The Haugean

The Old Paths (Jer 6:16)

2012-12-31T18:16:00.000-08:00

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

2012-12-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

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/

Do you not say?

2012-01-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

John 4:35 “Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” While the harvest is growing, it is green, but when it is mature it starts to die and dry out and as it dries it turns golden and especially with wheat and barley, the heads with their beards turn kind of an off white color when it is fully mature.

In this specific instance Jesus is probably speaking of the Samaritans that are coming out to see him and are ready to believe in Him. Jesus had spoken just a few hours before this to a Samaritan woman and fruit was produced. She believed. Now she had the whole village coming out to see Jesus and a great revival would happen, only a few hours after the seed was planted.

The Holy Spirit is not limited by any natural or even spiritual law. As pietistic Lutherans we sometimes speak of the order of salvation. There is an awakening through the word and sacraments, the soul comes under conviction of sin and flees to the cross and is saved. For me that process took 4-5 years. Maybe for you it took less time. For some it can happen in a matter of minutes. I heard one guy give his testimony once where he said he was witnessed to seven different people over ten years, the seven sowers were not in vain, He finally came to a point in His life where He believed. I heard another testimony of a guy who was a rebel and angry at God and he was one minute racing down a road literally shouting at God at the top of His lungs and shaking his fist at the heavens, the next thing He knew he was prostrate in the ditch confessing his sins and praising a God who could save even him.

Do you not say, we are far from revival? Do you not say, no one gets saved anymore? Do you not say, the church seems to be ineffective? The Holy Spirit is not hindered. You and I may be hindered, but the Holy Spirit is not hindered. Do you not say, yes I witness, but it has no affect? Do you not say? ... Yes we say a lot of things. Don’t make excuses. Don’t say, we won’t have revival in my life time.

I’m probably the greatest offender. O, I reminisce about the small revival that took place in Hendrum amongst the youth. But it was so long ago, those days are gone, they will never happen again. Or I look at the Lutheran church of fifty to a hundred years ago and read about the revivals that seemed to spring up some where every few years and think in my mind those days were the good old days they will never happen again.

I think too many Christians look at the current apostasy and think that a revival would be impossible. Is the church becoming more and more apostate? Yes! Does that in any way hinder the Spirit of God in saving sinners and starting a revival? No! As a matter of fact, these are usually the very conditions where God show His might arm to save and revivals are born. “Lift up your eyes and look to the fields, for they are already white unto harvest.” That’s the thing we need to keep in mind. The Holy Spirit is working in our world today. He is preparing hearts and minds to hear the message of forgiveness of sins and salvation in the cross of Christ.

Another thing to keep in mind is that America isn’t the center of the world, and it’s definitely not the center of Christianity. It’s true that for the last two hundred years that a great missionary push has gone out for this country, God has blessed us and used this country in a mighty way to spread the Gospel. But if you look at what is happening in the world today most of the growth of the church is else where. If you get the Revival tidings newsletter, you read of wonderful things happening in the church in Kenya. I get a newsletter from the AFLC missionaries, Nate and Rhoda Jore, and the Ambassador Academy as they work with and train Pastors and lay leaders in Uganda and India and God is working in supernatural ways and sweeping hundreds into the kingdom of God.

But there I go again, we can talk about such things in a way that says, yes, it can happen and is happening over there, but it can’t happen here. Who say? Certainly not the Spirit of God. Jesus says lift up your eyes. Get your eyes off the ground. Get your eyes off yourself. Even, get your eyes off Hauge Lutheran Church; this is so much bigger than that. If we don’t lift up our eyes we won’t see that the fields are white unto harvest. If we don’t look with understanding and see that God is doing a work in the world we may miss it. If we only look at ourselves and our inadequacies we will never see what God wants us to see. If we never lift up our eyes to see, we won’t recognize the ripe harvest that is before us. We need to lift up our eyes and we need to expect that there will be a harvest.

The Morning Glory published by The Hauge Lutheran Innermission Federation is a great little magazine, but there is a big difference between it and say “The Christian Fellowship Banner”, published by the Hauge Foreign Mission, and the “Revival Tidings” published by the Evangelical Lutheran Bible Fellowship. Those two newsletters share stories of the present of how God is working in the world overseas. The Morning Glory has one or two current articles, but mostly is focused on how God has worked in the past with a hope that maybe he will do it again someday. “Lift up your eyes and see the fields are already ripe unto harvest.

Doing the Fathers will.

2012-01-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

Why did God create us the way we are? The angels, who sometimes appear in human form, are not like us at all. They don’t breath, or bleed. They seem to be able to eat, but they don’t have to eat to stay alive. They don’t need clothing or shelter.

The average human can only live about 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, maybe 40 days without food. In this climate during a normal winter, you would only survive minutes without clothing and shelter. We are needy people. God created us needy. He didn’t have to; he could have created us similar to angels. We have this constant reminder in us, we are not self sufficient, we need others and we need God's provision. This is true in the Spiritual realm too.

The Lord’s Prayer says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Very few people that have ever lived have had the luxury that we have had in our lifetime. The luxury of knowing where there next meal was going to come from.

God created us needy, and the physical is a type of the spiritual. We are needy spiritually too. God through His common grace feeds pagan and saint alike from the bounty of the earth he has created. God feed’s us spiritually from the bounty of forgiveness secured for all those who believe in the Son. The well is deep; there is forgiveness enough to cover the entire world and then some. There is no shortage of grace, there is grace enough for you, and there is grace enough for me. We can mine the depths of the riches of grace that are in Christ Jesus.

John 4:32 Jesus says, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” and the disciples are thinking physical, Jesus is speaking spiritually. Jesus explains it to them. He says, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

The thing that sustains Jesus from day to day and keeps Him going is doing the will of God. Just as He had to eat to maintain His physical body, even more so his Spirit was sustained by doing the will of God. His energies and His focus were entirely on His father, His will, and to finish the work for which he was sent, that being to die on the cross.

John 6:39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

There are many out there that don’t understand the Gospel and why Jesus, God in the flesh, came to the earth. They say the cross was a tragedy. That Jesus just came to love everybody and this is what the world does to people who truly love. They are maybe 25% right, but there whole understanding is wrong about what God’s love is all about. Jesus did not come to show us how to love and to live? He cameme to live the life we are incapable of living and then to go to the cross, a sinless sacrifice to take the penalty we have earned.

This is what was shown in the temple sacrifices, People would come to the temple knowing that they had sinned and they would bring a lamb with the understanding that this perfect and unblemished lamb would be slain and some how through this God would cover their sin. Jesus came to be that perfect sacrifice for us. This was the will of His Father, this is why He came.

The night before his arrest He told the disciples; John 12:27-28

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."

There is no uncertainly in His voice. There is no hesitation or fear. He knew why he had traversed the earth for those 33 years and the hour was approaching when He would complete the very purpose of His being. He is so fixated on the will of His Father, when the next evening came, before His arrest he prayed in the garden; Matt 26:39 "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

I don’t think we can know for sure what is happening here, but I am not going to do what many have done and impugned the character of my Savior. Jesus did not fear what man was going to do to Him. The captain of our salvation did not turn into a coward, not when so many who have followed him went to the cross and to the flames with songs of praise on there lips. If anything He feared what the Father was going to do when all Gods wrath would be poured out on Him for all the sins that had been or would be committed. If you haven't repented and believed, be afraid.

His will was to do the will of the father. His food, His sustenance, His breath, the very thing that sustained Him and gave Him the strength to go on and finish the work prepared for him on the cross, was His desire to be in the perfect will of His Father.

Peter admonishes us in his first Epistle that we should follow in His steps. Paul in 1^st Corinthians said we were to imitate him, as he imitated Christ. Jesus said; Matt 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

What is the first and primary will of the Father? That we should repent and believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ may receive the reward of His suffering. That he may be esteemed and praised for all eternity for saving sinners such as us.

Some people today confuse the social gospel with the real gospel. They think that if the Wall Street greedy fat cats would give away half of their money that God would be pleased and that he would bless them and bless our land. I’m sorry that is not the Gospel. The Bible says that even if I give all my money to the poor and deliver my body up to be burned, If I have not Love, agape love, the love that only comes with regeneration and a new heart, I am nothing. God is not the least bit impressed with our charity given through a corrupt and impure heart. Warren Buffet, Omaha’s billionaire thinks he can earn heaven by being charitable. He can’t Buffets pride is a blasphemous affront to what Jesus did for Warren Buffet on the cross. What Warren Buffet needs to do is to repent of His pride, his self righteousness and to give up any hope he has in his own efforts to please Jesus. God’s will in not that I should give all my money to the poor, but that I should believe on His Son unto salvation.

But we shouldn’t be too hard on Mr. Buffet. We often times suffer the same affliction. Thinking that God will love me more if I come to church every Sunday, that he will find me more pleasing if I pray and read my Bible every day. If we think that our acceptance by God is based on the things we do, then we are no better off than Mr. Buffet. Our acceptance is based on what Jesus has done.

Only One Life, a good poem for the New Year.

2012-01-01T15:53:00.000-08:00

I have always found C.T. Studd’s poem, "Only One Life" Thought provoking. Charles Studd was an Englishman born in 1860; He was converted at a DL Moody crusade in England and he went to China as a missionary, later he went to India and then to the

Congo

where he died in 1931 at the age of 70. He was quoted as saying, “Some want to livthought provokinge within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell”

His poem reads:

“Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep,
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say, ”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. ”

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.”

C.T Studd

We Beheld His Glory John1:14-18

2011-08-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

We Beheld His Glory.

John 1:14-18

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.

15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"

16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

NKJV

In John’s prologue to the Gospel he identifies the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” There is no question about who John is talking about here. He’s talking about Jesus, eternally he was with God and eternally He is God, Jesus the second person of the Trinity.

In verse 14 we have John’s nativity story. The Gospel of Mark skips the nativity all together and starts with John the Baptist in the wilderness. Both Mathew and Luke spend a considerable amount of time on the Birth of Christ, John gives it nine words; “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

John gives us no shepherds or sheep on a hill, no stable filled with animals, no baby lying in a manger, no wise men giving gifts, but he in the most simple and profound way describes what happen that night 2000 years ago.

This verse describes the incarnation, the central fact of the entire Bible. It is the key to understanding everything else the Scriptures teach about God, human beings, the meaning of history, time, and life itself. And what does the Incarnation mean? Simply this: That the one, eternal, triune God of holiness and love; the very God who created the world and everything in it; this very God has Himself entered into the world that He made, and He did so in the most personal and intimate of ways—as a Baby in a manger in order to later be a Man on a cross.

Why did God become a man? Cecil Alexander says it well in his Lenten hymn, “There is a green Hill Far Away”. Verse four in our hymn book says;

“There was no other good enough

to pay the price of sin,

He only could unlock the gate

Of heav’n, and let us in.”

There was a rich young ruler who came to Jesus and said, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus corrected the man and said, “Why do you call me good, no one is good but God.” Jesus is not saying he is not good, Jesus is saying don’t call me good unless your willing to fall down and worship me as God.

That’s the issue, why did God become man? Because only God is good enough to fulfill the laws demand and be the payment for our sin.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is how it reads literally from the Greek. “And the Word flesh was made and tabernacled among us.” One of the heretics of the day was Cerinthus who said Jesus was man and he was made God, that God was added to him at his baptism. John is clear, the Holy Spirit is clear. The Word existed eternally and the flesh was made. This goes back to verse 3. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

Great care is given in scriptures and especially in John’s writing to define and explain who Jesus is. We need to have the right Jesus. John makes this clear in his epistles. 1 John 2:22 “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?” Verse 23 “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

And from 2 John Verse 9 “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.” NKJV

You can’t make up your own Jesus. But people do it all the time. They say, “I think Jesus is all about love.” or “My Jesus won’t send anyone to Hell.” Is Jesus love, yes, but that is only one of His many attributes. Will he send people to hell? At the end of the age, Jesus will be the judge and he will say to a whole host of people, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness, I never knew you.

We are not being mean when we point this out to people. We are not being mean when we tell them they have the wrong Jesus. We are not being arrogant when we tell the Mormon and the Jehovah’s Witness they have the wrong Jesus. We are being loving because if they don’t have the right Jesus, they don’t have God.

Do you know who David Barton is? He is a historian who has witnessed eloquently to Christianities influence on the founding of our great nation. Well, today he is partnering with Glenn Beck the Mormon and has said he has looked at the fruit in Glenn’s life and says that Glenn is a Christian. But Glenn is a Mormon, he has a different Jesus, he has a different Father, he has a different Gospel. If you don’t have the right Jesus, you don’t have the right Father either. I, for one am saddened by David Barton’s partnering with Glenn Beck and I hope to see him repent some day.

The word became flesh and dwelt, tabernacled among us. This draws us into the types and shadows of the Old Covenant. God tells Moses to make a tent, a tabernacle, and when it is complete, the Shekinah Glory of God fills it. God tabernacled with Israel and dwelt with Israel In the wilderness, later after the temple is built, God tabernacled with the people there. Jesus fulfilled the type and shadow of the tabernacle when he took on human flesh and lived among us.

Does Jesus tabernacle with us today? Yes but in a different way. He dwells with us today through the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t dwell with us like he dwelt with the world back then and with the disciples for three years. What we have today is just a down payment of what it will be like to some day be In His presence.

Tabernacle in our text is used in the verb form. He describes God’s action of living with us. John is the only one who uses the word this way in the scriptures. He uses it here and he uses it in the book of revelation. Revelation 21:3 he uses it both ways, first as a noun, then he uses it as a verb. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God (There he uses the noun form of the word) is with men, and he will dwell, (tabernacle) with them, (There he uses the verb form again) and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

John describes the great hope that will be ours at the end of the age. This promise was first given to Israel in Lev 26:11-12 I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. NKJV But because of Israel’s rebellion God’s Glory left the temple; this is described in the early chapters of Ezekiel.

God gives a new promise in Jeremiah 31:33-34. He has not abandoned us altogether. He speaks of the hope of another day. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Today this promise is only fulfilled in part. John in Revelation 21 speaks of the complete fulfillment that will be ours one day as His children. Today he lives with us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called a down payment, just a for-taste of the glory that will be ours some day. Today we only experience Him in part. Then he will tabernacle with us in all His glory. Today we see through a glass dimly, then we will see face to face. Now we see in part then we will see fully. We have something to look forward too.

John says, “We beheld His Glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” John experienced His glory and it changed Him. All the disciples except Judas experienced the glory of Jesus and it changed them. They experience His glory at His baptism when a voice thundered from heaven; this is my beloved Son in whom I am pleased. Again John, James and Peter saw Him glorified at the transfiguration, and again they heard a voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him.” And over 500 saw Him in His glorified form after the resurrection. They saw Him appear and disappear, they saw Him pass through walls and they saw Him taken up into heaven in a cloud.

The last thing John says in verse 14 is that this Word that tabernacled with them is full of grace and truth. Last week Rekha Basu, opinion writer for the Des Moines Register wrote a piece telling us everything she didn’t like about Michele Bachman. In this article one of the things she said, talking about some of the people who have influenced her, is that “Bachmann is also a fan of Francis Schaeffer’s disciple, Nancy Pearcey, a creationist who claims any thought systems not based on Biblical truths are false.”

Nancy Pearcey is a brilliant woman who has become one of the leading defenders of the Christian World view. Many years ago I knew Nancy Pearcey; I went to California Lutheran Bible School with her. Let me read part of what Rekha Basu wrote again. “Nancy Pearcey, a creationist who claims any thought systems not based on Biblical truths are false.”

Let’s take a look at the notion of truth. Truth is exclusive. If something is true, then everything contrary to that is false. If two plus two is four, then every answer other than four is false. Two plus two is not five, two plus two is not three. Two plus two is not 3 and 7/8ths. Every answer except four is false. If I had eggs this morning for breakfast, you can’t go and tell someone that I had oatmeal. That would be a false statement.

Well, if the Biblical World view is true, then by definition all other world views have to be false. If God created the world in 6 days, then the world view of evolution is by definition false. Rekah Baso is a post-modern secular humanist who claims any thought system not based on secular views is false. Rekah is as fundamentalist in her views as Nancy Pearcy is on hers.

Jesus is full of grace and truth. He is full to the brim. He is the repository of grace and truth. There is no grace other than what you find in Jesus; there is no truth, other than what you find in Jesus. If Jesus is truth, then everything contrary to Jesus is false.

Verse 15, Then John touches on John the Baptists testimony. John the Baptist was a rock star; the scriptures tell us that all of Israel was coming out to the wilderness to be baptized by him. He was the talk of the nation. But yet John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus saying,”This is he of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.” John the Baptist in every earthly way was before Jesus. He was born before Jesus, his ministry was before Jesus, everyone during the early days of his ministry knew about John, only a few knew of Jesus. But yet John understood something about Jesus that the others would not see for several years. Jesus is the eternal God. Jesus was before him at creation, he was before him in the voice of the prophets, and the day would come even in John’s ministry that Jesus would take pre-eminence.

Verse 16, “And of His fullness we have all received, grace for grace.”

John does not use the word “all” here in an all inclusive way. He is not teaching universalism, for he already told us who the ones who receive are. 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.” So John defines the all as those who believe on His name. All those who believe on the name of Jesus receive His fullness, and what form does this fullness take? We receive grace for grace.

It’s really interesting the way John writes that. Literally its grace anti grace. Now we normally think that to be anti anything is to be against it. If you are anti-war, you are against war. A term thrown around in theological circles is anti-nomianism. Anti, against, nomian, law, against the use of the law. But it can also be used in other ways and it is used this way in scripture. That is that something replaces something else. That the inferior is replaced by superior. It is a layering of something upon another. It is something contrasted with something else.

So how might we understand this grace anti grace. It is like the manna in the wilderness, every new day you had a new supply of manna. You couldn’t use yesterday’s manna today. Neither can you use yesterdays grace today. But you don’t have to; today you have a new supply of grace. The mercies of the Lord are new every morning. It’s grace in time of need. It’s grace taking the place of grace. It’s grace over and against grace. It one grace layering upon the top of grace. It’s new grace to face each new day. It’s grace for every situation.

Because of what John says next it might refer to something else as well. Verse 17 he says “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” When John says grace anti grace, grace replacing grace, he may be referring to the grace of the Old Covenant being replaced by the new grace revealed in Jesus.

This is an important point to make. There was grace in the Old Covenant. God was merciful and long suffering and he put up with all kinds of wickedness and rebellion and in grace waited sometimes a thousand years to bring judgment. The God of the Old Testament was not a cosmic tyrant and the God of the New Testament a loving pushover. No, there is grace and judgment in the Old Testament and there is grace and judgment in the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is the same God as in the New Testament. That’s only logical, but today you have to say it.

So this could also be what John is getting at here. Grace is being replaced by grace. The grace of the Old Testament is being replaced by the grace, a fuller demonstration of grace lived out and displayed by Jesus.

The law was given through Moses, and the fact that God gave Moses a law is an act of grace. It’s a loving act of God to tell us what He loves and what He hates. It’s a loving act of God to tell us what will bring blessings and what will bring curses. This is grace. How can we love Him and be obedient to Him if we don’t know His will. The giving of the law is an act of grace.

For the law was given through Moses, literally it reads, “the” grace and “the” truth came through Jesus Christ. You have the definite article before each word. It’s not a shared grace and truth. This grace is not shared between Christ and Muhammad. It is not shared between Christ and Joseph Smith. It is not shared with the Dalai Lama, Rev Moon, or any other self proclaimed messiah out there. It’s His and His alone.

The grace and the truth came through Jesus Christ. Those are fighting words in this post modern world in which we live. The post modern says that all true is valid. They believe truth is relative, that you can believe one thing and I can believe something completely different and we both are right. It borders on insanity. They will say that it may be true for you, but it is not true for me. They will say that if you believe 2 plus 2 equals 5 then for you that is true. I hope none of those people go into engineering and build bridges.

The grace and the truth came through Jesus. This is the exclusive Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the father but through Him. Jesus is the fullness of grace. In Jesus and in His life and in His death resides all the grace that is available to sinners. It is only and exclusively through Jesus that we have the hope of salvation. Acts 4:12

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." NKJV

This is the message that drives the world crazy. The exclusive message of grace found only when we believe that Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and that we have forgiveness of sins and life in His name if we trust in Him. The grace and the truth came through Jesus Christ. It only came through one person, to the exclusion of all others.

Even Old Testament grace comes through Jesus. There weren’t two ways to be saved. In the Old Covenant they weren’t saved by keeping the law. They were no more capable of keeping the law than we are. As a matter of fact we are more capable, with the Gospel and we still fail time and time again. They were saved by believing in the promises of God and in the coming Messiah, just as we are saved by the Messiah who came. It’s all the same grace.

Verse 18 “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” This is not meant to deny that men have witnessed various manifestations of God throughout History. Enoch, Job, Abraham, Moses and the prophets all had in different ways encounters with God. Moses when he asked to see God, was only allowed to see God’s passing glory hidden in the cleft of a rock. For God knew if anyone saw Him in all His Glory it would kill them.

No one has seen the manifest essence of God; no one has known Him fully.

Barns commentary says "The prophets delivered what they heard God speak; Jesus delivered what he knew of God as his equal, and as understanding fully his nature." Barnes also says, "This verse proves that, Jesus had a knowledge of God above that which any of the ancient prophets had, and that the fullest revelations of his character are to be expected in the gospel."

What a wonderful experience it must have been to behold the glory of

God's only begotten Son! It undoubtedly transformed the life of John and others who saw Him. By the grace of God, it also possible that we can behold His glory. As we read the word of God, as we read the Gospel, the stories of Jesus, we see the beauty of God as revealed in His son. The glory of God is best revealed in the cross. It is here that we get the greatest insight into His nature. We see His anger and wrath poured out on sin. We also see His great love for mankind, a love that was willing to suffer and die that he might have eternal fellowship with those put their trust in Him.

We may not have seen Jesus in the flesh, but we can still behold His Glory, even now, through the testimony of His apostles and the Word of God. And we can look forward to the day when Jesus comes again to be revealed in His glory.

I will close with a benediction from Jude 24-25

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."

Introduction to Colossians

2011-05-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

Col 1:1-8

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. NASU

I thought we would go back and do a little Paul for the rest of this year. Back in 2006 we went through the book of Philippians. Since then we’ve done a number of different texts, Most of the book of Revelation, Selected texts in first John, selected Psalms, the Gospel of Mark, and about the last year and a half going through first and second Peter. So I thought it would be good to go back to Paul, and I decided on the book of Colossians because of the focus. The open focus of the book of Colossians is Jesus. Now Jesus is the focus of the whole Bible start to finish, but even more so in Colossians.

This letter was written about the same time as Philippians and Philemon. Colosse was in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. Colosse is directly east of Ephesus, north of Laodicea, and west of Antioch in Pisidia. In the latter part of the reign of Nero, and not long after this Epistle was written, Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis, were at the same time destroyed by an earthquake. The ancient town is now extinct, but its site is occupied by a village called Khonas.

It is doubtful as to wither Paul ever visited there personally. But his missionary journeys did take him through this region several times. Epaphras mentioned in verse seven, seems to be the one who probably was converted by Paul’s ministry and then took the Gospel to Colosse.

This is probably the reason Colossians starts so different than the letter to the Philippians. Paul had been to Philippi. He had brought the Gospel to them. They were his spiritual children. He had spent some time there. They knew him; they didn’t have any reason to question his apostleship. He had lived out his apostleship in their presence.

To the Philippians he wrote, “Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus.” They knew who he was; they did not question his right as an apostle, so Paul doesn’t even bring it up. He starts teaching right away, by reminding them that he, as well as they are all bondservants of Jesus Christ. They had voluntarily submitted themselves to lifelong slavery to Christ out of their great love for Him.

He starts Colossians differently. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.” He emphasizes right off the bat his apostleship. He wasn’t a disciple of Jesus before the resurrection. He was called latter when he was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians. Jesus had apprehended Paul on the road, appeared to him and called him to be an apostle. So he was definitely an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Paul wanted to lay that out right away to the Colossians.

But he also puts Timothy out there as well as an equal, as a co-worker. Yes he is exerting his apostleship, but in humility he makes Timothy his equal.

Paul next addresses who he is writing to. “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse.” Paul is writing to the saints. Now I saw in the news that today the Roman Catholic Church is set to beatify Pope John Paul II. This then paves the way for Him to become a saint very soon, maybe in record time. I’m not sure where the Catholic Church gets this kind of stuff. It seems to me that if God didn’t make him a saint, it’s a little late now.

Paul is writing to People who are alive, he is not writing to dead people. The Greek word translated saint here is the same word that is translated 158 other times Holy. It is used 219 times altogether in the New Testament, and it is translated 61 times saints, and 158 times holy. I find that interesting. It gives me a new understanding and a new appreciation for the word saint as used in our Bibles. To the Holy ones. To be holy is to be cut off and separated from something. To the holy ones who are separated unto Jesus. It is closely related to the word sanctify, which mean to make holy. Sanctify is the Verb form of holy, It is the process that God uses in our lives to grow us in grace. The process of being changed from one degree of glory into another, not that we ever achieve perfection in this life, but we move in that direction.

To be sanctified is a word that comes out of the temple. The temples only purpose was to worship God. The bowls and other vessels that would be brought into the temple would have to first be consecrated, they would go though a ceremonial washing. They would be washed, immersed, you could even call it baptized, and in so doing the bowls and other vessels would be sanctified. From that point on they could only be used in the temple, for sacrifice and worship. They were no longer for common use; they were only for holy use.

The Greek word is translated holy when it refers to God, as in the Holy Spirit. It is translated saint when it refers to you and me. Remember that when you read the word saint, it gives it a new dimension.

To the holy ones, and faithful brethren. Or maybe simply, to the holy and faithful brethren. How are you doing? Are you feeling holy and faithful this morning? Truth be told, were not very holy and not very faithful a lot of times are we? But Jesus is, and we have that in Paul’s greeting. To the Holy ones and faithful brethren in Christ. In Christ! In, is a positional preposition. It gives the relationship of one noun to another. Noah and his family were in the Ark. There was safety in the Ark; there was salvation in the ark. Those who were not in the ark were lost, they drowned, they died. Those who are not in Christ will suffer the same fate.

Paul is talking about people who are physically, spiritually, relationally in Christ. These are the holy, set apart and sanctified ones. When we repent and believe the gospel we are justified, God declares us positionally holy. That is how God sees us. We are separated out from the world and we spent the rest of our days striving to be what God has already declared us to be. We grow in grace, we grow in our sanctification. Saint and sinner at the same time, but loving Jesus and wanting to please Him. Paul is writing to the Christians in Colosse.

Even though at the beginning of the letter, he asserts his apostolic calling, he also called Timothy His brother; he put Timothy on equal standing with him. He now calls all the holy ones in Colosse brethren as well. Yes he had a special and specific call from Jesus, but in the gospel he was one of them, a brother. Even today there are people who get special calls into the ministry, but if that call isn’t acted out in humility, then there is a problem. Pastors have a call to a special ministry, but that doesn’t make them better than the person God has called to be a farmer. That’s not a better call than some one who was called to love his wife and raise his children in a godly home.

In some Christian circles today you here talk of being a radical Christian. If someone goes and lives in a cardboard box for a year among the homeless and witnesses to them and cares for them, he is a radical Christian. If someone sells all their possessions and goes to live among the untouchables in India to minister to them, they are a radical Christian.

Luther said the Christian call upon the milk maid, to be a Christian and live out the Christian life as a milk maid is just as great a call from God as being called to be a bishop.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the holy ones and faithful brethren. Yes Paul asserts his apostolic authority, but he also asserts that they are all family. In a family we are all equals.

Paul starts with His standard greeting, Grace to you and peace from God our Father. The King James adds “and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Not that it matters all that much, but that phrase is not in the Greek manuscripts. That’s why some translations such as the New American Standard just says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father”.

In the greeting that Paul uses over and over again are those two words that you could preach a whole sermon on, grace and peace. Grace is a word that encompasses the gospel. It is in the Gospel that God demonstrated his grace to mankind. God’s riches at Christ’s expense. That’s the Gospel, Christ dying in the place of sinners. God’s grace is on display throughout the Bible, but it is most clearly shown on the cross when Jesus died for sinners.

The second word Paul uses is peace. For the most part when the world uses this word, they are simply talking about an absence of war, or maybe the absence of conflict in their relationships. Paul’s use of the word is so much deeper. Peace is the fruit of the grace that Paul mentions. Rom 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” NASU We are no longer at war with Him.

The angel on Christmas Eve, made this proclamation. Luke 2:14
14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" NKJV Most people look at that proclamation by the angel and they think the angel was proclaiming peace on earth. No the angel was proclaiming that through this child that was born, God would make peace with man.

Grace is always mentioned before peace. There is no peace if the grace of God is not shed a broad in our lives. If there is no grace we are enemies of God through wicked works.

Paul is proclaiming to the Christians, to the Holy ones and to the faithful brethren grace and peace. If you this morning are positionally in Christ, then God the Father’s grace and peace are yours.

Now we get into the body of the letter. If you look at verse 3-8 you will notice that it is all one sentence. Paul does that a lot. He writes these long drawn out compound, complex sentences. If I was any good at English I would diagram that out for you. But I’m not and if I tried it would make my head hurt.

He starts by heaping a whole bunch of encouragement on them. He uses the pronoun “you” or “your” nine time times in this sentence. He starts out, “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith.” Paul gives thanks to God for them. That’s always an encouraging thing to hear isn’t it?

Do you give thanks for people? Do you thank God for people who have been a positive influence on your life. Do you give thanks to God for pastors you’ve had, Christian friends that have had a positive effect on your Christian walk, that have helped you to grow. How about people you have never met. Paul probably had never met these Christians personally, but he had heard about them, and in hearing about their faith he was encouraged.

Do you thank God for Christian brothers and sister around the country and around the world that you have never met? Radio and television preachers and teachers that you have benefited from? Stories about people from “Voice of the Martyrs” that have encouraged you to be more bold in your faith. Have you thanked God for them?

