />- sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence<br />- which parodies love as flippancy parodies<br />- merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament<br />- itself, your neighbour is the holiest object<br />- presented to your senses. If he is your<br />- Christian neighbour he is holy in almost<br />- the same way, for in him also Christ vere<br />- latitat—the glorifier and the glorified,<br />- Glory Himself, is truly hidden.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-71514272332390788952008-10-18T16:56:00.007-07:002008-11-04T09:17:32.424-08:00mark 11: The honoured kingSermon first preached at Twynholm September 21st 2008.<br />Audio available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/09/21/sermon-for-september-21-2008/">here</a><br /><br />There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ's moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment. ... one does find repeatedly a vindictive fury against those people who would not listen to His preaching -- an attitude which is not uncommon with preachers, but which does somewhat detract from superlative excellence. You do not, for instance find that attitude in Socrates. You find him quite bland and urbane toward the people who would not listen to him; and it is, to my mind, far more worthy of a sage to take that line than to take the line of indignation.<br />Then there is the curious story of the fig tree, which always rather puzzled me. You remember what happened about the fig tree. "He was hungry; and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came if haply He might find anything thereon; and when He came to it He found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it: 'No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever' . . . and Peter . . . saith unto Him: 'Master, behold the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.'" This is a very curious story, because it was not the right time of year for figs, and you really could not blame the tree. I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above Him in those respects.<br />So said Bertrand Russell on March 6, 1927 only 3 miles from here at Battersea Town Hall, in a lecture that became his well known pamphlet, “Why I am not a Christian.”<br />There were other elements of Jesus’ teaching that Russell was rather more comfortable with.<br />You will remember that He said, "Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." That is not a now precept or a new principle. It was used by Lao-tse and Buddha some 500 or 600 years before Christ, but it is not a principle which as a matter of fact Christians accept. I have no doubt that the present prime minister [Stanley Baldwin], for instance, is a most sincere Christian, but I should not advise any of you to go and smite him on one cheek. I think you might find that he thought this text was intended in a figurative sense.<br /><br />How is it that the same Christ who encourages us to turn the other cheek, in the story we are going to read not only curses a pretty innocent looking fig-tree, but also in what seems to be definite anger destroys various people’s businesses and drives them out of what had become a centre of commerce.<br />Is this angry Jesus a sign that he too had his faults, or is it possible that in Jesus his anger as well as his love are functions of his goodnes, and are therefore not to be dismissed as unworthy, but revered as right and praiseworthy? <br />We have seen Mark in his gospel present Jesus as praiseworthy<br />The true king outlasts false praise.<br /> 1(A) Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to(B) Bethphage and Bethany, at(C) the Mount of Olives, Jesus[a] sent(D) two of his disciples 2and said to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied,(E) on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.'" 4And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5And some of those standing there said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" 6And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 7And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8And many(F) spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9And those who went before and those who followed were shouting,(G) "Hosanna!(H) Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10Blessed is(I) the coming(J) kingdom of(K) our father(L) David!(M) Hosanna in the highest!"<br /> 11(N) And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late,(O) he went out to Bethany with the twelve.<br />Jesus has been telling his disciples for some time now that their destination would be Jerusalem, and that at the heart of his mission is what would happen in Jerusalem. What happens in that one week is so central to what Jesus is about that it takes up 6 of 16 chapters in Mark’s gospel, more than a third of the book. In John’s gospel it takes up half the book.<br />There are those who would call themselves Christians who think that the most significant thing is the brith of Jesus, that God has become man to reveal himself to us. That is surely significant, but the death and resurrection of Jesus is why he came. As we saw last week the whole reason Jesus came he summed up in verse 45, “for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,”<br />So, though Bertrand Russell and others might like some of Jesus moral teaching, he was right to call his talk “why I am not a Christian.” A Christian is someone who trusts in the death of Jesus as their ransom, and entrusts their whole life to Jesus.<br />So significant was this last week of Jesus’ life that he has made very deliberate plans as to how it would begin on that first Palm Sunday.<br />Whether the word’s given to the guardian’s of the donkey were a prearranged password, or a sign of Jesus’ supernatural knowledge, the point is clear. Jesus was the king who might apprehend any of his subject’s property for ceremonial use. <br />The fact that the donkey hadn’t been ridden by anyone else made it fit for a king.<br />But the fact that it was a donkey meant that he was intending to signify that he wasn’t any old king. He was the long expected king. 400 years earlier the prophet Zechariah has prophesied, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!<br /><br /> Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!<br />(B) Behold,(C) your king is coming to you;<br /> righteous and having salvation is he,<br />(D) humble and mounted on a donkey,<br /> on a colt, the foal of a donkey.<br /><br />He wasn’t coming to bring war, if so he would have ridden on a white horse; he is coming to bring peace to Jerusalem through the events that would unfold.<br />And people seem to understand something of the significance of the entry. Cloaks are thrown onto the road, so that even the king’s donkey could have a comfortable journey. Palm trees were waved, and the words spoken were full of anticipation: “Hosanna” meaning “Save now!”<br />And <br />“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord” <br />Both come from psalm 118, that was sung as pilgrims arrived in Jerusalem, but this wsa no ordinary pilgrim. He was to be the one in David’s line who would restore David’s kingdom.<br />We would half expect the crowds to follow him into Jerusalem, raise him to their shoulders and seat him on a throne.<br />But the day finishes with an extraordinary anti-climax. He enters the temple; he looks around, but it appears that nobody is paying him any attention once more. <br />The irony is incredible. <br />The temple was to be a symbol of how God dwelt with his people. Now God was dwelling with his people in the person of Jesus –he has come to the temple, but the temple is unresponsive. It’s whole existence was for this day. <br />Even the route that Jesus took, coming in from the mount of olives was to remind the people that God’s presence had left the temple via the mount of Olives 500 years earlier; now the glorious king has returned; and there is not a word of praise for him.<br />The crowds that had cheered moments earlier have dispersed; their praise was empty.<br />There would be crowds soon calling out not for his coronation, but his crucifixion. <br />As we sing “sometimes they strew his way and his sweet praises sing, resounding all the day Hosannas to their king. Then crucify is all their breath, and for his death they thirst and cry.”<br />Popular opinion can turn in a dramatically short time. I guess the last year in british politics has reminded us of that fact.<br />We need to be aware of allowing popular opinion decide our eternal destiny. Don’t be satisfied with what you have heard about Jesus. Examine him for yourself. Christianity Explored Course.<br />Christian, will your praise endure? We have sung Jesus’ praises this morning. It is easy to be conviced that our praises are true and not false because of the joy we feel in the moment of exhilaration. This can be when we are singing with God’s people; or it could be that conference, or that sermon that really moves us.<br />Adrenaline is one of God’s incredible creations. In moment you can do incredible things on adrenaline. You could lift a car off someone who is trapped. You can hold on. You can stay awake for a whole night. <br />But it doesn’t last. It is impressive, but short-lived.<br />But true Christian praise is to be more like the heart muscle than adrenaline. <br />Not so impressive; but constant. B-Boom b-boom….<br />Do you find yourself praising through the day, whatever circumstances you face? <br />Form sustaining habits, rather than depending upon momentary bursts of enthusiasm, which will wax and wane.<br />And those sustaining habit need to be built on praise: we were thinking about how we can sometimes even feel hypocritical beginning family devotions, or starting to meet with a friend regularly to pray when we don’t feel things have been going well spiritually. Well, if you find it hard, start with praise! Praise the Lord for who he is, then you don’t even have to start by talking about your state… use the Lord’s prayer –begins with praise. Use some other bible praises like the reading that Grace read from Luke 1 – the Magnificat.<br />The crowds praise had faded even before Jesus had reached the temple. But Jesus was not put off. He was not coming to Jerusalem to receive praise now; he was coming that he might be rejected and killed. “yet steadfast he to suffering goes, that he his foes from thence might save.”<br />Jesus wasn’t after any throne but the cross; and it would be because of the cross that he might receive from millions of people from every nation eternal praises, that would never wane, but only grow in magnitude, in joy and in depth of understanding.<br />The true king outlasts false praise. <br />The true king condemns false religion<br /> 12(P) On the following day, when they came from Bethany,(Q) he was hungry. 13(R) And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for(S) it was not the season for figs. 14And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.<br /><br /> 15(T) And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of(U) the money-changers and the seats of those who sold(V) pigeons. 16And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written,(W) 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But(X) you have made it a den of robbers." 18And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and(Y) were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because(Z) all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19(AA) And when evening came they[b] went out of the city.<br /><br /> 20(AB) As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21And Peter remembered and said to him,(AC) "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered." 22And Jesus answered them, "Have(AD) faith in God. 23(AE) Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,(AF) 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not(AG) doubt in his heart, but(AH) believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you,(AI) whatever you ask in prayer,(AJ) believe that you(AK) have received[c] it, and it will be yours. 25And whenever(AL) you stand praying,(AM) forgive,(AN) if you have anything against anyone, so that(AO) your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."[d]<br /><br />I don’t know if Bertrand Russell really believed that fig trees had feelings, but he certainly misunderstood what Jesus is doing here. <br />Jesus doesn’t curse the fig tree because he selfishly wants to satisfy his hunger, and flies off the handle in an impatient rage.<br />No, the cursing of the fig tree was an enacted parable. Vines and fig trees were common symbols for Israel and her leaders. <br />This fig tree was fruitless because it was out of season –it was not even in its nature to bear fruit.<br /> Mark arranges the material in such a way that he makes it very clear what the meaning of the parable was. The two stages of the parable fell either side of the visit to the temple. <br />The temple was supposed to be like a tree bearing much fruit. It was even adorned with fruit all over. It was to be like the Garden of Eden where once again people could know the presence of God and not die. If anyone had spiritual hunger, the only place in the world that should have been satisfied was the temple. There they would learn of the great God who was intent on blessing people from every nation. And providein atonement for sins.<br />But the temple had become as fruitful as a fig tree with only leaves present: not even a hint of blossom, let alone fruit. It would leave any pilgrim who visited as spiritually hungry as when they arrived.<br />The only thing that fig leaves are good for in the bible is as a pathetic covering for the nakedness of a broken covenant when Adam and Eve sewed them together and hid. It had become not a model of entering the presence of God, but of hiding from him.<br /> Well, Jesus cursed the fig tree so that the shameful nakedness of the broken religion of the temple would be exposed. <br />And that’s exactly what he does when he visits the temple. <br />V17. "Is it not written,(W) 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But(X) you have made it a den of robbers."<br />There was nothing intrinsically wrong with selling animals somewhere near the temple: they were needed for the sacrifice. But the selling had come right into the temple courts, and had squeezed out the space for those who had come from the nations – the whole court of the Gentiles was overrun with commerce.<br />Jesus brings together two quotations from the Old Testament about the temple. Isaiah 56:7 had shown that the temple’s ultimate aim wasn’t to just be the centre of Israel but the centre of the whole world. All nations would come to the temple and be welcomed by the Lord. Yet the “den of robbers” comes from Jeremiah 7:11 (Steve will preach more on that this evening).<br />It is where Jeremiah castigates the false religion of the day. The people thought that they had peace with God merely because they had the temple. “Peace, peace when there Is not peace”<br />So it was with the temple. It was business as normal; yet it was hiding people from God rather than bringing people to God. <br />- so, is the anger of Jesus here a momentary lapse; something less than attractive about him; would, as Russell suggested, it be far more worthy of a sage to be bland and urbane rather than indignant? Well, it depends what is at stake, doesn’t it. Was it right for Nero to be bland and urbane whilst Rome burned!<br />No, Jesus’ indignation here is a function of his compassion.<br />The temple had become a den of robbers because it was robbing all nations of peace with God.<br />Gospel.<br />You know, it would be possible for us to do the same thing as a church.<br />There could be several ways in which we could do it.<br />- Let’s be a church that doesn’t rob people of the gospel.<br />o Everyone welcome. Speak to the visitor first, and then your friends.<br />o Lives with connections to Non-Christians.<br />o Let your light shine!<br /><br />Jesus brings true religion.<br />- He gets rid of the old model that had become defunct; I think that is what he’s saying with the mountain being thrown into the sea. It isn’t just that prayer can move mountains… 23, no, it is whoever says to “this mountain” ‘be taken up and thrown into the sea’. Well, which mountain is that? It is the temple mount, mount Zion itself. Jesus has done away with the model of the temple as surely as if it had been thrown into the sea. For he is the true temple. He truly brings us peace with God; so that we can now approach God as the Father who hears and answers prayers. V24<br />- The true religion that Jesus brings then has a vertical peace with God. But if we have true religion it also has horizontal effects: v25 <br />We could rob people of the opportunity to have peace with God also if we do not work on our relationships with each other.<br />Pray that we would be a community marked by forgiveness so that our religion is not false; but it is demonstrably life-changing.<br />I know that there have been many tough years at Twynholm in one way or another. Tough years can bring a depth of relationship. They can also bring the temptation of rifts and unforgiveness. Pray that the Lord would not allow bitterness or grudges grip this church. <br />Pray that we would so delight in the peace that we have with God, that we are quick to make peace with one another. Pray that we would so recognize the enormity of what we have been forgiven by our father at the cost of his only son, that we would be quick to forgive one another; it is costly to truly forgive – especially if we have been deeply hurt –but it is not as costly as the forgiveness Jesus was intent on purchasing with his blood just 4 days after this incident.<br />Corrie Ten Boom. The Hiding place.<br /> The true king condemns false religion, <br />Yet the false religion was seeking a way to condemn him. V18.<br />Yet he would be condemned to purchase true religion for all who would trust in him.<br />The true king defies false authority.<br /> 27(AP) And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28and they said to him,(AQ) "By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?" 29Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30Was the baptism of John(AR) from heaven or from man? Answer me." 31And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say,(AS) 'Why then did you not believe him?' 32But shall we say, 'From man'?"—(AT) they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was(AU) a prophet. 33So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."<br /><br />Together the chief priests, theee scribes and the elders formed the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court that was allowed some jurisdiction even under Roman rule. If they were going to be able to kill him with even a veneer of righteousness, the Sanhedrin must therefore be involved. <br />And they are trying out the only charge that they think might be able to stick.Blasphemy. It was considered blasphemous to claim that something was from God that wasn’t at all. So important was it that God’s people could hear from God that there was the death penalty for false prophets – those who claimed to speak in God’s name, but really spoke only for themselves.<br />Jesus reply is not merely evading the evading the authority of the Sanhedrin; it is defying it as a false authority.<br />You say you have authority to judge me! To say that I am not from God! You wouldn’t know God if he walked into the room… Why didn’t you listen to the last prophet whom God sent, John the Baptist? <br />If you had, you would know if my authority came from Heaven or from men, for when he baptized me Heaven was opened, and God himself spoke, “this is my beloved son.”<br />I am the God who has given you authority. You will answer to me one day for it.<br />Do you recognize that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus? Whatever authority we have is not innate. It is not earned, it is borrowed. It is entrusted to us by Jesus, and we will answer to him for how we have used it.<br />Learn from the time where you are under your parent’s authority… learn to trust authority – if your natural inclination is to circumvent it, them you will find it harder to sit happily under the authority of God.<br />My authority as pastor comes from this word… <br />Explain why we have expository preaching.<br />Fire me!! Not just the right, but the responsibility to fire me if I stop preaching this word. <br /><br />The first thing we need to with any authority we have is recognize who Jesus is.<br />Note how compromised they are in their exercise of authority. They are not interested in what is right and true, but what is convenient. All they want to do is protect their authority for themselves, rather than exercise it for the good of others and the glory of God.<br />And in doing so, they will not even consider John’s evidence that they had got Jesus wrong. They just end up non-committal, “We do not know”. John had been the most significant religious figure for at least 400 years; and all they, the religious leaders, the guardian’s of the temple can say is “I don’t know.”<br />Agnosticism can seem so reasonable, can’t it. It’s not ugly aggressive atheism; it’s not dogmatic indignant religion. It is bland and urbane – far more worthy of a sage. It keeps an open mind. It seems so peaceable. But it cries peace, peace where there is no peace. For it leads to hell. <br />It is leaves a person forever unsure as to whether the lifeboat of Jesus’ salvation will sink or float, and therefore stays on the ship unaware that the ship itself is sinking fast.<br />There is a time when the mind cannot remain open for ever. It has often been said that an open mind is to be rather like an open mouth – it is open so that it can close down on something solid.<br />Friends when it comes to religion there is only one who is solid ground to stand upon. For we cannot stand by ourselves. <br />But upon his life, death and resurrection we can stand.<br />He has been steadfast beyond our fleeting praises.<br />He has provided peace with God, where without him there was not peace<br />He is the true king, with all authority. <br />And he has exercised that authority by laying down his life and taking it up again for us:<br />For Jesus is the True King. Meek, peace bringing, but warning that religion without him is a promise of a peace that is not coming. <br />We were created to bow to his authority. Yet without his body broken for us, and his blood shed for us, we would know him only as a judge; we depend upon this glorious king. And in him we find true peace with God.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-16843755670936726632008-10-18T16:56:00.005-07:002008-11-04T09:17:32.425-08:00mark 9: the Glorious KingSermon first preached at Twynholm 7th sept 2008.<br />Audio available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/09/07/sermon-for-september-7-2008/">here</a><br /><br />We live in an instant culture.<br />I guess this is felt and driven by a computer society<br />Instant messaging.<br />Instant Downloads<br />Instant updates, so long as we have Instant broadband.<br />With our digital cameras we can print out photos instantly – we don’t even need to go to a one hour developer any more.<br />But it affects other areas of our lives too.<br />Food: Fast food, Instant noodles, microwave meals and some people still like Instant coffee!<br />Fincances.<br />We can now have instant savers, where we can transfer our money from a savings account to a current account in seconds on the web.<br />Nationwide Building Society offers you the one minute mortgage promise. They can make up their mind in just one minute. I guess that if you were wanting to borrow, say 200,000 it would seem strange that it would be a decision that you’d be keen to be able to make in just 1 minute.<br />Health<br />We no longer need to diet – we can take a diet pill, or get liposuction.<br />What should be the approach of Christians try to share the good news of Jesus in an instant world?<br />Is Christianity a religion of instant gratification? When sharing the good news, should we focus on sharing stories of how our lives have instantly changed.<br />This kind of immediate, high pressure evangelism has gone on for quite some time. I remember as an early teenager going to a hear a well known evangelist who was speaking in a local theatre. The evangelist told an incredibly moving story of how he had been saved from a life of gang crime and drugs, and his whole life had been completely turned around when he put his faith in Jesus Christ. On the basis of this testimony he encouraged the audience to walk down the aisle as a sign that they had put their faith in Christ. <br />That short walk, we were told was all that stood in our way of our lives being radically transformed in the same way that his had been.<br />To his visible shock, nobody came forward. And so the music played on, and he began to make more and more extravagant promises about what would happen to those who came forward.<br />“Perhaps you really want to come forward, but you are concerned that your girlfriend will abandon you if you do. Well, God will give you a better looking girlfriend. Several young men got up out of their seats.” As more and more extravagant promises were made, more and more people began to come forward, and were assured that they had walked from death to life, and would most certainly be welcomed into eternal rewards.<br />Does Christianity promise that if we follow him our lives will immediately get better in every way we might like to measure improvement?<br />Is following Jesus the route to fulfilling all of our dreams?<br />Does Jesus offer us, as one popular author suggests today, “Your best life Now!”or as others have suggested, health, wealth and prosperity today?<br />Is following Jesus quicker than the internet in providing financial, medical, professional and personal affluence?<br />It is true that Jesus does promise the most extravagant and abundant blessings. He describes belonging to his kingdom as finding hidden treasure; even in the passage that we are looking at this morning we will read about rewards… “whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward,” he will say.<br />Yet, as well as talking about rewards, Jesus will also talk about suffering. <br />And the suffering comes first. Then glory. <br />We will see this first in Jesus own life: there is to be suffering then glory. But this is also to be the model of discipleship: the blessings are not all now: we are to live by faith in what is yet to come before the time when we will live by sight, enjoying abundant blessings. And we are to live in humility, before the time when those who trust in Christ will receive their reward.<br />So, those are our three points.<br />1) Suffering then glory (2-13)<br />2) Faith then sight (14-29)<br />3) Humility then greatness. (30-50)<br />Turn with me to Mark 9:2-50<br />Page 1018<br /><br />1) Suffering then glory<br />2(A) And after six days Jesus took with him(B) Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was(C) transfigured before them, 3and(D) his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one[a] on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5And Peter said to Jesus,(E) "Rabbi,[b] it is good that we are here. Let us make three(F) tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6For(G) he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7And(H) a cloud overshadowed them, and(I) a voice came out of the cloud,(J) "This is my beloved Son;[c] listen to him." 8And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.<br /> 9(K) And as they were coming down the mountain,(L) he charged them to tell no one what they had seen,(M) until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10(N) So they kept the matter to themselves,(O) questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. 11And they asked him, "Why do the scribes say(P) that first Elijah must come?" 12And he said to them, "Elijah does come first(Q) to restore all things. And(R) how is it written of the Son of Man that he should(S) suffer many things and(T) be treated with contempt? 13But I tell you that Elijah has come, and(U) they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him."<br />Last week (ch 8) i) Peter’s confession of Christ (29)<br /> ii) Jesus immediately talks about the fact that he will be a suffering Christ.And he began to teach them that(AL) the Son of Man must(AM) suffer many things and(AN) be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and(AO) after three days rise again. 32And he said this(AP) plainly.<br />iii) Peter didn’t like this idea And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, (AQ) "Get behind me, Satan! For you(AR) are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."<br />Peter wanted a Messiah who was all glory and no suffering.<br />Chapter 9 is an encouragement to Peter: yes, says Jesus, there will be a time of glory. And he gives Peter James and John a glimpse of the glory that he will have after the resurrection. (v9)<br />As one commentator puts it “Not Jesus’ nature that is being transformed, ‘but his appearance is transformed to reveal his nature”<br />For a moment the veil comes down...<br />There is glory: and what glory it is: the glory reminds us of the exodus story. There too God had descended in a cloud to fills the temple: but they are left only with Jesus. He is God living with the people.<br />It is a moment of glory, and Peter misunderstands in several ways.<br />1) He doesn’t realise that it is all pointing to the uniqueness of Jesus.<br />a. 3 tents<br />b. “It is good for us to be here”<br />But it is all about Jesus. Moses and Elijah are there to testify to Jesus, and encourage the 3 disciples to know that he is the one they were preparing the way for as prophets.<br />God himself speaks, telling them that Jesus is indeed his Son.<br />And when the cloud of the presence of the Lord has gone, we are not left with a tent where God dwells... or are we. Jesus himself is the tent. John 1:14.<br />Jesus is God himself living with people.<br />You couldn’t get much more glorious than that.<br />2) He doesn’t realise that Jesus didn’t come to grasp that glory now, but to suffer first.<br />In v9, Jesus hints at the time that the glory would come: after the resurrection.<br />But the resurrection is the resurrection from the dead.<br />V11. the question: another subtle hint that the idea of death shouldn’t accompany the Messiah. Surely Elijah’s role was to restore all things. Surely he would sort things out so that there be no need of a suffering Messiah.<br />Jesus: yes, he restored a right call to repentance – but he too suffered. – <br /> -elijah 1 : Ahab & Jezebel<br /> - John the Baptist: Herod and Herodias.<br />That is the pattern of the one who preached Christ: suffering and then glory, because that is the pattern of Jesus himself.<br />So what were they to make of all this?<br />It is very clear: God had told them with his own voice from heaven. They were to listen to Jesus.<br />- Non Christian: does Jesus seems unimpressive: listen to him!<br />- Christian: don’t expect a Christ who is recognised by all today. His glory remains hidden and is for now only revealed in the preaching of the gospel. We have treasure in jars of clay.<br />- Children: realise that the Jesus you learn about is god himself: he is not like the other people in your picture books. He is unique: listen to him.<br />- Marriage: Looks both ways: suffering – who is first to lay down your life (speaking to a friend yesterday about who’s jumping ot get out of bed)<br />Glory: the intimacy of marriage is to point to the fact that there is time to come when we will see our great husband face to face and be one with him.<br />Work at intimacy, expect difficulty and get help!<br />- Church: living for glory we must share in suffering. We need to be a place where people can be miserable and yet joyful.<br />- Relected in our songs.<br />Carl Trueman: <br />In the psalms, God has given the church a language which allows it to express even the deepest agonies of the human soul in the context of worship. Does our contemporary language of worship reflect the horizon of the expectation regarding the believer’s experience which the psalter proposes as normative? If not, why not? Is it because the comfortable values of Western middle-class consumerism have silently infiltrated the church and made us consider such cries irrelevant, embarrassing, and signs of abject failure?”<br />Only Christians can cry and ye not despair. For though we know that the suffering is very real, we know that the glory to come is absolutely certain, for God has already raised his Son from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in glory; he has already won the victory, and we will share in it one day.<br /><br />Faith then Sight.<br /> 14(Y) And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him,(Z) were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16And he asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?" 17And someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has(AA) a spirit that makes him mute. 18And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and(AB) they were not able." 19And he answered them, "O(AC) faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." 20And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it(AD) convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21And Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But(AE) if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." 23And Jesus said to him, (AF) "'If you can'!(AG) All things are possible for one who believes." 24Immediately the father of the child cried out[d] and said, "I believe;(AH) help my unbelief!" 25And when Jesus saw that(AI) a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, (AJ) "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." 26And after crying out and(AK) convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead." 27But Jesus(AL) took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28And when he had(AM) entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" 29And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer."[e]<br />Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection<br /> 30(AN) They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed,(AO) after three days he will rise." 32(AP) But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.<br /><br />There are several unusual things about this story...<br />1) V 17 The man says that he has brought the boy to Jesus. But he hasn’t – he’s only brought him to Jesus’ disciples (19 Jesus still must say ‘bring him to me)<br />a. Don’t judge Jesus by his disciples.<br />b. Christians are not good people, but those who trust in a great saviour.<br />2) There is a strange thing: Jesus says that this kind can only be driven out by prayer, but there is no report of Jesus himself praying...<br />3) Lots of talk about faith / belief...<br />a. V19 – faithless generation<br />b. 21-24If you can... anything is possible for those who believe.<br />c. I do believe help me in my unbelief.<br />d. 28-29 Only by prayer<br />Not great faith, but faith in a great saviour.<br />This is about Jesus still...<br />Prayer is bringing things to Jesus; he is the Son of God, he has power to save. <br />Why didn’t the disciples bring the boy to Jesus? Because they were faithless.<br />But notice how little faith is required...<br />- Jesus doesn’t crush a little faith.<br />Faith as a rope... what matters is who is at the other end of the rope: Jesus is the only one strong enough.<br />And when there is faith exercised.... he looks worse before he looks better.<br />(AJ) "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." 26And after crying out and(AK) convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead." 27But Jesus(AL) took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose<br />- Even in Jesus work in our lives there is death first then glory...<br />In many ways that you might want to measure it, if you follow Jesus life will get worse. But in ways that last, it has radically changed: there is new life! That will last forever.<br />Church: Bring people to Christ: conversation must focus on the gospel<br />- Come to “speaking of Jesus”<br />- Prayer prioritised in congregation<br />- Non-Christian: Do you ask this question “if you can?”<br />- Christian: beware over-realised eschatology. It is not your best life now. 1 Cor 15. Not all suffering will be removed if we have enough faith. For the Christian suffering is the norm. Jesus didn’t lack faith.<br />- Children: when you pray, what do you ask for. Listen to him.<br /><br />Humility comes before greatness. 30-50<br /> 30(AN) They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed,(AO) after three days he will rise." 32(AP) But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.<br />Who Is the Greatest?<br /> 33And(AQ) they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house(AR) he asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?" 34But they kept silent, for on the way(AS) they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, (AT) "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." 36And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and(AU) taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37(AV) "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me."<br />Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us<br /> 38(AW) John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone(AX) casting out demons in your name,[f] and(AY) we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." 39But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40(AZ) For the one who is not against us is for us. 41For truly, I say to you,(BA) whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.<br />Temptations to Sin<br /> 42(BB) "Whoever causes one of(BC) these little ones who believe in me to sin,[g](BD) it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43(BE) And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to(BF) hell,[h] to(BG) the unquenchable fire.[i] 45(BH) And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into(BI) hell. 47(BJ) And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into(BK) hell, 48'where(BL) their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' 49For everyone will be salted with fire.[j] 50(BM) Salt is good,(BN) but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again?(BO) Have salt in yourselves, and(BP) be at peace with one another."<br /><br />Irony: Jesus talks about his death<br />Dan 7, Is 53. Gospel.<br />Isaiah 53 comes first!<br />They are afraid to ask; (Even though God has told 3 of them at least to listen to him... they should be asking at every point!)<br />- Don’t be afraid to ask... go to bible: but get counsel too...<br />I fear that Peter, James and john were part of that conversation about greatness.<br />It seems that they were afraid to ask though, not because they were shy of Jesus, ut because they thought they might not like the answer.<br />- Beware of decisions that you make where you either don’t get counsel, or you ignore it.<br />- They wanted greatness now...<br />- They should know who the greatest is, and he is talking about suffering.<br />- Upside down...<br />What does greatness look like according to Jesus?<br />The one who serves A child.<br />Not a child: the servant of a child.<br />Servant of all. <br />This is the only kind of leadership that any Christian may aspire to.<br />- We are all servants of Christ; he served us (10:45)<br />- Pride wants to belittle others, rather than encourage (38-41)<br />- Pride protects sin<br /><br />The suffering that we face as Christians comes in many guises.<br />- Persecution<br />- Distraction<br />- Senses<br />o Cut them off.<br />o Living by faith not by sight means preching to ourselves that our senses must not be blindly obeyed, but subordinated to the gospel principle. <br />- 2 judgements<br />o Hell<br /> It is real<br /> It is terrible<br /> It is eternal<br />o Mortification of sin<br /> It must be a reality<br /> It must be radical<br /> It must be lifelong<br />- Church: this is the only way in which we will have a community that encourages us to persevere through suffering until the day of glory.<br />- How do you measure your discipleship?<br />o Quiet times? <br />o Are you growing in your relationships with the Lord’s people. If you are not, then I’m not sure that however else you are measuring growth is really very credible.<br />o Romans 12:10 “love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour.” The only kind of one-upmanship we are to have is trying to care for others better than they care for us. Trying to be more interested in others than they are in us. Trying to help others more than they help us... (not false – don’t refuse help – but be generous!)<br />o For that is who we serve.<br />The only greatness that we can have is the recognition of the greatness of the Lord Jesus. The highest honour that we could possible be given, is the right to honour the Lord Jesus. The place of greatest dignity will be when we eternally fall on our knees to bow before His throne.<br />Our glorious king, who being in very nature God...<br />o Philippians 2.<br /><br />- Where is true greatness seen?<br />In the transfiguration, for sure.<br />In the cross:<br />The suffering:<br /> Temptation in Gethsemane.<br /> Persecution to the point of death.<br /> Every sense would have been crying out to get out of the pain... but he endured.<br /><br />He plucked out the eye that might lead him to look to his own interests, and submitted that eye to see the mocking and the beating and the spitting of Roman soldiers.<br />He cut off the feet that might walk away from the cross, and surrendered them to stagger along the road to Calvary.<br />He cut off the hands that might summon legions of angels to tear him down from the cross, and surrendered them to iron nails.<br />There is greatness. That the Son of Man should suffer, and become the servant of all.<br />In heaven, when we bow before the Lord Jesus and praise him for his greatness: he will be radiant: Rev 1 “one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his waist. And yet who is the one who is dressed in such splendour? <br />He is the lamb, looking as though he has been slain. <br />Forever, when we sing of the glory of the Son of Man, his glory will be infinitely magnified, because he was the Son of Man who suffered to redeem his people.<br />And we shall sing “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing.”Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-68467797059240686742008-10-18T16:56:00.003-07:002008-11-04T09:17:32.426-08:00mark 8sermon preached at Twynholm august 31st 2008.<br /><br />audio available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/08/31/sermon-for-august-31-2008/">here</a><br /><br />Introduction: blindness, when we don’t know we are blind…<br /> Do you enjoy those films where there is a revelation at the end that transforms the way you understand the whole film; <br /> and then you don’t just understand how the film worked out I the end. You suddenly understand the whole film in a completely different light. <br /> In fact, it could be said, that you had only misunderstood what was going on up until that point. You had missed the point until the final revelation. And when you look back , you see that you should have been able to work it out. All the evidence was there. You’d be trusting the wrong person in the story, and you shouldn’t have done.<br /> Sixth sense; the prestige; momento; unbreakable; <br />What if you got to the end of your life and you realised the same could be said about your life? That you hadn’t seen clearly what the purpose of your life had been; that with a moment of hideous recognition when it was all too late, you realise that you had missed the point of it all, and therefore had misspent your life? <br />What have you invested you life in. I don’t just mean your money. But your energy, your time, your words, your love.<br />What has been your goal in life? Have you misplaced it, or have you spent it well? How would you know?<br />There are various things that we don’t know about our future lives. Perhaps things have happened in your life for good or for ill, that you wouldn’t have imagined even a couple of years ago. Before about a year ago I don’t think I’d ever even heard of Twynholm Baptist Church. I had know idea that the Lord would be bringing us here, I trust for good.<br />But what about the very end of our lives – can we see the end from the beginning? Can we therefore even tell what we should be living for today?<br />They say that hindsight is always 20/20. But then, of course it is too late. How can we know well enough today what that last day will bring, so that we can be sure that we spend today, and tomorrow and the rest of our lives well?<br />Well, in our studies in Mark’s gospel, we have been encountering Mark’s claim to have discovered the answer to that very question. Mark’s gospel is the report of “Good news” that is what the word “gospel” means. The good news about Jesus Christ, the son of God.<br />And we have hit today the turning point in the book. For up to this point we as the reader, have already known the identity of Jesus; God has declared it; demons have shrieked it out; but the penny hasn’t fully dropped with the disciples.<br />You may remember that as we began I said that Mark’s gospel is a book of two half: the first half answers the question “who is Jesus?” and then the second half talks about what he has come to do. It is here at the end of chapter 8 that we reach that transition.<br />And once we see clearly these two things: who is Jesus, and what he has come to do; we can see everything else clearly too, including the very purpose of our lives.<br />Turn with me then to Mark 8:22-9:1<br />Here we will see for things that about clear sight: <br /> And they came(A) to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And(B) he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when(C) he had(D) spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." 25Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26And he sent him to his home, saying, (E) "Do not even enter the village."<br /><br />Clear sight depends upon Jesus’ initiative 22-26<br />The account begins with a man who is not only unable to see, he is even unable to come to the person who might give him sight.<br />In v 22 we read that some people have to bring him. And it is they, not he, who begs Jesus for mercy.<br />And Jesus does heal him, but it is a unique story. The first time it doesn’t seem to work quite right! Now, this is late enough on in the gospel of Mark for us to know that it isn’t because Jesus is not able to do what he wants in this healing... <br />He’s not like some magician – a first year at Hogwarts who’s powers are rather unrefined.<br />The whole point of the first 8 chapters of Mark’s gospel has been to show us that Jesus is all-powerful. With a word he had already been able to perform far greater miracles: raising a dead girl to life back in chapter 5. Feeding thousands of people from little food, twice.<br />No, Jesus is doing this in two stages intentionally. <br />Why? Well, look at the question he asks in verse 23: <br />“23And(AA) he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when(AB) he had(AC) spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?"<br />This was a very similar question to what he had asked his disciples back in v.17.<br />17And(T) Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?(U) Do you not yet perceive(V) or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18(W) Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?<br />21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"<br />The reason Mark includes the little story of another healing here, is that it illustrates physically what was going on spiritually with the disciples. They saw, but they didn’t see... <br />Like the man who was healed they saw jesus, but didn’t see him clearly.<br />24And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking."<br />But Jesus doesn’t leave him with partial sight...<br />25Then Jesus[c] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26And he sent him to his home, saying, (AD) "Do not even enter the village."<br />The words “saw everything clearly” show that he has 20/20<br /><br />And so too, Jesus will not leave his disciples with partial sight of him. When he is revealing himself, he may do it in stages, for we might be too immature to grasp the harder truths about Jesus straight away. But if he has set his mind on making himself known, he will do so.<br />I remember the first time I had a pair of glasses – I must have been 13/14. Because my eyes aren’t very bad nobody had ever realised that they weren’t perfect. And then there was that day when I had them for the first time. I stood on the top floor of a building in my school - and for the first time ever I could recognise people’s faces 400 yards away. Wow! This is how people with perfect eyesight see, is it!<br />But Jesus isn’t just healing the man’s eyes perfectly: he is showing what he can do to the eyes of the heart. <br />When Jesus opens our eyes to who he is, it is that kind of a realisation. Everything begins to be clear. What we are created for: to live under Jesus’ rule. Why the world is in such a mess: because we have rejected Jesus as king, and incurred his righteous anger. What hope there is for a world in the hands of an angry God: he so loves his enemies that he sent his son into the world to bear his anger, that we do not need to. What it is worth spending my life on; Living in a way that honours king Jesus, and making him known to the world.<br />With a correct understanding of who Jesus is, everything makes sense; without it, nothing makes sense. <br />But it;s not just that our vision must have him at the centre: he is the one who can give us that vision. He can open the eyes of the blind and reveal himself.<br />It’s popular to think that the whole world is desperately looking for God, but that he is very elusive and hard to find. That is not the bible’s picture. The bible pictures us as hiding from the God who is so very obviously there. We all know that God made the world, but we suppress that truth, because we don’t like it. If he made it, he owns it: he owns us – and what we want more than anything else is independence from his rule.<br />Perhaps you are here and you are an atheist, and you’d really disagree with what I just said. I’m delighted you are here, and I’d love to talk with you about it afterwards. Come and find me at the door.<br />I’m not denying at all that people understand themselves to be atheists; the bible suggests though, that atheism is a deliberate choice rather than an unbiased conclusion.<br />The well known Atheist philosopher and novelist, Auldous Huxley, author of “Brave New World” admitted this for his own life at least in a rare moment of honesty later on in life.<br /><br />" Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don’t know because we don’t want to know. Those of us who detect no meaning in the world generally do so because, for one reason or another, it suits us. For myself, as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom; we objected to the political and economic system because it was unjust. The supporters of these systems claimed that in some way they embodied the meaning (a Christian meaning, they insisted) of the world. There was one admirably simple method of confuting these people and at the same time justifying ourselves in our political and erotical revolt: we could deny that the world had any meaning whatsoever." (p.273) <br />Atheism is believed not because it is convincing, but because it is convenient. And to be honest that is the way our hearts most normally work. We decide what we wnat to believe, and then look for reasons to justify it.<br />If you do not recognise Jesus to be the Lord this morning, let me suggest to you that you will have a bias to keep yourself in that belief; it will protect your perceived right to rule your own life.<br />So committed are we to this philosophy of self, that without the supernatural work of the Lord Jesus himself, we will remain blind to his rule over us. We are no more able to see and understand who Jesus is than the blind man was able to make himself see.<br />This means that Christians should be a people marked in all our discussion with Non-Christians with complete humility. We are not those who are intellectually superior, and have searched harder to find the meaning of life. The initiative belonged to the Lord. Without his gracious work in our lives we would not have given him a second thought, and we would still be heading for hell.<br />No, our conversations with Non-believers are, as one person has put it, merely one beggar telling another beggar where we have found bread.<br />This also liberates us as Christians to realise that we don’t have to be super-spiritual to be of use in any other believer’s life either – we just need to be going together to hear from God’s word. We were thinking last week a little about the dangers of hypocrisy. If you are struggling to remain faithful in your Christian life, it is not hypocritical to try to encourage others towards faitfulness.<br />Parents: you don’t need to be doing really well in your Christian life to give you the right to read the bible with your children. Husbands, you don’t need to be doing well to read the bible with your wives. Single people, you don’t have to be doing well to ask a friend to meet up once a week to read the bible and pray together, and more than you have to be well to encourage a sick friend to go to the doctor.<br />No – we are all utterly dependent upon Jesus’ work in our lives, so let’s encourage each other as much as we can. He alone can open blind eyes. He alone can give a growing clarity of sight that leads to a greater vision for who he is, and therefore for what it means to belong to him and worship him.<br />Clear sight recognises Jesus’ centrality<br /> 27(F) And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28And they told him,(G) "John the Baptist; and others say,(H) Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." 29And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him,(I) "You are(J) the Christ." 30(K) And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.<br /><br />The coming of the Christ, or Messaiah had been expected for 1000 years, and predeicted from the beginning of history.<br />This is the first time in Mark’s gospel that the disciples openly say he is the Christ.<br />After the miracles that we’ve already read about in Mark’s gospel and others that he didn’t record, everyone had an opinion about him. And most people recognised that he was someone important sent by God. <br />John the Baptist had recently been executed by the cowardly herod Antipas as we read in chapter 6. Herod then had superstitiously feared that Jesus was some kind of resurrected John the Baptist, and others seem to have picked up on this belief. Never before had two such key prophetic figures come one after the other in such quick succession.<br />Elijah was reported in the Old Testament as being taken straight to heaven without dying, and it was prophesied that one would come in his Spirit before the coming of the Lord. More about him next week.<br />Saying Jesus was one of the prophets is no less a claim. There were many prophets in Israel, but to say that he was not just a prophet but one of the prophets was a claim that he was one of the great prophets who would speak for God at a critical time in Israel’s history – perhaps even the great prophet who was to come as promised by Moses in Deuteronomy 18.<br />But Peter gets it exactly right. Jesus was not just one of the prophets; he was the one whom all the prophets were preparing Israel for. He was the Christ.<br />The Christ is the greek term for the Messiah: literally meaning the anointed one. He is the great king in the line of David who had been explicitly promised for 1000 years. But long before that there were promises made that would only be fulfilled in the Messiah; right back in the Garden of Eden, it was promised that a seed of Eve would crush the serpent’s head. Similarly a single seed was promised from Abraham to whom the inheritance would be given. After the promise had been made to David, David himself, under the inspiration of the holy Spirit, wrote Psalms that hinted of how this coming king would not be a mere man, but would in fact be God himself; this theme was picked up by the prophets; and so Isaiah would describe him as “Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty god, the everlasting Father, the prince of peace.”<br />And, perhaps most grand of all was the scence depicted by the prophet Daniel. Let’s turn their now. Daniel chapter 7. In verses 9-12 there was a picture in of the throneroom in heaven, with God, the Ancient of Days seated upon a throne; books of judgement were opened, and through God’s enemies are destroyed. And how does he achieve that victory? Let’s pick it up in verse 13.<br />“I saw in the night visions,<br />And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man,<br />and he came to the ancient of days<br />and was presented before him.<br />And to him was given dominion<br />and glory and a kingdom,<br />that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;<br />his dominion is an everlasting dominion,<br />which shall not pass away.<br />and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”<br />The picture is incredible: this one is human: like a Son of Man; but he is also clearly more than merely human. He enters the very throne-room of God; and God gives to him divine authority. There is only one whom all peoples, nations and languages should serve – and that is the Lord.<br />So the picture is one of the God who would become man in order to achieve victory.<br />And this idea of divine victory would be first people’s minds in 1st century Palestine.<br />They knew who God’s enemies were: the occupying roman forces. So the expectation was the the Messiah would come, call to himself and army, and drive out the Romans with the sword, in order to purify and reconstitute and rule over Israel. <br />If the nations would serve him, it would be because he had defeated them.