The Haugean

The Old Paths (Jer 6:16)

2009-12-31T18:16:00.000-08:00

Jer 6:16
16 Thus says the LORD:
"Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. NKJV

On this blog you will find my sermons and some other writings and information.
If you click on profile you will find a second blog page. I'm also working on some writings of Pastor Maynard Force and others that I plan to post on a web page http://www.Haugean.com. This is still under construction. On my second Blog http://www.Haugean2.blogspot.com I will post these writings section by section, then when I have the work completed I will post it on Haugean.com.

I've searched for good Lutheran sources, Lutheran Pastors and laymen that preached and wrote life changing messages for our Lutheran churches and have found pretty much nothing written later than 1955. No wonder our churches are asleep, it's been 50 years since anyone's shook them awake.

Some of my favorite web pages are:
http://www.haugeinnermission/ Web page of the Hauge Lutheran Innermission Federation that I have posted for them. Upcoming conferences, and newsletters for download. Also some MP3 downloads from latest conference.
http://pietist.blogspot.com/ A Lutheran blog
http://users.ez2.net/lwmin/ Ollie Olson, former teacher at California Lutheran Bible School
http://www.livingwaters.com/ Ray Comfort and Kirk Camerons web page on Biblical Evangelism http://www.lutheranrenewal.org/ Paul Anderson, Lutheran Renewal
http://www.aflc.org/ Association of Free Lutheran Congregations web page
http://lutheranblogs.blogspot.com/ A site that lists Lutheran Blogs of all kinds.

Rev 3:2 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.NKJV

What the Lutheran Church Needs Today

2009-12-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

In his book "A New Sprintime", Robert Lee, president of the AFLC said that there were Six principles that summarize the Spirit of awakening sparked by Hans Nielsen Hauge:
1. The demand for true conversion, with emphasis on the working of God’s law in bringing the sinner to repentance.
2. A living faith, a vital and personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, manifested in holy living.
3. An ethical emphasis on sactification.
4. An emphasis on personal Salvation.
5. Vigilance, or the continual need for Christians to watch and pray lest they fall and to examine themselves spiritually on a regular basis.
6.Evangelism, a burning compulsion to spread the Good News by means of simple and direct personal outreach.

We believe that these same principles that brought revival to The Lutheran Church in Norway in the 1800's can do the same for the Lutheran Church today.

Lets take a look at each one of these principles.

1. The demand for true conversion, with emphasis on the working of God's Law in bringing the sinner to repentance. Over the last 150 years the Holy Spirit has slowly been stripped of the only tool at His disposal to bring the knowledge of sin. Paul said in Romans 3:20; "By the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” He says in Romans 3:19; ”Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” And in Romans 5:20 ”Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.” Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes He would "convict the world of sin , and of righteousness, and of judgment."(John 16:8) One of the primary works of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin, and this comes through the Law and Gospel preaching.

I'm out driving around in Des Moines and I get on interstate 235 and pretty soon I'm cruising with the flow of traffic. I look down at my speedometer and I see it’s at 70 MPH. Well the speed limit is 55 MPH, but everyone else is doing it, and it does feel good. Besides, it's only 15 over and everyone would stare at me and think I was strange if I was doing the speed limit when everyone else wasn't.

Then all of a sudden I see a cop car with its lights flashing and its siren blasting entering the freeway. I look at my speedometer and see that it’s at 70 mph and I think, "Oh no, 15 miles over". I know that for every mile per hour over it adds up to more money. It no longer matters that everyone is doing it. I know that if I'm standing in front of a judge, and I give him that excuse he will throw the book at me. So I hit my brakes and slow down to 55 and hope that he's after someone else, instead of me. The Law entered and the offense abounded. I saw my actions for what they were, lawlessness. The law is used to bring the knowledge of sin, which leads to confession and repentance, and that leads to eternal life.

2. Living faith, a vital and personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, manifested in holy living. Hans Hauge faced the same dilemma that John Wesley faced in England. With the state church everyone was baptized and everyone's names were written on the churches rolls, so everyone presumed they were also written in the lambs book of life. But John Wesley preached that no one could claim they were a Christian unless they were born of God and had the witness of the spirit with in them.

3. An ethical emphasis on sanctification.
From Nelsons Bible Dictionary we read:
SANCTIFICATION is:
The process of God's grace by which the believer is separated from sin and becomes dedicated to God's righteousness. Accomplished by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, sanctification results in holiness, or purification from the guilt and power of sin.
As Christians we are set aside, we are separated from the world; we are God's own people. Eph 5:7-8 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 8 Walk in Light, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

4. An emphasis on personal Salvation.
It’s a personal salvation. God doesn’t have any grandchildren. He only has children. And how do you be come a child? You have to be born? How do you become a child of God? You have to be born of God. John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

5. Vigilance, or the continual need for Christians to watch and pray lest they fall and to examine themselves spiritually on a regular basis.
Oh I think this is so important. "Prone to wander Lord to feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." We're like Adam and Eve, like Samson, David, Judas, like Peter, it's easy to loose our first love, it's easy to become lukewarm. In Hebrews 2:1 we read , Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. What have we heard, what have we read? We need to stay in His word; we need to hear the preaching of the word, lest we drift away. We need to: (2 Cor 13: 5) Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail the test.
It's easy to be deceived, to think we are saved and to not be. Scripture tells us that this is a big category, Jesus said many will come to Him on that day, and Jesus will tell them, “ Depart from Me, I never knew you”. We often time ask people "Do you know the Lord?" Maybe the correct way to ask is this; "Does the Lord know you?" Paul says examine yourself. This is a pass, fail test as Paul says, If Christ is in you, you pass, if not you fail, your disqualified.

6. Evangelism, a burning compulsion to spread the Good News by means of simple and direct personal outreach. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost. If we are His, that will be our desire too.

George Whitefield, the famous English Evangelist, said, O Lord give me souls, or take my soul.
Henry Martyn, missionary, kneeling on India's coral strands, cried out, "Here let me burn out for God."
Praying Hyde, a missionary in India said, "Give me these souls, or I die."
Charles Spurgeon said, "If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for."

These are the principles we strive to live up to in Worship and Ministry. If you are searching for a church home I hope you will come and visit us.

If you’ve read this and it has raised some questions in your mind as to the validity of your own Salvation and would like to talk, feel free to call or E-mail me, Wayne Almlie at: almlie@juno.com
or 515-277-5706 (Des Moines)
Or call Duane Larson at 825-3693 (Goldfield)

If you want to know more about being “Born Again” go to
http://www.wayofthemaster.com/

The Way of Salvation

2009-12-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

At Hauge Lutheran Church, our goal is to teach people about the gift of salvation. While salvation is actually a simple concept, it can seem so complex. This post intends to explain salvation and show you the power of this gift.

What is salvation?
Salvation is God's plan of saving His people from spending eternity in Hell. Salvation means that, through Jesus Christ, we have been saved from eternal condemnation. Romans 6:23 tells us that "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is supported in Romans 8:1 where we discover, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Is salvation only available through Christ?
Yes, absolutely. In Acts 4:12 we learn that "Salvation is found in no one else, for these is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Why do we need to be saved?
Every person that has ever been born comes into the world a sinner before God. This is confirmed in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

We are sinners not only because of the sinful nature we have inherited, but because we all have sinned. As Romans 5:12 says, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned." Yes the opportunity to sin entered through Adam, but the reality is that we all have sinned.

The purpose of the Law is to show us our sins. Paul tells us in Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin”. Also in Galatians 3:24 he says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” When we look at the Law, the “Ten Commandments” we see that we are lying, thieving, adulterers at heart and we deserve God’s wrath.

Because of our sin, we have been separated from God and condemned to an eternal punishment in Hell. If we want to escape this punishment, we must be obedient to Jesus who said "Repent and believe the Gospel" We must see our sins for what they are, crimes against an infinitly holy God. We must repent of the sin in our life, which is to gain a new attitude toward sin and turn from all know sin. Then we must believe the Gospel, the good news, that Jesus bore your sins on the cross, taking your punishment upon himself. Then you need to walk in that knowledge.

How can I know I am saved? How can I know I don't have a devil's faith or a dead faith? There are certain characteristics that accompany saving faith. First you will have a hatred for sin, a new attitude towards sin. Not that you will not sin, but when you do sin it will humble you and you will confess and forsake it before God. Second You will have a new attitude towards God's word. You will hunger for it. Third, you will have a new attitude towards Christians, they will be the ones you form your closest freindships with. And when you meet a Christian for the first time, it will be like meeting a long lost brother or sister, because they are. There are other evidences laid out in 1st John. Check out my other blog for Maynard Force's "Assurance".

Have more questions about salvation?
If you are looking for more answers about salvation, please contact us today.

Hauge Lutheran Church
An independent Lutheran Church Affiliated with the “Association of Free Lutheran Congregations”

Wayne Almlie: Almlie@juno.com
515-277-5706 (Des Moines)
Duane Larson at 825-3693 (GoldField)

If you want to know more about being born again go to http://www.wayofthemaster.com

Come worship with us.
Summer worship Schedule
Sunday Worship 10 AM
Wednesday Prayer 7 PM

School Year Worship Schedule
Sunday School 9:30
Worship 10:30
Wednesday Prayer 7 PM

Holiday Worship Schedule
Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas, New Years, Easter, Mothers Day, etc
Worship 10AM

05/24/09 Three Blind...

2009-05-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

Three Blind....
Mark 8:9b-21
And He sent them away, 10 immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
11 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. 12 But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."

13 And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.
14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. 15 Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."
17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"
They said to Him, "Twelve."
20 "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"
And they said, "Seven."
21 So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?"

22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. 23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.
24 And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."
NKJV

Mark groups three cases of blindness together in this section. We have the blindness of the Pharisees, the blindness of the disciples and the blindness of the man in Bethsaida. Two cases of spiritual blindness, one case of physical blindness. We have one case of blindness that was never healed, The Pharisees, and we have two cases that were healed, the disciples and the blind man. Jesus came to give sight to the blind, but many are so hard hearted that they refuse to see. It was true in the first century, it is true today.

In our text we again see that Jesus is on the move. He kept a tiring pace. He fed the 4000 and immediately it says he got in a boat and crossed the sea. He left the gentile side of the Sea of Galilee and he returned to the Jewish side and sure enough who shows up, but the Pharisees. It seems that word traveled fast. As soon as He reached shore they came.

The Pharisees obviously didn't want Jesus messing with the status quo, as soon as they hear about Him being there, they show up and try to entangle Jesus in a debate. They want to be argumentative; probably hoping they could trick Jesus into saying or doing something they can use against Him.

They were seeking from Him a sign, but not just any sign, a sign from heaven. They had already been given many signs, Jesus had healed and cast out demons right in front of them, but that is not the kind of sign they were wanting. They wanted a sign from heaven. They wanted a grand and glorious sign, they wanted an apocryphal sign.

They read in their scriptures about a Messiah who would come and restore Israel's glory. One who by His mighty hand would throw off the yoke of Rome. Yes that day was prophesied, and it's yet to come. The Pharisees ignored all the prophecies about the suffering servant, just as most Jews today ignore or explain away the same scriptures.

So they are not asking for just any sign, they are asking for the one true sign that in their view would prove Jesus' Messiahship: The restoration of Israel to its rightful place of prominence in the world. So this is the ultimate challenge, they are telling Jesus to put up or shut up. They are so blind, they cannot see.

Is it any wonder that in verse 12 it says he sighed deeply in His spirit? What must He have been thinking? The creator of the Universe, having to take that kind of scoffing from beings he created, and beings that he could have that instant been cast in to hell. Heb 5:8 says: "Though He was a Son, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." This was part of the suffering; I'm sure Satan was tempting Him to do something outside of the will of God. But Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered. He learned patience and trust. He suffered having to put up with those Pharisees who hassled him all the time.

God allows us to go through the tough times too; we also need to learn obedience through the things we suffer. God never promised us a rose garden. The message of the Gospel is not come to Jesus and have your best life now. The message of the Gospel is come and die. Our message is not come to Jesus and your life will get better. No, Jesus promised us trials, temptation and tribulation. When you come to Jesus he gives you eternal life and a cross to die on.

Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly no sign shall be given to this generation." The Gospel of Matthew adds this to the story. Matt 16:2-4 "He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; 3 and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." NKJV

The Jews were great at forecasting the weather; they could look at the sky and tell you what the weather would be. But they were totally blind in being able to discern the day they were in and who was standing in their midst. From scripture and from the events of the day they should have recognized their Messiah. Jesus chastised them for not discerning the signs of the times.

It is true that scriptures tell us that no one knows the time of the end; No one knows the day or the hour. But that does not mean we are to be ignorant of the times in which we live. We are not to be caught off guard, we are to be ready, we are to discern the times in which we live. We are to live ready, for the Lord might return at any moment. That is the way every generation of believers is suppose to live. Today it seems like the scriptures are being fulfilled right before our eyes. Israel has again become a nation, knowledge and travel has increased, there is a great apostasy happening in all the main line churches. Are you ready church to meet him?

No one knows the day or the hour, but that doesn't mean we live like he's never coming back either. We live with an expectancy that He might return today, and that is what keeps the church pure.

Jesus says no sign will be given this generation except the sign of Jonah, the resurrection. Probably the reason Mark didn't include that detail was because even a resurrection didn't qualify as a sign from heaven. That wasn't the kind of sign the Jews were looking for. As Jesus said in the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus when the Rich man asked that Lazarus go to his family and warn them, Abraham replied: Luke 16:31 "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead." NKJV We know the truth of that statement today. Even a resurrection was not enough for most people.

Jesus one time made an accusation against the Pharisees saying, "not only will you not enter the door, but you stand in the way and block others from entering too". That's probably what happened here. Because of there constant badgering, Jesus is not able to minister to any of the people in that region, so Jesus gets in the boat and heads east again across the Sea of Galilee.

While they were going Jesus charged them, "Take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod," some translations say Herodians, Matthew's Gospel says Sadducees. Herodians probably would have been a branch of the Sadducees. They both were nationalistic Jews, they were only interested in power and the Nation of Israel, they didn't have any strong belief in God, no belief in life after death, so no heaven or hell. Their only concern for the Law was societal, you had to maintain law and order to maintain a civil people and with out a civil people there is no hope of Israel gaining prominence. So they did believe in morality, at least for the people. They knew they needed a moral people in order to be able to govern them.

The Herodians were kind of the upper-class elite so they were above the law and they were characterized by there gross sexual immorality. The Pharisees were the exact opposite, they confessed a strong belief in God and the after life, but they were so hung up on the law, that their self righteousness made them blind to anything other than their own traditions.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. When the Bible talks about leaven it's not talking about yeast, baking power or baking soda. This was a culture, a lump of bread dough left over from the last time you made bread. Maybe some of you have made what we would refer to as friendship bread. A friend gives you a lump of dough, you make bread, add the lump from the friend, that lump leavens the whole batch and before you bake it you cut off a lump of dough and pass it on to another friend. Leaven is aggressive and takes over what it's added to.

Beware of the leaven of legalism, and self-righteousness. Beware of the leaven of immorality. Beware of the leaven of moralism. Heresy is and always has been a big problem in the church. I heard someone say recently that 40% of the New Testament was written in response to false teachers teaching heresy in the church.

In medieval times they would take heretics out and kill them. We look at that and think that was barbaric. And maybe it was, but they understood something we don't understand in our day. They understood that if a heretic was allowed to continue in his heresy, that it would blaspheme God's holy name and damn millions of souls to hell. So yes their solution was extreme, but they understood that the consequences of doing nothing was unthinkable.

Leaven will permeate and take over the whole loaf. That's what's happened in the church today. Within the Lutheran church leaven was introduced into the seminaries in the 1950's and we can clearly see the results in the church today.

It's amazing how quickly the church seems to let its guard down.
2 Tim 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." NKJV
Is it possible that we are not living in the times of the end? There are so many sources of leaven, so many heretical teachers and preachers that one can hardly keep up with them. I took a piece of paper and without much trouble at all wrote out the names of 18 influential leaders of churches and ministries that I think are clearly heretical. Prominent names, pastors of mega churches, teachers, bishops, authors, these leaders influence millions of people, and there leaven is permeating the church.

Universalism has crept in all over. Even on the ELCA web site they have an article that very clearly says that they are Universalist. The social gospel, which is no gospel, is nothing more than self righteousness and moralizing about getting along, how to have your best life now, how to over come obstacles, how to love and care for the planet. They talk much about justice. But they don't know what they are talking about. They say they seek justice. They claim Gay marriage is a justice issue. My take is different, I don't seek justice. I'm afraid of justice, what I seek is mercy.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the herodians. Beware of the leaven of the self-righteous and immoral, because it has a corrupting and a damning influence.

With this statement by Jesus we see the blindness of the disciples. They think Jesus is chastising them for not bringing adequate provisions for the trip; they only had one loaf of bread. In response Jesus asks them nine rapid fire questions. "Why do you reason because you have no bread?
Do you not yet perceive nor understand?
Is your heart still hardened?
Having eyes, do you not see?
And having ears, do you not hear?
And do you not remember?
When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"
"Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"
"How is it you do not understand?"

Again it must have grieved Jesus to witness their lack of faith. Jesus had just preformed these two spectacular miracles of feeding these multitudes and the disciples are still worried about how much bread they have. Those miracles should have really cemented in their minds the reality of who Jesus was. They should have been in such a state that they should have never worried about food again as long as they were with Jesus. But they just couldn't get it. They were still spiritually blind.

They should have learned that Jesus was Jehovah Jirah, the God who provides. He provides daily bread for their physical nourishment, and also he provides spiritual food for the sustaining of their souls. The miracles of Jesus were both a proof of his divinity, and they were instructional, they were living parables of a larger truth, a spiritual truth. Jesus is the food of His church.

But before we come down too hard on the disciples, we should ask ourselves, are we really any different. We are also blind in so many ways. We don't see the glory in Jesus that we should. We don't understand the attributes of God's Holiness and His righteousness; we don't understand the realities of heaven or hell. If we did our lives would be so much different than they are.

Are we blind, not totally, but in many ways we are partially blind, we see only through a mirror dimly. That may be the explanation for the third example of blindness in our text today. Many have wrestled with this. Why was the man's site not restored instantly?

The text says: "23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.
24 And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly."

Why was this man not healed right away? Did Jesus miscalculate in some way the amount of power needed? Of course not. It seems obvious that Jesus planned to heal the man in two stages as a teaching tool. For the blind man, it would have increased the man's faith. Having gone from totally blind to partial sight would give him hope and faith that Jesus could restore him to full sight. Just to see light and to see shapes and movement would have been a blessing to someone totally blind.

The disciples were not totally blind, but they were like the blind man after the first stage of healing. They knew they saw something in Jesus. But they were just seeing light, shapes and movement and they weren't really able to discern everything in truth yet. But just as the blind man was finally restored to full sight, so would the disciples be someday. The disciples were still partially blind, but the day would come when the fog would be lifted and they would see Jesus in all His glory.

I'm going to go back to verse 21 with Jesus' question; "How is it you do not understand?"

There is a direct correlation between how we live our lives and what our view of God is. The greater our view of God is, the holier our lives will be. Of course the first step to understanding is to be born of the Spirit. Without that, we have a perverted view of God. Maybe he's a cosmic Santa Clause, or maybe even a cosmic bogyman. Just as our nature is corrupt so will our view of God be.

Paul says: 1Co 2:12-14 "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. (13) And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (14) The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

So first we need to be born of the Spirit, next we have to know who God is and the clearer our image of God is the more it will change our lives. The disciples did not yet understand, because even after all they had been through with Jesus they were like the blind man, they had some sight, but had not fully received their sight yet.

Many people if you throw out the word theology, they will roll their eyes. What is theology but the study of God. Who is He? What are His attributes? We learn these things through scripture and prayer. This is our quest and it will be an eternal quest. Our quest as Christians is to find out who this God is. What God would become a man to take the punishment of beings that must appear like ants before Him? Who is this God? How can I describe him? And this is not just an intellectual quest either. It's a quest to know this God. Can I know a bacteria floating in my toilet at home. No, I can't, yet that must be what I seem to God. But yet scripture not only says it's possible but that it's imperative to know Him. I must know him. Paul's greatest desire was to know him. In Fact Jesus said knowing God is Eternal life. John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. NKJV

So this is our quest. To understand and know this great God of ours. May you have success. Go is peace, serve our King. Let's pray.

05/17/09 The Bread of Life (Mark 8:1-21)

2009-05-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

The Bread of Life
Mark 8:1-21 "In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, 2 "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."
4 Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"
5 He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"
And they said, "Seven."
6 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. 7 They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. 8 So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. 9 Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away, 10 immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha."

By nature humans are slow learners, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. It would be nice if God could tell us something once in His word and we would go out and do it and do it for the rest of our lives. But we are no different today than those who went before us. Israel had to learn the same lesson over and over again. They never learned from history. There are two sayings about history. One says that those who don't learn from history will be forced to repeat it. The other says that the one thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history.

The disciples had to be told the same thing over and over and they really didn't get any of it until after the resurrection because they were regenerated by the power of the Hoy Spirit.

The supernatural feeding of the multitude with just a few loaves and fishes was such a demonstration of Jesus' divinity, and a type of how He would be the sustenance for the church, that He repeats it. These two accounts are similar but not identical. Some of the most noticeable differences I saw were that:

1. The feeding in Mark 6 is predominantly Jews; the feeding here in chapter eight is predominately Gentiles. Jesus is in the last year of his ministry and he is demonstrating to the disciples that His true mission is global. Yes He came first to the Jews, but he was for all mankind.

2. In Mark 6, it is the disciples who bring up the concern for the crowd being hungry. In Mark 8 it's Jesus who shows concern for the multitude. It would seem that the disciples were less concerned about the gentiles. In Mark 6 after just one day the disciples were concerned about their Jewish kinsman being hungry. In Mark 8 they had been listening to Jesus' teaching for three days and the disciples showed no concern for the gentiles being hungry. Jesus was not only going to be the Messiah for the Jews, he was going to be the Christ for the gentiles. Jesus in these last couple chapters is reaching out to the gentiles. This is probably one of the reasons the Jewish leadership is getting more and more hostile. They refused to believe that God also wanted to save the gentiles.

The third difference I see is that in the Mark 6 account Jesus had to send the disciples out into the multitude to find out how much food they had. In Mark eight Jesus asks them "how many loaves do you have", and they had an answer ready, "seven". They already knew, that tells me they had already taken inventory. They had anticipated that Jesus might do something. They already knew the answer. So it would appear that they did learn something the first time around.

Let's also look at some of the similarities. Going back to the beginning of chapter eight it says "In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, 2 "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat."

We see that the multitude is very great, it says four thousand men, and Matthew's account also mentions that there were also women and children. So we are probably looking at 10,000 or more. The gentiles are also flocking to hear the teachings of Jesus. It doesn't tell us what he said, but he had one message. Jesus said in Luke 4:18, that he came:
"To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." NKJV

His message was one of repentance and faith and people came in multitudes to hear him. And they were so taken by the message that they stayed with him three day. Now probably most of them had some provisions with them at first, but by the end of the third day most of them were out of food. Contrast that with Israel after the exodus out in the wilderness without food, they complained bitterly to Moses. The gentiles were three days and maybe some of them fasted for those days, and no complaining, they were hungry for the bread of life, the words of Jesus.

It says that Jesus had compassion on them. The first time in Mark 6:34 it says that Jesus was, "moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. NKJV In both situations Jesus had compassion on the multitude. In Mark six, Jesus has compassion on them because they are wondering aimlessly with out a shepherd. Jesus had compassion on the Jewish crowd because the scribes and Pharisees weren’t doing there jobs. The scribes and the Pharisees should have been the shepherds, they should have been teaching the people the truth about God, but they were more concerned with protecting their own status and getting along with the Romans than the truth.

Jesus didn't expect the gentiles to have a shepherd so he was glad to be a shepherd to them. And for three day he led them to green pastures. They had very little food, but for three day they stayed with Jesus, they were more hungry for the words of Jesus than for physical food.

Can that be said about you? I try to have morning devotions totally separate from my sermon prep. I've found it's far easier to skip my devotions than to skip breakfast. That's a problem.

We should have the attitude of Jeremiah. He said: (Jer 15:16)
Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O LORD God of hosts. NKJV

Jesus has compassion on them. As the song says, His compassions they fail not, great is His faithfulness. That’s the story of mankind. It's the story of God's compassion. All we like sheep have gone astray, and instead of pouring His wrath on us, he had compassion on us and poured his wrath out on His Son instead. His compassions, they fail not.

Sandwiched between these two feedings of the multitudes the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus taught the significance of these miracles. He said in John 6:32-36: "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."
35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. NKJV

Yes in these two miracles Jesus fed the multitudes out of their physical scarcity, but those miracles are dwarfed by the spiritual food he provides for His church everyday. In John 6:55 Jesus says: "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven — not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever." NKJV

The church lives on the bread of Life, Jesus. Because of His compassion, He comes this morning in this worship service and says, I am the bread of life, take and eat and find nourishment for your souls.

In both miracles Jesus waits till the disciples are totally aware of there inability to do anything by there own strength and power. In Mark 6:37, Jesus had told them to give the people something to eat. And the disciples responded, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?" NKJV Two Hundred Denarii was about eight months pay, Judas had a money bag that they used for their needs and to give to the poor, but they didn't have anywhere close to that kind of money. It was an impossible thing that Jesus was asking them to do.

In Mark eight we have a slightly smaller crowd, but still possibly 10,000 people, plus these people had been without food for a longer time so these people were probably hungrier. The disciples see the hopelessness of the situation and ask "How can one satisfy these people with bread in the wilderness?" It's a hopeless situation, and Jesus waits for that confession from them before he acts. It is necessary that the disciples see this as a totally hopeless situation and a miracle, so that God gets all the glory.

Our spiritual condition is just as hopeless, and we need to see ourselves as hopelessly lost before we can be saved. Everybody is concerned today about self esteem. There is a different gospel out there that says God wants you to feel good about yourself. Our public schools are all about feeling good about yourself, we want to make sure the kids feel good about themselves it's about self esteem. Many churches are also about self esteem, they try to get everybody to feel good about themselves, to like themselves, to have purpose, to see their potential. Now these things can be good if focused properly but usually it causes a person to have an elevated view of their moral character, they think they are good, so it is impossible for them to get saved.

The scriptures give us a different view of mans condition.
Ezek 18:44 "Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Rom 5:12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.
Eph 2:3 (we) were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

This is how we need to view ourselves; we need to see ourselves as completely hopeless when it comes to any thought that we might be good enough on our own to go to heaven. Only when we reach this point will God reach down and save us. We need to loose all of our self-righteousness and then God will get all the glory for saving a wretch like me. He is such a good and kind God who would save me from Hell.

In both of these miracles Jesus takes the miniscule food that the disciple can manage to scrounge together and uses it to feed the multitude through the disciples. The disciples are not just spectators; they are busting their chops, hustling to feed these ten thousand people. Jesus takes the meager offering of bread and fishes and does an amazing thing with it.

Hauge Lutheran Church, How many loaves do you have? What do we have? The disciples had seven loaves. How many do we have? What tools has he given the church to carry out the work of the kingdom. Seven is a good Bible number, the number of perfection. If we were to identify 7 loaves, seven gifts he has given to the church what would they be? Let me suggest some.

1. The gift of baptism
Matt 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

2. The Holy Spirit.
John 16:8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. NKJV

3. The Communion Table
1 Cor 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

4. The Word of God.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. NKJV

5. The gift of repentance.
Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, NKJV

6. Prayer.
James 5:16 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

7. The word of our testimony.
Rev 12: 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

This is not an exhaustive list; one could easily come up with more. But the world will look at this list and say, it's nothing. If that is all the church has then the battles over, they have nothing, and from a worldly point of view they are right, it is nothing. Just like seven loaves of bread in feeding 10,000 people. It's hopeless. But that's where God wants us. Because then he can display his power and no man can take credit.

2 Cor 10:4 says: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

Satan has warred against the church for almost two thousand years now, and many along the way have prematurely read the eulogy pronouncing not only the church dead, but God to be dead. But the church has always risen from it's death bed and proven the words of Christ, that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

Seven is a number of perfection in the scriptures, a number of completeness. In these loaves we know that God has given us everything we need for the life and growth of the church, and for our souls.

Both times He fed the multitudes He commanded them to sit down. We need sit and rest at the feet of Jesus. Ps 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God." We live in the day that Daniel describes. Dan 12:4 "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." NKJV From the beginning of time to the year 1900 the fastest way to travel was a good horse. Look at what's happened since. Today knowledge is increasing at a phenomenal rate. In the past it may have taken one thousand years for mankind's knowledge to double. Today it happens in less than a decade. I read that 90% of all the scientists that have ever lived are alive today.

What's the result of the "time of the end" that we are living in? People are running to and fro and being bombarded with an information overload. There are so many distractions. There are so many things that seem to demand our attention. But God commands us to slow down, to sit down, to be still and know that He is God.

We need to sit down for a time of prayer and Scripture reading each day. We need to clear our calendar, and make time each day to feed on His word and to open up our heart to Him in prayer. "Sit down" Calm your self, clear your mind, before you say your prayers, recall your thoughts, be patient and quiet and humble, try to remember to Whom you are about to speak.

We should "Sit down" and be still before our public worship. We should prepare our hearts and our minds by a good nights rest and we should seek to come and be ready to hear that still quiet voice that will feed our soul.

We should "Sit down" before each communion service we partake of so that we come adequately prepared and having already examined ourselves. We should calmly, honestly and thoughtfully look at our lives and try to see our lives and our sins as God sees them, that we might properly repent of all sin so that we might truly receive the forgiveness promised in the sacrament.

In both miracles, the fragments are gathered up, showing that God can (Eph 3:20) "do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." NKJV

With God nothing is wasted, every word of encouragement, every prayer, every time we witness of our faith, every time we quote scripture, every gift to the furtherance of God's work, God takes them, God uses them for His Glory and so that others too can be fed. This is the way it's always been, and this is the way it will be till the end. God takes what the world thinks is foolishness, and not worth keeping, God takes these scraps and changes the world.

1 Cor 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. NKJV

We are but scraps this morning, the leftovers, the misfits of the world. But that gives us hope, because that means we are the substance that God will use for His glory. Amen, Lets pray.

05/10/2009 The Theology of God in Marriage

2009-05-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

05-10-2008 Theology of God in Marriage
Mark 10:6-9 But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.' 7'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." NKJV

A couple weeks ago when they were performing the first Gay Marriages, one pastor did a marriage I think right on the court house steps, and in her closing she said "What God has joined together let no one put asunder." In using those words the pastor assumed that, one it is possible for God to bless a marriage of two people of the same sex and that it is possible for two people of the same sex to become one flesh.