One person I thank God for that I never met, who benefited me a lot throughout the years is David Wilkerson. Did you hear that he died this last week? Killed in a car accident in Texas last Wednesday. Today he is rejoicing with Jesus I’m sure there was sadness, but as I read the news stories and comments from family and friends, no one seemed sad. Everybody was rejoicing that he was home with His Lord and Savior. Kind of sweet. I thank God for David Wilkerson. I did have the opportunity to hear him preach in person a couple times back in the early 80’s in Fargo. I have several of his books in my library, I have read many of his sermons on line, and down loaded and listened to others as well. Even though I never met him, personally, I benefited from his ministry and I thank God for him.

I thank God for you. Isn’t it an encouragement to hear that? I thank God for you. I have benefited so much spiritually from the time I have spent with you. You have taught me much. I thank God for you.

Besides giving thanks, he’s also praying for them. That’s something else that’s encouraging isn’t it; to hear that someone is praying for you. And we need to make sure that if we tell someone we are praying for them, that we really do remember to pray for them. Some times it’s easier to tell someone that you are praying for them, than to actually do it. I don’t think Paul had that problem. I think that when Paul said he prayed always for them, he really meant it.

I do pray for each of you by name. Probably not as much as I should but I do try to. We should pray for each other. We should pray for other Christians we know, even in other churches; in Eagle Grove, in Fort Dodge, in Des Moines that they would be faithful, that they would grow in sanctification. We should pray for those we know in and through other ministries. We should pray for those we know through the Hauge Foreign Mission and the Hauge Innermission, as well as those ministers and missionaries we support through those missions.

Paul had never met these Christians but he had heard of their faith and had heard of their love for all the Holy ones. So Paul had added them to the list of people he prayed for. I wonder, have people heard of your faith? Have people heard of our love of all the saints? Or have they heard other things? Is it evident? Are we living our Christianity out in the streets where people can see it? Or are we hiding it under a bushel basket? Not that we flaunt it, not that we’re abrasive with it; we just live it out unashamedly. There should be something about us that the world sees that is different, even attractive. Granted they may still hate the Gospel we preach, but yet they will see how we love each other and how we live differently.

Paul is really giving us a cause and effect here. If you start at verse 8 and work backwards you get a feel for what happened. In verse 7 and 8 we learn of this guy Epaphras. Paul calls him a fellow servant and a faithful minister. Epaphras was the one who brought the Gospel to Colosse, and he is the one who declared to Paul their love in the Spirit. In Philemon, written about the same time as Colossians Paul writes this, “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you.” So Epaphras was probably in prison with Paul during the writing of this letter.

In verse six, through Epaphras they had heard and knew the Grace of God in truth. So Epaphras had preached the Gospel to them and they had understood it. They knew it. They knew with understanding. They understood that Jesus had died for their sins. Then evidences of their faith began to emerge confirming their salvation. In verse six is says they are bringing forth fruit. The gospel was changing their lives, they were growing in the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, as well as the fruit of good works.

Also in verse five they were coming to an assurance of their salvation through the Gospel and were living in the assurance of the hope that is laid up for them in Heaven, which they heard before in the Gospel. It’s interesting that many churches today treat the Gospel as something you only need to get saved. Once you’re saved then you need to move on to other things. Paul never abandoned the Gospel. Paul preached the gospel to the Lost. But all his letters are written to churches, and they are full of the Gospel.

He speaks in verse 6 of their conversion when they heard and knew experientially the grace of God in truth. They were birthed again through the Gospel. But even their sanctification, the fruit they are bearing and the hope they have, the assurance they have of heaven comes because they “heard … the word of the truth of the Gospel.”

Everything God has for us this day comes to us through the Gospel. Nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross I cling. That frustrates the flesh, because there is something in every one of us that thinks that we can do it on our own. It was even in Paul, but Paul came to a place where he cried out, Rom 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! NASU

Have you come to that place yet? I’m almost there. There are still times when I become deluded, thinking I am somebody, thinking I can do something on my own, usually at that time I do something really stupid and God brings me back to reality. This sacrament today is for wretches. This sacrament, the Lord Supper is for sinners who cry out as a publican, “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.”

Let’s pray.

He Is Risen Indeed (Matt 28:1-10)

2011-04-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

“He Is Risen Indeed!”

Matt 28:1-10
28 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

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. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me." NKJV

He is not here for he is risen. That is good news! After all Friday had happened. Jesus had been unfairly convicted in a kangaroo court. Jesus who had done so much good in Israel; He had healed every disease, he had cast out every demon, he had made the blind to see and the lame to walk, just as the scriptures had said he would. Many had wondered and had become convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, the one to restore Israel to its proper place in the world. They had misunderstood the scriptures and did not understand that the Messiah must first come and suffer.

It was Friday and Jesus had been crucified, all the disciples except John had abandoned Him. Only John and a hand full of women were there at the cross to give any comfort to Jesus. A few others gathered at a far distance and watched. It was Friday and all there hopes and dreams of a better life were gone. It was Friday and Satan had ruled the day. It was Friday. But it didn’t end on Friday.

There have been many others throughout history, men who said they were somebody. Men who even claimed to be the Messiah, men who thought they were somebody and they convinced others that they were somebody. But after there demise, nothing, Friday ended it, Sunday never came.

With Jesus of Nazareth, it was Friday; it sure looked like the end. But, it wasn’t the end, and the world has never been the same.

We have our Fridays too don’t we. We hear the C word, cancer and it strikes fear into our hearts. We hear layoffs and we wonder how we will make it. We hear accident and a loved one or friend is snatched from our midst, we hear tornado and all our possessions can be snatched away in a moment of time. Our lives can be ravished by our addictions. Sex, drugs and rock and roll have brought many to the brink of destruction. It’s Friday.

I went to Zion, my church in Des Moines Friday night and ran in to an old Friend, A co-worker from my Homemakers Furniture days. Britt and Chris are good people, Christian people. I had run into their old Pastor a couple years back and I asked about them, and He told me they had built their dream house in southern Iowa and had retired. I asked Britt if they had moved back to town and they had. He explained that in 2007 their daughter had been killed in a car accident and they were now raising their granddaughter who was also severely injured in the accident. And last year Chris was diagnosed with lung cancer. They decided since they were spending so much time in Des Moines for both her and their grand daughters continuing treatment they might as well move back to town. Friday.

Fridays happen, but there is good news, Sunday follows Friday and He is risen.

Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote a book several years ago titled "Call For a New Reformation". In it he says " The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed." And on the Resurrection he says, "Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history." Is the death and resurrection of Christ to be so easily cast off as a relic from the past? No resurrection? Then what is the point? Where is the hope? When bad things happen, then all you have is despair.

G. Campbell Morgan said that the resurrection is the most stupendous, supernatural miracle that the world has ever known. It super cedes everything else - because if He is not risen from the dead then everything else collapses!

Paul the Apostle says the same thing; 1 Cor 15:12-19 “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.” NKJV The resurrection is everything.

There are many theories about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but the Scripture is the first, the foremost, and the final word. There are those who say that Jesus never died. All He did was faint, because He had been up all night, and pushed around, and He had lost some blood. They put Him into a tomb and then He revived in the cool tomb and He came out again. Well, the apostles, of course, shatter that argument absolutely.

Hear the testimony of the Apostles, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3 “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”

The apostle John wrote this; 1 John 1:1 “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.”

And Peter gives this testimony, 2 Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

It says in the Acts of the Apostles concerning Jesus, first chapter and verse three, "To whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Now look, if it was a fallacy, as the world says, why did this bunch of men stand up and live in danger of their lives. All except John died martyrs death rather than deny the resurrection. Can these men have had hallucinations for forty days in succession? "He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs." He showed himself alive. To who? Oh, to as many as five hundred in broad day light. He showed Himself alive, by many infallible proofs! What were the infallible proofs? "We have touched Him, we have seen Him." For forty days Jesus confirmed their faith.

Is the resurrection no longer relevant in an enlightened age such as ours? It is not only relevant but it is essential to the Christian faith. It is what defines us. It is what changed the disciples from cowards hiding in back rooms to zealous evangelists. It is a central theme of all the books of the New Testament. It is what changes us and gives us new life.

He is risen, that’s the news the world need to hear. For Christians like Britt and Chris, that’s the news they need to receive the strength and carry on. He is risen, he has defeated sin, death and the devil. Man’s biggest problem is sin. It is the cause of all suffering, poverty, broken homes, chemical addictions. He is risen, and in those words they can find hope and wholeness, and the strength to rise above the Fridays in our lives.

Friday’s over, Satan has been defeated, Sundays here. Alleluia! Christ is risen! Over the centuries, this is how the church has joyfully responded to the great Easter proclamation. What calls forth such a response of joy and worship? It is the glorious good news of reconciliation and restoration that comes with the resurrection of our Lord. On this most glorious of mornings, the whole church in heaven and on earth rejoices to respond, “He Is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!”

First comes God’s word to us, “Christ is risen.” That’s what the angel said to the women at the tomb, “I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” Here is the great fact of the resurrection stated in simple yet profound words. The reality of the resurrection itself is the first thing that grabs our attention. Jesus really died and was buried. Now he is alive, risen from the dead! This Jesus defeated death and is the Lord of life. Romans 1:4 says that Jesus was; “Declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” The grave could not hold him. Our Savior broke the power of death. 2 Timothy 1:10 says; “Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

“I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. . . . He has risen.” This announcement by the angel brings together the two central events at the heart of the gospel, namely, Christ’s death and his resurrection. On the cross Christ finished the work of our redemption, and now his resurrection testifies to the infinite worth and the astonishing effects of his atoning sacrifice. On the cross Jesus Christ made the perfect sacrifice for all of your sins and for the sin of the whole world. Nothing else would do, only the holy precious blood of the Son of God come in the flesh.

Most of the time when people speak of these events, the emphasis is on God’s love. The cross shows us how much God loves us. But we need to keep in mind also that the cross shows us how much God hates sin. Look at what Jesus had to suffer for my sin. Seeing both the consequences for my sin laid on Jesus and seeing the great love He had for me, am I now going to go out and live in sin? No! How could I? If I did, it would prove that I really don’t under stand what God has done for you.

This is how much God loves you and has acted to save you from your sins and the death you deserve: God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, was crucified for you! As a result, God is at peace with you! God is reconciled to men--he must be--for the sacrifice of the Son has been accepted by the Father. Easter shows that Good Friday was enough; it did the job of paying for sin and overcoming death. The crucifixion and the resurrection together declare the glory of the Lord and guarantee our salvation. This “Jesus who was crucified . . . has risen.”

Jesus’ last words on the cross were, “It is finished”. The resurrection proved that those words were true. It was finished, all had been accomplished, the payment had been made. The sin debt had been satisfied.

What’s more, the angel says, “He has risen, as he said.” Jesus himself had foretold his own resurrection. Not only had he predicted his Passion, but with it he promised that on the third day he would be raised to life.

Therefore the resurrection attests to the truthfulness of all Christ’s teaching. His words, all of them, are sound and sure. There is nothing more trustworthy. You can depend on it. Follow Jesus, keep on following him and listening to him, as he preaches his word to you and teaches you what it means to be his disciple. He has the words of eternal life. “He has risen, as he said.” Our Lord’s resurrection verifies what he himself had said: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” The way to the Father is open through the sacrifice of the Son. The truth of Christ’s word is affirmed, as he fulfills his own prophecy. The life that conquers death is declared, in the angel’s words, “Jesus who was crucified . . . has risen, as he said.”

Now you would think that such a proclamation of a glorious and mighty resurrection would bring nothing but pure joy. But our text says that the women “departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy.” Yes, their joy was great, yet it was mixed with fear. In some way, I suppose this was understandable. Any contact with the awesome power of the Almighty causes us sinners to tremble with fear.

We too find this thing incredible, this amazing power of God which raised our Lord from the dead. But equally impressive, if not more so, is the amazing grace that changes sinners into saints.

Jesus meets the frightened women and calms their fears. “Rejoice!” he says. “Be of good cheer,” is another way to say it. He reassures the astonished women with the sound of his familiar voice. He greets them with a word of Joy. And happiness and joy certainly come to these women, for now they see Jesus before them and hear his voice.

Then Jesus says: “Do not be afraid.” Man kind had been hiding from God ever since the garden. After Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden, they tried to hide themselves from God. Mankind had lived in fear of God, ever since. Mankind knew very well that they had angered God, and through out history pagans had tried all kinds of things to appease His anger. Even Israel’s temple sacrifices were a constant reminder that they had angered God through their sin, and that blood was required to appease God’s anger. Of course the blood of Oxen and Lambs didn’t take away sins, but was a picture of what God would do some day through His son.

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid.” Fear not, for the perfect love of Christ drives out our fears. Fear of punishment, fear of God’s judgment, fear of death--all these are overcome by the comforting voice of Jesus our Savior. Jesus speaks these same words of reassurance to us today: “Rejoice! Do not be afraid. I have risen from the dead. I have conquered the grave. I am not angry with you. Indeed, I have good news for you! Be reassured by my resurrection.”

So impressive, so glorious, is the grace of our risen Lord! Now he says to the women, “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” He’s talking about the disciples, “Tell my brothers.” He uses a term of endearment. But these are the same disciples who had deserted, denied, and disowned their Lord in his hour of trial just a few nights earlier. Yet here Jesus claims them as his own with a term of intimacy and endearment, “my brothers.” In so doing, he speaks a word of pardon for all their lack of faith. He proclaims forgiveness. He restores them to fellowship. Instead of saying, “Forget those guys, they were faithless when put under pressure. How can I trust my kingdom to those losers? ”--no, instead Jesus says, “Go and tell my brothers.”

Restoration to fellowship is a gift that Christ gives his disciples, both then and now. Today Jesus speaks his word of restoration to us, as well. He calls us his brothers and sisters. What hope, what riches are ours as a result! Martin Luther writes: “If now Christ is our brother, I would like to know what we still lack?” Brothers and Sisters in the flesh have common possessions, they have one father, they share in one inheritance. So we also have common possessions with Christ, and have together one Father and one inheritance.”

As Christians, you and I are united to Christ and made God’s children. Now we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Our Lord’s resurrection, therefore, is the guarantee of our own resurrection. The empty cross on the wall, is a visual reminder that our risen Lord is here present with his church, and that his resurrection life has been made available to each one of us. On this Easter Day then, Christians, take hope in the victory over death that Jesus gives you.

Today the Lord’s messenger announces the good news: “Jesus who was crucified . . . has risen, as he said.” Today our risen Lord himself cheers us with his presence, his familiar and comforting voice, and his reassuring words: “Rejoice! Do not be afraid. I call you my brothers and sisters.” Hearing these words, what other response could we have but one of joy and worship? That’s what those words are, “He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!” They are joy and worship! With the women at the empty tomb, we are filled with joy and bow in adoration before our risen Lord. With them--indeed, “with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven”--we and all Christians around the world today join in joyous Easter worship.

Christ, our crucified Savior, is risen from the dead. He is here with us now. The only fitting response is to worship him, to give him the highest honor and praise. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This is the Festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord! Alleluia! Christ is risen!

It is Finished (John 19:17-30)

2011-04-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

It is Finished.

John 19:17-30
17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. 19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:
20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'He said, "I am the King of the Jews."'"
22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:
"They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Therefore the soldiers did these things.

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" 27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

The last words of a dying man can carry great meaning. For instance Joan Crawford’s last words were, “Don't you dare ask God to help me,” She said that when her house keeper started to pray for her.
Charles Darwin’s last words were, “I am not the least afraid to die.” He probably should have been.
Queen Elizabeth the first said, “All my possessions for a moment of time.”
Benjamin Franklin said, “A dying man can do nothing easy.”
President Andrew Jackson said, “Oh, do not cry - be good children and we will all meet in heaven.”
John Newton the author of the hymn Amazing Grace, said, "I am still in the land of the dying; soon I shall be in the land of the living.”

Jesus said, “It is finished”. The last words of a dying man are often profound. The last words of Jesus are loaded with promise and meaning.

What was finished? His Life? Yes but so much more. What did Jesus mean when he said it is finished?

First of all He meant that all the types, promises and prophecies were now completely fulfilled in Him. The whole Old Testament from the first promise in Genesis three to the last prophecy in Malachi was fulfilled in Him. He fulfilled all the types, the sacrifices, the red Heifer, the Passover lamb, the turtle dove, the cities of Refuge, Rahab’s scarlet thread, He fulfilled every one of them. He fulfilled every prophecy from the seed of the woman bruising Satan’s head in Genesis, to Isaiah’s suffering servant to, Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming." NKJV

It is finished, all the promises find their yes in Him, All the prophecies find their fulfillment in him, and all the sacrifices, ceremonies, types and shadows of the whole Jewish religious life find their fulfillment in Jesus. It is finished. He fulfilled them all perfectly and completely.

Just think about the difficulty we would have if we tried in our human power and wisdom to fashion some one to fulfill all of scripture. This is what Spurgeon said. “First he would have to be a prophet like Moses, a champion like Joshua, a priest like Aaron, and Melchizedek. He must be Abraham, and Isaac, David and Solomon, Noah and Jonah, Judah and Joseph. Then on top of that He has to be the Lamb that was slain, and the scape goat that was not slain, he would have to be both the turtle dove and the priest who killed the bird, he must also be the altar, tabernacle, mercy-seat, and showbread. To confuse things even more, He must be the one that, "All men shall fall down before Him, but also the one who "is despised," He must begin by showing a man born of a virgin mother, He must be a man without spot or blemish, but one upon whom the Lord doth lay the iniquities of us all. He must be a glorious One, a Son of David, yet a root out of a dry ground. Now if the greatest intellects could set themselves to invent another key to the types and prophecies they could not do it. These wondrous mysteries are left unexplained till one comes forward and proclaims, "The Cross of Christ and the Son of God incarnate." Then the whole is clear, so that he who runs may read, and a child may understand.”(C. H. Spurgeon.)

It is finished. Not only were the sacrifices, festivals and ceremonies fulfilled in Christ, they were brought to an end. For thousands of years the work of the temple was a grizzly and bloody affair. A river of blood flowed almost nonstop from the altar. Millions of oxen, goats, lambs, doves had been killed and had their blood drained out on the altars as a covering for sin. But in Christ sin was more than covered, for those who put their faith in the atoning work of Christ their sins are taken away. The ceremonial law with all its diets, festivals, and sacrifices were finished. They were needed no more. They were fulfilled in Christ. Jesus says of them, "It is finished".

His perfect obedience was finished. The only lamb that was acceptable for sacrifice was one that was perfect, with out spot or blemish. The Passover Lamb was brought into the house a week before Passover and lived with the family so the family could closely observe and inspect the animal and make sure it was healthy and flawless. Jesus lived His life out in front of the people for every one to see, to inspect and to examine, and in His trial they found nothing but perfection. Perfect righteousness. Jesus did not come to do away with the law; he came to fulfill it, to keep it perfectly.

Last weekend I went to a conference in Minneapolis and one of the speakers was a pastor named Milton Vincent. I had never heard of Him before, hardly any of the people there knew anything about him. He preached one of the best sermons on Justification I have ever heard.

This is one of the Illustrations he used. Most people are self righteous, they will often times admit that they have sinned but don’t feel that they have done any thing that God would be terribly upset about. But imagine this scenario. You stand before God the father, with your credentials, with your two percent righteousness. You’ve been fairly truthful, you’ve only told a couple hundred lies, mostly white lies. You’ve never committed adultery or fornication, but you have lusted in your heart a few times, and you’ve only view pornography a handful of times. You pray maybe six out of seven days and you read your bible about the same. It’s a busy world after all. You’ve only had a couple knock down drag out fights with your spouse, you’ve only lost your temper a few times with your kids. All in all an exemplary life, way above average, right.

So its judgment day, and you stand before God the father with your own righteousness. The problem though will be that for the last two thousand years God the father has been beholding the face of His Son and His perfect righteousness. The one who never sinned, the one that always loved the father with all his heart, mind and strength every minute of every day, the one who always obeyed His Father, the one who only did what He saw His Father doing and said only what His Father wanted Him to say. God the Father has been staring into the righteousness of His perfect son for two thousand years, and you think he is going to be impressed with your puny two percent righteousness?

No, No ,No, each one of us have committed tens and tens of thousands of sins, but Jesus, the Son of God did not commit even one. It is finished. He lived the perfect life in obedience to the father, the life we never could live. But now in faith he offers that life to us. The heart of justification is that when we are converted we receive the righteousness of faith, so that when we stand before God on that day, God the father will not be staring at us and our sins, he will be doing the same thing he’s been doing for two thousand years, he will be looking into the by the righteousness of His son.

His perfect obedience was finished. He was the perfect Passover lamb, without spot or blemish, an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice to the father. He being without sin became sin for our sakes. Only the perfect sacrifice for God and by God could be acceptable to pay the price of the sins of the world.

The payment he made to the justice of God concerning sin was finished. He had paid every penny of what divine justice demanded. The atonement and propitiation which were only a shadow of the real thing in the temple were now finished. Atonement and propitiation were made once for all and forever by Christ on the tree. It was finished. He had accomplished what he came to do.

The struggle against the powers of darkness was finished. The power of sin was finished. Rom 6:6-7 “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” NKJV Through the cross and the Gospel sin no longer reigns over us. When we meditate on the cross and Jesus, we realize that it was our sins that nailed him their. The things of earth will grow strangely dim. Let me change the word of that great hymn just a little bit. The sins of earth will grow strangely grim in the light of His glory and grace; the grace he put on display when He hung on the cross.

The power of Satan was finished. Jesus had faced Satan, and Satan threw everything in his arsenal at Him, and Jesus came out the victor.

The prophecy in Gen 3:15 says, “He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." NKJV Jesus Christ died to defeat him who had the power of sin and death, Satan. Jesus bruised Satan’s head; the head represents power, authority and lordship. Christ is the head of the church. Satan had lordship over the earth, but in the cross he had been kicked in the head, and the very thing Satan meant for evil, God meant for good. Satan’s headship of the earth has been destroyed. Oh he’s still around, but he is a defeated foe, he is a wounded beast who can still be dangerous. But his power over this world is finished.

The power of death was finished. Oh we still die, but its power is gone, we no longer fear it. 1 Cor 15:55 "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV

2 Tim 1:10 “Our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” NKJV

Heb 2:14-16 “He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” NKJV

Christmas Evans said, “Death had come against Him, with his fiery dart, which he struck right through the Savior, till the point fixed in the cross, and when he tried to pull it out again, he, left the sting behind. What could he do more?” What do we know about a bee that looses its stinger? For one, it’s not able to sting again, for another it crawls off to die. Jesus defeated death, it could not hold Him. The wages of sin is death, we have earned for ourselves death, even eternal death, but Jesus provided a way for those who believe.

Many people have a great fear of death. They fear what’s on the other side, but not Christians. We know what is on the other side. Jesus is on the other side, and when it is our time to go, we know that we will wake up in his presence.

Something else that was finished, the old Covenant. On the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus took the cup and said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” The Old Covenant in the Law, that was given to Israel, was finished. It was a quid-pro-quo covenant. The covenant was based on do. Do, do, do. God said if you do this, I will do that. God told Israel that if they were obedient to His commands that He would bless them as a nation. And as we read the Old Testament, we see that God was faithful to His covenant. But we see the flip side of that as well. When Israel was disobedient, which was most of the time, God brought trouble.

That was the Old Covenant. America doesn’t have that Covenant with God. Now this country was founded on Godly principles that came out of the reformation and from the scriptures, and these principles have served us well. The principle of property rights, the principles of justice, the principle of the three branches of government that spreads the power around so no one man can become a dictator. They understood the depravity of man and the danger of that.

The error of the health, wealth, and prosperity preachers is that they think the old covenant is still in place. Most of what they use to support their views are old covenant promises. It is finished; we are not under the old covenant, not as a nation, not as a church, not as individuals. The whole second half of Hebrews is about the New Covenant and why it is better.

Heb 7:22 Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. NKJV

Heb 8:6-12 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.”

The fault with the old covenant was not in the covenant, it was with the people. The covenant was perfect, the people were not.

“10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." NKJV

It is not based on my righteousness. Today we are under a new covenant, the covenant of faith. The basis of this covenant is not on what I do. The basis of this covenant is on what God has done through Jesus and His death on the cross.

There is an interesting verse in the little letter written by Jude, the half brother of Jesus. He said, Jude 9 “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" NKJV Why would Satan dispute for the body of Moses?

Many today look at the Old Testament and see an angry vengeful God. I think the spiritual realm saw things differently. They saw a longsuffering God who was inconsistent in His justice. What would Satan’s argument have been. “God, Moses is mine, he is a sinner just like all the others, on top of everything else he did, he is a murderer, how dare you love him and take him to glory with you. God you are a fraud, you. You said justice was the foundation of your throne, you are a liar. Give Moses to me, he’s mine.”

The taunt from Satan for thousands of years accused God of being unjust, because He chose to save some. Jesus said, it is finished. “NO more, Satan, no more of your accusations. You want to see justice, look at the cross.

It is finished. The age old question, can God be both loving and just at the same time. The question was settled once and for all in heaven and in hell. It is finished. Peter said that Jesus went and preached the Gospel to the dead. The Gospel was proclaimed in heaven and all the Old Testament saints rejoiced and gave glory to God.

But the Gospel was also preached to the lost. No longer could they accuse God of being unjust by saving some, and not them. Maybe they had hung on to some hope, in universalism, that if God saved some, to be just He would have to save all. When Jesus asked if this cup could pass from Him, he wasn’t primarily talking about what man was going to do, He was talking about what God the Father was going to do. But when the lost saw what God the Father did to His son, and that Jesus bore the full brunt of God’s wrath, they knew there was no hope for them.

What do the words “It is finished” mean for us? Over the course of this next week in some parts of the world, there will be people who will have themselves wiped and even hung on the cross in the hopes of gaining favor with God. This self flagellation they do, thinking this will appease God’s anger towards there sins. It is finished, God’s anger towards sin has been appeased by Christ, all we can do is appropriate what Christ has already done by faith.

All the false religions in the world, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormons, Hindu, Buddhists, Muslim, it’s all about doing. Christianity is “It is Finished, It is done. Even the Roman Catholic Mass, It is a continual sacrifice for sins. Romans 6:10 says, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all.”

Christian, are you resting in the promises of God through Christ. Or are you striving in the flesh to make yourself pleasing to God? Do you think that by attending church, that by giving your offerings, that by praying, and by reading the Bible that you some how make yourself more acceptable to God. No! It is finished. We need to rest In His promises, we need to go to the cross and see that it is finished.

Christian, do not despair at your sins. Are you concerned that you’re not as righteous as you should be. Do you beat yourself up because you don’t pray enough, that you don’t read your Bible enough, that you don’t share your faith enough. Let me put your mind at rest, you don’t. You don’t pray enough, you aren’t righteous enough, but that’s the point of the Gospel. You don’t, but Jesus did. That’s why Jesus lived the perfect life, why He lived it out in front of man and God. He lived it out, because we couldn’t and now through faith He gives His life to us, and this becomes our motivation for being. We no longer obey out of fear; instead we obey out of love.

Let us enter this holy week then in the knowledge that it is finished, we are acceptable to God through the Gospel. We no longer strive; instead we rest in His promises that are sure.

Amen

Be Steadfast (2 Peter 3:13-18)

2011-04-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

Be Steadfast

2 Peter 3:13-18
13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation — as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
NKJV

Peter one last time draws us to what is trustworthy in this world, the promises of God. Peter just before this tells us about the great and terrible day of the Lord. The day when all things will be judged, and burned up, purified. If our focus is on the things of this world, to think about the things of this world burning up can be a scary thought, especially if we have too strong an attachment to them.

When we think about the future, when we think about our future, we need to remember God’s promises. When we think about the end of the age, when we think about Jesus coming to judge the quick and the dead, we need to remember God’s promises. When we think about the heavens and the earth and all it’s works, all the monuments to man’s pride being burned up, we need to look to the promises.

The promises Peter is referring to are the promises in Isaiah 65:17 and Isaiah 66:22. Isa 65:17 says, 17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.” NKJV

And Isa 66:22-23, says “For as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I will make shall remain before Me," says the Lord,
"So shall your descendants and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass
That from one New Moon to another,
And from one Sabbath to another,
All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the Lord.
NKJV

And let me read the last verse of Isaiah too for it is relevant to the text this morning and the times we live in. Isa 66:24
24 "And they shall go forth and look
Upon the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm does not die,
And their fire is not quenched.
They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."
NKJV

Clear promises that at the end of the age, He will make all things new and that there will be a terrible judgment. All those who have transgressed against God will face an everlasting punishment. “For the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

We have these promises from the prophet Isaiah, and we have these same promises repeated in Revelation 21:1 “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” NKJV

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. The burning up of this old world along with all it’s works won’t affect us if we are saved. That will be a terrible day for those who are not in Christ Jesus. It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God, and fall they will.

As Christians we have a different perspective, we read God’s promise and it creates in us a longing for these things. We look for new heavens and a new earth. It could be translated “We wait eagerly” for that day, there is an excitement and expectation for the day when we will be face to face with the One who died to save us.

We wait eagerly for new heavens and a new Earth in which righteousness dwells. Righteousness will have to dwell there because God will dwell there. Sin cannot dwell in the presence of God, so only those made righteous by the sacrifice of Christ will dwell there. We will be made new; once and for all the struggle against our flesh will be over. Today we are reckoned as righteous, but not yet righteous. At that time we will be righteous. We will have new bodies that won’t be tainted with a sin nature. John says that when we see Him face to face, we will become like him.

But this promise is only for those who have been granted the righteousness of faith in this life. If you have repented and believed the Gospel, then God sees you as righteous, and you will dwell in the new heaven and new earth.

All the unrighteous will be cast into hell.