<br />Such were, we assume the glorious expectations that Peter had when he recognised Jesus to be the Christ. One with all authority, to whom all must bow the knee. <br />We cannot have a picture of Jesus that is less glorious than this if we are to see him clearly.<br />Though details of the hope were mistimed, the level of glory that the Messiah has – the glory of God himself means that if we merely think of him as being great we insult him with faint praise.<br />The whole world was created for this king. <br />We do not have our right place in this world unless we are living to serve this king. <br />Every joule of energy we exert should be exerted in service of this king. <br />Every word that is spoken should be spoken to the praise of this king. <br />Every penny that is spent should be spent for the glory of this king. <br />Every smile that breaks forth across our faces should be smiled to the delight of this king. <br />Every tear that is shed should be shed in dependence upon this king. <br />Every hour that is spent should be spent in service of this king.<br />In him alone will we find our significance, our joy, our identity<br />–for so it has been decreed by the ancient of days who alone is seated on His Heavenly throne.<br />If we are to see clearly we must see that Jesus central, and bow before the authority of this great king.<br />Clear sight understands Jesus’ mission<br /> 31(L) And he began to teach them that(M) the Son of Man must(N) suffer many things and(O) be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and(P) after three days rise again. 32And he said this(Q) plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, (R) "Get behind me, Satan! For you(S) are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."<br /><br />It is wonderfully encouraging to see how Peter, like most of us can fall so flat after reaching so high. We read in the other gospels that Jesus explicitly said that it was only by revelation from God that Peter had recognised Jesus to be the Christ; we know that in Mark’s gospel through the parallel with the sotry of the blind man. Peter’s sight of jesus had been given to him; but he only saw partially. He understood who Jesus was absolutely rightly. But he did not yet know what Jesus had come to do.<br />And when Jesus says, Peter is incensed. Jesus had strictly warned the disciples not to reveal his identity in verse 30, as people would have thought him to be the wrong kind of king. Jesus caution is proved wise by Peter’s outburst in verse 32.<br />And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him<br />The word for rebuke is the same strong word used of Jesus in verse 30.<br />Do you see the irony; Peter has just declared that Jesus is the divine king before whom all people in the world ever must bow, and the very next thing he does is rebuke him.<br />“No Jesus – you’re not supposed to be that kind of king – not a suffering King. I won’t have it”<br />33But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, (R) "Get behind me, Satan! For you(S) are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."<br /><br />Was this harsh of Jesus! No, he surely saw the temptation of Satan in Peter’s words. Satan too had offered Jesus a throne which he could take up without suffering. But Jesus knew it was necessary.<br />the Son of Man must(N) suffer.<br />This was an extraordinary statement, and we can perhaps well understand Peter’s confusion; the Son of Man was that title from Daniel 7 that we read earlier. The highest picture of the Messaiah in the whole Old Testament. Surely the Son of Man’s enemies should suffer – but the Son of Man should reign with all bowing before him.<br />Why must this glorious king suffer?<br />Well Jesus is drawing on another well-known old Testament passage – the passage that was read to us earlier: Isaiah 53. There we read of a suffering servant. Why must that servant suffer? <br />We heard in that passage: We esteemed him stricken; smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the punishment that brought us peace, and by his wounds are we healed...<br />Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.<br />Jesus would suffer not because of anything that he had done; but for the rebellion of his people.<br />Gospel.<br />That is why he rebuked Peter so strongly.<br />Look at what he does just before he rebukes Peter.<br /><br />33 but turning and seeing and seeing his disciples <br />33 but turning and seeing and seeing his disciples <br />Peter, you would save me from the cross would you? You would save me from going through that hell... but peter, you don’t understand that if you save me you will damn the whole world. Look at my disciples with me, Peter... i have come to save them, not to damn them. And with them to save millions upon millions of others. If I am not crushed by the Lord then you will be: You, my disciples, everyone who had ever lived would be crushed by the Lord forever in hell. <br />It is necessary that the Son of Man would suffer. <br />My friends; this is our great hope. God has not left this world to face the judgment we deserve; the Son of man would willingly suffer in our place. And for the rest of the book, Jesus is walking the road towards that cross.<br />That he would take that road would lead to the arrogant reproof of peter now. It would lead to the betrayal of Judas. It would lead to all of them abandoning him. Why did he do it: for he loved the very disciples who would reprove, betray, abandon.<br />Without this understanding of Jesus mission there is no good news. Unless Jesus has born the punishment that we all deserve we will most certainly face it ourselves.<br />This must define as a church; we cannot admit to membership of the church someone who has not trusted that Christ has borne their punishment, lest we give that person false assurance of their salvation. <br />Without the Son of Man suffering for our guilt there is no church. Jesus says in John 10 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”<br />This must define which other churches we can work with in the name of the Lord Jesus. <br />I’m meeting up with other local ministers as part of getting to know what the Lord is doing in Fulham. I met with one vicar this week and asked him whether he thought Jesus bore the punishment that we deserve; I was a little taken aback by the clarity of his answer – “absolutely not.” I felt compelled to tell him that I would seek to love him as a human being but that we could not do things together in the name of the Lord Jesus, for we do not believe in the same Jesus.<br />Is this because I want us to be thought of as that weird little separatist church? No, honestly I’d much rather be liked by people. I personally found him a very pleasant man. But I fear that Jesus would have said the same rebuke to that vicar that he’d said to Peter, only the stupidity of the claim now is so much more tragic. He has already died! The punishment has already been paid! The Lord has proved it by raising Christ from the dead! The way is open to freedom from guilt, to fellowship with God, to an eternity serving the Son of Man. But that way is through trusting that Jesus has borne our guilt, and paid our punishment, the one message that this vicar said he absolutely does not believe, and therefore I assume absolutely will not preach to his congregation – denying their ears the only offer of hope there is in this guilty world.<br />This message is the only hope for your marriage.<br />Husbands: this is how you are to love. Not to succumb to every object of your wives: but to love in ways that she may not always appreciate, ways that will cost you more than they cost her, but ways you know are for her eternal good. Beware of leadership that costs your spouse more than it costs you. <br />Pray particularly for the elders of this church in this regard. Pray that we would love our wives as Christ has loved us; one of the ways in which the devil would seek to undermine the Lord’s work in this church is by attacking the marriages of those in leadership.<br />We must grasp the mission of Christ if we are to see clearly; and it must grip us. It must transform every area of our lives.<br />Clear sight accepts Jesus’ affliction<br /> 34And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him(T) deny himself and(U) take up his cross and follow me. 35For(V) whoever would save his life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake(W) and the gospel’s will save it. 36(X) For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37For(Y) what can a man give in return for his soul? 38For(Z) whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this(AA) adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed(AB) when he comes in the glory of his Father with(AC) the holy angels." 1And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not(AD) taste death(AE) until they see the kingdom of God after it has come(AF) with power."<br />“Deny yourself” sounds to our culture’s ears like the words of a kill-joy. Our culture is about self-indulgence, not self-denial. Our adverts encourage us to say “I’m worth it”. Our fast food restaurants ask us if we want to ‘go large’; our tv programming increasingly seems to have lost any kind of censorship – the argument being that if people want something it should be available, and if they don’t they don’t have to. We should all indulge ourselves in whatever is to our taste. <br />We’ve just been thinking about what a glorious king Jesus is. Why would that king say that we must deny ourselves? And if denying ourselves in not enough, “take up your cross” is even more radical. This isn’t the colloquial watered down use of this phrase that we have today. “We’ve all got our crosses to bear” perhaps mine is my ingrowing toenail, yours is your difficult boss at work, someone else’s is a difficult relationship with a family member.<br />But that is not how the disciples would have heard this. If someone was bearing a cross, it was not just a burden that got a bit heavy for them. They were on their last walk to the place where they themselves would be nailed to that cross and die. To take up our cross then, is to begin a journey to a slow and painful death. <br />If your not a Christian, and you’ve expressed come interest in Christianity, and people have told you that it will solve all your problems and give you a life filled only with peace, then they haven’t told you the whole story. <br />There is a death to be died. This doesn’t mean that every Christian must be a martyr, though every Christian must be prepared to be. It is in fact far more radical than that. It is I who is to die; my desires; taking up your cross is how painful it will feel to deny yourself. <br />Really? Yes! Elseshere jesus describes it as being like cutting off your hand or plucking out your eye. <br />Sometimes the non-christian thinks that Christians are just unrealistic prudes who know nothing about the pull of temptation. That is nonsense. I can assure from bitter experience that the pull of temptation feels much less strong when you are giving into it. It is only when you constantly, daily, moment by moment seek, with God’s help, to resist that temptation that we realise how painful it is.<br />It is only when we start to follow Jesus that we realise how deep the grip of sin really was on our lives.<br />Perhaps there were sins that you thought might be incredibly difficult to drop, that actually, with God’s help are largely overcome within a relatively short time, and yet sins that you bearly even realised were sins grip you far deeply than you could have possibly imagined. <br />One might quickly kick a heroine habit but then struggle for the rest of one’s life with self-indulgent self-pity.<br />One might be surprised how quickly one stops using swearwords that used to trip off the tongue almost uncontrollably, but there might be a lifelong battle not to use your words to gossip – something that you hadn’t even realised was a problem.<br />We saw last week how our hearts produce all kinds of evil desires. That doesn’t stop when we start to follow Jesus; it is just that the fight begins in earnest. It is a fight where we are at war with the sin that resides so deep in our heart – each day may seem like agony at times – we really are to take up our cross and follow him.<br />But is it worth it?<br />Yes! That’s the whole point. In fact, it seems that the whole point of the church is that there would be a group of people who so delight in Christ that we would proclaim, not with stoic resignment, but with tears of joy, “he is worth it!”<br />The foundation of the church is on this secure, unmovable roack, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” on the most intimate conjunction of the two natures, the divine and the human, in themselves infinitely distant, in the same person... What are other things in comparison to the knowledge of Christ? In the judgement of the great apostle they are but loss and dung. So they were to him, and if they are not to us, we are carnal.(John Owen)<br />There are millions who have realised that Jesus is worth following.<br />That, I think is the point of the often misunderstood verse right at the end of the passage. Jesus is not mistakenly saying that his return would be within that generation. Rather, within the lifetime of some standing there the profession of Jesus as Christ was something not just said by Peter or a handful of disciples. When Jesus had died and risen, and sent his Spirit, the gospel went forth with power. That mustard seed became a great tree, and many from many nations put their trust in Christ. <br />And they showed that they knew Jesus was worth following, for they were willing to follow him though they suffered much for it. Christians do not seek suffering, but we know that suffering comes from following Christ with hearts that are prone to wander, in a world that hates him.<br />And Christians almost invaribaly testify that suffering is the time when the fact that the Lord is worth it is clearest to them.<br />In 1637 Samuel Rutherford, imprisoned in Aberdeen for wrote from prison, “I never knew by my nine years’ preaching so much of Christ’s love as He has taught me in Aberdeen by six months imprisonment. I charge you in Christ’s name to help me to praise and show that people and country the loving kindness of the Lord to my soul, that so my suffering may someday preach to them when I am silent. He has made me to know now better than before what it is to be crucified to the world. I would not exchange my sighs for the laughing of my adversaries, for he has sealed my sufferings with the comforts of his spirit on my soul.<br />If we have not realised that Jesus is worth all this, then we have not seen correctly. <br />And one day all our eyes will be opened, and that expectation that Peter had that he would destroy his enemies will come to pass.<br />35For(V) whoever would save his life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake(W) and the gospel’s will save it. 36(X) For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37For(Y) what can a man give in return for his soul? 38For(Z) whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this(AA) adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed(AB) when he comes in the glory of his Father with(AC) the holy angels." <br />What are you holding onto. Christ has not returned to judge yet, for he is holding out his nail-scarred hand, offering it to you to take you to follow him now, and one day to be with him forever. Will you hold onto those treasures and sink into the quicksand or Will you let go of the treasures of this world, that you will lose one day anyway, and grasp that hand that is offered to you in love?Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-88771298255301018222008-10-18T16:56:00.001-07:002008-11-04T09:17:32.426-08:00mark 7This sermon was preached at Twynholm, august 24th 2008.<br />Audio is available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/08/24/sermon-for-august-24-2008/">here</a><br /><br />If you could defy the laws of gravity<br />have nerves of ice<br />If you could have legs like steel springs, <br />the eyes of a hawk <br />the grace of a swan.<br />If you had all this you would have the body<br />"you would have the tools <br />but you would not have greatness" <br />until you understand that the strongest muscle is the heart.<br />To me that is the soul of the Olympic Games.<br /><br />So says Andrea Bocelli in the advertising campaign for the Olympics.<br /><br />Or, from the Olympic charter itself.<br /><br />The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.<br /><br />Nelson Mandela put it like this <br /><br />For seventeen days, they are roommates.<br />For seventeen days, they are soulmates.<br />And for twenty-two seconds, they are competitors.<br />Seventeen days as equals. Twenty-two seconds as adversaries.<br />What a wonderful world that would be.<br />That's the hope I see in the Olympic Games.<br /><br />Is the sportsfield the best place to find hope in a divided and hate-filled world. <br />Is 2012 the great hope for London? With 18 gold medals causing Olympic fever to infect our nation, even those who were once sceptical about the effects of the 2012 Olympics upon London, seem to be converted or strangely silent.<br />One interesting event that took place earlier in the week might illustrate it. The Georgian Revasi Mindorashvili met Russian Georgy Ketoev in the freestyle wrestling ring semi final.<br />Their compatriots had been fighting with guns that same week. For them it was all over, and when the medals were handed out the Russians courteously stood to hear the Georgian national anthem play.<br />The joy of sporting victory is short-lived – I feel particularly compelled to remind Fulham fans of that fact after their unexpected win over my beloved arsenal yesterday.<br />But we know that not all problems are dealt with so sportingly. <br />There is war as well as contest, and closer to home, even among those that we love most, there is friction.<br />Be honest, how often are there harsh words between you and a housemate, or a family member even as you are trying to get out the door to church. If your household is like mine, then I guess it is more often that you would like to admit.<br />What is at the heart of the human problem? Is there a solution?<br />Turn with me to Mark 7, Page 1016 in the church bibles.<br />Here we will see that the human problem runs far deeper than we might have assumed; it runs so deep that the combined force of all of humanity could not solve it. And yet there is hope. For God’s own divine solution reaches even deeper than the depth of the human problem.<br />1. The heart of the human problem (1-22)<br />2. The scope of the divine solution. (23-8:10)<br />3. The source of the eternal hope.(8:11-21)<br /><br />1. The heart of the human problem (1-23)<br /> 1(A) Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes(B) who had come from Jerusalem, 2they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were(C) defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash[a] their hands, holding to(D) the tradition of(E) the elders, 4and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.[b] And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as(F) the washing of(G) cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.[c]) 5And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to(H) the tradition of(I) the elders,(J) but eat with(K) defiled hands?" 6And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you(L) hypocrites, as it is written,<br /><br /> (M) "'This people honors me with their lips,<br /> but their heart is far from me;<br />7in vain do they worship me,<br /> teaching as(N) doctrines the commandments of men.'<br /> 8You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."<br />The heart of the human problem runs deep. We need to realise this, or we will look in the wrong place for a solution. If you get the wrong diagnosis, you might be satisfied with an inadequate treatment, but it will head you down a road towards despair.<br />The problem is so deep that it is Beyond the reach of any law <br />Perhaps the most common mistake in trying to deal with the human problem is to suggest that it can be solved by the right rules.<br />The Pharisees were meticulous rule keepers. We mustn’t underestimate why they thought they had such reasons to be such meticulous rulekeepers. They knew their Old Testaments. They knew that the very reason that Israel had been judged and sent into exile was that she had broken the law of Moses. And so, after a small remnant of Israel had been brought back into the land, there were those who wanted to make sure that the exile could never happen again. <br />And so they tried to enforce the law. And more than just enforce it, they had a whole series of other laws that meant that if you kept them, not only would you not break the Mosaic law, you wouldn’t even get close. That’s what they mean here by the “tradition of the elders” in verse 3 and 5. <br />So, where the law said that if you sat on the same couch as someone who was unclean, then you were unclean, they said, right then, we will ceremonially wash our couches every time someone sits on them, because we don’t know where they’ve been. If the law said that if you touch someone who is unclean you must ceremonially wash, then they said, right then, just in case, every time you go to the marketplace you’d better come back and wash from head to foot… actually, if you have a look at the footnote, you’ll see that the actual word in verse 2 is baptize: they would have thorough wash to make sure they had not inadvertently broken the law. <br />But in trying so meticulously to keep the law visibly like this, it didn’t deal with the problem. <br />The law was never intended to ensure obedience. It required obedience, but it could not ensure obedience. It was intended to reveal our disobedience. <br />So, Paul writes in romans 3:20<br />For by works of the law no human being[a] will be justified in God’s sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.<br />The law was never meant to be the cure, only the diagnosis.<br />My friends, we need to beware of legalism, the idea that the law can purify us. <br />We need to get away from this in our church. Rules cannot encourage obedience. They can reveal disobedience and show us our need of mercy and of repentance. But it is only the work of the Spirit in the heart that can bring that repentance. The law can’t.<br />Do you see that: the problem is deep because it is a heart problem, not merely an external behavioural problem. The law can’t touch the heart. “These people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”<br /><br />The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. If we don’t realise how the law cannot touch the heart, we will think that we just need to add a few more laws. We just need to be a little more harsh. That’s what the Pharisees did. They longed that the law of God would not be broken, so they added more and more laws to try to protect it. But they did not reach the heart.<br />We need to know this in our families. Parents are you ever frustrated with your young children, because they just don’t seem to obey. You are tempted to make the rule more and more strict and the punishments more and more severe, thinking that maybe that would get through to them.<br />Well, it might have some effect on their behavior, and it might do some good in showing them more clearly what is right and what is wrong; but it cannot reach their heart. Did you know that as parents we are incapable of reaching our children’s hearts. We can plead, weep, laugh, love, discipline, instruct, but we cannot reach their hearts. We must pray for our children, for the Lord can reach their hearts.<br />Twynholm Baptist church. Will this be a church that is ruled by the law or by the gospel. Now, I’m not at all suggesting that there are no moral standards that we are to hold one another to. But first, will we hold one another to the standards of the word, or to the traditions of men.<br />“We’ve always done it that way. Baptists don’t do that. We’ve gone through this before.”<br />Well, that’s all very interesting: but what does the bible say: are we following the traditions of men, or the word of God. Now it’s fine to have some traditions: there is a tradition here that we meet at 10:30on Sunda mornings. That’s great. Works well, but it would be a very different thing if we said we MUST meet at 10:30 because we always have done.<br />Secondly; do we think that the way to be motivated to serve the Lord more faithfully is through laying down the law? There will be times when we need to confront one another with real sin in one another’s lives. But, my friends, we are never to confront someone with their sin and leave it at that. We are Christians, the only point in ever confronting someone with their sin is to lead them to the cross. <br />Let me say that again. The only reason ever to confront someone with their sin is to lead them to the cross.<br /> If they will not repent, we do not exercise church discipline because they deserve it and we want them out. No! We exercise church discipline in love that they might be restored.<br />So, the last person who was put out of membership in this church – do you remember him regularly in your prayers? If you have a relationship with him, do you still try to call him to repentance?<br />My friends: I hope that we will all be confronted with the ugliness of our sin in this first section of Mark 7. We are going to be looking at it for sometime: But the only reason that we are doing so is that we may know the depth of the problem, so that we might turn to the one great solution that is on offer in the cross of Christ.<br />Legalism is so dangerous: the tradition of the elders might have made them feel good about their obedience, and made them feel that they had no need of forgiveness.<br />, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you(L) hypocrites, as it is written,<br /><br /> (M) "'This people honors me with their lips,<br /> but their heart is far from me;<br />7in vain do they worship me,<br /> teaching as(N) doctrines the commandments of men.'<br />What a terrible idea. We can think that we are worshipping God, but in fact it is worthless. It is possible to stand in the pews here, raise our voices in song with joy on our faces and tears rolling down our cheeks, and our hearts to be far from God; if we have unrepentant hearts, our worship is worse than useless, for it leaves us in our sin and yet convinces us that we are safe.<br />Hypocrisy is a dangerous thing; church can be a dangerous place. Do you wear a mask to church? I’m sure we all do to some extent... That row in the car suddenly dies down as we enter the church door. But is the mask your usual attire when you are at church; or are you allowing people at church to know the real you, warts and all. If church is your family where you don’t come to hide, but to share, then it can be the best place for getting rid of hypocrisy. Which is it to you?<br />Their legalism also distracted them from the fact that they were in fact disobedient in far more significant ways,<br /> 9And he said to them, "You have a fine way of(O) rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10For Moses said,(P) 'Honor your father and your mother'; and,(Q) 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' 11But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban"' (that is, given to God)[d]— 12then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13thus(R) making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do."<br />Note how for all their attempts to protect the law with extra laws, the Pharisees cannot get away from their own self-centredness. They claimed their laws were to serve God, but really they were to serve themselves at the expense of others. It sounds so pious doesn’t it, “Oh, Mum, I’m so sorry – I’d love to help you, but that was the money that was pledged to the church building fund.”<br />The human problem is so deep that it beyond the horizon of our own sight. We may do things even thinking that we are doing them for good reasons, even for God, but below the surface we are serving ourselves. Seek counsel from others. Let them speak into your life so that you would not be self-deceived. <br />We need to trust ourselves less; it is fairly safe to assume that there are various ways you are self-deceived. Listen to those who are close to you – they are probably aware of your sin in ways that you may not be!<br />Perhaps though, you feel that you are very aware of your sin.<br />Perhaps you think that you are not good enough for God. You may even think that you suffer from low self esteem. My friend, according to the bible the problem is not that we think too lowly of ourselves; without exception, we think too highly of ourselves, and too often of ourselves.<br />Even low self-esteem is a strangely self-absorbed problem. We are not meant to find our worth in ourselves; if you are looking for self-worth it is a doomed search. We are meant to find our satisfaction in the infinite value of God, not ourselves. Well, you are dissatisfied with yourself: good! We are not God, we are not supposed to find satisfaction in ourselves, but in him.<br />Even if we were sinless, we are still very finite. God is both infinite and perfect. He is satisfying.<br />But we are very, very sinful. I am worse than my worst opinion of myself. You are worse than you very worst opinion you have of yourself.<br />As the prophet Jeremiah said, “9The heart is deceitful above all things,<br /> and desperately sick;<br /> who can understand it?”<br />Well, Jesus can; he diagnoses the heart like a master physician. Look at 14: <br /> 14And he called the people to him again and said to them, (S) "Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15(T) There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."[e] 17And when he had entered(U) the house and left the people,(V) his disciples asked him about the parable. 18And he said to them, "Then(W) are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19since it enters not his heart(X) but his stomach, and is expelled?"[f] ((Y) Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20And he said, (Z) "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,(AA) murder, adultery, 22coveting, wickedness, deceit,(AB) sensuality,(AC) envy,(AD) slander,(AE) pride,(AF) foolishness. 23(AG) All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."<br />We’ve already seen that the problem is so deep that it is beyond the reach of the Law. It is beyong the horizon of our sight. But it is also beyond our ability to isolate ourselves from the problem.<br />The problem isn’t out there: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him<br />It is In here: but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.<br />The problem is not something that we learn from our parents. <br />Larkin said, “they screw you up your Mum and Dad, they may not mean to but they do, they fill you with the faults they had and add some extra just for you.”<br />Well. Our parents may have influenced us for good or for ill, but we didn’t learn to be sinners from them. It is impossible for one person to corrupt another’s heart. One person might encourage corruption to grow in another’s heart. But the heart is already corrupt.<br />Parents know this. You don’t have to teach a child to hit their siblings, or to cheat, or to lie. They do it all by themselves. Sin is nature not nurture.<br />We cannot protect ourselves or our loves ones from sinful influences because we all carry around sinful influences. And lets face it: they are ugly.<br />21For from within, out of the heart of man, come <br />evil thoughts – are there things that you think about doing, and the only thing that stops you is that you might get caught?, <br />sexual immorality: Do you find yourself wanting those who don’t belong to you?do you find yourself wanting others to find you irresistable?, <br />theft: ,(AA) <br />murder: are you filled with rage with others not because they have dishonoured God but because they have hurt you?<br />adultery, <br />coveting: what have you seen and thought “I must have it”, <br />wickedness: when have you spoken without caring that your words might wound?<br />deceit,(AB):<br />children – if you are growing up with Christian parents, realise that the deceit – telling lies, and trying to hide your sin from your parents, might be the quickest way to turn yourself into a hypocrite: one who appears to be a Christian, but isn’t really. Admit your sin before it is found out, and ask for forgiveness. <br />sensuality: <br />envy,(AD) <br />slander: when have you presented as a fact something bad about someone that is actually just a suspicion that you have.<br />pride,<br />foolishness. <br /><br />Those last two are so tragic, because they protect all the others: it is our pride that causes us to deny that the other sins are a problem in our life, or to suggest that we can handle the problem by ourselves. <br />It is foolishness that would turn a blind eye to the Lord Jesus, who is our only hope.<br /><br />23(AG) All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.<br />Does this Sound familiar? Does it sound like Jesus has just described you? He can see our hearts better than we allow ourselves to see them.<br />I don’t know what your upbringing was like, and the extent to which you witnessed these sins growing up: if you did, don’t assume that they would have been absent from you if only you’d had a different upbringing. They come from the nature of our fallen hearts. <br />The problem is too big for us to deal with; and the only tools we have are themselves broken: we cannot reach the heart with the law; and we cannot change our hearts by our own actions, for our actions are goverened by our hearts that are the very source of the problem. <br />The heart of the human problem IS the problem of the human heart. <br />We can go and start a new life somewhere else, but we will take the problems with us. <br />And even if we realized just how ugly our hearts were<br /> It be isolated<br />We are not the solution, we are the problem…<br />… the heart of the problem is the problem of the human heart.<br />Jesus the physician who has diagnosed the problem of our hearts. Jesus is also the only surgeon who can bring healing.<br />2. The scope of the divine solution. (24-8:10)<br />If the problem runs deep, the solution is great in bredth, depth and height.<br />Bredth: All kinds of people.<br />4And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.[g] And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26(AH) Now the woman was a(AI) Gentile,(AJ) a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27And he said to her, "Let the children be(AK) fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and(AL) throw it to the dogs." 28But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s(AM) crumbs." 29And he said to her, "For this statement you may(AN) go your way; the demon has left your daughter." 30And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.<br /><br />Perhaps to our ears Jesus’ words sound a little harsh, calling her a dog. This was a common word used by Jews of gentiles. He here uses the term that would have been used of a pet, not a stray. But it does make a clear distinction between Jew and Gentile. God had chosen a people Israel to be a picture of purity. And thus the other nations were by comparison to be a picture of impurity. But God had done this so that one day the blessings that came to Israel would be a blessing to all the nations. Hence jesus uses the term “first”… The blessings should go first to Israel, then to the Gentiles.<br />It is worth noting though that this would not have been at all unexpected in terms of what the Messiah was expected to do. The Messiah was expected to come to expel and subdue the Gentiles, not visit and embrace them.<br />If a Jewish marketplace would have required a bath, then a visit to the notoriously pagan tyre and Sidon would have required a bath in caustic soda.<br />Why does her daughter have the demons in the first place… was it because of demonic pagan practices…. She didn’t deserve healing… <br />But that’s the whole point. She, like us, was undeserving of any solution to the mess she had made of hers and her daughter’s life. And she knew it. That’s why she was at Jesus’ feet. She knew she needed him, for her daughter was in the grip of evil, just as we have seen our own hearts are.<br />And Jesus was willing.<br />Crumbs under tables may not seem much. But remember, there had just been 12 basketsful of crumbs collected from the last meal that we read about Jesus serving. The crumbs from the table are quite enough.<br />We saw earlier that pride is the one thing that will protect all the other sins in our lives. Unless we have come to a point of humility we will never fall at Jesus’ feet and cry out for mercy. But that is what we so desperately need.<br />Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,<br />Weak and wounded, sick and sore;<br />Jesus ready stands to save you,<br />Full of pity, love and power.<br />Let not conscience make you linger,<br />Not of fitness fondly dream;<br />All the fitness He requireth<br />Is to feel your need of Him.<br />I will arise and go to Jesus,<br />He will embrace me in His arms;<br />In the arms of my dear Savior,<br />O there are ten thousand charms.<br />GOSPEL.<br />Jesus came for all kinds of people. Jew and Gentile – we are all one of those, or some mixture. You are not beyond the scope of Jesus salvation. Perhaps there is someone here who thinks that Jesus really wouldn’t save someone like you…<br />And Jesus is able to reach right into us and forgive us, and cleanse us.<br /> Depth: The heart of the problem<br /> 31(AO) Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to(AP) the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the(AQ) Decapolis. 32And they brought to him(AR) a man who was deaf and(AS) had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33And(AT) taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34And(AU) looking up to heaven,(AV) he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 35(AW) And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36And(AX) Jesus[h] charged them to tell no one. But(AY) the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37And they were(AZ) astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."<br /><br />We are not able to reach inside of ourselves and change our hearts. But Jesus can. <br /> Our hearts are so sinful that we are not even able to see into them and see our need of Christ, and see Christ and turn to him. We are deaf to the good news of Jesus.<br />But note what Jesus does… He speaks to a deaf man. And he speaks in Aramaic to a gentile in the Decapolis. Speaking to a deaf man in a foreign language! And yet his words have power… in speaking to deaf ears, he makes those ears able to hear. <br />In calling those whose hearts are unable to get past their own sinfulness, Jesus gives new hearts that would embrace him.<br />Once again we see that there are no grounds for pride in being a Christian. We were guilty sinners deserving judgement, unable to turn to Christ, but he gave us the ability. He opened our deaf ears, he loosened our enslaved tongue that we might praise him and exclaim that he has done all things well.<br /> Height: abundant blessings <br /> 1(BA) In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2(BB) "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away." 4And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" 5And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said,(BC) "Seven." 6And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and(BD) having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7And they had a few small fish. And(BE) having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8And(BF) they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over,(BG) seven baskets full. 9And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10And immediately he got into(BH) the boat with his disciples and went to the district of(BI) Dalmanutha.[i]<br /><br />People have often been puzzled as to why there are 2 feedings: one of 5,000 men, plus women and children, the other of 4,000 people altogether. Some have even suggested that there must have been some confusion. But no, Jesus is clearly deliberately repeating the miracle. We saw in chapter 6 that the miracle showed that Jesus was like the Lord who provided bread from heaven for Israel in the desert.<br />The shocking thing here is that he does exactly the same thing in gentile territory. The same blessings that were going to Israel were now going to the Gentiles through Christ. Even the disciples don’t seem to expect it. <br />"How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?"<br />Yes, we can understand you providing for Israelites, but these Gentiles... surely the blessings promised to Israel can’t go to gentiles can they. Well, they can, if they come through the one who was the fulfilment of Israel, Jesus himself. And they come in equal abundance. The whoe crowd was satisfied, and once again there were crumbs falling from the table. There would have been enough blessing for even more had they come.<br />I wonder if we have the same attitude as the disciples. Do we think that there are some kinds of people who we kind of think might we worth sharing the gospel to. We want to see them saved and blessed. There are others who we either assume are not interested, or we actually don’t want them to be saved.<br />Garry glitter is back in the UK now. Would you want him to begin attending this church, and coming under the sound of the gospel? Or do we think that there are some hearts that are so rotten that they must be beyond the reach of salvation, or at least ought to be.<br />We are to be a people who know that we have been forgiven though we deserve hell, and therefore hold out the good news to any and all who will listen.<br />Children, do you want to know if you have been forgiven? Do you find that you are becoming quicker and quicker to forgive those who have done you wrong: And I don’t just mean saying the words, “I forgive you” but actually being committed not to hold wrongs against people.<br />3. The source of the eternal hope.(8:11-21)<br /> 11(BJ) The Pharisees came and began to argue with him,(BK) seeking from him(BL) a sign from heaven(BM) to test him. 12And(BN) he sighed deeply(BO) in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." 13And(BP) he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.<br />The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod<br /> 14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out;(BQ) beware of(BR) the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of(BS) Herod."[j] 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And(BT) Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?(BU) Do you not yet perceive(BV) or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18(BW) Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke(BX) the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And(BY) the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"<br /><br />Perhaps it seems a little harsh to you that Jesus will not do the miraculous sign that they ask for, and even sighs as they are asking: why didn’t he just perform a miracle and then they would have been on his side wouldn’t they? <br />Well no, they wouldn’t. They have already seen Jesus perform many miracles and they did not believe, they accredited them to Satan.<br />But also, it is the wrong kind of way to come to Jesus. We have desperately sinful hearts and we need forgiveness. We are not in a position to make any demands of Jesus; note how the Syrophoenician woman fell down at his feet, and the friends of the deaf man had begged Jesus to touch him. We are bankrupt before Jesus, entirely dependent upon his mercy.<br />And he will give his mercy to those who humbly turn to him in faith, but not to those who proudly make demands.<br />The yeast of the Pharisees and the Herodians is the yeast that would make ourselves look within ourselves for the solution to the human problem: either to our religious efforts, or to our public recognition. <br />And it would stop us looking to our only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. <br />Even the disciples who were with him through all of this – who had seen the miracles, were so focused on the here and now that they were worrying more about where their next meal was coming from than who this incredible man was. <br />There were in danger of being blinded to the extraordinary Saviour that Jesus is, and going away as lost and as deceived as the Pharisees. One of them would walk away, and betray Jesus for money that was spent in a day.<br />Yet Jesus is the one who had fed thousands of Jews, showing that he was the Lord himself, and thousands of Gentiles, showing that he had come to bring blessings to the whole world, and they are worried about a loaf of bread.<br />What about you. Do you still not understand? Life is not about our achievements or our status. Life is not about our religiousness or our morality. Life is not about us, it’s about Jesus!<br />Do you belong to him?<br />Do you enjoy him?<br />Do you rest in him?<br /><br />A friend of mine in Washington has a dog, that he walks each day in the congregational cemetery. Only those who were senators or congressmen get to be buried there. Some of them would have been very important people in their lifetime, reaching levels of human success and power that most of us only see on TV. But now their bodies are buried, and the only thing that matters is whether their sinful hearts had been forgiven, and cleansed. The only thing that matters is whether they knew Jesus and entrusted themselves to him.<br /><br />Are you resting upon him? Is he your shield and your defender<br />On Jesus, your righteousness, your sure Foundation, your prince of glory and your King of love.<br />Lets pray.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-67926562416732166142008-10-18T16:55:00.001-07:002008-11-04T09:17:32.427-08:00mark 6: The Shepherd Kingthis sermon was preached At twynholm: audio is available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/2008/08/03/sermon-for-august-3-2008/">here</a>:<br /><br /><br />What kind of leadership are you looking for?<br />Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Said the British politician, lord Acton.<br />We tend to see that don’t we? <br />From the despots of this world in Stalin, Hitler, Mugabe, Hussein, down to the boss who gets a kick out of putting his or her staff down, we see leadership that is self-serving, and harms those whom it leads. It is not so much a leadership of the people for their sake, but a leadership, where those under leadership are seen to exist for the sake of the leader.<br />That is the best reason for democracy: the foundation of democracy is not that people are so good, and their opinions so wonderful that everyone should get their say. <br />No, the foundation of democracy is that people are so bad that nobody should have too much power. The rulers should be answerable to their electorate. <br />But can leadership with authority ever be a good thing?<br />Should we fully democratize every authority in this world; should parents no longer require obedience from their young children, but only give advice? Should schoolteachers suggest that homework is handed in on time rather than insist? Are marriages automatically degrading and sexist if the husband is understood to lead, and the wife to follow?<br />But can leadership with authority ever be a good thing?<br />It can. In fact, though we are supposed to be wary of leaders and the authority that they wield, we are not to see leadership itself as being something irrecoverably bad.<br />In fact, when a baby is born into the world, such as Leigh and Emma’s new little one, he is supposed to experience in his parents’ authority and love. Love and authority are supposed to go together. We are never to have authority over anyone and not see a responsibility to love that person.<br />In fact, the very idea that authority CAN be abused, also suggests that authority can also be RIGHTLY used.<br />And the bible would agree with that. All authority is given by God; and he is to be our model of how to lead. He leads for the good of those he leads. <br />In fact, a suspicion of His authority was the very first step that the serpent took in tempting Eve to fall. He questions God’s authority, “did God really say?”<br />And then he questions his motives. “He only says that because he wants to spoil your fun and keep you under the thumb. He doesn’t love you. He is only using you. Take, eat, it is better to cast of the yoke of obedience, and grasp the fruit of independence.” <br /> In a fallen world we should not be naïve about the authority wielded by fallen human beings. But neither should we be cynical. We should not rejoice with the press when one in a high position is brought low by the uncovering of some dirt on them. We should merely mourn that they did not use that authority for good; we should take care, lest we abuse any authority that the Lord has given us.<br />But what about Jesus authority?<br />We have seen incredible authority in the first 5 chapters of Mark’s gospel.<br />Jesus has a unique authority over temptation, people, evil, sickness, forgiveness, even over god’s law, over God’s kingdom, and as we saw in chapter 5, even over the forces of nature, even over death itself. There is nothing that doesn’t come under that authority.<br />We keep on reading of people’s responses to that authority as being amazed, perplexed, fearful, terrified. Is this authority just a show of brute force exercised only to intimidate us, that we would cower before him? Do Jesus exercise his authority in such a way that will mistreat us and leave us in despair. Is Jesus authority exercised for the good of those who come under it, or for their harm?<br />Let’s turn to mark Chapter 6, where we continue to see jesus wielding authority: and we must bow: but he does so not to rob us, but to provide fully for all those who would trust his rule.<br /><br />We will see three things about authority in this passage.<br />1) The urgency of Jesus’ authoritative word (1-13)<br />a. Jesus is the prophet like Moses<br />b. Jesus brings urgency like the Exodus<br />2) The powerlessness of misused authority (14-29)<br />3) The sufficiency of Jesus’ royal provision(30-56)<br />a. Food<br />b. Himself<br />c. Rest<br /><br />1) The urgency of Jesus’ authoritative word (1-13)<br /><br />Jesus Rejected at Nazareth<br /> 1(A) He went away from there and came to(B) his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2And(C) on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and(D) many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3(E) Is not this(F) the carpenter, the son of Mary and(G) brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And(H) they took offense at him. 4And Jesus said to them, (I) "A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household." 5And(J) he could do no mighty work there, except that(K) he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6And(L) he marveled because of their unbelief.<br /><br /><br />a. Jesus is the prophet like Moses<br /><br />Throughout the whole chapter we are going to see some parallels with the most significant event in the history of Israel: the Exodus. Much of Israelites life was built around understanding the fact that God had redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt, and brought them out into the wilderness, where he fed them bread from heaven and gave them his law, and eventually brought them into Canaan, the promised land. So significant is it that 5 books of the bible are dedicated to recounting those events: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua, and then the rest of the Old Testament keeps looking back to it.<br /><br />Well, God performed all of those events, right up to the bringing Israel to the very edge of the promised land under the leadership of Moses the prophet.<br /><br />However, the people didn’t always appreciate Moses leadership muh. In fact, he was a stutterer and the youngest of 3 siblings.<br /><br />On at least one occasion, even Moses own brother Aaron and his sister Miriam turned against him. In Numbers 12 they say, And they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses?(A) Has he not spoken through us also?" And(B) the LORD heard it.<br /><br />There’s nothing special about Moses, they said. But there was. God had spoken face to face with Moses in a way he did not even with the other prophets of the Old Testament.<br /><br />Until Jesus came. And then there was a prophet whose authority made even Moses look like a messenger boy. We’ve seen how unique is authority is. <br />Perhaps you are surprised that Jesus describes himself as a prophet. Perhaps you believe that Jesus is a merely human prophet.<br /><br />Well yes, Jesus is fully human and he is a prophet, that is someone who speaks God’s words.<br /><br />Is Jesus’ humanity a stumbling block to you.<br /><br />Yet it was those who were most familiar with Jesus real and full humanity that the hardest time recognising his real and divine authority.<br /><br />3(E) Is not this(F) the carpenter, the son of Mary and(G) brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And(H) they took offense at him. (or, as it is rather loosely, but appropriately rendered in the Message paraphrase “hey tripped over what little they knew about him and fell”<br /><br />You can hear them, can’t you. “I Remember him in nappies” they say. I used to babysit for him. Weren’t his brothers a handful. And we never were really sure about who Jesus father was – she wasn’t even married to joseph before they left town with her heavily pregnant. No, I don’t get it, but Jesus, surely he can’t have become anything special.”<br /><br />Perhaps if you are a child growing up in a Christian family you might be in particular danger to be so familiar with Jesus that you don’t realise how incredible he is. He’s just like a family friend. Perhaps you have a favorite uncle or aunt. You have a lot of affection for them; perhaps you just have a lot of affection for Jesus, but you’ve never really realized that his words must be obeyed. You’ve seen the pictures of him in bible story books, and he looks pretty harmless.<br /><br />He is fully human. He was a baby no larger than one born this week. But he is also fully God. He needs to be both if he is able to be the great prophet who speaks fully with God’s authority, but speaks as one who is alongside us and not against us.<br /><br />Will we stumble, or will we obey?<br /><br />I wonder if we live in a whole country where many of the people brought up have about enough familiarity with Jesus to breed contempt. People still want to be married in church, or have their kids attend church school, but they will not have a Jesus who is a prophet declaring God’s will for their lives and demanding obedience.<br /><br />But we need to realise that there is an unseen urgency to our need to obey Jesus. For just like Moses before the exodus, there is a great event that is coming.<br /><br /><br />a. Jesus brings urgency like the Exodus<br /><br /> And he went about among the villages teaching.<br />7(N) And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— 9but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.[a] 10And he said to them, "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12 So they went out and(S) proclaimed(T) that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and(V) anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.<br />The way in which Jesus sends out the twelve is again reminiscent of the Exodus. On the night when the Passover lamb was slaughtered they were to eat it “with(I) your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste.” (J)<br /><br /><br />So it was with the coming of Jesus. He offers a freedom from the slavery to sin, and a future of eternity praising him.<br /><br /><br />So, as the apostles went out calling people to repentance, they were saying that that message of repentance was as urgent as the night when the passover took place. On that night, if people were not prepared the angel of death would not have passed over: he would have visited that house and there would have been death. But if they were prepared, the angel of death would pass over and there would have been a new life free from slavery, headed towards the promised land. If a town would not hear the call to repent, dust would be shaken off the apostles feet as testimony against them. Though that town was part of the old covenant promised land, the apostes would be saying, “You are like Eygpt, the land of slavery., we are leaving you behind to your destruction.”<br /><br />This isn’t to be the model we adopt for short term missions: it is the model that Jesus apostles had for their unique ministry of calling Israel to repentance. We don’t have to shake the dust off our feet when we leave fulham, though we might sometimes need to come to the conclusion that we have shared the gospel enough times for now with a certain individual, who has understood it but rejected it.<br /><br />Also, in our ministry, we shouldn’t expect the level of miracles that we see in the apostles’ ministry, any more than we should expect the parting of the Thames when we touch it with our staff. This was the unique beginning period to salvation history. The Lord still performs miracles, but they are the welcomed exception rather than the expected norm.<br /><br />But the message is the same:<br /><br />Notice what the call is here. They call the people to believe. Sometime (like Mark 1:15) the call is to repent and believe. Sometimes it is just faith. But here it is just to repent. <br /><br />How can that be: it is because it is impossible to have one without the other.<br />Saving faith is not mere belief, it is trust: and trust involves repentance: a trust that Jesus is worth obeying more than the idols we’ve been living for.<br /><br />GOSPEL.<br /><br />And if one has repented: turned away from your rebellion – well you can’t do that unless you have turned to Jesus. Repentance and faith are opposite sides of the same coin.