When we think about these issues and really every issue when it comes to issues of culture, morality and even church worship and the music we use, we need to make sure we are framing our argument in theology. I'll address the theology of worship and music another time.

These issues need to be decided by theology. Many people who claim to be Christians are all for Gay marriage. Sure they twist scripture, deny scripture and even call scripture wrong in order to have that view. On the ELCA web page there is a theologian who is quoted as saying the seven biblical texts that condemn homosexuality are not pertinent to our 21st century discussion.
He said we know so much more than the Biblical writers did. See right there, I know what His problem is, he doesn't believe in the inspiration of scripture. He doesn't believe that God is the true author of the Bible. He says Paul didn't know what we know.

I would like you to listen to about a three minute clip by Chuck Swindol before I continue. (Played clip from "Strengthening your grip on Purity")

They will tell you that Paul knew nothing of two homosexuals living together in a committed relationship. They are wrong, Nero the Caesar that had Paul killed lived in such a relationship. One wonders if Paul's teaching on homosexuality contributed to his martyrdom.

It's about theology and it goes all the way back to the garden and it has to do with who God is and who we are.

Turn to Gen 2:18. And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." This is the first time in Scripture where God had said something was not good. Five days of creation and he had pronounced them all good. But God looked at Adam, alone, and said that is not good. Adam by himself is deficient.

God said, "I will make a help meet for him", a counterpart, one formed from him, and a perfect resemblance of his person. If the word is rendered literally, it signifies one like, or as himself, standing opposite to or before him. And this implies that the woman was to be a perfect resemblance of the man possessing neither inferiority nor superiority but being in all things like and equal to himself.

This is not an inferior position; several times this word is used of God when he rescued Israel. When it is used that way of God it is "One who saves from danger" and men we need that. Especially now in our fallen state we need that more than ever. We need to be saved from ourselves. We are dogs, and we are capable of the most disgusting kind of behavior. We need women to civilize us. They are the prize and we have to behave better than we normally want to, to get the prize. How many men can trace there salvation at least in part to the influence of a Christian girl? A lot of guys have gone to church and to youth group meetings because that's where all the good looking girls were.

That's part of the erosion of a culture. It used to be that most of the time; girls would demand that a boy marry her before going to bed with her. Boys were forced to grow up and be men and be responsible. They had to behave themselves, learn some self control, and be a man, they had to become civilized. Men have always been dogs, and women have always saved us from danger, saved us from ourselves, and preserved the culture, but when the women of a culture become just like the men, then the culture will disintegrate and that's what we see happening today.

That's why Paul, when talking about a society that is disintegrating and experiencing the wrath of God he mentions women first. Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women ( a special emphasis because this is so contrary to a woman's physical, emotional and maternal nature) exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. NKJV

Men are dogs, left to our own devices we will degenerate to the lowest common denominator every time. But when women behave the same way, that is totally against there God given modesty and maternal nature then there is little hope for that culture. According to Paul it is already under the wrath of God.

So the woman becomes man's savior, much like God was Israel's savior from danger. A woman corresponds to us, completes us and makes us better than we were alone.

Verse 21. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Man slept, and the joke is, that it never says God woke us up, so we have been in a fog ever since. God caused man to sleep and he took out a Rib, or literally he took out a side and from Adams side He built a woman.
Matthew Henry's commentary says; "She was not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."

In verse 23 we have the first recorded words of man, and they are words of celebration. They are covenant words; they are words that celebrate what you bring to us. And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

This is symbolic language, bone of my bone, speaking of Strength. Flesh of my flesh speaking of weakness. This is covenant language, a marriage vow if you will, sickness and health, strength and weakness, rich or for poor. The two parts incomplete but yet complimentary when they are brought together. We compliment each other, physically, spiritually, emotionaly, mentally, and sexually.

She shall be called woman, The Hebrew is ishshah, because she was taken out of man, iysh. Some of the older translations translated it, she-man. Shah, feminine, means soft. What women bring is a softening. We need that! We need a softening. Men can be hard, sharp rough around the edges, and a woman brings a softening to us. And God says what men need to be complete is not another man, but a woman.

In verse 24 we have more covenant language. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." A man shall cleave to his wife, they are to be cemented together and become one flesh. Too often we think of this in just sexual terms. It involves the sex act but it's so much more, it's cementing yourselves together, it's individual parts coming together to make up a whole. It's not talking about procreation, it's talking about completeness. Two halves coming together, cementing themselves together to make a whole. What happens if you cement something together and then try to rip it apart? It breaks or tares doesn't it? That's what divorce does, that's why it causes so much pain, and that's one of the reasons God hates it.

Man leaves one covenant relationship, that being his father and mother and cleaves to his wife starting a new covenant relationship. When you are with mom and dad you are only half, that's why we leave our families to cleave to a woman.

Two people of the same sex cannot become one flesh, they cannot complete each other. They can call it marriage, but it can't be. It's the differences between men and women that make each of us better and stronger as a unit. In a same sex union, can an emotional bond be formed, yes to a certain degree, but there can be no wholeness as the Bible speaks to of it.

That's one aspect of marriage, there is another part that is even more important and that's the typology or symbolism of marriage. Marriage is used in the Old Testament as a picture of God's relationship with Israel, and again in the New Testament as a picture of Jesus' relationship with the Church.

There is a passage in Ezekiel 16:4-13 that describes this so beautifully. I'm not going to comment much, but listen to how God describes Israel and what he's done for her
"4 As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born." It was common in pagan lands to do this. If for some reason you didn't want the baby, maybe it was deformed, maybe you had too many children already and couldn't care for it, maybe it was inconvenient, you would just take it out in the wilderness and leave it for the coyotes. That sound's really wicked and cruel doesn't it, but isn't abortion really the same thing. People really take offence at the parts of the Bible where God commands every man woman and child killed. But we need to keep in mind that the nations that surrounded Israel we evil depraved people. They were probably as evil as Sodom and Gomorrah, and God chose to have Joshua execute justice.

In Leviticus where God condemns Homosexuality, incest, rape, man stealing, God said, "You see all those thing's that your neighbors are doing, don't do them, you are to be different," and that's why Joshua was commanded to wipe them out. With abortion and homosexuality we are becoming one of those nations and I wonder how much longer God's mercy will be on us.

Continuing in verse 6 "And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' 7 I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

8 "When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine," says the Lord GOD.

God took the unlovely and the unlovable, the thing that the world despised and he loved it. That describes us too. God found us out in the wilderness laying in the filth of our own blood and birth fluid, our sinful natures and He loved us and claimed us as His own.

9 "Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. NKJV

What a beautiful picture of God and his love for Israel. It is the concept of Adam and Eve amplified a thousand times. The marriage covenant's a picture book, a theatrical play about God's love for Israel. God's the groom and Israel is the bride, and the theology breaks down completely if marriage is anything other than one man, one woman, for life.

Then we move to the New Testament and let's turn to Ephesians 5:21-32 and it says: "Submit to one another in the fear of God. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. NKJV

Submit to one another, this is not a diminishing of ones self, but recognition that each one has a roll to play. Jesus submitted to the Father, that does not mean that Jesus is less God than the Father is. Father, Son and Holy Spirit three distinct persons yet they are one. Co-equal, different rolls and different functions, yet no one is diminished. This is a great mystery, but so is a husband and wife becoming one flesh. The two become one and submit to each ones God given role to play in this divine drama called marriage.

Men, you play the roll of Jesus, you lead, you’re the savior in that you are to protect and even die for your bride. Your pattern is the life of Jesus.

Women, you play the roll of the church, you let him be the man. You allow yourself to be the weak one even though you're everyway his equal. You may even be stronger than him, but you still have to let him be the man. Your pattern is the church.

When we submit to one another out of love for each other and in obedience to God the world should look at us and say, "Wow, that's what it's like to be in a relationship with Jesus. See how he loves her, just as Christ loved the church. See how she loves Him, Just the way the church loves her Lord.

In Genesis Adam was a type of Him who would come. God made Adam sleep and out of His side came the woman. Likewise Christ the second Adam slept the sleep of death, dying on the cross. From this death Christ's side was opened by the spear and out flowed blood and water, blood by which he redeemed His church and water to purify it.

Theology, it's important. Theology is about who God is. If we loose our understanding of who God is, we are lost and our culture will die. Gay marriage is blasphemy because it perverts our understanding of who God is. A.W. Tozer said this in his book "The Knowledge of the Holy": "The most important fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us…Before the Christian church goes into eclipse, darkness anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. The church simply gets a wrong answer to the question, 'What is God like?' and goes on from there."

Biblical covenant marriage is important because it is a visualization of the attribute's of God. If the picture is corrupted, then our theology of God also gets corrupted, and people go to Hell because of it. It's that important. But that is why Satan has declared war on marriage from the beginning, because he doesn't want us to know who God is. And he will do anything in his power to distort our idea of who God is and what he commands us to do.

There is one last picture of marriage in the Bible that I would like to close with. Let's turn to Revelation 19 and start with verse 6: And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
NKJV

We need to be making ourselves ready. Marriages are usually planned out a year in advance, and the bride and her family usually plan it all out. The groom gets up the morning of the wedding day and puts on his tux and he's ready to go. The bride will spend days trying to find the perfect wedding dress, she will spend time finding the perfect dress for changing into when they leave the wedding party for the honeymoon, and she will search for that special lingerie for the wedding night. Previous to the wedding day she will spend probably days at the tanning salon, the hair dressers, she will get a manicure and a spa treatment, then the morning of the wedding she will get up early and she will spend hours with her wedding assistants making sure everything is perfect as far as the hair, the make up, and she will check constantly with the wedding planner to make sure everything is perfect in every way when she walks the Aisle.

Let's go back to Revelation; "for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." In my opinion the reason Jesus hasn't returned yet is because the bride is not ready. We haven't made ourselves pure yet. Jesus will come back, and the church will be pure. The church can either purify itself, or God will purify it by trials and tribulation. I fear the latter will be the case.

2 Peter 3:11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, (that is by fire) what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. NIV

Amen

05/03/2009 Be Opened (Mark 7:31-37)

2009-05-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

Mark 7:31-37
Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. 32 Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. 33 And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."

35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
NKJV

This Miracle is told only by Mark. Imagine the Apostle Peter traveling with Mark his co-worker in ministry. Probably 20 to 30 years after the resurrection and Peter recounts what it was like to have been with Jesus for those three years. The joy that would have been Peters to remember and tell of what he experienced, the wonder that would have filled young Marks mind and heart as he listened and took notes. We are reminded again of Peters eye witness account in the little details that only could have been given by someone who was there.

Our text starts, "Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee."

How quickly the Son of God passes by. While he is present there is hope. When he is gone there is none. He came to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. While there one lone Canaanite woman grabbed onto Him and wouldn't let go. One lone woman found mercy. Now he's gone, he's departed, He didn't stay long. Mercy and grace were gone. As quickly as He came, he left. This should be a warning to us. God will not strive with man forever. A Day of Judgment is on the horizon. The day of grace doesn't last forever.

Jesus when he walked Earth did not remain in one place too long. He cured the syro-phonecian woman's daughter and then he was off to Decapolis.
Decapolis was the region east of the Sea of Galilee. It is called Decapolis because of ten major cities that were in the area. This was mostly a gentile area so more than likely the people Jesus deals with in this text are gentiles. As we get closer to the cross we are getting more and more of a glimpse of the universal message of Jesus. He came to offer salvation to all people, to the Jews first, yes, but also to the gentiles.

We have a similar situation as we had in our text last week, where the woman came to Jesus with her need because someone had told her about Jesus. This has to be the same. "Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech." Obviously again they came because somebody told them about Jesus. It was word of mouth. They came because they had heard that Jesus could help their friend. People need to be told. We need to be ready to give people the reason for the hope that is in us.

The word that is translated "impediment in his speech" is a word that is used only once in the New Testament. It's interesting that I did find that it was used in one other place, and that is the Greek Translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint uses it also only one time and that is found in Isaiah 35:5-6
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert. NKJV

"The tongue of the dumb shall sing" The Holy Spirit inspired Mark to use the same word, that the Greek Old Testament uses in Isaiah, confirming that Jesus fulfilled that prophecy made 700 years earlier. Jesus is the one promised by the prophets, Jesus is God. I heard a little bit of an interview a couple weeks ago on a talk show, I don't remember which show or who the participants were but they were talking about who Jesus was and one of the guests was an atheist. The atheist kept saying that Jesus only claimed in John to be God and he never did in the other Gospels.

But that's not true at all. The Gospel of Mark was the Gospel he kept bringing up, he said that Jesus never claimed in the Gospel of Mark that He was God. Maybe Jesus didn't say it in that many words but others did, the demons did, and God did. When Jesus was baptized a voice from heaven thundered, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." The demons when they saw Jesus cried out, "I know who you are, the holy one of Israel." Jesus did things only God can do. He forgave sins; walk on water, feed multitudes with just a few fish and loaves. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus uses the term "Son of Man" concerning himself. The Biblical illiterate say that is proof that Jesus didn't see himself as divine. But one who would say that knows not the scriptures. It's a term that Daniel uses and its clear Daniel is not talking about a mere man. Dan 7:13-14
13 "I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed. NKJV

Mark uses the term Son of Man 14 times, yes it speaks to His incarnation, His humiliation, but it says so much more in light of Daniels vision and prophecy. I had never done an in depth study on the Gospel of Mark before, Mark is kind of the ignored Gospel for many, but what I have seen in my preparations for these messages is that over and over again it screams Jesus is God.

So our man is deaf and dumb, he couldn't hear or speak. Deaf and mute, this is a common combination especially if someone is born deaf. It's real hard to learn to speak, if you are born deaf and have never heard the sound of words. Because we learn by imitation, as babies we hear people speak and then start imitating them. So when you have never heard, it's an especially tragic situation.

They bring Him to Jesus, the text doesn't tell us who "they" are, probably family and friends who heard about Jesus and had heard that he could work wonders. They bring him to Jesus and ask that Jesus would lay hands on him. Obviously someone had heard or witnessed this somewhere. They had seen Jesus heal by laying hands on someone. So they probably thought this was the way it was done.

It's interesting that Jesus didn't do it the way they thought He should do it. Unfortunately I think our prayers are kind of like that. We try to tell God what he should do, rather that trying to discern what he is doing. We should never tell God what to do.

The only Christian TV on Cable in Des Moines is Trinity Broadcasting Network and unfortunately it's dominated by prosperity preachers that day in and day out tell listeners that we have a right to demand things of God such as healing and wealth. We don't. Now we can boldly come before the throne of grace and make our requests known to God, but it has to be done humbly and in our helplessness as we seek to know and pray for His will.

They bring Him to Jesus and beg him to lay hands on him. Jesus does something instead that was unique. First a multitude had gathered, whether they all came together or maybe as word spread about Jesus, more showed up. There was a multitude. My reaction would have been, "great, more people to see the miracle, so that they might believe in Jesus." But that's not Jesus' reaction. He pulls the man away from the multitude to where there is probably just the man's immediate family or closest friends. Jesus wasn't there to do a magic show and amaze the crowd like a circus performer.

No this was spiritual warfare, this was serious business. Jesus didn't want people following him for the wrong reason. He constantly avoided that. He preached sermons at the height of his popularity, difficult sermons about commitment to drive people away. He knew that the ones the father had given Him couldn't be driven away.

So here, Jesus pulls the man away from the multitude to a more private place and he deals with the man's needs. Our text says He "put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue." Why did Jesus do this? We aren't told. It's interesting that Jesus never seemed to heal people in the same way. Pretty much every time was different. This probably was a testimony to His divinity. The sorcerers have there magic formulas, and there incantations that have to be acted out and they speak very precisely in order to work their magic. Not so with Jesus, this was no magic show, he didn't have to say the magic words just right to heal. He is a God of infinite variety, he speaks solar systems into existence, He can heal at the snap of a finger.

What does he do? He takes his fingers and puts them in the man's ears. Then He spits and touches the man's tongue. This doesn't necessarily mean Jesus spit on His fingers and touched the man's tongue. He may have, or he might have just spat on the ground and then touched the man's tongue with his finger. Why does he do this? We are not really told. It might simply be that since the man was deaf, Jesus was acting out for him, demonstrating for the purpose of building faith in him that Jesus was going to heal his hearing and his speech.

Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." He looked up to heaven, this is probably more sign language for the sake of the deaf man and his friends to make it perfectly clear that it was God who was healing him. Jesus didn't have to look up to heaven for His own sake. He knew where His strength came from. He said He did only what His Father told Him to do. So this is for their benefit, the man being healed, his friends and the disciples. This is the power of God at work.

Next it says "He sighed". We are not really told what's going on here. Commentators provide many guesses. So I'll throw mine into the mix as well. I think Jesus probably did a lot of sighing during His earthy ministry.
Jesus knowing the hearts of man, knew that even though he was going to perform this miracle which would one more time prove that he was the Anointed one of which the scriptures speak. That even with yet one more proof that Jesus was God, He knew that many in the crowd would remain spiritually deaf and dumb. Isaiah 53, says He was a Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief. Yes for the Joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. But at the same time He sighed because even though he was there in the flesh and He was constantly reaching out to the world and loving it, He knew that many were blind and refused to see.

In John 11 we have the death of Lazarus. John 11:33-35
33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, "Where have you laid him?"
They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. NKJV

Why did Jesus weep? Some will say that it's because Jesus' friend had died, or that he was identifying with their grief. I understand that notion, but Jesus knew four days earlier when they first came and told Him that Lazarus was going to die. He even waited until some one came and told Him that Lazarus had died before he went to Mary and Martha's. Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. But He also knew that many of those who would see it would still not believe. He saw their unbelief, and that led Him to weep.

Then Jesus said to the man "Ephphatha" that is "Be opened". Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly." Behold the power of God. Jesus speaks and things happen, cells and molecules reassemble themselves and things that were broken are made whole again.

There is a spiritual aspect of this miracle as well. The lost are also spiritually deaf and dumb. The world is deaf and dumb. They can't hear. The only thing they can speak are blasphemies against God and His church. And they do plenty of it. It really seems to be ramping up. On the internet it's all over, they openly and unashamedly spew their hatred for Christians. They are deaf and dumb, unless Jesus shouts "Be opened." They will never understand unless they are enlightened by the Spirit.

It's really sad to hear a pagan try to quote scripture. They have no idea of what they are talking about; it's a closed book. For the most part none of them have ever read the Bible. They usually parrot something they heard a friend say. The unbeliever's favorite verse is "Judge not lest you be judged" but they have no understanding of what that means in context. They are deaf and they speak nonsense. From a biblical view point it's unintelligible, just like the man in our text today.

Notice in our text though that when Jesus loosed the man's tongue, apparently he loosed everybody else's tongue as well. "Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it." It wasn't just the man with the speech impediment that Jesus loosed the tongue, it was all of them. Jesus was trying to lay low for a while, he was trying not to attract the attention of the Jewish leaders, so he commands them to not tell anybody, but they can't help it. They must proclaim it.

They saw a mighty work of God, and they could not be quiet about it. How about us? Have we had that same experience? Have you seen God do a mighty work in your life? Has he opened your ears? Has He loosed your tongue? Are you all the more widely proclaiming the wonderful works of God? I hope so. We need to be.

"And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, 'He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.'" Keep in mind, these are probably gentiles. Jesus is in hiding from the Jewish leaders, he has spent some time out of Israel up in Tyre and Sidon, now he is in the region of Decopolis again a predominantly gentile area. The Jews are starting to hate Him; the Gentiles are singing His praises. Jesus is at the crossroads, He is setting His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem and to the cross. The stage is being set and will start to unfold quickly.

In our text today we have a sacramental element. It is an action, it is a touch, it is a divine drama acted out and combined with the word of God. It is done this way for the purpose of producing and increasing the faith of the one receiving healing. Jesus touched the mans ears, he spit and then he touched the man's tongue, then Jesus spoke and the man was healed of his infirmity, and faith was increased not only in the man but the whole community.

A sacrament is an earthy element combined with the word of God to produce a spiritual result, namely faith. That's what communion is, we take the bread and the fruit of the vine, and we unit it with the word of God and the scriptures tell us that it works in us faith and the forgiveness of sins.

This morning in many ways we are spiritually blind still and when we try to speak its unintelligible most of the times. We don't know how to speak of the glories of Christ to others. We come to Him this morning and Jesus through the Bread and the Wine touches our ears that they might be opened so that we might hear His word of absolution, your sins are forgiven. And He touches our tongues that we might proclaim the good news that the forgiveness of sins is available to all who would come to Jesus.

As we come to the table of the Lord, may he open our ears anew to the reality of the forgiveness of sins, and as we leave this morning may he loose our tongues so we might speak His name boldly to those who so desperately need to hear.

Amen

04/26/2009 Not a Crumb Wasted

2009-04-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Not a Crumb Wasted
Mark 7:24-30
24 From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. 25 For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."

28 And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."

29 Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."

30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed. NKJV

Well were back in the Gospel of Mark where we were before a slight detour for the Resurrection holiday. Jesus had just had a confrontation with the Jewish leaders over their cleanliness laws. He had corrected them and said it's not what you eat that defiles you; it's what comes out of your heart that defiles you. These were not words that endeared Jesus to the Scribes and Pharisees. So we find Jesus leaving the area probably to let things cool down a bit, and he even leaves Israel and goes in to what today is called Lebanon. This was the only time that we know of that Jesus left the land of Palestine during His earthly ministry.

He goes up into the region of Tyre and Sidon and enters a house, probably in order to have some time to instruct the disciples in privacy. Again this is an effort probably for some rest and relaxation and a time to prepare the disciple for what is now probably less than a year away, His death. But a gentile woman interrupts His plans. What did Jesus do? He ministered unto her and met her need.

Some times when you ask people how they are doing, they will say, "Under the circumstances, I'm doing OK. I had a Bible School teacher that used to say, "Well your at the wrong place then, a Christian should never be under there circumstances, Jesus lifts us over our circumstances."

More and more I'm seeing things differently and that's the first lesson in our text today, we need to see that circumstances are opportunities. I think often times we let circumstances derail our plans. At least I know I do. We may have a well laid out plan to witness to some one, or maybe a plan to do an act of Christian love for a neighbor, but some circumstance gets thrown at us and it completely derails us. It keeps us from ministering.

Jesus never had that problem. He used circumstances as an opportunity to minister. We see it today in our text. We need to see circumstances as an opportunity to serve or share our faith, not as an inconvenience. That obviously was Jesus' attitude. He saw every soul as valuable, even the soul of a gentile woman and her daughter. Jesus saw this as a divine appointment set up by His father. We need to refocus our minds the same way. We need to see that the people who cross our paths everyday are in fact divine appointments whom our Father has brought to us that we might share the Gospel with them, or minister to them is in some way.

The second lesson that just kind of jumped out at me from the text is the end of verse 24 where it says "But He could not be hidden." Some people today live very public lives, some are born into it, some are especially gifted and talented in sports or in acting and they cannot be hidden. The paparazzi are after them all the time following them and taking pictures. They cannot be hid.

There is something different going on here, Jesus was of humble origin, he was the son of a carpenter in Nazareth of questionable birth. From a physical stand point he was quit an ordinary man. Speaking prophetically about the Messiah, Isaiah in chapter 53 verse two says; "He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him".

In the movies Jesus is usually depicted as a rather tall, hansom and even muscular man. But is that accurate? His physical condition was probably pretty good from the years he spent in his carpentry business working in metal and wood. But in all likelihood, he was probably a pretty forgettable man. There was nothing about his looks that would draw your attention to him. In all probability He was quit ordinary looking and maybe even bordering on homely.

But yet He could not be hidden. And no wonder. He had come to seek and save that which was lost, He had come to fulfill all prophecy, He had come to preach the everlasting gospel, and to work such miracles as the world had never seen before. He had come to love the world, even unto death.

Today Jesus is not hid, He is clearly seen by those who have had there eyes supernaturally opened. Jesus is clearly seen in creation, in the word of God, and in his grace worked out in the lives of Christians.

Sunday schools for years have sung the song. "This little light of mine I'm going to let it shine". The second verse goes, "Hide it under a bushel, NO! I'm going to let it shine." If I have a candle, it defeats the purpose to put a bushel basket over it. Now I can do it, but it makes no sense. But even more absurd is the thought that you can take the Sun, S U N and hid that under a bushel basket. Impossible, it can't be done.

In the hymn "Beautiful Savior" we sang, one verse says "Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry host: Jesus shines brighter." Jesus can't be hid. He couldn't be hid then, He can't be hid now.

2 Cor 13:5 Says: "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified." NKJV

We need to examine ourselves and see if Christ is in us, and if he is, is it possible for Him to be hidden? Is it possible for someone whose glory surpasses the sun to be hidden in our lives? Scripture seems pretty clear that those who have Christ within them will live lives that bear good fruit, for Christ cannot be hidden.

And the day will come when He will not be hidden. Rev 1:7 "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him." NKJV
There will be a day when it will be impossible to hide Him. He will come in the clouds, not fluffy cumulous clouds, but clouds of the Shechinah glory like what surrounded the temple. What a joy it will be to see that day! But for many it will be a day of mourning because it will be too late. Jesus will not be hidden on that day, but the multitude of the lost will try to hide themselves and will even call out to the mountains to fall on them and bury them because of the wrath of the lamb. Jesus will not be hid, all will face him.

In verse 25 we have a one two punch. First the woman recognized that she had a need, her daughter was possessed by demons. Second she had heard about Jesus and knew He could help her. Somebody told her about Jesus. We have the way of salvation pictured for us here. The woman recognized that she had a need a great spiritual need. Then she heard about someone who has power over evil spirits and she went to him.

Likewise for us, the first thing that needs to happen is for us to realize we are in bondage to sin and can't free ourselves. No one who is well goes to the doctor. First you have to recognize that you are sick and then you will seek out the physician. Only those who have come face to face with their sin and have seen there lostness, their hopeless condition will seek the Savior.

Your doctor can call you up and say that he has some medicine for you that he wants you to take and it will cost you $1000 a dose. You will probably laugh at your doctor, say thanks, but no thanks, I feel fine, and I don't need your medicine. But if the doctor comes to you with genuine concern on his heart and says you're very sick; let me show you the results of your blood tests and x-rays. You have two choices, you can do nothing and be dead in one month, or you can take this medicine at $1000 a dose for 30 days and live. Now your attitude is different. You are grateful to your doctor because he has the cure. You do what you have to, to get the medicine because it means life. You cancel your vacation, you don't buy that new car, you sell many of your possessions, you eat macaroni and cheese for a month straight just so you can afford the medicine, and you don't grumble and complain about doing it because it means life.

If you walk up to a person today and say, "You need to receive Jesus as your Savior", they will look at you and say, "No thanks, I don't need what you're selling." They don't think they need Jesus, because in there mind they think they are pretty good. They don't think they need saving. But if we pull them aside and say friend, I'm concerned about you and you tell him about God's Holiness and Righteousness and that he is angry at sinners everyday and then take him lovingly through the Ten Commandments so that he can see himself in the mirror of God's law. Once he recognizes his need then he is ready for the medicine, then he will be willing to hear about the savior that took his punishment so that he wouldn't have to go to Hell. And he will be grateful to you for caring enough for him to tell him.

The woman in our text had a need and then she heard about Jesus. Somebody took the time to tell her about Jesus. And she was drawn by the Good news that there was someone who had power over evil spirits. If she wouldn't have had a need the words would have meant little to her, but as it was the words were words of hope and life.

She heard about Jesus and came to Him. I think we get discouraged a lot of times when we share our faith because it seems like nothing happens. People may laugh at us get mad at us, ignore us, and sometimes they will politely listen and politely say, I'm glad it works for you, but no thank you. But how many times did you have to hear the Gospel before you got saved. I probably heard it a hundred times before I understood it, and then after I understood it I probably heard it another hundred times before I got saved. I was fortunate; I grew up in a church where the Gospel was preached every week. All of you had the same privilege.

How about people today, most never hear the gospel at all. Many sit in churches every Sunday and never hear the gospel. Oh they may hear a partial Gospel, but they never come face to face with the wickedness of their own hearts so they might turn to Jesus who can give them a new heart. Many more never set foot in a church except for an occasional wedding or funeral. They have never seen their need and never heard about a God who loved them so much that he died, taking their penalty upon himself.

Rom 10:14-15 "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
"How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!" NKJV

Pray therefore the Lord of the Harvest to send Laborers out into the field.

The next thing we see in our text is that the woman came and fell at His feet. She came in humility. This is probably the greatest of all virtues for mankind, and it is probably the hardest to come by. Our greatest battles often time involve pride. It apparently led to Satan's fall, and mankind followed down the same path. Scriptures over and over again warn us about the dangers of pride and the blessings of humility.
Prov 16:18 says "Pride goes before destruction," NKJV
Isa 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
Isa 66:2 "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word. NKJV
Mic 6:88 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? NKJV

You have to loose your pride in order to come to Christ. That's usually what holds a lot of people back. They refuse to see themselves as helpless sinners. They will try to maintain that they are good people and don't need saving. But until they loose them selves and see that they are wretched, they can't be saved. This woman saw her need, heard the word, and came to Jesus in humility and threw herself at His feet. Her heart was humble.

Next notice her persistence. She knew what she needed, and she kept on asking until she had the assurance that her prayer was going to be answered.
Prayer is not a simple matter. It is not an easy matter. It's radical! Prayer is spiritual warfare.

Jesus said in Luke 16:16 "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it." NKJV And it's a violent pressing, it's not passive. The woman kept asking, she was pressing him.

Luke 13:24 "Strive", The Greek word is the word we get our English word Agonize from. Agonize "to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. NKJV

Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." NKJV So are we really to hate our father mother, wife, and Children. No. It's a word of comparison. Our love for Jesus should be so great that it makes our love for our spouse, seem like hate in comparison. Our Love for Jesus is to be so great that our love for our parents should seem like hate in comparison.

There is a violent pressing that happens when we come to Jesus in meaning full and helpless prayer. She kept asking, there was a holy desperation because of her need that was fueled by her faith and that just drove her to her knees at the feet of Jesus. Prayer springs out of our helplessness as Hallesby says.

What Jesus says next really makes a lot of people mad. The liberals and the skeptics really get angry about what Jesus says here. "How could he be so insensitive and put this woman down like that. How could he be so prejudice and so hateful to call her a dog?"

Well on the surface it may appear that way, but from the reaction of the woman it seems clear she didn't take it that way. Let's look at what Jesus said, and there are a couple things that softened it considerably. Jesus said, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." First of all this woman lived close to Israel so she had probably had run ins with Jews before and Jews did not treat Gentiles kindly. Jesus was in the region with His disciples to minister and teach them and to be away from the crowds. So the children he is referring to are the disciples. His purpose there was to give spiritual nourishment to the disciples.