Verse 14, “Therefore beloved, looking forward to these things”, and we are, there is an eager expectation of these things. There is an eager expectation of the day Jesus will return and set all things right. Therefore since we are looking forward to that day we are to “be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.”

To be found by Him in peace, is to be saved. When we are saved we are at peace with God. Rom 5:1-3 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” NKJV

We are at peace with God; we are no longer God’s enemy. Rom 5:10-11
“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” NKJV

Since we have been reconciled to God and have found peace, we are given the gift of reconciliation so others too can find this peace. 2 Cor 5:18-19
“18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” The word of reconciliation is the Gospel; it is the means by which people find peace with God.

In the old days when we used to fight real wars, you knew when the war was over; you knew when there was peace because one side surrendered. In World War II it was over when First, Germany surrendered, and then Japan surrendered, then and only then did we have peace, and we celebrated peace.

I was an enemy of God, He had awakened me to my need, he had shown me my rebellion in early junior High and I fought Him off for about 4 years. I don’t remember what my prayer that night was. I don’t remember thinking that deeply about my sin. Oh I new I was a sinner and deserved hell, that I knew. But more than anything, what I did that night was I laid down all my weapons. I laid down my pride, my will, any thought I had that I could clean up my life on my own, I laid it all down and surrendered. And I told God He was in charge from now on. Did I repent? Yes, my life was never the same. I moved in a completely different direction.

That night almost 40 years ago I was found by God in peace. I was no longer His enemy. I need to be diligent to continue to be found by Him in peace, and Peace only comes through the Gospel.

God has called every Christian into a ministry of reconciliation. We have been called to peace, and we are to help others also to find peace with God as well. But as I said, peace is to surrender and that’s not an easy thing for people to do.

As Christians our Consciences are at peace. Jesus said, John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” NKJV

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” NKJV

The world can be falling apart all around us and we are at peace. We can be sick, we can be dying, we can be persecuted, we can be in the eye of the storm, but we know that He is with us. He will carry us through either to health and safety or he will carry us to His side, and we trust Him.

Rom 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” NKJV Why should we worry, God did not spare His own Son. We are His children, God made the greatest sacrifice anyone has ever made for us, is he in turn going to turn around and let anything happen that’s not for our best? Of course not. Let the peace of God which passes all understanding rule in your heart today. We are at peace with ourselves; we are at peace with our circumstances.

And we are at peace with all people. Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: NKJV

Also 1 Thess 5:12-13 “And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves.” NKJV We should be at peace with each other, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Be diligent to be found by Him in Peace.” In chapter one he told us twice to be diligent. 2 Peter 1:5-8 We are to give all diligent to add to our faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self control, perseverance, piety, brotherly love and agape love. Then again in verse ten we are to be even more diligent to make our call and election sure. Now we are to be diligent to be found by him in peace.

This means effort, to exert oneself. Jesus said that those who enter the kingdom press into it, or violence into it. The Christian life if lived rightly is a battle. Satan doesn’t let us just coast through lives without any temptations or trials. We need to be diligent to be found by Him in peace.

As much as it is up to us, we need to be at peace with our fellow man. The only thing that we should ever do that should upset someone is that we should share the gospel with them. We should be good and gracious neighbors, we should be hard working, and non-complaining employees and we should be kind to our co-workers. We should love and care for our family. We love the brethren, that is one of the evidences that you have been saved.

We need to be diligent with our own soul to be at peace. We need to be regular in scripture and prayer, so that we might know God and can take comfort in His promises.

And we need to make sure our relationship with God is right, that we are reconciled, that we regularly confess our sin and that we regularly preach the Gospel to our selves. We do that by knowing nothing in our lives but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When we sin we confess it and take it to the cross and we remind ourselves that Jesus died for those sins and they are forgiven. When someone wrongs us, we remember that we have wronged Jesus in so many ways but yet he forgives. Now we are to restore the person, especially if he is a brother or sister in Christ, in all gentleness remembering that we too are sinners who have been forgiven. How can you lash out in wrath, at your child or spouse for something they have done, when those sins have already been paid for on the cross?

Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Don’t let Jesus return and find you in a feud with anyone. Jesus said, If you have anything against a brother, or if your brother has anything against you, go to Him, make peace with your brother then come back and worship. Relationships take work, our relationship with God takes diligence, it takes effort, and it takes work. Our motivation has to be right. We are not motivated by any notion that we can earn anything from God. No, it’s because of the cross that we want to make an effort to know Him better.

We are also to be diligent to be found by him without spot and blameless. What do you want to be doing when he returns? Do you want to be in the middle of a fight with you spouse. Do you want to be cheating on your taxes? Do you want to be lying to your neighbor? Do you want to be gossiping? We shouldn’t want to be doing any of those things. We should be so much anticipating our Lords return that it should motivate us and give us the desire to be without spot and blameless. Not that we will ever achieve that in this life, but our love for Him, and our desire to be part of His pure bride when he comes give us a hatred for sin and a love of righteousness.

This again touches on our affections. We look forward to our Lord’s return and we are diligent because we love him and we so want to please him, because of that our desire is to be pure. It’s important that the church preaches on the second coming of Christ because it has a purifying effect on the church. It doesn’t matter if Jesus doesn’t return for 1000 years. To preach on Christ’s second coming rightly will have a purifying effect on the church.

Verse 15 says, “And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” NKJV Peter returns to a previous topic. A few verses earlier he wrote, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Peter repeats himself for emphasis. Peter wants to be clear on this; we need to be clear on this. We are to regard Christ’s delay in coming back to judge the living and the dead, not as evidence that He is never coming back, but proof of His mercy; proof that His desire is for people to get saved.

Many had come to a different conclusion. Many had looked at the years since His ascension as proof that He was never coming back, that His promises had failed. Peter says no; don’t believe those who say that. What it means is that Jesus is merciful and longsuffering and He wants people to get saved. The fact that it’s almost been two thousand years is proof of how merciful He is.

With our trip this summer to Paris, I’ve done a little research into Frances History, especially their revolutions. In the 1789 revolution they started guillotining mostly the aristocratic class and enemies of the revolution. But during the reign of terror it turned into anyone who disagreed or spoke out against the newly formed government was guillotined. Zero tolerance, that’s the way man is, no patience, no mercy, no longsuffering. Our God is the complete opposite, mankind rebels against him daily, slanders Him daily, curses him and maligns his character daily and they are still living.

Sinners should not come to the conclusion that since God has not dealt with them yet, that he won’t or that he doesn’t keep his promises. What that proves is His mercy, and that He wants sinners to repent and get saved.

It’s interesting to read what Peter says about Paul. There doesn’t seem to be any hard feelings from when Paul rebuked Peter for His hypocrisy. We can tell from his statement that those who read Peters letters had also read Paul’s letters. And there is an indication that some of the content was similar to what Peter was writing to them. Paul also had written to them about the long suffering of the Lord and the desire of God for people to be saved.

“As also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” Let me draw your attention to the word twist. In the Greek it’s a very descriptive word, it literally means to torture on the rack.

They torture scripture to make it say what they want it to say, rather than what God said. In my opinion it describes perfectly what many in our own day are doing. It describes what Rob Bell is doing with the doctrine of hell, it describes what the ELCA did, it describes what the health and wealth teachers do with scripture. It describes what all false teachers do with scripture; they torture it to get it to say what they want it to say.

2 Peter 3:17 “You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” NKJV

Peter has for-warned us. We know what we need to know concerning false teachers. We also have the benefit of what Paul, Jude James and John wrote. We also have the benefit of Jesus’ own words concerning false prophets and teachers. Beware, if you fall its nobodies fault but yours. If you fall it is because you want to fall. We are warned about false teachers throughout the scriptures both old and new. We are without excuse if we ignore the warnings. “Beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness, being lead away with the error of the wicked.”

Literally it’s the error of the lawless. Peter isn’t necessarily talking about the complete reprobates of society. He’s not talking about murderers or thieves. He’s talking about the one who lives there lives with no regard to God’s laws. Instead they make up a whole list of man made laws that they are more comfortable with. If that is what Peter means, he has described the day in which we live. The church is lawless; there is no conviction of sin because people aren’t told anymore what sin is. If we are led away into their error and our own steadfastness, does that mean that we could loose our salvation? Sounds like it to me.

But there is an option, we need to know the dangers, but instead of focusing on the dangers we should focus on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and grow in His grace and knowledge. Knowledge is again a personal knowing of Him. Speaks of a relationship. Also knowledge speaks of understanding Him rightly in His attributes. Yes He is love, but to truly know God we need to know about His holiness, His mercy, His justice, and any number of other attributes revealed in the scripture. If you don’t have His attributes right, can you really say you know him.

To grow in grace is to grow in the Gospel, for that is the source of Grace. It is not only the means of salvation; it is the means of our sanctification as well.

Peter talks about many different days in the conclusion of his letter. He’s talked about the day of the Lord, the day of God and here at the end it’s literally the day of eternity. “To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen !

Living Like Last Days Christians (2 Peter 3:9-13)

2011-04-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Living Like Last Day Christians

2 Peter 3:9-13
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

10 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

What are Peters’ last words to His flock? What is his last will and testament? If you knew you were soon to leave your earthly dwelling what would you want to communicate with us your church, or your family? What would the most important thing be? Jesus had told Peter some thirty years earlier how he was going to die. Peter seems to indicate that he’s received some kind of revelation from God that the time was coming soon. So these final verses in this letter are the things that were the most pressing on his mind and spirit.

Foremost on his mind is the Lord’s return. He doesn’t want them to listen to the nay-sayers who were trying to convince some that Jesus wasn’t going to come back. We have our nay-sayers today as well. MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said this a couple weeks ago. “The book of Revelation is a work of fiction describing how a truly vicious God would bring about the end of the world. No half-smart religious person actually believes the book of Revelation. They are certain that their God would never turn into a malicious torturer and mass murderer beyond Hitler’s wildest dreams.”

I would say that Lawrence O’Donnell has two problems. He’s an avowed socialist and atheist. As a socialist he understands that socialisms greatest obstacle to their utopia is Christianity. So he has to do whatever he can to destroy it. But aside from that O’Donnell’s comments on the book of Revelation indicates he doesn’t understand the nature and Character of God.

O’Donnell is right; no half smart religious person would believe the book of revelation. But one who has seen his own wretchedness, one who has seen his sin and understands how wicked and filthy it is, and one who has caught a little bit of a glimpse of the glory of God, His holiness, His righteousness, and His justice, has no problem believing Revelation and the Bible.

O’Donnell doesn’t believe in God much less sin. Of course Revelation is an absurd book. But for those who rightly recognize our own sin and the rebellion that is in the world through wicked works have no problem with the book of Revelation. Our only question of God is why He hasn’t judged the world already.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, He is coming again. He will judge every sin that has not been covered by His blood.

When we talk about sin, we need to remember that God’s holiness and justice demand that every sin be punished? Every sin done in darkness. Every act of adultery, every murder, every theft, no matter how small, every act of fornication, every lustful thought, every self-righteous thought, every sin will be punished. Either Jesus has already faced the wrath of God and has been punished for those sins on the cross, or you will have to face God alone someday in the near future, and you will be punished for your sins forever in hell. We are told in verse nine how we can keep from perishing, we avoid perishing by repenting.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Repentance is salvation; it is the inner and outward expression of the work that God has done in the heart. When God removes our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh, a heart that is tender towards Him, then we will repent of our sins. With our new heart we will recognize the depravity of our sin and we will hate it, we will turn from it in repentance and we will turn toward God.

As Christians I think we need to clean up our language. When we speak of what someone needs to do to get saved, we sometimes tell them they need to accept Jesus. No where in the Bible are we ever told we need to accept Jesus. In reality we don’t need to accept Jesus, He needs to accept us.

Language that is used in the bible is that a person must repent and believe. Jesus’ message when He started His ministry was, Mark 1:15 "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." NKJV Peter’s message at Pentecost was 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.” NKJV When Peter preached at Solomon’s Porch he said; Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” NKJV And Paul when he was preaching to the men at the Areopagus in Athens said; Acts 17:30-31 “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.” NKJV

Faith is synonymous with repentance. Repentance is the visible evidence that God has converted you. In some circles they will say when you witness to someone you should never tell them to repent, because repentance is a work. And salvation is by grace apart from works.

I reject that. Repentance isn’t a work; it’s a gift of grace. Acts 5:31 says;
31 “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” NKJV

Again in Acts 11:18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life." NKJV And in 2 Tim 2:24-25 “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth. ”NKJV

I believe the best language to use is the language of scripture. Repentance and faith. Repent and believe in the Savior. Now you may need to explain what that means. Repentance is a change of heart, a change of direction; the old Lutherans would even call it a change of affections. We used to love the things of the world, and now we love the things of God. We used to love our sins, now we hate them; it is a change of affections. But that can only come about with the use of the law. Because people have to see themselves as law breakers, and that they deserve the wrath of a holy and righteous God, then when you share the Gospel, they will cling to the Savior out of gratitude rather than a fear of Hell. As Ray Comfort has said, we don’t want fear filled converts; we want tear filled converts, people who have seen their sin and desire to be rid of them.

That’s what Peter is saying here. The Lord wills that all would see their sin as He sees their sin and that they would come to repentance. That they would hate their sin as He hates it, for that would be evidence that they were truly saved.

Peter starts reminding them of the promises of God and the long suffering nature of God. Next Peter wants us to know the surety and the manner of His coming. “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” We have two important points in this sentence. First, the Day of the Lord will come. Peter had just said the Lord is not slack concerning His promise and His last promise was that He was coming back. This is an emphatic proclamation of the surety of Jesus’ return. The day of the Lord will come. You can be sure of it, you can stake your life on it, you can rest in it. No doubts, He is coming again.

The second thing he says is that He will come as a thief in the night. He will come unexpectedly. This is what Jesus had taught, this was not a new revelation Peter received. Matt 24:43-44 “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” NKJV

The Lord will come as a thief in the night. We don’t know exactly when He’s coming. But we are supposed to be aware of the signs of the times and we are to be ready at all times. It doesn’t matter if the Lord doesn’t come for a hundred more years, because I might meet him tonight. We don’t know when our allotted days will be up. We don’t know which night our souls will be demanded of us. We need to be ready. Heb 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. NKJV We need to make sure today that we are right with God, because we have no promise for tomorrow.

The Lord will come as a thief in the night. One has to stand in wonder at the foolishness of trying to predict the day of Our Lord’s return. But throughout History hundreds have, and every one has been wrong. In the same way those who today tell us they know when Jesus will return will be wrong. For the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Then Peter goes back to what he said in verse seven. 2 Peter 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
NKJV

Verse ten Peter goes into more detail “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.” The heavens and the earth are also affected by sin and are in travail waiting for the day of the Lord. They too will be glorified and remade just like we will. This is transformation language, this is purification language. The heavens and the earth will be remade, as he says in verse 13, “According to His promise, we look for new heavens and new earth Where righteousness dwells.

The word "elements" does not refer to the chemical table of elements, such as oxygen, helium, gold, silver, carbon etc. It’s more in the meaning of elements, elementary, basics, rudiments, principles. I think it maybe has to do with the effects of sin on this world, and even the principle powers of this world system that hates God. This will be all done away with. And it says “the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up”. Works will be burnt up. Everything that man has accomplished in his pride will be gone. It sounds like Paul’s white throne judgment, where all of our impure works will be burned up. Every human accomplishment that was done apart from the spirit and glory of God, poof, gone. Paul says that for some Christians they will be saved but all there works will be burnt up. Nothing that is unholy will survive this judgment.

All the monuments of man will be burned up, the Statue of Liberty, the Eifel Tower, the Great Wall of China, Winchester Cathedral; all the works of man will be burnt up. This summer Rachel and I, her two sisters and my two brothers in law, six of us will make a trip to Belgium and Paris. What for? To see the works of man. We will view great monuments and great cathedrals, listen to great pipe organs, and see world famous works of art. While here on Earth, today these have great meaning and value, in eternity they are nothing. They are all monuments to men, not to God. Some day these will all be burned up.

If we are honest with ourselves we have our little monuments, our works. Our houses, our retirement plans, cars, motorcycles, televisions, computers, you name it. When that day comes it will all burn up to make way for the new heavens and new Earth where righteousness dwells.

That brings us up to one of the most important questions posed in the bible.
2 Peter 3:11 “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” NASU

Since all of these man made monuments and systems of man are going to pass away, how should we live? Our world today is a reminder that not only will it pass away, but it is passing away. Both Paul and John tell us the world is passing away. 1 Cor 7:31 “For the form of this world is passing away.”

1 John 2: “And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Look at our world today, it is in turmoil, it is in transition, it is a mess. Think about the Earthquakes in the last 14 months. Haiti, Chili, Christchurch New Zealand, and now Japan. The political turmoil, in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Israel and many more places including our country.

When you hear of (Mark 13:8) nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. NKJV Jesus said, “Luke 21:28 “when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." NKJV

These disturbances in governments, cultures and nature are an argument for Holy living. Whenever we hear of these things, it is God preaching a sermon to the world about the vanity of man, his works, his ambition, his art, his fashion, his pleasures, and his proud over-bearing science.

What are we living for? This world that will pass away some day? Really, what we are living for? This body that will someday return to dust? Things that in just a few years will end up in a garbage dump? Pleasures that only last for a fleeting moment but you spend the rest of your life, with it’s guilt, shame, and consequences? Statues, fountains, bridges, monuments to man, all gone. This world will pass away, it will be purified, all the works of man will be burned up, that includes your works, therefore how should you live? You should live holy pious lives.

What’s really important? What are the things that are eternal? I again am reminded of a letter a high school classmate sent out to our graduating class for I think it was our tenth anniversary. She closed her letter by saying that Lloyd and I have determined to travel light in this life since the only thing we can take with us when we die is our family and friends. That is a proper understanding of what the Spirit of God is telling us in this passage. Since all these things will be destroyed, how should we live? We need to live like we are in the last days.

How should we live? We should live lives of repentance and we should be broken hearted over the sin that so easily besets us.

We should believe on Christ, and feed on his word. It should be more precious to us than our physical bread. John 6:27 “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." NKJV

We should be merciful; knowing that through the Gospel God has been merciful to us. We should live in the Gospel. We should be motivated by the Gospel. If we feel someone has wronged us, our response should be tempered by the knowledge that I have done far worse things to God and he has forgiven me through the Gospel. It should flavor your every response to your fellow man, including your spouse and children. Keeping the Gospel ever before us, and the reminder of how much Jesus has forgiven us will help us be merciful.

We should be grateful. Knowing the judgment that is going to come on this world and all it contains is a reminder to us that we deserve the same thing. We deserve God’s judgment, not His blessings. We are grateful because we acknowledge that it is all underserved.

We are hopeful because all his promises are true. God is not slack concerning His promises. He has given us great and many promises that we can trust our lives to, so we have a hope firmly anchored in Him.

And we are ready for the dissolving of this present world system and all it turmoil and pain. As Peter said, “the day of the Lord will come.” And we are ready, we are tired of our battle with sin and the world, we are ready to go home to be with Our Lord and savior and we say along with John the Apostle, Rev 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” NKJV

3/20/2011 God's Promises (2 Peter 3:1-11)

2011-03-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

God’s Promises

2 Peter 3:1-11
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 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. NKJV

Peter is getting ready to bring his letter to a conclusion. And he says I am writing you this to stir you up, to make sure you remember some things. Memory has been a theme of this letter. In chapter one he says: 2 Peter 1:12 “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. 13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, 14 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me”. NKJV

He knows his time is short and he considers that he would be negligent if he didn’t remind them of some things as often as he could in the time he has left. He uses words such as reminder, mindful; do not forget, in this text today.

The memory is a funny thing. If we are not constantly reminded of certain truths we can stray away from them. And I’m afraid a lot of times it’s like Peter says in verse five, we willfully forget. It’s an intentional thing; we purposefully block things out of our mind because we don’t want God’s word and God’s truth from interfering with what we want to do.

Peter makes three points in this section. First he says God’s word is true. Second he says God’s work is consistent, third God’s will is merciful.

Peter starts out this last section with a term of endearment, beloved. Four times in this last chapter he uses the word beloved. Beloved, most loved ones. Some translations say dear friends. That hardly does it justice. These people are more to Peter than simply friends; they are people he has sacrificially poured out his life for. This is the love of the brethren. He loved them, and cared for them and wanted to make sure that after he was gone they would be well anchored in Jesus and able to advance the kingdom without him.

He acknowledges that this is the second letter. He is writing this letter to the same people as the epistle 1st Peter was written to.

His emphasis in this section today is, God’s word is true. He goes back to God’s Word. He ended chapter one with telling us we have a sure prophetic Word. Then he spends all of chapter two warning us about false teachers. Now he brings us back to the Word of God. And take notice of what he says, we are to be mindful of the word spoken before by the prophets, and we are to be mindful of the commandment of us, the apostles. He is putting his and the other Apostles writings and teachings on the same par as the Old Testament Scriptures.

Now we don’t have a problem with that today, but that was a pretty bold thing for him to say back then. But they knew that what they were saying and writing was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that they were in fact speaking and writing the very Word of God.

It’s important for us to have a balance. Some people completely ignore the Old Testament, and think it has no relevance at all. That’s wrong. Peter says we need to be mindful of the things written before by the prophets. It’s important. The Old Testament tells us much about Jesus. Jesus said in John 5:46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.” NKJV On the road to Emmaus Jesus was speaking to two men who didn’t recognize him and this is what Jesus did, Luke 24:27“Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” NKJV And before His ascension he taught the disciples. Luke 24:44-45 “Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” NKJV

The Old Testament is about Jesus. It prophecies of His Birth, His life, His death, His return and His millennial reign on Earth. In the Old Testament He is the Passover Lamb, he is the shepherd of Ps 23, He is the City of Refuge, He is the creator, He is Rahab’s scarlet thread, He is the Rock that followed them in the wilderness, He is the manna from heaven, he is the kinsman redeemer, He is Jonah in the fish, he is a priest of Melchizedek, he is Jacobs ladder, He is the Temple, He is Isaac being sacrificed by His father, and I could go on and on. Now we need to be careful that we don’t allegorize every verse, but as you can see Jesus is ever present in the Old Testament.

Whereas we can’t ignore the Old Testament, we do need to be careful with the Old Testament, because much of it was written to the Nation Israel, and doesn’t directly apply to us. Now we can usually take a principle from what God told Israel and apply it to our situation, but to bring it straight across can cause problems. We need to remember we are under a different covenant. In the old covenant they had a lot of dietary laws and other holiness laws. The purpose was that Israel would be different. They weren’t to eat Pork, they were not to wear fabrics made with two types of fibers. In essence they were to be different from their neighbors. They were to be different from their Idol worshiping neighbors who were into gross sexual sin and child sacrifice. These things were to remind them that they were called and set aside by God to be His own people. Now today we eat pork, shrimp, lobster and catfish but does that mean there is no principle we should take from those laws and live by today. Yes there are. God still calls us to be in the world but not of the world. We are not to love the things of the world, the principle behind those laws are still very much in place and reinforced in the New Testament.

The prosperity preachers are the one group that misuses this principle the most. If you listen to them they almost always are quoting Old Testament scriptures. They are using these quid pro quo promises to Israel and directly applying them to the Christian life today. By quid pro quo I mean God told Israel to do something and if they were obedient God promised to bless them materially. We don’t see that in the New Testament, Jesus said if we are obedient and follow Him we might not even have a place to lay our head. Jesus said if we are obedient we will be hated for His name sake. Jesus calls us to take up our cross, die to self and follow Him. There is no promise of material prosperity in the New Covenant.

Peter says we need to be mindful of all these words that we have in our bibles. We need to know that they are true. We need to be firmly grounded in the word of God. We need to know because people will come along and challenge us. In verse three Peter says, “Know this first.” Peter says, scoffers will come and attack the very reason of the hope that is within us, the fact that Jesus will come back for us and take us with Him to heaven.

The New King James says, “that scoffers will come in the last days.” Literally he uses the word double for emphasis, “He says scoffers will come scoffing.” Some translations say Mockers will come scoffing. There nature and character will be that they are scoffers, and they will act true to their nature. They will scoff at God’s word. They can’t help it, it is who they are.

They will come walking in their own lusts. The word lust is a desire for that which God has forbidden; it is a word of rebellion. It of course can and does mean sexual lust but the word is far broader. It’s the “It’s all about me” Syndrome. It’s the, if it feels good do it, no matter what the consequences, syndrome.

On the news a couple weeks ago there was a classic example. There was this woman with two children, who was working and she was given an oversea assignment for a couple weeks. She was separated from her family, her children and she decided she liked it. She said for the first time in her life she had some “me” time and she liked it. She came to the conclusion that being a wife and a mother was to demanding and she had lost her self in doing that. When she got back from overseas she moved out of the house so she could discover herself, and of course they had some secular psychiatrist that was trying to make sense of this and really condoned it. He thought it was a wonderful thing for her. Maybe it was for her but I’m sure it was hard on the kids. I guess that is what happens in a culture that looks at children as an inconvenience.

Me, me, me, people walking according to their own lusts. The idea of sacrificing yourself for your spouse or your children is becoming a foreign thing in our land. When I think of my dad, trying to support seven children on a construction job. He worked long and hard hours and ate a lot Velveeta cheese sandwiches at work to make sure we were always fed and clothed and had a roof over our head. Today rather than being inconvenienced by children we either abandon them of abort them.

Scoffers will come in the last day. We are in the last days. Biblically the last days are the whole time period between the ascension and the return of Christ. Scoffers will come scoffing in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, saying, where is the promise of His coming? We see that all over the place, scoffers denying that Jesus even lived, much less that he will come to judge the quick and the dead.

Evolutionists imagine this world being billions of years old; to suggest to them that Jesus is coming back and will judge them for leading millions astray will cause them to mock you. The world has been here a billion years it will be here another billion years so they think.

Now Peter was dealing with a different type than that. He was dealing with false teachers who said, why do you talk about Jesus coming again. Where is that promise? They even say that life goes on and has gone on without change since creation. So what do you mean by saying Jesus is coming back at the end of the age.

They do have half a point, the laws of nature and natures God do have a consistency to them. There is predictability to them. We see that everyday in our weather forecast, we see it in our calendar as we see season after season pass year after year. We see it in our clocks we can predict with accuracy when the sun will rise in the morning. The laws of gravity, and inertia are predictable and are used every day by engineers to make our lives safer.

But we make a mistake if we assume that because we witness these things daily, that they happen apart from God’s will. God is not in bondage to the laws of nature; he is their creator and master and sustainer. What is a miracle? It is when God causes something to happen outside of the normal laws of Nature. Of course he can do that.

The problem for these people is that they are making a false argument. They say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

They look at history and say that nature repeats the same pattern year after year, even history repeats itself. We are in this continuous cycle that repeats itself and is never ending, what do you mean that Jesus is going to step into this cycle and bring it to an end? What evidence do you have for that? Things have always been this way.

God’s nature is very consistent, but God’s word is consistent too. Peter corrects them in verse five, and he’s not even nice about it. He says, "For this they willfully forget.” This is not absent mindism. This is not old age setting in, this is an act of the will, this is rebellion, in order to teach their false doctrine. They refuse to acknowledge the truth of Scripture. And blatantly ignore the parts that don’t fit into their plans.

Peter says “For they willfully forget that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water.” Water played a big part in the creation of this planet. Really when you think about it, water is what sets this planet from every known planet in the universe. We have water, in liquid form. They know there are traces of water elsewhere in the universe, but they have never found liquid anywhere but here. It is our planets lifeblood. It is the essential component of every living thing.

No, things haven’t always been the same. Things always haven’t continued from creation to today with nothing changing. God has intervened before; we know that from the Word of God. The example he uses is the flood, God used water, the unique thing about this planet, its life’s blood, He used water to bring judgment. Verse six, “By which the world that was then existed perished being flooded with water”.

They willfully forgot about this judgment, even though it is clearly laid out in the Scriptures. To say that Jesus is coming again and He will judge the world is entirely consistent with scripture.

“But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same Word, are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” That same word that created the world, judged that ancient world, now that same word is preserving this present world. God made a promise 5000 years ago to never again destroy the world with a flood, and he has kept that promise to mankind no matter how evil we have gotten.

So we are preserved by the same Word of God that condemned Noah’s generation. But we are not only preserved, we are reserved, for judgment, but this one will be a different kind of judgment. This judgment will be of fire.

Now you are probably asking the same thing many of them were asking. Well what’s taking you so long? There are plenty of ungodly men and women that need judging. Certainly this current generation can’t be better than Noah’s.

But not only is God’s word true, and God’s work is consistent, God’s will is merciful. And when thinking about these things we need to remember that God isn’t on standard time or even daylight saving’s time, he dwells in eternity. “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Peter is reminding us of scripture. Ps 90:4
4 For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night. NKJV

Peter is not giving us a formula. We can’t start looking in the bible and find everywhere God uses the word day and say, that God must have been talking about a thousand years. That would be crazy. Some of course have used this and looked back at the creation story and tried to extrapolate the six days of creation to six one thousand year days or even six epochs with millions of years in each day, but the Hebrew just doesn’t allow for it. In the scriptures when ever the word day is used with a specific number in front of it, and also with the descriptive, there was evening and the morning the first day. It is always a 24 hour day.

The thing Peter wants’ us to remember is that God lives in a different time zone; as a matter of fact he doesn’t live in time at all. Time is part of this creation. He created time; he is not bound by it. He dwells in eternity. In comparison to eternity, it has been but a blink of an eye since Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.

For Peter it had been around 35 years since the resurrection, for us somewhere in the area of 1980 years, the question still needs to be answered. Why is God waiting, why doesn’t he come and set up His kingdom once and for all? Why doesn’t he judge sin and sinners and end all of our suffering? Why doesn’t he shut up all the scoffers and blasphemers and others that constantly mock Him? If I were God, I would.

But that’s the point, God isn’t anything like us. Yes he is holy and righteous and justice is the foundation of His throne, but He is also merciful and he is longsuffering. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

We forget promises, we break promises, we deny we made promises, but not God. God is never slack concerning His promises. You can take them to the bank, no even better than that; you can trust your eternity to them.