<br /><br />Let me put this another way. It is not possible to have Jesus as your savior but not as your Lord. And if Jesus is your Lord, he most certainly is your Savior. <br /><br />Let me press this home a little further. You cannot have Jesus as the one who has saved you, if you will not have him on the throne of your life.<br /><br />He calls us urgently to repent.<br /><br />You might have thought that if following Jesus was so costly that we are to turn away from everything that we have ever lived for, then we could take as long as we like to decide. Costly decisions are usually made slowly. But not the Passover. The angel of death was coming that night. They must be ready to leave their homes today.<br />So with following Jesus. We do not know how long we have. We must trust today.<br /><br />Jesus is not the sort of leader that we find in British politics. He isn’t happy to have our vote even if he doesn’t have our allegiance. He is a leader who demands full obedience.<br /><br />Perhaps you are already a believer, but there is something in your life that you know displeases the Lord. You fully intent to repent of it at some point in the future. My friend, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. He is worth following in this. Don’t delay, for there will never be an easier time to repent than today. The grip of sin grows ever stronger.<br /><br />Recognise the urgency of Jesus’ authoritative word.<br /><br />2) The powerlessness of misused authority (14-29)<br /><br />Right in the middle of the passage that is talking about how Jesus is a leader of cosmic proportions, we encounter another leader. A leader desperate to cling onto his own crown and use it for his own ends.<br /><br />14(W) King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’[b] name had become known. Some[c] said,(X) "John the Baptist[d] has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him." 15(Y) But others said, "He is Elijah." And others said, "He is(Z) a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." 17(AA) For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and(AB) bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. 18(AC) For John had been saying to Herod,(AD) "It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife." 19And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20for Herod(AE) feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he(AF) heard him gladly.<br /> 21But an opportunity came when Herod(AG) on his birthday(AH) gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you." 23And he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you,(AI) up to half of my kingdom." 24And she went out and said to her mother, "For what should I ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist." 25And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." 26And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. 27And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s[e] head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his(AJ) disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.<br />Herod is like the archetypal pagan king. In the Exodus story, he would be most like Pharoah. <br />20for Herod(AE) feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he(AF) heard him gladly.<br /><br />Like Pharoah’s wavering over Moses’ demands to let God’s people go, Herod too wavered at another prophet, john the Baptist. He likes to listen, but is also perplexed and hates what he says.<br /><br />Look at how authority and influence is used. He thinks he is using it to his own ends.<br />- Someone says something he doesn’t like, so he imprisons him.<br />- He feels like he is totally in control: he can listen when he likes and yet still have God’s word under lock and key.<br />- He is so brash about displaying his rule and riches that he makes a promise equal to the great king Xerxes made to Ester, to give up to half his kingdom.<br />He is proud. <br /><br />Pride is such a deceptive sin. For pride is about taking confidence in who we are. Pride is about boasting in ourselves; that we have it all under control.<br /><br />But actually pride has control of us. <br />• Proverbs 11:2<br />When pride comes, then comes disgrace,but with the humble is wisdom.<br /><br />Proverbs 11:1-3 (in Context) Proverbs 11 (Whole Chapter) <br />• Proverbs 16:18<br />Pride goes before destruction,and a haughty spirit before a fall.<br /><br />If we are going to receive the blessings that come through repentance, the Lord will need to humble us.<br /><br />James 4:1-10<br />Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?(D) Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit(E) that he has made to dwell in us"? 6But(F) he gives more grace. Therefore it says,(G) "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7Submit yourselves therefore to God.(H) Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8(I) Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.(J) Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and(K) purify your hearts,(L) you double-minded. 9(M) Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10(N) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.<br /> Pride seeks to silence the word of God. Herod had imprisoned the spokesman of God, and eventually severed the head that spoke God’s word.<br />Pride is the great friend of every sin. When you are struggling with temptation it is pride that will cut you off from either hearing or obeying God’s word. <br /><br />Sin by its very nature is promises to bless the one who commits it, but only has the power to destroy him.<br /><br />And if the man’s destructive temptation was pride, the woman’s was manipulation.<br /><br />See how craftily she manipulates her husband to do what she wants. It is the most common response to other’s authority after the fall. We recognize the authority, but make it pretty clear that it will be a miserable authority to hold if it is not used in the way we want.<br /><br />My friends: let this not be a church where we communicate by manipulation – the holding out or holding back of peace depending on whether we get our own way. Let this not be a church that shelters pride: the one who sees themselves above the correction of another.<br /><br />Let us be those who speak the truth in love to one another. We are not to manipulatively hint, or proudly ignore. We are to encourage one another by the plain speaking of the word of God.<br />Who knows you well enough in that church to be one of the several people in your life doing that. If you don’t have anyone like that, come and talk to me, or one of the elders, and we will probably know of others who would love to meet with you, read the bible, pray and lovingly hold one another accountable.<br /><br />Husbands and wives: let us declare war on pride and manipulation within our marriages. A war that will be fought entirely upon our knees: on our knees to pray for the Lord’s work changing us, and on our knees to confess to one another and ask one another’s forgiveness for our many failures in these areas.<br /><br />How do you use the authority you have? <br /><br />Parents: have your children seen enough self-sacrifice from you to know that you are exercising that authority for them, and for the Lord, not for yourself. When we need to have difficult conversations with our children are we <br /><br />Where do you have authority: at work? In the family? Even as a consumer: Do you use it for yourself? Or are you a servant leader, for the glory of the Lord?<br /><br />We have all failed in our exercise of authority. And for that we need forgiveness. The forgives that the one perfect king lone can give us. And he gives abundantly in every way.<br /><br />3) The sufficiency of Jesus’ royal provision(30-56)<br /> 30(AK) (AL) The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and(AM) they had no leisure even to eat. 32(AN) And they went away in(AO) the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and(AP) recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When he went ashore he(AQ) saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36(AR) Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37But he answered them, (AS) "You give them something to eat." And(AT) they said to him,(AU) "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii[f] worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" 38And he said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they had found out, they said,(AV) "Five, and two fish." 39Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41And taking the five loaves and the two fish he(AW) looked up to heaven and(AX) said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42And they all ate and were satisfied. 43And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.<br /><br />Again, we have a repeat of Exodus themes here. Three times Mark points out that this feeding took place in a wilderness, just like where God fed the Israelites miraculously with another bread: the bread of manna.<br /><br />So here, Jesus is no longer functioning like Moses in the Exodus story: he is the Lord himself. The great provider God.<br /><br />He provides the leadership they need.<br /><br />34When he went ashore he(AQ) saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.<br /><br />This is the leader we were made for. And his leadership, though exercise with absolute power is entirely benevolent. His leadership is compassionate.<br /><br />If you are not a Christian here, you are extremely welcome to be here. I wonder if you think that if you were to submit to Jesus’ authority it would be the end of all your joy. I shall not lie to you, in many ways life is easier as a non-Christian. But it is certainly not more joyful. You were not created to be a law unto yourself, You were created to enjoy being under god’s rule. <br /><br />Augustine prayed<br />'You have made us for yourself, O Lord, <br />and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you' <br />Is your heart restless: in how many different pursuits has it sought rest and joy. It will find it only in casting aside its crown and bowing before Jesus. <br /><br />For when he rules, he provides all that we need to live under his rule.<br /><br />a. Food<br /><br />Notice how the disciples doubt his ability to provide, and think that everyone will have to provide for themselves.<br /><br />"This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36(AR) Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."<br /><br />And so, after he has miraculously fed the crowd stretched like a vast army before him. There is also enough to feed the disciples: a whole basketful each!<br /><br />I wonder if you doubt Jesus’ provision for you. He never promises to give us all we want. He never promises to give us all we think that we need. But he does promise to give us all he knows we need: and he knows far better than us.<br /><br />He is the Lord<br /><br />Hindsight is 20/20… will you trust him for tomorrow?<br /><br />And how do we know? Because in the end we need him, and him alone: and he gives us himself.<br /><br />b. Himself<br /><br />45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." 51And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.<br /><br />One of the most beautiful accounts in the Exodus story is in view here.<br /><br />Whilst Moses was up the mountain receiving the Law, his brother was down belong leading the people to break the whole law in one act of idolatry: worshipping a golden calf.<br /><br />Ex 33:17And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do,(AC) for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." 18Moses said, "Please(AD) show me your glory." 19And he said,(AE) "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And(AF) I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for(AG) man shall not see me and live." 21And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22and while my glory passes by I will put you in a(AH) cleft of the rock, and I will(AI) cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall(AJ) not be seen."<br />Again, like Moses, Jesus separates from the people and goes onto the mountain. But Jesus doesn’t just encounter the Lord himself. He is the Lord whom the disciples encounter on the boat.<br /><br />Just as the Lord passed Moses by, so Jesus was about to pass them by (48): but they were terrified.<br />They were not hidden in the left in the rock. They were exposed upon the open sea. Can they see the Lord and live?<br /><br />What does Jesus say to them…<br /><br />"Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."<br /><br />Or, more literally: take heart: I AM. Do not be afraid. Jesus pronounces the divine name “I AM”. <br /><br />And yet they do not die as they see the Lord: for he says do not be afraid. In jesus we have one who is fully God, and yet as he has become man, they could see him and live. <br />As John puts it in his gospel. <br /><br /><br /> 14And(Z) the Word(AA) became flesh and(AB) dwelt among us,(AC) and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of(AD) grace and(AE) truth.<br /><br />We, like the disciples are so slow. They didn’t understand about the loaves. The did not understand that the one who rained manna down from heaven, the one who parted the Red Sea but left no footprints in the waves, the one who brought salvation to Israel, the one who created the world, the one for whom we were made, is the one who had fed them, who had walked with them, who had sent them out with his authority, who was protecting them, who would die for them, who would appear to them. He was everything they needed to face every fear. He was everything they needed to be freed from every slavery to every sin. He was everything they needed to receive full forgiveness. <br /><br />All but one of them would know that one day. They would go to their death, counting even their physical lives worth nothing compared to the surpassing Greatness of knowing Jesus Christ, the Lord.<br /><br />Do you know that peace: that rest of no longer having to long for things that you might not have, because you know that if you have Christ, he is of infinitely greater value that anything you lack?<br /><br />He is the great shepherd. And if the Lord is my shepherd, I will lack nothing.<br /><br />The chapter started in Jesus hometown, where he would do little healing: not because he was physically incable, but because the people there remained still restless – they hadn’t found their rest in him.<br /><br />But the chapter ends, with a picture of a new promised land, in Gennesaret, outside Israel, where there was an abundance of prosperity.<br /><br /><br />a. Rest<br /> 53(BK) When they had crossed over, they came to land at(BL) Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately(BM) recognized him 55and ran about the whole region and began to bring(BN) the sick people(BO) on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside,(BP) they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even(BQ) the fringe of his garment. And(BR) as many as touched it were made well.<br /><br />Jesus ultimately will provide a perfect rest.<br /><br />It is not like the rest given to Israel, confined to one piece of realestate in the middle east. It will fill a new heavens and a new earth.<br />Are you striving to find rest you can cling onto in this world, or are you clinging onto Jesus, knowing that in him alone will you find your rest?<br /><br />Let’s pray.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-29329441628025766602008-07-30T02:52:00.001-07:002008-07-30T02:57:16.919-07:00Mark 5: The powerful kingThis is a sermon originally preached at Twynholm July 27th 2008.<br /><br />The audio will be available <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/category/sermons/">here</a> soon, dv.<br /><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Mark 5 sermon<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Some things in the future are difficult to predict. Will property prices rise or fall. Will it rain today. Even important things can seem terribly uncertain for many people. Will love last? Will the pain go away? Will the preacher be finished before noon?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">But there is one thing that is certain: at least, it seems that way. If this world continues long enough everyone in this room shall die. I shall die. You shall die.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Death is the one great reality that, ignore as we might want to, we cannot escape.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">For some who have lost loved ones recently, the reality of death still weighs heavily on grieving hearts. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">For others, it brings back more distant, yet still painful memories. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">For all, it is a reality from which we instinctively shrink back in fear.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">We respond to the fear of death in many different ways…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">n<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">We try to rationalize it with a platitude:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="bodybold"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Courier New";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="huge"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><span class="bodybold">Francis Bacon</span></span><span class="bodybold"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="huge"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Courier New";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="huge"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. Mark Twain.</span></span><span class="huge"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">n<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We try to laugh it off:</span></span><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Courier New";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Whether it is the Far side cartoons about hell.</span></span><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Courier New";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Woody Allen: I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens.</span></span><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Courier New";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.</span></span><span class="body"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">How many times have I heard someone say, “at least his death was painless,” as if death is OK so long as we can avoid pain. No! the whole point of pain is to help us to avoid death. Pain is a mechanism for warning us how terrible death is, and that we don’t want to go there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 72pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">n<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">We scream at it: <span style=""> </span>Perhaps the most eloquent call to defiance in death comes from Dylan Thomas. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 72pt; margin-left: 36pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Do not go gentle into that good night.<br />Rage, rage against the dying of the light. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="huge"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">n<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="huge"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">We deny it’s as bad as it seems. The next world must be better than this one.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="huge"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Seneca:</span></b></span><span class="huge"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The blind and deaf Helen Keller said,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="huge"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">n<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">We surrender to it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Plato: </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">death</span></em>? <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Plato</span></em>.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">n<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Distraction<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">I think that by far the most common method of coping with the approach of death is distraction. It is inescapable. It will win, so don’t think about it and enjoy life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The fear of death is merely replaced by the love of life: don’t think about death, get on with living.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">So, when my grandmother died, my grandfather’s best friend insisted that the best way to help my grandfather through the day of the funeral was to make sure that he spent the majority of it drunk, and so would not even remember going home to sleep in their room by himself.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">What is the way in which you cope when thinking about the reality of your approaching death? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Perhaps you think I’m being morbid: well, it is only morbid to think about death if there is in fact no answer to it. If death is a reality that kills all hopes, then distraction would almost certainly be the most appropriate tactic. The bible agrees. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for <b>tomorrow</b> we <b>die</b>." Is death just like the end of the summer holidays – school will start again for sure, but to spend the whole summer holidays thinking about their inevitable end would only ruin them.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">If also, there death is not the end, but the reality beyond death will be pleasant for almost all, then we might happily ignore it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">But the bible says that neither of those things are true: for the reason that death is not the end is not due to the fact that our human spirits are so strong that one day we will fight it off and emerge like butterflies from our cocoons. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">No, we have not understood death. Death, according to the bible is not natural. It is judicial. It is a punishment. It is God’s declaration that we have rebelled against the author of live. We have chosen to reject him. We have chosen the path that leads to death. It is the great symptom that this world has gone terribly wrong, and is under god’s anger. Symptoms should not be ignored unless one is absolutely sure that there is no cure.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">So how are we to approach death: our fear of it; living in a world dominated by it; facing it ourselves one day.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Without Christ we should abandon hope, for death reigns<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""> </span>Fear Christ more than we fear death.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">3)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Turn in trust to Christ for life. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">There is no hope without Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">This is a world dominated by death, and the fear of death.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Mark 4:35-38<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">35</span></span><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24355A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." <span class="sup">36</span>And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. <span class="sup">37</span>And a great windstorm arose, and the waves<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24357B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)</sup> were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. <span class="sup">38</span>But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" <span class="sup"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Have you ever known a situation where you were in so much physical danger due the forces of nature that you wondered whether you would survive even another few minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">That was the state of some hardened fishermen in the first account.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The incredible forces of nature and our powerlessness before them are a sign that we are not in control of our lives. There has always been a healthy fear of the sea even among the most hardened sailors. In the ancient world it was seen as a sign that this world is in the grip of chaos. Each time the waves roll onto the beach, it was seen that the sea was kept from engulfing the whole land only by the sustaining hand of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Why do you think that world is like that? That one day after people around the Indian ocean are recovering from their Christmas celebrations, suddenly death takes tens of thousands in an instant?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span>The bible is clear. From the day that people rebelled against God, the word has been a hostile place. God has cursed the ground so that it would be clear that all is not right in our relationship with our creator.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What is your ground for hope in a world that is cruelly ruled by death? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Death rules so much that every fear that we have has death in the background: we fear things that are a little taste of death. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What do are you afraid of?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Loss? In death you will lose everything. Job’s suffering is something that we all face in death. We must go to that place alone. Naked we came from our mothers’ womb, naked we will return.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Hurt? Death is the ultimate picture of being hurt in this world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Shame? In death we will be utterly exposed. There will be no more hiding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">All our fears have death in their shadow. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Think about the last gangster film you watched. What makes people respect the Godfather, or tony Soprano. It isn’t their charming personalities or fine taste in suits. It’s the fact that you know that if you cross him, you might find yourself in the trunk of his Cadillac.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We live in a world where death rules.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This is seen much more clearly in the next scene. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span class="sup">1</span><sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24362H" title="See cross-reference H">H</a>)</sup> They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#fen-ESV-24362a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup> <span class="sup">2</span>And when Jesus<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#fen-ESV-24363b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]</sup> had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. <span class="sup">3</span><sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24364I" title="See cross-reference I">I</a>)</sup> He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, <span class="sup">4</span>for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. <span class="sup">5</span>Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This scene has death everywhere; over on the other side of the lake this was Gentile territory populated by pigs and other unclean animals. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And Here is someone more in the grip of death than we could possibly imagine. We read down in verse 9,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">9</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24370O" title="See cross-reference O">O</a>)</sup> Legion, for we are many." <span class="sup"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This man lives in the realm of the dead. He lives among the graves, he has thousands of demons – probably fallen angels in utter control of his life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Even the whole town was unable to control him. What a pitiful picture in verse 5...<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">5</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.<span class="sup"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Though he broken the shackles people had bound him with, he was very much still in chains – for he was not released from his desperate cries and self-harm.</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Have you experienced one freedom, only to find another slavery? <span style=""> </span>Perhaps you’ve known people who’ve kicked a gripping addiction, but have sunk instead into a deep depression. Others might come through a medical trial only to be face a broken relationship.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a world dominated by loss, pain and shame. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And in the next scene we see in the woman a picture relational death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">24: And a great crowd followed him and<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24385X" title="See cross-reference X">X</a>)</sup> thronged about him. <span class="sup">25</span>And there was a woman<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24386Y" title="See cross-reference Y">Y</a>)</sup> who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, <span class="sup">26</span>and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">One needs to understand something about the ceremonial law of Israel to understand quite what a terrible position this woman was in. We read in Leviticus 15 that so long as the bleeding continued she was unclean; nobody could touch her without becoming unclean themselves. And because she was unclean, she could not enter God’s presence. She was barred from the temple until 8 days after the bleeding stopped.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">In other words she was an outcast: from other people, but most fundamentally from God himself. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">All these laws about uncleanness in the Old Testament were a picture reminding us the state that we have been in ever since man and woman rebelled against God. Adam and Eve had been told that on the day they ate of the fruit they would die. And spiritually speaking, they did:<span style=""> </span>Adam and eve were cast out from God’s presence, and their relationship with each other was never the same.<span style=""> </span>There was relational death. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And nobody could help them. They could not re-enter Eden – again death, in the form of a flaming sword barred the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">So it was with this woman. She was cut off, and nobody could help her. The doctors only made her condition worse, and took all her money in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Where have you seen death reign in your relationships? Even if you have a good marriage, why do you find that there are not only forces that would bring you and your spouse together, but that would rip you apart? Why do you have to fight in this world to get along? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is the rule of death and decay: when we rebelled against God, we died spiritually, and even the most loving relationships are now characterised to a greater or lesser extent by hiding, manipulation and domination rather than love and cherish. It is a sign that the fundamental relationship on which all relationships are given their right shape and stability was broken. The relationship with God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And where is it all leading?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, the shadows of death are not empty threats. Death itself will come. The NHS can’t stop it. Nobody ever sees a penny from their life insurance policies. (Even calling it life insurance is trying to hide the reality of death. It should be called death insurance)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Without Christ death itself is the final and inevitable hopeless moment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">35</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">While he was still speaking, there came from<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24396AE" title="See cross-reference AE">AE</a>)</sup> the ruler’s house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24396AF" title="See cross-reference AF">AF</a>)</sup> trouble<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24396AG" title="See cross-reference AG">AG</a>)</sup> the Teacher any further?"<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If it was tragic that the woman had been an outcast for 12 years, how much more tragic that this little girl, herself only 12 years old should have her life cut off so short.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Children, do not assume that you will live forever. The way to make sure that you are ready for life is to make sure that you are ready to die: you don’t know when that will be. What would the Lord say to you if you died tonight? You need to know the answer to that question.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t know if any of you have been close to a child that has died. What is there to say at a time so tragic. When Job had lost his entire family the wisest thing that his comforters did was for a while to say nothing, and sit with him and grieve. But the time comes when something must be said to that question that we rightly and instinctively ask at the graveside: WHY?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Australian theologian Peter bolt has written, “If your philosophy of life has nothing to say at the graveside, then it has nothing to say. Here is our last and greatest enemy. The grave casts a shadow over our life and questions its very existence. This is the problem that has invaded our world. Is there any hope? Is there any help?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, there is. For though a shocking picture is painted in our passage of the power of death, it is not he greatest power portrayed here. Death cowers and retreats in the presence of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve been talking for a little while now about death. Does that seem strange to you? It shouldn’t seem strange to talk about death in a Christian church. Twynholm Baptist Church, we cannot be a church that will only talk about things that make people comfortable. We have something to say at the graveside, because there is a death at the centre of Christianity: a death that brings life. <i style="">Gospel.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Does this mean that we can merely rejoice? Death is undone, so all is fine now. No, first of all, what is striking about this passage is that people are more afraid of Jesus than they ever were of death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Fear Jesus more than you fear death.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">7</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And a great windstorm arose, and the waves<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24357B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)</sup> were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. <span class="sup">38</span>But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" <span class="sup">39</span>And he awoke and<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24359C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)</sup> rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24359D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)</sup> there was a great calm. <span class="sup">40</span>He said to them, "Why are you<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24360E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)</sup> so afraid? Have you still no faith?" <span class="sup">41</span>And they were filled with great fear and said to one another,<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24361F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)</sup> "Who then is this, that even<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24361G" title="See cross-reference G">G</a>)</sup> the wind and the sea obey him?"</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Pages of ink have been spilled about how storms come and go quickly on the lake of Galilee. But those who made a living out of fishing that lake were terrified. Even if the wind suddenly stopped, the enrgy in the sea would keep the waves going for hours. But Jesus brings a divine calm. This is no amazing weather forecasting. It is divine authority.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The similarities with the passage we read from Jonah are more than incidental.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Both Jonah and Jesus have such self-confidence that they are able to sleep during the storm. But Jonah’s self-confidence is misplaced: he is running away from God so should have been more afraid that anyone else. Jesus self confidence is shown to be absolutely appropriate. He knew what he had come for and that he would not die at sea, but on a cross.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">But Jesus isn’t just like Jonah: he is like GOD in the story of Jonah;<span style=""> </span>for it is the LORD who send the great calm. At that point all the men in the boat were terrified and offered sacrifices to the LORD. Here they are terrified about Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">They are now more afraid of Jesus than they were of death.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Look down to the next scene.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">6</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24367J" title="See cross-reference J">J</a>)</sup> fell down before him. <span class="sup">7</span>And<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24368K" title="See cross-reference K">K</a>)</sup> crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus,<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24368L" title="See cross-reference L">L</a>)</sup> Son of<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24368M" title="See cross-reference M">M</a>)</sup> the Most High God?<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24368N" title="See cross-reference N">N</a>)</sup> I adjure you by God, do not torment me." <span class="sup">8</span>For he was saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" <span class="sup">9</span>And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24370O" title="See cross-reference O">O</a>)</sup> Legion, for we are many." <span class="sup">10</span>And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. <span class="sup">11</span>Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, <span class="sup">12</span>and they begged him, saying, "Send us to the pigs; let us enter them." <span class="sup">13</span>So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The disciples had stood in awe, wondering who Jesus is. The demons know. And thus they are terrified. They know that Jesus has total authority. This man who could not be bound by the people of the region, even when he glimpses Jesus from a distance must bow.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The demons fear Jesus because they knew that there was something worse than physical death. “ do not torment me” they plead.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Physical death is just one of three things that the bible talks about as death. Spiritual death is the state that we are all in without Christ: rebels against God, cut off from fellowship with him, ever since adam and eve were cast out of the garden. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Physical death is the death we all know.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But if physical death is all you fear, you have not realised that there is a far worse kind of death. Revelation calls it the second death. The demons knew all about it and they knew that Jesus had the authority to send them there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus says elsewhere, in Matthew 10:28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It was not just the demons who feared him. Seeing the power that Jesus had over thousands of demons, the people of the area feared him too.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="sup">14</span>The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. <span class="sup">15</span>And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#fen-ESV-24376c" title="See footnote c">c</a>]</sup> man, the one who had had<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24376P" title="See cross-reference P">P</a>)</sup> the legion, sitting there,<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24376Q" title="See cross-reference Q">Q</a>)</sup> clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. <span class="sup">16</span>And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. <span class="sup">17</span>And<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24378R" title="See cross-reference R">R</a>)</sup> they began to beg Jesus<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#fen-ESV-24378d" title="See footnote d">d</a>]</sup> to depart from their region. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Isn’t that interesting. They had never ensured that the one with 2000 demons departed the region. But they were so afraid of Jesus that they insisted he left.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I wonder what kind of fear you will have of Jesus. There is no more terrible enemy than him. Perhaps you have a view of Jesus that he is gentle Jesus meek and mild: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Minister and astrophysicist.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">He wouldn’t hurt a flea. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">When we look at an increasingly godless society that lives for carnal pleasure, convenience at the cost of the most vulnerable, medicine at any moral price, it is clear that the fear of judgement has not even entered the thought process of the majority. But it will one day. Let’s pray that it is not too late.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Do you think that Jesus is safe?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Like in the beavers words about Alsan, he is not safe: but he is good; he’s the king.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">He certainly has incredible humility; he is certainly remarkably patient – that is why we can be here today and were not sent to hell years ago. But he isn’t just a friend: He is Wonderful counsellor: as we must listen to him. He is mighty God: and we must worship him. Everlasting Father, and we must obey him: Prince of Peace, and we must trust him. He is Lord, Saviour, master, King. If we think of him only as friend we will totally misunderstand the nature of our friendship. We are not chums or buddies. Some of the songs that are sung you might think it was a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. NO!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The extraordinary thing about being friends with god is not that you have a new best friend; it is that God would no longer be your enemy, but your friend.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">But there is a time allocated when he will return. And we have no hope as we stand before him. No hope other than Jesus himself.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We must fear Christ more than we fear even death itself. Which means we must certainly fear Christ more than we fear anything else.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Is this a community that fears the Lord? Will we speak the Lord’s word to one another in love? Or will we fear the reaction we will get? Well, I hope that the reaction won’t be death – and we are to fear the Lord Jesus more than we fear death itself, so great is he.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">If you do not fear Jesus, I can assure you that you will on the day that you see him. Like that demoniac, run to him and fall on your knees before that day when you see him approaches any closer.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">But how – how are we to fear him? Are we merely to be gripped with terror, and paralysed.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">No, the kind of fear that the Lord Jesus wants is not terror: that will come to those who do not fear him in this life. The kind of fear that the Lord Jesus wants is Trust. And those who trust in him will find that his great power is working for their good, turning death into life. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">3)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">We are to turn in trust to Christ for life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. <span class="sup">19</span>And he did not permit him but said to him, "Go home to your friends and<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24380S" title="See cross-reference S">S</a>)</sup> tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." <span class="sup">20</span>And he went away and began to proclaim in<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24381T" title="See cross-reference T">T</a>)</sup> the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We may begin to take notice of Jesus because of his great power; but once we have cast ourselves upon him, his mercy becomes all the more beautiful to us than his power. If Jesus had only power, we would flee from him. But because he has power and mercy, we would do well to flee to him. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And if we do, that power is all exercised in mercy towards us. That strength which was against us, bec <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">John Piper writes,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“Let us make crystal clear at the beginning of each new day, all we will get from God as believers is mercy. Whatever pleasures or pains may come our way in this day, they will all be mercy. This is why Christ came into the world – “in order that the Gentile maight glorify God for his mercy.” (Romans 15:9) We were born again, “according to his great mercy” (1pet 1:3) we pray daily “that we may receive mercy” (Heb 4:16) and we are now “waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life”. (Jude 1:21) In the end, when all is said and done, we will confess, ‘So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”(romans 9:16)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We see again that it is faith in jesus’ mercy that Jesus commends in the woman that he heals<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">34</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And he said to her, "Daughter,<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24395AC" title="See cross-reference AC">AC</a>)</sup> your faith has made you well;<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24395AD" title="See cross-reference AD">AD</a>)</sup> go in peace, and be healed of your disease."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And where do we see faith in Jesus’ mercy most clearly: it is in the reality of death.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">5</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">While he was still speaking, there came from<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24396AE" title="See cross-reference AE">AE</a>)</sup> the ruler’s house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24396AF" title="See cross-reference AF">AF</a>)</sup> trouble<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24396AG" title="See cross-reference AG">AG</a>)</sup> the Teacher any further?" <span class="sup">36</span>But overhearing<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#fen-ESV-24397e" title="See footnote e">e</a>]</sup> what they said, Jesus said to<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24397AH" title="See cross-reference AH">AH</a>)</sup> the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." <span class="sup">37</span>And he allowed no one to follow him except<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24398AI" title="See cross-reference AI">AI</a>)</sup> Peter and James and<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24398AJ" title="See cross-reference AJ">AJ</a>)</sup> John the brother of James. <span class="sup">38</span>They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#fen-ESV-24399f" title="See footnote f">f</a>]</sup> saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. <span class="sup">39</span>And when he had entered, he said to them, <sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24400AK" title="See cross-reference AK">AK</a>)</sup> "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24400AL" title="See cross-reference AL">AL</a>)</sup> sleeping." <span class="sup">40</span>And they laughed at him. But he<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24401AM" title="See cross-reference AM">AM</a>)</sup> put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. <span class="sup">41</span><sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24402AN" title="See cross-reference AN">AN</a>)</sup> Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Talitha cumi," which means, "Little girl, I say to you,<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24402AO" title="See cross-reference AO">AO</a>)</sup> arise." <span class="sup">42</span>And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. <span class="sup">43</span>And<sup>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:35-5:43&version=47#cen-ESV-24404AP" title="See cross-reference AP">AP</a>)</sup> he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In the end, the only answer to the fear of death is not sheer terror at Jesus. It is faith in him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It is the faith that realises that Jesus raises the dead. That realises that without him we are lost eternally, but with him we are eternally safe.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Will your fear cause you to run from Christ, or to run to him? There is no refuge from him. There is great refuge in him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=65&chapter=2&verse=15&version=31&context=verse">Hebrews 2:15</a></span></strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their <b>fear</b> of <b>death</b>.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And, with the eyes of faith Death will help us to see not merely the extent of Jesus’ power, but the extent of Jesus’ mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I’ll say that again. With the eyes of faith Death will help us to see not merely the extent of Jesus’ power, but the extent of Jesus’ mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Death came as a punishment for our rebellion against God. Jesus bore that punishment and so if we have faith in him, we need not face the second death, and death itself will become a doorway. Not the doorway it once was to judgment. But the doorway to life: a life where there will be no more mourning or crying or pain. A life where there will be no more death. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">What a mercy there is in Christ. How much he bore when he faced not just physical, but the second death on our behalf. That is why as Christians we can talk about death and rejoice. It shows us just what our saviour has done. We don’t need to laugh it off or ignore it or rationalise it or surrender to it or scream at it. We can stare it in the face; we need not deny what a terrible enemy death is. For we merely see how great is Jesus’ mercy that he would taste it for us to release us from death and from the fear of death.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Jesus raises the dead. Not just in the case of this little girl who would not grow old, but eventually succumb to death again. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">But in that raising of a little girl there is a picture of what Jesus does.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">He raises the dead:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Spiritual death: through faith, Jesus gives new life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Physical death: we too will be raised<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The second death: those who face Christ will NEVER face the second death. That is the death that Jesus tasted on our behalf.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">These three deaths we deserve; and yet in the face of death we see Christ’s mercy. Where we deserved death, in him we have life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=5&verse=17&version=31&context=verse">Romans 5:17</a></span></strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />For if, by the trespass of the one man, <b>death</b> <b>reigned</b> through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Thine be the glory, risen conquering son, endless is the victory thou o’er death has won.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">And, as those who receive all the benefits of his victory, the name of Jesus is no longer held in hatred or terror: but in the fear of deep awe. The deep awe that has found something so wonderful that one’s own significance shrinks before it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">So, then we can sing<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds<br />in a believer's ear!<br />It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,<br />and drives away his fear.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus! my Shepherd, Brother, Friend,<br />my Prophet, Priest and King,<br />my Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,<br />accept the praise I bring.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Till then I would thy love proclaim<br />with every fleeting breath;<br />and may the music of thy Name<br />refresh my soul in death!</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-80245365259275547652008-07-29T04:04:00.000-07:002008-07-30T02:57:16.920-07:00Mark 4: The Surprising KingThis sermon was preached at Twynholm Baptist Church <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The audio is available <a href="http://wordpress.twynholm.org/media/2008.07.20%20Mike%20GS%20Mark%204:1-34.mp3">here</a>:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">They got out their telescopes and pointed them towards the constellation of Orion. Out beyond the stars that made up Orion’s belt they were looking for a galaxy; a galaxy teeming with life. They were looking there, for the one who had hidden it had with his dying words told them that they would find the galaxy just below Orion’s belt. They were, of course, the Men in Black. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Perhaps you saw the cult 1997 film, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. If you didn’t, I’m afraid it’s too late: I’m going to ruin it for you. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">For they eventually found the galaxy, but not where they were expecting it. Orion wasn’t the constellation, but a pet cat. And the galaxy wasn’t out in space, it was hanging in a glass ball beneath the belt around Orion’s neck. When the Men in Black discover it, the special effects take over and we ae taken inside the ball to discover the vast galaxy, just as complex, just as beautiful, with just as brilliant as our own. It had been within themib’s grasp for the whole film, but they just hadn’t noticed it<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">An alien comments, “That’s the problem with you humans; you think that just because something is small that it is unimportant.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Have you ever imagined that there might be something of infinite significance right before your eyes, but that you have missed it, or seen it and failed to </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">realise</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"> its value?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The bible’s claim is that the good news of Jesus Christ is the most significant thing that has ever happened on the face of the earth. And we don’t just mean that it was a history-shaping event, but that it will shape our eternal futures.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">How then could something so mind-bogglingly significant seem to be so overlooked by people today? I mean, there are a lot more people out there than in here. And we all know of people who used to be in church on a Sunday morning who would prefer not to be here today.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">If this is at the centre of God’s plan for the world, why does it appear so weak? why can people come, take a look at it and walk away as if they were merely looking at a museum exhibit.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">And if this is surprising to us, we can’t begin to imagine how surprising it was to the disciples. Big crowds they could understand that. But, Jesus was perplexing. In some ways he seemed to be like the promised Messaiah to come – surely the messiah couldn’t do more miracles than Jesus. But he kept on hiding from people, and as we saw last week people you’d expect would be on his side weren’t. His family thought he was crazy. The religious leaders thought he was eveil. Why didn’t he just sort them out, get rid of the occupying Roman forces, take the throne and then everybody would be on his side.