"Let me attend to my disciples first." Notice that He didn't shut the door on her all together. He's testing her faith, he's encouraging her to get stronger and to be bolder. If Jesus had just said, "let me attend to my disciples" she wouldn't have had anything to cling to, but adding the word "first". All of a sudden she had hope that maybe latter He would have a crumb for her. And she obviously latches on to that crumb of hope.

The second thing she latched on to is what the New King James Bible says are the "little dogs". There were two different words the Jews used for dogs. There were the scavenger dogs, which were dirty disease infested wild dogs that roamed the streets, and this is the kind of dogs the Jews normally derogatorily referred to gentiles. But Jesus used a different word, he used the word translated little dog which was the word used for the family pet.

She took no offense at Jesus' remarks, she recognized that he was holding out hope to her, and she grabbed onto that hope and said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."

In Matthew's account Jesus says, "(15:28) "O woman, great is your faith!" The two things that Jesus always marveled at on earth were Faith and lack of faith. Here he marvels at this Gentile woman's faith. And he grants her request. The woman goes home and finds her daughter resting comfortably in bed with the demon gone.

Not a crumb was wasted. The woman gladly settled for just a crumb of God's love and power for she knew that was all it would take for her daughter to be healed.

What are your needs this morning, are you looking for your own crumb? What ever your need, God can take care of you. Now I'm not saying as some prosperity preachers that we can demand stuff from God. But if we go to him in our helplessness, and we go to Him in our humility He is able to do what ever he wills for us. He will either answer our prayer in our distress or he will reveal to us what he is trying to teach us through our distress. He can heal you of your illness or he will sanctify you through your illness.

Faith doesn't make demands, faith humbly asks for a crumb, but that's all we need just a crumb and we can be transformed. We can be saved, we can be healed, we can grow in holiness, we can witness. All we need is faith as small as a mustard seed; just a crumb and God can do mighty things in our lives and through us.

Let's Pray: Lord, again we come before you to acknowledge our need. We identify with this woman. We have no merit of our own. We, like her, have sought our own ways, we have done our own thing, we have sinned and come before you guilty. Yet, we, like her, have needs that we bring before you. Knowing that we in ourselves don’t deserve the bread, we appeal to your mercy. Let the crumbs of your grace fall to us. We thank you so much for your mercy. You have done more for us than you did even for this woman. You changed us, from “dogs” to “children of God”. You have given us the bread of life, not just the crumbs off the table. Thank you for loving us as your children. Thank you for adopting us and giving us Your Name, and Your Life. All the riches in Christ are now ours. We are truly humbled by the wonder of your grace. Amen

04/19/2009 The Cross

2009-04-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

The Cross
Mark 15:21-38
21 Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. 22 And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it. 24 And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.
25 Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. 26 And the inscription of His accusation was written above:
THE KING OF THE JEWS.
27 With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. 28 So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with the transgressors."
29 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!"
31 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."
Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.
33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
35 Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, "Look, He is calling for Elijah!" 36 Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down."
37 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.
38 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!"

The cross, an instrument of torture and death, has become the preeminent symbol of the church. In that one image we see all of the attributes of God in perfect balance. We see His holiness, righteousness, justice, His sovereignty, His wrath as well as His love. We see the full range of His character displayed in the cross.

Some have suggested that if Jesus would have been hung, we would have had a hang mans noose up in the front of our churches. Or if he had been stoned, there would be a pile of rocks in the front of our churches. But that could not be the case. Scripture tells us that this plan was hatched in eternity, before the foundations of the earth were laid. These plans were revealed prophetically especially through King David in Psalm 22 and the prophet Isaiah in chapter 53, hundreds of years before the Romans invented crucifixion.

As Paul says Gal 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. NKJV

In all of human history there has only been one form of execution that provided both the visual spectacle, and an extended period of conscious suffering that the cross allows for. Sometimes the victims would suffer for days, this allowed for hours of conscious suffering at the hands of mankind. It allowed for the wrath of God to be poured out on Him for the sins of the world. Speaking of His life Jesus said; John 10:18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. NKJV

Jesus suffered at the hands of the Jews and the Romans, but it was not because of what they did that He died. Crucifixion was the one mode of execution that allowed Jesus to lay His life down rather than have it taken from Him. When the Roman guards went to break his legs, they marveled that He was dead already because normally the executed could last for a day or better but Jesus was only on the cross about six hours.

Why talk about the cross the Sunday after Easter? It's always appropriate to talk about the cross. Paul reminded the Corinthian church that when he was among them he decided to know nothing else but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Because that is the center of the Gospel, it is the center of all biblical truth. It even split history in half, B.C. and A. D. It has been the means to awaken and save souls for almost two thousand years.

I would like to look briefly at several aspects of the cross; the certainty of it, the joy of it, the wrath in it, the Love in it, the scandal of it, and the call of it. Like I said in the cross we see the fullness of the attributes and nature of God.

First the certainty of it.
Jesus said in John 3:14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." NKJV The Son of Man must be lifted up. It was something that had to happen, it was predetermined. There is a lot about predestination and foreordination that I will never understand. But this I know, Jesus going to the cross was predestined.

1 Peter 1:18says; "knowing that you were … redeemed … with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." NKJV Father, Son and Holy Spirit had decided in eternity past that this would be the method of mankind's redemption, and by it He would be glorified. For when wretched sinners understand the kindness and love of God displayed in the cross, they repent and put there trust in Jesus and God gets all the glory. We are not good as many would try to tell us, we are wretches who have been saved by a good God.

The joy of it.
Heb 12:2 says: "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." NKJV

Jesus when He walked the Earth during the time of his humiliation, did not live in fear and dread of the cross, it was a "joy that was set before him". He was a willing participant; he was not like the Passover lambs that went before Him, victims of circumstance. It was with Joy He came to Earth to take the wrath of God that we might become children of God. Jesus knew he came for one purpose and he did not flinch in carrying out that purpose.

Just days before His crucifixion Jesus says: John 12:27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name." NKJV All Jesus was concerned about was that His Father would be glorified, and that was the joy that was set before Him.

Isa 53:10 says, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him." NKJV No, God the Father is not some kind of sado-masachist that gets cheap thrills out of torchering His son. The cross was not cosmic child abuse as some have said. The sin that was imputed to Jesus that day was real sin, and the wrath of God poured out on his son was real wrath. You may say I don't understand. Luther wrestled with it for days and finally had to conclude, "God forsaking God, who can understand it."

We have no comprehension of the wrath of God poured out on His Son, the sky was black, no one was allowed to watch. Only those who get caste into hell will understand what our Savior experienced that day.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, because he knew the out come. He knew that He would receive the reward of His suffering. So Father and son went together to the cross that day that we might sit here this morning redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Jesus had joy because he knew what the outcome would be, our salvation.

The wrath of it.
In the cross we have the clearest depiction of God's wrath in the Bible. The cross shows us the serious nature of sin.

In the Garden Jesus prayed Mark 14:36 "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will." NKJV This passage begs the question, what was in the cup? Many in our day seem to have lost the meaning of this text, they make it all about the physical suffering that Jesus knew He would suffer at the hands of the Jews and Romans. In my opinion that's blasphemy to accuse the captain of our faith of cowardess, especially when so many of His followers went to their deaths joyfully and singing hymns of praise.

What was in the cup? Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel all speak of the cup of trembling, the cup of horror, and the cup of wrath. For instance Jeremiah 25:15 says; "For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: "Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 And they will drink and stagger and go mad..." NKJV

It was the wrath of His Father that made Jesus tremble. Now I don't want to minimize the physical sufferings of Jesus, because they were severe and necessary. The temple sacrifices were a messy ordeal, you had to bring a lamb, and you would present the lamb to the priest, and the priest would have you lay your hands on the lamb, imputing your sins to the innocent lamb, and while you did this the lamb, innocent and dumb would in some cases lick your hand. Then the priest would take a sharp knife and slit the lamb's throat while you watched. And you would stand there and watch the life blood of that lamb drain out into a basin. And as you watched, you made the connection that because of your sin there had to be a death, blood had to be shed.

So the physical sufferings of Jesus were important for our sake, it's a shocking visual of how grievous our sins are to God. Because of them His Son had to die. That's powerful, but yet for Jesus that wasn't the worst of it, the part that caused Him to tremble was facing His father's wrath. If Jesus feared the wrath of God, where will that leave us, if we die with our sins unforgiven?

The Love in it.
This is the only aspect of the cross that most churches have talked about these last couple weeks. I am probably at fault for not talking enough about it. Rom 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." NKJV Paul in those verses talks about both Love and wrath. 1 John 4:10 says; "In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins." AMP Not that we loved God, because before being saved we didn't love God. Our love for God doesn't even rate compared to His love for us. The cross is the one event in Human history that settles it once and for all, God is Love.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave. God is always the initiator. God is always the seeker, no one seeks after God. In the Garden, after Adam and Eve sinned God came looking for them. After the world had so perverted itself that God had to destroy all life with breath in its nostrils, he sought and found Noah. God found Abraham in Persia, God found Gideon hiding in a wine press; Jesus found and called all of the disciples, including Paul whom he found on the road to Damascus. God found me and pursued me for several years before He saved me. God is always the initiator. He initiated salvation by giving His son to die on a cross.

Jesus said; John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you." NKJV

The scandal of it.
To the world the cross is a scandal. 1 Cor 1:22 says "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block (skándalon) and to the Greeks foolishness (moorían), 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." NKJV The Jews are scandalized by the cross and the gentiles think were morons for believing such foolishness.

That’s probably the best Biblical test for a church. Is the Gospel we preach offensive to the world? If it is not, then it's not the Gospel. It seems that most churches today are out seeking the approval of the world. The world loves what they say, the world loves the seeker friendly church, the social Gospel, but if the world is not offended by it, it's not the Gospel of Jesus.

Paul says in Galatians 5:11 "And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased." NKJV A Gospel of keeping the law, a gospel of good works is not offensive. It is not a scandal. If you preach a bloodless gospel, a gospel of good works, you will be loved by the world. There are ten thousand religions that say you can get to heaven by your good works, only one that says you can't, and to the world that's a scandal. Paul said if I preach good works, I wouldn't suffer, because the scandal of the cross would cease.

Again let me emphasize this, if the world is not offended by our message, then we are not preaching the Gospel rightly.

The call of it.
The cross has a call upon all of us. Jesus said (Luke 9:23) "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." NKJV If anyone, there are no exceptions, if you desire to be saved, if you desire to follow after Jesus you need to deny yourself, and take up your cross, not just once. It's not just once when you said the sinner's prayer years ago, but its everyday.

A.W. Tozer said there was one thing you knew about a man when you saw him carrying a cross out side the city, you knew he wasn't coming back.

Take up your cross, what does that mean? I remember a young man getting up in a chapel at Bible School and talking about his battle with lust. He talked about the struggle he was going through in trying to have a pure thought life and referred to his problem with lust as the cross he was bearing. After he finished Pastor Force stood up and walked to the podium and said, "I commend you on being in the battle, it is a battle every young Christian must wage and win, but lust is not your cross. But you must take up you cross and die to yourself, die to the desires of your flesh, die to your own efforts, and it is by taking up your cross and dyeing that you will gain victory over your lust.

So our suffering is not our cross, breaking your leg is not your cross, having marriage problems is not your cross, having unsaved children is not your cross, falling victim in some way to this current financial crisis is not your. cross. No your cross is your hearts desire to be dead, so that Jesus can give you new life. It is denying yourself. Even with these current economic times, we for the most part live pretty comfortable lives. If there is something we want, in most cases we can figure out a way to get it. Most Americans know little about denying themselves. I can't say I know much about denying myself.

Jesus says take up your cross and die. Die to your plans for yourself. Die to your fleshly desires. Die to any hopes that you can do anything to save yourself. Come, die and follow me. That's a radical message, but that's the message of the cross.

Only those who die can be born again. When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick he tarried, then they came and told Jesus that Lazarus had died, and he waited some more and when finally four days latter he goes to Lazareth. He wanted everybody to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lazareth was dead.

Deitrik Bonhoffer said; "The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call."
(The Cost of Discipleship, 99)

In order to be born again, we need to be dead; we need to recognize we are dead. Paul said that the law killed him. When he understood the law in truth, it did not bring life, it brought death. He recognized that He was wretched, "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall save me from this body of death."

Paul says we are dead in our trespasses and sins. We need Jesus to raise us to newness of life.

Yes the richness of the cross. This Easter season when we think on the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, let's think on the cross.

Long, Long ago in a far away placeRough rugged timbers were raised to the skyThere hung a man suspended in spaceAnd though He was blameless They left Him to dieJust to think of the crossMoves me now The nails in His handsHis bleeding brow To think of the crossMoves me now It should have been me (2x)Instead I am free, I am free!

Yes, it should have been me. We do need to think on the cross for therein lies the Gospel.

Amen

2009-04-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Since Christ Has Been Raised…
1 Cor 15:12-21
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up — if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. NKJV

There was heresy in the Church of Corinth already. Just as in our day there were liberals. With the Jews of Jesus day, the liberals were the Sadducees. They believed there was a God, but He was impersonal, the law was a means to an end, it was a way to get the good life from God in the here and now, it was almost like a prosperity type religion except with no afterlife. You tried to keep the law as best you could so that God would bless you now, because that's all you had. No promise of heaven, no belief in any kind of resurrection.

This same belief had infiltrated the church in Paul's day; there were some that said that there was no resurrection from the dead. They carried the old Jewish Sadducee belief that all we had was the here and now. No resurrection, no life after death, no heaven, no hell aside from this life.

Paul said to the church, don't listen to them, if there is no resurrection of the dead then Christ has not risen. And if Christ is not risen then Christianity is meaningless. Christianity rises and falls with the resurrection. You remove the resurrection from Christianity and you have nothing.

But yet in our day more and more theologians are denying the resurrection of Christ. This is what Marcus Borg, ELCA theologian said about the resurrection in an interview. "I'll simply say that… there's all the room in the world for disagreement about whether the resurrection of Jesus involved something happening to his corpse. I grew up in a tradition which stressed correct belief, and I now see it's not about correct belief at all. It's about being in relationship to that which all this stuff points." The Lutheran Theologian Marcus Borg denies both the divinity of Jesus and His bodily resurrection. By the way Marcus Borg taught at a seminary until he retired in 2007. That explains why so many Lutheran pastors come out of seminary so messed up.

Without the bodily resurrection of Jesus, Christianity unravels and means nothing. Paul points this out to the Corinthian church, everything we have hinges on the question, "Did Jesus rise bodily from the dead?" If He did not, we have nothing. If He did, we have everything.

In this text in 1 Corinthians Paul lays out six benefits we receive in the resurrection. Paul states them in the negative, I will give what Paul says and then restate it in the positive, and then we'll take a closer look at each one.

1. Verse 14: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain." But since Christ has been raised, our preaching is relevant and powerful.
2. Verse 14: " If Christ has not been raised your faith is in vain." But since Christ has been raised, our faith gives life meaning and hope.
3. Verse 15: If Christ has not been raised, "we are found to be false witnesses, because we testified of God that he raised Christ." But since Christ has been raised, out testimony is true and dependable.
4. Verse 17: "If Christ has not been raised then your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." But since Christ has been raised, we receive forgiveness through Him.
5. Verse 18: If Christ has not been raised, then "those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished." But since Christ has been raised, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
6. Verse 19: If Christ has not been raised, then "we are of all men most to be pitied." But since Christ has been raised, we are most blessed and are to be envied.

Let's take a brief look at the blessings that are ours this morning because Christ is risen.

1. First Paul says in Verse 14: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain." If Christ has not been raised there is no reason for us to be here this morning. If Christ has not risen there isn't any reason for us to be here ever. We are wasting our lives. I am wasting hours every week studying and preparing a message every week that's a lie. It's all a waste of time. It's a waste of time to try to witness to someone, and when we do share our faith, they will rightly judge us as being crazy. If Christ is not raised from the dead were a pretty pathetic lot, a bunch of losers of the worse kind. Because Christianity looses all its meaning and purpose and hope if Christ is not raised from the dead.

But since Christ has been raised, our preaching and witnessing is relevant and powerful. The disciples went out with boldness with the message, "He is risen." Over five hundred believers had seen Him, and it so filled them with zeal for the message that most of the early followers of Jesus were killed for their message, but it didn't stop them because they had seen Him with their own eyes. Today we have the same boldness because we know he's risen, we move and preach and witness in the power of the promised Holy Spirit, and the message is strong to save.

2. Verse 14: " If Christ has not been raised your faith is in vain." If Christ did not rise from the dead, not only is the ministry of the church vain, our faith is vain as well. Our faith is meaningless. Jesus said over and over again that He would rise from the dead, and if He didn't he's a liar.

Have you ever been lied to? It's hard to trust someone that you know has lied to you. Because if they lied to you once, what else have they lied about. Some people become habitual liars. I've known a couple of them through the years and you can't believe anything they say because almost everything they say is a lie.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead he's a liar. Are you going to entrust your soul and your eternity to a liar? Only a fool would do that. There is something in us that looks for refuge and safety in truth. In lies, all we find is insecurity and doubt, and that makes for a pretty miserable life.

But because Christ has been raised, our faith is built on a rock and shall not be moved. He is our anchor that will hold and grip the solid rock when the storms of life hit us. He's our mighty fortress. Isa 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid. NKJV Because Christ has been raised we know that every promise in scripture will be kept. We know that someday we will be raised by Christ to be with Him always. That is the hope of the resurrection

3. Verse 15: If Christ has not been raised, "we are found to be false witnesses, because we testified of God that he raised Christ." If Christ is not raised then not only is Jesus a liar, the Apostles are all liars, and we are liars. The church has lied for the last 2000 years. The Apostles proclaimed "He is Risen" We have seen him. John the Apostle said, 1 John 1:1-3 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life — 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us — 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." NKJV If Christ has not been risen, the witness of Scripture is all a lie and we might as well burn our Bibles because none of it is true. The prophecies of the Old Testament failed and everything the Apostles wrote is a fabrication. Because they were there, if they lied about the resurrection, they lied about it all.

If Christ has not been raised from the dead then they along with us are all false witnesses. We are all liars.

But since Christ has been raised, our testimony is true and righteous. We can stand boldly in a court of law and say, it is true, He is risen. Sure we have not seen Him physically yet, but we have the eye witness accounts of 11 disciples and over 500 others who said they saw him and touched him and ate with him over a period of forty days. Many infidels have tried to destroy their testimony, but any honest open minded, judge and jury has had to admit that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the most firmly attested events in history. Many have set out to disprove Christianity, and instead have been convinced by the evidence for the resurrection and have become Christians, CS Lewis and Josh McDowell, and Lee Strobel are just a few who have been stopped in there tracks by the Rock of our salvation. The testimony of the Lord is sure.

4. Verse 17: "If Christ has not been raised then your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." This is probably the most important point, the forgiveness of sins. If Christ has not been raised from the dead, we are still in our sins. No resurrection means that God's wrath was not satisfied, there has not been an atoning sacrifice for our sins, we are still lost and someday when we face God, all we will experience is wrath. If Christ is not raised, then there is no God who loves this world, instead he is storing us all up for a day of wrath when he will send us all, lock stock and barrel to a fiery hell. Since sin was not dealt with, we cannot stand in God's presence, no one will go to heaven, all will go to Hell.

But since Christ has been raised, we receive forgiveness of sins through Him. Peter in Acts 5:30-32 says "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 31 Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." NKJV He is risen, the solution to mankind's greatest need has been made available for those who put their faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone. We will receive the forgiveness of sins and stand before God pure some day, because Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us by faith.

5. Verse 18: If Christ has not been raised, then "those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished." Think about family and friends who have passed on before, people who loved Christ and His church. Think about all the Missionaries who spent and wore themselves out for the sake of the Gospel. Think of all the martyrs who have died in the last year alone in India, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and many other places in the world, people who counted their lives as refuse for the sake of the Gospel, who loved not their lives unto death.

If Christ has not been raised from the dead, all of it is for nothing, all a waste. They have perished, they have gone to hell. If Christ has not been raised from the dead, then God the Father did not accept the sacrifice of the son and we are all still under the judgment of God and we will all go to Hell.

But Christ has been raised, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We will see our saved love ones again someday. We will see our Savior someday, and when we do we will be changed and we will finally be free of our sinful nature and we will no longer see through a mirror darkly, but we will see face to face.

Jesus said, John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." NKJV

He is risen and because He is risen we know that everything He said is true. He will come again for us. For some of us it will be at our death. Maybe for some here today we will meet Him in the air. A friend in Fargo told me this story. Back in the late 70's my boss was diagnosed with cancer. The man was not a Christians, but when he was faced with his mortality, that he was going to die, he repented and put his faith in Jesus. His son was sitting in his hospital room the moment he died. His son said that just before he died he suddenly sat up and pointed up and said, "They are coming for me". Then he lay back down and breathed his last.

Because he lives, know this, if you have repented and put your trust in Jesus, when you breathe your last breath, Jesus will come and receive you to Himself. That was Irving's experience last August. The moment he died, Jesus was there waiting for Him. That is our blessed hope as well.

6. Verse 19: If Christ has not been raised, then "we are of all men most to be pitied." If Christ has not been raised from the dead then the world is right about us, we are fools. If Christ is not raised then living for him, doing what he says, following his will is a great delusion. We should be pitied like insane people who live by hallucinations.

But since Christ has been raised, we of all people are most blessed. We are to be envied. Now for the most part the world does not envy us, they laugh and mock us because they have been blinded by there father the devil. But some do envy us, they see our lives and are strongly drawn, but they look at what they will have to give up, namely there sin, and they love there sin too much. They would love to have the same hope that lies within us but they love their sin and their pride more, so they refuse to repent. But since Christ is risen from the dead we a re a privileged and a peculiar people and when the saint's go marching in, we will be in that number when the saints go marching into heaven.

Charles Spurgeon said in a sermon he preached on this same text.
“If Christ be not risen, then is my preaching vain, and your faith is also vain, and you are yet in your sins, … all our visions of heaven are blasted and withered; the brightness of our hope is quenched for ever; that rock on which our trust is built, turns out to be nothing better than mere sand if the divinity of Christ is not proved. All the joy and consolation we ever had in this world, in our belief that his blood was sufficient to atone for sin, has been but a dream of fancy and a ‘figment of idle brains;’ all the communion we have ever had with him has been but an illusion and a trance, and all the hopes we have of beholding his face in glory, and of being satisfied when we awake in his likeness, are but the foulest delusions that ever cheated the hopes of man.” (sermon 258)

Ah, yes, but He is risen and because He lives all the promises of God have there yes in Him.

He is risen!! He is Risen Indeed!!

03/29/2009 Don't Waste a Good Crisis

2009-03-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

Don't Waste a Good Crisis
(The Idea for this message came from a John Piper sermon with a simular theme)
2 Cor 1:3-11
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 6 Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.

8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.
NKJV

The Democratic Party is on record for saying: "Don't waste a good crisis." You can do things and get things done in a crisis that you otherwise would have had trouble doing. The church needs to have the same attitude. Really the church throughout the ages has done a good job at this. The church has always rushed into natural disasters to give aid, and to preach the Gospel. The church always has been the first group in and the last group out when ever there is some kind of tragedy. The Government see's an opportunity to accomplish some things it doesn't think it normally could get done. I hope the church has the same impulse, that rather than curse the recession, we thank God for it and then we go out and minister and preach the Gospel.

One thing we must be clear about as Christians, God has a purpose in this recession. There are some that think this will become a depression. Obviously we are living in stressed times. For months now we have been witnessing various financial setbacks like business slowdown, decreasing profits, massive layoffs and joblessness, the bursting of the housing bubble, thousands of foreclosures, personal and business bankruptcies, bank failures, investment company collapses, the loss of retirement funds, and the social ills and unrest that go with the downturn.

What is to be the Christians response to what's going on, are we to be anxious? Granted it's hard not to be at times. Are we to worry, are we to fret, a couple prominent Des Moines business men have committed suicide since this down turn started. People's hearts are fainting within them.

Now I don't fully understand election, predestination and the sovereignty of God, but the Bible does tell us that God is sovereign over these things, he foresees them all, he causes or permits them all, and when he causes or permits something, he does so with purpose and design.

The scriptures are clear about who is in control. Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord."
Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."
Psalm 33:10 says, "The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.”
Isa 46:9-10 I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,' NKJV

The Lord declares the end from the beginning. God is not sitting up in heaven wringing His hands not knowing what to do. None of these recessionary events has surprised the Lord. His purposes and designs are being fulfilled according to plan. And what I want to draw your attention to what some of those purposes might be.

Today in the age of 24hr news stations and talk radio we are inundated with opinions as to why what's happening is happening. They all have opinions, and they can be educational and entertaining to listen too. But as Christians the most important thing to know is has God spoken about such matters.
Now God has not spoken specifically to our present condition, but through His word we can understand some of his perspective. He is God and we are not. He has told of some of what he is doing in this recession. But most of what he is doing he does not tell us. But what he does tell us is crucial for living our lives in peace and joy in the midst of what we see happening all around us.

In light of what our nation is currently going through, what might we see as his purpose?

1. I believe God's first purpose in what is currently going on in our country is Judgment.
2. God is exposing hidden sin so that we might be brought to repentance and cleansing.
3. God wants us to relocate our trust and our joy in Him rather than in the things of the world.
4. God intends to use the current world situation to advance the Gospel in the world.
5. He intends for the church to relearn how to love and care for other Christians.

For probably more than thirty years now Christians have expressed a concern and fear that if our country keeps going in the direction it has been going that we would come under the judgment of God. Today what I am hearing more and more is that what we are seeing is the judgment of God. Theologians when they talk about grace, talk about different kinds of Grace. There is a common grace that prevents everybody on earth from being instantly caste into hell. There is a common grace that causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

They also talk of restraining grace; meaning that we are not as wicked as we normally would be because of God's restraining grace. Then there is saving grace, living grace, dying grace and Eternal grace. Some people ask, "Why was Hitler so evil." We could just as easily ask, why wasn't Hitler more evil than he was? But at the same time we need to see that apart from God's restraining grace you or I could have made Hitler look like a choir boy. God restrains evil, if mankind was allowed to carry out the deprave desires of his heart this world would become unlivable.

In the sermons I preached last year on Revelation, that stood out loud and clear to me. It seemed that most of the judgments were simply the effect of God removing His restraining grace and allowing mankind the out working the desires of their evil heart.

Paul talked about this restraining grace in; 2 Thess 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. NKJV Paul tells us that the end time's anti-Christ won't be allowed to appear until God's restraining power is removed. It's not time yet, but someday in the future, and it may be soon, God will remove "He who now restrains", when that happens the Anti Christ will appear.

More and more I am hearing Christians and Godly pastors preaching and saying God is removing His restraint on our society. And what they point to what is happening in our country. Some say that because of 50 million dead Babies through abortion, that God will judge us. Many are now saying 50 million dead babies is the judgment of God. Some will say that rampant homosexuality, fornication, adultery and divorce will bring the judgment of God upon us. Many are starting to say homosexuality, fornication, adultery and divorce are the judgment of God.

This is exactly what Paul says in Romans One, starting with verse 18.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, …..21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. NKJV

God today is removing His restraining grace and our nation is tumbling into a moral pit. One can only wonder, can the anti-christ be far behind.

2. God is exposing hidden sin so that we might be brought to repentance and cleansing. The book of Job in the Old Testament begins, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). But in the last chapter of the book, Job says, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). He was “blameless,” but later he repented. What does that mean?

It means that the most godly people in the world still have an abundance of sin in there lives, and it's God's purpose to expose it to us so we can repent and be cleansed from it. Tough financial times can do that. Job lost everything, his herds and flocks, his children and his health. God knocked all of the props out from under him.

That may be what God is doing today. For some it has already happened, they have lost jobs, houses and their nest eggs. Who knows where it is going to end. David Wilkerson of "Cross and the Switchblade" and Teen Challenge, in a email sent to his mailing list told people to prepare for the worse, and have a 30 day supply of food set aside. There are other voices even on TV and radio that are warning of the same thing if not even worse.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

This is our sanctification; that God would bring things into our lives that we might learn to rely on God rather than on ourselves. Paul was not spared these lessons; we shouldn't expect to be exempt either. All of life is meant to teach us to rely on God rather than self. Whither it be seasons of scarcity, or seasons of plenty, seasons of health, or seasons of illness, even our getting old and dying is to wean ourselves off of reliance on our selves to rest totally in the arms of Jesus.

In every Christian heart lies a traitor, self. We need to constantly crucify self, and take up our cross daily and follow Jesus. Our self will, our inclination to rely on ourselves will always attempt to rear its ugly head. God shakes the foundations, the foundations of our financial world and the political world and even the church to show us how we rely on these things rather than Him. He shows it to us so we can kill it, so that we can mortify the flesh and learn to put our reliance totally on Him.

This applies as a culture too. The foundations of the financial world have been shaken and it's amazing what has come to light. For instance, Promise people huge returns on their investment when there is nothing to invest in, then pay those returns with some of the next investments in nothing. And keep doing it for years, while you skim millions for yourself. Until a recession makes people want their investments back—and they don’t exist. Recessions have a wonderful power to expose that kind of deceit. What will it expose about you?

The shaking of the financial foundations also has exposed all kinds of greed both on Wall Street and in Government. For now the Government part of it is being buried and ignored, but there will be an accounting at some point. So really financial tough times are beneficial to weed out corruption and to show us our own hearts, so that we might repent of our lack of faith. That we might repent of the fact that our dependency was on our investments rather that a total reliance and dependence on God.

3. God wants us to relocate our trust and our joy in Him rather than in the things of the world. The clearest example of this in scripture is the Macedonian Church. Paul says of them in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 "We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part." ESV Paul describes a people who were living in extreme poverty, but yet at the same time they had an abundance of Joy and because there joy was rooted not in money but in Christ, even in there poverty they could be generous.

That’s what God wants us to learn. He wants us to get our eyes off our selves and get them on Him as the source of our life and joy. Where does this joy come from, Paul said that this was a result of the grace of God. So it is not something we can strive for. It's not a work that comes out of the flesh but a grace that comes from the spirit. If we are walk in the light as he is in the light, if we are waking illuminated by scripture he will give the church the grace to survive this ordeal and even to thrive. By God's grace we will be able to have joy in any and all circumstances.

4. God intends to use the financial and moral recession to advance the Gospel in the world.

When we are weak then he is able to show Himself mighty to save and in the process we are humbled and he gets all the glory.