Aren’t you glad God is longsuffering towards us? God is longsuffering towards this world, He is longsuffering towards our nation, God is longsuffering towards Iowa, towards Hauge Lutheran church, toward you.

He should break out against us right now and kill us for the sins we have committed since this service started. The fact that he hasn’t is proof that he is longsuffering. Your maybe thinking, well I haven’t sinned since this service started.

Where should I start? How about the first and greatest Commandment? Mark 12:30 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” NKJV

Are you going to sit there and tell me that you have obeyed that commandment for the last hour? If you do, you would be guilty of the eighth commandment as well, thou shalt not lie. No man, but one has ever kept that commandment, and that would be the Lord Jesus Christ. Just think of that, Jesus for 33 years for every moment of His life loved his Father with His whole heart, soul, mind and strength. But you never have loved him as He deserves to be loved, neither have I.

He is longsuffering toward us. He proved that on the cross. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. That is our only source of hope this morning. That is why we love Him, that is why we serve Him.

Amen

03/13/2011 More on False Teachers (2 Peter 2:12-22)

2011-03-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

More On False Teachers

2 Peter 2:12-22
12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire." NKJV

Michael Servetus was a brilliant man back in the early 1500s. He was a doctor, a philosopher and a theologian. But he was also labeled a heretic. He denied the trinity, and in doing so was condemned by both Catholics and Protestants. He was trying to find a way to make the gospel more appealing to Muslims and Jews, and he thought that if got rid of the trinity doctrine, they would join us. But scriptures say the preaching of the cross is a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the gentiles. So the gospel rightly preached will always offend the world

Michael Servetus was writing books and traveling all over preaching his heresy, and the law finally caught up to him and he was arrested and put on trial for heresy. John Calvin was one of those who was called on to witness against John Servetus. In the end Calvin cast his vote to execute Servetus as a heretic, but argued for a more humane way of execution rather than the typical burning at the stake. Calvin suggested that he just be hung instead. But the judge didn’t listen to Calvin’s plea, and John Servetus was burned as a heretic in 1553.

Now to my knowledge Luther never voted to condemn and execute any heretics, but he was brutal in his speaking and writing against false teachers and heretics. In some circles you can’t have a conversation about Luther without somebody bringing up Luther’s anti-Semitism. I deny that Luther hated the Jews. Luther Loved the Jews, and ministered to the Jews and he was so sure that once all the anti-biblical garbage added by the Pope was stripped away from the gospel, the Jews would repent and believe. But not only did the Jews not repent and believe in Jesus, but some local Jews really got aggressive and started proselytizing. In response to this Luther wrote some pretty aggressive thing against these Jews, and because of that, many today in theological discussions like to accuse Luther of being anti-Semitic, rather than argue the merits of what he taught.

Luther also wrote some pretty scathing things about the Pope and the Catholic Church. But he didn’t stop there, he wrote similarly scathing things about the Mohammedans as they were called in that day. Luther confronted false teachers and heretics wherever he found them. He wasn’t inflicted by political correctness. He confronted them because he knew if false teachers were allowed to go unchallenged that people would go to hell.

The things Luther wrote seem a bit extreme to our sensibilities. And we cringe when we read or hear about John Servetus. You maybe thought that only the Catholics preformed such gruesome tasks. No, the Protestants killed a few heretics back in that day as well.

I am not going to condone the killing of a heretic, but I am not going to judge the council that condemned him and carried out the execution either. They understood something in that day that I think we have mostly forgotten today. And that is this; when heretics and false teachers are allowed to peddle there false teachings and doctrines, people will go to hell.

Who had it more right? Yes their solutions were extreme. But we have no solution. False teachers are allowed to peddle their teaching in the churches and in the markets and they are leading millions astray, and few have the convictions to point their finger at them and name their heresy and warn people to stay away from them; to warn them that their souls are in danger.

In the first three verses in 1st Peter chapter two, Peter tells us of the destruction that happens when false teachers gain access to the church. He warns that souls will go to hell.

The next section, verses 4-11, Peter assures us of both of our salvation, God’s ability to save us out of these awful situations, and the surety of God’s judgment. In today’s text Verses 12-16 he speaks of the depravity of the false teachers, and verse 17-22, he speaks of the deception of the false teachers.

Personally I’m a little tired of preaching about false teachers. It’s not edifying, it’s not uplifting, but it is necessary. Peter spends the whole of chapter two hammering away at these false prophets that would try to gain access into the church. He wanted them and us to see how evil and how dangerous these people can be. Yes their judgment is sure, but in the mean time they can cause a lot of damage and cause a lot of souls to be damned to hell.

In verse 12 Peter tells us the extreme we should go to protect our selves and the flock from false teachers. He said, “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed.”

I remember a couple times growing up, up north where this came into play. One time it involved one of our cats, it had killed a chicken. The younger kids never knew what happen to that cat, I at the time was a little older and dad told me. He said once a cat gets a taste of blood in that manner there is no way to get it to stop. The cat had to be destroyed.

There was another time when some of the country dogs, farm pets that were never chained up like in town, dogs that were allowed to run the farmstead. The dogs started to pack together, and run the countryside at night, and like a bunch of ravenous wolves they would come upon some sheep or cattle in a pasture and they would just rip them to shreds. It was hard to know which ones were involved because long before day break they would be home, back to being themselves, the family pet.

Eventually the farmers figured out what was going on and took a two a.m. head count of their farm dogs, and when they figured out which were involved, the animals had to be destroyed, because again, once they get a taste for that kind of blood, it is impossible to change them.

“But these false teachers, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed. Speak evil of things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption.” Those false teachers should be caught, the same way brute beasts are caught and destroyed. That’s pretty strong language. Yes Calvin, Luther and others in that era had more extreme solutions to heretics than we do today. And I’m not going to say that their solutions were right. But maybe they were more in line with scripture than what we do today. Again let me remind you that Paul said if anyone preach to you a different gospel from the one you received from us , let him be accursed, let him be damned. Also Jesus said, it would be better if a milestone was tied around your neck and you were caste into the sea than for you to lead one of these little ones astray.

“They will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime.” They are so wicked that they don’t even have the decency to hide there indiscretions in darkness. They flaunt their sin in broad daylight.

Todd Bentley is another one of these false prophets, he considers himself a faith healer and a prophet. He had revival meetings several years ago in Lakeland Florida that lasted several months. They ended when it was reported that he had been having an affair with one of his female staff. They also found out he had been drunk at several of those revival meetings and I’m not speaking of being drunk in the spirit. He latter divorced his wife and married the female staff person and now he is trying to re-enter the ministry in spite of the fact that he has refused to acknowledge any wrong doing and repent.

Verse 14 is pretty descriptive. Peter says they have eyes full of adultery. Jesus said, if you look with lust, you have committed adultery of the heart. To have eyes full of adultery, is to not be able to look at a woman without having sexual thoughts about her. Now there is a little bit of that in every man. A few years back there was a book written about that to help Christian men entitled, “Everyman’s Battle”. It is every man's battle, but it should be a battle. But what Peter is talking about false teachers who have lost the fight.

This probably explains the number of Pastors who are addicted to Porn web sights; it seems I remember hearing that it is over 50 percent of Pastors view porn regularly on their computers. I have software on both of my computers that send an e-mail to my wife if I ever go to a questionable web site. I want to make sure I am never tempted.

“They have eyes full of sin and cannot cease from sin.”

Then it says they have a heart trained in covetous practices. The word trained, is translated from the Greek word we get our English word gymnasium from. Its working hard and training, putting a lot of sweat and energy toward a goal, a race, a prize, and the prize is covetousness. It’s the desire to get stuff, to profit from ministry.

Christian, we are in training too, but our goals are different. Heb 5:14
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

And again in Heb 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ESV

We are trained by the word of God and in this training we learn to discern good and evil. Also we are trained by the Lord’s discipline. When we respond properly to this disciple we receive the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

But these false teachers work real hard at figuring our ways to steal from their flock to enrich themselves.

Verse 15, “They have forsaken the right way and gone astray.” Jesus said I am the Way the Truth and the Life. Jesus is the way. Matt 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” NKJV

If you forsake the narrow gate and the difficult way, then you have forsaken your only hope of salvation. And it’s amazing to me to see so many pastors, teachers, and other professing Christians that don’t know what the Gospel is. The way the gospel used to be preached was this; It had two steps, first you had to get people lost, and then once they understood they were lost, then the Gospel made sense to them, and if they did repent and believe, they were more likely to persevere because they had an understanding of what they were saved from.

This last week I heard an interview of Scott Brown and a book he has written. The name of the book is “A Weed in the church”. It examines youth ministry and why 80% of youth who leave the local church and go to college forsake their faith within the first year. He calls contemporary youth ministry a total failure. Usually it’s all about entertaining kids for a few years and keeping them involved in church longer. The only problem is it doesn’t create disciples.

The pastor of my youth, Pastor Anhalt had a different solution to youth ministry, and how to keep kids involved in church. It was called getting them saved.

If as a pastor or teacher you don’t understand the way yourself, if you have denied the exclusivity of Jesus and yourself have forsaken Jesus as the only way to the Father, then not only have you gone astray, everyone who follows you will go astray as well.

As an example of the covetous heart he gives Balaam the false prophet. A foreign king came to him and offered him money to curse Israel, he really wanted to do it, he wanted that money, but God wouldn’t let him curse Israel. God even went so far as to have Balaam’s donkey speak to him in order to get Balaam to stop. In the end Balaam told the king to just have the daughters of his people marry the sons of Israel so that the daughters would lead Israel into Idolatry and then God would curse Israel. In the end he figured out a way to get his hands on the cash. And that’s the way Peter characterizes a lot of these false teachers. You definitely see that in all the prosperity preachers you find on television. Their whole message seems to be able to be summed up in this phrase. If you want God to bless you, send me money.

Then Peter moves on to the deception of the false teachers. Verse 18, they speak with great swelling words of emptiness; they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. They allure, they lay down bait. Now the great debate on this section is wither these people that are allured back into error were really saved to begin with. Or were these people just on the margins, the large group of almost Christians. To me it sounds like Christians, granted maybe baby Christians, new Christians not grounded in the faith yet, but they are Christians.

But that’s beside the point. The focus is on the false teachers that are causing all this eternal destruction. Verse 19, “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him is also brought into bondage.”

This is what happens; the false teacher is almost always antinomian. Thy are against any use of the law in the church. All they preach is grace, and freedom, but without law, human nature always devolves to anarchy, so then since the false teacher refuses to impose God’s standard on people, he replaces the laws of God with his own laws. And the people end up under the bondage of man. Examine any of theses contemporary churches that proclaim liberty and total freedom from the law of God and you will find that they still have laws but they are man’s laws. The pastors of these churches preach more legalism than Gospel churches.

These churches try to make you feel good about your sin but then they turn around and pistol whip you for not feeding the poor, for not working for social justice, for not recycling, for eating meat, for not voting for the candidate that is for income redistribution. They like the Pharisees misapply the true law of God, and instead burden the people down with man made rules. And instead of living in liberty as they were promised they end up in bondage.

Verse 20, “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” I don’t know, to me, the only way to escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is to be saved.

It is clear in scripture that the more light we have, the greater our condemnation will be if we reject that light. If someone gets saved and falls away trampling on the only means God has provided for us to be saved, there latter end will be worse than the first. It would have been better for them to have been born in the jungles of Africa and to never have heard the Gospel.

Or the Almost Christian who has sat in the church, has heard the Gospel preached over and over again, most people in the congregation probably consider him a Christian, but he has never submitted to Jesus as Lord of His life, never truly repented of the sins that he loves in secret, and has never crucified his attitude that he is good enough for God just as he is, and thrown himself totally on the mercy of God. The almost Christian that has so much light, but has never truly crossed over from death to life. Their latter end will be worse than if they were a complete infidel.

That’s why the false teachers are so dangerous. God can by His Spirit awaken a soul to the danger he faces, and some false teacher can come along and just put him back to sleep.

Now I am pretty confident in you. I’m not sure that this second chapter of 2nd Peter is all that applicable to your situation. Most of you have been Christians as long as I have been alive. You’re well grounded in the faith; you have sat under many Godly pastors that have done the jobs well. But the heart is deceptive, who can understand it, so even we have to be ever vigilant so that we don’t get deceived by some slick talking false teacher.

We need to examine every teacher and every teaching by the word of God. 1 John 4:1”Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” NKJV Amen

03-6-2011 The Lord Knows How to Rescue (2 Peter 2:4-11)

2011-03-06T16:27:00.000-08:00

2 Peter 2:4-11

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) — 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. NKJV

Do you remember the cartoon with Ralph Wolf and Sam the sheepdog? Every morning Ralph and Sam would meet at the time clock which was mounted on a tree. As they clocked in they would greet each other and then they would go to their respective departments.

Sam the sheep dog went to his post on the cliff and took his position as head of the sheep protection department. Ralph, true to his nature, would slink away into the forest to plan his strategy as head of the sheep acquisition and consumption department.

As the day wore on Sam sat patiently at his post with a protective eye looking over the flock as Ralph tried one scheme after another in hopes of making his quota of sheep for the day. However, no matter how hard he tried it seemed that poor Ralph’s plan was always thwarted by Sam at the last moment. Inevitably as the day drew to a close just before the whistle blew, Ralph would pull out all the stops and slip into his sheep costume and meander into the fold with the hope of finally catching his prey only to realize after his pray was in fact none other than Sam the sheep dog who had dressed himself up as a sheep in anticipation of Ralph’s scheme. Poor Ralph never caught a break.

Ralph’s sheep costume illustrates a tactic that is used by our enemy the devil. In fact in Matthew 7.15 Jesus warns us that in similar fashion Satan will send ravenous wolves into the fold dressed in sheep’s clothing to catch the sheep unaware and snatch them away by false teaching. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Satan will do what ever he can to destroy the flock. Therefore, it is imperative that we have discerning spirits so that we can discern the motives of those who are among us.

We see Peter’s heart in this second epistle. It’s a shepherd’s heart; it’s a heart much like Sam the Sheepdog. Always vigilant, always on the look out for wolves, even wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing. In chapter one he was full of encouragement and reminding us of the promises of God. He ends with a strong endorsement of the sacred text, the sure word of prophecy. But he knows something else, he remembers what Jesus said about false prophets.

Matt 24:4 For false christ’s and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. NKJV

Matt 24:11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. NKJV

Jesus had warned that there would be false teachers, in the first three verses from last week Peter describes these false teachers in the most unflattering terms. Now starting with verse four Peter gives us some examples from the scriptures how God has dealt in the past with those who strive against His will.

This past week I read about another one of today’s false teachers, Rob Bell. He is a part of what is known as the Emergent Church. He has tried to sell himself as somewhat evangelical, but now with his new book, it sounds like he will show his true colors.

This is what the publisher says about the book that will be released in a couple of months. “Fans flock to his Facebook page, his NOOMA videos have been viewed by millions, and his Sunday sermons are attended by 10,000 parishioners—with a downloadable podcast reaching 50,000 more. An electrifying, unconventional pastor whom Time magazine calls “a singular rock star in the church world,” Rob Bell is the most vibrant, central religious leader of the millennial generation. Now, in “Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived”, Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing that a loving God would never sentence human souls to eternal suffering. With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly optimistic—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.”

Rob Bell doesn’t understand the Gospel. He doesn’t understand the nature of God, His holiness, His purity, His righteousness, and His justice. He doesn’t understand that all sins are against an infinitely holy and eternal God; therefore the punishment has to be eternal. Rob Bell isn’t putting hell on trial, he is the one on trial, he will be judged for his false teaching. It would be better for him if he was tied to a millstone and cast into the sea than for him to continue leading people astray.

In verses 4-11 Peter does a compare and contrast with those whom God judged, and those who God saved. “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;”

This is written as an emphatic statement. It could be translated. “For God did not spare even the angels.” The angels were not above His law. The angels are mightier and grander than us. One angel in the Old Testament killed 300,000 soldiers. Whenever angels appeared to people in all their glory in the Bible, the people quaked with fear. Peter had seen angel in Acts 5; an angel of the Lord appeared and released him from prison. Peter had seen one of these glorious creatures, and having seen one himself, he was probably amazed that some of these creatures have also been judged by God. As spectacular as these creatures are, they are not outside the judgment of God. God did not spare even the angels who sinned. Where does that leave us? If we were smart it should cause us to fear.

This seems to indicate that there are two types of demons, demons who exercise a certain amount of freedom. And we need to remember that they are limited beings. They are creatures with limitations much like us, except they live in the spiritual dimension. Also they are limited by God. They can only do what God in his will allows them to do.

That gets us to the second kind of demon, and that seems to be what Peter is talking about here. Jude also mentions this class of demons. Jude 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. NKJV

They didn’t keep there proper domain, they did not observe the limits God had put on them, and for that reason they lost their freedom and for that reason they have been in chains ever since. We don’t need to speculate too much on what this all means. The point Peter is making is that they were judged. Even the angels were judged. How will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

And Peter goes on and says, God, “did not spare the ancient world.” Many today doubt that there was a global flood, and they laugh at those who believe such myths. Ken Ham from the Answers in Genesis ministry asks, "If there was a worldwide flood, what should we expect to see?"
“Billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.”
Then he asks, "What do we see?"
“Billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.”

God did not spare the ancient world. God judged the world. How could God do that, how could he wipe out the world? Some have estimated that in the first 1000 years the world’s population was already a billion people. God wiped them out. Justice, we know that was justice, because justice is the foundation of God’s throne. The scripture says this about that generation.

Gen 6:5 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. NKJV

The people were rebels. With the longevity of life in those days, keep in mind that Adam dies just a few years before Noah was born. They had access to truth, but they chose to do wickedness. It doesn’t say what kind of wickedness. But we know wickedness. We have seen it, we have read about it. The twentieth century witnessed some of the most horrendous atrocities the world has ever seen. Everybody likes to think of Hitler as the worse. He was just a beginner compared to Lenin, Stalin, and others. And In the ancient world we read of child sacrifice and other wickedness.

This world was probably worse than anything we have seen. Every intent of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually. This was the ancient world that Peter speaks about. God did not spare them. Their sin found them out and God’s justice was not idle.

“But God saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.” God judges by works, but he saves by grace.

Gen 6:8 “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” NKJV It doesn’t say, Noah found favor, Noah was found doing good works, Noah was found righteous, Noah was a good guy, It says he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. How does a heart turn toward God? I don’t know, it seems it doesn’t unless it is turned by God.

The question should be, not why God destroyed the world and every thing that breaths, but why did God save any? Noah was a sinner like all the rest, but he found grace. You are a sinner just like the worse heathen that has ever lived, but you found grace. This is the mystery of godliness, that God is somehow able to take wretched sinners and make them His children.

But God saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness. The Bible indicates that he preached 120 years to that generation, with only seven converts. Today the mega-churches try to justify what they do, by saying, “Well, it’s working, isn’t it. We worship 15,000 every Sunday. Look at how good it’s working.” The evidence of a successful ministry is not in the numbers involved, but in changed lives, in faithful service, in conformity to the scriptures.

Noah won only seven converts in 120 years. Jeremiah, very few listen to his message. Jesus, God himself, preached for three years on this wicked and perverse planet and at his death how many did he have. A dozen disciples and a few women, and at the end most of them deserted Him. Only a handful stood by the cross as he died.

Now we shouldn’t take comfort in our small numbers either. That doesn’t mean we are doing things right. We need to take comfort in our Savior and always try to make sure we are worshipping in accordance to the will of God, not the will of man. That’s all that matters. Are we faithful to God and His word.

In verse six Peter gives us a third example from scripture. “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly.” God’s justice did not sleep in the case of these two cities. God destroyed them as an example to all of us. It’s a picture of Hell. When we speak of Sodom and Gomorrah, we need to remember this is a warning to the world of how God will someday judge everyone who chooses to live ungodly.

But as with Noah, God is also mighty to save, He is able to save those who cry out to Him. Verse seven, “and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.” Now if you know anything about Lot, you know he was probably anything but righteous, but then the same thing could be said about each one of us. Lot had issues, the very fact that he ended up at Sodom is because he couldn’t get along with Abraham. The Bible indicates, he had problems with greed and covetousness. But we all have our issues don’t we? The Bible is clear, our righteousness doesn’t come from anything we do, but it is the righteousness of faith. A righteousness that is given to us when we repent and put our faith is the redemptive work of Jesus. The just shall live by faith. It was no different for Lot.

Verse 8, “For that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.” Peter writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives us a little insight into the character of Lot. Lot wasn’t perfect, just like we aren’t perfect, but he had a right attitude about sin. He hated it. He was vexed by it, he was tormented by it. One of the surest signs that one is saved is, what is your attitude about sin? Do you love it, or do you hate it? The question isn’t do you sin or not. We all sin. But what is your attitude about your sin. If God has given you a new heart, if you are a new creature, you will hate the sin that dwells in you, and you will be vexed and tormented by the sin you see all around you in the world.

It’s easy to criticize Lot, he did some scandalous things. But with a lot less truth than we have, he had a right reaction to the world around him. He was tormented by the sin that he witnessed day and night. How about us? Our culture is rapidly approaching the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. With the Biblical truth we have today our culture will be judged more severely that Sodom and Gomorrah.

If God is able to save Lot out of that wickedness then he is able to save us from temptation as well. Verse 9 “Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the Day of Judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.”

God is able to deliver. We don’t have to be slaves of sin. God is able to deliver. But just as he is able to deliver us from temptation, He also knows how to reserve the unjust, the unjustified, under punishment for the Day of Judgment. As we look at this world and it seems to be coming apart, the wicked are ruling the day and there seems to be little we can do to stem the tide. Know this, just as sure as you are about your salvation, that God has a place in heaven reserved for you. The ungodly, unjust and wicked have there reservations all set as well. They also have their reservation for judgment day. As unjust as this world seems to be at times, in the end God’s justice will rule the day.

Those who have repented and put their faith in Jesus and have had there sins forgiven will be counted as righteous for Jesus sake. Those who have not will have to stand before God on judgment day with all there sins revealed. They have a reservation in hell.

Before we close I want to deal with the last word in verse 10. Most translations use the word authority or dignitaries. That Greek word is used 164 times in the New Testament, and 162 times it is translated glory, or honor or praise. So I think to translate it authority misses the point. The rejection of authority is involved. Again it’s antinomian, against law, against God’s authority. Peter uses the word glory as a noun, rather than an adjective, or adverb.

What do these people despise? They despise anything that is holy. They despise anything that reflects the glory of God. They despise, Jesus, the atonement, the scriptures, life, marriage, they have declared war on anything and everything that God has declared as good decent and praiseworthy.

And Peter says the angels and even Demons aren’t so stupid as to do what mankind so easily does. Man, despises, mocks and blasphemes what is glorious.

All the false teachers, the immoral, the blasphemous the ungodly, the unjust, they all have reservations before God on judgment day. We need not be afraid that they will somehow escape justice. Rather than worrying about all of them we need to rejoice in the fact that God is mighty to save, that he is able to rescue us, he is able to save us from temptation. And in that, we will rejoice. Amen.

02-27-2011 False Teachers (2 Peter 1:19-2:3)

2011-02-27T16:20:00.000-08:00

False Teachers

2 Peter 1:19-2:3
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.

2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. NKJV

This is a very serious and solemn warning Peter is giving in chapter two. At the end of chapter one he speaks of the certainty of the prophetic Word. The true scriptures are not mans doing, they are God’s doing. Holy men were moved by God. And even though Peter said, “that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man.” Peter wants us to know that there are many False prophets and false teachers out there.

He says at the beginning of chapter two, “But there were also false prophets among the people.” Israel was full of false prophets. In Elijah’s day there were 950 prophets of Baal and Asherah that dined with the queen.

In Jeremiah’s day he lamented in Chapter five verse 31.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so. NKJV

He laments again in chapter 6, verses 13-14
Jer 6:13-14
And from the prophet even to the priest,
Everyone deals falsely.
14 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly,
Saying, 'Peace, peace!'
When there is no peace. NKJV

And once again in Jeremiah 14:14 God says,
Jer 14:14 "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.NKJV

There were false prophets among the people and the true prophets of God always had to do battle with the false. It was the same in Peter’s day, it is the same today.

Some false prophets are easy to spot. For even the novice Christian, they usually can spot the Mormons, the Jehovah’s witnesses, the Christian Scientist, and the like. But it gets trickier when it gets to mainline denominations. The complaint against mainline denominations used to be that I could become a dead orthodoxy. They believed and said the right things, it just didn’t seem to penetrate the heart, it didn’t change the person.

But today it’s far more blatant. The ELCA has endorsed an anti-biblical view of sexual ethics that goes against scripture and 6000 years of Jewish and Christian history. They also deny the infallibility and inerrancy of scripture. And the church leadership espouses universalism; that all are saved despite all the biblical evidence against such a teaching. Pretty blatant false teaching going on, but still fewer than 400,000 have left, leaving over They don’t preach the true gospel, instead they replace it with environmental and social justice and a whole bunch of liberal causes, and in the end all they have is moralism, their gospel boils down to, “just try to be a little nicer”.

The health and wealth gospel continues to flourish here and around the world. The Emergent church was a flash in the pan, they were going to find a new way to do church and a new way to live as a Christian, but with time they revealed themselves as just the same old heretics that have plagued the church for two thousand years. They preach cheap grace, there is no hell, homosexuality is not a sin, all we need to do is love one another, however you want to define Love.

We have Greg Boyd, with his open theism. Dallas Willard with contemplative spirituality, Oprah Winfrey the former Baptist with her New Age Spirituality, Even Glen Beck with his new age Mormonism, there are so many false prophets in the world today that it would be impossible to name them all.

N.T. Wright wrote a book a few years ago titled the “A New Perspective on Paul”, I’ve not read the book, but what I’ve heard is that he says we’ve misunderstood what Paul said about justification. And my understanding is that it pushes justification away from the protestant understanding of it, back towards the Catholic view. The reformation view is that justification is a legal transaction where we are declared righteous through faith in Jesus. The catholic Idea is that righteousness is imputed to us as we do the sacraments and good works.

It always ends up there, doesn’t it? You can be saved by grace or you can attempt to work your way to heaven. The bottom line is that proud man likes the idea of working his way to heaven. It’s hard to humble yourself and admit you can’t do it. As a matter of fact it’s impossible apart from God’s Grace.

Peter says in verse one that, “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”

Destructive heresies, the word destructive is a strong word, it could also be translated, ruinous, or damnable. These are teachings that will cause people to be damned to hell. Denying the authority and sufficiency of the scriptures will cause people to go to hell. Denying the exclusivity of Jesus and the Gospel, and preaching and teaching universalism, will cause people to be damned in Hell.

These people, these false prophets, even deny the Lord who bought them. This is what the pagan does, it is what the self righteous person does, I’m a good person and I don’t need Jesus to make it to heaven, I’ll do it my way. They deny the Lord who bought them with a price. They deny Jesus’ claim on their life. Not only did Jesus create them, he bought them with His precious blood. Jesus being the eternal God, potentially paid the debt for every sin that has been and will be committed. He, being infinite, paid the price that covers an infinite amount of sin. These false prophets who bring in these heresies that damn peoples souls to hell, are not saved themselves, they deny the Lord who bought them. They are self righteous. No, no, my sins are not all that bad, I’ll be fine, on my own, no one is going to own me.

They deny their only hope of salvation. There is no other name by which we must be saved. It is only in Jesus, and if you deny that, you will be lost in your sins, because the only way to have your sins forgiven and to escape the wrath to come, is to be saved by the one who bought you with his blood.

The new perspective on Paul, denies that we have been bought with a price. It denies substitutionary atonement. It denies that Jesus died in our place making payment. It’s a new view on justification, and what is justification. It is the means by which we are legally declared and seen as righteous by our holy God. And the means is faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It denies that we have been bought.

It’s been interesting watching some of these ministries, where years ago they seemed somewhat respected in evangelical circles, sure once in a while you would hear them say something that seemed off base, but it’s interesting that in time they have pretty much all shown there true colors.

Greg Boyd, Dallas Willard, Tony Campolo, have all shown their hand, and they have demonstrated a weak view of scripture, they all hold a type of wider mercy view that becomes universalism, and all have caved into the world on biblical sexual ethics. Just ask one of these false teachers what the gospel is and you see their true colors real fast. They will usually say little about God’s holiness and justice, little about sin, and little about the cross.

Peter says they bring in heresies that damn people’s souls. They deny the fact that they have been bought with a price, the blood of God. They bring on themselves swift judgment. The hottest places in hell will be reserved for these people. As Jesus said, Mark 9:42 "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.” He will still go to hell, but it still would be better, because if you are a false teacher and you are leading people astray your condemnation will be greater.

Verse 2, And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. The New King James says destructive, I believe that misses the point. The old King James says pernicious. Both mean about the same thing. I believe the English Standard Version is more accurate, it says “And many will follow their sensuality.” The NASB says the same thing, sensuality. The Revised Standard Version says licentiousness, meaning being obsessed with all things sensual.

Many cults have a sensuality element to it, David Koresh and the branch Davidians, Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, the Mormons with their polygamy, the Moonies, and many other lesser cults that are so small we never hear of them all have a sexual element to them.

In the last few years, sermons series about sex have become popular at many of the hip mega churches. The “Relevant Church”, that name tells me all I need to know about them. The “Relevant Church”, had a thirty day sex challenge, Ed Young’s church in Dallas Texas had a seven day sex challenge. And Troy Gramling of “Potential Church”, another church name that tells you all you need to know, had their sermon series titled, “Spin the Bottle”.

Then we have the main line churches with there confusion on sexuality and ethics, that are getting toppled one by one. The Episcopal Church and the UCC started it, The ELCA followed, and the United Methodists and the Presbyterian Church USA will probably soon follow.

“Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.” Combining sex with religion is one of Satan’s oldest tricks. It was common in the pagan world in Peter’s days, it was practiced by the Romans and Greeks, many of the pagan temples had temple prostitutes. That is what happens in false worship. We love our selves. We love what gives us pleasure, even if it is temporal and comes with lots of destructive consequences. If sinful man creates a god in his mind to worship, in essence he creates one like himself, so in essence when he worships this god, he worships himself.

A couple weeks ago I read a poem written by the British Journalist, Steve Turner entitled “Creed” He ended the Poem this way.

If chance be
the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky
and when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man
worshipping his maker.

Let me expand on that, When you hear of riots in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, and Wisconsin, when you read of aids epidemics in Africa, sexually transmitted diseases in our high schools, generational poverty caused by unwed mothers, divorce and broken homes, drug murders in Mexico, 54 million abortions in America, 80 to 100,000 Christians martyred every year, it is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

“Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.”

Adams Clark commentary says this, “The word lasciviousnesses is undoubtedly the true reading, and this points out what the nature of the heresies was: it was a sort of Antinomianism; they pampered and indulged the lusts of the flesh.

Antinomianism is one of the oldest heresies in the church. It means “Anti” -against, “nomian” – law, against law. They remove the law from grace, and your left with anything goes. This is how Jude 4 puts it. “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” NASU

In the process the way of truth is perverted, sinners aren’t convicted of their sin, and they don’t repent and trust the Savior for the care of their eternal souls. Jesus doesn’t receive the honor and glory for the blood he spilt on the world’s behalf; this is the greatest kind of blasphemy. That the lamb who was slain, does not receive the full reward of his suffering. That is the great tragedy when there are false teachers. Jesus does not receive the honor that is His due. That is blasphemous indeed.

Verse three, “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

This gets to there motivation. Covetousness certainly describes the health and wealth preachers. The theology that says if you are a Christian you have a right to expect and to get things from God. It’s all about physical health, and material things, never much about the spiritual. Covetousness is a good word to use concerning them.

The false teacher always becomes a pastor or a theologian for the wrong reason, for the wrong motivation. They might love the attention they receive. There is an automatic honor and respect that comes a lot of times with the title of Pastor or Reverend. Some people have been known to just use the title to grant themselves status and influence, even though they have never been to seminary or pastured a church. It’s motivated by covetousness.

And they use this title to exploit people. To get honor they have not earned, to gain respect, when they deserve no respect. In the case of prosperity preachers, they use it to buy jet airplane and live lives of luxury that in the real world they would not be capable of. But because people are so gullible and want teachers who will tickle their ears, they flock to these false teachers to the peril of their eternal souls.

The King James Version brings out something interesting. They translated verse two this way. 2 Peter 2:3 “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.” KJV Merchandising and marketing the church. That’s what the seeker friendly and mega-churches do. It’s all about the numbers. They tickle a lot of ears to get people to come. To keep them coming, sermons and worship choirs are used as marketing tools. You need to pack them in to collect enough offering dollars to keep the machinery running. When the church is a business, the members are looked at as merchandise.

The end of verse three says; “For a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

Have you ever looked around at what is happening in the world, and at the compromising church and asked, why doesn’t God bring judgment on these people? Judgment has not been idle, God has been keeping track, they will pay for every idle word, for every false teaching, for every soul that has been led astray.

James 3:1 says, “Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” Even a good teacher will receive stricter judgment, woe be to the false teacher, they will have to give account for every soul they have destroyed.

Jesus says in Luke 11:52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." NIV

They were the experts of the law, the scribes and Pharisees, not only were they refusing to go through the narrow door themselves; they were blocking the door and not letting others go in either. Jesus says “woe to you!” if you are blocking the narrow door. It will not go well for the false teacher on judgment day.

Judgment has not been idle this whole time, destruction does not slumber. They are storing up wrath for themselves for the day of wrath.

People throughout the ages have questioned why the evil seem to live better lives than the righteous. The Psalmist asks the age old question. Why do the wicked prosper? From Psalm 73, “Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

Then in verse 16 he says; “When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me — 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.
18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.”

He concludes starting at verse 27. “For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works.”

All of the false teachers, God will deal with. In next week’s text, beginning with verse 4, Peter gives us some examples of how God is capable of both judging sin and saving the righteous. It’s no big thing for God. He can do it and he will do it. Be sure of this, there will be a day of reckoning and God will deal with the false teacher and all that oppose God’s truth and all that deny the Lord that bought them. But just as important, we will see also that God is mighty to save. He saved Noah and His family, he saved Lot and his daughters, He can save you and me from the wrath to come. To God be the Glory. Amen.

02/13/2011 The Prophetic Word Made Sure (2 Peter 1:12-21)

2011-02-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

The Prophetic Word Made Sure
2 Peter 1:12-21
12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. 13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, 14 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. 15 Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

19 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

They say John Arndt, the grand father of Lutheran Pietism preached 46 different sermons on the text, “You must be born again”. I mention that at a fellowship in Des Moines a several years ago, and some of those there felt that was over kill. They didn’t think Christians needed to hear that kind of message over and over again. They thought that you had to move beyond those elemental teachings and get to things that are meatier.

I wish I would have asked them what they thought was meatier. After all what is meatier than the Gospel, and how it is that God saves us. What is meatier than hearing about the wretched sinfulness that is a part of my flesh, and how Jesus has redeemed me? If you ever get tired of hearing about Salvation, how to be born again, how God takes sinners out of the cesspools that they are in and saves them, be worried. Because there is a flaw in your understanding. You need to go back to verse five and add some knowledge to your faith, because you have a deficiency and if it is not corrected it could cause you to stumble.

I’m fifty seven; most of you have probably been saved longer than I have been alive. Some weeks I look at these texts and I think to myself, these guys know this. These guys know this stuff better than I do. Is it worth taking the time to preach yet another sermon on a text that you have probably heard preached 20 times already? The answer is yes.

That’s what Peter tells us in verse 12. “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.”

He says you are established in these truths, but yet I would be negligent if I didn’t continually remind you of these truths. The word established here, means to make as solid as granite. It was an architectural term, meaning to fortify and make firm. It was to lay a firm and solid foundation that would not crumble. He’s paying them a great compliment here; he’s commending them for being solidly grounded in their faith. But that doesn’t mean that he or they should just coast.

Verse 12 starts out, for this reason. Again we are tied back to the seven virtues, and the promises that are ours if we diligently apply them, and the seven virtues are tied to the gifts and promises of God in the first four verses. Peter very skillfully builds each section on the previous.

The reason Peter says he will keep on reminding his flock of these truths until the day he dies, is because there is so much riding on them. What’s at stake, our growth and maturity in Christ, our fruitfulness in life and ministry, our assurance of salvation and our abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom, all these things are at stake, and because of that Peter doesn’t care if his flock has heard it all before. Peter wants every one of them to have an abundant entrance.

What are the dangers? Why does Peter feel that it would be negligence on his part if he didn’t keep reminding them of things they already knew? I think we see it up in verse nine. We are prone to forget, and Peter seems to indicate that we receive forgetfulness. If we receive forgetfulness, who offers it to us? That’s a willing forgetfulness. Just like with itching ears, God gives them what they want. If people want to forget about being cleansed from sin, God will allow Satan to offer you forgetfulness.

Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love, take my soul oh Lord and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. That’s what Peter is worrying about. We are prone to wonder.

We see the importance of repetition in the Law. In Israel, they were to have an assembly every seven years and read the Law. Deut 31:10-13
10 “And Moses commanded them, saying: "At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess." NKJV

Everyone was to gather, yes it was for the young children who were too young to understand seven years ago, but everyone was to be there because God knew they were prone to wonder. Not only was it to be taught in the homes, and in the synagogues and in the temple and at all the feasts and festivals but every seven years everyone, including foreigners in the land, were to gather in one place and hear the entire reading of the Law of Moses. Because God knew they were prone to wonder. Well they didn’t always do this and they did wander.

Paul shares the same sentiment in Philippians 3:1 “For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” NKJV Paul wasn’t worried about repeating himself, he wasn’t concerned what people would think, if they would criticize him. If his enemies would think he was going senile. He was more concerned about his beloved flock. For you it is safe to be reminded of the Gospel and for why we should be able to rejoice in any and all circumstances. Yes you’ve heard it before and you will hear it again and I will make sure you never forget it because I want you to be there. Paul wants each and every saint that was converted through his ministry to arrive safely in heaven.

Peter uses the verb “remind” three times in verses 12-15. Verse 12 “I will not be negligent to remind you.” In verse 13 he says “I will stir you up by reminding you”. And in verse 15 he says “I will be diligent to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.” He wants them to remember what he just told them.

I used the word diligent there when reading verse 15 because in the original it’s the same word that is translated “even more diligent” in verse 10, and the root is the word translated diligent in verse five. So Peter ties this whole section together. In verse five they are to with all diligence supply seven virtues to there faith. In verse 10, they are to be even more diligent to make there call and election sure. In verse 15 Peter will with the same diligence that he is asking of them, he will supply that same diligence in making sure they never forget any of these things he’s taught them.

As one who proclaims the Gospel, I am not excused from its demands. I can not preach one thing to you and then not feel compelled to live the same way myself. Peter does not live by a different measure than what he expects of his flock. Peter says do you want to see what diligence looks like, watch my diligence in teaching these truths to you so you never forget them. That’s a good pastor.

Peter is being obedient to the command of the Lord. On Thursday evening when the disciples were with Jesus and they ate the Passover, Jesus prophesied Peter’s failure and restoration. Luke 22:31-32
31 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." NKJV

I’m sure Peter never forgot those words. That’s what he is doing strengthening the brethren. That’s what the church is for. It is to strengthen the brethren. The worship service is not for the unbeliever. Now we like it when the unbeliever comes to church and hears the Gospel, because they might get saved. But that is not the reason for the church. The church is for believers, especially Sunday morning. It is for the mutual strengthening of the brethren.

Some churches have gone out in the community and asked people what they would want in a church. They do a survey to find out what the world thinks about the church and what they think the church should be like. Then they take that information try to change the church into something that the world is comfortable with. I’m sure you see the issue. I’m sure nobody said they wanted to hear preaching about sin so they would understand what wretches they were so they would come to Jesus and get saved. I’m sure nobody wrote that on their survey card.

What did they get? They found out the people didn’t want hymns, creeds or liturgy; they wanted shorter sermons about relevant life issues. They wanted smokin rock bands leading the service, they wanted to be entertained. The problem is, the church is not for the unbeliever; it’s for the believer, that we might be encouraged, built up, that we might worship our God and savior Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth. Now unbelievers are welcome but we don’t design the service around them, we design it around the God we are there to worship and His word.

Peter was commanded by Jesus that after he was restored he was to strengthen the brethren. That’s what he is doing and he is going to keep on doing it until he takes his last breath, and even beyond.

Some feel that he is talking about the two letters he’s written, he is making sure they are circulated among the brethren, so that they will always have them before them as a reminder after he is gone. And he may be referring to the Gospel of Mark as well, for it was his eyewitness testimony that Mark had recorded. This would fit Peter’s style and the way he has tied everything together so far. Because this is what he addresses next. He addresses the reliability of the written word.

In this next section I am going to borrow an out line from a paper wrote for the Masters Seminary by John Sherwood titled. “The only Sure Word."

His opening paragraph and theses is this:
“In the face of challengers, the apostle Peter makes it clear in 1:16-21 that God's word is his source of authority and spiritual knowledge. In doing this, he shows that the knowledge gained in God's written revelation prevails over that gained anywhere else. Because of its superiority, Scripture deserves concentrated attention. All other conceivable sources of knowledge must bow the knee to God's Word.”
Then he outlines the progressive sources of revelation. From least important to greatest importance. First Peter lists, illegitimate myths, second personal experience, third the prophetic word, fourth face to face with Jesus.

In verse sixteen it says, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” That’s what the Greeks and the Roman’s did, that’s what the pagans do. They make things up; they create gods out of thin air. And in that day they would put on very creative and cunning theater productions depicting the god’s that they had created, and that was all they had.

In Hinduism, it seems like you can create your own God. You can take a piece of wood and carve an image of something and you can put it on your mantle and you can worship it as a god, and Hinduism says if you believe it is a god, it is a god. The cults are mostly the result of one man or woman’s fertile imagination. Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, Christian Science each the by product of one person’s vision or an outright con job.

But Peter’s faith was different. Peter’s faith is based on history, actual facts, real eyewitness testimony. It’s not something that they just made up. It’s not just the fertile imagination of one person. It’s not based on a vision or revelation given to just one person. Most of what is written in the Gospels was witnessed by the twelve disciples. Some times Jesus only took Peter James and John with Him. The Hebrew law said that truth had to be confirmed by two to three witnesses. This is not just made up by people who want to use religion as a means of control, not true Christianity.

“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Peter was in the inner circle, he was privileged to see some things the others did not see. Peter had an experience. This is the second form of revelation, there is some reliability here. The eye witness has a powerful testimony. Paul it seems that everywhere he went he gave his testimony, he told of his experience. I have had an experience with Jesus; you have had an experience with Jesus.

But lots of people have had experiences. Many people search and seek for experiences. My friend Will, tells of a woman he knows who so wanted to hear the voice of God. The literal voice of God. She had been in meeting where people had testified of hearing the audible voice of God. She was mad at God for not speaking with her. She wondered what God had against her, because He wouldn’t speak to her in an audible voice. This became her consuming desire, to hear the voice of God. Well eventually she heard voices, and it drove her to insanity.

People flock to meetings where they crave experiences. To be slain in the spirit, to see visions, to speak in unknown tongues, to be drunk in the spirit. Now I won’t say as some do that this is all false. But if we are just seeking an experience rather than seeking Jesus we open ourselves up to demonic deception, and in most of these meeting that is all that is there. Others see an image of Christ or the Virgin Mary in the frost on a window, or on there grilled cheese sandwich and these become the focus of there experience.

In verses 16-18 Peter tells us of his experience as an eyewitness of the majesty of Jesus. Specifically he is referring to the transfiguration which he experienced along with James and John. He was one of the few who did literally hear the word of God.

Then Peter moves on to the next form of revelation, the prophetic word, the scriptures. Human myths and fables, pretty much no merit or worth, experience, great value as long as it is grounded in a true experience with the living Jesus. But we even need to be careful with experience, experiences can be deceptive. They can be used and counterfeited by Satan. The next level of sure revelation, even more sure than our personal experience is the word of God, we need to judge our experience by the word of God.

Verse 19, “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place”. I like the way the English Standard Version says it, “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word.” We have something more sure, than even our experience, and that is the word of God. Everything we feel and experience we need to filter through the Word of God. This is a sure word and it is a light that shines in this dark and evil world. Many scriptures speak of the word being a light. Peter may have been thinking of,
Ps 119:10 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Ps 119:130 The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
Prov 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light.
And we are under this word until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in our hearts. Here we have the fourth stage of revelation. There is some disagreement as to what Peter meant by this, most taking the view of progressive revelations, moving from fables to experience to the sure scriptures, to being in the presence of God. Most interpret it this way.

The final revelation is to be in His presence. When the day dawns and the Morning Star arises in our hearts. From Revelation 22:16 we know that the Morning Star is Jesus. "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star."

This is the final revelation. The scriptures say in 1st John, that when we see Him we will become like him. 1 Cor 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

I don’t think this means that when we are in Jesus’ presence in heaven, that we will know everything there is to know. God is eternal, and infinite, we will spend all eternity striving to know this eternal and infinite Jesus. I believe the revelation is complete in the Bible, but our understanding is clouded by sin. We strive to read, meditate and learn the scriptures but this will always be incomplete in this life. When we see Him face to face our understanding will be perfect.

But this is for the future; it is good to know. It gives us hope that we won’t always wander in levels of confusion over what God has said, one day it will be sure and planted in our hearts. But then Peter takes us back to the scriptures. This is what we need now for our life and godliness.

He takes us back to the present. The future will be great. We will understand so much more than we do now, but first things first. Everything we need now, all the answers we need for life and Godliness are found in the scriptures. Verse 20 says, “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” ESV

Do you want to hear God speak to you audibly? Hand your spouse the bible and ask them to read to you. Someone has said that if God were to appear to us today and speak to us He would quote scriptures, because he has told us everything we need to know.

I know that you know the importance of reading your Bible every day. I know that for me to tell you again that you need to be in the scriptures every day is probably not necessary. You may think it tedious, I may think it’s tedious, but Paul and Peter and the Holy Spirit say that to be constantly reminded of these things is safe for all of us. Amen.

02/06/2011 Making an Abundant Entrance (2 Peter 1:5-15)

2011-02-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Making an Abundant Entrance
2 Peter 1:5-15
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. 13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, 14 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. 15 Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. NKJV

We see from the last few verses I read there, that Peter knows the time for his martyrdom is getting close. And he wants to give some last words of encouragement. Ok, so he’s not the first Pope, but what a pastor’s heart he has. He is writing to his flock, the Christians he has ministered to over the last several years and he wants good things for them. He wants them to grow in there faith, he wants them to have assurance of salvation, he wants them to be fruitful, and he just doesn’t want them to make it into heaven by the skin of their teeth. He wants them to have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. That’s what I want for you too.

I can’t remember for sure who or where, but I remember someone telling a story of a parishioner who came to church regularly but otherwise wasn’t too involved in anything. The pastor talked to him one day being concerned for the man's soul. The man explained, “Oh I don’t want to do anything grand for God, I don’t need any crowns of glory, I’ll be happy to just make it inside the gate and pitch a tent by the outer wall.”

Do you know what Peter would say to that man, “You need to be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, because I’m not even sure you’re saved.”

Peter, the Holy Spirit and I want your entrance into the everlasting kingdom to be one of abundance. This is what God wants for His children. He wants there to be great rejoiceing. He wants the angels to recognize you coming through the gates and saying “There is Dorothy Larson, a faithful and fruitful servant of God.” And the angelic hosts break out into applause as they recognize all the good works you did through the power of the gospel. And Jesus greets you and says “Well done good and faithful servant.” An abundant entrance, not just some corner in a tent by the outer wall.

How does this happen? I hope you’ve thought about those seven virtues. That’s interesting, seven, the perfect number, coincidence that there just happens to be seven. No coincidences when the Holy Spirit is the author.

Let’s review these seven virtues we are to add to our faith. Most of our Bibles call the first one virtue; let’s instead call it moral excellence for clarity. Then we have knowledge, that is knowledge of our God and savior Jesus Christ, both His attributes and a personal experiential knowing. As Paul said, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. The third one is self control, the fourth one is perseverance, we need to be faithful to the end, fifth is godliness which would be piety, reverence, worshipful. Sixth is brotherly love, love of the brethren, and seventh is agape love, love for the whole world, love for the lost, that desires to see them saved and come to the knowledge of truth.

Do you want your entrance into the everlasting kingdom to be supplied to you in abundance? Then give all diligence to abundantly supply your faith with these seven virtues. Peter does tie the two together. Look at verse 11, where it says “supplied to you abundantly”. That’s the same Greek word translated add or supply to your faith in verse 5. We are to supply abundantly to our faith these seven virtues, and if we do that our entrance will be supplied to us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom.

But then, lest we think this is something we do, we need to remember this is only made possible because of the gifts and promises of our God and savior Jesus Christ. It’s all Gospel centered. If you endeavor to do this under your own strength and power the only thing you will have in abundance is pride and self-righteousness and probably eventually heart –ache because you will fail. We always have to go back to the cross and the gospel to find our strength to go on.

In verse 8 Peter sticks with the language of abundance. He says “if these things are yours and abound”, literally its “super abound”, “then you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I’m not sure why the King James translated it “barren and unfruitful” and for some reason the New King James kept it, because it’s redundant and that’s not what the Greek says. The first word translated barren means inactive, unemployed, Idle. The second word translated unfruitful does mean barren or unfruitful. The American Standard Version says, “neither idle nor unfruitful”.

There is a saying; idle hands are the devils workshop. This is not directly from the Bible, but it definitely is a biblical principle. Idleness, laziness, sloth are warned about several times in scripture, especially in the Proverbs. King David was idle, he should have been with his troops out on the battle field but instead he was wasting time and he ended up on the roof and he was temped and he fell.

Your mind can get into lots of mischief if you just let it wonder. If these virtues are yours and super abound, you won’t be idle, you won’t be unemployed, you will be busy for the Lord. We should be busy as Christians. There is so much to do. There is a lost world out there. If you are giving all diligence to abundantly supply these seven character qualities to your life you will be busy. You will spend less time watching television and on the computer and more time reading your Bible and praying. Boredom will never be an issue for you. There is so much good stuff to fill your mind with, books, music, and today with the internet we have access to great preaching like never before.

“For if these things are yours”, it doesn’t say you need to do them, it says you need to own them. They need to be yours; they need to become a part of who you are. He doesn’t say if you do these things. It’s more than just doing something, its becoming something through the power of the Holy Spirit.
For if these things are yours and super abound, you will be neither Idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that is your desire this morning. When I look around at much of what is called Christianity today, it seems I see a lot of idleness and barreness, doing little to nothing for the kingdom of God. Peter is telling us there is no excuse for that. If you add these virtues to you faith you will by busy and fruitful. Does that describe your Christian life?

We are to add moral excellence, stay away from the media that is over sensualized. Movies, television, books, magazines, internet and music that these days are loaded with blasphemy and immorality. We are to flee these things.

We are to add knowledge, continue in prayer and bible study daily. Self control, mortify and kill the sins that cling so close to our flesh. Perseverance, make it to the finish line no matter what, Jesus is worth it. Godliness, live your life in the presence of God. He is here, he is with you. Your body is a temple; know that what ever you do, where ever you go, God is there. Brotherly love, make every effort to be with other Christians every chance you get, for the building up of yourself and the body.

And finally add love, agape love, the love for the world demonstrated by Jesus. Be Evangelical, an old missionary, I don’t recall who said it, but he said this, “Every Christian needs to be involved in missions. Every Christian should have scares on there hands. Every Christian should either be going down the rope, or holding the rope that the others are going down.” Those going down the rope are the ones going. They are going to foreign lands, they are going to the homeless, they are going out in the streets to do street ministry. Those holding the rope, are the rest of the church, financing and praying for those going.

Again, If these things are yours and abound, you will not be Idle or unfruitful.

But what about everybody else? What about the 90% of what is called Christendom today that seems to just be sitting on their hands? Peter addresses that next. He says, “He who lacks these things is short sighted.” You’re not seeing clearly. You're looking through an opaque piece of glass and all you see is light and vague images. You’re in a fog. That’s the imagery that is being used here. That accurately describes much of what is called Christianity. It is clueless. Recent surveys conclude that most people who identify themselves as Christians are biblically and theologically illiterate. Terms like regeneration, the atonement, the righteousness of faith, propitiation mean nothing to them. And they think “Judge not” is one of the Ten Commandments and there favorite Bible verse is “God helps them who help themselves”.

Peter is saying that if your life lacks these seven virtues, something is wrong. He’s not coming out and saying they are lost, but he is placing a challenge before them. He says you are short sighted, even to blindness. Literally the second word there, blindness, means to blink the eye, the image is of one who has a bright light shined in there face and they blink; they are blinded by the light.

It is being in such a fog spiritually, that when somebody shines the light of God’s truth on you that you have to blink, or even turn away it is so foreign to you. Sometimes your greatest opposition will come from the spiritually befuddled. You will share God’s truth with them and they will think you’re crazy and fanatical, because it is so foreign to them. Now again Peter is not calling these people lost.

But he continues to build his case against those who lack these things. He said, “He who lacks these things… has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” Peter is being kind of mean spirited here. He’s getting kind of brutal. First he says you’re not seeing clearly, you’re in a fog, definitely not a compliment. Then he says you’re blinking, your blinded by the truth of God, like it’s something foreign and something you need to turn away from. Literally what he says next is “You have received Forgetfulness”.

Earlier in the letter he speaks of the things we receive from God through the Gospel, every thing we need for life and Godliness and, we receive great and precious promises. But here Peter speaks of those who have no interest in growing in there faith as receiving forgetfulness. The implication being, that this is not just the forgetting something over time, this is a matter of the will. This is a voluntary forgetting and blocking. In psychology there is something they call memory regression, where certain traumatic memories are suppressed.

But that almost seems to be what Peter is suggesting, the danger of lacking any effort to add these virtues to your life of faith will end up in the voluntary forgetting that you were cleansed from your old sins.
How does that happen in ones life? Today I can see how that happens because a lot of people don’t come to Jesus to be cleansed of their sins. They come for the wonderful life they are promised. They think Jesus is just an add on, something that will make their already pretty good life even better. Sure they probably were told that all sin and fall short of the glory of God, but it never was driven home to them that they personally are wretched sinners and they only thing they have earned for themselves is the wrath of God, not His grace. So the issue of being cleansed from there sins and saved from the wrath of God may not ever register on their radar to begin with.

How do you forget something like that if you have experience it. You understand that you are a sinner, lost and deserving hell, then in salvation you have those sins forgiven. That’s a pretty dramatic move. It’s a move from darkness to light. It is a move from wrath to grace. It is like having your eyes opened and seeing clearly for the first time. How do you forget that? Now again Peter is not calling these people lost. He is not their judge, but is simply laying the foundation that they might judge themselves.

Obviously Peter is concerned about some of his brothers and sisters, either he has observed some things first hand or has been told some things. He has a pastor’s heart, he wants them to abound, he wants them to grow, he want every spiritual blessing to be theirs. He sees the lack of the desire, the lack of abounding in these virtues as a warning sign. And because of this he has to say something.

Therefore, because your eternity is at stake, “Brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure.” First Peter says we are to give all diligence to add to our faith, virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly love, and agape love. We are to give all diligence to these things. He steps it up a notch, the diligence I spoke of before, this is more important yet. Be even more diligent than even that, to make you calling and election sure.

You need to make sure you’re saved. You need to make sure you have the like precious faith that Peter talked about earlier, because if you don’t have that then you will be in a fog, and you will blink when the light of Christ’s righteousness is shown on your face and you will forget you were cleansed because maybe you never were in the first place. It was superficial, it wasn’t real, you didn’t see yourself as a wretched sinner.

Make your call and election sure. I don’t think we need to get into the whole Calvinistic debate when talking about our call and election. I know that if I have repented of my sin and I have trusted in Jesus for salvation I am one of God’s elect. Jesus said many are called but few are chosen at the end of one of his parables. In the parable the king invited many to a wedding feast and many turned down the invitation so he invited some others, and eventually he filled his banquet hall. But there was a dress code and a garment was provided for you by the King. The king found someone who accepted the invitation but for some reason felt what he was wearing was good enough. They threw him out.

Many accept the invitation of Come to Jesus and your life will be better, but they refuse to see their wretchedness, they refuse to repent and be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Jesus will say to those people, depart from me you worker if iniquity, I never knew you. Many are called, but few are chosen, few are elected.

Make your calling and election sure. Make sure you heard God’s call on your life, make sure you have responded to that call, that you have repented, and that you have clothed yourself in the righteousness of faith. For if you do these things that Peter has outlined in these first 10 verses you will never stumble. I don’t believe Peter is saying you won’t sin, that would contradict many other scriptures. The language here is of a runner in a race who trips and falls. It adds no commentary to what happens after he trips, does he get up and finish the race or is the fall so catastrophic that the runner doesn’t make it to the end.

That’s probably immaterial to what Peter is saying. What does stumbling look like? We see it once in a while in the church, some high profile people like Ted Haggard, Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggard and there are others, who have had spectacular falls into sin. It can be avoided. If you do these things you will never stumble. I’ve heard some one say, no one becomes base over night. No one just wakes up some morning and out of the blue says, “I’m going to commit adultery this morning.” It happens over time, Idleness, laziness, compromise, not doing these things Peter admonishes us to do. It doesn’t have to happen.

Another benefit of doing these things, an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom. Isn’t that what you want? Not in a prideful way, but in a give all the glory to God for what he has done kind of way, and to hear from the one we love more than life itself. “Well done good and faithful servant.” This is Peters hope and prayer for his flock, this is my prayer for you. Amen

01/30/2011 Add To Your Faith (2 Peter 1:5-11)

2011-01-30T16:23:00.001-08:00

Add to Your Faith
2 Peter 1:5-11
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
NKJV

From the very earliest days of my life as a Christian, the one thing that was continually emphasized by the pastor of my youth, by other Christians and by the teachers at bible school is that there is no standing still in your Christian life. You will be doing one of two things, you will either be growing in your faith, you will be moving forward, or you will be backsliding. It’s spiritually impossible to stand still. There is always movement, either up or down. As I look back on almost 40 years as a Christian I would have to say, that has been true in my life.

Peter doesn’t want that for you. He wants you to move forward and he’s trying to give us all some encouragement and motivation this morning.

When we don’t have church here, I if at all possible try to go to some other church. If the roads are good I will usually go up to one of the AFLC churches just north of town. I have had good fellowship at all three. But if I’m not able to go out of town, I go to one of the local churches, sometimes Zion my old home church, but other times to other churches just to see what’s going on. As a rule you hear some pretty solid biblical preaching, but I’ve been disappointed at the lack of any solid gospel emphasis in the sermons.

I’ve shared this concern with some of my friends and one response I get is that not all texts are about the gospel. Well that may be true to an extent, but really isn’t the whole bible about the Gospel. Isn’t the whole bible about Jesus, and how God moved in history to bring His Son to be the sacrifice for sin? I have yet to preach the gospel rightly, but I try to make some reference to the Gospel and the fact that Jesus came to save sinners in every message I bring.

Paul told the Corinthians that he determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It was all about the gospel.

Peter is never far from the Gospel. In his first letter about every five or six verses, he came back to the Gospel. Every command or admonition he gave, he gave it as a response to the gospel. He does the same thing in his second letter.

Sorry all you original King Jamers. The way the King James Bible starts out is this way. “And besides this.” No it’s not besides, it’s because of this. This isn’t a side issue, this is not unrelated to what he’s been talking about. What he’s told us is the motivation to now do what he says.