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">If this really was the coming of the kingdom of God, it certainly surprised the disciples. But, in Mark chapter 4 we will see that Jesus might surprise us, but we don’t surprise Jesus. He knows our hearts, and gives in a series of parables a kind of map of the heart. A map to the different ways we might respond to him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">We are going to see two particular ways in which Jesus encourages us not to be unsurprised.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Don’t be surprised that the kingdom produces varying responses<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Don’t be surprised that the kingdom seems so unimpressive.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Read mark 4:1-20 page…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> <b>1</b>Again<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24321A" title="See cross-reference A"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">A</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24321B" title="See cross-reference B"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">B</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. <b>2</b>And<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24322C" title="See cross-reference C"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">C</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: <b>3</b>"Listen!<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24323D" title="See cross-reference D"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">D</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> A sower went out to sow. <b>4</b>And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. <b>5</b>Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. <b>6</b>And<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24326E" title="See cross-reference E"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">E</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24326F" title="See cross-reference F"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">F</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> it withered away. <b>7</b>Other seed fell among<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24327G" title="See cross-reference G"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">G</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. <b>8</b>And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24328H" title="See cross-reference H"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">H</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> a hundredfold." <b>9</b>And he said, <sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24329I" title="See cross-reference I"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> <b>10</b>And<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24330J" title="See cross-reference J"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">J</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. <b>11</b>And he said to them, <sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24331K" title="See cross-reference K"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">K</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> "To you has been given<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24331L" title="See cross-reference L"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">L</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the secret of the kingdom of God, but for<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24331M" title="See cross-reference M"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">M</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> those outside everything is in parables, <b>12</b><sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24332N" title="See cross-reference N"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">N</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> so that<br /><br /> "they<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24332O" title="See cross-reference O"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">O</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> may indeed see but not perceive,<br /> and may indeed hear but not understand,<br />lest they<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24332P" title="See cross-reference P"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">P</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> should turn and be forgiven." <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> <b>13</b><sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24333Q" title="See cross-reference Q"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Q</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? <b>14</b><sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24334R" title="See cross-reference R"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">R</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> The sower sows<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24334S" title="See cross-reference S"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">S</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the word. <b>15</b>And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. <b>16</b>And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24336T" title="See cross-reference T"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">T</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> with joy. <b>17</b>And they have no root in themselves, but<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24337U" title="See cross-reference U"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">U</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24337V" title="See cross-reference V"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">V</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> they fall away.<sup>[</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#fen-ESV-24337a" title="See footnote a"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">a</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">]</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> <b>18</b>And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, <b>19</b>but<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24339W" title="See cross-reference W"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">W</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the cares of<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24339X" title="See cross-reference X"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">X</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the world and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24339Y" title="See cross-reference Y"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Y</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. <b>20</b>But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24340Z" title="See cross-reference Z"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Z</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> bear fruit,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24340AA" title="See cross-reference AA"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">AA</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Don’t be surprised that the kingdom … produces varying responses<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is deeply sad when people whom we had every hope that they had come to true faith in Jesus begin to walk away.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the people that was deeply influential in my life married my wife Hannah and me. But by the time we returned from honeymoon he had left the church, and deserted his family, and remained unrepentant.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember sitting and asking myself, “How am I any different from that man”. If he has wandered away from following Jesus, then how can I have any confidence at all that I will be any different? I was certainly disillusioned with him. My temptation was to be disillusioned with the confidence of salvation that comes from following Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus himself was aware that people walking away from him might cause confusion <span style=""> </span>– and he addresses this confusion in the verses we’ve just read. We should be saddened when people walk away, but we shouldn’t be surprised.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span>The coming of the word has different responses, because the coming of the word reveals the state of the heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The Hard heart<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This isn’t the person who never hears – but the person who hears the gospel and doesn’t understand: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span class="sup1"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">15</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Like the well trodden path at the edge of the field, their heart is hard.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I love the description of when Aslan first speaks in the Magician’s Nephew. But the magician himself cannot hear Aslan’s voice who sings the world into existence and then speaks to his creatures.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“The longer and more beautifully the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan's song. Soon he couldn't have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. And when at last the Lion spoke and said, "Narnians, awake," he didn't hear any words: he heard only a snarl.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">So it is with the hardened heart. It starts by hearing only what it wants to hear from God’s word, and ends up hearing nothing at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Scripture makes it clear that the only reason why we do not submit to Jesus’ kingship is not because his voice is unclear, but that we do not want to hear.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are not a Christian, Do you find the gospel uncomfortable – and whenever you hear it, something in you just wants to get out of the room. My friend, have you considered that it may be an uncomfortable truth that you would be foolish to flee from?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Or perhaps you are a young person with Christian parents. You’ve heard the good news about Jesus a thousand times; you could even explain it to others. Yet you remain determined not to allow it into your heart. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do not be hardened soil. Allow God’s word to take deep root into your life. Don’t just let it affect your mind – let it affect your heart – that is the deepest part of you in which all your desires and decisions are rooted.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The hardened heart rejects the gospel before it has really ever understood it. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The Shallow heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">Like the soil in the parable, these people have a shallow response to the gospel.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup1"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">16</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24336T" title="See cross-reference T"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">T</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> with joy. <span class="sup1"><span style="line-height: 115%;">17</span></span>And they have no root in themselves, but<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24337U" title="See cross-reference U"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">U</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24337V" title="See cross-reference V"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">V</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> they fall away.<sup>[</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#fen-ESV-24337a" title="See footnote a"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">a</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">]</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the person who is looking for something that will make their life complete – and they begin to understand who Jesus is, and they profess faith in him. Notice that they even have joy. It is possible to sit here, listen to sermons, sing God’s praises with radiant faces, feel a joy that is very real, but not belong to jesus. It is possible to praise God with your lips but not belong to him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span>How can you tell: when following Jesus begins to make their life harder rather than easier, they leave.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We must realise that to follow Jesus means to be hated like Jesus is hated. We all love to be loved. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But is the love of God sufficient for us – or do we insist that we must also be loved by others? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Have we found such depth of delight in Jesus that in times of suffereing and persecution we would join Job in saying, “Though he slay me, yet will I praise him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Thirdly Jesus describes a divided heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The divided heart</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Divided<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup1"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">18</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, <span class="sup1"><span style="line-height: 115%;">19</span></span>but<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24339W" title="See cross-reference W"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">W</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the cares of<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24339X" title="See cross-reference X"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">X</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the world and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24339Y" title="See cross-reference Y"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Y</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">These people are not convinced that the gospel is untrue. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">They are deceived away from it by the lie that the things of this world are worth living for.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Notice the deceitfulness of riches; if we are going to serve the things of this world we are being deceived. We have believed promises that they will not keep. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Promised security. But nothing but Jesus will not protect us on the day of judgement.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Promised pleasure. <span style=""> </span>But if it takes us away from the everlasting pleasures of the kingdom it is nothing more than Turkish delight.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Promised intimacy. <span style=""> </span>But all human intimacy is supposed to be a picture of the joy of faithful intimacy with our covenant Lord, and if it takes us away from him it is a poisoned apple.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Have you ever been so gripped by such a desire for something that you must have it and nobody will stand in your way?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But they are all the things of this world are passing, and drawing us away from the only one who can eternally deliver on his promises, who keeps all of his promises.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a deception that strangles God’s word in our lives. We so desire something in this world that when God’s word calls us away from it, we don’t want to hear. We block our spiritual ears. If Jesus insists on speaking to us, we would have him silenced.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We become like Bilbo Baggins in one of the first scenes of the Lord of the ring, when Gandalf is persuading him to leave the ring behind.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m not trying to rob you. I’m trying to help you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">To follow Jesus is to leave behind our demands for the things of this world; but to do so for we have found the pearl of great price that is worth selling it all for. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">How will we come to this conclusion? We realise that Jesus is worth it only when we allow the word to speak to us. Listen. Think about it. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jim Elliot was a missionary to Ecuador's </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quichua" title="Quichua"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Quichua</span></a><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> Indians who was in the end murdered by those with whom he was trying to share the gospel. He once famously said, “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose.” When he went to his death aged 28, he knew that to be true. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Will you instead cling onto what you cannot keep, and thereby loose what you will never regain?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I wonder how you feel about these negative responses to Jesus?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you find this discouraging? That so many who seem to be responding so positively to the gospel end up walking away from Jesus? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">– does this make us question our own salvation?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, we are called in Scripture to examine ourselves to see<span style=""> </span>if we are in the faith: and this doesn’ mean merely to remember a time when we made a commitment and maybe even got baptised; it means to ensure that we are bearing fruit: trusting, loving, obeying Jesus today as we listen to his word..<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-indent: 36pt; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Don’t be discouraged into thinking that your salvation may be insecure: take warning yes… but if you are repenting and trusting in Jesus today you will be saved. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-indent: 36pt; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">You never got to see into the heart of the one who wandered away. If their wandering away is permanent, then they were <i>never </i>good soil. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-indent: 36pt; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In fact the point of the sower throwing the seed everywhere was not to somehow turn bad soil into good soil, but to show up where the good soil is. You don’t want to miss the good soil, so you throw seed everywhere. Preaching the gospel has a dividing role, that Jesus intends it to have.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> <b>10</b>And<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24330J" title="See cross-reference J"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">J</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. <b>11</b>And he said to them, <sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24331K" title="See cross-reference K"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">K</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> "To you has been given<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24331L" title="See cross-reference L"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">L</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> the secret of the kingdom of God, but for<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24331M" title="See cross-reference M"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">M</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> those outside everything is in parables, <b>12</b><sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24332N" title="See cross-reference N"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">N</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> so that<br /><br /> "they<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24332O" title="See cross-reference O"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">O</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> may indeed see but not perceive,<br /> and may indeed hear but not understand,<br />lest they<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24332P" title="See cross-reference P"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">P</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> should turn and be forgiven." <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When we realise the sinfulness of our own hearts, and our ability to be deceived, the remarkable thing is that God has so worked in some people’s hearts that we are able to hear, and turn, and be forgiven. There is some good </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span class="sup1"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">20</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24340Z" title="See cross-reference Z"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Z</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> bear fruit,<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24340AA" title="See cross-reference AA"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">AA</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: black;"> thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Note how this harvest is brought in.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Three things must happen.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-indent: 36pt; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Hear<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-indent: 36pt; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Accept it<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-indent: 36pt; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Bear fruit.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We need to realize that we can only really help with the first. We can’t make people accept the gospel. We can’t produce fruit in others’ lives. But we can sow liberally.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are discouraged by the way in which people you’ve shared the gospel with have responded – then just keep on sowing. It is only by persistence in sharing the gospel that the good soil will be revealed. And that harvest will be a joy that will make up for all the rejection, and all the disappointment.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">In Jesus’ times you were happy in a harvest if you yielded 7 times what you sowed. But even the least fruitful yields 30 times. It’s as if Jesus is saying that the fruit that is born in the world is somehow in God’s strange providence greater than if the whole field had been comprised of good soil. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">There is greater glory brought to Jesus that people in his kingdom would love and serve him, though the majority of the world remained against him. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Your faithfulness in the face of such discouragement will bring great glory to Jesus. He is yet worth following. The joy of his kingdom will not diminish. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t be disillusioned by mixed responses & temporary commitment. Rejoice that the glory brought to the Lord by those who do respond will be all the greater.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">2. Don’t be surprised that the kingdom’s glory appears to be hidden <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">21</span></span><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">(</span></sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24341AB" title="See cross-reference AB"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">AB</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> And he said to them, <sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204&version=47#cen-ESV-24341AC" title="See cross-reference AC"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">AC</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">When we read this, we immediately think of the words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel, “you are the light of the world”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But his words here are slightly different. This is not about us hiding or revealing the light. This is about the light hiding or revealing itself. Literally it reads not “is a lamp brought,” “does the lamp come”.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus is the light who has come; but it seems that not everyone has seen him. Isaiah had predicted in chapter 9 “ <span class="sup">2</span><sup>[</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%209;&version=47;#fen-ESV-17832c" title="See footnote c"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">c</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">](</span></sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%209;&version=47;#cen-ESV-17832E" title="See cross-reference E"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">E</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> The people<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%209;&version=47;#cen-ESV-17832F" title="See cross-reference F"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">F</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> who walked in darkness<br /> have seen a great light;<br />those who dwelt in a land of<sup>(</sup></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%209;&version=47;#cen-ESV-17832G" title="See cross-reference G"><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">G</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> deep darkness,<br /> on them has light shined.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But, to a large degree Jesus doesn’t seem to be shining. Why is that. You go down the pub, and for the most part people aren’t talking about the fact that God has entered the world as a human being. They should be! Why are they talking about news so much less significant?<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The concealment is<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Temporary: he will be revealed and with him everything else (21-23)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">When Jesus comes in all his glory, not only will he be on a stand – but everything else will be seen by him. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Do you realise that? When we see Jesus fully, we will see everything else truly by his light. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Ecclesiastes: Should we just pursue the things of this world: no, we should pursue the Lord, <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">For God will bring every deed into judgment,<br /> including every hidden thing,<br /> whether it is good or evil.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In a similar section in Luke’s gospel Jesus says,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">2</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. <span class="sup">3</span>What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Partial: the deeper one looks the more will be revealed. (24-25)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="sup">24</span>"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. <span class="sup">25</span>Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The idea of the measure here is that Jesus is willing to be known. If you don’t see anything in him, it isn’t because there is nothing in him, but because you haven’t looked hard enough. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">The story is told of a scientist who is the world expert on a certain kind of insect.….<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Jesus isn’t concealed because he refuses to be known. He welcomes us to dig deeper into him. At times he conceals himself because he wants us to pursue him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">I wonder what you think about long sermons….<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">How to listen to sermons. I’m not making excuses for preaching for too long… but what is your expectation when the preacher stands up; is it that he has done all the work, so you can sit back and listen.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">No! here’s some tips from my friend thabiti anybwile…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><em><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Meditate on the sermon passage during your quiet time.</span></em><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><em><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></em><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style=""> </span><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Talk and pray with friends about the sermon after church</span></em></span><em><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><em><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span></em><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""> </span></span><em><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Listen to and act on the sermon throughout the week</span></em><em><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt;">6. <em>Cultivate humility.</em> As you dig into God’s word, listening for His voice, you will no doubt begin to grow and discover many wonderful treasures. But as you grow, do not become a “professional sermon listener” who is always hearing but never learning. Beware of false knowledge that “puffs up” (I Cor. 1:8; Col. 2:18) and tends to cause strife and dissension. Mortify any tendencies toward pride, condemning others, and critical nit-picking. Instead, seek to meet Jesus each time you come to the Scripture; gather from the Word fuel for all-of-life worship. Instead of exalting ourselves, let us remember the Apostle Peter’s words: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time” (I Pet. 5:6). <em>.</em><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s just one area in which you can pursue Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What is the measure used in your time, in what you read, in how you talk with other Christians?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The more of your life you spend for Christ, the more you will find that he is more than worth the investment.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Unlike choking weeds., Jesus makes wonderful promises in his word: and he always keeps them promises.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">How many of his promises do you know? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Whenever you come across a promise that Jesus makes, write it down., Learn it off by heart, so that when the weeds are trying to strangle the word of God in your life, Jesus voice will speaking clearly to you, and you will be reminded that the promises held out by the word are far better than the promises held out by the weeds.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">It is of vital importance that we know Jesus and put our trust in him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">How do we know that Jesus will keep all his promises.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">GOSPEL<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">If we do not have this faith, one day we will have nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="sup"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">25</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">On Friday the latest Batman movie, the Dark Knight opened in the USA. It took at record-breaking $65m on the first day. The performance that everyone is talking about is the portrayal of batman’s enemy the Joker. There is talk that he will receive an Oscar for it; but it would be a posthumous Oscar. Heith Ledger, 28, died from an accidental prescription drug overdose in January. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The only thing that will matter for him now is not the Oscar. It is not the success of the film. It is not the fact that he will live on in the film. The only thing that will matter to him now is whether he had put his trust in the Lord Jesus before he died.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">If we have Jesus we will have everything. If we don’t have him we will have nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps you think these verses harsh. The haves will have more. The don’t haves will have absolutely nothing. There is no spiritual welfare state. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">On that last day if we have faith in Jesus we will have everything; if we have many many blessing from Jesus, but do not belong to him, we will have nothing.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Purposeful (26-29)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Who would have thought that this approach of Jesus’ would have lasted. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Since Jesus came, Empires have risen and fallen. Think of all the world’s superpowers: the Roman empire fell. The byzantine Empire. The ottoman empire. The British empire. They all rise and fall. But since the day when Jesus told these parables, the kingdom of God has only ever grown. I assume Billions of people have put their faith in Christ and been saved from an eternity in hell, vast numbers of whom have done so despite violent opposition and overwhelming temptation.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">But it hasn’t finished yet. The Lord would have more turn from their sin and put their trust in Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Will we here at Twynholm be a church that will dig deeply into God’s word. Will we count this world as something not to be lived for, but to be our mission field where we take this good news and sew generously, expecting to be frequently laughed at or hated, but telling it anyway for we know that as the word goes out it will do its work. Whether we ever see the fruit of it ourselves or not, the word will take root in some good soil, and grow here in Fulham even as it is all over the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Glorious (30-34)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">And one day it will be glorious. The kingdom of God will be the only thing in all of creation that actually matters.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Will we have spent our lives on the pursuit of a lie, or investing in the certain promises of our surprising king?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-64404736774556310462008-07-16T07:38:00.000-07:002008-07-30T02:57:16.920-07:00Mark 3Mark 3 Sermon<br /><br />Why do you come to church?<br />I’m not suggesting you stop coming, I’m just wanting you to consider why you come.<br />Perhaps you are here because your parents have dragged you against your will. I pray that even if you don’t thank them for it today, you will thank them for it when you are older.<br />But, if you are here of your own choice, why did you make that choice? Only about 6% of the population attend church on any given Sunday in this country, so it must be a pretty deliberate decision if you are going to end up in a church of all places on a Sunday morning, rather than a shopping mall, a sports club, time with the family at home, time on the couch in front of the TV, or why not stay in bed? Why are you a part of that strange 6% today?<br />Why would you choose to come and sing old songs in an old building that let’s face it could do with some TLC places? Why would you choose to sit on uncomfortable seats with uncomfortably closed mouths for an uncomfortably long time whilst someone talks about uncomfortable things like sin and demons?<br />I hope I haven’t caused any offence, but let’s face it; if you wanted comfort or entertainment or style, you’d be a lot better off at the cinema.<br />It could just be a habit – but why don’t you try to kick the habit??<br />It could be that it’s where your friends are, and so it is a good place to meet up with them.<br />I guess, though, for most people who attend church regularly it has something to do with Jesus. <br />Perhaps you are intrigued by him.<br />Perhaps you hope he can give you something. Something you can’t find elsewhere.<br />What do you want from Jesus?<br />It is extraordinary that in the passage we are going to read we will see that people want different things from Jesus. But in the end, only Jesus gets what he wants.<br />We will see crowds who know that Jesus is a miracle worker, and pretty much mob him. But Jesus withdraws from them.<br />We will see demons who understand that Jesus to be the Son of God and hate him for it, But Jesus silences them.<br />We will see Jesus’ own mother and brothers assuming that Jesus has gone mad, and therefore trying to silence him, But Jesus evades them.<br />We will see religious leaders accusing Jesus of being demonic but Jesus reveals the evil in their own hearts.<br />Who do you think Jesus is? Would he agree with you?<br />What do you want from him?<br />Do you think Jesus is even interested in giving you what you want?<br />I pray that as we read God’s word this morning he will show us who Jesus is, and therefore reshape our expectations and hopes of what it would mean to encounter King Jesus, and what he wants from us.<br />And we will see 3 ways in which Jesus wants to change the way we think.<br /><br />o Change our understanding of Fellowship (7-19)<br />o Change our understanding of Freedom (20-30)<br />o Change our understanding of Family. (31-34)<br /><br /><br /><br />Turn with me to Mark’s gospel, chapter 3:7<br /> 7(<a title="See cross-reference J" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24292J">J</a>) Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and(<a title="See cross-reference K" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24292K">K</a>) a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8and Jerusalem and(<a title="See cross-reference L" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24293L">L</a>) Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around(<a title="See cross-reference M" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24293M">M</a>) Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9And he told his disciples to(<a title="See cross-reference N" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24294N">N</a>) have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they(<a title="See cross-reference O" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24294O">O</a>) crush him, 10for(<a title="See cross-reference P" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24295P">P</a>) he had healed many, so that all who had(<a title="See cross-reference Q" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24295Q">Q</a>) diseases pressed around him(<a title="See cross-reference R" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24295R">R</a>) to touch him. 11(<a title="See cross-reference S" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24296S">S</a>) And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they(<a title="See cross-reference T" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24296T">T</a>) fell down before him and cried out, "You are(<a title="See cross-reference U" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24296U">U</a>) the Son of God." 12And(<a title="See cross-reference V" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24297V">V</a>) he strictly ordered them not to make him known.<br /><br /> 13(<a title="See cross-reference W" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24298W">W</a>) And he went up on the mountain and called to him those(<a title="See cross-reference X" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24298X">X</a>) whom he desired, and they came to him. 14(<a title="See cross-reference Y" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24299Y">Y</a>) And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15(<a title="See cross-reference Z" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24300Z">Z</a>) and have authority to cast out demons. 16He appointed the twelve:(<a title="See cross-reference AA" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24301AA">AA</a>) Simon (to whom(<a title="See cross-reference AB" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24301AB">AB</a>) he gave the name Peter); 17(<a title="See cross-reference AC" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24302AC">AC</a>) James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and(<a title="See cross-reference AD" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24303AD">AD</a>) Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.<br /><br />It is difficult for us, 21st century churchgoers to understand quite what a radical reshaping of the people of God takes place with the ministry of Jesus.<br />o A Reshaped Fellowship (7-19)<br />o Who belongs? New boundaries<br />§ The crowd is from all parts of Israel (Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem) and beyond (Idumea, beyond the Jordan, Tyre and Sidon the boundaries of Israel).<br />§ At the moment Jesus is not going to these places, though, we shall see him doing so later in the gospel. But for now, we are beginning to see that Jesus’ conception of his Messaiahship is not merely about being the king of Israel who rules from Jerusalem. His kingdom would be an international kingdom.<br />§ This is one of the great encouragements of being a multi-ethnic church. Let’s just do an experiment. OK if you’re ethnic origin is originally from Britain, put your hands up; if you Europe sit down. From North America & Caribbean. From South America. From Asia. From Africa. From Australasia. Geographical and cultural boundaries are bridged by the Lord Jesus. The church is to be a display of Jesus boundary breaking ministry.<br />§ But the most striking of them at all was the breaking down of the boundaries between Jew and Gentile. With the coming of Jesus there is just a crowd of followers;<br />§ Do we reflect this? Have we recognized that the gospel must go out to all the earth? I’m delighted to have discovered that this is a church that has a heart for world mission. I pray that that heart would only grow.<br />o Who leads? New sons<br />§ A man walking around with twelve men following behind him was making a statement that we might not pick up on. There would be only one person that a Jew would think of: And that was Jacob, and his twelve sons, the 12 tribes of Israel. The Lord himself gave Jacob a new name, Israel. And so, Jesus is the new Israel, who in establishing the new founding members of those who are his kin, he too gives new names to the first three of them, Simon Peter, and james and John, no longer known as the Sons of Zebedee, but the Sons of thunder.<br />This is very significant. Jesus is saying that having fellowship with God no longer has anything to do with whether or not you are descended physically from one of the 12 sons of Jacob. It is about whether you have been brought into the community of the apostles: that is whether you have responded to the ministry of the apostles. Where do we find that ministry? In the NT.<br />You are part of the people of god if you live by this book.<br />We can come to Jesus and make our demands of him even as unrepentant sinners. We can bring our desires and priorities and pray that he will bless them. But he won’t: He is not just Santa Claus come true; he is the Sovereign God made man. He doesn’t want to adopt our desires. He wants to change them. We need Jesus sovereign love to call us to him to reshape our thinking, change our hearts and reorder our priorities to match his. How does he do this? By the preaching of his apostolic word.<br />o New priorities<br />I don’t know if you noticed how Jesus is continually on the move in this passage: In a few short verses we see him by the sea, on a boat, up a mountain, in a house. And much of the time seems to be spent avoiding people… the crowds who want healing, the vocal attention of the demons;<br />And it’s not because he has relational overload and needs to go lock himself in a room. But that isn’t what Jesus is doing. He is avoiding people who have their own agenda with him, and then he is defining the agenda with others.<br />o Not physical but spiritual: preaching & casting out demons… NOT healing.<br />As you read through the kinds of blessing promised to Israel, they are largely physical blessings. Deuteronomy says, “12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. 15 The LORD will keep you free from every disease.”<br />No such physical blessings are promised in the New Covenant. But those who follow Jesus are not promised endless physical blessings in this life. I don’t know if you’ve come across the prosperity gospel... “saying that Jesus Promises his followed wealth, health and prosperity in this life” it is a lie. Those who wanted a Messiah for their own physical health and prosperity were rebuked and avoided by Jesus. The New Testament is full of words like these. “Endure hardship” “take up your cross”<br />Just as he had said of his own ministry that it was about preaching and casting out demons, so he commissioned the apostles to do the same.<br />This is NOT because we are to stoically endure terrible things, and following Jesus is about gritting your teeth and practicing mind over matter. It is because the physical blessings in the Old Testament were a shadow: a mere picture of the bountiful spiritual blessings that you find in Christ.<br />Do you believe that? You open the glossy magazine that the estate agent puts through your door, and see on the front page a rather nice 8 bedroom home in one of the classier areas of Kensington for umpteen million pounds. Do you really believe that the homeless person who knows the Lord Jesus has far more than that person?<br />What is it that you would ask for if you found a lamp with a genie in it? Do you believe that you have far more in Christ? As you learn to trust him more, and let go of worldly dreams that are passing away, Jesus will become far sweeter. It’s the thing of hymns isn’t it?<br />Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.<br />But we know, don’t we that unless we deliberately turn our eyes upon Jesus, the things of earth become shiny and bright in our eyes.<br />Even among the twelve who were given this radical new spiritual set of priorities, there would be one who would find the glory of this world too high a price to pay for eternal life, and in the end he would exchange this Messiah’s kingdom for thirty shiny pieces of silver.<br />Have you had your ideas of Jesus reshaped to be centred around the good news of the gospel, the promises of eternal life rather than the things of this world?<br />Jesus was reshaping the ideas of who belonged to God precisely along those spiritual lines.<br />o Change your ideas about Freedom (20-30)<br />20Then he went(<a title="See cross-reference AE" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24305AE">AE</a>) home, and the crowd gathered again,(<a title="See cross-reference AF" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24305AF">AF</a>) so that they could not even eat. 21(<a title="See cross-reference AG" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24306AG">AG</a>) And when(<a title="See cross-reference AH" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24306AH">AH</a>) his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, "He(<a title="See cross-reference AI" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24306AI">AI</a>) is out of his mind."<br /> 22And(<a title="See cross-reference AJ" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24307AJ">AJ</a>) the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying,(<a title="See cross-reference AK" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24307AK">AK</a>) "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "by the prince of demons he casts out the demons." 23(<a title="See cross-reference AL" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24308AL">AL</a>) And he called them to him and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27But(<a title="See cross-reference AM" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24312AM">AM</a>) no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.(<a title="See cross-reference AN" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24312AN">AN</a>) Then indeed he may plunder his house.<br /> 28(<a title="See cross-reference AO" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24313AO">AO</a>) "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29but whoever(<a title="See cross-reference AP" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24314AP">AP</a>) blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"— 30for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."<br />It was certainly clear to at least two groups of people that Jesus’ words sounded strange and even unsettling. Firstly there was his own family: we will think about them more a little later.<br />But then, the religious leaders who came down from Jerusalem were so disturbed by what Jesus was teaching that they accused him of being demonically influenced.<br />There are many ironies in this scene.<br />The teachers of the law accuse Jesus of being like the terrible king Azariah. As we read earlier in the service in 2 kings 1, Azariah, the king of Israel had appealed to a foreign demonic god for authority;<br />They are saying – yes, sure you’ve got a following Jesus – but we’ve had people with great authority lead people astray before in this nation. And where did it end them up – like those soldiers who encountered Lord through the prophet Elijah and were struck down by lightning. Don’t you dare introduce such demonic power into Israel again, Jesus. You should be leading people to the temple worship that we from Jerusalem want to protect and promote.<br />Jesus’ reply exposes their stupidity and their wickedness.<br />Stupidity: what they are saying just doesn’t make sense. Everywhere demons are unable to stand in the face of Jesus.<br />23 How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.<br />Satan’s army is in full-scale retreat before him. To say that this is demonic power would be like suggesting that the d-Day landings were really a cleverly crafted plan of Hitler. No, it spelt his end.<br />But their argument isn’t just stupid: it is wicked.<br />27In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. 28I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."<br /> 30He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."<br />This is where the irony deepens. What is the ‘house’ that Jesus is talking about in verse 27? Is it just an individual person affected by a demon? ‘House’ would be a strange description of a person, especially when it was used in verse 25 to describe Satan’s kingdom. No, it seems to be talking about more than a person: it is talking about a whole kingdom: the kingdom of Israel.<br />And so the accusation that the scribes had made against Jesus is now flying back in their faces. They had so corrupted the worship of the Lord that Israel itself and Jerusalem from which they came, and the temple at the heart of Jerusalem had become a house of Satan. Isn’t that what Jesus said of their religion elsewhere: “15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.<br />But the hold that the devil had on the religion of Israel would not hold, for though the devil was the strong man, Jesus had shown by casting out demons that he was indeed the stronger, and Satan would not stand before him.<br />He had come to bring freedom; freedom from all the demonic powers in this world. Freedom from the burden of sin itself, that first demonic offering to this world that we have all so foolishly welcomed.<br />And what an incredible freedom it is:<br /> 28(<a title="See cross-reference AO" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24313AO">AO</a>) "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter.<br />Wow! Think of all those things that the Lord brought to mind as ... was leading us to confess our sins this morning. They will all be forgiven if you have trusted in Jesus.<br />How can we know? Perhaps you are not a believer, and you are sitting there saying, “if you knew what I’d done, you wouldn’t be saying that.”<br />Yes, I would – not because I think that your sins and blasphemies are insignificant. No, the bible is very clear that all of our sins and blasphemies leave us with a debt of guilt before God that we could never pay, not even in an eternity of punishment.<br />Yet Jesus can speak with confidence that even such sins would be forgiven, because he knew his mission. Right beside him stood the one he knew would betray him. Before him stood his accusers whom he knew would condemn him. And he would go to the cross; he knew that all the sins and blasphemies of his<br />People would be forgiven because he did not intend to leave that cross until he<br />had personally borne that full punishment that he, the infinite, eternal God who had become man, alone could bear.<br />Rejoice in this incredible gift of Jesus. Do not ever think of your sin, without thinking of the mercy of Christ that has born it for you.<br />If you are not a Christian, recognise that such forgiveness is being held out to you. There is nobody else who can bear it. You, like the whole nation of Israel, are in the possession of the devil, whether you realise it or not. You may not like me saying it – and I wouldn’t say it unless I felt impelled to by what Jesus is saying here.<br />Satan is a terrible enemy: like the times in was most spiteful as a child, he is always tempting us to sin, making it look as attractive as possible: do you know why he does that: not because he wants you to enjoy sin, but because he wants to have some ground on the final day of judgement to accuse you of it, and have you condemned to hell.<br /> Do you take pleasure in your pride, your cutting remarks, your lust, your clever lies, your self-sufficient feelings that you have no need for God. The fact you take any pleasure in anything the Lord commands you not to do shows that you are deeper in his slavery than you imagine.<br />And Jesus is the only one who can set you free. Cast yourself upon him, and beg him to set you free. He promises that he will if you would but turn and trust him.<br />In the definition of freedom at least, it seems that the devil has almost entirely fooled our world.<br />How did the Rolling Stones put it?<br />“I’m free to do what I want any old time.”<br />“I’m free any old time to get what I want”<br />I pretty much had this view of freedom as a teenager, and am so grateful for the Lord for putting whole hearted Christians around me as an 18 year old who showed me by their words and example that freedom comes only in submission to Christ. I’d grown up hearing it all the time in the Anglican services I attended. I think I had thought they were just poetic words that didn’t really make much sense.<br />O GOD, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life, to serve you is perfect freedom; to serve you is perfect freedom.<br />My Non-Christian friend – has it really been perfect freedom to serve yourself, or whatever other god you serve?<br />Jesus offers to release you and to bring you into the freedom you were designed for. The freedom to be forgiven for rejecting your maker, so that you might come to know him and love him and serve him.<br />Yet be warned, for there are some who will never come.<br />28(<a title="See cross-reference AO" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24313AO">AO</a>) "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29but whoever(<a title="See cross-reference AP" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%203;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24314AP">AP</a>) blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"— 30for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."<br />We don’t want to fall into either of two traps when reading these words of Jesus.<br />1) There is the danger of people feeling wrongly condemned by the verse. There are those who are genuinely trying to follow Jesus, but are petrified that at some point in their lives there was a moment when they deliberately called the work of the Spirit evil, and they fear that they will never be forgiven. That is not who this verse is talking about. If you have repented of any sin, it will be forgiven. It is not the unforgiveable sin: that is an eternal sin – a sin that is never repented of. There is NO sin that is repented of that is not forgiven. So if you fear that you have committed the unforgiveable sin, repent of it, trust in Christ for your salvation, and you can be quite sure that you haven’t committed it.<br />2) The other danger is to miss the very real warning that Jesus is so kindly giving here. There really is such a thing as the unforgiveable sin. It is the lifelong, eternal refusal to recognize the Spirit’s work in drawing people to Jesus. It is the heart who will never bow the knee to Jesus’ Lordship. My friend, do not assume that you are safe without Jesus. Do not write him off as evil, or mad; don’t write him off as irrelevant, or safe to ignore. He is your only hope of freedom.<br /> And what an incredible freedom he offers.<br />It is the freedom to belong to him within his family.<br />o A Reshaped Family. (31-34)<br /> 31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you." 33And he answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" 34And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."<br /><br />o The family of God isn’t defined by blood relationship, but by faith in Jesus.