-He promises a child when Abraham and Sarah are too old to have children.
-He splits the Red Sea when Israel is hopelessly trapped by Pharaoh’s army.
-He gives manna when there is no food in the wilderness.
-He stops the Jordan River when it’s time to take the land.
-When a city stands in the way, he makes the walls fall down.
-When the Midianites were as many as the sand of the sea, God whittled Gideon’s army down to 300 so God would get the glory for the victory.
-When Goliath defies the armies of the Lord, God sends a boy with a sling and five stones.
-When the Son of God is to come into the world, God calls a virgin to conceive.
-And when the mighty devil himself is to be defeated, a Lamb goes to the slaughter.
And in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2, when God wants to raise money for the poor in Jerusalem, he uses afflicted, poverty-stricken Macedonians and fills them with joy because of his grace.

God uses the weak to confound the wise. Right now there is nothing more foolish to the world than a blood bought Christian. But that is the foolishness that the world needs to hear. They need to hear the exclusive message of the Gospel, that Jesus is the only way to the father, and they can call it divine child abuse if they want but it was necessary that the father crush his own Son, because wrath has to be poured out on sin. The world hates that message because it speaks of the wretchedness of sin and they'll have no part of it.

God is knocking the footings out from under peoples lives, they are loosing jobs, they are loosing bank accounts, they are loosing their homes, they are loosing the things they prized above all else, they are loosing the source of their security and joy. We have a message the world doesn't want to hear, but needs to hear. They need to hear the Gospel. The world offers much, but delivers little. Jesus offers the source of real joy, the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. We need to be ready to share that good news with them.

5. He intends for the church to relearn how to love and care for the brethren, for Christians. When Jesus talked about caring for the brethren he was talking about Christians. He made it very clear when they came to him and said, that his mother brothers and sisters are asking for you. He said, "Who are my mother, brothers and sisters? My Family are the ones who do the will of my Father."

As a Christian my primary concern in this recession should not be the homeless, the skid row alcoholics, or unwed mothers. My primary concern should be for my brethren, the Christians who might be hurting. When Jesus said in Matt 25:40"Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." He didn't have a "brotherhood of man" perspective that our politicians have these days; it was about caring for the Christians.

The early church understood this, in Acts 4:34 "Nor was there anyone among them who lacked;" NKJV I read of a church, a house church of several families who meet down in the Kansas City area. Because of the recession have an envelope that contains a love fund. Every Sunday the envelope is passed around. Those who have put in, those who have not take out. It's a small fellowship, it's a close knit fellowship, they have decided it's not the governments job to care for them, it's there job, if anyone is hungry, naked or in prison for the gospel, "inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

Some see the light at the end of the tunnel, others think we are sliding down the slippery slope and it will take years to climb out, and when we climb out it will be a different world than we see even today. If that is what happens it will be a test for the church. God is asking, are you truly my church, my bride, my pure and spotless bride or are you just a club, or a fraternity? I think in many ways we see God's already sorting us out the sheep from the goats. God will reveal it in His time.

What does the future hold for us individually, for this church and for our nation? That's not for us to know. All we need to know is what Paul knew and what he put His hope in. 2 Tim 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. NKJV Let's Pray

03/22/09 Defilement Comes From Within (Mark 7:1-23)

2009-03-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

Defilement Comes from Within
Mark 7:1-23
Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. 2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"
6 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men — the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."
9 He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' 11 But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" — ' (that is, a gift to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, 13 making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."
14 When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand: 15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"
17 When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. 18 So He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?" 20 And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man."
NKJV

In the latter part of chapter six we see Jesus doing some spectacular things, he feeds the five thousand with just a few loves of bread and fish, he walks on water and then he travels through Gennesaret and heals all the people that have faith enough to reach out to Him. Jesus seems to be at the height of His popularity, and evidently word got back to Jerusalem and this caused enough concern that some spies were sent out to check up on Him. They didn't like what they saw.

What was the disciples' great sin? They weren't washing properly; they weren't washing according to the traditions of the Elders. Notice, that it doesn't say according to the Law of Moses. Their complaint was not that they were not keeping the Law of Moses, in other words the Law of God; it was that they were not keeping the Traditions of the Elders, the laws of man.

The laws of washing as given by God to Moses, pertained to the priests, to the tribe of Levi as they ministered in the temple, it did not pertain to the common people as they lived day to day. Now there were certain sins if committed that the people were commanded to come and be washed or sprinkled with water that had been mixed with the ashes of the red heifer, and by this they were pronounced clean. But nowhere in scripture does it say to do what the scribes and Pharisees commanded them to do.

The New King James says; "The Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way." The Old King James says; All the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not." Literally it says they wash the hands with the fist.

This is a description I found for this ritual. "It was laid down that the hands were first to be washed clean. The tips of the ten fingers were then joined and lifted up, so that the water ran down to the elbows, then turned down, so that it might run off to the ground. Fresh water was poured on them as they were lifted up and twice again as they hung down. The washing itself was to be done by rubbing the fist of one hand in the hollow of the other. When the hands were washed before eating, they must be held upwards, when after it downwards, but so that the water should not run beyond the knuckles. The vessel used must be held first in the right, then in the left hand; the water was to be poured first on the right, then on the left hand; and at every third time the words repeated, "Blessed art thou who hast given us the command to wash the hands." All of this was made up; it's the laws of man.

The Jews were expected to do this. Our text says you were to do it after you came from the market place, after all you never know who you might have brushed against, you may have come in contact with a gentile, or an undertaker who had touched a body that day, or someone who accidentally stepped on a bone out in the field. And then there is the money, who knows where that has been and who has touched it. So you always had to wash yourself after being at the market, and not only yourself but your cups and your pitchers, your copper vessels and your couches.

Now I don't think that the disciples ate with dirty hands, or ate on dirty dishes, it's just that they didn't wash according to the traditions of the Elders.

Verse five is written in the perfect tense, so it indicates that the Pharisees and scribes kept on asking. They were badgering Jesus, they just kept harping on it over and over and finally Jesus had enough and really let them have it. He calls them hypocrites and says that Isaiah talked about you people. 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

Teaching as doctrine the commandments of men, today it happens all the time. It is happening today in a lot of churches. They have an unbiblical view of salvation; they have an unbiblical view of the scriptures. They teach a works righteousness and deny the power of the Gospel. The social gospel that has taken over many churches is nothing more than teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.

This is a constant danger in all stripes and flavors of Christianity. Pietists are no exception. We preach regeneration with a changed life and as that life is lived out the evidence that we truly have been saved is a life that bears fruit. And that's all good; we can point to scripture to back up the truth of this. Pretty soon thou we can develop a code of conduct, and try to bind that conduct on everybody. If you keep that code of conduct grounded in the scriptures, it's ok as long as you speak the truth in love, but often times people forget the scripture and it becomes just pure legalism and nobody remember the reason.

Past generations thought it was a sin to play cards. I don't even remember the last time I played cards, but I used to quit a bit. When we would get together with Rachel's relatives for holidays we would play card's till the wee hours of the morning. I learned a lot about her relatives is a short amount of time playing cards with them. But past generations would have condemned me as a backslider and probably not even saved for playing cards.

There are a lot of things we could add to the list, movies, television, music, romance novels, dancing, and I could give you scriptural guidelines for each one of those things and probably should. But again the danger is that we soon forget the scriptural admonition behind it and it becomes legalism. It even becomes a way of salvation, a way to live to be saved, rather than a way to live because we are saved. Then we use it to bash the other person so that we can think we are better than they are. This is the thing we need to constantly guard against. We need to keep our doctrine and conduct tied to scripture.

Jesus gave an example of how the Jews nullified the law of God by their own laws and traditions. Moses said honor your father and your mother, and that not only means obeying them when you are a child but supporting them in their old age. This was critical in their day because they had no Medicare and Social Security, you depended on your children to take care of you in your old age. That's why it's always portrayed as so devastating to be childless; you could starve to death in your old age if you didn't have children to care for you.

Corban means dedicated to God. The Jews were teaching that if you made an oath at the temple and made your possessions corban that your oath overruled the fourth commandment. That it would then be wrong, or a sin to sell any of those dedicated possessions to support your parents in their old age. They nullified the commandment by their own law.

Today many churches have nullified the commandments by their own laws. The first commandment, thou shall have no other gods, has been replaced with the god of diversity, and multi-culturalism. Thou shalt not Murder has been replaced with choice. Thou shall not commit adultery, a commandment about sexual purity in and out of marriage has been replaced with anything goes as long as they are consenting adults. And all Ten Commandments have been replaced by "Thou shalt not Judge". But despite all the efforts to nullify the commandments of God by the laws of man, the commandments are still in place. They are the standard by which we should live and by which God will judge the world on the last day.

But if we look at the commandments they show us we are in trouble, because we don't always put God first in our lives, we haven't always honored our parents. Jesus said if you look with lust you are an adulterer at heart, if you hate someone or are unjustly angry with someone you are a murderer at heart. So we see that we will not only be judged by what we do but by what the thoughts and intents of the heart are. We have all blasphemed the name of God, we have all lied and we have coveted things and stole things and come judgment day we are in big trouble with God. If God were to give us justice he should send us all to hell.

But God who is rich in mercy, while we were yet rebels and haters of God, while we were yet sinners, God came to earth in His son and took the punishment that we deserved, that if we should humble ourselves and agree with God that we are not good, that we are wretched, that if we repent of our sins and put our trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation, he will save us and we will live eternally with Jesus in heaven. It's the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for us. In Jesus, God offers you something you don't deserve, life everlasting.

The Pharisees had this notion that purity was external. If you just conducted yourself in a certain way, if you washed in a certain prescribed way, if you avoided certain things and certain types of people you would be pure and God would be pleased. It was all ritual, it was all symbolism, there was no heart panting after God, no compassion for your fellow man. They thought that if you ate with defiled hands, then the food you ate was defiled, so then you become defiled.

Jesus says, no you got it all wrong. What enters a man from the outside can't defile him because it does not enter the heart, it does not enter the soul, instead it enters the stomach, it is digested and what the body doesn’t use it eliminates. Some think that Jesus is here repealing all the Jewish dietary laws, he's not and the disciples in Acts when they dealt with the issue did not use this teaching of Jesus as proof that the dietary laws should be done away with. What Jesus is saying is that even if you ate something that was deemed ceremonially impure, by the time what was left came out the other end; it did not make you impure. The Body in essence purified it. Granted they had sanitary laws that dealt with the disposal and covering up of human waste, but it did not cause you to become unclean as far as the temple was concerned.

This was all the Pharisees were hung up on, ceremonial cleanliness, washing the outside of the cups, but Jesus tells them on the inside they are white washed tombs, full of death.

A year earlier for Passover Jesus had been in Jerusalem, and the Scribes and the Pharisees weren’t as hostile as they are now a year latter. Jesus was widely popular with the people, and John says something interesting but doesn't really explain it. John 2:23-25 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew "what was in man." John didn't explain it, but Jesus tells us what is in a man in our text today.

As human being's generally we think we are pretty good, especially in this country. People are very quick to proclaim there own goodness. God see's us differently, he see's us as the vile sinners we are. Jesus says "The stuff that comes out of man that defiles him is the stuff that comes out of the heart. For from within, out of the heart, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All of these things come out from within and defile us." It's not the external things, its what's in us.

Jesus gives us a lesson on the total depravity of man. It's pretty strong language, and in the Greek I would say that it is stronger yet. For instance Wuest translates "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts", "out of the heart of men are constantly proceeding depraved thoughts", indicating it is written in the perfect tense meaning it's a continual action. The unregenerate heart contains nothing but deprave thought as far as Jesus is concerned.

What is some of this depravity that is in the human heart? It's interesting that the first six things Jesus says are in the plural form, and the last six are singular. This usually indicates that the first six are what we do, the last six are what we are. Our hearts are filled with adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousnesses, and wickednesses. Jesus starts with in the Greek, porneiai, translated fornications. It’s the word we get our English word pornography from. Constantly proceeding from the depravity of the human heart is Porneiai. No wonder our country has a plague of pornography that affects over half our population. It comes from the depravity of the human heart.

Out of the unregenerate heart comes fornications, all sorts of immoral sexual activity and thoughts, both married and unmarried, it's a broad term. Then Jesus uses a word that means adulteries, a narrow word speaking only to the covenant of marriage, then murders, thefts, and covetousnesses. The word Jesus used there for covetousnesses is an interesting word. It's not simply coveting, or desiring something that belongs to someone else. It's coveting for more evil, it's not being satisfied that your sleeping every night with someone different, it's craving for more, it's not being satisfied with multiple adulterous affairs, it desiring even more, it's not a coveting of things, it's a running, a panting after evil, you just can't get enough. Sounds like the world we live in.

Then Jesus uses the word wickednesses, this has the idea of premeditated, evil, it's planned out, we don't just accidently slide into it, we plan it out and work hard at it. Then we have deceit, which is to lure into a trap with bait. Then we have lewdness, which is to be sexually unrestrained, if it feels good do it. Then an evil eye, this is a malicious, mischief-working eye, with the intent to injure or take advantage of someone. Blasphemy here doesn't mean against God, it is the effort to destroy someone's reputation or credibility using words. Pride of course is holding oneself above others, and foolishness is having a lack of common sense.

Jesus knows what's in man; He knows what is in the heart of man. If a person is not saved, this is their heart through and through. Even if we are saved, we need to know that this is what our hearts are capable of and we need to be ever vigilant and we need to sanctify our hearts by washing of regeneration with the word.

This teaching gives clarity to something Jesus says in Mark chapter 9 where he says: Mark 9:43 "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off." In verse 45 "And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off". In verse 47 he says "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire — 48 where 'Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.'" NKJV

In history there are examples of people who have done this literally because they misunderstood Jesus' point. Does your hand cause you to sin? Does your foot cause you to sin? Do your eyes cause you to sin? No, it's your heart that causes you to sin. But sin is such a serious matter that anything that does cause you to sin should be dropped like a hot potato, because the consequences are hell.

Our evil corrupt hearts are the cause of sin, so what we need is a new heart. Nothing else will help. Lust is in the heart and in the mind, if you pluck both of your eyes out you will not be free of lust. People who are born blind are still capable of lust, because their hearts are wicked.

We need a heart transplant, and that's the New Birth, It's something God does for us when we are born again. Ezekiel the prophet describes this in Ezek 36:26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." NKJV When we receive a new heart, the things of God that we once hated we now love and cherish, and the things of the world that we used to love we now hate. Are we totally free from our corruption, no, we still carry an enemy within, but our desires change and we will want to please God and it will break our hearts when we sin, we will be sensitive to sin and we will openly and freely confess our sin and ask to be free of it.

This is the message the Church needs today. Jesus said that the scribes and Pharisees made the word of God of no effect. Modern Religion has done the same thing; they have made the word of God of no effect by not preaching the depravity of the human heart. Because of that, man kind is full of pride and they boast in there own goodness. There is no talk of sin, unless it's framed in political correctness and tolerance. If we don't see ourselves as sick, we will feel no need to go to a physician. If we don't loose our pride and see ourselves as sinners, we will have no desire for a savior.

As we go through this time of Lent, which is a time of special reflection on what Jesus did and why, let us reflect on our part in the crucifixion. We are co-conspirators in His death. It was for our sins and our depravity that Jesus died. God's wrath will be poured out on sin. It's either already been poured out on Jesus, or you will have to face that wrath yourself. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen." Let's Pray

03-15-2009 I Am (Mark 6:45-56)

2009-03-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

I Am
Mark 6:45-56
45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. 47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. 48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. 49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." 51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. 52 For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.

53 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, 55 ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was. 56 Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well.
NKJV

Our text starts out, "Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side." It seems that the disciples weren't thrilled with the idea of them going with out Jesus. The text says he made them get in the boat. Maybe they were reluctant because they were feeling that Jesus was a good luck charm, and they remembered the time they got caught out in the storm with Jesus, and didn't want to be out at sea without Him. Or maybe they just wanted to hang around and see what Jesus would do next. The miracles were hints; they were evidences as to who He was. They were caught up in the miracles, not what the miracles were supposed to teach them about Jesus. Jesus didn't do miracles just for the sake of miracles; he did it as a demonstration of who he was, the God-man, the Messiah. But even the disciples did not get it.

Jesus got the disciples packed up in the boat and off, and he got the crowd to leave somehow and finally he was alone, so what do you suppose he does after an exhausting string of days. You would think he might just crawl off into a corner and sleep. But that’s not what he did, "He departed to the mountain to pray". As exhausted as he was physically, there was a greater need he had to deal with. He had to spend some time in communion with the Father.

Our text seems to indicate that he went up into the mountain to pray before evening, because our text mentions that when evening came the disciples were already out in the middle of the sea. And it was the fourth watch that Jesus came walking to them on the water. The fourth watch would have been the watch right before sunrise, 3-6 o'clock. So that would mean that Jesus prayed from maybe 6 in the evening till at least 3 in the morning. That would be a minimum of 9 hours.

Philippians says that Jesus emptied himself. I believe one of the ways he emptied himself is that he discerned the will of the father for His life through prayer. Jesus said, that he said only what the Father told him to say, and he did only what he saw his father doing, and He learned this through prayer. Do you want to know the will of God for your life? You will only learn that through prayer. And maybe I should say scripture and prayer. Our prayers have to be informed by scripture to make sure we are praying the right thing.

Are you struggling with prayer? Please know you are not alone. Know that it doesn't mean you are any less saved than the next person. I was amazed to listen to a message pastor Force gave around 1980 and he confessed that even He struggled with prayer. He said he always prayed out loud and He used the Lords Prayer as a guide to help. I've found both of those things helpful as well. I listen to a number of people every week by way of internet download and my MP3 player, some Lutheran, some not, but I've found that almost all of them at some point admit to a dissatisfaction with their prayer life.

So again know that you are not alone. Don't allow Satan to condemn you because of it. But also strive to improve. I just started reading Hallesby's book on prayer. He says prayer springs out of helplessness. But that is one of the problems; we don't usually see ourselves as helpless. This is another area where human pride comes in and messes things up for us. We think to highly of ourselves. If we saw and recognized how helpless we truly are, prayer would be easier. I don't fully understand what God is doing in the world today, but maybe he is showing us our helplessness. Things seem to be spiraling down both morally and financially and there doesn't seem to be a thing we can do to stop it. Lord, teach us how to pray.

Verse 48 says "48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by." The disciples took off in the boat before evening and they are still out there 9 hours later struggling against the wind and making no headway. They call this a sea but really it's a lake and not all that big. It's probably 15 miles long by maybe 8 miles wide, so even rowing you could probably get anywhere on the lake you wanted to in a couple hours under normal conditions. John's account of the event says they had only traveled about 4 miles. This didn't seem to be a life threatening event like before when Jesus calmed the storm, but I'm sure the disciples were terribly frustrated.

I've done some rowing, mostly in a canoe. I bought a canoe when I was about 15. Growing up we had a river in our back yard, not terribly wide, maybe 20 feet, and at normal level not too deep either, but it had strong current. A neighbor boy and I would always take it out on the river, and sometimes I would load our two dogs up and I would take it out alone. It was easy of course going down stream, but you didn't want to go too far because you had to work hard rowing back upstream against the current.

Well the disciples were probably facing something worse; they were trying to row straight into a strong wind. The text says they were straining at rowing; the word translated straining really means to torture. It was torturous rowing, they were spent, there muscles were crying out in pain, but yet there was no gain, they were going no where.

Jesus is entering His last year of ministry before he dies on the cross, and everything He is doing is evidence of who he is. He's in the mountains praying, it's dark, the disciples are 4 miles away struggling at sea, supernaturally the Father reveals this to Jesus and he goes to them. It says, "He came to them walking on the sea, and would have passed them by." There are a couple interesting things in that sentence. First thing of course is the walking on water. That always seems to throw unbelievers for a loop. But someone familiar with their Old Testament would know that there is only one that could tread on the waves of the seas. Job 9:8 He alone spreads out the heavens, And treads on the waves of the sea; NKJV So by doing this Jesus is revealing who He is, He is the one who spread out the Heavens, He is the creator, He is God.

There has been some disagreement in the later part of that sentence where it says that Jesus was walking on the water and would have passed them by. Why would Jesus have passed by them? Some say that the word translated "by" could also mean along side, that Jesus was just coming alongside them to give them aid. That is a possible explanation. But if we look at His walking on water as a display of His divinity there is another explanation.

In Exodus 33, Moses asks God to show him His glory. The text says that God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, so that Moses could see His passing glory and then God passed by him. We also have in 1 Kings 19:11-12, God tells Elijah to stand on the mountain, "For the Lord is about to pass by," very similar language used in those instances. Jesus was passing by the boat, He wanted them to get a good look at Him, He wanted there to be no doubt about what they were seeing. This was an epiphany; Jesus was revealing himself as God to them.

Yet people will say, "Well Jesus never said he was God." Maybe not in so many words, but he did things that the Bible says only God can do. It's not rocket science, its common sense that even a child can understand. It's like these little games we get children that make animal sounds. You point the arrow to the cow and pull the string and it makes a mooing sound. Even a two year old can understand that if it moos, it's a cow. Well, if someone walks on water, it's God. Job said, "He alone … treads on the waves of the sea".

The disciples all see Him, not just one or two of them, but all see Him and then they all panic because they are seeing a spirit or a ghost or something, after all it couldn't be a man, because a man couldn't walk on water. But immediately Jesus speaks to them and calms their fears. Even what he says points to His divinity. Now the King James Bible says that Jesus said, "Be of Good cheer, It is I, do not be afraid." I suppose that's an adequate translation, but you miss out on something big. The Young's Literal translation put's it this way, "Take courage, I am, be not afraid." Take courage, I, I am, fear not. I Am, the Ego eimi in the Greek, the name God gives himself when Moses asks for His name. Jesus uses it all the time and every time he uses it, He identifies Himself with the Father. People have got to be totally blinded by the devil to not see in scripture that Jesus is God. Probably the clearest declaration Jesus made was in John 8:58-59, He was talking to a group of religious Jews and he said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM ." And we know they understood exactly what he was saying because when he said that they took up stones to throw at Him. Because to make yourself equal to God is blasphemy.

Take courage, I Am, Stop fearing. What is your situation this morning? Are you unsure of the future? Is your life one big storm? Are you anxious about finances, do you worry about loosing your job, are you worried about your health? Are you anxious about relationships? Jesus has a good word for all of us this morning, He says, "Take courage, I Am, stop fearing". How can Jesus say that? He can say it because He is God; He knows the beginning from the end. He has counted every hair on your head. Jesus says, I Am, and because He is the "I Am that I Am", He will see you through what ever it is you face.

In verse 51 it says : "Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled." They were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure. They were utterly astonished, the new American standard says. It was mind boggling, it was incomprehensible. Probably not so much the calming of the winds, that was old stuff already, there reaction had to be to the walking on water.

It's interesting that Mark tags verse 52 in here. "For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened." The miracle of the loaves should have been a clincher according to Mark. That should have settled everything, once and for all they should have understood that Not only was Jesus the Messiah, but he in fact was God. And since they failed to grasp that, they couldn't grasp the significance of walking on water either. They could be astonished by it, but they couldn't look at it and say, He is God. Mark said, the reason they couldn't see, was that there heart was hardened.

Many have hardened hearts today as well. When one hardens their hearts, one of the first things they do is try to say there is nothing miraculous in the Bible. They do all kinds of mental gymnastics to come up with rational explanations for everything supernatural in the Bible. The liberals 100 years ago knew that they had to get rid of the supernatural if they were to successfully hi-jack Christianity. So they started coming up with naturalistic explanations for miracles. One of the more common explanations for the feeding of the five thousand is that a lot of people had food with them and they were simply hiding it underneath their clothes and when some one in the crowd gave up there food for the common good it shamed everyone else into sharing there food with each other as well. So the only miracle was one of sharing. So from this so called miracle, we don't learn anything about Jesus being God, we simply learn that we must be generous with our fellow man. Kind of fits in well with the social Gospel, doesn't it.

A couple of the explanations for Jesus walking on water go like this, It's dark and they aren't as far out in the sea as they thought they were and Jesus walks by on the shore, they just think he's walking on water. Another one I heard recently was that this was during an unusually cold period and that part of the sea had frozen over and that Jesus was able to walk past them on the Ice. It can get pretty silly when you refuse to see the truth, and you harden your heart in unrighteousness. But that is where so much of the world is. Unfortunately that is where a lot of the church is today; hard hearts.

If the disciples had understood about the loaves, then they would have not been quit so surprised by Jesus walking on water. Jesus is progressively revealing himself to them, and event by event he is building a good case for himself, that he is the God man. For now they are blind, for now there hearts are hard and they cannot understand, but this will be all recalled to them latter, after the resurrection when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they will remember all these events.

That’s true with mankind too. People have continued to rail against the bible for hundreds of years. They hate it, they don't understand it, they think its foolishness, they think it is full of errors and contradictions; it's a closed book as far as the lost are concerned. The only times they read and study it is to try to rip it a part and criticize it. Only one who is truly saved and loves scriptures can read it properly, and understand it. The disciples were just like we were before we got saved, they "were alienated and enemies (of God)… by wicked works" (Col 1:21) They needed to be regenerated in order to understand spiritual things, just as we did.

Finally they made it to land. They set out for Bethsaida, and they ended up at Gennesaret, obviously the wind blew them off course. But notice, did that affect the ministry of Jesus, no, ministry happened wherever Jesus went. Circumstances didn't bother Him, he knew that wherever He was, he was in the will of His Father, and he always knew what he was suppose to do. He was to preach repentance and faith, He was to caste out evil spirits and he was supposed to heal, so he went about the Fathers business. Jesus was never bothered by what we would call circumstances. Jesus used circumstances to preach. So they ended up at Gennesaret, obviously where God wanted Him.

That should be our attitude as well. Sometimes we think we are victims of circumstances, but really is there any such thing as a circumstance as a Christian. I don't believe so. Circumstances are opportunities, opportunities to grow in patience, to grow in holiness, to learn, to minister to someone we wouldn't have encountered under normal circumstances. Jesus ended up at an unexpected destination and he carried on like it was God's plan, because it was.

Mark Cahill is an evangelist, and he lives to share his faith. He believes every circumstance is arranged by God and an opportunity for you to share your faith with someone you ordinarily wouldn't have run into that day. For instance one day he came home to a flooded apartment, something broke in the apartment up above his. He got home early enough so that his stuff wasn't a total lose, but you can imagine the mess. But Mark believes that everything happens for a purpose and he started to pray so that he might recognize the appointment that God had arranged for him through this major inconvenience. The first person that showed up from the management company to help in the clean up ended up being a Muslim that had converted to Christianity and they had a great time of fellowship and mutual encouragement. But Mark still felt that this had happened because God wanted a lost person to hear the Gospel so he kept praying. Soon another man showed up to rip up the soggy carpet, and bingo, he wasn't saved and Mark Cahill had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with an open and hurting man.

Jesus in our text today ended up sharing the Good News with people who would have missed out if Jesus had made it to Bethsaida as he had planned.
The people were ready for the message, our text says that as soon as they got out of the boat that they were recognized and people started coming. They even loaded all their sick on cots and started carrying them to Jesus, and they laid the sick in the market place and they begged that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And the Bible says that as many as touched Him were made well. The Greek word translated "made well" is a word that most of the time in the Bible is translated saved. So this is speaking of a whole lot more than physical healing, it is being made whole, it is salvation.

So we might ask the question. Is it the touch that saves, or is it the faith that expresses itself in reaching out and touching? Obviously, it's the faith that reaches out, the hands obey the faith. This is not a superstitious touch, it's not magic. If it were, none of those people would have been healed. With out faith it is impossible to please God.

This is an important truth in Christianity, faith always precedes works. Faith always precedes actions. There is a danger in what is sometimes called decisionism. We are not saved because we at some point in our life made a decision. Anyone who has ever tried doing follow up after mass evangelism campaigns know that fewer that 10 percent of people who come to the alter to make decisions for Christ are actually saved. Through decisionism we have the specter of some one like Donald Trump who grew up Baptist and says that he's received Christ at least seven times at the alter, but yet today he scoffs at Christianity.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and God gives us the faith that we need to come to the point of where we are able to make a decision for Christ. A decision is something we do, but saving faith is something God does.

"As many as touched Him were made well." "As many as", that verse reminds me of another familiar verse in Johns Gospel. John 1:12-13 "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe" (have faith) "in His name: 13 who were born, not of bloods" (not determined by who your parents are, the immediate context would be Abraham, but obviously the Larson Family has a Spiritual heritage. But it's not good enough to be born a Larson.)), "nor of the will of the flesh," (Some will say that we are all children of God, No, the fact that you are born does not make you a child of God, you need to be born again to be a child of God.) "nor of the will of man," (There is nothing in us, no power, no decision, no free will that enables us to choose God.) "but of God." It is all the doing of God, and we give Him all the praise and all the glory. Amen

3-08-2009 You Give Them Someting To Eat (Mark 6:30-44)

2009-03-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

You Give Them Something To Eat
Mark 6:30-44
30 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.

33 But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. 34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. 35 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. 36 Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat."

37 But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat."

And they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?"

38 But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see."

And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish."

39 Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. 41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. 42 So they all ate and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.
NKJV

Last week I mentioned to you the dizzying pace our Lord and Savior kept. This section of Mark gives us a whole series of days strung together. Last weeks text ended with the disciples coming back from their first mission trip away from Jesus. Jesus calls the disciples to Himself again and they go to what they hope will be a deserted place, or as the King James Version says a desert place. This might actually be Marks intent, a desert place, in order to emphasis Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

But we see right away that their attempts to get away to be by themselves is foiled again. This is probably at the height of Jesus' popularity, where ever he goes, with the exception of Nazareth, he is thronged by people and this is no exception. Word got out and people came from all over, they even guessed where Jesus and the disciples were going and they got there before Jesus did.

One could put a different twist on a popular saying, and say "No rest for the righteous". Jesus spent himself fully for us. There had to have been times that His physical body just cried out for rest, but if he saw a need he dealt with it no matter how tired He was.
A poet wrote years ago,
"Only one life, t'will soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last.

Usually that is the only part of the poem you ever hear, the whole verse is this:
"Only one life, t'will soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying how glad I shall be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for thee.

No rest for the righteous, not in this life. Yes we are to have a Sabbath rest, but that has more to do with the focus of our attentions and affections than lying around and doing nothing. Jesus said Matt 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." NKJV Jesus gives us rest for our souls; we rest in His love, grace and forgiveness.

We are not like so many who are striving to earn salvation. It is a free gift, and how wonderful it is to know that. We die to self, and that means to give up on any hope we might have ever had to please God by trying to be good. Should we strive for holiness? of course but as a by product, as an out growth of our love and gratitude, not as something that will earn favor with God. Because our goodness is like filthy rags and it is only as those garments are washed in the blood of the lamb that we stand pure before God.