Most other translations, even the New King James starts out, “For this very reason.” What reason? In the previous verses he talked about the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our savior. He talks about the gifts we are given, that allow us to live and grow both physically and spiritually, and he tells us we have been given great and precious promises. Because of these things, because of the Gospel, we have the privilege of partaking of the divine nature, and we escape the corruption that is in the world.

Because of what God has done for us in Jesus we are to give all diligence to do something. All diligence, we are to make every effort to do something. We are to be zealous. It’s very emphatic. We are not just to dedicate a half hour a week to this or even a half hour a day to it. It is all diligence. Not just some diligence. Not, most diligence. Not, the greater part of diligence, but all diligence.

I listened to Paul Washer’s testimony on U-tube this last week again. The part that really struck me was the end. Paul Washer is one of those individuals that will probably go down in history with the likes of Whitfield and Wesley. Towards the end of his testimony, he said, “People ask me, how do you preach the way you do? What’s your secret brother Paul? No secret, he found me in a pool of my own vomit and saved me. That’s my secret. What’s your secret brother Paul? How do you pray the way you do, how do you witness the way you do? You don’t understand, I was the lowest of the low, and he saved me. He saved me! What more do you need?

What is our motivation to give all diligence? He saved us, that’s our motivation. Anything other than that is legalism. Anything other than that is a striving after the wind. For one we’ll fail. If our focus isn’t on the fact that we were wretched sinners and God saved us out of the cesspool we were in, then when we fail, it will defeat us, depress us, and we will wallow in despair.

Most of you are 70 -80 years old, and maybe in your latter days you have looked at your life and asked the question, have I done enough? Truth be told, no you haven’t done enough. I haven’t done enough. Billy Graham hasn’t done enough. D James Kennedy didn’t do enough. Nobody does enough. Only Jesus did enough, and that’s the Gospel. Jesus did enough and when we fail, rather that wallow in our failure, we need to pick ourselves up and remember that Jesus did enough. And the little we do is sanctified by the abundance that Jesus did.

We are to give every diligence to add certain things to our faith. Add to your faith. Some translations say “supply your faith”. The word used and translated “add” or “supply” is another emphatic word. It’s like “all diligence”. It’s all supply. It’s a word of abundance. It was used for a professional choir director who would give his students his undivided attention and every tool at his disposal so they would be the very best.

Most people who call themselves Christian, spend no more than an hour at church, and never crack open their bibles the rest of the week. How can that be? Does that sound like Biblical Christianity? Now maybe as new Christians they are still ignorant and don’t know any better. But some of these people have sat in church for years. I’m not sure Peter would call most of what is going on in the name of the church today, Christianity.

Notice that faith is the starting point. Add to your faith. He doesn’t say first you have to get some faith. In verse one he acknowledges that they already have the same precious faith that he has. Faith is one of the things that God gives us. In the first four verses Peter tells us that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. So one might think then, I’m good to go. God has done it all, end of story; I can just coast through life.

No, out of gratitude and love there are things we should do. The doing of these things is part of the evidence that we truly are saved and have this precious faith. We are to abundantly add to our faith virtue. The Greek puts a definite article in front of each of these. It’s the virtue; it’s the knowledge, the self-control, the perseverance, the godliness, the brotherly kindness and the love. Peter has very specific definitions in mind here. It’s not vague language. We can’t define these terms anyway we want. We can’t say, “Well to me virtue means, I have to feed the homeless.” We can’t define these anyway we want, we need to figure out as best as possible what the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate to us through Peter.

The Virtue, Christian virtue. The word carries the idea of moral excellence. This speaks of purity in heart and mind. It speaks of modesty, humility, an inner strength to do what’s right. Literally it’s “manliness”. Today that doesn’t mean much. When was the last time you saw a man portrayed in a positive light on television. If you haven’t noticed in commercials the man is always a bumbling idiot.

Manliness used to be applauded, celebrated and encouraged. We would encourage young boys to grow up and be a man. We were to man up, play the man. We were to be responsible, we were to care for our families, we were to protect and provide for our families, we were to be the spiritual leaders of our families. It speaks of strength, it speaks of courage, it speaks of laying down your life if necessary. Women and children first, you were to be a man and make sure that all the women and children got in to the life rafts first, even if that meant going down with the ship and loosing your own life. Play the man.

Moral excellence, we are to make every effort to abundantly supply moral excellence to our life of faith. I wonder what percentage of Christians can say they are making any effort at all to do this. The number of men and women who are addicted to pornography, even in our churches would indicate that few take this command from Scripture seriously.

We live in a sex crazed culture, but the church is to be different, Christians are to be different. We are to with great effort add to our faith moral excellence.

Then we are to add to our faith, knowledge, and again it is the knowledge. It’s not just any knowledge. It’s not the knowledge of history as helpful as that is. It’s not the knowledge of math, although that can be helpful. It’s the knowledge he’s already talked about. It’s the knowledge of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. And it’s just not knowing about him, as helpful as that can be, it’s knowing Him. Last Sunday I talked about some of God’s attributes, and that’s fine, but if you don’t know this God, if you haven’t experienced Him, then what have you gained.

The apostle Paul wanted to grow in experiential knowledge. He said in, “Philippians 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. NKJV

Paul considered every thing, including his life as rubbish in comparison to knowing Jesus. Paul seems possessed by this one thought, “That I might know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” We should have that zeal as well that we might give all diligence to abundantly add to our faith, experiential knowledge of Him.

We are to abundantly add to our faith self-control. When I was growing up, I’m sure it was the same as when you were growing up, as young people we had sex on our minds. Same as today. There was a difference though; there was an expectation by pretty much everybody, that you needed to learn self control. It was taught at school, in Sunday school and it was preached from the pulpit. It was reinforced by parents, by your friend’s parents, and even by your piers. Now granted it wasn’t a perfect world and some did not practice self control. But that was the societal expectation.

Contrast that with today, when the attitude of many adults, at least the cultural elites and the educrates is that kids will be kids and they are going to do it any way so the least we should do is give them condoms. There is no expectation that they are in the least capable of practicing self control. This is the pagan world we now live in.

It is of course full of contradictions. They say man is an animal, and can’t control himself. We just need to live out who we are born to be. So one with same sex attractions shouldn’t fight who he is, he should embrace it, celebrate it. It’s interesting that the world doesn’t feel the same way about pedophiles.

Ravi Zacharias in one of his books has quotes a poem by Steve Turner a British journalist that illustrates the world we live in with its many contradictions, entitled Creed.

Creed We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything's getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes
UFO's and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think
His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same-
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its
compulsory heaven for all excepting perhaps
Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn

We believe in Masters and Johnson
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors .
And the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
And the flowering of individual thought.

If chance be
the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky
and when you hear

State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man
worshipping his maker.

This is the pagan world in which we live. The world says if it feels good do it. The Holy Spirit says make every effort to add to your faith self control. We are to control our passions rather than have our passions control us. Self control involves our appetites for sex, food, alcohol, and probably even our work ethic, lazyness, our spiritual disciplines of personal bible study and prayer. Sometimes self-control is just getting out of bed in the morning so we have time for devotions rather than hitting the snooze button three or four times.

We are to make every effort to add abundantly to our faith perseverance. This has the idea of persevering in trials, temptation and persecution. It is patient endurance in doing right even if you are persecuted for doing right.
There is to be a consistency to our Christian life, we are to grow day by day in grace and holiness. You may retire from your earthy labors and stop working, but you never retire from the Lord’s work until you take your last breath. We are to keep on keeping on. It is he who is faithful unto death that shall be saved. It is he who finishes the race that wins the prize. We are to add to our faith perseverance.

We are to make every effort to abundantly add to our faith godliness. This is interesting, because earlier we are told that God has given us every thing that pertains to life and godliness, but yet we need to live it, don’t we? We need to practice it, we need to experience it. We need to live reverently, worshipfully, loyally, and obediently. Yes he gives us everything, but we still do the living.

We are to make every effort to abundantly add to our faith brotherly love. The Greek word is Philadelphia. Again a reminder, It’s the brotherly love. It’s a specific kind of brotherly love that Peter is talking about here. It’s not just the blood is thicker than water love, the love for our physical family, the love of brothers and sisters and parents, the love of Norwegians. The specific kind of love the Holy Spirit is talking about is the love for other Christians. We are to add to our faith the loving fellowship of the saints. We are to love our spiritual brethren.

Finally we are to make every effort to abundantly add to our faith Love. The word is Agape. A word that primarily was coined to describe the self sacrificing love that Jesus demonstrated to the world when he took on human flesh that he might lay down His life a perfect sacrifice for our sins. The world has many wrong definitions for the word love. It’s not any love Peter is talking about here, it’s very specific. It’s the love, it’s the agape, it’s the love demonstrated in Jesus. For God so loved the world. We are also to love the world.

How does that look in the Christian? Jesus’ love caused him to come and seek and to save the lost. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, the world was already condemned, but he came that the world might be saved through Him.

This agape love is what drives us to make sacrifices in time, talent and resources that the world might be saved through the preaching of the Gospel. It is the Love that drives all evangelical Mission work.

If you ere going to grade yourself on this, how would you do? Not very well? Join the club. That’s why we can’t make this a legalistic thing. If you’re not doing well, you don’t just grin and bear it, and take another run at it and this time put more human effort in it. No you go back to the first four verses, you go back to the Gospel, you preach the gospel to yourself. You remind yourself of everything that Jesus did to save you, as Paul Washer said, that’s enough, that’s the secret, He saved you, that’s the motivation you need to pick yourself up and keep going.

Amen.

01/23/2011 Knowledge of the Holy

2011-01-23T16:19:00.000-08:00

Knowledge of the Holy
2 Peter 1:2-4
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
NKJV

Missionary and preacher Paul Washer says that one of the most divisive topics that he ever preaches on are the attributes of God. He says when people invite him to their church and ask him to preach on this topic he usually warns them. He warns them of the divisiveness of the subject matter. And people will generally ask him why, how can preaching on the attributes of God be divisive? He will tell them that almost invariably someone, often time an elder or deacon, after the service will come up to him and say, “I could never love a God like that?” Because they have made a God in their own image, one who winks at their sin and doesn’t require much of them. When confronted with the real God of the Bible they are terribly offended by this deity.

AW Tozer wrote one of the best books on the subject of the attribute of God. It is titled “The Knowledge of the Holy”. He makes one of the best and strongest cases I’ve read as to why it’s important to have a correct biblical theology of God.

This is what Tozer says in chapter one of His book.
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
…The gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous 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. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God…
Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the church will stand tomorrow…

That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true God is of immense importance to us…

A right concept of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical living as well… I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God…

Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on his character. The idolatrous heart assumes that god is other than He is—in itself a monstrous sin—and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness…

Before the Christian Church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, “What is God like?” and goes on from there.”

Our text this morning twice mentions the knowledge of God and ascribes spiritual blessing that we can gain through the knowledge of God. “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” The grace of God and the peace of God is multiplied in our lives as we grow in our knowledge of the Holy one.

Verse three says, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” All things that pertain to life and godliness come through the knowledge of Him, Jesus. All things that pertain to life, the natural. This is our natural gifts and talents; it is our life itself, breath, our food, drink, shelter, clothing, all come from His divine power.

I think it’s interesting that he created us needy. We can live only about three minutes with out air, maybe three days with out water, up to about 40 days without food. We need clothing, we need shelter, we need companionship, we need love. We are needy. The other part of creation, the angels don’t seem to need any of these things.

Why did God do this? I think it was so that it would cause us to look to Him. Every time we are hungry, we are reminded to look to him. Every time we are thirsty, we are to look to Him. These are to be reminders that we are dependant on His grace for everything that pertains to life. This is why in the Lord’s Prayer we pray “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Do we look to Him? Do we thank Him, regularly? Sometimes I forget, not often, but sometimes I do. We should never forget, he made us this way so that we would be prompted to think of Him, look to Him and thank Him for his provision and goodness. But as a whole, mankind fails to thank him. Israel failed in the wilderness. They were miraculously delivered from Egypt by God and as soon as they are in the wilderness and they get hungryand thirsty, rather than looking to God, and trust in Him for their needs they complained. They should have trusted God, they should have looked to God and known because what He had just done for them in Egypt, he was able to give them food and water in the wilderness. But instead they doubted and grumbled. I hope we never do that.

We look to God because by His divine power he has given us all things that pertain to life, but more, also to all things that pertain to godliness. We cannot be godly without Him. By His divine power he gives us all things that pertain to godliness. Without His divine power we are wretched sinners that only deserve His wrath. The scriptures are clear. Eph 2:3 “Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” NKJV

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." NKJV

No one has ever done all the things which are written in the book of the Law, except Jesus. We are all under the curse. Paul makes this clear in Romans 3:9 “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

10 As it is written:
"There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one."
NKJV

Then Paul summarizes the matter a few verses latter.
Rom 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
NKJV

His divine power has given us all things that pertain to godliness. We are totally powerless when it comes to godliness, but He gives us all things. He has given us the scriptures which are profitable for (2 Tim 3:16-17)
“For doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” NKJV

He has given us the gift of prayer and the right to come boldly into His presence. Heb 10:19 “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” NKJV

He has given us His righteousness as a gift. Rom 5:17 “For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” NKJV

He has given us faith. Eph 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” NKJV
He has given us the gift of repentance. Acts 5:31 “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” NKJV

His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. They are all gifts from his hand, and they come to us through the knowledge of Him. Two times in Peter’s introduction to this letter he emphasizes the knowledge of God. The more true knowledge of God we have, the more of God’s Grace and God’s peace will be active in our lives. The knowledge of the true God enables his divine power to give us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

If you don’t think that God is sovereign, you will worry a lot about the future. If you don’t believe that God is good, you will worry a lot about his wrath. If you don’t believe that God is love, you will not have any love for God in your heart. If you don’t believe that God is just, you will think that you can sin and get away with it. If you don’t think that God is all knowing, you will think you can hide your sin from God. Every false concept you have of God, will lead you away from God. As Tozer said; “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
…The gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous 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”

It is important for us to have a right concept of God. In Tozer’s book he identified 21 attributes. Spurgeon lists 25 attributes, and AW Pink had 17 attributes in his book titled “The Attributes of God”. I don’t think that there ever will be an exhaustive list of attributes. How many attributes does God have? I don’t know. How many stars are there?

Even in the question, how many attributes does God have? We can answer that question by listing four Attributes.

He is infinite. 1 Kings 8:27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. NKJV

Ps 145:3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable. NKJV

He is transcendent, He is above creation. He exists totally apart from His creation. Isa 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
NKJV

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

He is incomprehensible. He is beyond our understanding. Job 11:7 "Can you search out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than heaven — what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol — what can you know? NKJV

Job 26:14 "Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?"NASU

That’s the issue, we only see the fringes, we only scratch the surface. That’s why eternity will be eternal and not boring. We will through out all eternity be captivated by the glory of God and will continually be in a quest to search out the deep things of God.

Paul said; Rom 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?” NASU

God is eternal, He has no beginning and no end and he is not a prisoner of time. 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, NKJV

Isa 40:28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable. NKJV

Ps 90:1-2
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. NKJV

How many attributes does God have? More than we’ll ever be able to count. Tozer, Spurgeon and Pink only scratched the surface with their lists; they only touched the fringe as Job said.

Do you know this God? Have you searched out His depths? This God is Holy; He is morally excellent and perfect. Ex 15:11 "Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders? NKJV

God is righteous. Deut 32:4 “He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.” NKJV

God is Just. Ps 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. NKJV

God is Wrathful. He hates all unrighteousness. Rom 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” NKJV

What hope do we have? If we study this God, and know about Him, he is so otherly, so Holy, what hope do we have? Fortunate for us He has other attributes. He’s Longsuffering, and loving, and faithful, and good, and merciful, and he has revealed all these attributes and more in Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Through Jesus we see God in ways that Job could never have imagined.

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. NKJV Some of the other translations say, He has made Him known, He has revealed Him, He has explained Him. The greatest knowledge of God we can ever hope to have is to understand the Gospel. How this God who is holy, righteous, transcendent, could stoop so low as to become a man, that he might demonstrate his love by taking the very punishment that his righteousness and justice demands.

Knowledge is necessary, there is something we need to know to be saved, we need to know we are sinners who need a savior, and we need to know that there is a savior who is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a message that is so simple that a child can understand. It is a message that is so simple that even the mentally challenged can understand it and be saved. But since it is such a simple and profound message many miss it because of their pride. They refuse to admit that they have a need that only Jesus can meet. They refuse to acknowledge the provision God has given them for life and godliness. They think that by their own hand they have acquired these things.

1 Cor 1:23 “But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” NKJV

The world in their pride would rather try to work their way to heaven, than to humble themselves and in obedience trust in the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus paid it all.

Verse three says, “Through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. For clarity it could and should read, By His Glory and virtue. Again it is all about Jesus, who He was, His virtue, His righteousness, His perfection under the law, His glory.

Verse 4, “by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

More stuff given to us. God does it all; we can take credit for none of it. He has given us exceedingly great and precious promises. And through these promises we become partakers of the divine nature. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and gives us strength to resist Evil and all the devils wicked ways. The Holy Spirit helps us to grow in holiness. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand scripture. The Holy Spirit prays for us, and with us, and through us. The Holy Spirit assures us that we are Children of God. The Holy Spirit comforts us in our afflictions. The Holy Spirit helps us to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. The Holy Spirit strengthens our inner man so we have the power to resist the evil one.

What is the source for all this? The knowledge of Him. And we receive this knowledge through the book He has given us. We need to read this book, we need to meditate and memorize this book. We need to read it every day. Our hearts are deceitful. We are no different than Israel; we are capable of forgetting who God is, and what He requires of us. If we anchor our lives in the God’s Word we will not be easily shaken. We will have what His Word promises, Grace and peace and all things that pertain to life and godliness. Amen.
Go in peace, Serve the Lord.

01/09/2011 A Bondservant (2 Peter1:1)

2011-01-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

A Bondservant
2 Peter 1:1-4
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. NKJV

We finished up first Peter right before advent so I thought that it would be good to continue on with 2nd Peter now that Christmas is behind us. The author of course is Peter the Apostle, some have tried to contest this, but for the most part it has been universally understood to be the work of Peter throughout the age. It was written maybe one to two years after his earlier epistle, to the same group of Christians and probably very close to his martyrdom.

We are not going to go very far this morning, actually I am going to get hung up on the fourth word, and we are going to park it right there. The epistle starts out, “Simon Peter a bondservant”. Bondservant, the Greek word is doulos. This descriptive word is not unique to Peter. Paul calls himself a bondservant in Romans 1:1, and Titus 1:1, James the half brother of Jesus calls himself a bondservant in James 1:1, Jude, another half brother of Jesus calls himself a bondservant in Jude verse 1, and John declares that he is a bond servant in Revelation 1:1.

Now do you suppose that if Peter, Paul, James, Jude and John all call themselves bondservants of Jesus that we maybe should try to figure out what that looks like and become a bondservant ourselves? Yes I think we should. When you read what these men wrote, bondservant is not just one of the terms they used to describe there relationship to Jesus it, was the primary term they used. Peter in our text this morning uses it first; he is first a bondservant and second an apostle. If you are a bondservant first, it keeps your life balanced and will keep pride and selfishness from creeping in.

Now when thinking about bond service, we need to make sure we aren’t influenced by our modern biases about slavery. Because slavery in Israel two thousand years ago was nothing like the slavery we had in this country. What Europe and the Americas practiced was man stealing and that is explicitly condemned and forbidden in the Bible. The most common slavery in the bible and this was allowed was that some one would be indentured to someone. Now this generally was voluntary, but in the cases of criminals, it could be involuntary. For in that age, justice involved restitution. If someone owed restitution for a crime and couldn’t pay it they would be indentured until they paid off what they owed to the victim. Some crimes of course it is not possible to pay restitution, in those cases, such as murder and rape, the death penalty was necessary, because there was no possibility of restoring the victim.

Voluntary slavery was when you came upon hard times, for survival you would indenture yourself to some one so that you and your family wouldn’t starve to death. It was their form of welfare. It was work fare, because you became this persons slave. This is how the law worked.

From Deut 15:12-15,
12 "If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord

He would serve his master for just room and board, but at the end of the six year he was to be set free, and when he left you were to be generous with him, you were to send him off with some of the fruits of the land that he helped you acquire. This was so that hopefully he could now be self supporting and would not starve to death or have to indenture himself to someone else right away again for survival.

But sometimes the servant loved his master, was treated well by his master, or maybe still didn’t think he could survive out in the world on his own. If that was the case, this provision was made.

Again from Deut 15:16-17, it says
16 And if it happens that he says to you, 'I will not go away from you,' because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, 17 then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.
NKJV

The servant would then bond himself to his master. The master would take an awl, which is a sharp tool used for punching holes in leather of metal. He would take the servant and put him up against the door frame of the house and drive the awl through his ear lob into the wood, thus in this symbolic act permanently attaching, permanently bonding him to the master and the household. Hence the term bondservant.

The bondservant usually became the most trusted of the servants, because he was usually operating out of love for the master and not simply out of duty. The bondservant many times became like a member of the family.

This is the term the apostles used over and over again to describe the relationship they had with Jesus. Simon Peter a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Peter is one who has voluntarily and permanently given up the rights to his freedom, even to his very life in order to serve another, in order to serve Jesus. Peter is no longer the master of his own destiny, he now belonged to another, and not just for six years, but out of love for Jesus Christ he has become a bondservant for life.

This is how Peter, Paul, John, Jude and James viewed themselves; this is also how we should view ourselves. We are bondservants of Jesus Christ.

Let’s take a look at some other scriptures. Matt 20:25-28
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave — 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." NKJV

Jesus like he always did, turns the wisdom of the world on its head. Jesus said, “Look at the world and how do they try to show their greatness, they try to Lord it over each other, by bluster and intimidation. They use their supposed greatness by imposing their authority on others. They order people around and by their might they get things done. But Jesus said, “It shall not be this way among you”. If you desire to be great in the kingdom of God, you need to be a servant”, diakonous, the word we get deacon from. But then Jesus continues, “If you want to be Chief, if you want to be first, if you want to be the top dog in the kingdom of God, you must be the slave, doulos, the bondservant of all.” He completely turns the world’s concept of power and greatness on its head. Look at the world and do the opposite.

A bondservant’s job is to serve the master, no more and no less. There is no desire for power, no desire for greatness; you gave that up when you voluntarily became a slave for life. The only authority you have is what has been granted to you by your master.

Let’s take a look at another scripture. Luke 17:7-10
7 And which of you, having a servant, (Again the word is doulos, bond servant), plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? 8 But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'? 9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. 10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'" NKJV

Have you ever meditated on these words of Jesus and asked yourself, why am I serving God?” What is my attitude towards service? Am I serving simply because I am a bond servant and I am a bond servant because my master is God and I love Him? Or in my service do I make all kinds of demands on God and people? “OK God, I will serve you but you’d better make my life comfortable, or prosperous.” Ok God I’ll serve you but there better be lot’s of crowns waiting when I get to heaven.” “Ok God, I’ll serve you but if the pastor doesn’t thank me for my service to the church, I’m out of here.”

I have a Christian friend in Des Moines who thinks one reason that Christians are lukewarm in there service is because they don’t understand the rewards that God will give them when they reach heaven. To me it sounds like when we get to heaven the truly saved will see it all as grace, knowing that they are unworthy servants and deserve none of it. If they get any rewards it will be a complete shock to them, because that is not why they were serving God. We were just doing what was our duty and we did it pretty poorly, but we have such a good master that he will probably reward us anyway. But our attitude is, we don’t deserve anything, because we were just doing our duty for a master that we love.

Let’s take a look at another scripture in Romans 12. Paul has very eloquently laid out the Gospel before the Roman Christians. He spends the first three chapters proving that we are all sinners and deserve God’s wrath. Then he builds a case for the Gospel, justification by faith, and the mercies of God demonstrated in Christ Jesus. He gets to Romans 12 and he says I beg of you, by the mercies of God, I implore you, because of the gospel, you should live this way. And he starts by saying we should present our bodies to God a living sacrifice.

Just as a bond servant had to die to his freedom, to his own life and plans in order to become a bondservant. We in that same manner voluntarily come to our high priest as a living sacrifice to die to sin and self and live to him. Paul directly ties this in to being a bond servant in verse 11.

I’m going to start reading at verse 9, and Paul is giving these as commands, because of the mercies of God, because of the Gospel, you should live this way. He says in verse 9 (Rom 12:9-11) “Love without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;” NKJV

The word serving is the verb form of the Greek word doulos, bond servant. In our Christians lives we are not only to be bondservants, we are to act like bond servants. Our actions in the way we serve God and one another is to be as a bondservant. Because of the mercies of God, we are to bondserve the Lord. It’s a total service; it is service that recognizes that He owns us. It’s a no regard for ourselves, our comfort, our prosperity, our health, our life type of service. We don’t serve for pay, we don’t serve for thanks, we don’t serve for rewards, we don’t even serve for the promise of heaven. In the case of Christians we serve because we understand that we are unprofitable servants, we have done nothing of merit, we have only done what was our duty, again in service to a master we love.

And what we have done is in light of the mercies of God. We have tasted and we have found the Lord Good. His mercy and his grace has overwhelmed us, and we found it no sacrifice at all to put our earlobe next to the door post of the kingdom of God so Jesus could pierce it with an awl and make us his property. Was it painful yes, but it was also a delight to us, it was a joy. We hardly even noticed the pain. In light of God’s great love for us demonstrated on the cross through Jesus it was with joy that we sold the only thing of eternal value in order to have the pearl of great price. We sold our selves into slavery in order that we might be in the presence of Jesus for all eternity and serve Him.

This reminds me of the story told by Paris Reidhead, at the conclusion of his sermon “Ten Shekels and a Shirt.” He tells us of two young men who literally sold themselves into slavery that they might serve Christ on a slave Island.

He told the story like this;
“Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2000 to 3000 slaves. And the owner had said, "No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he's ship wrecked we'll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave, but he's never going to talk to any of us about God, I'm through with all that nonsense." Three thousand slaves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ.

In the late 1700's a British planter owned an entire island in the West Indies off the coast of South America. Several thousand black slaves toiled in the sugar cane fields under the burning sun. The atheist planter vowed that no missionary would ever set foot on the island to talk about God. 3000 slaves were doomed to live and die without hearing of Christ.

Two young Germans in their 20's from the Moravians sect heard about their plight. They sold themselves to the British planter for the standard price for a male slave used the money they received for their sale to purchase passage to the West Indies. The miserly atheist planter would not even transport them.

The Moravian community from Herrenhut came to see the two lads off, who would never return again, having freely sold themselves into a lifetime of slavery. As a member of the slave community they would witness as Christians to the love of God.

Family members were emotional, weeping. Was their extreme sacrifice wise? Was it necessary? As the ship slipped away with the tide and the gap widened. The housings had been cast off and were curled up on the pier. The young men saw the widening gap. They linked arms, raised their hands and shouted across the spreading gap "May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering."

This became the call of Moravian missions. And this is our only reason for being...that the Lamb that was slain may receive the reward of His suffering.”

Those two men literally did what we are commanded to do spiritually. They sold themselves into slavery, that the lamb that was slain would receive the reward of His suffering. That should be our motivation as well, we should present ourselves as living sacrifices, but even in being a living sacrifice, there is a death that has to happen. We die to ourselves, we die to our sin, we die to our own agenda, and we sell ourselves in to lifelong bondage to Jesus as a bond servant. We do it joyfully, we do it willingly because we have seen the heart of the master and it is good,

Jesus doesn’t ask us to do something he hasn’t already done. Jesus himself showed us what this life as a bondservant should look like. Philippians 2:5-8 says this; “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” NKJV

Jesus was not a bondservant, but He took the form of a bondservant so that we might look at his life and see how he cared only for the will of His father. His will was His fathers will. That’s the way we are to be as well. Our will should be to do the will of the father, just as Jesus’ will was to do the will of the father. Jesus said he only did what he saw His father doing and he only said what His Father told Him to say. Even at the Garden He prayed, not my will but yours be done.

Peter’s number one title he gives himself in his second epistle is that he is a bondservant, James, Paul, John, all call themselves bondservants. Paul in Colossians 4:12-13 says this about another Christian. “12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis.” NKJV

What does bondservice look like? Is it standing on the street corner and preaching the gospel? Is it witnessing to everyone you see and come in contact with? Is it contributing financially to missionaries so the Gospel can be spread around the world? Is it helping your Christian Brother or sister who has fallen on hard times and needs help financially? Yes I think for different people all of these things are true.

But look at Epaphras, what shape does His bondservice take? It takes the form of prayer, fervent prayer, zealous prayer. Was it prayer that granny would get healed so that she could live another year or two on this planet? Was it prayer so that Billy’s ingrown toe nail would heal? Was it prayer that the Christians in Laodicea and Hierapolis would prosper and be able to build grand cathedrals? No, his prayers were that the Christians would be able to stand perfect and complete in the will of God.

Stand perfect, that brings us back to the Gospel doesn’t it. Because the only way we can stand perfect is through a proper understanding of justification and the Gospel. That through faith we are proclaimed perfect according to the law, but not yet perfect according to our present reality.

"Iustus et peccator simul." Luther would say. The true Christian, the regenerate man, is at once a saint and at the same time a sinner. Epaphras’ bondservice took the form of a prayer warrior. He prayed that the Christians would be made perfect, this comes when we believe the Gospel and repent. We are reckoned perfect through faith, but we are not yet perfect in practice, but we are moving in that direction. Slowly day by day, week by week, year by year, and one day when we see Jesus face to face we will become perfect. What a glorious day that will be.

This morning I ask, what form does your bondservice take? Can you say with Peter, I am Simon Peter, a bond servant of Christ? Can I say I am Wayne Almlie a bond servant of Christ. That’s maybe a stretch, but yet even here we need to keep this in the focus of the gospel, while we strive to be what God wants’ us to be, everytime we examine ourselves we come up short. Use even this to drive you closer to Jesus and the cross, for it is there that you will find your motivation to grow day by day in your faith and become a bondservant.
Amen

01/02/2011 All Things New

2011-01-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

All things New
Heb 8:6-13
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
NKJV

Happy New Year! We survived another year..