<br />What an extraordinary thing that we can be called the family of God. Could there have been any more intimate connection to Jesus than to have born him in the womb, nursed him, raised him, almost certainly mourned with him at the death of his father – her husband!? Yes! For at this time it seems that Mary doesn’t understand. Perhaps even out of a misguided protection of him she wants to take him home out of the limelight. Yet he does not go with her, for there are those who are willing to sit at his feet and learn from him. To know him as a son was a privilege only one human being has ever known.<br />To know him as a Loving Lord is a far greater privilege, which Mary herself will forever enjoy along with all who have put their faith in him. Any idea of revering Mary makes no sense here: the lesson that Mary had to learn, and we too must learn, is to trust and revere the Lord Jesus; in doing so we will be his family.<br />If you have Christian parents, like me, perhaps this is a particularly important lesson to learn. Your parents can leave you a great legacy of teaching, but you cannot inherit their faith. But if even being Jesus’ biological mother was not enough, then surely being the child of a believer is not. You need to have Jesus as your Lord too.<br />You, like Mary, have inherited something else through your parents too: a sinful nature: your parents may have done a good job of protecting you from various dangers in this world. They have not been able to protect you from the sin in your own heart, though you may feel that you have learned to hide it sufficiently from them. But you cannot hide it from Jesus. He calls you to turn from your sin and put your trust in him each day. That might require some difficult conversations with your parents confessing sin. But the Lord wants to release you so that you might have the freedom of being his child.<br />He calls you, like all of us to sit at his feet, doing his father’s will.<br />o Those inside the house are those sitting around Jesus, doing God’s will.<br />Is Jesus after all this a legalist? If he is saying that his brother and sister and mother is the one doing his Father’s will, does that mean that the way we come to belong to him is to work very hard?<br />NO, that would be to get the cart before the horse. The cart doesn’t get to be pulled by a horse by moving down the street. The cart moves down the street because it is being pulled by the horse.<br />Doing God’s will doesn’t qualify you to enter Jesus family. It is that if Jesus has entered you by his Spirit, he will not leave you unchanged – you will begin to do God’s will more and more.<br />The American preacher, Jonathan Edwards, put it like this:<br />If God dwells in the heart, and be vitally united to it, he will show that he is a God, by the efficacy of his operation. Christ is not in the heart of a saint, as in a sepulcher, or as a dead savior, that does nothing; but as in his temple, and as one that is alive from the dead. For in the heart where Christ savingly is, there he lives, and exerts himself after the power of that endless life that he received at his resurrection. Thus every saint that is a subject of the benefit of Christ's sufferings, is made to know and experience the power of his resurrection. The Spirit of Christ, which is the immediate spring of grace in the heart, is all life, all power, all act.<br />Do you really want to belong to Jesus?<br />That is what it comes down to in the end. Why do you come to Jesus: each week in church: each day in prayer: is it merely because you want something from him; we certainly need more than we imagined from him – we need forgiveness. But do we also come to him because we long to belong to him. Because we are his, and we want him to use us for his purposes, and therefore we want the strength and the courage, and the perspective and the endurance to do the will of the Father, in the power of the Spirit, for the sake of the Joy of the Son. For we are his brother and sister and mother and delight in belonging to him.<br />Let’s pray.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-36930654272212454792008-07-16T07:35:00.000-07:002008-07-30T02:57:16.921-07:00Mark 1:14-3:6Mark 1:14-3:6 sermon<br /><br />Who do you think that Jesus is?<br />Here are some people’s opinions about Jesus...<br />"Jesus whom I know as my Redeemer cannot be less than God."St Athanasius (296-373)<br />"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history." H.G. Wells, British author (1866-1946)<br />"He might be described as an underprivileged, working-class victim of political and religious persecution." Prince Phillip (born 1921)<br />Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind."<br />Mikhail Gorbachev (born 1931)<br />What was interesting and remarkable about Jesus was not the obvious fact that he believed in the God of his Jewish religion, but that he rebelled against many aspects of Yahweh's vengeful nastiness. Richard Dawkins.<br />No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."Albert Einstein, physicist and professor (1879-1955)<br />"Jesus died too soon. If he had lived to my age he would have repudiated his doctrine."Friedrich Nietzsche,<br />"The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrise."Clement of Alexandria (150-215)<br />There are many many opinions about Jesus. You could ask 100. How do you know what is true about him?<br />Is it OK just to have opinions about Jesus. Is it OK just to pick three or four of the quotes we’ve read, and go with the ideas we most like?<br />Is it possible to be certain about who Jesus was?<br />This question, “who do you think Jesus is?” is right at the heart of Mark’s purpose in writing his gospel. He wants us to come face to face with that question for ourselves. In fact, the centre and turning point of the book is when Jesus himself asks this question of his disciples. “Who do you say that I am?”<br />For there were many opinions about him even then.<br />And much of the first half of the book is in a very plain way laying out the facts about Jesus that Mark had gathered, principally we think from the eye witness Peter, so that we will be in a position to know how to answer that question.<br />And in this second section of Mark’s gospel that we are going to look at today, Mark outlines some of the remarkable things that Jesus was doing.<br />The weight of them was irrefutable. Jesus friends and enemies alike agreed that he was able to perform miracles to a degree that nobody had done before. The question was, what were they to believe about Jesus as a result? How were they to respond to him?<br />Marks’ intentions are clear: he wants us to see that Jesus’ powerful actions are a result of his divine authority. Where do you think they came from?<br />Turn with me to Mark’s gospel. We are looking at a longer section today from 1:14-3:6, because all of this seems to be making the same point about Jesus authority and how we should respond to it.<br />And those will be our two headings:<br />1) The realms of Jesus’ authority.<br />2) The response to Jesus’ authority.<br /><br /><br />1) The realms of Jesus’ authority.<br /><br />Mark 1:14-15<br />i) Declare God’s will. 14-15<br />14(<a title="See cross-reference A" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24226A">A</a>) Now after John was arrested, Jesus(<a title="See cross-reference B" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24226B">B</a>) came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and saying, (<a title="See cross-reference C" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24227C">C</a>) "The time is fulfilled, and(<a title="See cross-reference D" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24227D">D</a>) the kingdom of God is at hand;(<a title="See cross-reference E" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24227E">E</a>) repent and believe in the gospel."<br /><br />But God’s news centres around him... John had said, “one is coming after me”<br />Jesus says, “the time has come... the kingdom of God is at hand”<br />With the coming of the king, God’s purposes are being worked out.<br />How do you expect to find out anything about God?<br />Do you think that you can just work it out for yourself – NO, you need him to speak. Jesus speaks with God’s own authority. He is God’s own work?<br />You can’t know God any more than Harry Potter could know JK Rowling. The only way that Harry Potter could meet JK Rowling is if Rowling wrote herself into the book.<br />So it is with us. We cannot work out about God more than he reveals to us.<br />Jesus claims to be God writing himself into history.<br />Jesus is the living word. Listen to him. His word comes with authority as a royal edict. Would you toss a letter from the queen on the fire? And that was merely handsigned by a machine that can forge her signature! (grandmother’s 100th)<br />But Jesus does more than just come to reveal God to us, so that we would know God. He brings good NEWS. He comes to act in salvation.<br />Is this message of the good news central in our understanding of how we can know God, and live under his rule?<br />If you are cut, do you bleed the gospel, so deep is it in your veins. If I were to ask you what the good news of Jesus Christ is, would you be able to give an answer just like that.... let’s make sure we know the gospel so that we can meditate upon it for our own hearts, and so that we are always ready to share it with others.<br />G “Kingdom of God”,<br />M, sin (that’s why we need to repent)<br />C – good news... because of what Christ was coming to do.<br />R – repent and believe.<br />Is the gospel at the heart of your evangelism? Or personal testimony? Testimony and righteous living are wonderful, but whenever we are getting the opportunity to do this we are praying that the Lord would use it to give us opportunity to share the gospel verbally.<br />Training in the autumn: Please pray for the elders as we talk through how to train.<br />Free book – to be given to anyone who attends the prayer meeting on Wednesday.<br />Jesus has the authority to preach with God’s<br />ii) Call Followers<br />16(<a title="See cross-reference F" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24228F">F</a>) Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become(<a title="See cross-reference G" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24229G">G</a>) fishers of men." 18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.<br /><br />This really is incredible authority that Jesus has. It might seems a strange image to us, that Jesus would make them fishers of men. But to Jewish ears it was an incredible claim. Jesus is using an image from the Old Testament, from Jeremiah 16:14-16<br />4(<a title="See cross-reference T" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2016;&version=47;#cen-ESV-19351T">T</a>) "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said,(<a title="See cross-reference U" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2016;&version=47;#cen-ESV-19351U">U</a>) 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' 15but(<a title="See cross-reference V" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2016;&version=47;#cen-ESV-19352V">V</a>) 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel(<a title="See cross-reference W" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2016;&version=47;#cen-ESV-19352W">W</a>) out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For(<a title="See cross-reference X" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2016;&version=47;#cen-ESV-19352X">X</a>) I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.<br />16"Behold,(<a title="See cross-reference Y" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2016;&version=47;#cen-ESV-19353Y">Y</a>) I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out(<a title="See cross-reference Z" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2016;&version=47;#cen-ESV-19353Z">Z</a>) of the clefts of the rocks.<br />What Jesus is saying is a remarkable thing for a Jew to hear.<br />About 600 years earlier the people of God had been exiled to Babylon for they had forsaken the worship of the one true Lord and begun to worship idols.<br />Jeremiah had promised that there would be a return from exile. And true to the Lord’s word through jeremiah, some of the people had returned 70 years later. But the return had never been a true return of God’s kingdom. There was never another king. The new temple was half the size of the Old one, and the people hoped that one day there would be a full return to days as glorious as when king David himself had sat on the throne in Jerusalem.<br />The return from exile didn’t fully happen when a few warn out people returned to Jerusalem. The return from exile is not happening as people who have no regard for the great king make a journey from Russia to the Middle east. The return from exile began in earnest when the Lord sent his Son and began to call people to follow him.<br />Jesus is saying that that was the kingdom that he was going to build through these fishermen.<br />Jesus has the authority to call men to be agents in the building of his glorious kingdom.<br />And notice how they come!<br />His authority is not merely declarative, it is personal. He has the authority to call individuals to follow him. Simon and Andrew, James and John drop everything, leave behind friends and jobs and follow him, and join in the work of bringing people into his kingdom.<br />If you are not a believer, you are extremely welcome here. I pray you will come back and bring your friends. But I also have a question for you. What is it that is holding you back from following Jesus? You will bow before him one day. He invites you to follow him today, and to become a fisher of men – to invest your life in promoting his kingdom – the only thing you can inviest your life in and take with you.<br />If you know what it is that is holding you back, please come and talk to me about it. If you don’t know… then don’t hold back any longer.<br />Jesus has the authority to call people to follow him.<br />Perhaps you know people with the kind of charismatic personality that you think, yes he’s a leader and people are going to follow him if he wants them to, for good or for ill there have been people like that in this world, from Mahatma Gandhi to Adolf Hitler, from Mao Zedong to Barak Obama.<br />But Jesus authority is not some merely natural charisma he has, it is an undeniable supernatural authority.<br />- Authority to Dispel evil (21-28)<br />21(<a title="See cross-reference H" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24233H">H</a>) And they went into Capernaum, and immediately(<a title="See cross-reference I" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24233I">I</a>) on the Sabbath(<a title="See cross-reference J" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24233J">J</a>) he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22And(<a title="See cross-reference K" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24234K">K</a>) they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24(<a title="See cross-reference L" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24236L">L</a>) "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?(<a title="See cross-reference M" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24236M">M</a>) I know who you are—(<a title="See cross-reference N" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24236N">N</a>) the Holy One of God." 25But Jesus(<a title="See cross-reference O" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24237O">O</a>) rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26And the unclean spirit,(<a title="See cross-reference P" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24238P">P</a>) convulsing him and(<a title="See cross-reference Q" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24238Q">Q</a>) crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.<br /><br />One of the most surprising testimonies that you find in the gospels as to Jesus’ indentity is that of demons. They immediately recognise who Jesus is. (24) he is the Holy one of God. They know that one day they will face destruction at Jesus’ hands.<br />Perhaps you think that the very fact that demons are mentioned shows that we can’t really take Mark’s gospel seriously. I mean, isn’t believing in demons rather like believing in hobgoblins? Aren’t they merely mythical explanations of evil?<br />Not according to the bible; not according to the eye witnesses who had seen this person who was gripped by their power suddenly released by the command of Jesus.<br />When you look at the world, is it not clear that there are personal forces of evil out there?<br />But the striking thing is not that they exist: it is that they are compelled to obey Jesus. Christianity doesn’t teach dualism – the idea that there are equal and opposite forces of good and evil out there battling it out, sometimes one having the upper hand, sometimes another.<br />No, there is one Sovereign God. We read in the book of Job that even Satan himself is only allowed to exercise his evil intentions as far as the Lord himself, for his own good reasons permits.<br />Satan might feel that he is making progress at some points – did he not think he had achieved a great victory in entering Judas so that Jesus would be betrayed and condemned and killed? Yet wherever Satan thinks he has a victory, in God has bigger plans at work. And so Satan’s most evil action in history, the crucifixion of the Son of God, is in fact the Lord’s greatest plan in history – the world’s only hope for salvation.<br />Yet here that good and sovereign power over evil is exercised by Jesus.<br />Do you ever feel that evil has got such a grip on your life or the lives of those you love that you feel that the situation is entirely hopeless. My friends, the Lord Jesus sits on his throne; pray to him, that he would bring glory even through redeeming that situation, or that person who is so clearly beyond any human help.<br />There are really two different wrong views of evil, and the devil would be happy for us to adopt either of them. We can underestimate the reality of the spiritual forces of evil, and therefore think it unnecessary to put on the full armour of God. The devil is quite happy for us to think he doesn’t exist, because then he can attack us all we like. But he is also happy with us knowing that he is there, and living in absolute fear of him. What he hates is us realising that he is an enemy: but he is a defeated enemy – he and his minions were retreating from the day that Jesus began his ministry. When Jesus died and rose again he was utterly defeated. He is utterly unable to condemn or destroy any who have put their faith in Christ.<br />Jesus has authority over evil.<br />Authority over sickness<br />Not only is Jesus victorious over the personal forces behind evil. He has authority over all the results of sin in the world, including sickness.<br />29(<a title="See cross-reference T" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24241T">T</a>) And immediately he[<a title="See footnote a" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#fen-ESV-24241a">a</a>](<a title="See cross-reference U" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24241U">U</a>) left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now(<a title="See cross-reference V" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24242V">V</a>) Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31And he came and(<a title="See cross-reference W" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24243W">W</a>) took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.<br />32That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or(<a title="See cross-reference X" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24244X">X</a>) oppressed by demons. 33And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34(<a title="See cross-reference Y" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24246Y">Y</a>) And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And(<a title="See cross-reference Z" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24246Z">Z</a>) he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.<br />Why do you think that Jesus received such an incredible following. Why were the Pharisees so afraid of him that by the end of the gospel they are breaking all their laws to have a nighttime trial and have him executed?<br />The explanation of all the gospel is that he had a vast following, because nobody else had ever performed so many indisputable miracles. Jesus was no charlatan using cheap tricks to persuade that sporadic back pain had been cured.<br />We sometimes imagine that people 2000 years ago had an extra gullibility gene that has somehow been weeded out by the progress of modern science. But that is not the case at all. Jesus constantly chastises people not that they are too quick to believe without thinking, but that they are so slow to believe.<br />From the individuals like Peter’s mother in law and the leper, to whole towns of people, Jesus was able to heal them ALL.<br />In the age before any Internet, TV or even Newspapers something fairly radical must have been going on for Jesus to be so famous that he would be mobbed like the Beatles if he just set foot inside a town.<br />We shall see next week, Lord willing, that his enemies didn’t even attempt to deny that he had performed many miraculous signs. Have a look down at 3v22. Denying Jesus ability to do miracles would have been like denying Fulham fc’s survival in the premiership. Everyone around the place was talking about it. Thousands of people had seen the games where they managed to claw their way out of the relegation zone.<br />Everyone at the time knew that Jesus was unique.<br />But it wasn’t a raw display of power. Jesus had 2 reasons for healing people.<br />1)compassion<br />40(<a title="See cross-reference AG" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24252AG">AG</a>) And a leper[<a title="See footnote b" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#fen-ESV-24252b">b</a>] came to him, imploring him, and(<a title="See cross-reference AH" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24252AH">AH</a>) kneeling said to him,(<a title="See cross-reference AI" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24252AI">AI</a>) "If you will, you can make me clean." 41Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." 42And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.<br /><br />Do we have Jesus compassion for those who are excluded? How does that compassion show itself in your life?<br />But their were realms of authority that Jesus saw as being far more significant even than his ability to heal.<br />1And when he returned to(<a title="See cross-reference AR" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24258AR">AR</a>) Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3(<a title="See cross-reference AS" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24260AS">AS</a>) And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4And when they could not get near him because of the crowd,(<a title="See cross-reference AT" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24261AT">AT</a>) they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.<br /><br />Imagine the scene: Jesus, the famous healing miracle worker is coming back to town. You hear a rumour that of where he’s going to be, and so you get up and run there. Already the crowds are gathering and you manage to squeeze through the crowds at the door, and work your way inside. Jesus is talking for a while, and you feel an increasing pressure of the weight of the crowd leaning against your back. And then suddenly dust starts falling down from the ceiling. And then big lumps of earth. And then you can see the sunlight poking through. Soon there is a big hole, and slowly a man is lowered down on four ropes. He’s clearly paralysed.<br />You can hear the crowd muttering... “We’re going to see one! Surely we’re going to see a miracle with our own eyes. You can feel the excitement in the air. You see Jesus looking up at the man’s friends through the hole in the roof, and then look down at the man at his feet. He’s clearly going to speak , so the room goes completely silent.<br />And then he says it:<br />Look down at verse 5<br />5And when Jesus(<a title="See cross-reference AU" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24262AU">AU</a>) saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son,(<a title="See cross-reference AV" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24262AV">AV</a>) your sins are forgiven."<br /><br />Hang on a minute Jesus, what are you talking about – this guy has some pretty obvious needs that are rather more obvious for you to deal with first before you start getting into heavy theology.<br />Give the bloke a break.<br />But know: Jesus sees this man – and sees that he has a far greater need than functional legs.<br />And then he proves that he has the authority to forgive sins – and authority that the Pharisees were right to say that God alone has, by healing him.<br />6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7"Why does this man speak like that?(<a title="See cross-reference AW" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24264AW">AW</a>) He is blaspheming!(<a title="See cross-reference AX" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24264AX">AX</a>) Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8And immediately Jesus,(<a title="See cross-reference AY" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24265AY">AY</a>) perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk'? 10But that you may know that(<a title="See cross-reference AZ" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24267AZ">AZ</a>) the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he said to the paralytic— 11"I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home." 12And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and(<a title="See cross-reference BA" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24269BA">BA</a>) glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"<br /><br />Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘rise, take up your bed and walk’?<br />Well, clearly it is easier to SAY, ‘your sins are forgiven.’ Nobody can really see if that has happened or not; there are sadly many people today who think that they have the authority to declare people’s sins forgiven after confession. They don’t look stupid because it can’t be seen that really they have no power to forgive sins. It’s rather difficult to say “rise, take up your bed and walk,” because unless you actually have the authority to heal him, you are going to look pretty silly.<br />But if you ask which is easier to DO, there would be a different answer.<br />Jesus can heal with a word, but in order to forgive this man’s sins, he would have to go to the cross and bear the paralytic’s punishment. He could only declare that man’s sins forgiven, for being fully God he had the authority; and being the perfect man, he was able to bear them.<br />Notice another authority that Jesus has even in that same section. He can see their hearts.<br />We can fool others, we can fool ourselves, but we certainly can’t fool Jesus about what is going on in our hearts.<br />8And immediately Jesus,(<a title="See cross-reference AY" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24265AY">AY</a>) perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves<br />Is your heart open to Jesus? Make confession a regular part of your daily prayers. He knows your sins already; he wants you to know full forgiveness. Confess your sins; he is faithful and just and will purify us from our sins and<br />The final realm of authority that Jesus shows in this section is the authority to bring in God’s kingdom.<br />18Now(<a title="See cross-reference BJ" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24275BJ">BJ</a>) John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him,(<a title="See cross-reference BK" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24275BK">BK</a>) "Why do John’s disciples and(<a title="See cross-reference BL" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24275BL">BL</a>) the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 19And Jesus said to them, (<a title="See cross-reference BM" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24276BM">BM</a>) "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20(<a title="See cross-reference BN" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24277BN">BN</a>) The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and(<a title="See cross-reference BO" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24277BO">BO</a>) then they will fast in that day. 21No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22And no one puts new wine into old(<a title="See cross-reference BP" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24279BP">BP</a>) wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins."[<a title="See footnote f" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#fen-ESV-24279f">f</a>]<br />Why was it that so few of the religious leaders who knew the Old Testament so well, recognised that Jesus was the Messiah to whom the law pointed.<br />To a large degree it seemed that they had so fallen in love with the Old Testament, that they didn’t WANT it to point beyond itself to the coming of the king. They wanted to stick with the status quo.<br />Now, Jesus comment about the new patch and the new wineskin is NOT suggesting that we need to be people who are always open to every kind of change, and the worst thing we can do is hold onto god’s plan for last year.<br />No, those of us who were here yesterday will have heard us be charged from God’s word in 2 timothy to stand firm in the gospel.<br />No, the new thing that Jesus was talking about was not the latest church fad, it was the coming of the kingdom of God with the arrival of the king. Those who were unwilling to have their understanding of the OT shaped by the one who fulfilled it were like the old garment who would reject the new patch; like the old wineskin who would would not bear the new wine. Instead it was those who saw their desperate need of forgiveness that only Jesus could offer who were ready to receive their Messiah.<br />Who do you think is the most lost person you know: don’t think that they are beyond the reach of the gospel. Pray for them; share the gospel; for the king had come in verse 17 not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.<br />When the king came, all the shadows of the law in the old testament were discovered to be just that: shadows. One example of this is found in Jesus’ treatment of the Sabbath.<br />Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath<br />23(<a title="See cross-reference BQ" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24280BQ">BQ</a>) One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples(<a title="See cross-reference BR" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24280BR">BR</a>) began to pluck heads of grain. 24And the Pharisees were saying to him, "Look,(<a title="See cross-reference BS" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24281BS">BS</a>) why are they doing(<a title="See cross-reference BT" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24281BT">BT</a>) what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" 25And he said to them, (<a title="See cross-reference BU" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24282BU">BU</a>) "Have you never read(<a title="See cross-reference BV" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24282BV">BV</a>) what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26how he entered the house of God, in the time of(<a title="See cross-reference BW" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24283BW">BW</a>) Abiathar the high priest, and ate(<a title="See cross-reference BX" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24283BX">BX</a>) the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?" 27And he said to them, (<a title="See cross-reference BY" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24284BY">BY</a>) "The Sabbath was made for man,(<a title="See cross-reference BZ" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24284BZ">BZ</a>) not man for the Sabbath. 28So(<a title="See cross-reference CA" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24285CA">CA</a>) the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."<br />Mark 3<br />A Man with a Withered Hand<br />1(<a title="See cross-reference CB" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24286CB">CB</a>) Again(<a title="See cross-reference CC" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24286CC">CC</a>) he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2And(<a title="See cross-reference CD" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24287CD">CD</a>) they watched Jesus,[<a title="See footnote g" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#fen-ESV-24287g">g</a>] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3And he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come here." 4And he said to them, (<a title="See cross-reference CE" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24289CE">CE</a>) "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. 5And he(<a title="See cross-reference CF" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24290CF">CF</a>) looked around at them with anger, grieved at(<a title="See cross-reference CG" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24290CG">CG</a>) their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."(<a title="See cross-reference CH" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24290CH">CH</a>) He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6(<a title="See cross-reference CI" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24291CI">CI</a>) The Pharisees went out and immediately(<a title="See cross-reference CJ" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24291CJ">CJ</a>) held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.<br />Responses...<br />The response to Jesus authority<br />Repentance and faith<br />Barriers to repentance and faith:<br />- Wrong responses<br />o Open hostility: that knows exactly who Jesus is and hates him. Do you have the knowledge of the demons… You know who he is, and somehow you think that knowledge can enable you to be on your guard against him? Recognise that the world is openly hostile to Christ: they will be to us as well. Even this week it was suggested to be through a patronizing remark that any principled objection to my children being taught to particupate in one religion rather than another was a childish splitting of hairs.<br />o Sensationalism<br />Yes, he has authority to heal;<br />It is possible to be very excited about Jesus and completely miss what he is about. He is not about giving you what you know you already want. You want the wrong things. We hate him. He is all about giving us himself!! There is a movement within some churches that suggests that what we need to do is find out what people in our neighbourhood really want, and then give it to them, so long as it isn’t immoral. And then that will at least get people in the building so that we have a chance to share the gospel.<br />That doesn’t seem to be Jesus tactic.<br />35(<a title="See cross-reference AA" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24247AA">AA</a>) And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and(<a title="See cross-reference AB" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24247AB">AB</a>) there he prayed. 36And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37and they found him and said to him,(<a title="See cross-reference AC" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24249AC">AC</a>) "Everyone is looking for you." 38And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for(<a title="See cross-reference AD" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24250AD">AD</a>) that is why I came out." 39(<a title="See cross-reference AE" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24251AE">AE</a>) And(<a title="See cross-reference AF" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24251AF">AF</a>) he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.<br /><br />I’m not sure that what Jesus is doing here would make sense to many of us today. Everyone is looking for Jesus. Everyone want to find him. Everyone is coming to see Jesus because he is providing a wonderful service in healing their sick. But Jesus sees that as a signal that it’s time to go.<br />Why<br />Because there 2 things in this passage that he said he came to do. He didn’t come to heal. He didn’t come to impress people.<br />Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for(<a title="See cross-reference AD" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24250AD">AD</a>) that is why I came out.<br />I came not to call the righteous,(<a title="See cross-reference BI" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24274BI">BI</a>) but sinners."<br />He came to preach, to call sinners. He came with a message not of prosperity, or niceness. He came with a message of salvation through his death.<br />Do you realise that your need for forgiveness is far greater and far more costly than any physical need you have? Even if you are cured of all sickness, your body will wear out and die one day anyway.<br />Even if you live in the nicest house in Kensington, I can assure you, it won’t be standing a million years from now.<br />But a million years from now, if you have received the forgiveness of sins through responding the the gospel call of Jesus, that forgiveness will still be at work, enabling you to stand before God’s throne and praise him, rather than wailing for ever at your exclusion from the joy of his presence.<br />Talk to Natasha about the way in which he is able to heal, but notice that her eyes well up with tears of joy far more when she talks about how she came to receive forgiveness. “Oh yes, I forgot to mention that he healed me”<br />We must not focus on those things that the world will find MOST attractive about Jesus, and talk only of them. Jesus withdraws from crowds who want to know more about him.<br />· Cynicism 16-17<br />Sees what Jesus is doing in people’s lives and figures he is wasting his time.<br />If you are a Christian, why do you think that Jesus saved YOU? He wasn’t looking for the most impressive bunch on people. He was looking for trophies of His Grace, that he might be glorified. He takes a peasant dish like ratatouille and uses it to show that he is the greatest chef in al Paris. So the Lord takes a bunch of dirty rotten sinners like us to show that he indeed the great Saviour .<br />Non-Christian, beware of the cynicism that would look at the redeemed people of God, and say that you are rather above joining them. My friend, we are all rather below joining Jesus, but he is a merciful saviour who has saved us from hell to enjoy him forever, and offers to save you in the same way. Do no scoff at him.<br />· Arrogance 23-24<br />Do you cloak arrogance in a mask of piety? Are there truths about God that you find hard, and know the proof texts of the bible to resist them, and so don’t really engage with them?<br />How would we ever find out if we’ve got some things wrong as a church? Are we open to the authority of God’s word?<br />· Hardness 27<br />The irony that the one who has authority to heal physical life and to give spiritual life is met by those who should have been waiting for him: the herodians were the custodians of the throne, the Pharisees were the self-appointed custodians of the law. Both of these belonged to Jesus, yet they set out to murder him.<br />What do you love that you feel needs protecting against the authority of Jesus. It all belongs to him.<br /><br />- Expressions of repentance and faith.<br /><br />· Follow<br />What are you unwilling to leave behind? Are there things that if you were really honest with him you’d say, “Yes Jesus, I’ll follow you, but don’t touch that.” When we follow jesus, we are telling him to take our lives and let them be his to do with what he will, trusting him that his plans are better than ours ever were.<br /><br />· Be amazed! 1:27 2:12<br />What do you do with weight of evidence that Jesus has divine authority? It might be possible to be sceptical about one or two accounts. All these things that we read even in this chapter and a bit. And Mark is only reporting a tiny amount of what Jesus actually did. Another of the eyewitnesses, John said that if all the things that Jesus did were written, the world itself would not be able to contain the books that were written. There is no other explanation than that Jesus was the son of God. Are you amazed?<br />· Serve.<br />31And he came and(<a title="See cross-reference W" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:14-3:6&version=47#cen-ESV-24243W">W</a>) took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.When Jesus acted in healing Peter’s mother in law, immediately she serves Jesus and his people.<br />- it’s been wonderful to see the service of many people in the church here. And you can see by the joy on their faces that it is not out of some stoic duty, but out of the joy and privilege of serving the one who has healed them from the burden of their sin.<br />o Rejoice<br />The bridegroom has come. He is with us for ever, till the very end of the age.<br />He has brought forgiveness of our sins through his blood and fellowship with God.<br />What could rob us of our joy?<br />What are you tempted to value more than the Lord Jesus himself?<br />Comfort?<br />Health?<br />Finacial security?<br />Or will you value Jesus more and therefore have a joy that cannot be taken away, but canonly grow through adversity.<br /><br />The world abideth not,Lo, like a flash tis goneWith all its gorgeous pomppale death it cannot banish.Its riches pass awayand all its joys must flee.But Jesus doth abide,What it the world to me?<br />What is the world to me?My Jesus is my Treasure,My life, My health, my wealth,My friend, my love, my pleasure,my joy, my crown, my all,my bliss eternally.Once more then, I declare,What is the world to me?Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-68298214278155815442008-07-12T01:54:00.000-07:002008-07-30T02:57:16.921-07:00Mark 1:1-13 The Divine KingThis sermon began a new series (my first series) at <a href="http://www.twynholm.org/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Twynholm</span> Baptist Church</a> entitled "Who do you say that I am?"<br /><br />The audio is NOW available <a href="http://wordpress.twynholm.org/media/2008.06.29%20Mike%20Gilbart-Smith.mp3">here</a><br />-----------------------<br />Are all religions the same? I mean, obviously the religions have differences; but are they the same at their hearts?<br />I was at a university mission once, and was talking with a young woman who shared this view... “so, do you think that we are all on different paths leading to the top of the same mountain?” I asked. “No, no, no” she replied, “We are all on the same path, but we are all wearing different coloured clothes.”<br />Is that right? Are we all heading in the same direction, though we look rather different?<br />We live in a world that assumes that though religions appear different, the differences are superficial and the similarities are fundamental. I mean we might disagree upon the small things like different articles of dogma, but don’t we agree on the fundamentals like the centrality of love, or justice, or worship of God?<br />- It’s all about a bit of ritual... conversation with a photographer in the local press... he wanted the stained glass window in the background, “that’ll work well” he said, “it’s quite religious”.<br /><br />- Like many other religions we might have a special day upon which we meet each week to encourage one another to keep true to the faith. We have what might be perceived as religious rituals. In the mosque Muslims bow down in unison in prayer. In the temple Buddhists burn incense, in the chapel Christians take the Lord’s supper, or have bring and share lunches after the service!<br /><br />- But though Christ instituted baptism and the lord’s supper, Christianity is not fundamentally about religious ritual.<br /><br />- We can agree with many other religions that murder, adultery, usury and theft are wrong. But Christianity is not fundamentally about a particular set of morals.<br /><br />- Fundamentally Christianity is not even about a religious experience, though it clearly produces one – no less than the immersion in the Holy Spirit of God that we are going to read about in our passage today.<br /><br />Fundamentally, Christianity is news about a person.<br />Turn with me to Mark’s gospel, Chapter 1.<br />Read 1:1.<br />That is how our passage begins: it is about the gospel, or good news about one person, Jesus Christ.<br />And that news is so outrageous in its claims that it must be heard.<br />You might think that news is rather a mundane thing - but actually think about your life: almost all of the most <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">life-changing</span> experiences we have are the result of news: good or bad.<br />“She said yes!!”<br />“It’s a girl”<br />“You failed”<br />“You got the job”<br />“I’m sorry, he’s not going to make it.”<br />What has been the news that has changed your life more than any other?<br />However life-changing the news you have received in the past, the writer of Mark’s gospel wants us to know that there is no news that is as life-changing as the news that he is going to tell us.<br />Mark show us that this good news makes all the difference between heaven – an eternal life enjoying God’s loving rule, and hell, an eternal punishment excluded from God’s loving presence.<br />Jesus’ claim, that Mark reports in his gospel is that the fundamental decision we face in life is how we take this news. How we respond to this news makes the difference between heaven and hell. So whether we agree on the importance of love or justice or worship becomes less important.<br />We could agree with someone on almost everything except the gospel, and our agreements would be superficial, and our disagreement fundamental. If we agree on the gospel, then our agreement is fundamental, and our disagreement superficial.<br />That’s why he begins his gospel telling us about this gospel, this good news.<br />Turn with me please to Mark, chapter one. You’ll find it on page 1008 in the church Bibles.<br />Read Mark 1:1-13<br />1The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.<br />2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ("Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"<br />4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8(<a title="See cross-reference P" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24220P">P</a>) I have baptized you with water, but(<a title="See cross-reference Q" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24220Q">Q</a>) he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."<br />9(<a title="See cross-reference R" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24221R">R</a>) In those days Jesus(<a title="See cross-reference S" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24221S">S</a>) came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And when he came up out of the water, immediately he(<a title="See cross-reference T" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24222T">T</a>) saw(<a title="See cross-reference U" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24222U">U</a>) the heavens being torn open(<a title="See cross-reference V" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24222V">V</a>) and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And(<a title="See cross-reference W" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24223W">W</a>) a voice came from heaven,(<a title="See cross-reference X" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24223X">X</a>) "You are my beloved Son;[<a title="See footnote d" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#fen-ESV-24223d">d</a>] with you I am well pleased."<br />12(<a title="See cross-reference Y" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24224Y">Y</a>) The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13(<a title="See cross-reference Z" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225Z">Z</a>) And he was in the wilderness forty days, being(<a title="See cross-reference AA" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225AA">AA</a>) tempted by(<a title="See cross-reference AB" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225AB">AB</a>) Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and(<a title="See cross-reference AC" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%201-13;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225AC">AC</a>) the angels were ministering to him.<br />Mark was a good person to write down this news about Jesus. He himself had almost certainly been an eye-witness to at least some of what happened in the gospel account. The rather strange figure who flees from Gethsemane in chapter 14 is almost certainly Mark himself. But more importantly even than mark’s own experience, we know from very early sources that Mark was a close colleague with the apostle Peter. Simon Peter had been there throughout Jesus’ ministry. Glance down at verse 16 that we’ll be looking at next week. So, in a very real way this is as much Peter’s gospel as Mark’s. He would have been the major source for Mark, he undoubtedly would have read over the manuscript to ensure that everything that Mark wrote was accurate.<br />In telling us the good news about Jesus, Mark writes a book of 2 halves. The first half focuses on Who Jesus is, culminating with peter’s confession of Christ in Chapter 8,<br />"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." (that is, the messiah)<br />And then the second half of the book explores that more: what kind of messiah. What is the news about him? What has the messiah come to do. And from that point onwards we see that the Messiah has come to suffer, die and be raised.<br />Share gospel.<br />Mark’s style is one of rapid-fire. You’ll notice how he tells things so briefly. Jesus’ temptation is told in a single verse. His baptism in 3. We’ll find this throughout the gospel. Mark <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">doesn</span>’t comment much, we are just given a rapid in-your-face encounter with Jesus. If john’s gospel is like the fly-on-the-wall documentary recording long conversations that Jesus has, and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Matthew</span> is like the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">indepth</span> analysis of the N<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">ewsnight</span> presentation, then Mark’s gospel is more like the rapid in-your-face report of Chanel 5 news. It gets to the point and hits the highlights.<br />And The point that Mark is trying to get to is that we, Just like Mark’s own friend Peter, must answer for ourselves the question, “who do you say that I am?” Mark’s intention in writing his gospel, and my prayer in preaching through it is that those who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour will come to know him.<br />If you can’t give an honest answer to the question, “Who do you say that Jesus is” don’t be satisfied until you are quite sure.<br />and those of us who do will grow in our understanding of who Jesus is, and therefore grow in our love for him, our trust in him and our obedience to him.<br />This is the news that is at the very heart of Christianity. Whatever Christianity shares with other religions, it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">doesn</span>’t share this good news, and therefore the differences are central, for this news is central.<br />So, from this earliest section of Mark’s gospel, what kind of response should we have to Jesus?<br />Bow before Jesus, the eternal God. (1-3)<br /><br />1The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.[<a title="See footnote a" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=31;#fen-NIV-24214a">a</a>]<br />2It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"[<a title="See footnote b" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=31;#fen-NIV-24215b">b</a>]— 3"a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "<br />Mark gives us a glimpse into heaven to hear the Father speak to his Son before he sends him to earth.<br />We, the reader, are therefore let into seeing just how incredible Jesus is before he even appears in person in pages of the book.<br />The sending of Jesus has always been at the heart of God’s plan for the world. And so in this quote there are allusions to Exodus 23, Malachi 3 and Isaiah 40. Mark talks about it being what Isaiah said, because he uses the other quotes to explain the significance of the Isaiah quote.<br />In the Isaiah passage that Paula read earlier in the service, we read of how the Lord himself was going to come to his people....<br />A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD [<a title="See footnote a" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2040;&version=31;#fen-NIV-18424a">a</a>] ; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. [<a title="See footnote b" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2040;&version=31;#fen-NIV-18424b">b</a>]<br />4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.<br />5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."<br />You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, [<a title="See footnote c" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2040;&version=31;#fen-NIV-18430c">c</a>] lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!"<br />10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.<br />The same is true of the Malachi passage...<br />1 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.”<br />So, Mark is making the point that when John the Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus, he was preparing the Way for GOD himself coming to Earth. If you ever get into conversation with people who think that they believe the bible but don’t believe that Jesus is the one true God, bring them to passages like this, and countless others, where New Testament writers take passages of the Old Testament that were talking about the Lord, Jehovah, and they say that they are about <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Jesus</span>. This can only mean that Jesus is the Lord come in human form.<br />This is why this news is so central. Never before or since has God come down to earth as a man. This is not just another man who founded a religion. It is not just another prophet through whom God spoke. Jesus is the eternal God himself who is coming!<br />Apparently the queen constantly has to live with the smell of wet paint as the house is put in order for her arrival.<br />That is was the ministry of John the Baptist... Read 2-3.<br />“prepare the way of the lord, make his paths straight.” When my brother lived in Kenya the roads were generally pretty dreadful. But occasionally you’d come across the most beautiful tarmacked road. Why? Because the president had visited.<br />When the creator of the universe enters his world it is time for us to bow in worship, and prepare our lives for him.<br />If you are a Non-Christian here this morning, it is probably likely that you have read the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Da</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Vinci</span> Code more recently than you have read the bible. At the end of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Da</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Vanci</span> code the hero, Robert <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Langdon</span> bows down because he thinks that he has found the tomb of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Mary</span> Magdalene. Mary would be horrified! She, along with all disciples would herself be bowing down to the Lord Jesus.<br />Unless you recognise Jesus as the Lord who is to be worshipped, the New Testament is clear: you are missing the whole point of your existence.<br />Will you bow before Jesus. That <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">doesn</span>’t just mean singing praise songs like the one we had earlier, “Jesus shall take the highest honour.” It means giving him the highest honour. Father and husbands, who do you most want to see honoured in your home, yourself, or the Lord Jesus. DO your wives and your children know that by your words, your encouragement, your prioritising of prayer, even the words you choose when correcting your children?<br />Wives and mothers, do you long to see the Lord honoured more than yourself; how do you respond to a harsh word? Do you see it as an opportunity to honour the Lord Jesus who did not retaliate, but entrusted himself to his father, or do you see it as a time to assert your right to be listened to and understood?<br />I wonder if there are any young people here who sometimes yet bored with the fact that your parents keep talking about Jesus, or keep insisting that you come to church. Praise the Lord that you are in a home where Jesus is recognised as Lord. Thank your parents for any way in which you have seen the Lord Jesus honoured in the home in which you’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">ve</span> grown up.<br />What does this mean for us as a church? Will <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Twynholm</span> Baptist Church be ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ, or by personalities. You have a new preacher starting this morning. Are you hoping that this means you have a new ruler? I hope that you will submit to me and the other elders only insofar as I am submitting to Lord in His word. If the Lord <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Jesus</span> will rule this church through this pulpit, members of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Twynholm</span> Baptist Church, YOU have a responsibility to ensure that the gospel is being preached from this pulpit.<br />In the church my parents so kindly dragged me along to as a child, there was an old wooden pulpit. And into it were carved words from 1 Corinthians 9:16, “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.”