Years ago a woman was married to a real tyrant, who abused her and spoke harshly to her, and everyday he would give her a list of household chores to do, and in fear and trembling she would work throughout the day to get the list done because if she didn't, when her husband got home he would chastise her and heap all kinds of abuse on this poor woman. She hated her life, she hated those lists, she dreaded every day, she dreaded her husband coming home, for no matter how hard she had worked that day, he could come home and find fault with what she had done.

But one day he dropped dead. In the years that passed she met another man, and after a time they married. This man was kind, and spoke tender and endearing words to her in the morning and when he came home from work he was always so full of joy to see and hold his beloved wife. Her life was completely different, now life was a complete joy and she looked forward to every day and every moment with her husband. Years latter she was cleaning house one day, she was vacuuming a chair she had saved from her previous home and while she was vacuuming down in the deep crevices of the chair the vacuum pulled out a piece of paper. It was one of the lists that her former husband would make for her. As she looked over the list her eyes filled with tears. She used to hate those lists; she used to do her housework in tears and with dread, now she was doing everything on that list, but without a list and doing it with great joy.

Some people serve God like taking bad tasting medicine, there is no joy in it. They don't know God, they see him like the woman's first husband, they think he is cruel, they think he is a tyrant, but they also know He will judge them some day so they are working very hard to earn his approval and His salvation. It doesn't work that way. By grace you are saved through faith, it is not by works, so no one can boast. But that's part of the problem, as humans we like to boast. Our pride always wants to get in the way, but we can't let it. Salvation is of God and he will share the credit and the glory with no one.

Rev 14:13 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'"
"Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them." NKJV The day will come for us to rest from our labors. Today our souls rest in Jesus, our bodies work, not for salvation but because of salvation.

So Jesus attempts to get away and have some quiet time with His disciples and the people get wind of it, even figure out where He is going and when Jesus and the disciples get there, the people are already there waiting for him. I think this alone might be on of the strongest proofs that Jesus was God. Who else but God could have dealt with this situation so graciously? A normal human response would have been, anger, disappointment, resentment, fill in the blank. We've probably all been there, it's the football game you've been waiting all week for and its two minutes before kickoff and your wife asks you to do something. How do you feel? You feel imposed upon, you deserve to be able to just be a couch potato for three hours, you've earned it. We can be so jealous of our time.

That's not Jesus' reaction, when He saw them He was moved with compassion. Ps 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth. NKJV
Jesus said, I and the Father are one, The Father is full of compassion, the Son is full of compassion.

The reason Jesus had compassion on them was that He saw them as sheep with out a shepherd. This was a real indictment on the religious establishment of the day. These more than likely were religious people, John's account of this miracle tells us that it was the time of the Passover, and close to a Million people came to Jerusalem for Passover every year. So it's highly likely that these five thousand Men as well as some women and children, maybe 10,000 all together, that these people were in the region because of Passover. They were possibly mostly religious people and yet Jesus saw them as sheep with out a shepherd.

God had laid an indictment on the shepherds hundreds of years before in Zechariah 11:17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock!"
NKJV In Jesus day the shepherds had abandoned the sheep again and were out pursuing there own agenda rather than taking care of God's flock.

The same could be said for today. For the greater part, the flock has been abandoned. When it comes to the Bible and to spiritual matters people don't have a clue. They don't understand any of the basics even of the faith, much less how to (2 Peter 3:18) "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." You could ask the average church goer what one has to do to be saved, and he won't have a clue, except maybe about going to church and trying to live a good life. For the most part they are clueless.
People are wondering around like sheep without a shepherd, the fields are white onto harvest, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. As Pastor Haga wrote in the Morning Glory last month, we need a prophet, we should be praying for a prophet, praying for revival, and praying that the revival would start with us.

The disciples tell Jesus to send the crowds away, because it's late and they don't have food for them to eat, nor the money to buy it. Two Hundred denarri would be around 20,000 dollars today, and they didn't have that kind of money. But yet Jesus tells them, "You give them something to eat." That response must have really confounded the disciples. They had absolutely no means or ability to feed those people anything. None whatsoever. But in obedience they carried out Jesus' instructions. They probably thought they were wasting their time, but what could they do. They all had seen Jesus do some amazing things, but what they were soon to see would surpass even some of those things.

Today we have the scriptures, and a message that is blasphemous to the Jews and foolishness to everyone else, and Jesus expects the same from us today. He expects obedience. He has given us His Word and He has given us His mission. We are to go out and seek and save the lost. We are to disciple other people and prepare them to in turn proclaim the Good news of the kingdom to the next generation. But it seems like we never do that very well, do we.

It's really an impossible task. Jesus says you give them something to eat, and we think, we've got nothing to give. And we are right, we have nothing, but when we step out in faith with our meager loaves and tiny fish, Jesus is able to multiply that and bring abundance. I'm not talking prosperity Gospel here, I'm talking about a power that is beyond human ability that becomes available to us as we minister.

Jesus says, you give them something to eat. We say, I can't Lord, I'm not equipped, I don't have the right talents and gifts, It's impossible. Jesus asks, what do you have? Go and see. Take an inventory. We respond, all I have is eyes to see and a mouth to speak. Jesus says, Go, give them what you have and I will bless it, and if we go in obedience he is able to use us. As a matter of fact it is only people like us that he can use. Because he uses the weak to confound the strong. The foolish to confound the wise. That way He gets all the glory. So then the fact that we feel ill equipped should not keep us home and quiet, it is our qualification to go.

In verse 32 in the King James Bible, notice is says, they departed to a desert place. Some translations say deserted, some say they departed for a wilderness place, but I think that maybe desert was the intent, because it fits with the type. Verse 32 describes it as a desert place; verse 34 Jesus describes the multitude as sheep without a shepherd. And notice the wording in verse 39. "Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green Grass." Does that remind you of something? Desert, shepherd Green Grass. "The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want, He makes me to lie down in Green Pastures." If you have a fenced in pasture, there is no need for a shepherd, but if you graze in open land, you need a shepherd to lead the sheep to green pastures.

My grandpa had sheep, and he had them in about a five acre pasture, and I don't think that grass ever got more than an inch tall. If you have free range sheep, you have to keep moving the sheep to find green pastures. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the sheep find themselves in a desert place, but Jesus the shepherd leads his flock to green pastures. I don't think the wording here is accidental. In this miracle of the feeding of the five thousand we see Jesus as the shepherd pictured in Psalm 23, and the shepherd prophesied over and over again. In Scripture God promised to send a shepherd for Israel, a descendent of David who would shepherd them. Ezek 34:23 I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them — My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. NKJV Jesus clearly said, I am the good shepherd.

So we see the Good Shepherd. We also see one who is greater than Moses. In there 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, they ate manna provided by God. This was often attributed to Moses feeding them manna in the wilderness. John 6:30-35 gives us more details of the conversation between the multitude and Jesus the day after this miracle. It went like this; 30 Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

32 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."
35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
NKJV

Certainly one greater than Moses was in their presence. Another Old Testament type would be Elisha. In 2 Kings 4:42 it tells about Elisha feeding 100 prophets with 20 loaves, or what we would call dinner rolls, and they all ate and were satisfied and there were leftovers, but one greater than Elisha was here, one who fed 5000 + Women and Children with 5 loaves of bread and two small fish.

The disciples are involved, Jesus has them get the people to sit on green grass. The disciples take their meager bits of food, Jesus blesses it and they distribute the food to probably as many as 10,000. And from that, those who hungered and thirsted were satisfied, and there was more left over than what they started with.

That's the way it is with God. For me to love some one costs me something emotionally and physically. To love is to give something of yourself to that person, so there is a limit to my ability to love. Not so with God, God so loved the world, not just the 7 billion on earth today, but the billions that lived before us, and it has not diminished God one iota. I'm a man, I really only can be focused on one thing at a time. If Rachel is talking to me, and the television is on, I have a choice to make, I can either listen to the television or I can listen to my wife. I can't do both.

God can hear and respond to the prayers of millions of saints all at once, and at the same time be aware of a sparrow that falls in the Congo. And while doing all this, He holds every atom together in the entire universe and it doesn't cost him, or diminish him one bit. He never tires, He never sleeps.

There is only one thing that God has ever done throughout eternity that has ever cost him and that is when he humbled himself and came to earth in the form of a man to die on a cross for our sins. He could have just condemned us all to hell, He would have been just to do so, and it wouldn't have cost him anything. But instead he loved us unto death, so that we might be with Him in eternity.

Jesus comes to us this morning and leads us to green pastures. He leads us to the communion table. But what is this, a small wafer of bread, and a swallow of grape juice, how can that satisfy? But blessed by God and mingled with our faith it promises us the forgiveness of sins and the presence of Christ in our lives. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." Let us come to the communion table this morning believing, that we might receive what is promised, the assurance of the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of our souls. Amen

Wayne Almlie
almlie@juno.com

03-01-09 Sent Out Mark 6:7-32

2009-03-01T18:25:00.000-08:00

Sent out
Mark 6:7-32
7 And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. 8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts — 9 but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.
10 Also He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. 11 And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!"
12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.
14 Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known. And he said, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."
15 Others said, "It is Elijah."
And others said, "It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets."
16 But when Herod heard, he said, "This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!" 17 For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. 18 Because John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
19 Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
21 Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee. 22 And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, "Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you." 23 He also swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom."
24 So she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?"
And she said, "The head of John the Baptist!"
25 Immediately she came in 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."
26 And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison, 28 brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
30 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.

It's probably been close to two years since Jesus called the first disciples. They've been following Him around, listening to Him and watching what he has done. They have witnessed many mighty deeds and have listened to His heavenly wisdom. There comes a time though when class work is done and the next step is to put in practice what has been learned. That is where we are in out text today. Jesus is getting the disciples ready for when they are going to be taking on Christ's mission after He is gone.

I see eleven principles we can take from this text and apply to us today. There are those that say you can be a Christian without being a disciple. I disagree. They are synonymous, all Christians are disciples, all disciples are Christians. Acts 11:26 says "The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." They are one and the same, so any command, principle or promise given to a disciple should then have an application for us as well. I certainly see that in our text today.

The first principle is from verse seven; It says Jesus called the disciples to Himself. As a Christian, we all have one call. It is to Christ. Jesus called to Peter, James and John and they left their nets and followed Him. Jesus does the calling. I had no burning desire to follow Christ as a teenager, but Jesus kept calling and he changed my heart and I did follow him.

People talk about their calling. They were called into the ministry or they felt the call to be a missionary. Or they may say I'm not called to be an evangelist. You don't really find that language in the bible. Paul in Romans and in 1 Corinthians says He was called to be an Apostle. He used that terminology because there were those who doubted his apostleship since he wasn't one of the original disciples. Aside from those two examples, the call is always to follow Jesus, it is a call to salvation.

So that's where we start out, Jesus calls us to Himself, and then he sends us out. Principle number two, He sends us out two by two. I think that’s an important principle. The disciples were sent out two by two, that principle even carries into Acts. Paul and Barnabus ministered together, Peter and Mark ministered together. There is strength in numbers. Eccl 4:12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. NKJV In Los Angeles at Bible School we would always go in two's and say with Jesus that makes three, and a three fold cord is not quickly broken. The same is true for marriage. Marriage is a three fold cord if Jesus is part of your marriage.

There is something about going with someone else. If you go out to hand out tracts and witness to people on the streets it's easier if someone is with you. There is more boldness with two. There is safety when someone is with you. There is a greater chance of physical safety when there are two. There is a greater chance of spiritual safety when there are two. You can take turns being the spokesman and the other can pray. You can mutually encourage one another. So the second principle is two by two, it can be your spouse, but it doesn't need to be. Men sometimes minister better when it's two men, especially when if it's in a rougher neighborhood, and sometimes women will minister better together especially if they are ministering to other women.

Third Principle is that we need to be prepared to do spiritual warfare. Jesus gave them power over unclean spirits. Unclean spirits are out there and they manifest themselves in many different ways. Primarily today Satan is causing a spiritual blindness to come over our land and we need to be in prayer about that. We need to do war against Satan; we need to pray that God might use us as agents to remove the scales from peoples eyes so they might see. We know from scripture that prayer is a mighty weapon to use against Satan and his demons. If you are concerned about family, friends, co-workers, pray that God would break the spell Satan has on them. If you're going for a visit, pray for an opportunity, pray that the Lord would give you the words to say and pray for boldness. Jesus came to defeat the powers of darkness, Satan's a wounded foe, He knows his time is short. Because of that he's dangerous, just like a trapped wounded lion. So when we go into battle we need to put on the whole armor of God.

The fourth principle is that we need to travel light. "He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts — 9 but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics." They were to travel light. I remember a letter a high school classmate sent out probably twenty five years ago. She sent a letter out to each one of us in our class. She told everyone about her husband and children and what they were doing and she closed the letter this way. "We have decided to travel light as we go through this world, since the only thing we can take with us when we die is our family and our friends. Then she gave a short testimony of her faith in Christ.

Fifteen years ago, I was a successful store manager with the largest furniture store in Iowa. I was making good money; I was investing quit a bit of money. I had done a lot of calculations and tried to figure out how much money I would have to put away and at what return I would have to get in order to retire with one million dollars. I had a plan, and I thought it looked like it would work. God had a different plan. A lot of things have changed since then, my job situation, a new commitment for Christ and the economy. And all of a sudden I am traveling a lot lighter.

Jesus said it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Riches are a snare. God warned Israel right from the start. Deut 8:11 "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 lest — when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God." In comfort there is a danger of forgetting. As Christians we need to travel light. How much should we have or can we have? That's a question only you can answer. Does what you have draw you closer to Jesus or does it take you away from Jesus. Does anything you have rob you of the time you know you should be giving to the Lord? If it does then you probably have too much.

Principle five, share the gospel and move on. They were not to use coercion. "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. 11 And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them." We can't twist there arm and force them to become a Christian. We can't argue them into the Kingdom. We are simply to share the message and leave the results to God. Sometimes as Christians we are accused of forcing our religion down other people's throats. I would say that's generally not what happens, people are usually offended just at the name of Jesus, and then just accuse us of that no matter of how gentle and loving we share Christ. We can't force Jesus down anybody's throat. All we can do is share the truth with people and leave the results to Jesus. If they accept our message stay and share some more, if they reject our message, we should leave, and shake the dust off our feet to signify the seriousness of what they are doing. We are to share the truth in love, gently but firmly.

The sixth point is; It's a serious matter to reject the grace of God. Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" Think of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, for there gross sinfulness they were destroyed by God with fire and brimstone. It was a culture that was so sinful that they were past saving. Nineveh was pretty bad too but at least with them the Lord sent them a prophet, a pretty pathetic excuse for a prophet Jonah was, but a prophet none the less. But Sodom and Gomorrah didn't warrant even a prophet, they were simply judged. Well Jesus says judgment day will be more tolerable for the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for those who hear of the grace of God revealed in Jesus and reject it. Wowza!!!

Billy Graham in an interview years ago said "If God doesn't judge America; he will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology." That's true, because we have so much light, so many churches, such a rich heritage, so many preachers preaching the Gospel for so many years and we are just trampling on the grace of God today. Judgment day, as awful as that day will be, will be more tolerable for those who were destroyed at Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for those in our generation that have spurned the grace of God.

Seventh principle, Repentance is and always has been the message of the hour. From the beginning the road to restoration was repentance. In Job 42:6
Job says; "Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes."

In Ezek 18:30, God implores Israel to repent. "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin."

Jesus' first and last message was one of repentance. In Mark 1:15 Jesus began His ministry with; "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." And after His resurrection He said in Luke 24:46 "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

The Apostles preached the same message, Peter on Pentecost said in Acts 2:38 "Repent , and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Paul's message was the same Acts 17:30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained."

Jesus' final word's to five of the seven churches in the book of Revelation, was to repent. I think we have a pattern here. What is the primary message of the church, both to itself and to the world? It's the message of repentance. Most churches today do not preach repentance, and because of that the church has lost it's power and it's testimony.

The eighth principle is that if we properly declare the Gospel by urging people to repent and believe, the world will notice us. In out text Mark inserts this historical section on Herod and how John the Baptists death came about. Chronologically it's out of order, but Mark inserts it here. It's inserted for a couple reasons; first it is inserted to explain Herod's reaction to what he was hearing. Verse fourteen says "Now Herod heard about Him, for His name had become well known."

Even rulers in high places were taking notice of Jesus and His disciples. If the church is properly preaching the message of the Gospel, the world will notice and respect it to a certain degree. They may not like it, they may be antagonistic to it, but they will still have a certain respect for it. Herod didn't like John the Baptists message, but he respected John. It says that "Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him. He did many things and heard him gladly." Herod was drawn to John's message, but never received it.

Kurt Warner quarterback for the Phoenix Cardinals, has such a testimony. Many reporters will roll there eyes at some point because Kurt is very outspoken in his faith. But yet there is a respect for him as well, because he lives his faith consistently. Leading up to the Super Bowl I heard many people even though they may disagreed with his overt Christianity, had to at the same time express their admiration for him and admit he was the real deal, he lived what he preached, and the world still has a certain amount of respect for a person like that. Live that kind of life and the world does still take notice.

The second reason Mark inserts John the Baptists death here is our ninth principle. Again this is a flash back, when Jesus sent the twelve out on their internship, John was already dead, and they all knew it. Some of the disciples had been John's disciples before they had been called to follow Jesus. The next principle is that when we preach the Gospel of Repentance and faith, we have to be ready to suffer for that message. That seems to be the reason Mark inserted it here.

Paul says in 2 Tim 3:12 "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." The death of John the Baptist had to have been on their minds when they went out, but still they went out. They didn't allow the threat of persecution to stop their message, and we must not either.

The tenth lesson from our text is, knowing and believing is two different things. Herod seemed to know that John's message was true. Herod's fear was that John's message was true, that he was a real prophet of God, and that God had raised him from the dead, and that probably John was going to come after him. He knew and understood John's message. But knowing isn't believing.

Sometimes it can be very hard to explain the difference. Knowing the message, hearing the stories, knowing the historical facts, believing that there is a God, that Jesus walked the earth and that some day we will spend an eternity in heaven or hell is not salvation. Knowing and believing are two different things. You can know all those things and still think you are good enough to get to heaven on your own merits. Believing is to throw yourself at Him for mercy, believing is dying to any hope that you can save yourself by your good works and putting your hope in Jesus and Jesus alone for your salvation. It may be hard to explain, but if you've experienced it, you know what I'm talking about. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

The last Lesson, Lived out properly the Christian life can wear you out and you will need to get away for a time to be with Jesus. I heard someone say once when talking about the Gospel of Mark, that if you read it properly it will wear you out. Jesus kept an exhausting schedule. It's one event after another and we have seen at times that Jesus would get so exhausted that he sought to get away for a while. Here at the end of the twelve disciples first mission trip Jesus gathered the disciple to himself again and said, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while". Fresh off the trip I'm sure Jesus had much to teach. They probably told their stories two by two and Jesus probably used their stories to teach the others and maybe to correct some of the things they had done wrong. I suppose in today's vernacular we would call it a debriefing session. But it was also just a time to rest in Jesus' presence.

That is important for us too. Sunday is a weekly time to gather to be in the presence of Jesus, a time for resting in his promises and a time to be mutually encouraged. Larger retreats are also important as it exposes us to a larger body of believers. We can be mutually encouraged as we fellowship with others and hear there struggles and their victories, and we learn that there are others that have not bowed the knee to Baal. So that's why I will always encourage you to seek out other Christians to fellowship with, things like the Hauge Innermission meetings and the Hauge mission camp every summer. Those times with Jesus and other Christians outside our local fellowship are important. They add to the richness of our Christian experience.

Jesus called the disciples to himself and then he sent them out. This is what it's all about, the sending out to preach repentance. Everybody needs repentance. I've read a lot on the ELCA's statement on Sexuality that was released a couple weeks ago. The point everybody seems to miss is that Scripture says that everyone who practices these things will go to hell. The Homo-sexual doesn't need affirmation, he need the law so he can understand that he has sinned against a holy God, so he can repent of his sins and escape the judgment that is to come. But then again that is the message we all need to hear as well. Let's pray.

Wayne Almlie
almlie@juno.com

02-22-2009 Unbelief (Mark 6:1-6)

2009-02-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

02-22-09 Unbelief
Mark 6:1-6
1 Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" So they were offended at Him.

4 But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." 5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
NKJV

Jesus battles human nature in our text today. There is just something about family, and your home town where people's pride and their prejudices get in the way. Our family and relatives are often times the toughest ones to witness too. Jesus had the same experience.

His first return to Nazareth after He started His ministry started well but ended poorly. It's found in Luke 4:16ff. That time too he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and they were excited to have the home boy back and they gave him the Isaiah Scroll and he opened it up and read.
18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"
NKJV

I think at this point this is a statement of pride. "Is this not Joseph's son." It's kind of like, "Hey this guy grew up here with us, look at him, he sure seems to have done well." Make a mental note of this, on His first visit He's Josephs Son. But Jesus continues to preach and after he was done they had quit a different attitude about him. In verse 28 it says they, "were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way." NKJV

In our text today he goes back to Nazareth. This might have been for personal reasons, he wanted to be a good son and honor His mother with a visit. He probably hadn't seen His mother since she came and saw him in Mark 3:20. That ended kind of awkwardly too, because the Pharisees had convinced her and the rest of the family that Jesus was insane and they came to try to force Him to go home with them. Kind of what we would call today a forced intervention with the hopes that he could be deprogrammed. Similar with what they try to do with those in cults.

So he was coming home to see His mother probably to let her know He was ok. Also he had been trying to get away from the multitudes so he could rest up and he knew He could do that at Nazareth. And he did seem to have been left alone until He went to the synagogue on Saturday.

I. INEXCUSABLE UNBELIEF.
When we look at Nazareth, there was no good reason for their unbelief. Yes Jesus was raised there. They had watched him grow up, they knew of His exemplary character. He was always trustworthy, a man of His word, never lied, never stole, never cussed, always obeyed His parents.

He had been ministering for close to two years by this time, and he had quite a reputation. Many had heard Him; many had heard the testimony of the people whom Jesus had healed. And he came to town and preached and taught in the synagogue and around the country side. They heard him, they marveled at His wisdom. Jesus didn't discriminate; He preached the good news of the kingdom to everyone wherever He went. He preached it there so they could judge for themselves. So they are without excuse. Like everyone else, there was no reason for their unbelief. Jesus said in John 15:25 "But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.' "

Things never change. The masses when it comes right down to it still hate Jesus, and they have no cause to. He died for them. They are sinners who deserve hell, and Jesus did the kindest and the most loving thing that any one has ever done for them. He took the punishment they deserve, and he took it upon himself. Hardly would a man decide to die for a righteous person, but God in the person of Jesus Christ died for rebellious sinners. A kind, loving act by a good God, but yet people just spit in his face, they hate Him. The goodness of God is meant to lead people to repentance, but people refuse. Humanity is like a spoiled child when a parent asks them to do something that is for their good, the say "No!!!" They hate Him who died for them. The people in Nazareth had no reason to Hate Jesus.

II. THE GROUNDS OF UNBELIEF IN CHRIST.
So what were the grounds for their unbelief? They were prejudiced on account of His origin and circumstances. He grew up there. Anyone here have an older brother or sister, or maybe someone else in the community that your parents looked to and said, "My, John is a well behaved and honest boy, why can't you be more like him." Well imagine growing up and having Jesus in your small community. "Judah, look at Jesus over there, he is always so polite and helpful to his mother, why can't you be more like Him." Jesus was the perfect child, He never sinned, never rebelled, never swore, never disrespected His parents or His elders.

Do you see the potential for a problem? Many of the parents that would have loved Jesus as he grew up, and used Him as a standard for there own children, had probably died already. Who were the ones that were around, Jesus' piers, see they would have been in there 30s and 40s, the ones who had to try to live up to that standard of perfection growing up. So they might have had a natural chip on their shoulder.

"Is this not the Carpenter" From that statement we learn that Jesus did in fact follow in Joseph His step fathers footsteps. Among the ancient Jews, every father was bound to do four things for his son.
1. To circumcise him.
2. To redeem him. That was to pay a temple tax.
3. To teach him the law.
4. To teach him a trade.

There is an old Jewish proverb that went something like this "If you don't teach your son to do some work, then by your inaction you've taught him robbery"

According to St. Chrysostom, our Lord made ploughs and yokes for oxen. That seems to fit in. Jesus made reference to these items in his illustrations and parables often. A couple examples are: "No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me "(Matt 11:29).

So they were saying, "He is a common laborer like the rest of us." He wasn't schooled at any university, or temple, who does he think he is, pretending to be somebody, when really he is only one of us. What gives him the right to preach to us? To use our modern terminology, he hasn't been ordained.

That is still a common stone of stumbling even in our day. I know someone in Des Moines, a Lutheran who went to the area ELCA bishop and asked that as a layman that he could preach. This man was a very gifted speaker, but the bishop turned him down because he wasn't ordained. I know another man in Des Moines who right now feels that he is called to preach. And he has done some preaching around Des Moines, but there are many churches that won't let him preach because is not ordained, at least not by man. He contends that he has been ordained of God to preach, and I agree. I tell him if all else fails, to go out on the street corner and preach. That's what the old preachers used to do. I know another young man, grew up in a Presbyterian church in Des Moines, a very talented musician, plays the saxophone. Several years ago he was invited to play a saxophone solo at church. When he concluded his solo he also gave his testimony. Well after the service the pastor met Him at the back door and told him he had no right to do that, since he hadn't been to Seminary and been ordained.

This is part of what Jesus was facing in Nazareth. He didn't have the proper credentials. What gave him the right to preach?

Also sometimes areas get reputations, as being losers. Some neighborhoods get reputations as being losers. Like Watts, in southern California, Gary Indiana, In Des Moines you might say the Cheatom Park neighborhood. There are areas that right or wrong get reputations and the problem with that is that sometimes the people living in those area's start believing it too, and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Nazareth was one of those places. Do you remember what Nathanael said when Phillip told him about Jesus? John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" So this too was a strike against him amongst his own people, they were prejudiced against themselves.

One last reason for there unbelief was His parentage. Notice it says he was "The Son of Mary". On His first return he was Josephs son. Jews never referred to someone as the son of the mother. It was always the son of the father. Even if the Father is dead, he is still the son of Joseph as far as the Jews were concerned. To call him the son of Mary, is to insult him and calls into question his suspicious birth. It's a small town, it's quit possible that they knew there was something unusual about His birth. You are all too familiar with how small towns can talk.

"So they were offended at Him." The Greek word translated offended is skan-dal-id'-zo. This is where our word scandalize comes from. This is a strong word, they were scandalized by him.

III. Jesus rebukes their unbelief.
Next Jesus rebukes their unbelief. He said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." There was sadness in Christ's language and tone. And rightly so. He created us out of His vast storehouse of love, and we sinned. Then he set in motion a plan to redeem us that culminated in His coming to the world and putting on flesh in order to purchase that redemption with His own blood. It had to have grieved him greatly to see so much rebellion and unbelief when he had revealed himself so clearly.

We know it broke Jesus heart to see their unbelief. When Jesus came to Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy week, He wept over the city. He didn't weep because of the things he would suffer, but he wept over the city because of what they would suffer because of their unbelief. In Luke 19:41it says; "Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, 'If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.' "Jerusalem had had its chance. God's Spirit won't strive with us forever. We'll see that in a little bit with Nazareth.

This has always been the heart of God; he has always sought His people out and pleaded with them to be faithful to Him. In Isa 65:2-3 "He pleads with Israel and says 2 "I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts; 3 A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face." NKJV

This theme of reaching out to rebels continues in the New Testament. Jesus again reveals His heart concerning Jerusalem and really not just Jerusalem but for all of us in his cry of anguish in, Matt 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Its not that they could not, it's that they would not. It's a matter of rebellion.

The Nazarenes were scandalized by him. They were offended, but Jesus continues on doing the Fathers will, preaching, and healing those He can. He knows that in fact some will believe, that some would in gratitude embrace the love of God exhibited by Jesus and some would glorify God by repenting and putting their faith in Jesus. Knowing that, Jesus is able to press on.

IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNBELIEF.
The number one consequence of unbelief is that it limits God. Now let me make this clear. God is omnipotent, He is all powerful, He can do and does anything He pleases. He doesn't need my permission or even my faith in order to act. But it does seem evident that in His wisdom, and in His knowledge, according to His foreordained plan he has made of His own free will, He has decided that this is how he would conduct Himself toward mankind. Generally speaking, His dealings with mankind will be according to faith. In saying that we still need to recognize that God is God and he does what ever he pleases.

But what is the pleasure of the Father? Col 1:19-20 "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." NKJV It was the Father's good pleasure that His Son should reconcile all things to Himself by the blood.

1 Cor 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. NKJV It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. In the wisdom of God he choose to save those who believe that Jesus, the God-man who lived the life we couldn't and died in our place on the cross taking the wrath of God we deserved, and in believing and trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone for our salvation we are born again to a living hope. This is the Good pleasure of God, to save those who believe. To those who believe Jesus said:
Luke 12:32 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." NKJV

Our text says; "He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them." Even the word sick used here tells a story, it's a word that means minor illnesses, the common cold, minor infections, upset stomach, things like that.

We look at the world today; it is coming apart at the seams. The golden era of Christianity seems to be over and the fabric of civilization seems to be unraveling. Even with all the faults of Christendom, where Christianity has prevail, so has education, hospitals, orphanages, care for the poor and unfortunate, individual rights and freedom. Now that the world is reverting back to paganism the wheels seem to be coming off.

God can do no mighty work among us because of our unbelief. I personally fear for the worse. Without a nationwide revival, we may be done as a nation of greatness. The scriptures tell us that there will be a great apostasy right before the end. Jesus at the end of one of His parables said this about His return to Judge the world at the end: Luke 18:8 When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" NKJV

Because of their unbelief Jesus could do no mighty work there. And Jesus marveled at their unbelief. But notice what he did. He did not put a curse on them and leave. He did not go some place where he would be appreciated. He did not go back to Capernaum where he gathered great multitudes, he stayed and he went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. Jesus stayed. Jesus was not hung up on results. He was not concerned about the lack of faith and the small crowds. Jesus was only concerned about doing His Fathers will. He was sent to preach the good news of the Kingdom of heaven and he was faithful in that.

We are not called to be a mega-church. We are not called to anything but to faithfulness. We are to be the agent of reconciliation with each other and to call the world to be reconciled with God.