What do we think of when we think of entering a new year? One thing we do is we reflect on the old year. We think of the highs and the lows, and often times it seems we remember the lows easier than the highs.

Like I said, we made it, but we all probably know somebody who didn’t. They say that world wide 150,000 people die every day, for a whole year that’s about 55 million. Since last New Years day 55 million people have walked off into eternity. Usually on the news programs they will highlight celebrities who died. This last year we lost Art Linkletter, Eddie Fisher, Tony Curtis, George Steinbrenner, Barbra Billingsly, Joan Sutherland, Lena Horn, Mitch Miller, Jimmy Dean, Bob Feller. Big names on earth, fame and fortune on earth, but guilty lawbreakers before God. I wonder how it went for them on the day they met God.

Isn’t’ it interesting that we often mark the past year by things that are the by products of sin, such as deaths. Also when you look at the lists of top news stories, what do you see for 2010. We see Earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, we have floods in Pakistan, we have man made disasters such as the BP oil Spill and coal mining accidents in West Virginia and Chile. We see the effects of sin on our planet, how it is groaning and waiting for its redemption.

I think sometimes people say Happy New Years just in the hopes that the next year is better than the one we just finished up.

For a Christian, the New Year is always bright. Yes, in the world there is trouble. We like the rest of the planet will suffer the effects of sin in 2011. We will get colds, flu, our bodies will continue to break down, and there may be accidents and even death awaiting us. All of these things are a possibility for us, not only us but for everyone on earth. But for the Christian we know that the best is before us. It is the New Year and with God, the future is always bright.

In the scriptures, we are encouraged to follow the old paths, the path laid down for us by the prophets and apostles and even the saints who went before us. These are good paths that lead to good things. The scriptures also promise us the new. When we look to the future as a Christian the new is laid before us and it is good. The most wonderful promises in the scriptures pertain to what is new.

For instance we have the promise in Lamentation 3:22-23.
22 Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. NKJV

Her we have in the Old Testament one of the clearest Gospel proclamations in the whole Bible. If God gave us what we deserved, we would be consumed. The very fact that we are here this morning, is proof of God’s mercy. And his mercies aren’t new just every fifty years in the year of Jubilee. They aren’t only new on the Day of Atonement once a year, they are new every morning.

And we need mercy every morning don’t we. We need mercy every day. In an earthy court, the sentence often gets worse for repeat offenders, and for some crimes it’s three strikes and you’re out. I’m sure glad God doesn’t operate that way.

How many sins do we commit in a life time? Sins of covetousness, not being greatful, anger, malice, we have both sins of commission, sins we commit and sins of omission, when we know the right thing to do and we fail to do it. Even if we commit only one sin a day, that’s about 30,000 over eighty years. In an earthy court if your rap sheet contained 30,000 offenses against the law, they would throw away the key.

“Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed.” We should be consumed, but we are not. Each day we come to him for new mercies, and because of what Jesus did for us we know His mercy is there, that it is abundant and that it is freely given. In this new year, let us rejoice in the new.

In the text I read earlier we also have something new. We have a new covenant. “8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

We have the new covenant. It is a better covenant. God didn’t make a mistake in the first covenant. The first covenant prepared the world for the second covenant. The second covenant is the full revelation of the mercies of God in Christ Jesus.

The problem with the first covenant was not in God or in the covenant; the problem was in the people. A covenant is an agreement between two parties.
Verse nine says, “They did not continue in my covenant.” Both agree to abide by the terms of the covenant. God always kept His part of the covenant, man seldom did. Which was the point of the first covenant, mankind is not capable of keeping the law of the covenant. Mankind is not capable of saving himself, mankind needs a savior.

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

We are reminded in this New Year we live under a new covenant. We have a new and better high Priest that is able to make intersession for us, One who redeems us not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with His own blood he dealt with sin once and for all.

And because of this New Covenant, God says, “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

This brings us to another new thing. The New Year reminds us of the new birth. God is a creative being. We have the evidence of it all around us. This beautiful blue and green planet that he has given to us as our home screams of his creative genius. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, the whole creation is, and the more we learn about it the more intricate and complex it becomes. Science is not the friend of evolutionists, the more science finds out about the design of everything in creation, the more it proves that evolution is impossible.

God is still in the business of creation. He takes fallen mankind, created in the Image of God, yes, we still bear His stamp, but we are also in the Image of our federal head, Adam, fallen and sinful. But God takes fallen beings and through faith transforms us into new creatures.

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NKJV

Where is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is a phrase used 70 times in the New Testament. The old belief was that the kingdom of God was Israel, it was Jerusalem, it was the temple where God dwelled. We make an error if we try to transfer those concepts into the new covenant. I even question one of the five foundational principles of the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations. The third principle says, “We believe that the congregation is the right form of the Kingdom of God on earth, with no authority above it but the Word and Spirit of God.”

What is the Kingdom of God on Earth? Where is the Kingdom of God on Earth? This is what Jesus said, Luke 17:20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you." NKJV

This is the new birth; the kingdom of God is within us. This is what the prophet said, “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”

The AFLC is right in saying “the congregation is the right form of the kingdom of God on earth”, as long as we understand the kingdom resides in each of the members through the new birth, and not a corporate ecclesiastical dwelling. It is every individual member that has been born again.

And this new birth comes to us as we are drawn to God. No one comes to Jesus unless the father draws him. God uses the Word, the Gospel and the Holy Spirit to draw us to the place where we are capable of believing in Him. We repent and put our faith in the atoning work of Jesus and he performs heart surgery on us, He gives us new hearts and we are new creatures, and the Kingdom of God is within us.

Another thing the new years reminds us of is the day that is approaching where He will make all things new.

Rev 21:1-5, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
NKJV

God offers us new mercies every morning, God has given us a new covenant, he makes us a new creation, and in the end he promises to restore all things, he promises a new heaven and new earth.

Sin forever changed God’s perfect creation. Since Adam’s sin all creation has been groaning under the curse. We have all continued in Adam’s rebellion and have really made a mess of things. But God has resolved that one day he will put all things in order again.

Another year has past, another year closer to the new heavens and the new Earth. I wish it were somehow possible for us to get a clearer vision of what that means. I know some people get hung up on the wrong things, the streets of gold, gates being made out of huge pearls. Some how they imagine playing harps in clouds, Being reunited with family members who have gone on before us, and I’m sure all those things will be great.

Paul was given such a vision and he said, Rom 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” NKJV That’s what I wish for each of us for this New Year. That we would know with out doubt that the sufferings of this world can’t compare to the Glory that will be revealed to us one day.

What does John see in his vision? He see’s a new Heaven, a new Earth, and a new Jerusalem. All things new. But he see’s something else, something that hasn’t happened since man’s rebellion in the garden. God is there. This goes back to the prophet again, “and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

At creation God would come to earth and in walk with man in the garden. But then man sinned and God being holy had to separate Himself from man. God couldn’t be in the presence of sin. So God to demonstrate His love and mercy set out on a path to redeem and restore mankind.

His plan of redemption is almost complete. He has just a few loose ends to complete. There is only one reason He is waiting. 2 Peter 3:9 says “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” NKJV The only thing that is holding him back is His mercy. He wants more people to repent.

But there will come a time when it will be over, the harvest will be complete, and it will be time to separate the wheat from the tares. It will be an awesome and awful time.

At the culmination of the age the old heaven and earth will be destroyed by fire and God will bring in a new heaven and earth where righteousness will dwell.

In this new Earth God will dwell with His people. And all the things that are so common to our experience here on earth, all the consequences of our sins will be wiped away. Tears, death, sorrow crying and pain, will all be wiped away.

So in this New Year let us rejoice in all things new, new mercies, a new covenant, the fact that we are new creations, and we look forward to a new heaven and new earth. The future is indeed bright for the believer.

We are another year closer to being face to face with Jesus. That is both a frightening thought and a thrilling thought at the same time. May we receive a small taste of what that will be, so that we can say with Paul, the sufferings of this world cannot compare with the glory that will be revealed.

I will close this morning with Paul’s benediction from Philippians 1:3-6

3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: KJV
Amen

12/26/2010 Is Jesus The One (Matt 11:2-13)

2010-12-26T17:05:00.000-08:00

Is Jesus the One?
Matt 11:2-13
2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"

4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."

7 As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 9 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he of whom it is written:

"Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.'

11 "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. NKJV

The John the Baptist is sitting in prison. It’s funny how doubts can creep into our mind. Not that long ago John baptized Jesus, witnessed the glory of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus as a dove and heard the voice from Heaven, “this is my beloved son”. And latter he sent his disciples to Jesus saying, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

Now He sits in prison. He’s human, he’s like us. Maybe he senses his end is coming soon and before he dies he wants to know. Is Jesus the one? He wants his disciples to know if Jesus is the one. He sends two of his disciples to Jesus with the question. “Are you the one, or do we look to another?”

Jesus didn’t answer the question directly. Jesus pointed the disciples and John the Baptist to the scriptures. He said, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Jesus is quoting Isa 61:1
"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;
NKJV

John knew the scriptures, from the scriptures John had to find the answers and believe. He had to extinguish his doubts in the word of God.

We need to as well. The church in recent years has looked too much to the social sciences such as psychology, psychiatry and sociology. Now there may be some things we can learn from these secular disciplines, but we find our answers in the scriptures. We have problems, we have doubts, depression, anxiety, loneliness, we struggle with sin, with relationships, marriage, children etc, etc. We go to the Bible, (2 Tim 3:16-17) “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” NKJV

Sometimes pastors are too quick to be the answer man. I think we need to direct people to the word. If a couple comes into the church and is having trouble in their marriage. I think maybe the best thing that can be done is to pull out a concordance, write down a list of all the verses in the Bible on the topic of Marriage and send them home to read them and set an appointment for them to come back and discuss what they read.

Almost every Christmas season we hear stories and news reports about all the people who suffer depression this time of the year. They say many people are depressed because they are told this is such a joyous time of the year. It’s a time for family, a time for lots of good food, a time of gift giving and receiving. But for many people it’s none of these things. Their families are broken; they are homeless, unemployed, poor, suffering from terminal diseases.

But where does this message of Christmas come from that causes so much depression and misery. Does it come from the church? I sure hope not. It comes from a world that is trying to remove Christ from Christmas. If you remove Christ from Christmas, what are you left with? Feel good sentimentality. Most Stores and radio stations will not play any sacred Christmas music, so what are you left with? “Have yourself a merry little Christmas”, “Jingle Bells”, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”, “Rudolph, the red nose reindeer”, “Chest nuts roasting on an open fire.” It’s no wonder people are depressed, they are preached at by these songs. They are told that if they don’t have a merry Christmas they are a failure. They are told that if you don’t have a perfect family gathering that they are a failure, if you don’t have a pile of gifts under the tree they are a failure.

But what is the message of Christmas? It’s Joy to the world! The Lord is come: let earth receiver her King.” If that is your focus on Christmas, does it matter how big your tree is? Does it matter how many presents are under the tree? Does it matter if you’re rich or poor? No! Because our King is born. The one who will redeem us from our sins. “Hark! The herald angels sing, glory to the new born King. Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” God and sinners reconciled! That’s the story of Christmas. If that is the focus of Christmas, that a savior was born, and because of that God and sinners are now reconciled, your worldly circumstances will not dictate to you wither you have a merry Christmas or not.

You can be on your deathbed and the message of God and sinners reconciled is good news. The poor can rejoice in a savior, even thou they are poor, because God and sinners can be reconciled. This is good new for one and all. We who were once far away from God have been brought near through the life and death of this Savior that was born.

As the prophet wrote, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. A child, a human representative, one who can stand in our place a representative, a mediator for us. But also a son given, the son of God, fully God, the creator, the one who holds all things together by the power of His might.

The cure for seasonal depression is the Gospel. Jesus Christ was born 2000 years ago to be our savior, to live a perfect life and die our substitute, that God might forgive wretched sinners such as you and me. This is the cure. Our Joy this season is on the savior, not on the quality of family time we have or the amount of gifts under the tree or the amount of food on the table.

The cure for seasonal Christmas depression is found in the scriptures and the scripture based songs we sing, not in the junk psychology the world offers.
Santa Claus, is a legalist. He’s making a list and checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice? The truth be told, we are all naughty, none of us deserve anything from Santa Claus, much less God. No one is good, no not one. That’s the reason for the depression, we know were not good, it doesn’t matter what the world tells us, deep down we know who we are. That’s why it doesn’t matter what our physical condition is, we can always find joy in the Gospel, the fact that while we were yet sinners, Christ die for us.

We need to find the solutions to our needs in the scriptures. Did you notice that Jesus didn’t answer John’s question. A simple yes would have answered the question. But it’s the word of God that builds our faith. It’s the word of God that the Holy Spirit uses to instruct us. Jesus offers scripture to them.

John’s disciples leave, so now Jesus turns His attention to the rest of the people there. His argument is that John the Baptist is Elijah, the messenger who prepares the way for the Messiah. I am the Messiah, are you ready to believe? That’s the point of this next section.

They knew about the Elijah in the scriptures. They knew he was an uncompromising fearless prophet who challenged the wickedness of Israel, particularly it’s leaders. Jesus said, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” Of course that isn’t what they went out to see. If there is one thing you could not accuse John the Baptist of being is “A reed shaken in the wind”. He was uncompromising, the religious leaders came to Him and he called them a brood of vipers. He was zealous for the things of God.

Then Jesus said, “8 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments?” Again everyone knew the answer. John wasn’t known for wearing soft garments. He was known for wearing cloths from coarse camel’s hair. He was known for living a very disciplined life, denying himself many of the pleasures of life so that he might serve God. He lived on a simple diet of locust and wild honey. This was not a soft man. This was a man like the prophets of old.

What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. He is moving them along to the place where, if they accept that John the Baptist is the Elijah prophesied to be the forerunner of the Messiah, then it will be difficult for them to deny that He is the Messiah.

Again just like with John the Baptist’s disciples, Jesus is telling them, “Look at the facts, observe what is happening, and then read the scriptures and you will understand what is going on. Study the scriptures and you will understand what is going on. Read the scriptures, what does it say about Elijah? What does it say about Messiah? Jesus is challenging them, just like He challenged the disciples of John, “Do you believe that I am the one?”

Jesus has one more evidence for the people. He said, 12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Some people read that verse and their natural, politically correct instinct is to think that Jesus is saying something negative. But he’s not. This is a positive thing he’s saying. This is positive reasoning. Do you also see that I am the one?

The picture Jesus gives them is one of an army storming a city gate. This is how Jesus describes the zealousness of the people who heard the message, there spiritual desperation, their holy desperation. They are rushing the gates, and are taking it by force. They are not letting the religious leaders get in their way.

To help understand what Jesus is saying we need to also look at 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

The word translated “pressing” there, is the same word translated “violence” in Matthew 11:12. One could read Luke 16:16 this way. “Since that time the Kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is violencing into it.”

Is it ever a smooth easy path to transition into the Kingdom of God? Some times you hear people say they were born into a Christian home and they were baptized as an infant and they have always believed. And I don’t suppose I should question that, but some times I wonder.

The old Lutherans said that even a baptized child needs to be brought to that moment when they understood sin and grace so that they will personally cling to the savior. I agree with that. Those testimonies leave me wanting to hear a little more.

As the old Lutherans said, I did come to a moment of truth when I understood sin and grace and I chose sin. And it was a knock down drag out fight. It was violence. I fought God tooth and nail for several years, he wore me out. Finally I had enough, I surrendered. It was with much violence that I pressed my way into the Kingdom of God. I was kicking and scratching almost up to the last minute.

But even in my last moments there was a holy desperation. I lay in bed and tossed and turned, I couldn’t get to sleep, my conscience warred with my soul. I knew I was undone. Finally I had enough. I got out of Bed and told God, I’m yours. There was a holy desperation, restlessness, I couldn’t find any peace. I’ve heard a lot of testimonies similar to mine. Violent.

“Since that time the Kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is violencing into it.”

We read of that same violence in Luke 13:24 "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” NKJV The Greek word translated strive, is the word we get our English word agonize from. Agonize to enter through the narrow gate. I agonized because for several year I didn’t want to go through. Pastor Anhalt, and various LEM evangelists as well as Billy Graham tried to push me through time and time again but I agonizingly fought against it. I looked at that narrow gate and I said to myself, it all won’t fit. My pride wouldn’t fit, my lust wouldn’t fit, my plans for the future wouldn’t fit and it was agony to have to lay all those things done to squeeze myself through that gate. It was agony.

It is a tight squeeze. The parallel verse in Matt 7:13 says "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” NKJV This is a narrow constricted gate. Like Luke 16:16 says, “And everyone is pressing into it.” They have too. It’s narrow, it’s constricted. You just don’t slide through, you press yourself, you force, you fight your way through, like squeezing through a hole.

There is another reason for being violent, for being forceful when you enter the kingdom of God. Sometimes there are people who are trying to block the gate. Luke 11:52 "Woe to you lawyers! (That is experts in the Mosaic Law), For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered." NKJV

Hell will be especially hot for a whole breed of pastors, bishops and popes that are standing in front of the narrow door and not allowing the ones entrusted in them to pass through the narrow gate. They preach peace when there is no peace. They heal the wounds of the people lightly. They preach social justice rather than God’s holy justice that condemns every living being. They preach environmental justice rather than the eternal Gospel proclaiming that your sins can be forgiven. They heap grace upon grace without telling the people what grace is and why it’s important. They put their people asleep, so they are unaware of what God’s message of repent or perish is all about.

It takes violence to wake them up. Their consciences need to be shocked awake. They need the law of God and the wrath of God to awaken and alarm their souls.

That’s what Jesus and John the Baptist did. They shocked the people out of their slumber.

I’m not sure why we have gotten it in our heads in this country that Christianity is an easy road. It’s a soft and cushy road. A path that requires little of you except to maybe go to church once in a while and drop a few dollars in the offering plate. The language of the bible is one of violence, pressing into, agonizing. Jesus said He has to be the foremost affection of our life. Next to our love for Him, everything else should seem like hate in comparison. Our love for father, mother, wife, husband, children, brothers, sisters even our own life, our love for these should seem like hate in comparison to the love we have for Jesus. If we do not take up our cross, the instrument of our death and follow Him we cannot be His disciple. That sounds pretty radical, pretty violent to me.

We are to have the same violence toward sin. If your hand causes you to sin, you should desire to cut it off, if your eye causes you to sin you should be willing to pluck it out, if your foot causes you to sin cut it off. Our hatred of sin should be greater than the love of our body parts. There should be violence against sin.

But the church at large doesn’t war against sin anymore, it accommodates it, it tells people who are living in sin that Jesus loves them just they way they are. That’s evil! Instead of preaching that Jesus came to save them from their sins, they are telling people that Jesus came to save them in their sins.

But we know that the cause of sin isn’t hands feet and eyes but a sinful and corrupt heart, but God has a remedy for that. When we repent and put our trust in Jesus he gives us a new heart and new desires, a love for God and a hatred of sin. Not that we cease from sin, but we have a new attitude about it. We hate it, we war against it, there is violence against sin.

This is the proof that Jesus offers up to the people in answer to the question, “Are you the one?” He’s saying, look around you and see what the reaction the people have to our message. They are becoming violent in there pursuit of God. There is a revival breaking out. The evidence is changed lives.

Testimonies are important because they speak of the violence with which we entered the kingdom. Our testimonies are important to each other because they are a constant reminder that Jesus is who he said he is. They are important to the world because it speaks of the violence of God in radically changing a sinner into a saint.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Jesus is talking about you. You are the evidence the world seeks. You are the one storming the gates, entering with a spiritual violence. The world is looking for a radical expression of the kingdom of God as proof that Jesus is who He says he is. Do you think the world is seeing it? Are they seeing it in you? Are they seeing it in me?

I think the Church, the true church is starting to wake out of its slumber, and I think the world will more and more be able to make the distinction again between the true church and the hypocrites. The world needs to see that distinction, for it is the ones who are spiritually violent that the world will take note of and come to the conclusion that this is the proof they were looking for to show them who the true son of God is. Lord give us the grace to be the proof the world is looking for. Amen.

12-19-2010 Lessons and Carols

2010-12-19T17:07:00.000-08:00

THE SERVICE OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS

Prelude:

Announcements
Offering

Opening Hymn: Once in Royal David’s City
1 Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a Mother laid her baby
In a manger for His bed;
Mary was that Mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little Child.

2 He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor and mean and lowly,
Lived on earth our Savior holy.

3 And our eyes at last shall see Him
Through His own redeeming love,
For that Child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heav’n above;
And He leads His children on
To the place where He is gone.

4 Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him; but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high,
When like stars His children crowned
All in white shall wait around.

Greeting

Beloved in Christ, at this Christmas time let it be our care and delight to hear again the message of the angels, and in heart and mind go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. Let us meditate on the Babe lying in a manger as we read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child.

Opening Prayer

First Lesson:
God announces in the Garden of Eden that the seed the of woman shall bruise the serpent’s head. Gen 3:8-15
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"

10 So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."

11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"

12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

13 And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"

The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:

"Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 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

# 120 Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Second Lesson:
God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed shall the nations of the earth be blessed. Gen 22:15-18
15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son — 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
NKJV

#118 O Come, O Come, Immanuel

Third Lesson:
Christ’s birth and kingdom are foretold by Isaiah. Isa 9:2, 6-7
2 The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.

6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
NKJV

#138 Behold a branch is Growing

Fourth Lesson:
The prophet Micah foretells the glory of little Bethlehem. Mic 5:2-5a
2 "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."

3 Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth;
Then the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
4 And He shall stand and feed His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
5 And this One shall be peace.
NKJV

#133 O Little Town of Bethlehem
Fifth Lesson:
The angel Gabriel salutes the virgin Mary. Luke 1:26-38
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!"

29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."

34 Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"

35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible."

38 Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
NKJV

#369 How Glad I am Each Christmas Eve.

Sixth Lesson:
Matthew tells of the birth of Jesus. Matt 1:18-23
18 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."

22 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."
NKJV

#131 While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night

Seventh Lesson:
The shepherds go to the manger. Luke 2:8-16
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 "Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.
NKJV

#136 Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

Eighth Lesson:
The wise men are led by the star to Jesus. Matt 2:2-11

2 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."

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."

9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
NKJV

#363 Away in a Manger

Ninth Lesson:
John unfolds the great mystery of the incarnation. John 1:1-14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 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.

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.
NKJV

#132 Joy To The World

The Sermon: The Reason for the Season

The Atheists this year have put out tens of thousands of dollars to put up in some of our metropolitan areas, billboards with a silhouette of the nativity scene with the Message. “You know it’s a myth, this season celebrate reason.” I of course don’t agree with the first part of their message, but I do agree with the second phrase, that we should celebrate reason. The first part of their message contradicts the second. It’s not reasonable to say that the life of Jesus is a myth. His is the most established life and history in antiquity. There is more evidence for the existence for Jesus than there is for Julius Caesar. So let us take a quick look at the reasonableness for believing in Jesus.

God through the prophet said in Isa 1:18
"Come now, and let us reason together,"
Says the Lord,
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool. NKJV

The story of Christmas is the reasonable story of how a Holy God is able to make wretched sinners white as snow.

Paul said this, 1 Tim 1:15 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.” NKJV

Paul also said in Rom 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” NKJV

The atheists are telling us it is unreasonable to worship and serve Jesus Christ. They are wrong, it’s the most reasonable thing in the world. It is insanity to do otherwise.

Jesus, the God man came to earth, somehow stuffed himself into a small baby’s body, that’s got to be the greatest miracle of all time. The God man became Immanuel, so that he might live the perfect life, so he might die the innocent and perfect sacrifice, that he might give us his righteousness and make us whiter than snow in God’s eyes.

Paul implores us, he begs us, in light of the mercies of God, in light of everything Jesus did in living and dying for you, the most reasonable thing in the world to do, is to give your life to Him a living sacrifice.

As we enter this last week before Christmas may we continue to reflect of this great truth of what it means for Jesus the son of God to be born in Bethlehem. May we see the reasonableness of worshipping and serving our King. Let’s pray

The Prayer and Blessing:
O God, who fills us with joy with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son, Jesus Christ: Grant that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may, with sure confidence embrace Him when he shall come to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

May he who by his incarnation gathered into one, things earthly and heavenly, fill you with the sweetness of inward peace and goodwill; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be upon you and remain with you always. Amen.

The Closing Hymn: #140 Silent Night

The Postlude:

12/05/2010 The Message of John the Baptist

2010-12-05T04:50:00.000-08:00

The Message of John the Baptist.
Matt 3:1-12
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.'"

4 Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." NKJV

This is the second Sunday of advent. The first Sunday of advent always focuses on the second coming of Christ. He is coming again. We need to be alert we need to watch we need to be ready at all times. The second Sunday in advent always focus’s on John the Baptist and on repentance.

This is the assigned lectionary text for this Sunday, so all across the land and even the world there are churches that should be preaching on repentance. I wonder how they will do? If done rightly it should spark a revival.

John’s message is three fold. Point one, Repent for the Kingdom Of Heaven is at hand. Two, There is wrath coming. Three, the Messiah baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John the Baptist comes and he preaches in the wilderness. In the Jewish way of thinking anything outside the city would be wilderness, because it’s inside the city that you are safe and secure. John is outside of Jerusalem, along the Jordan River and he is preaching. The word used there for preaching is the word that would be used when the herald of a king would come around and deliver an edict or proclamation. Its open air preaching. That is the word that is used most of the time in the New Testament for preaching. A word that would predominantly be used of one who stood up in the middle of a crowd and deliver a message from the king.

That is what preaching is. It’s delivering the edict of our King. Our King is Jesus. He is King of the Kingdom of heaven. John represents his king, Jesus. I, represent our King, Jesus. When ever you talk to someone about their soul you represent the king of the Kingdom of Heaven. You speak with His authority.

John the Baptist comes in the power and authority of his king and he has a command from the king. The command is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” There are two words in the New Testament translated "repentance," one denotes a change of mind, and a reformation of life; the other is just sorrow or regret that you committed a sin, and that you got caught. Of course what John the Baptist is preaching about is the first. He wants them to change there minds and their directions.

Adams Clarke Commentary has a good definition of Repentance. It states that “Repentance, then, implies that a measure of divine wisdom is communicated to the sinner, and that he thereby becomes wise to salvation. That his mind, purposes, opinions, and inclinations, are changed; and that, in consequence, there is a total change in his conduct. It need scarcely be remarked, that, in this state, a man feels deep anguish of soul, because he has sinned against God, unfitted himself for heaven, and exposed his soul to hell. Hence, a true penitent has that sorrow, whereby he forsakes sin, not only because it has been ruinous to his own soul, but because it has been offensive to God.”

Repentance is one of the key elements missing from much of the preaching that happens in many churches today. If you don’t preach sin, righteousness and judgment, which is how Jesus described the three fold ministry of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t preach Sin, Righteousness and Judgment, people will not see their need to repent, and if they don’t see their need to repent, they will see no need of a savior.

Even as Christians, the blacker we see our sin, and don’t kid yourself, in God’s eyes its black indeed. The blacker we see our sin the brighter Jesus will shine through it and the tighter we will cling to Him.

Repentance is the great need of the Church. You maybe thought I was going to say, it was the great need for our nation. Oh, our nation needs to repent, but our nation will never repent unless our churches do first. The Apostle Paul was shocked when he heard about the sin in the church of Corinth. What would he think if he saw what was happening in the church of today?

He would not be shocked by the culture. He lived in a wicked and depraved culture; he would not be shocked by the world in which we live. It would have been the same in many ways. But the church was pure. Yes there were problems, and Paul addresses these problems in Galatians and 1st Corinthians. But these were exceptions. The church repented. Christians repented. The church was pure.

In the average church today you could probably walk in and ask people if they have repented and they wouldn’t know what you are talking about. That’s sad, because if you have no Idea what it means to say I have repented, then are you really saved,

This is what A. W. Tozer said, "The weakness of so many modern Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world. Religion today is not transforming people; rather, the people are transforming religion. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own depraved level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender."

Now he said that concerning the church in the 50s and early 60s, an era of the church that we think was still pretty solid.

The need for repentance is great, John commanded it, and Jesus commands it. Jesus said you have two options, repent or perish. You can repent or you can perish. Which will it be? Sounds like it would be a simple and easy choice, but yet billions will hear the claim of Christ, reject His loving offer and spend eternity in Hell.

John the Baptist was imploring people to repent. It says Jerusalem and Judea and all the region around came to be baptized by him. A great revival broke out. It was all the buzz; it was what everybody was talking about. They came confessing their sins, and were baptized.

What does it mean to confess your sins? I would say it means you take ownership of them. You claim them as your own; you claim them as rebellion against God. You claim them as something that will cause God to pour out His wrath on you if you don’t properly deal with them.

John was a preacher of the law, for we don’t know our sin aside from the law. It’s kind of interesting that through out the history of Israel, the law kept getting lost. One such case is found in 2 Kings 22-23. The temple was functioning without the law. Sacrifices were still going on; pagan worship was encroaching on the true worship of God from every direction.

But then one day the high Priest found the Book of the Law and started to read it. It startled him because they were doing everything wrong. He brings the Book of the Law to Josiah the King and starts reading it and the King ripped his cloths in dismay and he called all the elders and leaders of Israel together and he had the entire law read to them from start to finish, and they all repented and King Josiah started purging the temple and the countryside of all the pagan influences. A Great revival broke out and people for a generation strived to worship the Lord and Him alone. It took the law to show people the error of their ways.

John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets, it had been 400 years since the last Prophet of God had spoken to Israel, and in that time there was a semblance of the law still, but the spirit of the law had been lost. John comes and preaches the purity of the law and a revival breaks out, and people come confessing their sins.