<br />If you don’t hear the gospel being preached from this pulpit, I am in peril from God as the preacher. You are in peril from God for letting me pretend to be a Christian minister. Please let me face your wrath and fire me if I don’t preach the gospel to save me from facing the greater wrath of the divine king, the Lord Jesus Christ.<br />We must all Bo before Jesus, the eternal God.<br />Turn towards Jesus, the forgiving Lord! (4-8)<br /><br />So what is involved in making straight paths for the king to walk down?<br />Have a look down at verse 4.<br />John appeared, baptizing in(<a title="See cross-reference G" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24216G">G</a>) the wilderness and proclaiming(<a title="See cross-reference H" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24216H">H</a>) a baptism of(<a title="See cross-reference I" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24216I">I</a>) repentance(<a title="See cross-reference J" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24216J">J</a>) for the forgiveness of sins. 5And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan,(<a title="See cross-reference K" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24217K">K</a>) confessing their sins. 6Now John was(<a title="See cross-reference L" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24218L">L</a>) clothed with camel’s hair and(<a title="See cross-reference M" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24218M">M</a>) wore a leather belt around his waist and ate(<a title="See cross-reference N" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24218N">N</a>) locusts and wild honey. 7And he preached, saying,(<a title="See cross-reference O" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24219O">O</a>) "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8(<a title="See cross-reference P" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24220P">P</a>) I have baptized you with water, but(<a title="See cross-reference Q" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24220Q">Q</a>) he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."<br />The right way to prepare for an encounter with the living God is repentance. That is what this baptism was about.<br />In some ways baptism wasn’t a new thing with John. Any time a Gentile converted to Judaism, they would be baptised, perhaps reminding them of the healing of naaman in the Old testament. But what was radically surprising with John was that he was telling Jews that they too needed to be baptised. They were spiritually dirty and needed spiritual washing.<br />The baptism in water was to symbolise externally something that was going on internally: repentance.<br />What is repentance? It is not merely some kind of group therapy where we confess our sins, though it must begin with confession. The difference between confession and repentance can be seen by when you get on the tube. Imagine that you hop on the tube at Baron’s Court because you are trying to catch a plane out of Heathrow.<br />You get on and then you arrive at Earl’s Court. And suddenly you realise that you are going in the wrong direction. The train moves off again. Confession is to say, “Oh no! I’m going the wrong way. I’ll never make the plane at this rate.” But you could confess and stay on the train going in the wrong direction.<br />Repentance is to say, “I’m going the wrong way. I’ve got to turn around.” And so as soon as the train stops at the next station you get out, cross the platform and get on a train going the right way.<br />That is what repentance is. We are all naturally going in the wrong direction. We are following our own path without Jesus as our Lord. Repentance is a change of allegiance, a determination to live for him and to do his will and not our own.<br />There is an idea out there that what we need to do is discover who we are and learn to accept it. If only we can come to accept ourselves then we will find satisfaction in life.This is popular but it is not Christian. We find who we are in repentance, forgiveness and restoration to our heavenly Father.<br />Repentance is not seen as a positive message. A friend at university told me that he thought that Christianity is the worst of all religions for only Christianity has us grovelling on our knees begging God for forgiveness. The better religions, he thought, taught men to be proud and stand up straight.<br />No, it is the best, for there is a fundamental problem when we are not living for our creator.<br />Where else can you turn for forgiveness? Do you realise that you and I and all of us desperately need forgiveness.<br />There are many other philosophies that can make some changes. Behavioural therapy has some large degree of success. But it can change only the behaviour, and possibly it can change people’s minds, but it cannot change the heart. Even John’s baptism therefore is not enough. We need to be baptised in the Spirit of God who brings deep conviction of sin, and a true repentance.<br />Whereas John’s Baptism symbolises repentance and the forgiveness that follows, the baptism of the holy Spirit causes repentance and therefore brings forgiveness.<br />Only Jesus baptises in the Spirit.<br />The most significant question is not “Have you been baptized by water”. But “have you been baptized by the Holy Spirit”<br />Have you been baptised by the Holy Spirit. If you have, it will show itself in repentance. Not that you will live a perfect life, but that more and more you will take Jesus’ side against your sin rather than your sin’s side against Jesus. Are you at war with sin in your life out of love for your Lord, or are you merely trying to manage s ii your life out of love for your own reputation.<br />What do we do when our sin is exposed? we try to cover it up, are you defensive, trying to preserve that sin in your life, or do you thank the Lord Jesus for revealing it to you so that you can repent of it, and be rid of the barrier that it has caused between you and a deeper fellowship with Christ.<br />Sin thrives in secrecy. Imagine you discover a back cockcroach infestation in your house. You can either keep trying to get rid of the signs of cockcroaches, clearing them up only where they might cause an embarrassing moment when you have guests round, and brushing them back under the cupboards. Or you can take the faces of the cupboards out so that you can find where they are nesting and destroy them.<br />Do you try to deal with only the symtoms of those sins you struggle with, or are you committed to rooting them out. We must be a church where we are open with one another about our struggles: we are all sinners – in getting a new pastor and his family, you’ve just got 5 more sinners to care for - so that we might encourage one another to enjoy honouring and serving the Lord Jesus Christ.<br />If we have been baptised in the Spirit this life of repentance is what we want, isn’t it. We have been given spiritual sight to see that the Lord Jesus is worth living for though it mean taring apart the spiritual walls of our houses to root out the ockroaches.<br />Why are we a Baptist church then if water baptism is not as significant as spirit baptism? Why should we say that people haven’t really been baptised if they have been baptised in the Spirit but not in water as believers? Is the new pastor going to encourage us all to stop being Baptists. No, we are a Baptist church because even water baptism is a baptism of repentance, and Jesus commands water baptism as a sign of Spirit Baptism: that is, being baptized is saying “I have turned from my sins and trusted in Jesus.”<br />But we must be Chrstians first and Baptists second. Water baptism is significant because Jesus commands it, but Spirit baptism is essential for salvation. We must never suggest that water Baptism is necessary for salvation.<br /><br />SO, we are to bow before Jesus, the eternal God, turn towards Jesus the forgiving Lord. Is all this bowing and turning a terrible duty that the Lord has sent merel to make our lives difficult and destroy our fun?<br />Nothing could be further form the truth. The Lord wants us to bow and repent, for in the worship of Jesus is to be found the deepest possibly Joy and Delight,<br />So, finally,<br />Delight in Jesus, the Obedient Son (9-13)<br /><br />Have a look down at verse 9<br />9(<a title="See cross-reference R" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24221R">R</a>) In those days Jesus(<a title="See cross-reference S" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24221S">S</a>) came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And when he came up out of the water, immediately he(<a title="See cross-reference T" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24222T">T</a>) saw(<a title="See cross-reference U" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24222U">U</a>) the heavens being torn open(<a title="See cross-reference V" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24222V">V</a>) and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And(<a title="See cross-reference W" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24223W">W</a>) a voice came from heaven,(<a title="See cross-reference X" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24223X">X</a>) "You are my beloved Son;[<a title="See footnote d" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#fen-ESV-24223d">d</a>] with you I am well pleased."<br />12(<a title="See cross-reference Y" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24224Y">Y</a>) The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13(<a title="See cross-reference Z" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225Z">Z</a>) And he was in the wilderness forty days, being(<a title="See cross-reference AA" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225AA">AA</a>) tempted by(<a title="See cross-reference AB" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225AB">AB</a>) Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and(<a title="See cross-reference AC" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225AC">AC</a>) the angels were ministering to him.<br />Perhaps you think it a strange idea that repentance should be a delight rather than a distress.<br />I think this is the case when we only think about what we are turning from, and do not think about who we are turning to. We are to turn towards Jesus. In repentance we take those idols that have demand ever increasing service for ever diminishing pleasure, until all that is left is the idol itself with no pleasure at all.<br />Think about those things that you got so excited about when you were younger: what was it... possessions; Is there 100 times as much joy when you own 100 CD than when you bought yourvery first one? What else? Ambition? Reputation? Sex? Money? If we serve them, years down the road we will still crave them, but like Gollum’s craving for the ring, there will be little pleasure left in it.<br />We are called to turn from such worthless idols.<br />And turning from them, God holds out His Son, Jesus for us to turn towards.<br />Look what God the Father says from heaven about His Son.<br />"You are my beloved Son;[<a title="See footnote d" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#fen-ESV-24223d">d</a>] with you I am well pleased."<br />God is well pleased with loving his Son. He finds full satisfaction in the love of Jesus.<br />God, whose capacity for pleasure is infinite, as he Sends his Spirit upon his Son is fully satisfied.<br />Don’t believe the common idea that God was somehow lonely and that is why he created us. He is eternally Fully satisfied in His Son. He didn’t create us to fill his empty gap that was left because His Son was not enough for him. He created us that we might be fully satisfied in His Son.<br />It begs the question. Why are we not fully satisfied in Jesus!! Is our capacity for pleasure greater than God’s and so we need more than God’s son!!!? Of course not. The problem is not that Jesus is insufficient, it is that we do not sufficiently know Jesus.<br />CS Lewis puts it like this,<br />“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature fo the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seems that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mudpies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”<br />So, how will we ensure that we see Jesus more clearly and love him more?<br />What do you do with your quiet times...<br />Are you merely looking for a list of things that you should do. Are you trying to find yourself in the passage. Wasn’t Stuart Moffat so helpful a couple of weeks ago on the Psalms. We need to see that they are about Jesus, because we need to know and delight in Jesus.<br />Let’s look at some things about Jesus even in these verses that are remarkable and truly lovely.<br />John has said that he is not worthy to unstrap Jesus’ sandals, but Jesus asks John to baptise him.<br />What a wonderful Lord we have who allows us to serve him in ways that we do not deserve at all.<br />How amazing of Jesus to submit to a baptism of repentance at all. He is the only person who never needed to repent. But for our sake, to identify with us, he was baptised.<br />Perhaps if you are a believer and you are wondering if you really need to be obedient to the Lord in baptism, just look at how the Lord Jesus is obedient to his Father that even he would be baptised.<br />Then we have an extraordinary surprise: right at the moment the Father speaks those words of total love and approval, right as the Spirit descends upon Jesus, have a look at verse 12.<br />The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13(<a title="See cross-reference Z" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225Z">Z</a>) And he was in the wilderness forty days, being(<a title="See cross-reference AA" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225AA">AA</a>) tempted by(<a title="See cross-reference AB" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201;&version=47;#cen-ESV-24225AB">AB</a>) Satan.<br />Why would the spirit send him off to be totally alone, tempted by the devil himself?<br />Well: there had been someone else described as God’s son before. Out of Egypt God had called his Son Israel. And just as Israel came through the waters of the Red Sea into forty years of temptation in the wilderness, so the God’s True son went through the waters of baptism to a place of 40 days testing in the wilderness. But where Israel failed the test, and turned to other Gods, Jesus overcame. He obeyed his father despite the intense personal temptation of Satan himself.<br />This is another remarkable picture of delight and satisfaction. If the Father is fully satisfied in loving the Son, the Son is fully satisfied in obeying his Father.<br />That’s how the devil can get a grip on us in temptation isn’t it. He tells us to be dissatisfied with God’s rule over us… Do we consider God only worth following if he will bless us in every way…<br />Or is he worth obeying when he gives us nothing but himself; when we feel utterly alone, in grave danger, facing intolerable temptation. The Lord Jesus continued to delight in obedience to his Father though the only company he had was the devil who was tempting him and the wild animals who might attack him at any moment. No wonder the angels came and worshipped him.<br />Will we?<br />Do we have these two delights: Are we fully satisfied in loving the Son? Are we fully satisfied in obeying the Father?<br />Will Twyholm Baptist Church be a place not of mere duty, but, as the prayerbook put it will we be a people who know that it is our duty and our joy in all time to give thanks and praise to our God?<br />Will we be a community that encourages one another to know the lord Jesus better and better so that we will be find our joy in him together?<br />Let’s prayMike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-54362452179872784782007-08-30T07:16:00.000-07:002007-08-31T10:51:42.076-07:00Deuteronomy 7: Trusting the LordThis sermon was first preached at CHBC 19th August 2007<br />The audio is available <a href="http://www.chbcaudio.org/2007/08/19/trusting-the-lord-deuteronomy-7/">here</a><br /><br />In His latest book, “The God Delusion” Richard Dawkins the Oxford Professor, Richard Dawkins describes his reaction to passages of the bible such as we are going to look at this morning.<br />“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”<br />It is chapters of the bible like the one we are going to study together this morning that have provoked such a strong reaction in Dawkins.<br />We rightly see acts of genocide as some of the most heinous of all evils.<br /><br />And that is why we find it so hard to read chapters of the bible like the one we are going to look at today.<br />Turn with me to Deuteronomy 7<br />Main Hall<br />West Hall<br /> 1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you- 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. [a] Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles [b] and burn their idols in the fire.<br />About 3500 years ago God commanded his people to show no mercy to men, women and children from seven nations that dwelt in the land. Seven nations.<br />This is genocide on a massive scale: millions of men women and children were to be put to the sword at the LORD’s own command.<br />Let’s be honest: this is one of the hardest truths in God’s word for any of us: Christian or Non-Christian, if there is no sense in which you are horrified by this chapter, then I assume you haven’t thought about it much.<br />We are supposed to be horrified by the holy war that God wages on his enemies.<br />Perhaps you haven’t stared this truth in the face as you ought to. Perhaps you, Like Dawkins, find the picture of God in this chapter unpalatable but you just think:<br />“Well, this is a long time ago: God doesn’t act like this any more. He is different now that Jesus has come.”<br />My friend, God has not changed. Human nature hasn’t changed. God has recorded this event in history, not just in this chapter, but also in the whole book of Joshua, so that we might learn difficult truths about God and about ourselves.<br /><br />Don’t read about God’s great judgments in the past and imagine that God will never act like that again. He will. Every action of judgment, whether it be the conquest of Canaan, the flood of the whole world, or the destruction by fire of Sodom and Gomorrah. These are God’s wrath diluted, scaled down, to point to the undiluted wrath of God that is yet to come.<br /><br />When we meet God one day it will be this God we meet. The God who commanded this. And if we are his enemies at the time, we will face a worse fate than those seven nations.<br /><br />So, if we are not going to deny that this is God, why is even what he commands here, though horrific, why is it good and right?<br />Turn over to Chapter 9: 4-5<br /> 4 After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you.<br />And they were indeed wicked nations:<br />The two sins that are most frequently talked about as the reason for God’s great anger on the nations were sexual deviancy and infanticide.<br />So central to the way of life were these practices that they were central religious practices: The Asherah Poles were the local of informal cultic prostitution; on their altars not only would animals be sacrificed, but people would sacrifice their own children.<br />God’s patience had run out with nations that had taken two of his greatest gifs to all peoples: sex within marriage, and the gift of children, and torn apart those blessings.<br />We rightly abhor genocide. We should hate it when we hear of genocide that has happened or is happening around the world.<br />We should hate genocide because nobody has the right to say that this nation or that nation of people is so beyond the pale that we will see to it that they are no more.<br />But does God? Does God have the right to say, “that is enough!” That whole society is rotten to the core and may not continue.<br />Yes, he does. God has the right to say, “this society is so steeped in evil that I will make an end of it.”<br />So, any other genocide than this one is wrong because only God has the right to command such a thing. Only God. Anyone else who advocates any genocide than this unique display of God’s holiness is guilty of unforgivable arrogance, putting themselves up as God. Adolf Hilter, Poll Pott, Joseph Stalin, Slobodan Milosevic, Mehmed Talaat and countless others through history.<br />With the Canaanites God had been extremely patient: Way back when he had promised the land to Abraham more than four hundred years earlier in Genesis 15.<br />"Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. … 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."<br />When will it be time for God to say “enough” to this whole world that where we enjoy following idols who demand such evil worship?<br />Times when Christians have taken the conquest of Canaan as justification for taking up the sword themselves have taken the same arrogant stance. The Crusades were a terrible misunderstanding of what it means to belong to the Lord.<br />No, this is a unique occasion. Not unique that God pours out his judgment. But unique that he does so by commanding his people to be the instruments of judgment.<br />No, the New Testament church is not to take up arms as a church. Nations may fight just wars, but the church’s battle is to be spiritual, not physical.<br /><br />Paul writes in Ephesians<br /><br />10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.<br /><br />We are called to a battle that is to be just as fierce as the conquest of Canaan. But our enemies are not the nations in the land: the enemies are spiritual. The devil and his minions who wage war against our souls.<br /><br />And in this battle we are to be as single-minded as the Israelites were. We are to put to death any vestige of the idolatry that was once in our heart before the Lord Jesus came and liberated us. We are to show it no mercy. We are to hate it with extreme prejudice.<br /><br />God’s people are to have a single-minded devotion to the Lord in the battle against sin.<br />This battle is real. There is a real enemy<br />Yet we are called to single-minded devotion, trusting Christ for the victory.<br /><br />We are going to see 3 aspects to this single-minded devotion.<br />1) The Call (1-5)<br />2) The motivation (6-15)<br />3) The barriers (16-25)<br /><br />1) The Call (1-5)<br />Have a look down again at verse 1 to see the singlemindedness to which we are called.<br />1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you- 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. [a] Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.<br /><br />I wonder what are the treaties that you are tempted to make with sin in your life?<br />Don’t hold back from the fight. You must destroy them totally.<br /> Are there areas of your life that you just want to leave with nobody knowing about. Why?<br />My brothers and sisters, this is why you have been put in a church: to hold hand with others who know you life, and encourage you to keep on repenting and believing. If you cannot think of at least two other people who really know the whole story of your struggles, then pray that the Lord would show you the danger of secret sin.<br />Secret sins are not just sins that we are embarrassed about, they are sins that we do not want to kill. Imagine that you discover that you have a problem with cockroaches in your house. Would you just try to hide them? No! If you hide them, they will multiply. Expose them – it may be ugly, but only when they are exposed can they be seen clearly for what they are, and exterminated.<br /><br />How much sin should we be comfortable with in our lives? Not even a hint.<br /><br />John Owen in his excellent book “the mortification of sin” writes,<br /><br />“do you mortify sin; do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you”<br /><br />Don’t hold back from the fight<br />Don’t fraternize with the enemy<br />3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.<br /><br />Perhaps it was thought that the one way to save these people from the Lord’s wrath was to marry them. Then they would be one of you right? Changed allegiance.<br />No! Says the Lord; do not marry them. Perhaps there was a particularly strong warrior, or a particularly beautiful woman: perhaps they would be better to befriend than to destroy.<br /><br />NO! Do not fraternize with the enemy, said the Lord.<br /><br />Do you think that there are relatively unimportant sins that you can commit, but they are worth it for the greater good?<br /><br />Perhaps that romantic relationship with the Non-Christian that seems so harmless – and after all, we all know stories of how the Lord has used such relationships to bring that Non-Christian to faith.<br />The Lord can do what he wants, and is remarkably gracious; but do not think that you can tame sin. To deliberately choose to sin may be a path from which you will not return.<br /><br />Perhaps we think that joining in with the coarse joking, or the spiteful mocking, or the jovial grumbling will so endear us to our colleagues that it might even give us a chance to share the gospel.<br />My brothers and sisters, we cannot tame sin, so let us not become comfortable with it.<br /><br />Perhaps you think that all out war against sin in our lives is too radical a thing. If you think that, you don’t understand what sin is. Like the Ring in Tolkein’s epic, it has only one master. We cannot wield it.<br />Do you think that you can keep sin under control in your life? Sin is never under control. It is either being put to death, or it is gaining control.<br />Remember Jesus’ response when he was told that he could have every kingdom on the whole earth – if he just committed one single sin!<br /><br />Think of it: what would you do to see the whole world willingly bow to Jesus’ authority.<br />You may not sin a single time even if you thought it a means to see a billion converts.<br /><br />The devil is quite happy to hold out what looks like godly ends as a motivation for sin.<br />John Piper writes,<br />“The two great enemies of our soul are sin and Satan. And sin is the worst enemy, because the only way that Satan can destroy is by getting us to sin.”<br /><br />We are not to be surprised by sin, but we cannot fraternize with it.<br />So, look at your life: what are the idols you are most prone to?<br /><br />Idols are rationalizations of sin. An idol is something that says, “It is worth obeying me rather than the Lord because I will bless you.”<br />What are the ways in which you rationalize sin? Next time you, or an honest friend notices you sin, don’t just say “Yes, I’m sorry!” ask yourself, “Why did I do that?” “What idol was promising me what blessing if I do that?”<br /> Don’t leave idols intact<br />(5) This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles [b] and burn their idols in the fire.<br /><br />Pick up a copy of David Powlinson’s “Seeing with New eyes” and turn to chapter 7: read through diagnostic questions that reveal your idols to you. Here’s some of them…<br />“What are your goals and expectations?” your ultimate goal is either the glory of the true and living God, or it is an idol.<br />“What do you tend worry about?” We tend to worry about those things that will damage our idols.<br />“Where do you find your garden of delight?”<br />“Whom must you please?”<br />“What would make you feel secure?”<br />“what do you pray for?”<br />“How do you spend your spare time?”<br /><br />Get to know your hearts, that you might discover the strongholds that the devil has in your life, and then spend your life battling against them.<br /><br />We should also recognize the need to be particularly distanced and horrified by the sins that the culture sees as so normal.<br />We, in today’s world, need to learn this lesson. The same two beautiful gifts that God has given are under constant attack in our western cultures.<br />Sex has become a casual recreation rather than the physical expression of the marriage relationship it was designed to be.<br />From the human trafficking of people forced into prostitution to the explosion of internet pornography, to the very way that sex is used to sell just about everything, we live in a society world-wide that laughs at God’s design for sex only within marriage.<br />Al Mohler writes, Rather than directed toward fidelity, covenantal commitment, procreation, and the wonder of a one-flesh relationship, the sex drive has been degraded into a passion that robs God of His glory, celebrating the sensual at the expense of the spiritual, and setting what God had intended for good on a path that leads to destruction in the name of personal fulfillment. <br />And what about our attitude to the sacrifice of children: 6m Jews were killed in WW, the 7m Ukranians starved to death by Stalin in 1932, the 1.5 million Armenians killed in turkey during ww1, the 2 million killed by Pol Pott in Cambodia.<br />But if you add all those together you have reached the number of unborn children murdered worldwide in just over 4 months.<br />On what altars had these children been sacrificed? What are the hideous idols of the 21st Century that would demand such horrendous sacrifice?<br /><br /><br />The Lord is calling us to single-minded devotion to him – which means a single-minded war against the devil’s reign in our lives.<br /><br />Why?<br />Why should we take such a radical stance?<br /><br />If you are not a Christian here, let me say that you are very welcome. Perhaps you are wondering what on earth you have walked into. Perhaps you are sitting there thinking, “Wow, these Christians are really as repressed as I thought… why don’t they just lighten up and do what they want.” Why does there need to be a battle at all?<br />Well, it might seem strange to you, but Christians actually want to be involved in the battle, because we have realized that many of our desires are in fact evil.<br />Let me explain: our lives are not intended to be an aimless following of our appetites for pleasure. We have been created for a particular kind of beautiful pleasure. Pleasure with no guilt, with no regrets, with no hangovers. Pleasure that isn’t at anyone else’s expense: The pleasure of loving and honouring the God who made us.<br />That is the pleasure we were designed for. Yet we all foolishly and rebelliously imagine that we can find more pleasure in the things that God made than in God himself. We do this because we have a self-destructive desire to be God – to be our own greatest source of pleasure. We want to see ourselves made much of rather than God. We are happy to have our pleasure at the expense of god rather than in praise of him. And he is furious.<br />Yet he also continues to love us. And in his amazing love for self-centered fools like us, he sent his son, Jesus Christ to live as a man a life of joyful service of his Father, and yet died the death of a sinner;<br />Why? So that when anyone turns from their self-centered world, to Jesus, God’s righteous anger has already been poured out on Jesus, so that we can begin to enjoy the life that we were designed for; a life enjoying the Lord. A life that says that we can lose anything and everything, for we belong to him, and he is all in all.<br />Jesus calls you today to such a life. Give up your idols that cannot bless you, and will drag you down to destruction. Give them up for the Saviour who will bless you eternally if only you will turn to him as the source of all true joy.<br /><br />Respond to the Lord jesus’ call to join the battle for single-minded devotion.<br /><br />What is to be our ultimate motivation.<br />Well, if idols are what is to be destroyed, the motivation for single-mindedness is to be the opportunity to display the character of the true and living God.<br />2. motivation for single-minded devotion: Displaying who we belong to.<br />6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.<br /> 7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. 10 But<br /> those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction;<br /> he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.<br /> 11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.<br /> 12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. 15 The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.<br /><br />God’s command ought to be enough of a motivation for us. But actually the command in and of itself cannot equip us to keep the command.<br />The ultimate motivation for obedience is not the law, it is the gospel!<br />As John Bunyan put it<br />Run, John, run, the law commands<br />But gives us neither feet nor hands,<br />Far better news the gospel brings:<br />It bids us fly and gives us wings.<br />The gospel holds out to us the life that we have in fellowship with God as the motivation for singleminded devotion to him. He is worth being devoted to! And in being devoted to him, we have the extraordinary privilege of showing him off to the world.<br />The one who found the pearl of Great Price: do you think he gained the pearl in order to lock it up in its safe! No he would display it to the world and let everyone know “it is mine! This pearl is mine!”<br />And in the gospel we have the extraordinary privilege of being a display of God’s Character to the world: did you see that.<br />Have a look at verse 6:<br />For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.<br />Because we are the treasured possession of the holy Lord we have the privilege of trying to display his holiness.<br />(6-15) Display God’s holiness<br />When you read a passage like Deuteronomy 7, it is easy to see that God’s holiness is merely a terrible thing – for this chapter reveals the hatred that a holy God has for evil - even the evil that is in us. But do you see that his holiness is beautiful. He is so beautiful that he rightly hates all that is morally ugly. He would not be so beautiful if he loved moral filfth.<br />Yet we know that that is who we are. When we see God’s holiness we have our own moral filth revealed to us. If there are areas of our lives we want to hide from others, what about the pure gaze of the perfect God who sees all. We cannot hide from him. We deserve to be treated by him far worse than the seven nations we have been reading about.<br />Yet this holy God has made a way for us not to cower before him and hide from him, but to approach him bodly, having had our guilt washed away by the blood of Jesus.<br />And then he calls us to live out a life with his mark of ownership upon us loving the things he loves. Hating the things he hates.<br />If you are considering what it would mean for you to trust in Jesus, don’t think only about what you would be saved from: hell.<br /><br />Why would you find hell a terrible place? Because you would suffer physically? Or because you would never know what it is like to enjoy the being for whom you were designed. You would know for certain he was there, but you would always hate him even though he is the most beautiful and lovable being alive.<br /><br />When you reflect upon the reality that God will indeed judge the world, and send people to hell, do you, Like Richard Dawkins, see this as an ugly thing: or are you able to gaze at God’s awesome holiness that hates all that is evil with a passion and see beauty. A god Dawkins would find more palatable who will judge no evil and hold nobody accountable is not a beautiful god, but a compromised god.<br /><br />We have been created to reflect his glorious holiness.<br />It is not enough to say, “yes, isn’t my sin ugly.” If we hate it like God hates it, we will want it dead. We will act as judge jury and executioner of the sin in our own lives.<br />We are to be an active, living display of God’s holiness by our opposition to sin.<br /><br />But his people are also a display of his might.<br />Display God’s might<br /><br />7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.<br />(7-8)<br />I wonder what you think about the idea that God chooses some people and not others. Do you think that it would make those who are chosen proud of himself? Not when you realize that he doesn’t choose the most impressive, but the least impressive.<br />He is like a chef going early to the vegetable market to handpick exactly the produce he wants. But he chooses all the squashed tomatoes and the maggot infested zucchini and the rotten eggplants to make his ratatouille. He does it to display his might.<br />Election is the most humbling of doctrines: if you think that the difference between the Christian and the Non-Christian is our choice first, and God’s second, then those who believe in Jesus are somehow more virtuous, or impressive in their abilities to recognize the Messiah.<br />The elect are not the elite, but the unlikely.<br />We often sing, “How deep the father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that he should give his only son to make a wretch his treasure.”<br />But as well as great love, the gospel is a display of great power. What power there is in the gospel that he might make wretches like us his treasured possession!<br /><br />What motivation that is to fight hard in the battle against sin. As we fight in all his strength we have the joy of people seeing us change and us being able to say to them “you know I couldn’t have changed in this way. You know that this is a display of God’s mighty hand.”<br /><br />Whatsmore we can display God’s deity.<br /><br /> Display God’s deity<br />Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. 10 But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.<br /><br />There are only two sides in the spiritual battle that is raging all around us. The Lord’s side, and the devils.<br /><br />By single-minded devotion to the Lord we can display to the world that the Lord is God, and he will not be mocked.<br /><br />When we share the gospel with our friends and colleagues and neighbours and family members, how will they believe that there is a hell that they are walking towards: how will they believe it if they see our lives and don’t see that even those of us who bear his name seem to know that the Lord is God.<br />How will they believe that there is a hell at all if even those who have been chosen by him play with sin as if it were a trifle that will do nobody any real harm?<br /><br />Non Christian. Why would people take such joy in laying aside worldly pleasures if they had not come to know the God who gives a better joy? Do you see in the Christians you know a joy that you can’t explain… my friend, that joy can only be found in knowing that the Lord is God. Reach out for that joy in Christ today.<br /> Display God’s faithfulness<br />(11-15)<br /> 11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.<br /> 12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. 15 The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.<br />Just as the Christian is called to a spiritual war where Israel was called to a physical war, so the blessings we are promised are spiritual blessings.<br />The place of rest and joy that Israel was promised if they obey they did not receive. Only a faithful Israel would receive the blessings promised.<br />Galatians makes it clear that the faithful Israel is one man, the Lord Jesus Christ.<br />The blessings of the land were promised to Abraham and his seed: paul writes in Galatians, “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed,"[g] meaning one person, who is Christ.”<br />Christ is the faithful Israel who receives an inheritance from his father, and then distributes an eternal inheritance to all who have faith in him.<br /><br />Is your life a display of the faithfulness of God? If you have trusted in Jesus, it already is – god has been faithful to his Son in increasing the number of those belonging to Jesus.<br />He will remain faithful by not allowing the devil to prevail in his war for your soul.<br />But the way that he will keep you from falling to the devil’s wiles is by keeping you in the fight.<br />He will motivate you by holding out himself. He will remind you that he is indeed worth living for; that his character is worth enjoying and dispaying.<br /><br />That is the motivation for your devotion.<br />But there are also barriers.<br /><br />The fight is long and hard.<br />There are times at which the fight will appear foolish and unnecessary to our sinful eyes.<br /><br />3. Barriers to single-minded devotion:<br />16 You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.<br /> 17 You may say to yourselves, "These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?" 18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the miraculous signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. 20 Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. 21 Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. 22 The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. 23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them. 25 The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God. 26 Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.<br /><br />We are to fight all the barriers to single minded devotion with faith…<br />We are to reflect on the truths of God’s word that hold out sufficient answers to all the questions we have as to whether it is worth continuing the fight.<br />Have you thought about how so much of the armour of God is about having faith in the truths of God’s word:<br /><br />Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.<br />Because it is God’s truth that combats the devils lies, Those who are particularly called to teach God’s word will often be the particular focus of direct spiritual attack.<br /><br />I’m so grateful to those of you who have prayed for me as I have preached this sermon: I had a real sense that the enemy did not want a sermon to be preached that is going to exhort us to spiritual battle.<br /><br />The same enemy doesn’t seem to want Deepak to begin his ministry of speaking God’s word into our lives. Pray for Deepak and for all your elders for there is one who would do all he can to silence the teachers of God’s word.<br /><br />The first barrier we see is pity.<br />Pity<br />(16-26) Fight false pity by trusting God’s warnings<br />(16) 16 You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.<br /><br />For those Israelites who really knew the Lord, I assume this would have been perhaps the hardest thing to ask. For after all the Lord himself is a God of mercy. We’ve just seen that: only a merciful god would choose sinners to be his treasured possession.<br /><br />Yet we need to know that God’s patient mercy does eventually run out. If you are wondering why God has not stopped all the evil in the world already, it is because of his patient mercy. He holds out mercy in Christ to avoid the coming judgment. But that judgment will come one day.<br />There will be no unforgiven sinners who will enter heaven.<br />The unforgiven sinner will cry out for pity on that last day, but it will be too late.<br />And so, the conquest was to be one where there was to be no pity shown – not even to a child.<br /><br />Why? Because the Lord knew what would happen. He knew that those nations must be fully destroyed, or Israel would end up just like them, facing God’s judgement. Tragically that is what happened. Within a few decades the time of the judges began, and Israel was worse than the nations that they had failed to wipe out.<br /><br />When you think that something is only a small sin, and can easily be left alone without causing much harm, listen to God’s warnings. Sin, when it is full-grown leads to death.<br /><br />John Owen exhorts us to see 4 dangers in even the smallest sin:<br />1. the danger of our heart being hardened<br />2. the danger of the Lord’s discipline<br />3. the danger of losing the peace and joy that the gospel has brought us<br />4. the danger of eternal destruction.<br />Why is it so dangerous? Because it is so evil:<br />It grieves the spirit of God.<br />It wounds Christ<br />My brothers and sisters – do not let the devil get a foothold.<br /><br />Another barrier is FEAR<br />17 You may say to yourselves, "These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?" 18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the miraculous signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. 20 Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. 21 Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.<br /> Fight fear by trusting God’s Power<br />It has been a heavy topic. I don’t think we can speak about Deuteronomy 7 lightly. But I hope that has not left you feeling weighed down.<br />Perhaps you are saying to me, :But Mike, you don’t know my life… you don’t know how sinful my heart is.<br />No, but I know mine.<br />And I know the power of the Lord.<br /><br />When you read through Exodus, it seems to us crazy that the Israelites would doubt that God could bring them into the land. He had taken them out of Egypt, the world’s greatest superpower of the day unarmed carrying off all the Egyptians gold. He wouldn’t have much problem bringing them into the land.<br />Yet they doubted because there were some very tall people in Canaan.<br />Does it seem strange: not when I know my heart.<br />My brothers and sisters do you realize the extraordinary miracle that the Lord has done in saving you? There was nothing in you that had any power or any resolve to break with your slavery to idols. Yet God broke it and granted you a love for Christ.<br />Why would you think that he doesn’t have the power to break some besetting sin.<br />“But Mike” you say “I haven’t the strength to fight”<br /><br />You rightly realize that you don’t have the power. Stop depending upon yourself.<br /><br />Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.<br /><br />We do fall again and again, not because the Lord’s strength is insufficient, but because we insufficiently depend upon his strength. We do not put on the full Armour of God. And then we do not stand. We should be unsurprised and humbled when we go into the battle unarmed and come out wounded.<br />William Gurnall Writes<br />“Faith gives the soul a view of the great God. It teacheth the soul to set his almightiness against sins magnitude, and his infinitude against sins multitude; and so quencheth the temptation. The reason why the presumptuous sinner fears so little, and the despairing soul so much, is for want of knowing God as great. Therefore, to cure them both, the serious consideration of God under this notion is propounded.”<br /><br />The enemy is no doubt formidable. That is God’s design. When God calls us to single-minded devotion he doesn’t call us to something that we can do by ourselves. He calls us to something that is deliberately designed to us to be impossibly difficult. We are to come to an end of ourselves.<br /><br />If you are not a Christian, whether you follow another religion or none, don’t try to wage war on your sin. You need to belong to Christ first, or all you will be doing is replacing the idol of self-indulgence with the idol of self-sufficiency. Your are made to love and depend upon Jesus.<br />Another barrier is weariness (22-24)<br />22 The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. 23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them.<br /> Fight weariness by trusting God’s steadfast help<br />There are some temptations that come from having fought the battle for a long time. Perhaps your aspirations as a young Christian haven’t come to fruition – you haven’t had the impact upon the church and the world that you would have hoped to have had.<br />To be honest, you are weary by the slow progress that you seem to have made in godliness over the years.<br />Well, let that cause you to long for heaven. The Lord is still committed to the fight. He has brought you this far. Allow your ongoing struggles to humble you not to harden you.<br />When the battle raged for decades Israel wasn’t supposed to give up – even that was supposed to be a sign of God’s kindness. Imagine that all the nations had been wiped out in a few months.<br /><br />The bodies would have piled up; the scavengers would have feasted and then suddenly run out of food, and begun to attack the people.<br />No, the fight would last longer out of the Lord’s kindness; the longer fight would also have to mean a longer dependence on the Lord.<br />The Lord is committed to you. He has sealed you with the holy spirit. He will not abandon you. The long fight is merely designed by him to deepen your dependence and your devotion.<br /><br />Another barrier was desire<br /> fight desire by trusting God’s goodness<br />(25-26)<br /><br />There is no denying that some of the most physically beautiful objects that the Canaanites would have left behind were the idols that they had carved. Made with silver and gold, we know from Joshua 6 just how tempting it would have been to hold onto them. After all, they are very beautiful – can something so attractive be so wrong?<br /><br />Perhaps there are things that you know the Lord hates, but you when you are honest you just have to admit that you find them irresistibly attractive.<br /><br />Why do you think that the Lord hates them?<br /><br />Good old American Heavy whipping cream has about 36% fat.<br />In the UK we have a whole series of creams that are worse for you than that:<br />Double cream has a minimum 48% fat. And as if that isn’t enough, clotted cream has at least 55% fat. It’s undeniably one of the best things about English cuisine.<br />There was a ad campaign that ran in the 1980’s in Britain to try to encourage us to buy more cream.<br />“naughty but nice”<br />Are there sins that to be honest you don’t want to fight. Like Achan in his tent you would rather hide them because you consider them naughty but nice.<br />Will you trust that the Lord is good? He wants you to get rid of it because not because he wants to destroy your pleasure, but because it will destroy you.<br /><br />We have seen that the devil is quite happy to use any means available to you to manipulate you into thinking that sin si a good idea. He will make sin look so insignificant that we think it demands no attention.<br />He will make sin look so powerful that we think we could never stand against it.<br />He will make sin look so attractive that we think that live would not be worth living without it.<br />He will make sin look so advantageous that we think that we will be more effective even for God’s kingdom if we protect it.<br />Any lie will do.<br />The one thing that the devil desires that we never hear is the truth.<br />Sin is evil – it is only destructive – but it is also powerless before the Lordship of Christ. In Him we are able to stand. Resist the devil in Him, by the power of the spirit and He will flee from you in terror.<br /><br />In the end Deuteronomy 7 is all about Jesus.<br />Who is the only one who has been single-minded in his devotion to the Father. Jesus<br />Who is the only one who would fight every temptation though it cost him his reputation, his friends, a fair trial, protection from the cup of God’s own wrath.<br />Who is the one who has called us to join the battle?<br />Who is the one who against whom nobody will one day be able to stand. All kings will fall at his feet. The devil himself will be disarmed.<br />Will you be devoted to him?<br />Will you trust that he is good and powerful and worthy of our single minded devotion?Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-48837859159554818572007-08-30T07:11:00.000-07:002007-08-31T10:51:42.077-07:00Deuteronomy 6: Loving the LordThis sermon was preached first at CHBC may 27th 2007<br />The audio is <a href="http://www.chbcaudio.org/2007/05/27/loving-the-lord-deuteronomy-6/">here</a><br /><br />“You can’t help who you love”<br /><br />When I googlised that little sentence, or variation of it came back with over 30,000 results.<br /><br />You can’t argue with google, can you!?<br /><br />Isn’t love something that affects us, but we can’t really control, like our favourite pizza flavour?<br /><br />You can’t explain it, but you can’t really change it either. Love is sometimes hugely inconvenient and we wish we could turn it on or off that easily, but it seems to be very much out of our control.<br /><br />Most of us love to be loved. But we can’t ensure that other people love us.<br /><br />We can invite others to love us. We can attempt to encourage others to love us, by trying to be lovely to them. But we cannot control anyone else’s love. And we certainly cannot command their love.<br /><br />Imagine if Congress passed a bill to require each US resident to send a letter expressing your love to another randomly assigned US resident. They’d heard that if only everyone felt love, the economy would do better or something… bear with me here…<br /><br />It would seem strange for various reasons.<br /><br />But one thing that would seem particularly strange would be the idea that we could be required to love someone.<br /><br />But imagine if it was not just a randomly assigned US resident that you had to send a letter of love and respect to – imagine that the President himself was willing to sign a piece of legislation saying that we must all send letters of love and appreciation to Him.<br /><br />On memorial day weekend we know all too well that within living memory there have been nations whose leaders have demanded pledges of personal love and affection. Yet such commands to love do not result in a society characterised by love and freedom, but fear, oppression, and warmongering.<br /><br />What then, do you think of the idea that God doesn’t merely invite us to love. He commands us.<br />And he doesn’t merely command us to love one another (though he does command that).<br /><br />He commands us to love Him first and foremost.<br /><br />And he doesn’t just command us to love him first, he command us to love him fully?<br /><br />Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, says God.<br /><br />Do you consider it strange that God would command us to love Him?<br /><br />Does it sound as if somehow he must be insecure, or lonely, or desperate or manipulative, that God would use his infinite authority to command us to love him?<br />And, in case you think that this is merely something that God commanded one nation in the Old Testament, Jesus reaffirms this as the Greatest Commandment.<br /><br />28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"<br /> 29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'<br />When Jesus said these words he was quoting from Deuteronomy Chapter 6. This morning we are going to look at that whole chapter.<br /><br />Turn with me please to Deuteronomy chapter 6. You’ll find this on page 190 in the main hall, page 178 in the West Hall.<br /><br /><br /><br /> 1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.<br /> 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.<br /> 10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.<br /> 13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.<br /> 20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?" 21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."<br />Deuteronomy was given by God through Moses to the people of Israel on the very brink of entering the promised land.<br /><br />Deuteronomy is set out like a great treaty between the tiny nation of Israel and their great and magnificent King, the Lord God.<br /><br />Last week we looked at the Ten Commandments, to see that that obedience was right at the centre of how they were to relate to their king.<br /><br />Perhaps you think that that would be enough. Surely so long as they kept the Ten Commandments, that was enough for the Lord to require of them.<br /><br />But Deuteronomy Chapter 6 shows us that obedience without love is empty. If we seek to obey the Lord but will not love him then we have failed to see the whole purpose of the law. Love, writes the apostle Paul, is the fulfilment of the law.<br /><br />So we see this morning that at the centre of the Lord’s commands is the command to love him.<br /><br />We are going to ask three questions about<br /><br />1) Why Should we love the Lord?<br />2) Why Don’t we love the Lord?<br />3) Do we really love the Lord?<br /><br />So our first question: Why should we love God?<br /><br /><br /><br />a) God tells us to!<br /><br />We should love the Lord for He tells us to…<br />3-5<br /><br />3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.<br /> 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.<br />But we need to have a very different attitude to the commands of God and the commands of men.<br /><br />When mere humans demand that we listen to them because of who they are, we are often rightly suspicious. The bible itself is hugely critical of human rules who exercise authority as if they were answerable to nobody but themselves. In fact, the story of Israel so far includes the account of God pouring out his judgement upon an Egyptian king who thought that he could enslave others to hi purposes.<br /><br />But when God –the one who made us, speaks, we should listen up. Did you see that word, “Hear” that came at the beginning of verse 3, and verse 4.<br /><br />This little word comes up again and again through the book of Deuteronomy. It is the Hebrew word Shema‘, thus this greatest commandment is sometimes known as the shema‘.<br /><br />Why should we listen up to this command? Because our creator is speaking. And in giving the greatest command the creator is speaking of our design. That which the LORD commands us to do is that which he has designed us for.<br /><br />What a privilege that we have God’s commands. Without the commands of God we would remain entirely ignorant of our purpose here in life.<br /><br />Have you ever thought that it was your own responsibility to find your own purpose in life. My friend, if that is you, you have not realised what an incredible creature you are. You are created to know God and to love him.<br /><br />God wants you to know him – that is why he has spoken. Not just these words – but 66 books over 1000 years.<br /><br />If you’re not a Christian today, you are very welcome here. We’d love to hear what you think about what you are hearing afterwards.<br /><br />But, if you are not a Christian, I wonder if you think that God is not knowable –<br /><br />Do you think he is distant?<br />Do you think that all we can have is human opinions about God?