This was Jesus' last trip to Nazareth. The Holy Spirit will not strive with us forever. The Gospel call is an urgent call. Today when you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Today is the day of salvation. Heb 12:16-17 tells us about Esau "who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." NKJV I have heard stories of people who on their deathbeds were in great fear of damnation, but could not find repentance. They died with the words "too late" on there lips. Today when you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Even if we do live till tomorrow there is no guarantee we will even be able to repent tomorrow. We don't get to repent when we want to; it's a gift of God, granted by the Holy Spirit. We must do it when the Holy Spirit calls us to repentance.

Our text says the people were scandalized by Jesus. People today are still scandalized by Jesus. The Gospel is a scandal in the Eyes of the world. They will never accept that Jesus is the only way to the Father. They will in there pride proclaim their own goodness and think that they are good enough to make it to heaven on their own.

But that's the glory of the Gospel, that in the midst of this attitude that permeates our world today, God has chosen that through the foolishness of the Gospel being preached that he would save those who believe. That's what we are called to do. Believe the Gospel. We are also called to preach the Gospel, here to each other. That's what we do when we give our testimony, we preach the Gospel to each other that we might be encouraged and built up in the faith.

We are also called to preach the Gospel outside these walls. That is the job of all Christians. Too long the church has considered evangelism the job of the evangelists and the pastors. No, it is the responsibility for all Christians.
Eph 4:11 "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry." The one gifted with evangelism is not only to do the work himself, but is to equip the church for the work of the ministry. It is everybody's job.

Unbelief is a serious sin, probably the most serious sin. God grant us that we might be freed from that affliction, that we might be the men and women of faith that God would have us be, so that He would be able do a mighty work here among us.

Amen

Wayne Almlie
almlie@juno.com

02/15/2009 Two Pray-ers (Mark 5:21-43)

2009-02-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

Two prayers
Mark 5:21-43
21 Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live." 24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.
25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well."
29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?"
31 But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"
32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."
35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?"
36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe." 37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38 Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. 39 When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping."
40 And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. 43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.

Mark is relaying to us a whole series of events that happened over a two day span. Jesus taught from the boat by the sea shore. At the end of the day they take off across the sea so that Jesus would have a chance to rest. They encounter the storm, which Jesus calms much to their amazement. They get to the east side of the sea and they encounter the demoniac possessed by Legion. Jesus casts the demons into the swine, the people ask Jesus to leave, so they cross the sea back to the western shore and that is where we start our text this morning.

Jesus is on the shore and the word travels quickly, Jesus is back and a great multitude gathers again. Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue shows up. It would have been very unpopular amongst the religious rulers to show any interest in Jesus, but Jairus had a need, a great need, his twelve year old daughter was deathly ill.. He falls at Jesus feet and says "My daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her and she will live." So Jesus goes with him.

While they are en-route a woman comes into the picture, she also has a great need, she has had a menstrual hemorrhage, a flow of blood that has lasted for twelve years. Notice the pitiful condition that Mark lays out; she had suffered many things from many physicians, she had spent all she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse. If you look on the back of your bulletin you can read some of the ancient prescriptions for her type of affliction.

She also risked much. Because of her flow of blood she was unclean according to the Mosaic Law, she was permanently bared from the temple grounds and anybody she touched was also ceremonially unclean and could not enter the temple that day. So for her to be out in public in the midst of a multitude could have gotten her in lots of trouble.

Keep in mind that while Jesus was delayed by dealing with the woman, Jairus was waiting. Imagine his anguish over the situation, his daughter is dying, and Jesus hesitates to help another one in a desperate plight. That had to have been a long couple minutes for him to wait, and while he was waiting someone shows up and says, "Your daughter is dead." What devastating words. But Jesus is not put off by the announcement, Jesus said those beautiful yet powerful words to Jairus, "Do not be afraid; only believe." They continue on to Jairus' house, Jesus entered the room where the daughter lies dead. Jesus speaks two words in Aramaic, "Talitha, Little one, cumi, get up. Possibly the same words her loving Father had said to her every morning when waking her.

Let's make some application, let's first take a look at the two prayers. Jairus comes and we can see four necessary characteristics in His prayer. The first thing we see is he comes humbly. Most of the time anybody from the synagogue shows up they are very proud and haughty. But not Jairus, he comes and falls at the feet of Jesus. In Matthew's account it says he came and worshiped. God hears only the humble prayer. 2 Chron 7:14 "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Ps 10:17 LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble;
Isa 57:15"I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,

If you want your prayers heard and answered you need to humble yourself before almighty God.

The second thing we see about Jairus' prayer, is that it is a believing prayer. Jairus believed that Jesus had the power to heal. His faith wasn't quit as strong as the centurion's who said to Jesus, "Just say the words and my servant will be healed." But yet it was a believing faith, he said, "come and lay your hands on her and she will live." When you pray you have to have a correct belief of who Jesus is, that He is omnipotent, that He is able to perform that which you ask.

John 14:13 And whatever you ask in My name , that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." NKJV What does it mean to ask in Jesus name? It's more than just adding the words, "We pray this prayer in Jesus name, amen" It's not just some magic words we tack on to every prayer that gives it just a little more oomph. No, we are praying according to the grace and standing we have with God because of what Jesus did for us. Rebel lawbreakers have no right to stand before the king and ask for anything. But we have been redeemed; we've been bought with a price, because of that we can ask in Jesus name, His power, in his authority, and desiring that God and God alone be glorified. Jairus came believing Jesus could do what he asked.

The third thing we see is that he came boldly. He didn't come like Nicodemus in the cover of darkness. He came in broad daylight, in the midst of a great multitude. He fought his way through the crowd, he risked being ostracized by his fellow Jews, he made his way to Jesus and fell at His feet. He came boldly.

We too can come boldly when we come to the Lord in prayer. Heb 4:16
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. NKJV

The fourth thing we see is that he came motivated by love. There is no greater motivator than love. Jairus came motivated by love for His daughter. He wasn't going to be turned away by the crowd, his love for his daughter motivated him to make his way through the crowd, his love for his daughter motivated him to risk the ridicule and the scorn of his fellow Jews, and he came to Jesus.

Our prayers need to be motivated by love as well. Our love for Jesus will motivate us to spend time regularly with Him through word and prayer. Our love for our family will motivate us to pray for their health and salvation. Our love for people will motivate us to pray for our neighbors, people we work with and people we go to school with. Prayer will only be meaningful when we are motivated by Love.

Now let's take a look at the second prayer in our text today. The second prayer is offered up by an un-named woman. She offers her prayer in desperation. Her prayer had all the same characteristics as the first prayer. There was a lowliness, a humility about her; she didn't want to draw attention to herself. She didn't want to waste the master's time. There was also a boldness in her action. You may think she was a coward, but she took a great chance going out in to the crowd in her condition. She was ceremonially unclean, and if some one had recognized her, she would have been subject to much humiliation and scorn. She came believing, "If only I can touch His cloths I shall be made well." Her motivation was different; her motivation was her great need.

She had had a flow of blood for twelve years. It's interesting that the age of the girl was also twelve years. So her flow of blood started about the same time the girl had been born. In the one household great joy over the birth of a child. In another household the anguish of an affliction that would continue on for twelve years. Twelve years of suffering, twelve years of spending all she had, getting no better, but grew worse. One wealthy and influential, and one poor, but there they both were twelve years latter, both with a great need.

The woman had an affliction. Mankind has an affliction, sin. Verse 26 says she had suffered many things from many doctors. They had put her through all kinds of treatments that were supposed to help, but to no avail. Mankind has an affliction, he knows he's sick, he has a sin problem and a guilt problem and mankind goes to Dr. Self-righteous, and Dr. Legalism, and Dr. Sacrament, Dr. Orthodoxy, or Dr. Cult, when he gets no relief there he try's Dr. Materialism and Dr. Sensuality. But nothing helps; there is still that inner ache that tells him something is wrong. People suffer many things at the hands of these physicians, they spend all they have trying to find joy and satisfaction, but they get no better, rather they get worse.

That is the story of much of the world. They are looking for love in all the wrong places. They are looking for healing, and wholeness, but they are going to the wrong doctors in there search. They need to go to the Great Physician, but how can they go if no body tells them about him.

That’s what happened in our text today. It says that "When she heard about Jesus". Yes, somebody had told her about Jesus, somebody who had witness what Jesus could do. Maybe, either they had been healed, or maybe someone they knew, but they tell this woman about Jesus and she thought maybe he can help me too.

We never know where people are in life. Maybe they haven't gotten to the end of the road yet, maybe they are still suffering many things with the physicians and haven't given up hope yet, but maybe they have and they just need somebody to tell them about Jesus.

This woman was ready to hear about Jesus, and she went out on a limb. She probably had hoped to make her plea directly to Jesus. But when she got there she was discouraged to see so many people. She knew she would not have the opportunity to gain a private audience with Jesus, nor could she risk it. With so many people someone might recognize her. She knew she shouldn't be there in her un-clean condition. If someone recognized her she would never ever have a chance to get close. So she does the only thing she could do, just to move in quietly, maybe with a head scarf as a disguise. She maneuvers herself close enough to Jesus just to touch his garment with the prayer. "If only I may touch His cloths, I shall be made well."

She came to a point in her life where she saw Christ as her only hope and indeed He was. That is true for us as well. That is true for every sinner who seeks to come to Jesus for salvation. They need to come to the point in there life where they are bankrupt spiritually. That's what Jesus meant when he said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." We have to come to the end of ourselves; we need to give up on any hope that we can save ourselves. Many people are trusting in there own goodness to make it to heaven. It will never work.

Paul reminds us in Rom 3:12 "There is none who does good, no, not one."
Isaiah says in Isa 64:5-6 "We have sinned — In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. 6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;" We are all like an unclean thing, Isaiah includes himself in his indictment. So certainly it includes you and me as well.

The prodigal son came to the end of himself, this woman had spent all she had, there was nothing more she could do in her own strength and resources, somebody told her about Jesus and she comes believing Jesus can help her, and he does. She is healed.

After she touched Him and was healed Jesus asks, "Who touched my cloths". The disciples were amazed at this question because the multitude was pressing in on them and probably 20 people were touching him, but only one touched in faith. And it wasn't a superstitious touch. Her hope wasn't in a magic touch, but her hope was in the person of Jesus.

There is a sacramental element here. We don't trust in baptism, we trust in the Jesus of baptism. In baptism there is no magic, by faith we touch the almighty. Same in communion, there is no magic in the bread and wine. It is the fringe of the almighty. It is by faith we receive what is promised in the sacraments. It is by faith we touch the fringe of the almighty.

Jesus knew who had touched Him. The woman was still in stealth mode. She knew she had been healed, she was saved from her affliction, and she was going to steal away in the cover of the multitude and be a secret Christian. Jesus wouldn't let her, He called her out, she needed to give her testimony, and she needed to hear Jesus' words of absolution and assurance.

"The woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And he said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.'"(vs 33,34) Jesus wouldn't let her leave without declaring what the Lord had done for her.

I was listening to somebody talking about the Desiring God Pastors conference in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago. One of the Featured speakers was Pastor Deever. He had the opportunity to meet pastor Deever several years ago at another conference. He was standing in line next to him but didn't know who he was yet. He introduced himself and asked Pastor Deever his name and why he was at the conference. Pastor Deever told him he was one of the featured speakers, and then Pastor Deever asked him, "How did you come to know the Lord". After he answered the Pastors question and they visited a little more, He asked the pastor, why he had asked him that question. Pastor Deever said, "I'm always interested in hearing peoples stories and I just wanted to make sure you were saved."

Are you prepared to answer that question if anybody should ask you the reason for the hope that is in you?

Well our story takes a turn for the worse. Somebody from Jairus' house shows up and says, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further." Jairus' heart must have broken at that moment as he lost all hope. But Jesus was quick to encourage him. Jesus said those beautiful word's, "Do not be afraid; only believe."

Be not afraid, only believe” means not looking at the waves when the storms of life come at you, and remembering that Jesus is in the boat with you. Jesus is constant. He is worthy of our trust. He is a rock that we can rest upon. “Be not afraid, only believe.” These words can be applied to any situation in life where fear, or doubt, or worry, or anxiety is creeping in. God doesn’t break His promises. They are as sure now as the day they were uttered from his lips. “Be not afraid, only believe” means trusting and resting in His promises. You can trust Him! That is true freedom from fear.

“Be not afraid, only believe” means believing His promise that He will provide for your needs when there are financial struggles in your life. He is our provider.

“Be not afraid, only believe” means trusting God through illnesses or physical ailments. These jars of clay we reside in were not meant for eternity. They will fail us some day and that’s ok, because (2 Peter 3:13) We … look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

“Be not afraid, only believe” means resting in God when we are being persecuted for the sake of the Gospel. Jesus said don’t be afraid of those who persecute you for God will deal with them. God is our avenger. (Mathew 10:26-33)

“Be not afraid, only believe” means trusting God with our relatives, friends and loved ones who are not saved. God says we are to be faithful to preach the gospel to them, love them and pray for them and leave the saving part to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms the heart, we cannot. We need to pray, we need to speak the truth in love, we need to trust, God is the one who saves.

“Be not afraid, only believe” means trusting Him with our eternal salvation as His children. Sometimes doubt comes in. We look at ourselves and we see the wickedness that dwells within us and we cry out (Rom 7:24) "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death." Doubts may come but let them draw you closer to Jesus. Be not afraid, only believe. During those times we need to cling even tighter to our savior. We need to believe and trust Jesus to do what He said he would do. He says that if we would repent and put our trust in Him and Him alone for salvation that we have eternal life. Simply trust. He is our deliverer.

“Be not afraid, only believe” means believing the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say when we are terrified to share the gospel with someone, whether it is to our neighbor, co-worker, a person on the street. He is our confidence. (Acts 1:8)

“Be not afraid, only believe.” If we fear or are worried or anxious we are not trusting God. If we believe we are not afraid. To believe we must be confident in God’s power and sovereignty and rest in His promises. Pay attention to that small but important word, “ONLY”. Jesus didn’t say, “Be not afraid, believe instead.” He said Only Believe. The word “only” is singular. There is no room for any thing else but belief! There is no room for doubt or fear. Only Believe.

Jairus believed and went with Jesus and saw his beloved daughter raised from the dead. This is the first person Jesus raised from the dead. There would be two more. These point to His own resurrection, and finally culminating in our resurrection some day in the future. Jesus is the first fruits from the dead. The first fruits is a foreshadowing of a great Harvest soon to come. 1 Thess 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Come Quickly Lord Jesus

Amen

02/08/2009 More Fear (Mark 5:1-20)

2009-02-08T15:12:00.000-08:00

Mark 5:1-20
Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me."
8 For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" 9 Then He asked him, "What is your name?"
And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.
11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.
14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.
18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.
NKJV

Now this is the next day. Jesus had spent a day teaching and preaching from a boat, they took off in the boat to cross the sea and got caught in the storm. It is now day, they have crossed the sea to the east side. This area was settled by both Jew and Gentile. The shore has sharp cliffs that line the sea, and there is a cemetery of carved out tombs in the cliffs by the sea.

We have a lot of details brought out in this Gospel that the other Gospels don't have. Again this is Peter's signature; Mark is writing down by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit what Peter has been telling Him.

Notice the strength of this man, obviously it was supernatural strength.
Mark 5:3-4 "and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him."

But he was no match for Jesus. He saw Jesus from afar and he knew instantly that he was beat; his only hope was to fall at His feet, and grovel. The text says he worships Him. I'm not sure if it was sincere worship, probably not, but the demons knew enough to at least fake it in the hopes of buying themselves some extra time.

Lesson number one. He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world. This man was possessed by many demons. There was nothing that men could do to subdue him. But just the mere sight of Jesus turned him into a groveling bowl of Jell-O. Satan is real and demons are real, but we have no need to fear them because they are no match for our Lord and Savior.

If we perchance should run into someone demon possessed, in the name of Jesus we can caste the demon out. Satan doesn't seem to use that tactic in Iowa so much, he doesn't have to. He gets us through temptation. Temptation to lust, to covet, to love the world, oh and today our country loves to chase after false teachers and they are practically begged to tickle peoples ears with lies. But lies are no match for the truth, if we will commit our lives to the truth. The truth is Jesus. There is no match for Jesus.

The second lesson: The Demons know their fate. They believe in the coming Judgment and hell, and they know that one day this Jesus that is standing in their presence will caste them into Hell. We some times use the term "Christless Eternity". Obviously that's what the demons hope for, a Christless eternity. They didn't want to have anything to do with Jesus two thousand years ago, and they don't want to have anything to do with Him today, and when judgment comes they won't want to have anything to do with Him then either. A Christless eternity is what demons are hoping for. But that's not what its going to be.

The demon said, "I implore you by God that you do not torment me." The demons are worried that Christ will be there. That’s the thought that sets them shaking in there boots, (figuratively speaking) that some how Christ is there and He will torment them. Rev 14:9-11"If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night." NKJV

He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence…of the Lamb. The demons know there eternal destiny. It seems that they had given it some thought, every time they saw Jesus the reaction was the same. Jesus have you come to torment us. They kept asking the question, some day the answer will be yes. Some day a great multitude of humanity will also stand before the Lord. John saw that day in Rev 20:12 He said "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened." NKJV

The demons know their destiny do you? Do you give it much thought? Most people are blinded by Satan and don't even give it any thought. We need to. Because it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.

The third lesson. Demons are liars. When Jesus asked the demons their name, they said Legion. A Roman Legion was 6000, usually 3000 foot soldiers and 3000 cavalry. I think it is highly unlikely that the man was possessed by 6000 demons; the demons were lying probably to see if Jesus could be intimidated. It didn't work. Jesus said of Satan; John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." NKJV

Satan is the father lies, so therefore he is the father of all liars. There are so many false teachers in the church today it's almost impossible to keep up with them. Not only do we have the mainline churches heading for a shipwreck, we have all the cults, we have new movements with in the church, the seeker friendly movement, and the Emergent Church that seem to be getting crazier by the day. The father of lies is having his way with the contemporary church. The Church rather than pleading with sinners to repent and put their faith in Jesus, instead says Jesus is just out loving everybody. The church instead of imploring sinners to repent and receive Christ, is preaching a gospel of inclusion and tolerance, unless of course you’re a bible believing Christian, then that will never be tolerated.

Mark 13:22 "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." NKJV
1 Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, NKJV
2 Thess 2:3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, NKJV
2 Thess 2: 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, (Why would God do this?) 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. NKJV They had already refused to believe the truth, so God gives them the desires of their heart and God sends them a lie and people are so quick to love the lie.

These verses along with the news of the day should be a warning like storm clouds gathering in the evening. Satan and His demons are liars, and they are whispering lies all over the world today and people are falling for it, and whole denominations and churches are teetering on the edge of a cliff and are about to go over. Is this the end? Are you ready?

Lesson number four. Demons have a need to possess. They possessed the man. When Jesus was going to cast them out they begged Him not to send them out of the country. They possess the land. In Baal worship every hill, valley, stream, and meadow had a Baal, a lord, a demon that ruled over the piece of ground. The manure piles even had Baals. Beelzebub means lord of the Manure pile. I would think you would have to be pretty pathetic as a demon to be assigned to the manure pile.

Demons seem to have a need to possess things. Demons even seem to prefer to possess flesh, and apparently pig flesh is better than no flesh, for they begged Jesus to cast them into the swine.

Why did the swine drown themselves? Some commentators suggest that Jesus was taking care of two problems at the same time. While it is true that many gentiles lived in this area, the assumption is that Jews were raising these pigs, not for their own consumption, but to sell to the gentiles, and especially the Roman Soldiers that were stationed nearby. But even that would have been a violation of the Mosaic Law. So Jesus deals with both problems at the same time.

Jesus said an interesting thing concerning demon possession in Matt 12:43-45 "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first." NKJV

Self improvement is not good enough. A sinner can free himself of demons and evil thought and set out on a path of self improvement, he can forsake all his bad habits, he can stop drinking, doing drugs, stealing, lying, cheating, but if it is just a turning away from demons and sin it's no good. The turning away, just leaves a vacuum. You need to fill that space with something else. You need to fill it with the Holy Spirit, scripture and prayer.
Jesus said, if a demon gets caste out and you don't fill that void with something else, the demon will just end up returning with some of his friends and you will be worse off. That’s why self improvement never works, because we can't change, we need the power of God on our lives. True repentance is a gift only God can give, because it's both a turning away from sin and a turning toward God.

The fifth Lesson. A knowledge of who Jesus is brings fear. We saw it last week too. First they feared the storm, then they feared the calm, because the calm revealed to them that Jesus was more than the teacher they woke up from the sleep. He was God.

The residents of the Gadarenes first feared this mad insane strongman who terrorized them among the tombs, then they feared seeing this same man sitting clothed and in his right mind. And they fear the sane man, more than they feared the insane man. They had tried everything to control and tame this demon possessed man, the man had supernatural powers, but now they were confronted with the supernatural God. "No one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him." But all that had to happen was for this mad man was to see Jesus from a distance, and he was changed into a groveling, whimpering beggar. "Please don't send me out of the country."

So what happens when the people are confronted with who Jesus is, do they fall down and worship Him. No, they ask him to leave. In our text today it was expensive to have Jesus around. He affected their bottom line. They cost them money. The rich young ruler who came to Jesus and asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life," rejected Jesus because it would have affected his bottom line. Levi, the tax collector was just the opposite; he embraced Jesus, even though it affected his bottom line.

Many today reject Jesus because it would affect there bottom line. If they had to conduct business in an ethical way it would cost them money. If they all of a sudden had a burden for the church and missions, they might not be able to afford that new boat or car.

The people in our text asked Jesus to leave. That is what the world does every day. Some people call themselves atheists. God doesn't believe in atheists. In Romans 1:20 Paul says, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." NKJV Atheists don't exist in God's eyes. He has made his presence known. God has put within every soul knowledge of the existence of God. So even the atheist knows there's a God, but they can't acknowledge that, they can't let a divine foot in the door, or their world view crumbles.

How has mankind begged Jesus to leave them alone? Probably the ultimate attempt to tell God to leave us alone is evolution.

When Darwin's co-discoverer of evolution, Alfred Russel Wallace, wrote him to say that evolution could not account for man's moral and spiritual nature, Darwin accused him of jeopardizing the whole theory: "I hope you have not murdered too completely your own and my child." Darwin's ultimate position was that it was disastrous for evolution to, at any point, permit a divine foot in the door.

Many of today's scientists refuse to admit the weaknesses of evolution, because to do so is disastrous. Harvard's Richard Lewontin warns, that to allow any discussion and examination of evolutions weaknesses is to "allow a divine foot in the door," And that they can never allow.

Aldous Huxley, one of the great agnostic evolutionists of the twentieth century, said this; "For myself, as no doubt for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness 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."

That is what it comes down to in our day and age. The reason people are so invested in Evolution is not because the evidence is so overwhelming, but the reason they so want to believe in evolution is because then morality is non existent and they can have sex with who ever they want, for what ever reasons they want. According to Richard Dawkins, one of today's leading atheist he said, "Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist." Without Darwinian evolution there is no way to get around the fact that there is a God and that He will judge us some day.

The moral issues of the day, what are they about, Sexual liberation. Abortion, what is it ultimately about; it's about the freedom to have sex anytime you want with anyone you want and have no consequences. Gay marriage is about sexual freedom. Political correctness is ultimately about sexual freedom. The removal of scripture and prayer from our schools, the removal of all God talk from the public square, it's about sexual freedom. The watering down of our churches, is it not ultimately about sexual freedom.

People are begging Jesus to leave their region. People refuse to acknowledge Jesus as God, to do that would mean a radical change in the way they live, and they are unwilling. Pagans who love their sin will always ask Jesus to leave them alone.

The sixth lesson. In verse 20 "And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled." Has Jesus done something for you? Then you need to tell someone about it. Jesus told this man, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." That is what he commands us to do to.

I've got much to learn on sharing my faith. Pray that I might have boldness to share my faith without fear. I sometimes start a conversation, and when I sense the person getting uncomfortable, I back off. I need to learn not to do that, the discomfort of the other person is their conscience and the Holy Spirit and I need boldness to follow through and press home the truth.

How are you doing? Proclaiming what Jesus has done for us, and preaching and sharing the Gospel is the work of the church. The church is not Sunday morning, this is a time for worship, and for encouragement and for equipping that our batteries might be recharged and that we might be ready to go out from here and proclaim the good news with boldness. How are you doing? How are we doing?

The early church prayed for boldness. Acts 4:29 "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word." May that be our prayer too, our constant prayer, that we might pray every morning, Grant to Your servant that with all boldness that I may speak Your word with boldness.

Let's pray.

02/01/2009 Who Can This Be (Mark 4:35-41)

2009-02-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

Who Can This Be
Mark 4:35-41
35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"

39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!" NKJV

Jesus taught the parable of the sower and the other previous parables from a boat. There were so many people on the beach that had come to hear him, that he had gotten in a boat so that he wouldn't be crushed by the crowd. So that is the set up for the scene we have in out text today.

It says on that same day. When evening came, this is what happened. Jesus said, "Let us go over to the other side." Jesus has been preaching and teaching for most of the day. Yes he was God, but he was also man. He needed a little time to rest and recharge himself.

So He's in the boat already, and they left "as He was" the text says. That probably indicates that they didn't come to shore to get any additional provisions, they just left right from where they were when Jesus finished His teaching. And it says there were a bunch of little boats that were also with him. Apparently what had happened while Jesus was teaching was that since there was no room on the shore for any more people, that in an effort to get closer to Jesus many got in small boats and rowed out to where Jesus was to listen to Him. And these boats took off in pursuit of the boat Jesus was in.

So that's the picture, Jesus in a larger boat, so exhausted that he lies down and falls asleep. This again speaks to the humanity of Jesus. He was a man, he fully identified with us. He sleeps and a great storm comes upon them. Remember now, this was a small flotilla of boats. There was the boat that Jesus was in that apparently was a little larger, followed by several small boats.
Verse 38 says "But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" This is pretty good detail for someone who wasn't there, so this has to be Peter's eye witness account. It doesn't say this but this sounds like something Peter would say. "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing." After all this wouldn't have been the only time Peter rebuked Jesus.

There was a great storm and the waves were crashing over the deck so that it was starting to fill with water, and the smaller boats would have been even in greater peril yet. They wake Jesus up and He says "Peace be calm" and there was great calm.

First the disciples rebuke Jesus, now Jesus rebukes the disciples. "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" Jesus is astonished that after all the disciples had been through with him, they still didn't have any faith. They had heard his teaching, they had seen His miracles, but they seemed to be blind.

And our text ends with the disciple's question, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey him." The world is still asking that question today.

What lessons can we glean from our text today? One lesson we learn is theology 101 on the Son of God, Who is He? First we have His humanity, he was fully man. He got tired, he needed rest, after a full day of ministry he needed to get away and have some quiet time to rest and recharge. He was a man, fully man, in everyway tempted as we are, except with out sin.

In the first two centuries of the church, they had no problem with the deity of Jesus, it was His humanity that was a stumbling block to many. Today it is just the opposite. Most everyone will agree with you and say, yes Jesus was a man. He did live, he was a great teacher, he is one of the ascended masters, yes he was a man, but only a man many insist.

The disciples still didn't know who he was, although they should have figured it out by this time. They seem to think he was capable to doing something, after all they woke him up with the question, "teacher, do you not care that we are perishing." That seems to indicate something. They weren’t just waking Him up so He wouldn't drown. They apparently thought He could do something. But they called Him teacher, he was still just a man in their eyes, they didn't call Him Lord. Eventually they would, but not yet.

They had seen him work miracles, heal the sick and cast out demons, and with the words they woke him up with they seemed to think he could help in some fashion, but what they witnessed blew their mind. At the words of Jesus the wind stopped immediately and there was a great calm. I can picture it perfectly because I have seen it so many times on Minnesota lakes right at sunset when the wind dies down and the lake just turns to glass. That's what happened, but it happened in an instant, and they feared.

It's interesting that first they feared the storm, second they feared the calm. And I would submit to you they feared the calm, more than they feared the storm. They asked the question, who can this be? And they knew there was only one answer and it caused them to tremble. There was only one who said he could calm the raging sea.

The Old Testament only talks about God having the power to command the sea. God speaking to Job at the end of his trials says;
Job 38:8-11
8 "Or who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
9 When I made the clouds its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling band;
10 When I fixed My limit for it,
And set bars and doors;
11 When I said,
'This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves must stop!'
It is God who commands the sea. And it is also God who commands the storm.

Ps 89:9
9 You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.

It is God who rules the raging of the sea, they understood the significance of this event and they feared. The implications are staggering, they are in the presence of deity. Who can this be? This can't be a mere mortal; no mere man can do such things.

The world still doesn't know who Jesus is, or do they? Actually the world probably does know who Jesus is, they just don't want to acknowledge it because then they would have to fall down and worship him. And they won't do that. The implications are frightening to them.

Albert Schweitzer wrote "The Quest of the Historical Jesus" in 1906. He pretty much denied the historical accuracy of the Gospels and tried to construct a history of Jesus from secular accounts. You can probably imagine what he came up with. Until about the year 1800 pretty much everybody accepted the biblical accounts and the deity of Jesus, but since then there has been wave after wave of attacks on both the scriptures and the nature Of Jesus Christ.

Right now you can go to the internet and find a video clip of a Muslim Imam saying "Jesus did not say "I am God worship me". While it is true that Jesus did not say it in just that many words but you find it all over the scriptures both Old and New Testament.

Matt 1:22 quoting Isaiah says this; So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 Tim 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.

Ex 3:14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Matt 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"
NKJV Quotes Deut 6:13 But Jesus accepted worship over and over.

Matt 8:2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."

Matt 9:18 While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."

Matt 15:25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"

Matt 28:9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

John 9:38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.

Heb 1:6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
"Let all the angels of God worship Him."

John 5:17,18 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."
18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

One could easily compile a list of 50 or more scriptures all attesting to the fact that Jesus is Divine, He is God. It's not that hard, one would have to be willingly blind to not see it. For the most part people are in the dark because they want to be in the dark.

What are some other lessons we can learn from this text?
I. WE ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM STORMSBeing Jesus' disciples did not protect them from storms. We live in a world where there are many storms, both literal and figurative. Christians experience literal tornados, hurricanes, just like everyone else. Christians likewise face storms such as sickness, accidents, disappointments, death.Paul certainly experience the perils of storms and shipwrecks2 Cor 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; Jesus does not promise exemption from the storms of life.

Some times we face storms because we are Christians. Jesus warned that we will experience tribulation as His disciples - John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Paul suffered persecution and warned Timothy and us. 2 Tim 3:12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Peter wrote that we should not be surprised 1 Peter 4:12-13 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.By God's grace so far we have been exempt from religious persecution in this country, but that may be changing.

So if we find ourselves in the midst of storms, whether literal orfigurative, whether it's because we are simply humans in this fallen world or because we are Christians, do not think it strange. Instead take heart knowing that Jesus helps us deal with storms.

He helps us through faith. During storms, we are often afraid and we cry out "we are perishing!" Jesus teaches us that fear is an indication of a lack of faith. To overcome fear in the storms of life, we need to grow in faith. We need to come to grips with the same Issue the disciples had to deal with. Who is this Man? We need to have faith in the fact that He is our Father and that he is watching over us, nothing can touch us except it come through the hands of God, wither it be life or death. To live is to live unto the Lord to die is gain and we get to go be with Him.

We grow in faith through His word. Jesus awoke from His sleep and first He spoke to the wind and the waves, then He spoke to them, and their fear was transferred from the storm to the Fear of the Lord. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The greatest storm that each one of us will face some day will be the Day of Judgment. There was a movie a few years back called the perfect storm. It is all the severest conditions of a storm coming together perfectly and creating a perfect storm. The perfect storm, the worst of all storms. For the unbeliever Judgment Day will be the perfect storm of God's wrath.

How shall we stand when the final storm comes? Shall we hear Jesus say, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"? Or will we hear Him say, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels"?

When Jesus rebuked the wind and spoke to the sea, "Peace, be still", the wind ceased and there was a great calm. The disciples, with fear and amazement, said: "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" The wind and the sea obeyed Jesus. Shall we not obey Him who now has all authority in heaven and on earth, and who has redeemed us with His precious blood.

01/25/09 Four Kingdom Parables (Mark 4:21-34)

2009-01-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

Four Kingdom Parables
Mark 4:21-34
21 Also He said to them, "Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
24 Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."
26 And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
30 Then He said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade."
33 And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. 34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.
NKJV

Hermeneutics, which is the science of biblical interpretation, states that generally parables have one major theme or teaching, and if you try to press each detail for meaning you can come up with some bad theology. And I can certainly see how that could happen.

For instance the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man dies and goes to Hell and the poor beggar Lazarus dies and goes to heaven. If pressed to hard, all rich go to hell and all poor go to heaven. So in a parable it's ok to not take every little detail literally, especially if it plainly contradicts other scripture.

So for this little group of four short and quick parables let me suggest these main Idea's:
First parable – Nothing is hidden to those who seek.
Second parable – The rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer.
Third parable – Salvation is a miracle of God
Fourth Parable – The Church is a miracle of God

The first two parables point back to Jesus' statement from last week, Mark 4:11-12 "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that 'Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
And their sins be forgiven them.'" NKJV

These first two parables teach us about the hidden things of God. To a certain extent the Kingdom of God is a mystery. But that does not mean they are unknowable. God is eternal and infinite; these are attributes that we will never fully get our minds around. That is why eternal life will be eternal and not boring, because it will take that long to know and search out our eternal and infinite God. The mystery is not that we can't know anything; it's that we will never know everything.

Common sense tells you, you don't buy a lamp and then put a basket over it, nor do you put it under the bed, but you put it on a lamp stand so that it will shine light throughout the room. That's common sense.

The lamp is divine truth and revelation. Truth was hidden in the sacrifices, the feasts and festival and the Law, but it wasn't totally hidden either, the scriptures tell us that some saw and understood. Jesus said to the Jews; John 8:56Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Jesus also said this:: John 5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. NKJV Also think about the writings of the prophets, Ezekiel and Jeremiah with their new covenant promises, Isaiah chapter 53, David with Ps 22, Daniel with his dreams and visions, these saints sought God and he revealed great mysteries to them.

In Col 1:26-27, Paul talks about; "the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

God by the very nature of his eternal and infinite immenseness will always be a mystery but he is constantly seeking to reveal himself to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, while at the same time he veils and hides himself from the proud. Through the prophet Jeremiah God said Jer 29:13 "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." NKJV Jesus said, seek and you shall find. Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.

All of the types, copies, feasts, festivals and sacrifices were all somewhat shrouded in mystery but Jesus came to bring it all to light. The question Jesus asks then is Do you have ears to hear. And that not just in one ear and out the other. Referencing Isaiah 6 again do you have eyes to see and ears to hear? Jesus desires to be reveal himself, but he doesn't reveal himself to just anybody. God says: Isa 66:2 "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word. NKJV

God is a God of revelation, and in our next short parable, God gives us a glimpse on how it works. Jesus says take heed what you hear. We need to consider what we hear. First of all we need to discern if it's truth. If it is God's truth then we need to treat it as such. Jesus says, with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you. We need to hear and use scripture. We need to read it, treasure it, meditate on it, apply it, and be obedient to it.

The word of God is not like a barrel of flour, if you measure out four cups of flour to bake bead, the barrel now has four cups less flour in it. God's measure works differently. If you use four cups of the wisdom and knowledge of God and apply it and live it out in your life, there will be greater wisdom and greater knowledge available to you. The barrel will never run out.

Jesus said: Luke 11:9-11 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. NKJV

We start our Christian lives with the Bible being a closed book. We don't know much more than the basics, the simple bible stories we learned as children. But as we grow in our faith, as we read and meditate and study, God reveals more and more to us. We get a greater view of his majesty and loving kindness. We will grow proportionally to the amount of time we spend in scripture and prayer.

The opposite is also true. If you ignore, scripture and prayer, even what you have is taken away. It does a person little good to grow up in the church attend Sunday school and Confirmation and then to walk away from the church and the scriptures. What you have will be taken away; it's of no value to you. Confirmation at my church growing up was tough, Memory work was a major part of it. Every student that was confirmed, walked away with a pretty good storehouse of God's word hid in their heart. But I also know many walked away and what they had has been taken away by time and sin.

And to him who does not have, even what he has will be taken way. If that can be applied to salvation, those are scary words. But yet how many do you know who had a good start but seemingly never finished the race. I know some in our Youth group back home who seemed to have lost what they had. They had a strong profession of faith. I know some from Bible School too. Two years of sitting under Godly teachers, fellowshipping with young men and women who loved the Lord. Some today have lost what they had, and one can ask, are they even saved.

Truly in God's economy the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Today if you do not grow in your faith and your love for Jesus Christ and what he did to save you from the consequences of your sin, if you do not grow, you are back sliding. There is no standing still. You're either climbing or sliding. If you use what God give, he gives more. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

Paul is in prison writing to the Philippian church. He is getting up in years, he has suffered more than I can even imagine. He has preached, he has taught, he has discipled many, he has started churches, he has testified before emperors, if anybody deserved a chance to just relax it was Paul. He is in prison for the Gospels sake, and from that prison probably chained to a Roman soldier he writes: Phil 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on , that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
NKJV

That thought puts me to shame. How about you? Where are my scars? Have I allowed the Gospel to even inconvenience me, not much? Take heed, consider what you hear, with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you, and if you don't use anything, even what you have will be taken away from you. The spiritually rich get richer, the spiritually poor get poorer.

The third parable is an addendum to the parable of the sower from last week. It gives us some additional insight into what happens with the good soil. Jesus said; "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how." Obviously the man doing the sowing in this parable is a man, a disciple, a preacher, a Christian sharing Christ with a neighbor, because he scatters the seed and then he is out of the equation. He goes about his business and has nothing to do with the crop until harvest. So this cannot be Jesus or God because they cause the growth of a seed and they are the agent of salvation.

So in this parable we see mans part, sowing the seed, sowing the seed, sowing the seed, that's all we can do. And as in the parable of the four soils, we sow liberally; we don't discriminate, because we can't tell all the time what the condition of the soil is. We need to scatter the seed wide and broad, and leave the results to God; that's what this parable is about. Salvation is a sovereign act of God. Were just a delivery boy for the seed and the seed is the word of God.

Rom 10:14-17How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
"How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!"
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "LORD, who has believed our report?" 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. NKJV

The seed is a great picture of regeneration. The seed is dead. Test it with every scientific contraption you can find, the seed is dead. But if you take that seed and bury it in soil and dampen it, something happens, it starts to decay, but the chemical reaction in the decay sparks life in the seed and it starts to grow. We were once dead in our trespasses and sins. Paul said I was alive once with out the law, but then the law came and I died. Paul used to think he was a good person, just like so many today. But Jesus did not come to save good people, he came to save sinners. So we need to die to any shred of hope with in us that our goodness can save us. We need to agree with God that we are wretched and when we do that then God can regenerate us, he can birth us again. Paul once thought he was alive; it was only when the law came and killed him, that he could be saved.

There has been a reformation of sorts lately when it comes to evangelism, and it involves using the law to show people that they are sinners. When I read the old Lutheran pastors and evangelists of the 40' and 50' that's how they did it, it was law first, and after they understood they were sinners then they would share the gospel, and what a harvest they had in those days. But the church as a whole has abandoned that to our demise. It's encouraging to see it coming back.

Vs 28 "For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head." Again it seems to indicate that this is all done without mans assistance. I'm not quite sure how to look at this. It might be one of those instances where trying to read too much into it beyond the main point, that being God's sovereignty in salvation, to try to read more into it might be a problem. Having said that, let me offer two suggestions. The first would be; this is referring to sanctification, the process of growth in our Christian walk. While it is aided by preachers, teachers, parents, and the fellowship of the saints, any real growth is still an act of God. The problem with that is verse 29 with the sickle and the harvest, because that would then need to be the end, death, judgment so the harvester would have to be Jesus rather than man, which conflicts with the first part of the parable. See this is kind of the sticky mess you get into trying to get theology out of every detail of a parable.

Let me suggest one other possibility. As Lutherans, at least Lutheran Pietist's we believe in an order of salvation. Some one may start out with just head knowledge, a dead faith, but God acts on the seed and there is an awakening, it's not salvation yet, but the person becomes aware of their sin, and reflects on the cross and what it all means. They grow in there awareness of there sinful state before God and learn the fear of the Lord, and finally they understand what Christ did for them so they wouldn't have to go to hell and in faith they cast themselves on Jesus for salvation. It's all a sovereign work of God. Sometimes it's hidden, but sometimes like the wheat stock it's observable and can be encouraged till it come to salvation, the harvest. The harvest is the farmers reward. 1 Thess 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy. NKJV Paul's joy and reward were those he was instrumental in bringing to Christ.

Luke 10:2 Jesus says; "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." People are more ready to hear than we sometimes give them credit for. We never know until we go out into the field, maybe with one person, it's just sowing a seed. Who knows the next person you talk to, the plant may be ripe for harvest, and all heaven will rejoice along with you when you bring that seed to harvest.

The fourth parable is similar to this last one. It just expands it to the church. 30 Then He said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade."

Some people get hung up on Jesus' statement that the Mustard seed is the smallest seed on earth, because it's not. So they say this is an error in the Bible. But it is a very small seed, and it was the smallest seed that was purposely sown as a crop, and of all the cultivated crops in that day it grew to be the largest plant. Of all the crops planted in that fashion, the smallest seed produced the largest shrub. Not a problem as far as I'm concerned.

This last parable is the mystery of the church, how it will grow from the smallest of seeds, a small weak insignificant group of followers to a movement that will change the course of history. Again this is the work of our sovereign God. It grows by His power and His might.

In the last section of our text today it says; "33 And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. 34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples." The bible is a parable to the unbeliever. It's a closed book. Paul says in 1 Cor 2:14 "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." NKJV

In our day there are all kinds of religious people, many who will call themselves Christian, who will say that Jesus is not the only way to the Father, that the Bible is just a book written by man, that Jesus never claimed to be God. That a loving God won't send anyone to hell. The bible is a closed book to them. It is all one giant parable they can't understand.

But for the Christian it is different, for the Christian, Jesus comes and He explains all things to the disciples. Without the help of the Holy Spirit we would be just as blind as the world. In John 14: 26 Jesus says; But the Helper, the Holy Spirit , whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. NKJV Our ability to understand scripture is an act of a sovereign God.

We have four short parables, what do we learn? First God desires to reveal himself to you. If God seems distant, it's probably you that have moved. God is not hiding from you, if anyone is hiding, it is you. God seeks to reveal him self to us, do we seek to find Him?

Second main lesson. There is no standing still in the kingdom of God, you are either getting richer or you are getting poorer. We need to examine ourselves and see if we are climbing upward or sliding down.

Third lesson. Salvation is of God. Salvation is of the Lord and he shares it with no one. All we can do is plant the seed, and it's not even our seed. It's God's seed, its God word. He calls us to be faithful sowers, that's all we can do. The rest is up to Him. But the question is, are we scattering the seed?

Fourth lesson: The church also is a work of God. It is not for us to try to come up with a better way to do church. Men build big mega churches with attendance in the 10's of thousands, but my fear is that all they are is a man's church, rather than God's church. It's better to be twenty and have it be God's church, than to be 25,000 and just be a work of the flesh. But just because we are few doesn't mean we shouldn't examine what were doing here, and make sure we are God's church. We need to be about our King's business.

Let's pray.

01/18/09 The Seed and the Soil (Mark 4:1-20)

2009-01-18T16:38:00.000-08:00

The Seed and the Soil
Jesus in verse 9 of our text says "He that hath ears, let him hear." Jesus calls attention to His words. His words are not the words of a mere mortal, but the words of the living God. The Bible is under attack today like never before. Theologians and pastors in our day no longer even give lip service to the Bible. They openly and unashamedly say "I know that is what it says, but I disagree with it. After all it was just written by men and we know so much more today than they did." How sad, how sad that our Lutheran Theologians are amongst the biggest offenders. Luther said, "Upon a single word, yea upon a single letter, more depends than on all creation."

I call attention this morning to the scriptures, to the words of Jesus, and say, "he that hath ears to hear, let him hear" what the Spirit says to the Church, to Hauge Lutheran Church.

Mark 4:1-20
And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. 2 Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:
3 "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
9 And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11 And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that
'Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.'"
13 And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
NKJV

This is probably one of the best known parables. It is repeated in all three of the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus seems to indicate that this is the most important parable when he says in verse 13 "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all parables." Jesus says this parable holds the key to understanding all parables. That's quite a statement, and because it was so important Jesus explains it in detail to his disciples.

The imagery was something that the disciples would have been familiar with. Not simply because they lived in an agricultural region and would see the sowers doing this every season. It was familiar because both the Jewish culture and the gentile culture used this imagery. But it had a different twist. The sowers were the Rabbis in Israel and the university teachers in Egypt and Rome. And the soils were the young skulls of mush that sat at their feet and gained knowledge. So the growth and fruit of the soils was the ability to gain knowledge and to increase your influence and status through knowledge.

So it's easy to see why the disciples were confused by this parable, it had elements in it that were contrary to what they normally heard. The common imagery is that the sower, the rabbis, sow knowledge and their students absorb it and depending on your intelligence you bear a crop 10, 30, 50 fold depending on your ability.

Jesus' parable is totally different, there are four kinds of soil and three of them bear no fruit at all, that's what confused them. So they ask Jesus about the parable and Jesus starts by quoting Isaiah 6: 9. This was God's call on Isaiah to be a prophet. God told them: Isa 6:9-10
9 And He said, "Go, and tell this people:
'Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'
10 "Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed." NKJV

How can God harden people's hearts, and then send them to hell. You have to remember that for hundreds of years God had been sending Israel prophet after prophet warning and begging Israel to repent and return to the Lord. The people didn't want to hear, the people didn't want to see, the people didn't want to understand, they wanted to be left alone to do what their hearts desired and eventually God let them have what they wanted and they died and went To hell.

Jesus in our text today applies the same scripture to Israel again. Israel knew about Jesus, most of the country had heard him preach and teach, all had heard about the miracles. Yes the people had itching ears, they wanted life enhancement, they wanted their best life now, they wanted someone who would lead a revolt on Rome and over throw it's oppression. What they wanted appealed to their national pride, their self righteousness.

But God rejects the proud and draws near to the humble. Jesus came preaching a Gospel of repentance and faith, and the people were shutting out and ignoring that message. So even in Jesus day, it's not that they couldn't hear and understand and be saved, it's that they didn't want to hear, they didn't want to see, and they didn't want to believe, and the Holy Spirit being a gentleman backs off, and no one can get saved apart from the Holy Spirit. In essence God hardens there heart in that He no longer bothers them, their conscience is dulled, they do what they want, and then they go to hell.

So what do we find in this parable that is the key to unlocking the mystery of all parables. I believe that the thing that was so radically different in Jesus day about this parable is the same thing that is radical about the parable today. And that is that a majority of people are not saved. We are not even talking about the majority of the people in the world. We are not talking about the pagans in deepest Africa, or the remotest South American Rain forest, we are talking about people who have heard the Gospel preached. We are talking about people who are church members; we are talking about religious people.

The sower goes out and sows the seed, the seed is the word of God and the seed falls on the soil, and on one soil the seed never even germinates, on two soils it germinates and grows but then dies, only one kind of soil brings a harvest.

In past elections one of the rallying cries was "It's the economy stupid", well the rallying cry of the church needs to be, it's the word of God, stupid. And I know that if we use the word stupid, we will be accused of all kinds of scandalous things. But it is stupid to be a church and not preach the Word of God. It's stupid to go to a church where they do not preach the Word of God. Many churches preach creedalism, but not the Word of God, many preach sacramentalism, but not the Word of God, many preach part of the Word of God, but not all of the word of God.

I was visiting with one pastor of a liberal denomination once, the church he served was named to honor St Paul, and he made this statement, "We disagree with a lot of his teachings, but we like to name our churches after him." There is no seed being scattered there.

The seed is the Word of God. If the word of God is not preached in purity and truth, no one can be saved. You can't take candy corn and plant it in a field and get a crop. It's an imitation; it's not the real thing. You can't take sand and scatter it around the field and expect to get a harvest. You can't plant a field with thistle and expect to harvest wheat. You need to plant good seed.

We should understand that in Iowa. Pioneer spends millions of dollars in research every year trying to provide the best seed possible, to get the best producing most disease resistant seed possible.

The church should understand that principle. God has preserved for us the holy and pure seed of the word. We don't need to alter it, we don't need to improve it; if we do, we render it sterile. If we tamper with it, it is no longer the living word, but a dead word. Many have tried to remove the offense of the Gospel, to make it more acceptable to the world. You can't do that and still have good seed. If you remove the heart, or the germ of the seed, its dead it won't grow. If you remove the offense of the Gospel, you have removed the Gospels power to save.

What is it about the Gospel that offends people? It's two fold. The first point of offense is that in order to be saved, we need to admit that we are bad. We need to agree with God, that we deserve hell. That takes humility, and that is the rarest of human qualities. We need to agree with God's word that, no one is good, no not one. We need to agree that our sin is a wretched stench in God's nostrils and that He hates it. Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

People really resist the notion that they are bad and God, if He is just should throw them in hell. They think they are good, they proudly proclaim their own goodness. But God did not come to save the self-righteous; he did not come to save the good, he came to save sinners.

The second offense of the Gospel is the first commandment. "Thou shalt have no other God's before me." Jesus called it the greatest commandment and he summarized it this way. Matt 22:37-38 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment" .NKJV If you want to start an argument today and receive the wrath and scorn of people, walk into a crowd and proclaim Jesus as the only way to eternal life. Boy do people get angry at that idea.

The way Jesus used the seed is a departure from the norm. The Rabbis and the Roman and Greek Philosophers used the seed to represent knowledge. Jesus said the seed is the word of God. The Rabbis said the soil was their students, that all soils bore fruit, and the amount of fruit depended on the individuals ability to comprehend and learn.

Jesus' context is much broader, but he does limit this parable to those who hear the word of God. Jesus is talking about all the multitudes of people who are following him around, wanting to see miracles and to have there ears tickled, and we know 99% of them were bad soil because by the time he got to the cross, he only had around 20 followers. I would submit to you that Jesus' parables are in the context of the visible church, the multitude of people who profess faith. Every heart world wide by extension is soil and a potential recipient of the seed, but his emphasis in this parable is hearers.

Yes this parable does apply to the pagan who has a chance encounter with one who is sowing the word of God, perhaps street witnessing or preaching. The seed is cast at a venture with the hopes it might find good soil and take root. But primarily the context is the church, religious people, people who listen to and profess religion.

This is a key to all Jesus parables. It is in the context of religion, in the context of the church. The wheat and the tares, the tares are within the church. The good fish and the bad fish, they are all in the net together. The sheep and the goats, the goats thought they were sheep, they pretended to be sheep, they tried to act like sheep, but they were still goats. It's in the context of the church.

It is important especially in our day that we understand this. There was a highly publicized poll lately that stated that 40 percent of Evangelicals believe that people in other religions will make it to heaven, that Jesus is not the only way. That is a false statement. That is not true, the statement itself contradicts itself. By definition an evangelical is someone who believes that Jesus is thee only way to the Father. So 100% of evangelicals believe that Jesus is the only way. The 40% that said there are other paths to God, are not evangelicals, they are goats, they are not saved. I have read several responses to that poll and there has been much hand ringing over those numbers, but I don't think I've read a single response that has stated the obvious. That the 40 percent are lost, they are bad soil, they are goats, they are tares.

What is the summary of the four soils? We have the stony ground hearers, the seed just lies on the ground, it never has a chance to germinate and to grow and bear fruit. The birds come and snatch the seed away. Jesus says the bird is Satan. Satan comes and snatches the seed away before it has a chance to grow.

I know that it is dangerous to add to the parables of Jesus, but if corn was in abundance in Israel like it is in Iowa, Jesus might have added the squirrel to his parable. Have you observed what a squirrel does to a whole kernel of corn? We feed both the birds and the squirrels on our front porch, and yesterday when I went out to fill the feeders, I looked down on the floor of the porch and I saw all of these kernels of corn laying there, all with the sharp pointed part of the kernel missing, that's the part that contains the heart, or the germ of the corn. The squirrels will pull a full kernel of corn off an ear and take one bite, eat the heart of the kernel and toss the remaining 90% away. I can gather all of those seeds up and next summer, walk back to my garden and plant it in the best of the soil in my garden and not a single kernel will germinate, because the life has been removed from the seed.

That is what Satan is doing to day. Satan is not concerned at all with churches that are preaching an incomplete gospel. One with the heart removed, the one with the offense of the cross removed. The one with the offense of the depravity of man removed, the one with the exclusivity of Jesus removed. Those seeds won't germinate, it is impossible for those seeds to bear fruit, because it's impossible for those seeds to even germinate. It needs to be good seed and a complete seed.

The second soil, is soil that doesn't allow the roots to go deep. When persecution and affliction comes they wither and die. I have heard it said that the best growing season for corn involves a borderline drought shortly after germination because this forces the roots down deep. I believe it is a common experience for a Christian to go through periods of drought in your Christian experience, this forces you to send your roots deep into the word of God and it strengthens you. We see several examples of it in Scripture, Abraham, David, Peter.

But many when persecutions and affliction come, the spark of life in them dies. Rather than drive them towards God, it drives them away form God. They might have thought they were signing up for their best life now. That's part of the problem with the "God Loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." Because most people hear that and think, "Well that's wonderful, God loves me,-- well I love me too, that's just great, and God has a wonderful plan for my life, --well I have a wonderful plan for my life too". So they will come to the Saviour with the wrong motive thinking He is just going to rubber stamp their wonderful plan. Then when the trials, tribulation and persecutions that the Bible promises comes their way, they say, "This is not what I signed up for" and they leave the church, John in his first epistle says "they left us, because they were never really of us."

The third soil seems to be good soil but it is full of weeds that chock out the seed. The cares of the world chock out what little life there might have been. Satan is only mentioned in the first soil, but he is involved in all three of them. He comes to steal, kill and destroy Jesus said.

The good soil receives the seed; the seed germinates, grows, sinks its roots down deep and produces a harvest. This is the true disciple in the church. The others are tares and goats.

But what do we do with the bad soil, is there no hope for them. The Prophet Hosea said this in 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. NKJV

The old evangelists of 50 and 100 years ago understood this; they used this imagery a lot. One of AW Tozer's best known sermons is "Breaking up Fallowed Ground". They would talk about having 2 and three week long meetings and they would first preach the Holiness of God and the righteousness of God and the justice of God and the sinfulness and depravity of man and they would in this fashion plow and plow and plow until people would cry out what must I do to be saved.

How is your heart this morning? Is it good soil, shallow soil, is it so full of weeds your about to die, or has your soil grown hard to where Satan can come and snatch the seed before you even leave this place. We error if we think this only applies outside these wall. It applies to all of us here today. We need to every day and every week plow the soil of our hearts to make sure we are ready to receive the good seed from the sower, which is Jesus.

We prepare the soil by meditating on who God is, His attributes, His holiness, His righteousness, His justice, His mercy and His longsuffering. We also need to meditate on who we are, by meditating on the Ten Commandments. Luther said the commandments are a mirror to show us who we are in truth. But God who is rich in mercy has made a way of escape, by sending His Son to take our place, that if we put our faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone, he forgives us our sins and makes us his child. That is the good seed, receive it and go bear fruit.
Amen

1/4/09 Resolutions

2009-01-04T16:22:00.000-08:00

Resolutions
2 Peter 3:10-13
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
NKJV

Charles Dickens' introduction to "A Tale of Two Cities" goes like this;
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way."

That's kind of how I approach 2009. There is a sense of excitement; there is a sense of foreboding. It could be a year in which we as Christians might start to get a taste of the persecution that many in the world are already experiencing. It will also be an exciting time, a time when hopefully the Gospel will ring stronger and clearer than it has for many a year.

It is a new year after all, a chance to start over fresh. The world sees that too and people make all kinds of New Years Resolutions, the only problem is that probably 95% of them are broken within a short time, because it is man's attempt at self improvement which seldom works. They are works of the flesh and your flesh always betrays you.

But yet as a Christian I cherish the opportunity to a fresh start. I find great comfort in Lam 3:22 "Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness."

It is a great comfort as a Christian, who is chief amongst sinners, to know that the mercies of the Lord are new every morning. That is God's declaration; His mercies are new every morning. It does not matter how today goes, how many times you feel you fail God, His mercies are new every morning. The same holds for the New Year. His mercies are new. If you are his child and you hate your sin and strive and desire to be free of it, His mercies are new.

It's a new year, it's time to look back on last year as well as look forward to the new year. We are reminded in this new year that we are one year closer to the day of our death, or the day of the Lord's return. We sadly said goodbye to one of our dear brothers in Christ this last year. Who will be the next? It could be anyone of us, from the oldest to the youngest; no one has a guarantee of their next breath.

We are a year closer to standing before Christ at the Judgment Seat.
2 Cor 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." NKJV That's part of the problem in the church; we don't understand the terror of the Lord. Most have never come to grips with the fact that "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Yes, we are year closer to standing before God, are we ready?

We are a year closer to the day that the Lord will say to us either, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" - Mt 25:34 Or "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" - Mt 25:41

Since we are one year closer to that day when our final destiny will be forever determined, let me use this opportunity to provoke your thinking as to how you have used this past year and to suggest some resolutions for the coming year

So lets do a short analysis of this past year. First of all, has our relationship with God and Christ improved? James 4:7 and 8 say "Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." That's quit a proclamation. There is something to resist, it is the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are the tools of devil. You will never grow in your Christian faith if you don't live a life of resistance. But resistance isn't enough. We turn away from sin we turn away from the devil, but that alone won't give us relief. We have to turn toward God. It's both. They go together. James says we have to resist the devil and he will flee from you, but we also have to draw near to God, and if we do draw near to God, He will draw near to us.

If you look back at this last year, how would you grade yourself? Have you made progress? It's important that you've made progress. Even if it's only been ½ of one percent growth, that's important. Because even that is a trophy of God's grace in your life, because without Him even that would be impossible.

I know this is old ground, but it's important to review and review often because our hearts are deceitful, and it doesn't take long for the enemy of our soul to get a foothold if we get lazy.

How does our relationship with God improve? How do we draw near to God? It's the same as a human relationship, it starts with listening. Are we listening to God?

A friend in Des Moines told me a story of a woman he knew years ago; who's greatest desire was to hear the audible voice of God. She had heard other testimonies about other people who heard God speak to them audibly and she wanted to experience that to. It became an all consuming passion and she even became bitter at God, for speaking to others but not to her. After a while she started hearing voices, she thought it was God, but the voice wasn't from God, soon she was always hearing voices, surely demonic voices, and it drove her insane.

Let me give you some advice. If you want to hear the audible voice of God, hand your Bible to another Christian and ask them to read to you out loud, or get a set of the Bible on cassette or CD and hear the Word of the Lord.

I was visiting with friends and relatives on Christmas Eve, I had come from the service at Zion Lutheran in town and she asked me which church I had ate and I told her, and she asked which organization they belong to and I said the ELCA. She asked, "Are they arguing about homosexuality too?" I told her that there was no argument. I probably missed a golden opportunity to witness to her, but I really didn't feel like getting into that divisive discussion on Christmas Eve.

But what I told her was truth. There really is no argument about homosexuality. The argument is "Hath God said?" Is there a God and has he given us a sure word of prophecy, a sure revelation of His character and His will? Is the Bible the word of God, or is it the words of man. Is God big enough to communicate His will to us and then to preserve it for 4000 years? That's where the argument is. If the Bible is the Word of God, there is no argument, for the Bible speaks with clarity. If the Bible is not the word of God, then everything is up for argument and every man does what is right in his own eyes.

The Bible is the Word of God, when you read it God is communicating truth to you. Truth about who He is and truth about who you are. If you want God to draw near to you, you must draw near to him by spending time in his word. Do you have a time set aside every day to spend some time in God's word? If you don't you probably have not grown this last year.

The second part of a relationship is you speaking, telling someone you're hopes, your dreams, your joys and your fears. Do you spend some time in prayer every day? As we read our Bible we should pray, so there is a two way conversation.

So let me ask the question, has your degree of prayerfulness increased or decreased this past year?

Let me ask another question, has your relationship with others improved this last year? 1 Thess 4:9-12 says; "But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing."
NKJV

There is a two fold call in this scripture, first concerning brotherly love. Are you a child of God, then I don't have to teach you about love for the brethren, because it is one of the very evidences that you are born again. If you are saved, God teaches you love for the brethren, for other Christians.

Also we are admonished to walk properly towards those who are out side, to the unbelievers. Now the unbelieving world will never love us, because they hate our Father in heaven. But we need to walk humbly not arrogantly, and we need to make sure (Rom 2:23-24) that "the name of God is (not) blasphemed among the Gentiles because of us." NKJV

The questions I am raising can be summarized in this way: "Another year has gone by; have we made good use of the time the Lord has given us, or have we wasted it?"

It is likely that all of us in some degree have not made good use of the past year. But at this point, let's apply the words of Paul: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Phil 3:13-14

With this attitude of pressing forward, let me suggest the following resolutions for the year ahead. Let us resolve to draw near to God and Christ. Let's begin by having a daily reading program of God's life giving word. Paul said, in Rom 15:4 "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." NKJV Some people say they are New Testament believers, or Red Letter Christians, Scriptures say all is Inspired by God and profitable for the Christian.