<br /><br />Like anyone, we can only get to know them if they speak and thus make themselves known. God has spoken. We need not grope around in the dark with our own thoughts. We can listen up to God’s own thoughts about us, but more importantly to God’s revelation of himself.<br /><br />And, central to this revelation is the idea that God has designed us to be in a loving relationship with him, and so as our creator, he commands us to love him, lest we miss the whole purpose of our existence.<br /><br />In the beginning of the bible, there are some things that are commanded of both humans and animals. All creatures were commanded to be fruitful and multiply… to survive and procreate. Do you live as if there was nothing more than this to live – survival, and hoping to ensure that you will be able to survive well enough to ensure that your children will also prosper?<br /><br />To be a human being is to be made in the image of God. We are created not just to exist and procreate, but to know God.<br /><br />If you don’t love the LORD, then you don’t know Him and you don’t know yourself.<br /><br />To know how lovely the LORD is, is to love Him.<br />The Lord can command that we love him – and we’ll see both why we should love Him, and How we can ensure that we love him.<br /><br />2) Love the Lord for there is no other God.<br /><br />Did you notice, that the reason to love the Lord though isn’t merely because God Commands it. Before he commands to love him, he tells him something about himself that shows that me must love him.<br /><br />Verse 4:<br /><br />The LORD our God, the LORD is one<br /><br />In the Hebrew there are merely four words here, but whether we understand these four words will make the difference between understanding the purpose of life or failing to understand it.<br /><br />At the very least what is being affirmed here is complete monotheism. There is only one God and he has no rivals.<br /><br />This reaffirms the first of the ten Commandments, that there is only one God and therefore he alone is to be worshipped.<br /><br />But far more is implied that merely monotheism.<br /><br />The idea is that because God is one he will not change.<br /><br />That is in fact the significance of his name “The Lord” – literally YHWH meaning “he is”. We call him “He is” because he calls himself, EHYH, “I AM”<br /><br />He is already perfect so he cannot change for the better, and he certainly will not change for the worse.<br /><br />But more than that, as the eternal God who sees all things at once, he is entirely trustworthy. He will never make a promise and then have some unforeseen circumstance make him change his mind.<br /><br />He will never do something and then think better of it.<br /><br />Israel needed to know this on the brink of the promised land.<br /><br />His power has not diminished. (He would be able to look after them in the land as surely as he was able to rescue them from Egypt<br />His love has not diminished. He is not like a forgetful spouse who wanders away from his marriage vows.<br /><br />If you are following the Lord Jesus Christ today, take comfort in the character of God. It is his good and sovereign action that brought you to trust in Christ, and saved you. He will not think better of it.<br /><br />Have you been weighed down by your sin this week? He hasn’t thought better of saving you. You may still approach him. Turn to him and love him once again. He did not turn you away the first time you turned to him. He will not turn you away if you turn from your sin and love him today.<br /><br />I wonder if you think that you have grasped the reality of Deuteronomy 6:4, just because you don’t believe that there are lots of gods, but know there is but one. Perhaps you are a Muslim, or a follower of Judaism. You are most welcome here.<br /><br />I’d love to ask you a question, though.<br /><br />If God is ONE, then he doesn’t need us. He may love us, but if he is really infinitely more significant than us, he is the one LORD, he doesn’t need us.<br /><br />Yet, if he is at his very essence LOVE, how can he love if he is merely ONE. For him to be love, he must have an object of his love. Who do you think is the eternal object of God’s love. The object of his love that he had before he made the world?<br /><br />Jesus is very clear that he is the eternal object of God’s love.<br /><br />On the night before Jesus died, he prayed in the hearing of his disciples.<br />24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.<br />On another occasion, Jesus said,<br />“I and the Father are one."<br />He was clearly referring back to this verse. The Lord is ONE. Who is the LORD? I and the Father are One, says Jesus.<br />The religious leaders certainly understood what Jesus was implying as they picked up stones to stone him, 32but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"<br /> 33"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."<br />If you have not recognized that Jesus himself, together with the Holy Spirit are one God, then you haven’t understood this verse, and, according to Jesus, you haven’t understood what you were created for.<br />God’s oneness necessarily implies that he is also three.<br /><br />But more than that, God’s oneness means that His attributes do not contradict each other. He is character is consistent.<br /><br />Be careful not to suggest that there is somehow division or conflict within God’s character. If we are not careful, we can end up saying things like, “I know God is holy and just, but in the end is love overrides his justice and he forgives.”<br /><br />No: God is ONE. There is no internal struggle between love and justice within him. He will only exercise his love in ways that are consistent with his justice. He will only exercise his justice in ways that are consistent with his love for all that is good. His justice is loving justice. His love is just love.<br /><br />The extraordinary news of the gospel is that God has provided a way to be just and the one who declares the guilty innocent.<br /><br />I’m going to say that again: God has provided a way to be just and the one who declares the guilty innocent.<br /><br />If there is only one thing that you are going to understand this morning it must be this, so I’ll say it again:<br /><br />God has provided a way to be just and the one who declares the guilty innocent.<br /><br />That is what we need. We are all guilty. If we want to know God as we were designed to we must be declared innocent. He is just – if we are declared guilty on the day we meet him, we will be sent to hell. He will not overlook his justice for the sake of his mercy. He is one. Yet we are all guilty<br /><br />We are all made to perfectly love God. We haven’t. We have lived as if we were the only God, not Him. God in his love for all that is good, hates our rebellion against him, and in his justice will see that our rebellion is punished. We deserve to face that punishment ourselves in hell. But in his incredible love God has provided another place for his justice to be met. He sent his SON. The one who is himself God, whom he loved before the creation of the world. That same son he sent to live as a man. He lived a perfect live, but died on the cross taking the punishment that his people deserved.<br /><br />He calls us now to turn from our sin, and put our trust in the death of Jesus, so that he might justly punish our sin, and justly declare us righteous.<br /><br />It is right that the Lord commands us to love him:, for he is the one Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.<br /><br />It’s as if we are great Picasso paintings. But we are unsigned. Who’s name will you put at the bottom of the painting? Picasso’s? or someone else’s?<br /><br />Well, if you are a Picasso painting, then only Picasso is worthy of having your name at the bottom. You can’t say, ‘well, I prefer Monet” Picasso would be rightly insensed.<br /><br />If the Lord is the only God, then only He is worthy of our undivided worshipping love, and he is right to command such love.<br /><br />Why Don’t we love God?<br /><br />1) We prefer that which he gives to the giver.<br />10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.<br />God rescued Israel, and then brought them into the promised land, not so that they could worship the land, but so that they could worship him.<br /><br />If you are married, look down at your left hand. See that ring… what do you love about it? The gold? The diamonds? The rubies? Or the one whose covenant love it signifies?<br /><br />The promised land was to be an extraordinary gift of love to God’s people. They have just lived in the desert for 40 years feeding of the manna that God supernaturally provided, for there was no other food.<br /><br />Was it going to be easier for them to Love God when they had nothing, or when the lived in the plenty that God had provided?<br /><br />Sadly, the story of Israel showed that for the most part they loved the gifts, rather than the Lord their God who gave them.<br /><br />There has perhaps never been prosperity like the prosperity in the west today. I pray the Lord would not give my family or this church any growth in material prosperity without also giving a deeper understanding of His infinite wealth.<br /><br />If ease and prosperity would lead us away from the Lord would that he would give us hardship and poverty, but a heart that loves him.<br /><br />We are to love the Lord, for he is worth more than what he gives.<br /><br />What is it that you love with all your heart?<br />Whatver is lovely is only a pale reflection of the loveliness of it’s beautiful creator. Love him more. Let your love for the gifts He gives only ever grow you love for the giver. Never let it squeeze out your love for him.<br /><br />There was a lesson for Israel that was to come in the way that the Lord would provide gifts for them in the land.<br /><br />Who had built the cities and filled the houses with good things? Who had dug the wells, who had planted the vineyards, and the olive groves?<br /><br />The LORD would give them possession of the land by dispossessing nations who had enjoyed the water and the wine and the oil the Lord had given them, but had spurned the giver.<br /><br />Do you realise that the Lord will always act like this.<br />Whatever you are working for in this world you will lose, unless it is the love of God, which will remain for ever.<br /><br />In ecclesiastes we read,<br /><br />I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.<br /><br />Love the giver not the gift, for only he can be enjoyed for ever.<br /><br /><br />2) We think it doesn’t matter<br />13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.<br />16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.<br />The first time God called man into a loving relationship with him, he put two trees in the garden: a tree of life – showing that there would be blessings for those who lived under his loving rule, and a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, showing that there would be curses for those who thought that they should decide what was good and what was evil.<br /><br />Deuteronomy too holds out blessings and curses.<br />Blessing in verse 18<br />18 Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers,<br />But if instead of loving him we test him – that is we fail to recognise that he is ONE – the one who can be trusted. There are curses.<br /><br />God is a jealous God, who will hold us acountible to what we have have done with His love. Have we spurned it, or have we embraced it and reciprocated it.<br /><br />God is a jealous God who will not let us go.<br /><br />As we saw last week, Envy and covetousness are when you want something that doesn’t belong to you. Jealousy is the love that wants something that does belong to you.<br /><br />An open marriage, where marriage partners will just let the other partner go off with someone else – that’s not love… is not loving precisely because there is no jealousy.<br /><br />That’s saying that the marriage vows mean nothing.<br /><br />A father who does not care about what his children gets up to is not loving.<br /><br />God is jealous because he cares whether or not we love him.<br /><br />He cares if we take the love that is due to him and give it to something that he has made.<br /><br />Imagine the Picasso painting that scrawls ‘Monet’ all over itself.<br /><br />Picasso would be right to come along and rip it up. I made you… and you act as if I’m nothing to you… how dare you.<br /><br />A Jealous love holds out blessings and curses. Joy if that love is enjoyed, hatred if it is spurned.<br /><br />3) We Fear he will let us down. 20-23<br /><br />That had been the problem at Massah. Even though God had miraculously brought them out of Egypt, the people grumbled, because they wondered whether he would provide for them in the desert.<br /><br />This was not to be the case in the land.<br /> 20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?" 21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.<br />I don’t know if you have experienced great pain, because you have loved, and you have been rejected, or let down, or brokenhearted. Everything in you wants to protect yourself from being hurt again, and so will not allow yourself the vulnerability of loving again.<br /><br />What will you do with your heart?<br /><br />CS Lewis writes<br /><br />“If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”<br /><br />My friend, there is a place where you may put your heart, knowing that He will not prove inept in his love. He will not let you down. He is all powerful.<br /><br />At times when you are tempted to hold back your love for you fear that God will let you down, don’t look to your feelings. Don’t look even to the situation you are in. Our feelings and our situation change for minute to minute. But our Lord does not.<br /><br />He is the same Lord who miraculously rescued Israel from Egypt. He is the same Lord who raised Jesus Christ from the dead.<br />The Lord has a mighty hand. He is the same Lord who in his powerful love brought his people out of slavery. He is the same lord who sent his Son to bring salvation from sin.<br /><br />4) We fear that he will reject us. (24-25)<br /><br />But perhaps our greatest fear. The reason that we will not love him, is the fear that in the end we will be rejected by him.<br /><br />It is the fear that should become very real when we read the last two verses of the chapter.<br /><br />24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness<br /><br />The Mosaic covenant is a strange covenant. It was never designed to provide salvation for anyone. That is why there is the whole book of Leviticus – it was clear that the LORD knew that his people would sin, and need forgiveness. They would not perfectly obey the law.<br /><br />And in case they thought that they could obey it well enough to put themselves in God’s favour, the lord spoke words like these last two verses of the chapter.<br /><br />Your want to be righteous in God’s sight by obeying the law? You’d better obey it perfectly then.<br /><br /><br />Don’t live life with an easy optimism that when the Lord meets you he will look at your life and think that it was good enough. He will not. For all of us, when he looks at our life he will see those who have robbed him of the hearts and souls and strengths that he created to worship him, and given them to other gods.<br /><br />Yet the Mosaic covenant is more than a reminder that God’s people need forgiveness. It is also a reminder that God’s people can only be right with God through the living of a perfect life. But that life cannot be our own.<br /><br />There is only one who has lived a perfect life. Only one of whom it could be said<br /><br />He was careful to obey all this law before the LORD his God, as he has commanded us, and that was his our righteousness<br /><br />In Jesus Christ there is another place that he may choose to look to find a perfect righteousness. If you have put you faith in Christ, you have been united to him by faith. When the Lord looks at you, he doesn’t see your divided heart, he sees the Lord Jesus’ undivided heart.<br /><br />So, the apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3<br /><br />10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."[c] 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."<br /><br />And..<br /><br />24So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ[h] that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law<br /><br />13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."[f] 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.<br /><br />For those who turn from self love, and begin to love and trust Jesus Christ, their righteousness has already been secured by Christ.<br /><br />So, finally, we must ask ourselves, do we love the Lord Jesus?<br /><br />Let’s have a look back to verse 5:<br /><br />5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.<br /><br />Chris Wirght writes, “God is one whole single God, so you must love him with the whole single you.”<br /><br />We are not merely to go through what our heart and soul and strength are, and thus find all kinds of other faculties within us that do not need to love the Lord. Heart, soul and strength are to signify the whole person.<br /><br />Whatever faculties we have are to be exercised in the love of the LORD.<br /><br />Heart:<br /><br />Not heart as in Romantic, but heart as in Wholehearted.<br /><br />It’s the love of the mother who does everything she can to dash across the city in time to see her daughter in the school play.<br /><br />Are we committed to spend time reflecting on what God has done.<br /><br />That seems to be the force of 5-8.<br /><br />Love for God isn’t something that happens merely spontaneously. It must be cultivated.<br /><br />One of the biggest causes of marital breakdown in this country is the idea that it isn’t love if it isn’t spontaneous.<br /><br />People can get through the first months of a marriage almost entirely upon hormones.<br /><br />But you can’t do that with a lifelong marriage. The marriage sustains the hormones, not the other way around.<br /><br />Commitment is a more truly love than obsession.<br /><br />Yet anyone who has been in one knows that committed loving relationships must be worked at.<br /><br />There is no short cut to a deepening love of God. We love him more the better we know Him. That means we love him more as we spend time reading his word, and thinking about it, and learning it off by heart and talking about it with our families and our friends.<br /><br />This isn’t to be a whole extra set of rules – the Pharisees got it wrong when they had bible texts written all over them, but didn’t let them affect their hearts.<br /><br />Certainly put bible texts on your screen savers, but unless you read them and think about them they won’t do you any good!<br /><br />It means being the first one in a group of friends to start talking about things that God has been teaching you about him, and asking your friends what they have been learning about the Lord.<br /><br />Soul:<br /><br />It’s the love of the teenager who loves watching to his Dad fixing the car (I live in doubt that my sons will love me like that as a teenager).<br /><br />It means desiring God. Enjoying Him. Realising that there is no life outside of him. You see, when we spend time reflecting on what God is like, if we believe in him, our love for Him will grow.<br /><br />Knowledge and love go hand in hand in the bible. The better we know God, the more we love him.<br /><br />Some people seem to think that the more we are in the dark about God, the more we will love Him because he is mysterious.<br /><br />I can’t think of anywhere in the bible where we are told to love God for things that we don’t know about him. No! if you want to love God more, get to know Him better. That’s why he has gone to all the trouble of revealing himself.<br /><br />Strength:<br /><br />Action comes in here as well. It’s not just affection, though it must be affection. This is the love of the Husband who gets his buddies round and creates a new garden when His wife is away.<br />The love of the friend who sees that you are in financial need and writes you a big fat cheque.<br /><br />In terms of our love for the Lord, this means using everything that he has given us in His service.<br /><br />If he has given you a brain, then use it to think about him.<br /><br />If he has given you children, remember that they are his before they are yours. Your faithfulness as a parent is measured by how well they know His word from you.<br /><br />See that in verse 7<br /><br />Impress them upon your children…<br /><br />Why do you think that the Lord has given you children? What are you going to teach your children to value? Things God has made, or the God who made them? <br />What we teach our children to value reveals what we really value ourselves.<br />Good behaviour? We value being respected by others above all else.<br />Hard work? That is what we value<br />A bit of peace and quiet? We teach our children to value that above the Lord.<br />One of the great encouragements of conducting membership interviews here are the number of people – maybe nearly half of those whom I interview who talk about how they consistently heard the gospel from their parents from as early as they could remember.<br />May that be true of our children.<br /><br />Children: do you know why the Lord has given you parents? He has given you parents to teach you more about him. The parent-child relationship is to be a model of God's self-sacrificial love to you, but also the place where you hear about God. Ask them more questions about God. If they don't know the answers, ask them to find them out - that is their responsibility as a parent. if your parents are trying to follow the Lord I cannot tell you what an encouragement it would be for them to hear you ask them to teach them more about the Lord and how to know his love.<br /><br />Our conversations show whether we love the Lord.<br /><br />V7 Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.<br /><br />Is Jesus always on our lips. Through the lunchtime evangelism talks I’ve had the privilege of seeing a little window into Andy Swiston’s life at work. He is there almost every week, and often with another colleague with whom he is faithfully sharing the gospel.<br /><br />That kind of consistent witness will not come by gritting your teeth and deciding to be a more faithful evangelist. It will come from a devotional life that loves the Lord, and so of course he will be on your lips all day long.<br /><br />What patterns are there in your life to ensure that you are thinking upon God’s word when you get up and when you go to bed. If you are doing that, it is far more likely that he will be on your lips through the whole day.<br /><br />Spend some time this afternoon thinking about all that the Lord has given you. How are you spending that in love for the LORD?<br /><br />If he has given you money, then think about how you can best use that so that God will be better known, and so that you can enjoy him, not just his world.<br /><br /><br />Does the command to love seem a burden, or a joy…?<br /><br />“Love the Lord” is not a burdensome command.<br />If you do not trust Christ today, the Lord commands you to love him.<br /><br />But it isn’t the command of a vindictive schoolteacher who is trying to ruin your fun.<br /><br />It is the command of a loving King, who longs to have a relationship with you, where you love him because you’ve realised just how much he has loved you.<br /><br />In the end this is why it is not only appropriate, but good and loving of the Lord to command us to love him: we can find joy nowhere else.<br /><br />God is no maleficent dictator who commands us to love him to fulfil something lacking in himself. He is a beneficent Lord, who commands us to love him for if we don’t, everything will be lacking in US.<br /><br />Love cannot be a burden. It is love that removes our burdens.<br />It is the love God has for us that removes our guilt if we trust in Jesus.<br /><br />In the end the Lord commands us to love him, for that is the only route to joy. We were not created to find our joy in our own purposes, but to find our joy in the purposes of God.<br /><br />Jonathan Edwards writes,<br /><br />“The most benevolent, generous person in the world seeks his own happiness in doing good to others, because he places his happiness in their good. His mind is enlarged as to take them, as it were, into himself. Thus when they are happy, he feels it; he partakes with them, and is happy in their happiness. This is so far from being inconsistent with the freeness of beneficence, that, on the contrary, free benevolence and kindness consists in it.<br /><br />Is your joy wrapped up in your own finite, selfish happiness, or will you love God, and find your joy is His infinite unbounded happiness for which you were created?Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-89254615206649274232007-08-30T07:06:00.000-07:002007-08-31T10:51:42.077-07:00Deuteronomy 5: Obeying the LordDeut 5. This sermon was preached at CHBC.<br />the audio can be found <a href="http://www.chbcaudio.org/2007/05/20/obeying-the-lord-deuteronomy-5-7/">here</a><br /><br />People typically have a love hate relationship with law, and not just those who’ve had to study for law finals in the last few weeks…!<br /><br />Aristotle insisted upon our need for law:<br />“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from LAW and justice he is the worst.”<br /><br />The British Prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli was less positive:<br />“When men are pure, LAWs are useless; when men are corrupt, LAWs are broken.”<br /><br />Martin Luther King took a middle ground of seeing law’s usefulness, but limitations:<br /><br />“It may be true that the LAW cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.’<br /><br />On the whole, though, our attitude to the law is much less principled and philosphical, and much more self-interested.<br /><br />When we like the law, it isn’t usually because we think it is inherently good. We like it when it is on our side.<br /><br />I don’t know if you are like me, but this attitude to the law shows up particularly clearly when I am behind the wheel of my car. When someone drives past me at some speed, I find myself saying, “don’t you know that there’s a 25mph speed limit.” However, when I’m in a rush, my words might be different: “25mph… that’s a ridiculous speed limit.”<br /><br />We like the law when it is on our side. But at other times we like to think that we know rather better than the law.<br /><br />I wonder, What’s your reaction to the idea that God commands our obedience?<br /><br />He is not just a spiritual counsellor who gives us the Ten Suggestions to take or leave. He is the Sovereign Lord who gave his people the Ten Commandments to be obeyed.<br /><br />I fear that our reaction to God’s commandments is often similar to our reaction to human laws.<br /><br />We don’t think immediately about whether it is appropriate for God to demand our obedience. We merely think about whether we like the idea.<br /><br />The bible is very well aware that the idea of a God who commands our obedience does not appeal to us. Yet we must not allow that which instantly appeals to us to be the judge of whether or not it is true or good. For the bible is also very clear that we have warped tastes. Like a child who wants that second bag of cotton candy, blindly following our desires will often seriously harm us.<br /><br /><br />It is probably a loving thing that I don’t allow my five year old the freedom to have that second bag of candy, or decide her own bedtime. She would use that freedom to harm herself. But I hope she will have the freedom to decide that for herself long before her wedding night!<br /><br />There are two kinds of parents aren’t there: there are those who want to encourage their children to fly, and those who want to clip their wings. We understand the need for restrictive rules for young children. But shouldn’t we grow out of them?<br /><br />But, throughout the bible God commands our total obedience.<br /><br />Why?<br /><br />Is he like a repressive parent who will not allow his children to grow up and make their own decisions? Does he want to limit his people’s fun and enjoyment of life?<br /><br />No! he is completely the opposite. He is a loving God who knows what is good for us because he made us.<br /><br />It isn’t appropriate that we go on laying down rules for our children for the rest of their lives, because in the end we are no different to them – we’re just a little older.<br /><br />I am a sinful fallen creature like my children. I hope and pray that as they grow, they will look less and less to me for guidance, and more and more to the Lord himself, whose guidance I am trying to spoonfeed to them at the moment.<br /><br />Why then is it so appropriate that God should demand our obedience? And not just children, but all of us?<br /><br />To answer this question we are going to turn to the book of Deuteronomy.<br />Deuteronomy is a book full of the Lord’s commands, given to the people of Israel enter the Promised Land.<br />Lord willing, On three occasions over the summer we are going to look at the first three chapters of a long section of Deuteronomy that is largely comprised of the Lord’s commands.<br /><br />And yet we will find that in the Lord who commands obedience, we don’t find a repressive parent who won’t let us grow to maturity. Instead, we will find that the maturity to which we are to grow is a mature understanding of who God is. We are created to know God.<br /><br />And, once we realise who this God is, we will see just how appropriate, and in fact liberating obedience to him is.<br /><br />As CS Lewis wrote in his autobiography,<br /><br />If you ask why we should obey God, in the last resort the answer is, 'I am.' To know God is to know that our obedience is due to Him. C.S. Lewis<br /><br />This morning we are going to look at what is undoubtedly the most well known of all the times when the Lord commands his people’s obedience.<br /><br />We are going to look together at Deuteronomy chapter 5.<br /><br />Page_________________________<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As we look together at God’s word from this chapter we will see three aspects of God’s character to which obedience is the only appropriate respond. We will see the Lord’s Loving rule, his Beautiful Character and his Absolute Holiness.<br /><br />To each of these, our response must be to fall at his feet in humble obedient worship.<br /><br />That will form the basis of our outline. Obedience to the Lord is appropriate because to obey god is<br /><br />1. To recognise God’s Loving Rule (1-6)<br />2. To reflect God’s Beautiful Character (7-21)<br />3. To revere God’s Absolute Holiness. (22-33)<br /><br />So, firstly, to obey God couldn’t be more appropriate because in obedience we<br /><br />1. Recognise God’s Loving Rule (1-6)<br /><br /> 1 Moses summoned all Israel and said:<br /> Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our fathers that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. 4 The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. 5 (At that time I stood between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:<br /> 6 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.<br />This is not in fact the first time that Israel had received the Ten Commandments. In verse 2, Moses reminds the people that the Ten Commandments were originally given at Mount Horeb, another name for mount Sinai.<br /><br />Just as the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life had been the signs of the covenant with Adam, so the tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them were to be the centrepiece of the covenant that God made with his people at Sinai, what is sometimes called the Mosaic covenant, and sometimes called the Old Covenant.<br /><br />Because they are at the centre of the Old Covenant, there has been some debate amongst Christians as to how we are to read them this side of the cross of Jesus, as members of the NEW covenant.<br /><br />What is certainly clear is that the New Testament repeats 9 of them (all but the commandment concerning the Sabbat, and applies them without much modification to New Covenant believers.<br /><br />Some have suggested that they are timeless laws given to all people, as they are written by God himself onto the tablets – they are a summary of the timeless law of God.<br /><br />I’m not sure that this is entirely right, as there are aspects of the Ten Commandments that locate them very clearly in Israel’s historical context.<br />V6, shows that they are given to the nation who had been slaves in Egypt.<br />Well, my only experience of Egypt has been the tansit lounge of Cairo airport. They seemed quite happy to let me go.<br /><br />Second, even those who would think that there is still a Sabbath for Christians would almost all agree that the Sabbath is no longer Saturday. And thus there is something at least that has changed in the way that we see the law as New Covenant believers.<br /><br />The Ten Commandments are a the centre of how Israel was to relate to God. Thus, most of the Ten Commandments we can see as a timeless reflection of the character of God, but there are also within them three aspects that point to who Israel was as God’s Old Covenant people<br />There are three defining events of the nation of Israel woven into the Ten commandments.<br /><br />The exodus from Egypt (6, 15), the promised land in which they would live (16), and the weekly Sabbath (12-15)by which they would be constantly reminded of their call to be a distinct and holy nation.<br /><br />So, when we take away the national markers of exodus, land and Sabbath, the ethical force of the Nine remaining commandments remains unchanged.<br /><br />And Hebrews 4 Tells us that the Sabbath command is fulfilled by recognising our identity as the New Covenant people of God who find their rest in Christ, and will one day rest with him in heaven. If you want to read more about how to read the law as New Testament believers, I suggest you find a copy of Christopher Wright’s book, “Old Testament Ethics for the people of God.”<br /><br />The embedding of the Ten Commandments within this national framework is significant. The Commands of God are not merely expressions of his character, but express his relationship with us: real people in real time and space in a real relationship with God<br /><br />That is, God’s rule comes to us in the form of covenants which he has worked in history. Have a look at verse 1-2.<br /><br /> 1 Moses summoned all Israel and said:<br /> Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them.<br /><br />2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.<br /><br />The one who gives his law is the Covenant Lord. That is, he is the Lord whom we are made to relate to as king.<br />God is the one who made us, and so he alone knows what we were made for. We were made to enjoy serving him, worshipping him, honouring him as king.<br />Have you ever wondered why life sometimes seems so empty and purposeless? We try to look for things to give us purpose. But they don’t satisfy. There is a good reason for this. God designed us to find true satisfaction only in him. He is infinite in his beauty, in his love, in his perfection. Of course anything but him will not do.<br />He calls us to relate to him in a covenant: a covenant where he is Lord, and we enjoy being his creatures.<br />And he has gone to enormous lengths to bring this covenant about.<br />6 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.<br />God had performed extraordinary miracles to rescue his people…<br />On the night before God brought them out he sent down his judgement onto Egypt. Every firstborn son was killed. But in the houses of Israel, God had told them to spread the blood of a lamb upon the doorposts. Wherever the blood was seen that house was passed over, and the son would live. That was just one of many miracles that the Lord used to bring them out.<br />The bible is clear that we all have a far worse slavery than the brutal slavemasters in Egypt. We have an internal slavery to sin. In our foolishness we imagine that our disobedience towards God is an exercise of our freedom. It is a terrible slavery that we cannot escape without our loving king rescuing us.<br />If you are not a Christian today, perhaps you think that this language of slavery is a little too strong. My friend, look at this world. Look at the evil that we are all capable of. Think of the people you most love in the world. Have you ever wondered why we are incapable of loving each other without ever hurting each other. It is because we are enslaved to our own selfishness. The only people we don’t hurt are those we don’t allow to get close enough to us to experience our malicious nature.<br />But praise God, as surely as he brought Israel out from slavery in Egypt, he is bringing a people out of slavery to sin.<br />But the covenant he calls us into is not the covenant that he forged by bringing his people out of slavery in Egpyt by the blood of a Passover lamb.<br />Christians are all still sinners. But we have become opposed to our sin, rather than partners with it. And one day our rescue will be complete.<br />As William Cowper’s hymn put’s it,<br />Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power<br />Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.<br />If we doubt that the Lord’s commands are for our benefit, we need only look at what the Lord has done for us so that he might bring us into the joy of obeying him.<br />The Ten commandmets are not the restrictive commands of a Despot to His mistreated subjects. They are the Loving Commands of the Great Redeemer King.<br /><br />I wonder whether you think that these two ideas of grace, that is undeserved love, and command can really go together. Can God’s commands really be a sign of his grace?<br /><br />They can, because in sitting at his feet and following his commands, we learn more about what he loves, and who he is. We learn about what it means to be a human being made in his image.<br /><br />If God gave us no commands we would be left with ourselves at the center, and we do not make good gods.<br /><br />Yet God has given us commands, and called us to obedience, so that we might find our identity reflecting his beautiful character.<br /><br />Reflecting his Beautiful Character 7-21<br /><br />For those of you taking notes, that’s our second point:<br /><br />To obey couldn’t be more fitting because in obedience we are<br />Reflecting the character of God.<br /><br />We could easily have not just a sermon, but a whole series of sermons on each of the Ten Commandments. We are going to look at them all just in this one point of this one sermon. I hope that an advantage of doing this is that we will quickly see the beautiful display of character shine through his commands.<br /><br />The ten commandments fall into two types: those discussing particularly our relationship with him, and those that show the outworking of our covenant with him in our relationship with others.<br /><br />1. Honouring the way the Lord want us to honour him.<br /> <br />- Exclusive<br />7 "You shall have no other gods before [a] me.<br /><br />- When we read, “You will have no other gods before me.” That doesn’t mean we’re allowed to have a few after the LORD. As long as the wife, the kids and the job remain a close 2nd, 3rd and 4th, that is fine!<br /><br />No, we are to have no other gods in the LORD’s presence.<br />It’s like the husband saying to his wife, you may not have other lovers.<br /><br />- Prescriptive… How? We may not worship God with images<br /><br /> 8 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.<br /><br /><br />This means primarily that we will let God determine the shape of our relationship with God.<br /><br />We must expect to find not only who we are to worship, but also how we are to worship in the bible.<br /><br />That is why you can fairly easily predict what we will do in our Sunday morning services… we’ll do the things that the Lord commands us to do. Pray, read scripture, preach and a handful of other things.<br /><br />But far more importantly, that is why it is vitally important that you put you faith in Christ alone.<br /><br />Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except by me.”<br /><br />I wonder if you like the idea of having a relationship with God, but react against any kind of organised religion. You’d have a lot of company. Spirituality is popular today. Christianity isn’t.<br /><br />Yet do we think that we can set the terms on which we can approach God.<br /><br />My friend, to think that we can approach God as we see fit is a dangerous delusion. He has said that only by faith in Jesus. If you are unsure why God would have us believe in Jesus, we are glad you are here, and I or pretty much anyone around you would love to talk with you about that afterwards.<br /><br />We cannot worship God as we see fit. We are not created to live as we see fit. We are created to live our lives under God’s loving rule.<br />Those in the west often dismiss this command because we readily see the foolishness of consciously bowing down to a stone image. But I fear that much of our mocking of that kind of idolatry is that we have bcome such materialists that we think that any form of worship is ridiculous.<br />Those who bow down to wooden or stone idols at least recognize something about our nature as human beings that may be lost on us. We are creatures who are designed to worship. We cannot but worship. that which captivates us, we are worshipping.<br /><br />How foolish we are in the west to worship things that we don’t even pretend to be gods. We worship our own fleeting ambition. We worship our appearance, we worship our own inner self, and call it spirituality. It is merely idolatry.<br /><br />- Careful… What? We cannot worship without carefulness<br /><br /> 11 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.<br /><br />When we think of taking the Lord’s name in vain, we often think about using God’s name as a swear word. This would certainly be an example of taking the Lord’s name in vain.<br /><br />But name in Hebrew thought is more than just a word. It represents God’s character. Do you realise that every time you talk carelessly about God, you take His name in vain.<br /><br />- Dependent… We cannot worship without dependence<br /><br /> 12 "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.<br /><br />One of the key things about worshipping the Lord is to recognise that He is the provider of everything. We may not imagine that just because we earn a salary that somehow we provide for ourselves. The Lord provides.<br />This is freedom then: we do not need to feel that the Lord cannot provide for us unless we use all our resources – our time, our finances, our energy, in supplying our physical needs.<br /><br />We are not slaves. We have been redeemed.<br /><br />Those who have been rescued by Jesus Christ are no longer slaves to sin, or to this world. We belong to heaven, and the more of the Lord’s resources we invest in the Lord’s kingdom, the greater will be our joy. Our Sabbath rest is found in not thinking that we can provide our own righteousness, but trusting in the Lord’s provision in Christ.<br /><br />What do you think of this portrayal of God in the first four commandments?<br /><br />I wonder what you think of that little word in the middle of verse 9: For I, the Lord your God am a Jealous God.<br /><br />Can you see how even this jealousy is a beautiful thing. Jealousy is not like covetousness, that is prohibited in the 10th commandment. Covetousness desires that which does not belong to it. Our Jealous God desires that which is rightfully his.<br /><br />Do you know that God desires you? He is a jealous God. He is rightly angered when you wander away from him to something that would rob you from him. He desires to pour out his love upon you, and hates to see you spurn him.<br /><br />In his desire for you he has made a way for you to be rescued.<br />Verse 15: Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.<br /><br />I do not know what false gods would enslave you today. The Lord your God would rescue you, and bring you out. His hand is mighty. Whatever the state of your life, he is powerful to rescue you. His arm is outstrectched – however much you have spurned him, he is willing to rescue you. Will you rest your hand in his, turn from your slavery to sin, and put your trust in the strong arm of Jesus Christ?<br /><br />We are to approach God recognising his character.<br /><br />But we are also to reflect God’s character outwards in the way we relate to others.<br /><br />- Respect for Authority<br /><br /> 16 "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.<br /><br /><br />Some of us react against authority: “all authority is authoritarianism.”<br />But that was the lie that the serpent told Adam and Eve. There is such a thing as a right us of authority. God’s intention in parenthood is that the first people we are closest to will be models of loving authority.<br /><br />God has woven authority/ submission relationships into the fabric of human society so that we could understand something of what it means that there is a God.<br /><br />God is Father: we too have fathers.<br /><br />God is leader: we have human leaders.<br /><br />- The authority figures are called to model God’s authority<br />- The submission figures are called to model submission to the Lord.<br /><br />Do we trust that the Lord is wise in asking us to obey the authorities he has put over us, even when those authorities may seem unwise to us?<br /><br />- Respect for Life<br />17 "You shall not murder.<br /><br />Human life is a great gift from God.<br /><br />We are to treat every human being with dignity. Not because they are good, none of us are. In terms of inherent worth, we are all worthless rebels. (romans 3:10-12)<br /><br />But every human is valuable because God assigns the value of being God’s image bearer.<br /><br />Do we trust the Lord that even if we are repayed evil for good, then it is still good for us to show sacrificial love to all human beings, even our enemies?<br /><br />- Respect for Marriage<br /><br />18 "You shall not commit adultery.<br /><br />Sex is a wonderful gift from God. It is like beautiful music. But imagine if we took a old vinal record of the most beautiful music and tried to play it using an old rusty nail.<br /><br />That’s what sex outside of marriage is like.<br /><br />We need to trust that the Lord knows what he has designed for. It is a physical picture of marriage vows.<br /><br />Do we trust the Lord when he says that all sexual thoughts and behaviour should be directed towards our spouse, and if we do not have a spouse it will do us harm to indulge them?<br /><br />- Respect for Property<br /><br /> 19 "You shall not steal.<br /><br />God gives people things. Ownership is something only human beings have, because we are God’s image bearers, and he is the great owner. So to rob someone else is to rob God. To treat other people’s property with no respect is to treat the Lord with no respect.<br /><br />Do we trust that the Lord has been wise in not giving us things and giving them to others?<br /><br />- Respect for Justice<br /><br />You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.<br /><br />The Lord is the ultimate just God. We may not say we love him, and seek to pervert justice, whether in the eyes of the law or of any person.<br /><br />Who do we believe? Do we believe the Lord, that we should tell the truth whatever the consequences? Do we trust that his commands are good?<br /><br /> To obey the Lord is to trust His word. To trust that his commands are loving.<br /><br /><br />- Respect for Providence.<br /><br />"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."<br /><br />Do we trust that the Lord works all things for the good of those who love him.<br /><br />If he hasn’t seen fit to give you a spouse, and you long for one, in the end that is for your own good. If he has seen fit to give you a spouse, trust that this one the best possible one for you, all things considered.<br /><br />Whatever the Lord has or hasn’t given you is for your good – don’t look wistfully at what he has given others.<br />__________<br /><br />Wouldn’t this be a beautiful world if we all lived like this, displaying to one another the character of God as we were designed to as his image bearers?<br /><br />What a beautiful character God has that it is displayed in such wonderful laws.<br /><br />I wonder where you look for beauty in your life… art? Music? The mirror!<br /><br />All true beauty is derivative. It is merely suggestive of, or reflective of the beautiful character of God. A truly beautiful life is a life lived deliberately reflecting God’s character. A truly beautiful life is a life of obedience.<br /><br />Is that the kind of life you want to live?<br /><br />Thirdly…<br /><br />Obdience is appropriate because to obey is to<br /><br />3. Revere his Absolute Holiness<br /><br /> 22 These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.<br /> 23 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me. 24 And you said, "The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. 25 But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. 26 For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? 27 Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey."<br /> 28 The LORD heard you when you spoke to me and the LORD said to me, "I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. 29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!<br /> 30 "Go, tell them to return to their tents. 31 But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess."<br /> 32 So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.<br /><br /><br />We cannot fault the law. The people standing before Moses recognised its goodness. It made them want to obey.<br /><br />V27<br /><br />27 Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey."<br /><br />Obedience to the Lord is right and beautiful. How can we deny that?<br /><br />Even God agrees.<br /><br />28 The LORD heard you when you spoke to me and the LORD said to me, "I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good.<br /><br /> 32 So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.<br />If we were to live like God commanded, we would live in harmony with each other and with him for ever.<br /><br /><br />But there is a problem.<br /><br />Why do you think that we live in a world where God’s law isn’t honoured?<br /><br />V29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!<br />It is now illegal to publish the Ten Commandments on the walls of many public schools. But we make a huge mistake if we think that this is the main problem in our society.<br /><br />Our problem isn’t merely that our children don’t know what God wants. Ignorance is not the problem.<br /><br />It is far more difficult to deal with than that. Our problem is in our hearts.<br /><br />Within a generation we have the book of Judges – where Israel asts as if they have no God at all.<br /><br />Within a millennium they are exiled.<br /><br />The law can show us God’s goodness. But it will show us our rebelliousness. It can reveal God’s holy standards, but has no power to keep us from wandering away from him.<br /><br />It’s like that sunlight that shines into a dusty room. It shows us that we were not as good as we thought we were.<br /><br />Think through the Ten Commandments again. When we see what God loves it shows up how our hearts are not obedient to our great king.<br /><br />The Lord loves undivided hearts that worship him alone.<br /> We love to worship things that he has made.<br /> <br />The Lord loves right worship.<br />We love to think that we know better than him.<br />We love to think that we can impress him and boast before him.<br />We think and act as if our own abilities, many years of service of him, our self-sacrifical love, our sufferings all commend us to him.<br />In doing so we deny the sufficiency and beauty of the only way we can be put right with him – the cross of Jesus.<br />The Lord loves the honour of your name.<br /> We talk casually about him as if he were only a man.<br />The Lord loves to provide rest<br />We work as if this world were all there was.<br />And our relaxation is too often rest from him rather than rest in him.<br />The Lord loves authority<br /> We hate the authorities that our kind Lord has put over us. From childhood we have screamed at our parents when they led us in any way we didn’t want to go. This same attitude is still present in our hearts, whether it be with the government, with the elders of this church, with husbands, with employers.<br />The Lord loves life<br /> We treat our own life as if it were ultimate, and others lives as if they were of little value. We do not grieve wasted life like he does.<br />You love marriage<br /> We too often love adultery in our hearts.<br />You love your providential distribution of property.<br /> We jealously love things that do not even belong to us, and we want to have them.<br />You love truth and justice<br />We love anything that makes us seem good in comparison to others. We love the lie that we are ultimately worthy of people’s praise.<br />You love contentment.<br /> We love to imagine ourselves differently than you have made us; we demand different gifts, differently behaved families, different circumstances. We don’t trust that you are indeed loving towards us.<br /><br />Before God’s law we stand guilty and condemned, and none of us could bear the punishment we deserve in all of eternity.<br /><br />The people of Israel heard the law and, though they knew they should obey, they wanted to hide behind God. A God with such a pure and holy law would surely destroy them. For they were neither pure nor holy.<br /><br />23 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me. 24 And you said, "The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. 25 But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. 26 For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? 27 Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey."<br /><br />You go near God, Moses, but not us. We will surely die.<br /><br />God is revealing to us today in his law that he is holy and we are not. We will one day stand before his presence with nobody to hide behind, and he should surely destroy us.<br /><br />As jim Packer writes, “Men are opposed to God in their sin. God is opposed to men in His holiness.”<br /><br />Did you know that God is being kind in revealing to us his coming Judgement? For when we know that we cannot stand before God, we will cast ourselves upon his mercy. And he has provided a place for us to stand. There is nobody for us to hide behind. But there is one in whom we may hide. There is a mediator.<br /><br />In his book ‘Christ our mediator” CJ Mahaney’s writes,<br /><br />“We’re quite familiar today in business and legal arenas with the process of mediation. Typically, two parties are in conflict, each feeling wronged or in imminent danger of being wronged by the other, but they share together a willingness to seek a solution through a neutral third party.<br />That picture is almost totally unlike the kind of mediation needed between God and humanity.<br />Both situations, it’s true, involve parties in opposition. But in the conflict between God and man, only one party has been offended. God has been profoundly and acutely aggrieved by the other party. He himself is fully innocent, entirely without fault or blame.<br />The other party (all of humanity) is undeniably, categorically, and completely guilty – yet this guilty party does not even care to be reconciled, but is locked in active hostility to the other party. In contrast, God is fully committed to resolution with the violators.<br />Yet the incredible news for us all is that there is someone to arbitrate between God and humanity. There is someone to touch us both.<br /><br />The apostle Paul writes,<br /><br /> God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.<br /><br />God in his kindness has given us his law, so that we might find our need for his Son, and find our rest in him.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-27694049027040057352007-07-09T07:17:00.001-07:002007-08-31T10:50:55.311-07:00Matthew 12This sermon was first preached at CHBC, June 2006<br /><br />Matthew 12 Sermon.<br /><br />When they can’t think of what else to do, radio stations in the UK will have a phone-in to discover the best songs of all time. About half of the best songs are always written in the last year. But of those whose popularity outlasts the passing fads, John Lennon’s song is always somewhere near the top.<br /><br />Imagine there's no Heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one<br /><br />John Lennon was neither the first nor the last person to suggest that we would all just get along a whole lot better if it wasn’t for religion.<br /><br />Is Lennon right? Do we just have to look at the middle east today to see that religion leads to war. When religious differences make for such hostility in this world, should we lay them aside? Should we work at what really matters… peace?<br /><br />Is it that simple?<br /><br />Well, only if it what we believe has no serious or lasting consequences.<br />Jesus doesn’t allow us to think that.<br />For Jesus has established his kingdom, and, he insists that we are all either citizens of that kingdom – or we are enemies of his kingdom – there is no middle ground. “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters,” he says.<br /><br />Just as we saw growing confusion about Jesus in chapter 11, here we see rising opposition. All religions are not one, for there is a kind of religion that is against everything that Jesus is and everything that he stands for.<br />We all have one form of religion or another, because none of us is neutral towards Jesus. Either we honor him, or we oppose him.<br />Either we live for him, or for ourselves.<br /><br />The rising opposition to Jesus was self-righteous, self-sufficient, and ultimately self-centered.<br />We need to ask ourselves: is this our religion. Are we for Jesus, or against him?<br />Who is on the throne? Jesus or self?<br /><br /><br />1-14 Self-Righteous Religion Disputes Jesus’ Compassion (1166)<br /><br />PAGE NUMBERS…<br /><br /><br />Read 1-8<br /><br />1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."<br /> 3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one[<a title="See footnote a" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23496a">a</a>] greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'[<a title="See footnote b" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23497b">b</a>] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."<br />It was perfectly legal for people to eat food from farmers’ fields. (Deuteronomy 23). It was one of the ways in which God had set up the nation of Israel to demonstrate his extraordinary generosity. The Promised Land was to be one where there would be nobody so poor as to have no food.<br /><br />The Pharisees knew this would have been permissible 6 days a week, but the Pharisees insisted not on the Sabbath. (V.2) You’ll notice how often the phrase, “on the Sabbath” comes.<br />That was actually disputable. But, as Jesus does so often, he doesn’t reply according to the terms laid out by his opponents.<br />Jesus turns their question into an opportunity to teach further about himself, for far more important than a dispute about the minutiae of the law (literally a few grains) was what they were doing with Jesus. He exposes that they were not really interested in following God’s law, but merely in proving themselves righteous.<br />Jesus had said, “Come to me and I will give you rest.” They thought that they were quite capable of receiving God’s rest without Jesus.<br /><br />So, Jesus turns to 3 passages of the Old Testament to show that they were abusing Scripture: history, law, prophets.<br /><br />He turns to 1 Samuel and to Leviticus to show that the ceremonial laws such as the Sabbath were not quite so strict as they suggested. Their were exceptions in times of need, or for the service of greater laws. David and the priests show that.<br />But as well as showing the flexibility of the law for the sake of compassion, Jesus has also shown that he is more important either than King David, or than the temple…<br />Well, Jesus says… v.6 “I tell you, one greater than the temple is here.”<br />Of course Jesus’ disciples must work in their service of Jesus on the Sabbath – for he is the locus of worship – he’s the real thing of which the temple was only a model. Jesus is the greater king than David<br />Then he turns to Hosea to show that the law wasn’t and end in itself, but an expression of people’s devotion to the Lord. So to obey the externals of the law, yet to have a hard heart was to miss the point of it.<br /><br />But ultimately they missed the point of it because it was to point to Jesus. The son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.<br /><br />This didn’t mean that Jesus could ignore Sabbath. No, he is saying that he keeps it with a pure heart and he fulfils it. The Sabbath is a picture of the rest that God brings his people. As we saw in chapter 11, Jesus brings the reality of that rest.<br />Jesus in effect is saying, you cannot claim to have any knowledge of God’s word, if, when you see Jesus you don’t even recognize him as the God who wrote it!<br /><br />Both their lack of compassion, and their blindness to Jesus’ more compassionate reading of the law becomes even clearer.<br /><br />Read 9-14<br /><br />9Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"<br /> 11He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."<br /> 13Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other<br />Jesus’ asks questions that show that the Pharisees aren’t as consistent about working on the Sabbath as they claimed.<br />They wouldn’t leave a sheep in a pit for 24 hours, though it would take rather more work than picking corn, or than it took Jesus to heal a man.<br /><br />The way in which the Pharisees were applying Sabbath laws spoke of their bitterness and capriciousness. They will show more mercy to a sheep than to a man.<br /><br />Whereas Jesus heals the man. He will not have him suffer for another minute.<br />Why? 12 because “It is law to do good on the Sabbath.”<br /><br />[Yet, he’s also showing that God approves of his’ view of the Sabbath. How would he be able to perform miracles on the Sabbath unless God is at work in him on the Sabbath, thus approving of his actions?]<br /><br />The section closes with biting irony: those who saw themselves as the protectors of the Sabbath. Those who would not even do good if it mean doing work. How do they spend their Sabbath… in the worship of God!?<br /><br />. 14But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.<br />They strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, forbidding a grain of wheat and planning the murder of the Son of God.<br /><br />Self-righteous religion will always end up bitter. Because we know that we are not good enough to be righteous in ourselves, and the only way we can make ourselves feel that good is by pointing out the tiny visible flaws of others.<br />How tragic. For the very God who gave them the law they depended upon is a God of mercy. And they did not know his mercy. He desires mercy not sacrifice, because he offers us mercy. If we have received mercy from him, how can we not show mercy to others?<br /><br />What is our reaction when we discover other people’s sin in this church? Are we saddened but compassionate, or does it secretly make us feel just a little bit better about ourselves. My brothers and sisters, we all need God’s mercy. Our tendencies towards self-righteous religion will blind us to Jesus’ compasson, and stop us from being compassionate to others.<br /><br />Self-Rigtheous religion is like the person shipwrecked in the middle of the Atlantic refusing to be rescues help because they would rather swim, proud that they are the best swimmer they know.<br /><br />15-37 Self-sufficient Religion Demonizes Jesus’ Spirituality. (2282)<br /><br />Read 15-21<br />15Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, 16warning them not to tell who he was. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 18"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. 20A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. 21In his name the nations will put their hope."[<a title="See footnote c" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23511c">c</a>]<br /><br /><br />Wouldn’t it have been extraordinary to be one of Jesus’ disciples watching Jesus heal so many? God has occasionally performed miracles in Israel’s history, but the sheer number of miracles Jesus is performing is unprecedented. “Many followed him. He healed all their sick.”<br />It was a clear demonstration of the power of God’s Spirit.<br />His kingdom might be encountering growing opposition. But it is spiritual kingdom that is not hostile by nature. It is a kingdom that is offered to all from every nation. It is a kingdom that gently woes people into it.<br />There is a growing spiritual battle, yes, but it is not the kind of battle where there is collateral damage. Jesus does not see human life as being cheap. The kingdom will not advance with the sword, but with the gentle invitation.<br /><br />There is a growing fear today of any beliefs that are held to be un-negotiable, because the fear is that if people think that a truth is worth dying for, then it is a small step to think that it is worth killing for. Those who follow Christ must never take that step, for Jesus didn’t.<br />We can take up arms as citizens of our nations – but the church is never to take up arms or use any other coercive means – that would suggest that Jesus’ kingdom was of this world.<br /><br />To follow Christ means to be willing to be persecuted, never to persecute.<br />Justice is not yet meted our… But Jesus will bring justice to the nations…<br />Is your hope somehow that Jesus will ultimately compromise in his justice? It is a false hope. His justice is delayed but will be final and total.<br />But the opposition grows.<br /><br /> 22Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"<br /> 24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub,[<a title="See footnote d" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23514d">d</a>] the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."<br /> 25Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out?<br />So then, they will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.<br /> 29"Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.<br />The Pharisees can’t deny the miracles; they’ve seen them<br />Yet so determined are they to reject Jesus that they attribute them to supernatural evil. Beelzebub literally meaning ‘Lord of the flies’ was a name given to the God of Ekron. (2 Kings 1) The point they are making is this: Jesus may claim to be a king – but he insn’t like king David as he claims – the king after God’s own heart – he is like the evil king Ahaziah who worshipped foreign gods rather than the Lord.” He’s leading the people astray with miracles.<br /><br />Jesus again doesn’t answer their question directly, but uses two more arguments that point to who he is, and the pharisees’ hypocrisy.<br /><br />1) A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.<br /><br />Jesus is not saying here that there could never be any spirit driven out by a magician using demonic power. Rather, Jesus hasn’t just performed one or two miracles to lull people into a false sense of security. He is performing hundreds of miracles. Whenever he comes across a demon, it runs from him. Whever he comes across someone inflicted with an illness, they are healed. This cannot merely be some strategic giving of ground, because Jesus is taking over all of Satan’s ground. Satan is in massive retreat.<br />To suggest that this is Satan’s strategy would be like saying that D. Day was Hitler’s cunning ploy to lure the allies into Europe.<br /><br /><br />No demon would give up the person they possess without a fight. That’s the point of verse 29 – so would Satan really be all-out-battle against himself like this?<br /><br /> No, even the Pharisees admitted that demons are usually driven out by God’s power – and this number of exorcisms must be by God’s power.<br /><br />And the very fact that Satan is in full-scale retreat can mean only one thing.<br />v.28.<br />“If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”<br />It is possible, like the Pharisees, to study the bible for years, and yet to resist Jesus, to whom the whole thing is pointing.<br /><br />In our times reading the Bible each day, more than anything else, are we delighted with the opportunity to meet with our Lord Jesus?<br />John Owen: “Unto them that believe unto the saving of the soul, he is, he always has been, precious--the sun, the rock, the life, the bread of their souls--every thing that is good, useful, amiable, desirable, here or unto eternity. In, from, and by him, is all their spiritual and eternal life, light, power, growth, consolation, and joy here; with everlasting salvation hereafter….<br />Is Jesus this precious to you?<br />Jesus warns them what a precarious situation their indiffernce puts them in.<br /> 30"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 31And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.<br />Our reaction to Jesus is an electric fence which cannot be sat upon. To sit on the fence is to be opposed to Jesus’ rule.<br />And this is a dangerous situation to be in – for there is such a thing as unforgiven sin.<br />Misunderstanding what Jesus is saying here about the ‘unforgivable sin’ can be very damaging. It is not that if you on a single occasion slander the Holy Spirit that you cannot be forgiven. It is not that somehow the Holy Spirit is more important than Jesus, and so it is a more heinous sin to blaspheme against Jesus than against the Holy Spirit.<br /><br />Rather, it is the Holy Spirit who opens blind eyes. It is he who grants faith. Thus if the Holy Spirit is treated as a demon rather than welcomed then there would be no repentance. Without the work of the Holy Spirit we will always reject Jesus.<br /><br />The bible is clear that we are born spiritually dead. We may be religious. We have spirits – but those spirits have no relationship with our Lord the life-giver.<br />33"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him”<br /><br />You may not consider yourself as evil. You might think of the human race as largely good. But, the evidence is against you. If we were good, says jesus, we would only bear good fruit. But nobody does. Have you ever wondered why every single person in the human race but Jesus is selfish. Doesn’t that seem more than a bit of a coincidence!!?<br /><br />Without the transforming work of he Holy Spirit not one of us could possibly believe in Jesus – that’s not the kind of fruit that self-sufficient people bare.<br /><br />The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor 2:14)<br /><br />This is one of the ways in which many people often misunderstand Christianity – even some who call themselves Christians. It is not just that Christians are encouraged by their Lord not to be manipulative in trying to win converts. It’s that manipulation cannot possibly win any converts at all. Without the Holy spirit changing our natures we will all reject Jesus.<br />A nineteenth century English preacher called Joseph Denham Smith put it like this:<br /><br />'I believe in free will; but then it is a will only free to act according to its nature. A dove has no will to eat carrion; a raven has no will to eat the clean food of the dove. Put the nature of the dove into the raven and it will eat the food of the dove. ... The sinner in his sinful nature could never have a will according to God. For this he must be born again’<br /><br />Jesus is very clear – if you repent of your sin, and trust in Jesus, you will be forgiven.<br />If you are terrified that you have committed the unforgivable sin, then you have not yet committed it. The unforgivable sin is precisely a complacent refusal to trust in Jesus. It demonises Jesus spirituality. It says that his promises are lies and his kingdom evil. The person who commits the unforgiveable sin is not worried about it at all, because, despite the Holy Spirit’s evidence, they consider Jesus an evil worth avoiding.<br /><br />If you do are not a Christian, but you are beginning to realize that the claims of Jesus are true, Jesus is warning you this morning that there are sins that will not be forgiven either in this age, or in the age to come: the sin of beginning to see who he is and then determinedly walking away from him rather than fleeing to him. If you are convinced of who Jesus is, it is a dangerous thing to delay – God has been gracious in giving you today to consider Jesus. He doesn’t promise you tomorrow. Do speak to someone at the door if you are unsure of what it would mean to repent of your sin and trust in Jesus. Pretty much anyone here would love to speak about that to you! For those who do not gather scatter.<br />If you are as yet unconvinced, then God has given you today to consider Jesus.<br /><br />Perhaps you are not following Jesus right now – perhaps you grew up believing the gospel to be true and then walked away – and you wonder if you have committed the unforgiveable sin by wandering away from what you know to be true.<br />If you will turn back to Jesus he will not turn you away. If you will repent, then you have not committed the unforgivable sin. Peter denied three times that he even knew Jesus, yet he was forgiven, and used mightily to be one who gathered and did not scatter.<br />The bruised reed Jesus will not break, and the smoldering wick he will not snuff out.<br />The very fact that you know your need of repentance right now if a gracious sign that God hasn’t finished with you yet.<br />Richard Sibbes wrote a whole book on “the bruised reed”, an excellent book if you struggle with questions of assurance of salvation. In it he writes “If there be any holy fire in us, it is kindled from heaven by the Father of lights, who “commanded the light to shine out of darkness”<br /><br />Jesus makes it clear how desperately we need the work of the Spirit that will enable us to lay hold of God’s mercy.<br />36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."<br />You see, none of us is in a fit state to meet God. The Lord’s standards are perfect. He has promised to punish every sin that you or I have ever committed. Even every careless word spoken will be punished.<br /><br />What can we do to escape God’ anger…? The Pharisees thought that they could depend upon themselves and upon their stringent efforts to keep the law. But they couldn’t. they might as well depend on the devil himself to help them.<br /><br />So how then can we be saved…? V37 By your words you will be acquitted – not by being really polite to people… no but by calling out in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ,.<br /><br />For he is the only one who can take God’s anger away from us. When he died on the cross he bore God’s own personal anger towards me for my sin, and towards everyone else who will ever trust in Christ.<br /><br />Have you committed the unforgiveable sin – in the end your words will show where your heart is – whether your heart still belongs to yourself, or whether you know Jesus as your Lord. If you have Jesus as your Lord then all your sins have been forgiven.<br /><br />Self –dependent religion demonizes Jesus’ spirituality and thus cuts itself off from the only hope of forgiveness –the work of the Holy spirit enabling us to trust Jesus.<br /><br />38-50 Self-Centred Religion Defies Jesus’ Authority (1466)<br /><br />38-42<br /> 38Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."<br /> 39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.<br />The Pharisees ask for a miraculous sign. A man has a shriveled hand completely restored. Another was blind and mute, but now sees and talks. How many miraculous signs do they want!? They want one that is when they ask, rather than when Jesus decides.<br />Do you find this incomprehensibly obtuse?<br />But don’t we do the same thing?<br /><br />I wonder if you are tempted to make demands of God. “Lord, if only you will get me through this week, then I’ll find you trustworthy.” “Lord, if only you’ll get me a job, or a spouse, or a home, or better health, then I will trust you.”<br /><br />Do we realize what we are doing when we say this to God.<br />We are telling him that we have a standard by which we have the right to judge God.<br />No, we will judge Jesus by whether he will give what we want. Effectively we are saying that Jesus is to be judged by whether or not he will obey us.<br /><br />Is that what you want from God? Do you really want a God, who though powerful is effectively tame, like the genie in Alladin’s lamp! A god who is bound by our tiny ideas of what would be good for us?<br />Praise God that he will not pander to such self-centred religion, for he knows that he is the only proper and secure centre.<br />When we share the gospel do we present God as the one who is there and must be worshipped, and had graciously made a way for us to worship him, sinners though we are.<br />Or do we present god as the one who will give people what they want? “Jesus will give you purpose in life. Following Jesus is the best possible way to live your life now. Jesus will meet all your needs.”<br />To worship Jesus is to know the true and living God. But it is also to be hated like Jesus was hated.<br />To turn and follow Jesus is to forsake your allegiance to this desperately attractive world and to submit to Jesus’ Lordship.<br />Christian faith is not about demanding things of Jesus. It is about depending upon Jesus. That is why Christians pray – because we know we depend upon him. But we know also that he is far wiser than we realize. We may ask him for a job or a spouse or health, but if he doesn’t give them to us, he is no less trustworthy.<br />Time and again we can look back on the times when Jesus did not give us what we asked of him, and see that it was a part of his mercy to us.<br />William Cowper suffered from terrible depression. I’m sure that he asked the Lord to lift it 1000 times.<br />Yet, through that darkness the lord brought wonderful testimony to his faithfulness.<br />God moves in a mysterious wayHis wonders to perform;He plants His footsteps in the seaAnd rides upon the storm.<br />Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;The clouds ye so much dreadAre big with mercy and shall breakIn blessings on your head.<br />Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,But trust Him for His grace;Behind a frowning providenceHe hides a smiling face.<br />His purposes will ripen fast,Unfolding every hour;The bud may have a bitter taste,But sweet will be the flower.<br />Blind unbelief is sure to errAnd scan His work in vain;God is His own interpreter,And He will make it plain.<br />If we doubt his goodness to us when he doesn’t give us what we ask, we are to look to the one great sign that he has given us.<br />The sign of Jonah.<br />It is an unusual sign.<br />40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one[<a title="See footnote e" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23531e">e</a>] greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.<br /><br />Many people take this to refer to the resurrection, and it certainly alludes to it. But the focus is not on the resurrection, but on the death and burial of Jesus. It is the days before the resurrection, not the resurrection itself.<br />The sign that Jesus will give them is the sign of the Messiah who will suffer and die before he is eventually vindicated by God three days later (if you count inclusively as Jew did)<br /><br />Is this not the sign that we need?<br /><br /><br />The sign not that Jesus is at our beck and call like Alladin’s Geenie – but that the sovereign Lord who will sometimes say ‘No” to us is the one who has died for us. When Jesus doesn’t do what we want it is not for lack of love.<br />His miracles may prove his power. But in the end it is Jesus’ sacrificial love that is the most compelling sign that here is an authority to which we must submit. What can we do when we see the cross but bow in awe, and in thanks, and throw off all our stupid self-serving religion. We are not the Lord. Christ Jesus, who died for us is the Lord.<br />“God, to show his love to us, showed himself God in this, that he could be God and go so low as to die.”<br />Will we like the People of Nineveh turn in repentance to the one whose death and resurrection show that his authority is so much greater than Jonah’s?<br />Will we like the queen of Sheeba sit at Jesus’ feet acknowledging that his wisdom if far greater than king Solomon’s.<br />Or we remain content following our own wisdom, which is rather less than Solomon’s, and nothing compared to Jesus?<br />Will we settle for worldly wisdom. Or will we embrace the wisdom of God and the power of God - the cross of Jesus Christ?<br />Where would we be without the cross?<br />We would be left without God and without hope in the world. We would face God’s anger for ever. But with the cross we are forgiven; we are God’s children; we have the certain hope of heaven. Praise God for the one sign we needed – the sign that God would take upon himself the punishment we deserve so that we might have know the love that only he derserves.<br />43"When an evil[<a title="See footnote f" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23533f">f</a>] spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."<br />Where would we be without the cross?<br />We would be left without God and without hope in the world. We would face God’s anger for ever.<br /><br />Without the cross, even if Jesus performed a thousand miracles at our request, what good would it do us? For he could get rid of all evil I our lives. He could make them temporarily perfect. Our lives would seem swept clean and put in order. But we would still be separated from God. We would still not be able to know Jesus as our Lord.<br /><br />That would be our state.<br /><br />But with the cross we are forgiven; we are God’s children; we have the certain hope of heaven. Praise God for the one sign we needed – the sign that God would take upon himself the punishment we deserve so that we might have know the love that only he derserves.<br /><br />And that is the state of many – many are without the cross of Jesus.<br />If you don’t know Jesus today, what do you have your hopes set on? That you would have your life straightened out and secure. My friend there is no security outside of Jesus reign over you life. If God in his kindness to you gives you all your wishes today, what protection do you have from evil tomorrow?<br /><br />I don’t think that Jesus is just referring to those who are demon-possesed here.<br />It is the whole generation that Jesus says will be like this.<br />The point is, that if you don’t have jesus, you may think yourself wise and in control. But you are just as much in the delusion of the devil as if you had seven demons. Unless you are owned by Christ, jesus insists that you belong to the devil.<br />The point is that there is nothing that gives you security outside of Christ’s Lordship over your life.<br />There are two major mistakes that we can make concerning demons, as C.S. Lewis ironically points out in Screwtape letters.<br />One is to act as if they don’t exist. The other to be utterly fascinated or terrified by them.<br />To act as if they don’t exist will have two results. We won’t be equipped for the spiritual warfare that Jesus wants us to engage in in Ephesians. That is, we will be open to temptation and prayerless in evangelism.<br />Secondly, we will begin to think that we have some other enemy, and will imagine that other human beings are to be demonized, rather than evangelized.<br />To become terrified by demons is to suggest that they are an undefeated enemy. We will be terrified of demon possession.<br />If we have Jesus as our Lord, then we belong to the one from whom demons flee. We cannot belong to Jesus and to demons. <br />And that’s the question he’s forcing us to answer. Do we, or do we not belong to Jesus? Are we members of his kingdom, or enemies, as yet resisting his invitation to enter his rest.<br /><br /> 46While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."[<a title="See footnote g" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23537g">g</a>]<br /> 48He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."<br />Do you call yourself a Christian today. In the end you will not be saved by that label. You’ll not be saved by being baptized, or by being a member of Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Even Jesus mother wasn’t saved by being his mother, but by trusting in him.<br />By recognizing that her son was also the Son of God, and by recognizing that his death was for her sins, and by entrusting her life to his rule.<br /><br />Is religion divisive? Well, some kingdoms are divided against themselves… the devil is happy to have those in his kingdom fight against each other, so long as his grip upon them deepens. For he is happy to do anything to distract the world from the reality of who will judge it – and who has died to save it.<br /><br />The devil is happy to have the materialists fight against the Muslims so long as they both think that what they have is worth fighting for, and don’t realize that there is a king whom both of them are ignoring at their peril.<br />Or he’d be happy for materialists and Moslems to embrace each other, so long as it made them feel that peace on earth was a sufficient goal, without realizing that they are in a cold war with King Jesus.<br />But he is desparately unhappy when people begin to realize who Jesus is. Our battle is against him, and the hold he has on people’s lives. We will do battle with, prayer, righteousness, faith, and holding out the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, the gospel.<br /><br />Conclusion (215)<br /><br />Is religion divisive?<br /><br />Yes, it is.<br /><br />For Jesus Christ is calling people out of the world that hates him, and faces his judgement into his family. He is calling people to join him in being hated, for we have come to know that he is worth loving.<br /><br />Thus, there are two kinds of religion… everyone has one of those two kinds – there is religion that brings us into the kingdom, and religion that keeps us from Jesus’ kingdom.<br /><br />To act as if this were an insignificant detail that can be overlooked is to imagine that there is no difference between Jesus and those who crucified him – its to imagine that there’s no heaven<br /><br />Imagine there's no Heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky<br />But every such imagination will one day wake up to stark reality. And that day it will be too late.<br /><br />But there is hope for the nations in Jesus - a bruised reed he will not break. For he himself would be bruised for all such reeds. A smoldering wick he will not snuff out. Rather, he allowed his own life to be taken, so that we might become his mother, his brother, his sister – members of his family for ever.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960908066602705598.post-62427942440165791822007-07-09T07:14:00.000-07:002007-07-09T07:16:23.452-07:00Matthew 11This sermon was preached in June 2006 at Capitol Hill Baptist Church<br /><br />Matthew 11:2-30. Mike Gilbart-Smith<br /><br />“Lord Darlington wasn’t a bad man. He wasn’t a bad man at all. At least he had the privilege of being able to say at the end of his life that he made his own mistakes. His lordship was a courageous man. He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lordship’s wisdom. All those years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can’t even say I made my own mistakes. Really, one has to ask oneself, what dignity is there in that.”<br /><br />So said Lord Darlington’s butler at the end of his career serving his misguided employer in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, “The Remains of the Day”. You may have seen the movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thomson. You see, it turned out that Lord Darlington whom he had served for 30 years, had been a traitor.<br /><br />We are used to disappointment. Like the restaurant I came across as a child that advertised on a huge sign outside, “T-bone, 50c” Only when you’ve parked up and got out of the car can you read the small print: “With meat, $10”<br />But the greater the investment the greater the disappointment.<br />The automobile that wasn’t quite as reliable as the salesman implied.<br />But when one has entrusted one’s entire life in another, and that trust is misplaced, then one is left with bitterness.<br />Better, says Lord Darlington’s butler, to make your own mistakes than to entrust yourself to someone else who takes the direction of your out of your hands.<br />I wonder if you have ever had such thoughts about Jesus.<br />Have you wondered whether you can really place your entire life in his hands? Whether you can submit your entire life to his service?<br /><br />There is nobody who calls for a more total investment of our lives than Jesus. How can we be sure that serving him is not just another exercise of false expectations and of false trust that will lead us at the end of our lives to look back with bitterness and disappointment?<br />How can we know whether Jesus is really worth following?<br /><br />Well, over the next three weeks we will, Lord willing, be looking at three chapters in Matthew’s gospel.<br /><br />And they are taken up with the nature of Jesus and his kingdom. Here we shall find people whose expectations have not been met. We will find others who become increasingly hostile to his kingdom. We find all but Jesus confused as to why the kingdom seems in so unimpressive. Yet in the first of these three chapters, Chapter 11, we will find material that will help us to see that Jesus is indeed trustworthy.<br /><br />Turn to Read Matthew 11<br />Page:<br /><br /><br /> 2When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"<br /> 4Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[<a title="See footnote b" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23465b">b</a>]are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."<br /> 7As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. 9Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written: " 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'[<a title="See footnote c" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23470c">c</a>] 11I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. 13For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15He who has ears, let him hear.<br /> 16"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: 17" 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.' 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."<br /> 20Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.[<a title="See footnote d" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23483d">d</a>] If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."<br /><br /> 25At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.<br /> 27"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.<br /> 28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."<br />So, how can we be sure that Jesus is worth following?<br />Well, Matthew invites us to open our eyes to the real Jesus. There are five things that we are going to open our eyes to look at together to encourage us that this Jesus is indeed deserving of our full allegiance.<br /><br />11:1-6 Look at Jesus’ miracles!<br />§ Don’t let false expectations blind you.<br /><br />It seems that even John the Baptist, who had already pointed out to his disciples that Jesus was the promised Messiah, was at least a little confused.<br /><br />Read 2-3<br /><br /> 2When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"<br /><br />It wasn’t just that John’s spirits were dampened by his imprisonment by Herod. It was that John knew his Old Testament. He was perplexed, because had he read that when the Christ, that is the Messiah came, there would not only be miracles and good news. There would be justice. And here John was, wrongly imprisoned precisely because he was speaking out against the injustice of Herod stealing his brother’s wife.<br />John doesn’t understand how the Messiah would allow such injustice to continue.<br />The messiah was long awaited, but this was an unexpected set back. Should he expect someone else, or was this really all there was to the Messiah?<br /><br />Read 4-6<br /> Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."<br />Jesus does not merely answer John’s question. He goes back to scripture to prove his answer. All that Jesus said resonates with the prophecies of the coming Messiah in the book of Isaiah.<br />He is doing two things here.<br />1) Look at the evidence<br />The things that Jesus is doing are all signs of the coming Messiah. If you have doubts about who Jesus is, then keep reading the eye-witness accounts of him found in the gospels. Nobody could do the things that he does but God himself. Who makes blind people see? Who makes the lame walk, the leprous cured, the deaf hear – all by a mere word. Who can raise the dead – it was so extraordinary that nobody could deny it was happening. Even those opposed to Jesus could deny that what he was doing was utterly supernatural – and so we see them in chapter 9 attributing the miracles to demons rather than God.<br /><br />But Jesus is doing more than merely listing the miracles he’d done to prove his identity. He’s alluding to the very passages that are getting John confused that speak both of good news and judgment. He alludes to at least four passages in Isaiah that you could look up this afternoon. 26,29,35,61.<br />Listen as Isaiah 61 to see just how Jesus is using the Old testament.<br /><br /> 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, [<a title="See footnote a" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-18845a">a</a>]<br /> 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,<br />John was right to expect that the Messiah would establish justice by bringing about the day of God’s vengeance. But Jesus stops short of quoting that part of the verse.<br />Rather, there is to be a gap. A time dedicated to the preaching of good news to the poor, before God’s ultimate judgment. A time that would allow for people coming to repentance and faith in Jesus before it was too late.<br />This gap is great news, for if Jesus brought about God’s vengeance when he came then there would have been no time for any one of us to turn away from our lives of selfish independence, and entrust ourselves to him.<br /><br />We too need to be sure that we have right expectations of what it means to follow Jesus. We do not yet live in the time when Jesus has righted all wrongs. We too will be called to suffer for Jesus’ sake.<br />When we speak of the good news about Jesus we need to make that clear. If we suggest that all will be well in this life if people follow Jesus it will raise false expectations that will lead only to disillusionment.<br /><br /><br />If you are not a Christian, I wonder what it is that is stopping you from entrusting yourself to Jesus. Is your reluctance to serve him due to an unconvincing life that he lived – why would such a miraculous life be unconvincing? Might it be because you want to live a life making your own mistakes, rather than living for someone else, however great He is?<br />Christian, what if you are meaning to follow Jesus, but the Christian life isn’t quite what you expected. Perhaps you are struggling with the fact that the church you have joined is just full of sinful people. Perhaps you didn’t realize how wearing it would be to face continual ridicule from family members, and you wonder, is it really worth following Jesus? Is he really who he said he is if he will let me suffer like this?<br />John gives us a good model of how to deal with our doubts. Jesus does not ask us to brush our doubts under the carpet, nor to unthinkingly embrace them. If we come to Jesus trustingly, we will find that he can stand up to our questions – he may correct our misapprehension of him, but our faith in him will emerge the stronger. Jesus does not rebuke honest questions. He speaks God’s word into them.<br />When we are tempted to think that Jesus is not worth living for, we should be realistic about the cost of following Jesus. But we should ask whether his miracles show that he deserves our allegiance.<br />Secondly,<br /><br />2) 11:7-15 Look at his witnesses!<br />§ Don’t let popularity blind you.<br /><br />Jesus turns from addressing John’s doubts to addressing the crowds who had heard him and now knew of his imprisonment.<br /><br />Read 7-10<br /><br />7As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?<br />8If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. 9Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written: " 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'[<a title="See footnote c" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23470c">c</a>] 11I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist;<br /><br />Why did people listen to John in the first place? “You didn’t go and see John because he was saying what everyone wanted to hear, blowing about with the crowd like a reed swayed by the wind. You didn’t go to hear John because he had political clout…” No, you listened to him because he told you the truth, however uncomfortable that truth was.<br />He’s a prophet, and prophets have always been unpopular, because God’s truth is unpopular. Of course he isn’t in the palace, but in the dungeon!<br /><br />In fact John was the greatest of the prophets, not because his words were more eloquent, or his teaching any more inspired than the others.<br />He is the greatest of the prophets because he didn’t just say ‘The Messiah is coming’ he said “behold the Lamb of God”. He identified the messiah.<br />And stunningly Jesus says that those living this side of the cross, once the kingdom has been inaugurated, are greater even than John the Baptist. Again, he is not saying that we have greater faithfulness. But we know not just that Jesus came to save his people, we know how he has done it.<br /><br />We know that we have all rebelled against our maker, preferring to live for ourselves than to entrust ourselves to him. We know that God is rightly angry with us for this, for we owe him everything, and that he is intent on punishing all such rebellion with a punishment we could not bear in all eternity.<br />But this side of the cross of Jesus we know how Jesus has saved people from that punishment. For he went to the cross taking the punishment of all those who would ever trust in him – and yet God raised him from the dead, and calls us all to turn from our rebellion, and put our trust in his Son who has died and is risen.<br />Thus there is a massive difference between the Christian and the Non-Christian. We are all rebels. But the Christian is someone who has received forgiveness for their rebellion, and so has entered Jesus kingdom. The rest of the world is still rebelling and still faces God’s judgment.<br />That message will never appeal to those who remain committed to serving themselves. Only those who have worldly appeal will win worldly success. And the good news about Jesus tells us to stop living for this world for there is a better one to come for those who will trust in Jesus.<br />Christians, we need to be very careful that we don’t become most excited when we feel that we have political influence or worldly appeal. We will have misunderstood the nature of Jesus’ kingdom.<br />Jesus was not here to bring political justice, but to bring sinners to repentance. Now, it is a good thing for Christians to be concerned about justice in this world – we serve a just God. But that is never to be a primary aim. We are living for another kingdom, where full justice will reign – but not until Jesus returns.<br />In the meantime, the normal state between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world will be one of conflict. That I think is the meaning of verse 12.<br />12From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.<br />The kingdom of God keeps growing by the power of God. But those who will not submit to Jesus’ rule will keep fighting against it.<br />Why is it that of all people in the world Christians are the most despised? There is no rational reason for it, unless it be that our attempts to follow Jesus highlight the world’s rebellion against him.<br />John had recognized that the kingdom was forcefully advancing – but he failed to see that it would not immediately overcome all forceful opposition. Rather the opposition will grow, until we find crowds crying out “crucify him.” <br />But this conflict is not an unforeseen strength that Jesus hadn’t anticipated, as John fears – rather this conflict is the very way in which Jesus will establish his kingdom. For Jesus is the king who establishes his kingdom by laying down his life for his people. And by his death he will populate his kingdom entirely with those who had been his enemies.<br />But that will not be the end of the story.<br />13For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15He who has ears, let him hear.<br />John’s expectation of coming Judgment was right. He is the Elijah who was prophesied in Malachi to herald the great and terrible day of the Lord. There will come a time when it is too late to change allegiance and join submit to Jesus.<br />John was not popular, but he spoke the truth – in fact he thought it worth giving his life to remain faithful.<br />When you are facing doubts about whether Jesus is worth living for, have you considered those who through history have been persecuted for the sake of Jesus? The millions of people who known Jesus well enough to know that he is worth following even if that means being hated, or even being killed.<br />One such martyr in the 2nd century was the aged Polycarp – before he was burned alive he was told that he could save his life if he reproached Christ. Polycarp replied, "Eighty six years have I served Him, and He never did me any harm: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?"<br />When you doubt, speak to those who have followed longer than you. Speak to those who have suffered for Christ and found him trustworthy still. Read Christian biographies. Look at the integrity of those witnesses.<br />3) when you are doubting that Jesus is worth following,<br />3) 11:16-19 watch out for dishonest arguments<br /> 16"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: 17" 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.'<br />You know the kind of games that children play – the ones that aren’t really games but traps. Like when the boy in the youth-group came up to me and said, “how do you keep an idiot waiting?” “I’ll tell you tomorrow.”<br />That’s the kind of game these children were playing in the market place. Sitting down until an unsuspecting victim comes along. They ask them to join in with the game. They play a tune. “We’ll provide the music, you do the actions,” they say. But when the child starts to dance to the music, they say, “Why are you dancing! It’s funeral music, you’ve really embarrassed everyone at the funeral now.” Or if in fact the victim pretends to mourn at the funeral music they say, “What are you being so miserable for, this is dancing music – it’s a wedding feast!”<br />Well, that’s a bit of fun for a children’s game. But it is tragic when people write Jesus off with childish games rather than honestly examining him.<br />The questions that you have about Jesus: are they questions that you have because you really want to know the answers – are they real hurdles to trusting Jesus more deeply? Or are they merely convenient excuses?<br />You will always be able to come up with another question.<br />One way to note whether your questions are genuine is whether they are consistent.<br />Those who were against Jesus we hugely inconsistent.<br />18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."<br />We should mourn with John over our rebellion that would incur God’s anger. But Jesus’ ministry is one of great joy and celebration, because in Jesus alone is there a place of God’s anger to be averted.<br /><br />But those opposed to Jesus did the opposite. They had no intention of mourning over their sin, and no intention of celebrating the coming of the king.<br />I hear the same criticism about Christians today. One the one hand people say – “the problem with Christians is that they are so nauseatingly joyful.” And the next thing is that the problem is that they are too serious about sin, and therefore make everyone miserable. Well, you can’t have it both ways! Yet, in almost all extended conversations with non-believers about the gospel, this kind of inconsistency comes to the surface very quickly.<br />Look out for convenient arguments designed to protect yourself from the reality of who Jesus is. Be aware that we will have a sinful bias to protect ourselves from the truth. We want to believe the lie that we are designed to live for ourselves.<br />In a rare moment of honesty Aldous Huxley looked back on his motivation for his nihilistic philosophy.<br />“I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know. It is our will that decides how and upon what subjects we shall use our intelligence. Those who detect no meaning in the world generally do so because, for one reason or another, it suits their books that the world should be meaningless.”<br />Huxley knew that if he could convince himself that life was meaningless he could adopt whatever sexual and political freedom he wanted.<br />We should recognize that this bias doesn’t stop as soon as we start to follow Jesus.<br />As we discuss with Christians who disagree with us, are we more concerned about winning an argument, and so will use any argument that seems appealing, or are we more concerned about knowing and loving the real Jesus, and so we will ensure that we are handling the Scriptures carefully and faithfully.<br />Wisdom is not founded on convenience, but on truth – it is not proved right by the opinion polls. It is not proved right by the ability to win an argument. It is not proved right by making other opinions look stupid. It is not proved right by sounding attractive.<br />Wisdom is proved right by her actions.<br /> In the end it will become clear whether we are following the real Jesus by whether or not we live a life in submission to his rule.<br />Perhaps you feel that you are beyond fooling yourself to that degree – perhaps you feel you are more balanced and more objective.<br />Perhaps you are tempted to think that even your doubts about Jesus are not only honest – they are rational.<br />Forthly, we must<br />11:20-24 Look at the blindness of unbelief!<br />§ Don’t let unbelief blind you<br />20Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.[<a title="See footnote d" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/#fen-NIV-23483d">d</a>] If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."<br /><br />There is the world of difference between honest questions, like those that John had, and the committed unbelief of the cities that had seen Jesus’ miracles.<br />It is the difference between saying, “I just don’t understand!” and saying “I just don’t want to know!”<br />When you are doubting whether Jesus is worth following, ask honest questions.<br />An honest question is a question that is looking for an answer. Unbelief asks questions too: but has already decided that there can be no satisfying answer. People have often said that faith is blind. But it is unbelief that is blind. Thus unbelief is to embrace blindness.<br />The majority of Jesus miracles were performed in towns that rejected him. Why would people be so blind in the face of such overwhelming evidence?<br />Because knowledge of Jesus is not merely intellectual. It is moral.<br />Read 21<br />"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.<br />To recognize Jesus as the Messiah is to turn away from our own pretensions to belong to ourselves. It is to repent of them, and to submit to his Lordship.<br />Jesus warns us. We are in a terrible situation. John’s beliefs about impending judgement were correct. He was the one who was preparing the way for the coming Messiah, who will judge the world.<br />As we read earlier in the service, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?”<br />We may not have seen the miracles that Jesus performed. But we are even more privileged. We have heard eye witness reports of jesus’ death and resurrection. Thus it will be more bearable for Sodom on that day than it is for those who hear the gospel and in the face of such great news, walk away.<br />Jesus’ warnings of impending judgment are real. He warns us because he does not want us to be blind to the eternal realities that we face.<br />When facing doubts about Jesus, look out for the blindness of unbelief. It will keep you from thinking about the infinite difference between heaven and hell. Don’t embrace such blindness.<br />Rather then look up. For Jesus does not speak of judgment without speaking of a way to escape. Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?<br />Jesus invites us to be those who will stand, if only we will come to him in faith.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />11:25-30 Look to Jesus’ invitation!<br />§ Don’t let pride blind you!<br /><br /> 25At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.<br /> 27"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.<br />28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."<br /> Some people have suggested that a belief in the sovereignty of God in saving people is a demotivator for evangelism. Jesus didn’t think so. In fact, God’s sovereign action in salvation is the only thing that gives us any confidence that anyone might possibly accept the message of the gospel.<br />We’ve just seen in our passage that human nature is so radically committed to rebelling against the Lordship of Jesus that even if he performed thousands of irrefutable miracles on Capitol Hill still people would find reasons not to believe. If even physical miracles cannot overcome unbelief then what hope do we have by loving persuasion in evangelism! We clearly have no ability to making God known to anybody.<br />Yet we can have confidence because God himself is committed to making himself known. He is able and willing to open people’s eyes and remove their unbelief.<br /><br /><br /><br />Jesus rejoices both that God hides, and that he reveals himself.<br />He rejoices that God hides himself from some because it shows up human wisdom for what it is. It shows that the most learned person has learned nothing if he has learned nothing of God’s kingdom.<br />- We live in an age that values education but has no idea of what wisdom is. I’ve spoken to people with PhD’s from the greatest university on earth who had never thought about how they might be ontologically different from apes. It wasn’t that they had come to the conclusion that they were the same, it was that they had never even thought of the question. They had never even considered the possibility that they are spiritual beings.<br />My friend, unless you know how you can be in a right relationship with God, you know nothing.<br />Yet Jesus also rejoices that God has seen fit to bring those who, in the terms of this world are utterly unimpressive into his kingdom. He has revealed how they can be joyful and cherished members of God’s kingdom, rather than rebels against it.<br />How?<br />Only through Jesus.<br />27"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.<br />Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God. He is not just like the prophets who spoke God’s word, or like John the Baptist who identified the Messiah, or like Christians who preach the gospel. He has a unique knowledge of God, that only he can have, because of all men only he shares his life with God. And the whole reason Jesus came was so that he could bring people into the knowledge of God. He has done everything necessary to do that by his life, death and resurrection.<br />If you do not receive your wisdom from Jesus, then, however streetwise you are, the bible insists that you have no significant wisdom at all.<br />Yet there is good news.<br />Jesus offers a right relationship with God to you.<br /><br />Perhaps our doubts about whether Jesus is worth following no longer spring from doubts about who he is. Perhaps we have been reassured that he is the Son of God.<br />But do we believe that it is really a joy and a privilege to serve him? We know that without him we will end up facing God’s judgment. But do we still have niggling doubts that somehow serving him is the necessary price we need to pay in order to escape judgment, but that it is a chore – that it would somehow be even better if we could live for ourselves and still escape judgment?<br />Every temptation we will face this week is a temptation to embrace the lie that it is no joy to serve Jesus.<br />But listen to Jesus’ words.<br />28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."<br />The rest is not, as I heard someone suggest recently, a chance to get away from the stress of life and relax. It is rest from the weariness of the burden of our commitment to sin. When God took Israel from slavery in Egypt and brought them into the rest of the freedom of the Promised Land, it was just to be a small picture of this greater freedom that Jesus offers. It is not the freedom of an easy life. It is not freedom from all opposition and persecution – not yet at least. It is the freedom from living as if we were God. It is freedom from believing the very first lie – that God’s rule is malicious and we’d be better of making our own mistakes. It is the freedom to enjoy being the creatures God made us to be. Creatures whose capacity to know, love and obey God is brought to life and enjoyed.<br />When you are tempted to doubt that it is a joy to follow Jesus, will you hear Jesus’ words. His yoke is easy. His burden is light, not because he will make no demands of us, but because his demands have become a joy and a privilege, and at every point he will help to carry the load. For the great load of the guilt of our sin he has already taken to the cross.<br />Pilgrim’s progress<br /><br />Now I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall was called Salvation. <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Isa.26.html#Isa.26.1">Isaiah 26:1</a>. Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back.<br />He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.<br />Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, “He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death.” Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked, therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Zech.12.html#Zech.12.10">Zech. 12:10</a>. Now as he stood looking and weeping, behold, three Shining Ones came to him, and saluted him with, “Peace be to thee.” So the first said to him, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Mark.2.html#Mark.2.5">Mark 2:5</a>; the second stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with change of raiment, <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Zech.3.html#Zech.3.4">Zech. 3:4</a>; the third also set a mark on his forehead, <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Eph.1.html#Eph.1.13">Eph. 1:13</a>, and gave him a roll with a seal upon it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the celestial gate: so they went their way. Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing,<br />“Thus far did I come laden with my sin,<br />Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in,<br />Till I came hither. What a place is this!<br />Must here be the beginning of my bliss?<br />Must here the burden fall from off my back?<br />Must here the strings that bound it to me crack?<br />Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be<br />The Man that there was put to shame for me!”<br /><br /><br />My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.Mike Gilbart-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769957028641055416noreply@blogger.com0