We need to have a steady diet of both Old and New Testament. If you find the Old Testament difficult to understand get yourself a good study Bible to help you understand what you are reading.

I would also suggest that you have a plan to read all the way through scripture. There are many reading plans you can find on line, in Christian bookstores, even Bibles that are laid out specifically so that you can read the Bible through in a year. I have found for myself that a one year reading plan becomes more of a burden than a joy. So I usually do a two year reading plan. It's usually only a couple chapters a day and even if you miss a day then it's easy to catch up and remain on schedule.

So let us resolve to be in the Word of God every day.

Let us also resolve to spend time every day in prayer. Heb 4:15-16 says;
"15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." NKJV Prayer connects us to the heart of God.

Don't think that 5 minutes in the morning or five minutes in the evening are enough. If you are only spending five minutes in conversation with your husband or wife every day your marriage is probably dyeing. We need to be diligent in prayer. We need to be like Daniel, in Dan 6:10it says "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days." NKJV

Most of us eat three times a day for the strengthening of our physical bodies, would prayer for our spiritual nourishment be too much to offer to God. Come up with something that happens every day and try to get in the habit of associating that daily event with a time of prayer. We are creatures of habit; we get into a routine that is very predictable. Pick out three things you do everyday and add prayer to that routine.

Years ago when I worked construction I decided to pray every time I heard someone swear or blaspheme God. Talk about praying without ceasing.

Let us resolve this year to become closer to the brethren. Not just in this church, but all the brethren. Enlarge your circle of fellowship. Go to Mission camp; go to Hauge Innermission meetings, Dr. Barnhart will be having a conference in Garden City in March, go and meet your brothers and sister there, connect with other Christians. They are our brothers and sisters; we will be with them for all eternity, let's start getting to know them now.

Also there are wounds within this small body of believers, we must heal them, we can't let Satan have that foothold, he will use it to defeat us and our testimony. We have been given a ministry of reconciliation, we need to start here at home.

We also need to resolve to reach out to all the unbelievers around us. We need to walk humbly and honestly before them. We need to show and do acts of kindness for them; we need to speak the truth in love. Some where along the line they have to be told that they will face God one day in judgment.

The late Keith Green wrote a song called "Asleep in the light" describing the condition of today's church. Here are some of the words;

Do you see, do you see
All the people sinking down
Don't you care, don't you care
Are you gonna let them drown

How can you be so numb
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes
And pretend the job's done

"Oh bless me Lord, bless me Lord"
You know it's all I ever hear
No one aches, no one hurts
No one even sheds one tear

But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds
And He cares for your needs
And you just lay back
And keep soaking it in,
Can't you see it's such sin.

Open up open up
And give yourself away
You see the need,
you hear the cries
So how can you delay

God's calling and you're the one
But like Jonah you run
He's told you to speak
But you keep holding it in,
Can't you see it's such sin

Time is a precious commodity, given to us by God. James 4 13 asks the question "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." Since this is the case we need to as Eph 5:15 tells us "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil." That is the world we live in, The world is evil and we need to be careful.

So let us make three resolutions for the new year:
Draw near to God through Reading your Bible and Prayer.

Draw near to the brethren by reconciliation and by expanding your circle of fellowship.

Draw near to the lost by compassionate service, and that includes telling them the truth about there eternal destiny if they reject Christ.

Happy New Year. Go serve your King.

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper (I) For whom is the Lord's Supper intended? We believe and confess that our Savior Jesus Christ has ordained and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Supper to nourish and sustain those who are already born again and ingrafted into his family: his church. Who are those who have been "born again"? Those who are born again have two lives in them. The one is physical and temporal— we have it from the moment of our first birth, and it is common to all. The other is spiritual and heavenly, and is given us in our second birth; it comes through the Word of the gospel in the communion of the body of Christ; and this life is common to God's elect only. What is God's aim for us in the Lord's Supper? To maintain the spiritual and heavenly life that belongs to believers he has sent a living bread that came down from heaven: namely Jesus Christ; who nourishes and maintains the spiritual life of believers when eaten— that is, when appropriated and received spiritually by faith. —Belgic Confession, article 35 The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper (II) Does the Lord's Supper truly nourish us? Yes, just as truly as we take and hold the sacraments in our hands and eat and drink it in our mouths, by which our life is then sustained, so truly we receive into our souls, for our spiritual life, the true body and true blood of Christ, our only Savior. We receive these by faith, which is the hand and mouth of our souls. This banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ communicates himself to us with all his benefits. How should we approach the Lord's Table? With humility and reverence we receive the holy sacrament in the gathering of God's people, as we engage together, with thanksgiving, in a holy remembrance of the death of Christ our Savior, and as we thus confess our faith and Christian religion. Therefore, none should come to this table without examining themselves carefully, lest "by eating this bread and drinking this cup they eat and drink to their own judgment."

For Those Who Intend to Go to the Sacrament
According to 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.” In preparing yourself for the Lord’s Supper please ask and answer yourself the following questions from Luther’s Small Catechism:
1. Do you believe that you are a sinner? Yes, I believe it; I am a sinner.
2. How do you know this? From the 10 Commandments which I have not kept.
3. Are you sorry for your sins? Yes, I am sorry that I have sinned against God.
4. What have you deserved of God by your sins?His wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation.
5. Do you also hope to be saved? Yes, such is my hope.
6. In whom, then, do you trust? In my dear Lord Jesus Christ.
7. Who is Christ? The Son of God, true God and man.
8. How many Gods are there? Only one; but there are three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
9. What, then, has Christ done for you that you trust in Him?He died for me and shed His blood for me on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.
10. Did the Father also die for you?He did not; for the Father is God only, the Holy Ghost likewise; but the Son is true God and true man; He died for me and shed His blood for me.
11. How do you know this?From the holy Gospel and from the words of the Sacrament; and by His body and blood given me as a pledge, in the Sacrament
12. How do those words read?Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup when He had supped, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins. This do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.
13. Do you believe the true body and blood of Christ are in the Sacrament? Yes, I believe it.
14. What induces you to believe this? The word of Christ, Take, eat, this is My body; Drink ye all of it, this is My blood.
15. What ought we to do when we eat His body and drink His blood?We ought to remember and proclaim His death and the shedding of His blood, as He taught us: This do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.
16. Why ought we to remember and proclaim His death?That we may learn to believe that no creature could make satisfaction for our sins but Christ, true God and man; and that we may learn to look with terror at our sins, and to regard them as great indeed, and to find joy and comfort in Him alone, and thus be saved through such faith.
17. What was it that moved Him to die and make satisfaction for your sins?His great love to His Father and to me and other sinners, as it is written in John 14; Rom. 5; Gal. 2; Eph. 5.
18. Finally, why do you wish to go to the Sacrament?That I may learn to believe that Christ died for my sin out of great love, as before said; and that I may also learn of Him to love God and my neighbor.
19. What should admonish and incite a Christian to receive the Sacrament frequently?In respect to God, both the command and the promise of Christ the Lord should move him, and in respect to himself, the trouble that lies heavy on him, on account of which such command, encouragement, and promise are given.
20. But what shall a person do if he be not sensible of such trouble and feel no hunger and or thirst for the Sacrament?To such a person no better advice can be given than that, in the first place, he put his hand into his bosom, and feel whether he still have flesh and blood, and that he by all means believe what the Scriptures say of it in Gal. 5 and Rom. 7. Secondly, that he look around to see whether he is still in the world, and keep in mind that there will be no lack of sin and trouble, as the Scriptures say in John 15 and 16; I John and 5. Thirdly, he will certainly have the devil all about him, who with his lying and murdering, day and night, will let him have no peace within or without, as the Scriptures picture him in John 8 and 16; I Peter 5; Ephesians 6; and 2 Timothy 2.

12/21/08 A Gospel Proclamation

2008-12-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

Matt 1:21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

A woman was Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of walking down row after row of toys and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the store elevator with her two children in hand. She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of the year, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every housewarming, taste all the holiday food and treats, making sure we don’t forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.Finally the elevator doors opened revealing a crowd in the car. She pushed her way in and dragged her two kids and all her bags of stuff in with her.As the doors closed she couldn’t take it anymore and blurted out, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up, and shot.”From the back of the car, a quiet calm voice responded, “Don’t worry, we’ve already crucified Him.”The rest of the trip down was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Before time began God had a plan to create a group of people by which He could demonstrate his love, and who would bring glory to His name. But sin entered the world and the people became a race of God haters and rebels who would sin like nobodies business. God is holy, righteous and just and he should punish them and justly give them eternal damnation. But he is also rich in mercy; he provided a sacrifice to pay, to atone for the sins of the world. And that sacrifice was none other than Jesus Christ Himself, the God man, born unto a woman, a virgin, to live under the law, to redeem those of us who are under the curse of the law . And He died on a cross taking the punishment of God Himself. Not from man, that was only a small part, it was God pouring out His wrath, can't explain how, God pouring out His wrath on His own son Jesus Christ on the cross. He died; He rose again three days latter, He ascended into heaven. And now he sits on a throne mediating a new covenant so that you sinner can be justified, so that you can be brought into a right relationship with the God who was angry with you, who will be appeased because of what Jesus did. But you must repent, you must agree with God that you have broken his laws, you have violated His commandments, you are not good, you have been naughty to the extreme, and you must repent, and you must put your trust in Jesus and Jesus Christ alone for your eternal salvation. That is the message of Christmas.

So hear the proclamation:
Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! All rebels, insurgents, dissidents, and
protesters against the King! Hear the royal decree! A great day of
reckoning is coming, a day of justice and vengeance. But now hear
this, all inhabitants of the King’s realm! Amnesty is herewith published
by the mercy of your Sovereign. A price has been paid. All debts
may be forgiven. All rebellion absolved. All dishonor pardoned.
None is excluded from this offer. Lay down the weapons of rebellion,
kneel in submission, receive the royal amnesty as a gift of imperial
love, swear allegiance to your sovereign, and rise a free and happy subject
of your King.

12-14-08 Holy Men of God Spoke

2008-12-14T14:17:00.000-08:00

12-14-08 Holy Men of God Spoke

2 Peter 1:19-21 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. NKJV

Twenty five percent of the Bible was prophetic at the time it was written. The Old Testament alone has over two thousand prophecies in it; all of them except the ones concerning the End times and Christ's return have been fulfilled. And they have been fulfilled with 100% accuracy.

In the Old Testament, they had a much higher standard than we do these days. You hear a lot of foolish men these days get in front of camera's and make predictions. In my youth Jean Dixon got a lot of attention for successfully predicting the assassination of John F Kennedy. But in biblical Israel she would have been taken to the edge of town and buried under a pile of rock because she was wrong as often as she was right, the same with Nostradamus. The biblical standard for a Prophet was 100 %.

The Bible is the only one of the so called Holy Books that has the evidence of fulfilled prophecy. The book of Mormon doesn't, the Koran doesn't, the Hindu's holy books doesn't, in all the writings of Buddha, Confucius or any other religious leaders, there are no examples of fulfilled prophecy. The Bible stands alone among all books as being the only one that has a 100 percent batting average for fulfilled prophecies. It's the only one that's even made an attempt.

In Isaiah 48:5 God says;
5 Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, 'My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.' NKJV

God said that this is how he would prove himself; he would tell us what was going to happen before it happened. Only God has done that. Sure some like Jean Dixon have gotten lucky from time to time. Just knowing the signs of the times and seeing the direction our culture is going. I could make some predictions going out one, five and ten years and probably be right 25 percent of the time, but that would not prove that I was a prophet. I would need to be 100% accurate in order to demonstrate that I was a true Prophet.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. NKJV

God means for prophecy to be part of the overwhelming proof of His existence and of His character. He invites our inspection. What he has given us is mind boggling if you approach it with an open mind.

Paul in the first chapter of Romans says this; (Rom 1:1-4) Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. NKJV

Jesus was promised by God Through the prophets. God wanted to make sure that when his Son showed up on planet Earth there would be enough evidence for us to recognize who He was.

This being the Christmas Season Let's look at some of the prophecies concerning his Birth. The very first promise was given in the Garden of Eden right after Adam and Eve sinned. God wanted Mankind to know right from the start that He would send humanity a savior.

In Genesis 3:15 God told Satan in the presence of Adam and Eve; "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
NKJV

In Hebrew writing the seed is always associated with the man; this is the only instance in scripture where it's associated with the woman. I will put enmity between your seed and her seed. So right away we have the prophecy of the virgin birth, going all the way back to Genesis 3. And of course Isaiah reiterates it in the beautiful passage in chapter 7 verse 14: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." NKJV

Now some will protest and claim that the Hebrew word used there means maiden and not virgin. They are right, that in the Hebrew language there is a different word that specifically and always means virgin, and that's not used here. But the word Isaiah was inspired to use did refer to a young unmarried woman. It spoke more of age and marital status, but naturally by implication it meant virgin. Many Rabbinical writers interpreted it that way, as a matter of fact when they translated the Old Testament into Greek at about 250 BC the word they used in Isaiah 7:14 specifically meant Virgin.

This is a foundational doctrine and truth that salvation rests on. It has to do with who Jesus was. He was the son of Mary, he was fully man. But he was also the son of God, He was fully God. I have been told that some of the professors at Luther seminary in St. Paul don't accept the virgin birth as fact. No wonder the ELCA is heading down the road they are taking. The virgin birth is not an optional doctrine. It's foundational, without it, Jesus is not God and we are all still lost in our sins.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Immanuel means, "God with us". How could it be any plainer? And we read of the wonderful fulfillment in Matthew 1:18-21 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." NKJV

Psalm 2:7 prophecies that the Messiah would be God's son. "I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.' NKJV

God's own testimony at both Jesus' baptism and His transfiguration was this; (Matt 3:17) "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

His lineage was prophesied. In Genesis 22:18 He was to be the son of Abraham. God said; "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

In Num 24:17 God says, "A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel." He is to be the son of Jacob.

Isaiah says in chapter 11:1; There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. NKJV The messiah was to be a descendent of Jesse.

In Jeremiah 23:5 God says; "Behold, the days are coming, That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth." The Messiah was to be a descendent of David.

A Descendent of Abraham, Jacob, Jesse and David and when we read the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke we find that he fulfilled all these prophecies. He has the proper credentials.

The city of His birth was prophesied 400 years in the future by Micah in chapter 5 verse four. Talk about laying it all out on the line. Tens of thousands of cities and villages in the world and all eliminated but one. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting." NKJV Yes Bethlehem was little, at the time of Jesus' birth the population was only about a thousand people. Four hundred years earlier when the prophecy was given it would have been barely a blip on the map. But yet God chose Bethlehem to be the birth place of His son and he proclaimed it to be so 400 years earlier.

Also in Micah's prophecy we see that this Ruler in Israel was from everlasting. He wasn't created. He's not Michael the arch angel, or some other created demi-god. No He is from eternity, the Son, eternal with the father.

In Psalms 72:10-11 we read; "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
will bring presents; The kings of Sheba and Seba Will offer gifts. 11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; All nations shall serve Him." NKJV We see the fulfillment in Matt 2:1 "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.'" NKJV

In Jeremiah 31:15 it says; "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more." NKJV

We see the fulfillment of this again in Matt 2:16-17 "Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men."

So Jesus fulfilled a few prophecies, what does that mean for us? What we need to know though is that Jesus fulfilled more than just a few prophecies. These are just a few of the prophecies concerning his birth. Jesus fulfilled over three hundred prophecies all together in his earthly life. The Mathematical possibility of that happening is impossible to compute.

Professor Peter Stoner used the science of probability and tested eight prophecies that would have been totally out of Human control. The Prophecies of the place of His birth, the time of His birth, the manor of His birth, His betrayal, the manner of His death, the peoples reaction to His trial and death, the piercing of His hands and feet and His burial. Those eight specific prophecies.

The probability of these eight prophecies being fulfilled by any one individual is 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That is a 10 followed by 17 zero's. That would be the same chance as covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep, taking one silver dollar, painting it red, hiding it in the state and stirring all the silvers dollars up, then blindfolding a man, saying he can start anywhere on the border he wants, he can walk in as far as he wants, but at some point he will bend down and pick up one silver dollar. The chance that he would pick up the red silver dollar would be one in 10 to the 17th power.

Now that's just eight of the prophecies. Dr Stoner also considered 48 of the best known prophecies and said the possibility that all 48 of those prophecies could be fulfilled in one man was one in 10 to the 157th power. That is 10 with 157 zero's behind it.

Statisticians will say that anything one in 10 to the 50th power or greater is a statistical impossibility. It can't happen. So the probability that 48 of the prophecies could be fulfilled in Jesus is 10 to the 157th power, that is three times the cut off for something having any chance at all of happening. That's just 48 prophecies. There are over three hundred prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in His life. I'm not even sure statist ions could come up with a number that big. But it doesn't matter because even 48 prophecies is an impossibility aside from the power of God.

Jesus is who he claimed to be, Jesus is who the Scriptures claims Him to be. The Bible is verifiably true in all that it has prophesied. Over two thousand Old Testament Prophecies and every one of them fulfilled one Hundred percent accurately. The only ones left to be fulfilled are the prophecies concerning His second coming. When God's batting average is 1000, can there be any doubt about the remaining prophecies? Only a fool would think so, and in the day in which we live, there are a lot of fools.

"Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." Do we realize what we have in our hands? The word of God, The words of life, the words of eternity, that's what we have. When we open our Bibles we don't open it like a newspaper. We don't open it like a text book. We don't open it like our favorite novel. No it's the word of God. We open it expecting to hear from God.

I liked a lot of what George Bush has done. For one he kept us safe. On the Eve of September 11th I was sure that it was just the beginning. I would have never imagined that seven years later there would not have been another attack. There is also much that George Bush has done that I don't like. Anymore I just cringe when they start asking him religious questions.

I think just this last week he was on some late night talk show and in the course of the questions he said such things as evolution is compatible with the Bible, that all religions worship the same God, and he said that he doesn't believe the Bible should be taken literally.

I'm not sure why that always comes up. It's not an educated thing to say. Not when 2000 prophecies are fulfilled literally. Not when there has never been a historical fact stated in the bible that has been proven wrong. The bible was completed about 1500 years before the science of archeology was even invented, but yet in all of the archeological sites around Israel and the Middle East, and they number in the 10's of thousands, everything that has been dug up has proven what the bible stated thousands of years earlier. Not one new fact has been discovered that has contradicted what the Bible had stated. But yet we are told, "You can't take it literally".

Science over the millennia has had to correct its self over and over again. What one generation used to believe was proved to be in error by the next generation. But again thousands of years of science has never proven a single error stated in the Bible.

2500 years ago science said there were around 1100 stars; Jeremiah said the stars cannot be counted by man. Jer 33:22 "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant.'" With the Hubble telescope we know how true Jeremiah was, it's mind blowing to see some of those images and to realize that even with that telescope we have just scratched the surface.

But yet we know that God knows the exact count. Ps 147:4-5
"He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite."
Just think about that, the magnitude and greatness of our God. Wow!

We are often times accused of being flat earthers. Well it wasn't religion that came up with that idea, that was science. They couldn't envision a round planet just hanging in space, so they had all kinds of idea's like a flat disc sitting on top of a tortoise. But yet Job probably 4000 years ago wrote;
Job 26:7 "He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing."

And Isaiah added this to the mix when he wrote; Isa 40:22 "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in." NKJV So thousands of years ago we have scientific truth stated in the Bible that really wasn't confirmed by science until the time of Christopher Columbus.

But yet they try to tell us that you can't take the Bible literally, and they try to accuse us of having blind faith. No, it's the opposite; it's an educated and intelligent faith. All the evidence is on our side, we have no need to apologize for our faith.

When the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth." You can believe it. Everything else God has told us is true, why would he lie to us about something like that. When the Bible says, "I am the way, the truth and the life,' Why would we not believe him and put our hope and trust in Him and Him alone. When the Bible tells us that there is a heaven, and that it is wonderful beyond our comprehension, why would we not believe it? When the Bible tells us there is a hell, and describes it as a lake of fire, a bottomless pit, a place where there will be weeping and waling and gnashing of teeth, why would we not believe it, and then go out and warn people.

When Jesus says "I am coming again," why would we doubt him and make sure we are ready at all times to meet Him in the air. The evidence is on the side of the Bible. We can believe it from "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" To "He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" We can believe it!

Because holy men of God spoke; 2 Peter 1:19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. NASU

Amen

12-07-2008 Jesus' Kinfold (Mark 3:19b-35)

2008-12-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

Jesus' Kinfolk
Mark 3:19b-35
And they went into a house.
20Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and, "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."
23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: "How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27 No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

28 "Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" — 30 because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."
31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."

33 But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?" 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother." NKJV

A few weeks ago Jean in Lancaster, England posted this entry on her internet Blog page about her four year old daughter.

"As usual first thing when she woke up today she said, "I am going to be a good girl today mummy," and I nodded and said, "OK." She was quiet for a while as if in deep thought then she said, "But mummy, everyday I try and I want to be a good girl, but I can't do it. I can't be a good girl." I didn't know what to say to her at this point so I asked her why she could not do it. "Because there is only one person who can ever help me to be good," she said.So not knowing where this was going and a little confused by what my daughter was saying, I asked her who it is who would help her to be a good girl, thinking maybe she was going to say me, she said - Jesus. Yes my four year old daughter told me that the only person who would ever help her to be a good girl was Jesus Christ, because she could not do it on her own. I have never told her this. I would have thought this is too deep for a four year old to understand. That she was a sinner; she could not control her sinful nature. She wanted to be good but she could not, instead she did things that where wrong no matter how she tried to be good. Her theology is far deeper than that of many preachers today. I mean she gets it. It is only by the finished work of Christ on the cross that we can be delivered from sin.

When she said that, all I said to her was that she was right. I did not say anything more as I was in shock and I did not want to ruin what the Lord was doing in her heart. I am not saying she got saved, she is only four. But one thing I know God is definitely working in my little girl's life. It encouraged me to pray for her even more. She is a wretched little girl, who knows she is a wretched sinner who needs only a good Saviour to help her. Glory belongs to God!"

That is exactly what every Christian parent should be praying for! But what does this sound like to unbelievers? The world sees no need for a savior. Man is not seen as inherently evil, so any talk of original sin is foolish. Jean's post generated ridicule. She is mocked. She is attacked by those who love darkness over the light. Here are just a few responses to her post;

"I'll say this, and I won't be the last. This IS child abuse. I hope one day your little girl realizes she is a human being, deserving of love and respect, and overcomes your attempts to make her feel worthless. I hope someone in your area has the good sense to forward this to social services."

"You are a brainwashed religious lunatic who shouldn't be allowed to look after a dog, let alone a human child. I am both outraged at you and infinitely sad for the little girl who is at the mercy of your wretched, stinking, evil religion."

"This is the most flagrantly chilling admission of child abuse that I have ever read. A sick, twisted woman passing that concept onto an impressionable child. This is disgusting. Someone contact social services, that child needs a loving parent.""Child Protection Services has been notified of this blog. I am utterly horrified at your misconduct towards your daughter, and I feel nothing but contempt for you and your ilk!"

Representatives from Child Protection Services have paid Jean a visit. The possibility is out there that her children could be taken away.

Luke 6:22 Jesus said," Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets." NKJV

If you follow Jesus with all your heart, soul and strength the world will despise you, even some in your family will think you have gone crazy. That seems to be what is pictured in our text today.

It says Jesus went back to a house, probably back to Peter's house. That seems to have been kind of a center for ministry. Jesus went to Peter's house and again like so many other times the multitudes of people come. And it says that Jesus was so busy ministering to people that they could not even take a break and eat. That's pretty fanatical, that's crazy, to be so obsessed with preaching the Gospel and healing people and forgiving people of their sins, that you don't properly care for yourself by eating. That's not normal, there has got to be something wrong with them. Somebody better go tell his family what he's doing, maybe they can come and either talk some sense into him, or do some kind of intervention before he hurts himself or somebody else.

That's apparently what's going on here. I'm guessing the scribes, probably trying to get rid of Jesus, or at least to shut him up, went to Jesus' family and told them that he was acting like a mad man and somebody better come and get him before he gets hurt.

Jesus' family shows up and tries to lay hold of him; this is the kind of language they would use for making an arrest. They were going to try to apprehend Him and force Him to go back home with them for His own good. They were told he was crazy.

The world thinks that Jean in England is crazy and abusive, when really she sounds like she has better theology that 90% of our pastors and seminarians. Actually it sounds like her four year old has better theology than 90% of our pastors and theologians.

What we need to remember is that the world hates God. That is becoming clearer and clearer all the time. Jesus said, if the world hates me, they will hate you too.

I try to get along with people. I, like you, want to be liked. But I think the line is being drawn in the sand and it will get harder and harder to be liked and to hold to Biblical truth. Friends, I don't have a crystal ball, I don't know the future, but we had better be ready, because the storm clouds seem to be gathering.

In our text today, I think the scribes are instigating this whole situation. They were probably the ones who faked concern for Jesus and went to His family, hoping that they would shut Him up.

The problem was that Jesus was performing miracles left and right. He was healing people of their diseases, he was delivering people from demon possession, He was teaching with authority. He was fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies that the scribes dealt with all the time and probably knew by heart. It was becoming so obvious to the people who Jesus was, that he was the promised Messiah of Israel. So they had a dilemma. Do they believe in Jesus too, and possibly loose all there status, standing and possibly even their Jobs, or do they lie and accuse and try to tear down.

We know what they did; they did a very evil thing. The first chapter of Romans paints such a true picture of the depravity of mankind. It describes these Scribes to a "T". Rom 1:21 says; "Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

In verse 23 Jesus is not intimidated by the scribes. It says, "He called them too himself" and He tells them a parable. The accusation is that Jesus and Satan are in League together. They are working together; the only problem is that Jesus has only been doing good, since when has Satan done anything good. Yes he does appear sometimes as an angel of light to deceive, it may have the temporary appearance of good, but ultimately it will destroy. Satan cannot do good or his kingdom will not stand.

Jesus sums up his parable this way. "No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder His goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house." This is a one sentence summary of Jesus' life and mission. Let me give you a translation. Jesus said, No one can enter Satan's realm and release the captives bound by demons and sin, unless one comes who is stronger, and is able to bind up Satan. Once the stronger one comes, that is Jesus, once Jesus come and proves himself stronger than Satan, then Satan's realm is plundered and all the captives are set free.

Since the Garden, Satan had pretty much free reign to do what he wanted. Yes God in His grace called a remnant in the Old Testament and by His grace He rescued them. But even they seemed pretty impotent when it came to Satan's power. I think that's why you always see such drastic reaction from the demons when they do encounter Jesus in the New Testament. Because they had gone thousands of years unchallenged, but now that has changed. Jesus is plundering Satan's realm.

The evidence was so overwhelming as to who Jesus was. Isa 61:1-3 says,
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;" Jesus was everything Isaiah had said he would be, and the scribes refused to believe in Him. Instead they sought to destroy Jesus

This is why Jesus gives them such a stinging rebuke. Probably one of the harshest in all scripture. The evidence of who Jesus was, was so powerful that they had to know who he was, that he was the anointed one of Israel, the Messiah. They had seen him fulfill the prophecies they were entrusted. They had to have known, they should have known. But they had so hardened there hearts, and loved their own power and prestige, that they were either blinded, or so hardened that they could not find repentance. It suggests a scary scenario. That through continual rebellion, and the resisting of the Holy Spirit and resisting what we know is true, that it is possible to arrive at a place where we can't be saved.

In Heb 12:17 Esau is pictured this way. It says of Esau that "He was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." It's possible to get so hard that it virtually becomes impossible to repent.

But really, are there people who know the truth about Jesus and refuse to come to him for repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Yes, I was such a one in my youth. The Holy Spirit through the preaching of the word convinced me of the truth of Jesus' claims, that I was wretched and that I needed a savior, but I resisted, for a number of years. Jesus and the Holy Spirit hounded me for 4-5 years before He finally saved me. But we need to remember that the doorway of grace is not open forever, the spirit will not strive with man forever, today is the day of salvation.

If something is repeated in scripture it is important. It's repeated for emphasis. And it's like the Richter scale used for earthquakes, it's an exponential expansion. Two on the Richter scale is not just twice as big as one; it's ten times as big. And three on the Richter scale is not just three times bigger than one it's 100 times greater. That's the sense of scripture as well. To say God is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, is a 10-1000-1,000,000 explosion. Each time it is repeated there is an exponential expansion. There is a phrase that is repeated in the book of Hebrews. "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." NKJV

This must be one of the greatest of all warnings; it is repeated three times within 20 verses in the book of Hebrews. It would seem that to hear God's voice and to ignore it, is to harden your heart. Jesus tells us it is possible to so harden our hearts that we are no longer reachable by the grace of God.

There is much agreement on this text, as to what Jesus meant by this. But what all seem to agree on is this, that if you are concerned that you might have committed the unpardonable sin you haven't. You wouldn't have that concern unless the Holy Spirit was still working in your life, which then is proof that you haven't committed the unpardonable sin.

We do not descide the day of our salvation. That's why it is so important to respond today if you hear his voice. For today is the day of salvation. We have no promise for the future.

At the end of our text this morning Jesus gives us an important theological key. We need to get this in order to understand everything Jesus taught.
What do I mean by that? Jesus asks the question, "Who are My mother and brothers?" Who's my family, who are my brethren? What's his answer? He says, "whoever does the will of God is my brother". Therefore when Jesus says "Whoever does it to the Least of these My brethren, does it onto me." He's not talking about the poor and needy of the world, he's not talking about aids sufferers; he's not telling us we need universal health insurance. He's talking about believers; he's talking about the church.

Whoever does it to the least of these my brethren, those who do the will of God, those who are Christians, do it onto me. The early church understood this, and the world saw it. The world said; see how they love each other. The world didn't say see how they love us. No it was the love for their fellow Christians that impressed the world. We've lost that in our prosperity, we have become to self sufficient and independent, therefore the church is not the witness to the world that it should be.

Yes we are to care and love those who are in the world, but our first priority is to love the brethren. First John tells us one of the evidences that we are truly saved is that we love the brethren.

Do you love the brethren? Now I know that some of you are family, and that can get to be a disadvantage. Having grown up together you can have baggage that goes way back to childhood possibly. You can't use that as a copout. Blood may be thicker than water, but the Spirit trumps even blood. You are commanded by Jesus to love and care for the brethren, other Christians, and if you Love Him you will keep His commandments.

In closing, Matt 25:37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, (Christians) you did it to Me.' NKJV
This is not about feeding the poor; it's about us loving each other.
Amen