But the Pharisees and the Sadducees also came out to be baptized, obviously with wrong motives. They came for show. The people were saying that John was a true prophet of God. It would not look good on their resume if they didn’t come out to hear and be baptized by one whom that people thought was a prophet from God. They came probably just to check him out; all the people were talking about a prophet, dressed in this strange prophet garb, having the same garb and dietary habits of Elijah. They had to get to the bottom of the matter.

But they didn’t think they needed to repent. They were Jews. They were children of Abraham. In their world it was only gentiles that needed to repent and be baptized.

John the Baptist is ruthless in his condemnation. He knew their hearts; he knew they had other motives for coming. “Brood of Vipers, Who warned you to flea from the wrath to come?”

One wonders how God views the unrepentant sinner. Were the Pharisees and Sadducees worse sinners than others who refused to repent? Were they a special class of sinners that were especially repugnant in God’s sight? Now there does appear to be a certain religious self-righteousness that God particularly hates. Religious people that should know better, people who just take turns itching each others ears, people who see no need for repentance because they are God’s special people. We see these people in all shapes and colors; they fill our churches every Sunday morning. But they are lukewarm, they nauseate our Lord and He will spew, vomit them out of His mouth someday.

Brood of vipers, that’s the view God has on all those who refuse to repent. John the Baptist said there were no fruits of repentance visible. There was no humility, there was no contrition for sin, there was no changed life. True repentance changes you. Some people are just sorry they got caught in there sin, but they don’t hate their sins, they don’t struggle with their sins, there is no battle against their flesh and blood. True repentance is life changing.

John says don’t trust in your lineage. Don’t count on the fact that you are children of Abraham. We shouldn’t count on our heritage either. We come from a godly heritage, from churches that preached the true word of God. We had godly parents and grandparents that brought us up in the faith. This is all good, but in itself it does not save us from the wrath to come. We need to personally see ourselves as God see’s us and we need to personally repent, and we know we have repented properly when we see the fruits of repentance in our lives. We now love the things of God, we love his word, we love to fellowship with other Christians. We love to talk about Jesus. Nothing in this world is more interesting than He is. Do not think to yourself, I grew up in a good home, so of course I’m saved.

For I say to you God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. God could take stones from the flowerbed outside this church and turn them into worshipers. That is no trick for God. It was harder for him to change this dark dirty heart of mine. To do that it took the death of God. It took God coming to earth in the form of man, to take our place, to take the wrath that we have earned for ourselves. It cost God nothing to create the worlds and all they contain, He didn’t even break a sweat doing it. Now to redeem this world and this man he created and loved, He sweat great drops of blood. It cost Him His Son.

There are warnings of Judgment and wrath throughout the bible. It’s important that we know that there is a wrath to come. It will help us to maintain personal purity. It will motivate us to speak to others about their soul’s condition. It will cause us to cling to that old rugged cross, the only true place of safety.

There is a particular warning to the religious in Hebrews 6:4-6. It warns of the danger of those who hear the Gospel, are enlightened by it, they get saved or have some kind of experience, then they fall away and refuse again to repent. The writer says “they crucify again for themselves the son of God, and put Him to open shame.”

When we look at what happened in 70 AD to the temple and to Jerusalem and those that rejected and killed their Messiah, it will not go well on judgment day for those who hear the Gospel and reject it. Because they are doing the same thing the Jews and Romans did two thousand years ago. They are crucifying and putting the Son of God to shame all over. They are trampling on the grace of God. Don’t be one of those people; it will not go well on judgment day for them.

But a lot of people are there today. They have heard the Gospel, maybe not preached in its purity, but they have heard enough of the Gospel. And rather than believing the gospel, they reject it. They trample on the grace of God, and on the blood that was shed for them.

John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
NKJV

Verse 10 in our text says, “Now the axe is laid to the root of the tree.” This is a warning of impending judgment. The picture is of a woods man who marks his tree and then lays the axe at the base of the tree, to stripe off his outer garment so it doesn’t interfere with His swing. He wants’ to be able to deliver the full might of his swing to the base of the tree.

That’s the picture of everyone who has not repented; they are storing up wrath for the day of wrath. Even now the axe is laid at the root. God is about to cut off every unrepentant soul. You must therefore either turn to God immediately, or be utterly and finally ruined.

Finally John the Baptist turns His attention to Jesus. In verse 11 he says; “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. When He saves us, when we are born Again, converted, regenerated, He gives us the Holy Spirit. The Sprit of God dwells in us. It is our down payment and assurance of better things to come. John the Baptist is referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit prophesied in Joel 2:28 "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. NKJV

How about the baptism of fire? Some think it’s a reference to the tongues of flame that rested on the believers on Pentecost. But the context plainly seems to be judgment. He talks about the fire burning up the chaff in judgment and he is probably referring to the prophecy in Malachi 3:2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like launderers' soap.” A fire will either purify you or consume you. It depends upon what you are made of.

The second Sunday in Advent reminds us of our need to repent and why. We need to repent because we are sinners, and there is wrath in store for all of those who don’t repent and obey the Gospel. So let us flee this morning, the wrath to come, let us flee to the foot of the cross, where there is forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Amen

11/28/2010 As In The Days of Noah

2010-11-28T04:46:00.000-08:00

As in the Days of Noah.
Matt 24:36-44
36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
NKJV

John Wesley was once asked by a lady, "Suppose you knew you were to die at twelve o'clock to-morrow night, how would you spend the intervening time?" "How, madam?" he replied; "why, just as I intend to spend it now. I should preach this night at Gloucester, and again at five to-morrow morning. After that I should ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening. I should then repair to friend Martin's house, who expects to entertain me, converse and pray with the family as usual, retire to my room at ten o'clock, commend myself to my heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in glory."
(from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)

The question being asked of Jesus is when is all this stuff going to happen and when are you going to set up your Kingdom. They are not asking Him when He’s coming again because they don’t understand that yet. It will take a death and a resurrection to get them to under that concept.

But for us, on this side of the cross, we understand this as being the second coming of Jesus, and rightly so. He’s talking about, the end of the age, Judgment Day. Now it’s possible that we might see it, it’s probably more likely that none of us will see it in the flesh. But we will all see it. We will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, as Christians, not for our sins, but for our works to see what they were made of. Unbelievers will be judged for their sins. It is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment.

When is Jesus coming back, when will it be? How can we tell when it is getting close? Is it even important that we know?

It is the first Sunday in Advent, and the first Sunday In advent never is about His first coming, it’s always about His second coming. It emphasizes the fact that Jesus will come again, this time not as a suffering servant, but as a conquering King.

Jesus has some council and tells us a few things about what those days will be like. I have four main points from what Jesus says in our text today.
First, No one knows the day or the hour.
Second, it will be as in the days of Noah.
Third, watch.
Fourth, be ready.

First thing Jesus says is “But of that day and hour no one knows.” This seems pretty plain. I’m not sure why people seem to get confused about this concept. If you look at the second century all the way to today, we could probably find a hundred times people have tried to figure out the time of Jesus’ return. Some were more general in their prediction, just giving a year or a general time. Others have been very specific even getting down to the day and the hour.

When I lived in California, I worked with a man who had been part of one of those groups. I don’t remember for sure which group it was. But the leader claimed to be a prophet and he had gotten a word from the Lord that the rapture was going to happen at this time and at this hour. Now this is a guy I knew, and he had a profession of faith that the best I could tell was genuine and we had some great times of fellowship together, on breaks at work and even away from work. So this was a down to earth kind of guy. But for some reason the pastor has convinced them all that this was going to happen.

He said the day came, and he went to work as usual, but he watched the clock, and as the time came when he was supposed to be ruptured out of this world. He very conscientiously cleaned up his work area. So the time came, he put his tools down on the work bench and just stood there with his hands at his side waiting to be snatched from this world. When it didn’t happen at first, he figured the clocks must have been a few minutes off. So he waited a few more minutes, and still nothing. Finally it hit him, his pastor was wrong. He never went back to that church.

The group that holds the record for wrong predictions is the Jehovah Witnesses. I believe there are ten attempts, 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, after five incorrect predictions in order to save face they claimed Jesus returned invisibly to earth in 1914. So now it’s just the day he will visibly manifest himself and rule the world that they are waiting for. But they have also wrongly predicted that in 1918, 1925, 1975, 1984, and 1994. Needless to say they don’t seem to learn. Jesus said, of that day and hour no one knows.

But that’s like the moment of our death. Some through disease know that their time is getting close. Others through accident or heart attack have no warning at all. But even with a slow lingering illness you don’t know the day or the hour. Many times a family will be called to a bed side thinking the end is getting close, and the person will live several more days and even weeks.

We don’t know the day or hour of our departure. It’s possible through accident or sudden illness somebody here will be in the presence of God by next week. Jesus is talking about His second coming, but the advice He gives to watch and be ready are for us today even if Jesus is 100 years from setting up His millennial kingdom. It doesn’t matter if Jesus doesn’t come until 1000 years from now, because within 100 years we will all face Him.

The second thing Jesus wants His disciples to know is what will characterize the age. Jesus says it will be as in the days of Noah. What do we know about the days of Noah? The Bible gives a pretty good description.
Gen 6:5 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” NKJV

The Jewish Talmud also has a description of what those days were like. Now the Talmud is not considered inspired scripture, but historically it seems to have some accuracy. From the Jewish Encyclopedia I found this.

The sins of the "men of the generation of the Flood" (Sanh. 38b et passim) are variously given. They were proud and therefore shameless, parading the earth in a state of absolute nudity (Tanna debe Eliyahu, xxxi.). They were licentious and lascivious (Sanh. 108; Midrash ha-Gadol, pp. 142-146), so that even the animals followed their example (ib. p. 153; Tan., Noaḥ, ed. Buber, p. 5). They were robbers; in daytime they marked the houses of the rich with balsam, to find them by means of the odor in the dark (Midrash ha-Gadol, p. 142; Gen. R. xxi., xxvii.). They denied God (Midrash ha-Gadol, pp. 144, 145). A respite of 120 years was granted that Methuselah might complete his allotted life (ib. p. 144; "Sefer ha-Yashar," ii.); after his death seven more days were allowed as days of mourning ("shib'ah").Again we don’t recognize the Talmud as inspired scripture but we get some additional insights into the evil of the day and why God destroyed them. This is the first of three major judgments described in the Bible.

There are two other times where God described a culture and a people that were totally deprave and wicked that the only recourse for the safety of the human race was annihilation. It was in Gen 13:13 speaking of the people of Sodom, it says; “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.” NKJV And latter in Gen 18:20-21 it says, “And the Lord said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know." NKJV

The cultures were so wicked God had to destroy them so they wouldn’t be a cancer to the rest of the human race. Now think about all the evil we have read in the history books, and we read about all the evil happening in today’s world and yet God hasn’t yet passed that judgment on our world today. Imagine how evil those cultures had to have been for God to act so drastically.

In the third judgment God commanded Joshua and the nation of Israel to carry out when they crossed the Jordan into the promise land. In Leviticus we get an idea of the evil in these lands. Lev 18:24-25 “Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. 25 For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants.” NKJV God describes the scene as this, the inhabitant’s of the land are so evil and deprave that the land will vomit them out.

With all the wickedness we see in the world today, it’s hard to believe these people were worse. But yet we have bits of biblical and secular historical evidence that tells us what these people were like and they were evil. We know they were evil because of what God said about them, and by the fact that they were wiped off the face of the earth.

So what does that tell us about the end times. Jesus said, “As in the days of Noah, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be.” We can expect those days to be very wicked. Are we seeing those days today? Are we starting to? I think we are just beginning to see the kind of evil that will be unleashed by men who have no fear of God.

Now Jesus seems to paints kind of a rosy picture. He doesn’t make it sound like they were all that bad. He doesn’t say they were raping, pillaging, and looting the country. No he doesn’t talk about rampant Homosexuality, divorce, fornication, greed, drug warfare, persecution of believers and abortion. No what does he say? He says; “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.” They were eating, drinking and being merry. It was life as usual. We know that they were wicked and living wicked lives, but this tells us they felt no need to change, no need to repent. They were living there lives with no thought for tomorrow.

That’s the way most people live today; they have no time to think about tomorrow. They have no time to think about eternity and what will happen to them after they die. They just assume that everything will be OK.

Verse 39 says a remarkable thing. Let me read it again starting with verse 38. “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away.”

And did not know until the flood came and took them all away. How can that be? How could it be that the people were so unaware? Did God not send a prophet to warn them? He seemed to have sent two. First he sent Enoch. Jude the half brother of Jesus says this in his short epistle. Verse 14 “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." NKJV

Enoch was a prophet and he walked with God. Many seemed to think he had a conversion experience at the age of 65 about the time Methuselah was born. Methuselah’s name literally means “when he dies the water will come”. Enoch was on earth 300 years after Methuselah’s birth so Enoch would have prophesied for 300 years the coming judgment. Also Noah had 120 years to build his ark and to preach, 2 Peter 2:5 calls Noah a “preacher of righteousness”.

Between the two they had 420 years of preaching, prophesying and warning the people of the coming judgment. Noah begging them to get in the boat. And in the end only eight did. How many people heard their message?

I’m going to use George Whitfield as a comparison. George Whitfield preached for 34 years, preached 18,000 sermons, and it is estimated that 10 million people heard Him preach. It is estimated that 80% of the people living in the colonies at that time had heard him preach in person at least once. Everybody knew what his message was, and this was before radio and television. Thirty four years and 80% had heard Him preach. Everyone in the colonies knew who George Whitefield was and what he preached.

Some have estimated that at the time of the flood, the world’s population would have been around one billion people. But this was before the tower of Babel and the population was probably all in one geographical area. Noah preached for 120 years while he built this huge ark. I would say that everyone on the planet knew about this crazy guy building the huge boat, this ark on dry land. Many would come and mock Him and His message. But they completely ignored it.

“And (they) did not know until the flood came and took them all away.”
They should have known, they had Noah, and Enoch before him. They had Methuselah whose very name was prophetic. They were not ready. They ignored all the preaching, all the signs of the times. They should have known, but they didn’t. They did not know until it was too late.

Let’s look at today’s world. Do they know that God is coming again some day to judge the quick and the dead? Forty years ago it was on a lot of people’s minds. In the early 70’s there was a proliferation of books that came out about the end times. But I think that people have lost interest in the subject. In the last 40 years there has been book after book written and there have been several movies, but if Jesus were to come today, the vast majority of people would not be ready. The same thing will be said about them, they did not know Jesus was coming again until it was too late, for when Jesus shows up, it will be game over.

This will be the way the world will be when Jesus returns. ”And did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.”

Recent interpretations use this in the context of the rapture. These people are taken in the rapture to be with God. I suppose there is not much harm in that, but when I look at it the context seems to be that they are taken in Judgment. The flood took them away in judgment, so the two that are taken seem to be in judgment. Jesus’ point is that appearances are deceiving. The common hand millstone took two people to operate, we have two women living pretty identical lives, working together in unison to get a job accomplished, one will be taken and one left behind, why? Two men in a field, both working hard, doing a days work out in the hot field trying to supply food for their family. Nothing noticeably different about these two men, but yet one is taken and the other left behind, why?

Nothing visible from the world’s point of view, so it must be a heart matter. One woman saved the other lost. One man saved, one man lost. They could have been sitting together the previous Sunday at church, but one is saved and one is lost. This is the great mystery that Jesus tried to get the people to understand over and over again. You have the four soils, the sheep and the goats, the wise and foolish virgins, the wheat and the tares, the clean and the unclean fish, the house built on the sand and the rock. From outward appearance undistinguishable but God looks on the heart. How is your heart this Morning?

Jesus has two words of advice for us as a remedy to make sure we are not caught unawares. First he says, “Watch, for you do not know what day he will come.” We are not to be like Noah’s generation and not know until judgment comes. We are to watch, we are to be aware of what’s happening in the world, so that we don’t get lazy and we are to warn others. Second Jesus says Be Ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

It’s like the weather, we don’t know for sure when a storm is going to hit. But if we are smart we are ready. We hopefully have a weather radio, maybe a flashlight and some candles at hand in case we loose power. In the winter we carry some extra winter survival gear in the trunk of the car in case we get caught in a blizzard or go in the ditch. If we are smart about these things there are things we can do to help us to be ready. Glenn Beck has even advised people to have some extra food on hand in the case of an emergency. Granted that’s a Mormon thing, but still it’s easy to do and there seems to be some wisdom there.

Be ready. Jesus is coming again, be ready, watch therefore. Don’t get lazy, read your Bible, pray regularly, fellowship with others. Mortify the sin that clings to your life, put it to death, be done with it. Jesus is coming again. Don’t be like in the days of Noah, don’t just be eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, and live like Jesus is never going to return and judge this wicked world. Don’t live like that because it is a lie. Jesus is coming again, and it could be soon. And even if it isn’t, each and every one of us will be called to face Jesus soon, are you ready?
I WISH WE'D ALL BEEN READY Larry Norman

Life was filled with guns and war,
Everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we'd all been ready
Children died the days grew cold,
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we'd all been ready

There's no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you've been left behind

A man and wife asleep in bed,
She hears a noise and turns her head, he's gone
I wish we'd all been ready
Two men walking up a hill,
One disappears and one's left standing still
I wish we'd all been ready

There's no time to change your mind,
he Son has come and you've been left behind
There's no time to change your mind,
How could you have been so blind?
The Father spoke the demons dined,
The Son has come and you've been left behind

You've been left behind
Don’t be left behind.

Amen

11/14/2010 The Times They are A Changing

2010-11-14T05:16:00.000-08:00

The Times They are a Changing
Luke 21:5-19
5 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, 6 "These things which you see — the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down."

7 So they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?"
8 And He said: "Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time has drawn near.' Therefore do not go after them. 9 But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately."

10 Then He said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head shall be lost. 19 By your patience possess your souls.
NKJV

Jesus in verse six prophecies about the destruction of the temple that will happen in about 40 years, the disciples of course have questions. “When will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place.” It’s interesting that as best as I can tell, that of the twelve disciples, only nine lived to see the temple’s destruction; That being John of course, Jude, and Simon the Zealot. All the others met martyrs deaths before the year 70AD when the temple was destroyed. Jesus addresses the issue of martyrdom and a couple others in the answer He gives.
Jesus gives an answer that describes what the disciples will experience in the intervening years until the temple is destroyed, but at the same time Jesus looks through history and see’s what every generation of Christians will face. In Jesus’ answer we have both the near and the far fulfillment of prophecy. Yes what he said applied to the hearers and many heeded his warnings and were spared the massacre that happened at Jerusalem. But yet it wasn’t written just for them, it was written for every generation. Otherwise the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have moved Luke to record this conversation Jesus had with His disciples. The very fact that it is in the Bible means it applies for us here in the 21st century.

In the text Jesus says the days before his return, and those days in years are about one thousand nine hundred and eighty, and counting. He said, from here to eternity, those days would be characterized by three things; Deception, chaos, and persecution.

The disciples ask the question, what shall we look for, what sign? Jesus doesn’t really give them a sign does he? He gives them some warnings, he gives them council. In general he tells them what to expect life will be like. This is more important than signs. It’s more important to know what to expect and how to live.

Jesus says the first thing you need to watch out for is deception. “Take Heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in my name, saying I Am.” Jesus uses the “ego ime”, the I Am, that I Am of the Old Testament. Jesus is not just saying that people will claim to be the Christ; they will claim to be God. And history has people like that. In Jesus’ day the Caesars claimed to be Gods and were worshipped as such. The Japanese emperors were worshipped as gods prior to World War II. Even the likes of Jim Jones and David Koresh thought they had attained God status. Mormon Doctrine is based on the fact that God was once a man on a far distant planet and achieved God status and that we too by our righteousness can become gods and rule our own planet. And Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world.

Take heed that you not be deceived. Satan is a deceiver; we must be vigilant and always aware of his devices. We live in a world of deception. Most of what we see that is religious in nature, is a deception. The ELCA with there rejection of the clear teaching of scriptures, their teachings on homosexuality, universalism, environmentalism, evolution, I’d say it’s gotten to the point where there isn’t any truth there any more.

Today we have what is called the Emergent Church. I heard someone say that we have the Emergent Church because every generation needs to have a church that replaces the real Gospel with the social gospel. Most churches are more concerned with saving the planet than they are about saving souls.

The church both from the left and right see politics as the cure for what ails us. But politics and government can never be more than a curb; Something that will be a restraining force on evil. Government isn’t the cure, that’s a deception. Yes I was happy about the election a couple weeks ago. But are we better off now than we were then? I don’t know that we are, maybe the march towards socialism will slow. But to change a nation, you need to change hearts, and only the gospel will do that. To place your hope in governments is a deception, our hope is in God.

Take heed that you not be deceived. We are deceived when ever we allow the wisdom of the world to replace the wisdom of the scriptures. There are many scriptures that warn us of deception. 1 Cor 6:9-10
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” NKJV Don’t be deceived into thinking that people can live lifestyles of sin and that it’s OK. That’s deception, and church after church has been falling into that deception.

1 Cor 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits."
NKJV Don’t think that you can hang around the ungodly and not be affected. They will drag you down, they will compromise your testimony. Don’t be deceived into thinking it doesn’t matter who you chum around with.

2 Thess 2:1 “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means” NKJV Don’t let anyone deceive you concerning the Lord’s return. The scriptures are clear; the Lord will return again, everyone will see him. No one knows the day or the hour, but we are to be ready and know the signs of the times. We are to love His appearing. We are to long for it.

But time after time people have dreams and visions, or they take out their calculator and come up with a date even though the scriptures warn us not to do that. Like Harold Camping who was wrong already once, and now he’s at it again and is saying that Jesus will return in May of next year.

These are just a few of the warnings the scriptures give about deception. From here to eternity, we need to guard our souls against deception, and we do that by staying in our Bibles, by reading, studying and knowing the whole council of God.

Another thing that will characterize the last days, and Biblically the last days are the days between Christ’s ascension and His return. So we are in the last days. Jesus said “you will hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified.”
There has never been peace on earth, there never will be until He returns. There are always wars going on someplace.

In the 1800’s we were in the midst of an industrial revolution and we had the second great awakening and the rallying cry was, “every day and in every way we are getting better and better.” The church was growing in leaps and bounds, the civil war was behind us, and they were looking at the 20th century as the Christian Century. Predominantly the eschatology of the day was Post-millennialism. Eschatology is the theology of the end times. Post millenialists believed that through the preaching of the Gospel, most everyone would get saved and we would just transition into the millennium reign of Christ.

But it hasn’t worked out so well has it? After two world wars and a depression, plus the cold war and now the war on terror, the theology of post millennialism has lost its credibility. You don’t find too many people who still hold that view.

Jesus said the way that leads to life is narrow and few will find it. I believe that will hold true until Christ’s return. And as long as the majority of the people on earth are unregenerate sinners the norm will be wars and commotions.

Jesus said that, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.”

Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. This is the way of the world. We have seen it in our life time. Nation rising against nation. It is still happening. Russia and China, may be trading partners, but they are not our friends. A lot of what we see going on today in the world is civil war. Its different ethnic and religious groups vying for power, motivated by pride and greed.

Then Jesus talks about natural disasters, earthquakes, famines, pestilences and great signs in heaven. These are judgments of God. These are caused or allowed so that we will repent.

The tsunami that hit several years ago in Indonesia and killed over 200,000, one way or other God was involved. God caused or allowed it to happen. Same with the earthquake that hit Haiti a year ago. It drives the world crazy when they hear Christians say things like that. But what they don’t understand is that God holds the life of each and every one of us in his hand, and none of us will take our next breath unless He wants us too. To kill 200,000 in an earthquake is no big deal for God, it’s justice. He kills 150,000 every day. They die because it is His will they die, and they die because they are sinners, and the scripture says “The soul that sins will die.”

We deserve nothing from God. We are alive only because of His grace. The only thing we have earned from Him is His wrath.

This is what God says about himself. Isa 45:7 “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.”
NKJV
Jeremiah 6:19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people — The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it. NKJV
Amos 3:6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it? ESV

God causes or allows these things to happen as warnings to us, so that we might repent. When asked about why calamities happened in Jesus day, He did not explain it to them, he simply said, “Repent or you will likewise perish.”

God is working all things out so that people will be awakened to the danger they are in, and that they might repent and believed and be saved, that Jesus might be glorified in all things. That message drives the world nuts, because they don’t believe in that God. They have created a God in their own image that winks at sin and is not all powerful.

But there is something the world hates even more than the idea of a sovereign all powerful God, and that’s the gospel. What is the third thing that Jesus says we can expect from here to eternity? Jesus said persecution will be the norm when it comes to the Christian life. It’s not something strange, as Peter put it. Don’t think it strange that persecution is coming on you, he says in 1 Peter 4:12. Persecution will be the norm for Christians throughout history. You see that when you read church history, and even today in many parts of the world the norm is persecution. God has been gracious and we have been spared much of that for some reason. But we shouldn’t think that it will never come.

I listen to a lot of preaching as I travel the roads, some Lutheran and some others, and time and time again when the subject of persecutions comes up, the consensus is the same. Persecution will eventually come here as well.

Jesus says in our text, “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head shall be lost. 19 By your patience possess your souls.”

Jesus tells us why we are persecuted in John 15:18-20, 25
18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also…. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.' NKJV

The world still hates Jesus without a cause. Why would the world hate Jesus? After all, all Jesus did for the world was love it. And He loved us without a cause. Paul says that in Romans 3:24. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” KJV Being justified freely. The word translated freely, is the same word as the word translated “without a cause” in John 15:25. Jesus loved the world without a cause, and yet the world hates Him. There was nothing in us; nothing in the world that Jesus saw that caused Him to redeem us. It was without a cause.

But yet the world hates Him. Or I should say because of that, the world hates Him. Paul Washer says one of the most dangerous messages to preach to a church is a message on the attributes of God, because there is a chance that some will hear about the true God of the Bible and say, “I could never believe in a God like that”.

I think there are three things about the Gospel that infuriate the world. One is the exclusivity of the Gospel. Jesus is the only way. We live in a post modern world where truth is relative. My truth is my truth and it doesn’t apply to anyone else. To proclaim universal truth is madness. You can walk up to someone on the street and tell them that your god is Elvis Presley, and you believe that if you eat fried banana sandwiches while listening to “Heart Break Hotel” for the rest of your life, when you die you will go to Graceland and spend the rest of eternity hanging out with Elvis. Then ask the question, “Am I wrong” And if it is a young college age person you will have a very hard time finding someone who will tell you, you are wrong.

The world hates the message that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And many voices in our culture tell us that truth is relative and all paths lead to God. But that is not the Gospel, and the world hates the gospel.

The second thing the world hates about the Gospel is that it tells us that we are not good. And the most natural thing for us to do is to proclaim our own goodness. This infuriates the world as well, and they will spend hours arguing with out and trying to convince you that they are a good person. But the scriptures are clear, no one is good, not even one.

The third thing that the world hates about Christianity is that it says you cannot save yourself. The thing to remember about religion is this, there are only two religions. Christianity stands alone. Christianity says we are not good, we are depraved, we can’t save ourselves, and we need a savior. Jesus, God himself came to earth to take the punishment you deserved, so that God could save you if you repent and trust in Him and Him alone for your salvation.

All the other religions say, you’re only kind of bad, you do some bad things. Work hard to better yourself and maybe God will be pleased and reward you. You can summarize all other religions into this category. Islam, Judaism, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Hinduism, Buddhism, any and all of the others say do, do, do, and maybe you will be rewarded when you die. Christianity stands alone and says done. Jesus did it all. We get no credit, we humble ourselves and give all the glory to Jesus for what He has done.

And for that we are hated, Jesus is hated. Because we are a proud and stiff necked people, we like the idea that we are captains of our own destiny. It’s hard to humble ourselves and admit to ourselves, each other and to the world that we cannot save ourselves. That’s why the world hates us. Because it hated Jesus first, and it hates the Gospels because they refuse to humble themselves and believe what the Bible says about them.

So Jesus tells us from here to eternity, till the day Jesus returns in glory, the world will hate us and that persecution will be a normal part of the Christian life. But not to worry, Jesus has overcome the world, he will give us grace in time of need, He will even give us the right words and testimony before we are executed. God is in control, he will receive the glory do his name. All we are called to do is in response to the great mercy he has shown us; we are called to be faithful.

I will close with Peters benediction from 1 Peter 5:10-11 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
ESV

10-24-2010 Final Instructions (1 Peter 5:6-14)

2010-10-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

1 Peter 5:6-14
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. 13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son.

14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. NKJV

Finally we get to the end of the letter. Peter has some final instructions, some final encouragements for the Christians who will read this, and that includes us.

Verse six starts therefore, so he ties this to what he has just shared. He had just spent some time telling of the humility that should mark the Christians life, all the way from the leadership, to the young. We should be humble in all our dealings with each other. For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourself.

We will all be humbled some day, we can either humble ourselves, or we can wait and have God humble us latter. We can voluntarily humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, with His help of course, or we can be humbled on Judgment day. Someday every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord. We can do it voluntarily, or we can be forced to our knees on Judgment Day. It doesn’t matter who you are and how much you hate God, all of them, Barry Lind, Richard Dawkens, Steven Hawkins, Voltaire, Stalin, Lenin, or any other infidel that has ever lived, they will bow to Jesus some day.

Therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. I wonder what the due time is? Will that be in this life? Or is he referring to our next life? And if it is in this life that God will exalt us, what would that look like? Does it mean that he will make us rich? Does it mean that he will give us favor when it comes to man and governments? Does it mean he will cause us to grow into a mega church?

What would it look like for God to exalt us in this life? How did God exalt the apostles? All died martyrs deaths except for John and even he lived out the end of His life in exile on an Island used as a prison. Who are the saints of old that we remember and esteem? Most of them are martyrs or people who suffered greatly for their faith. Hans Hauge, Martin Luther, John Huss, Wycliffe.

The disciples rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus. That’s the kind of exalting that happens in this life I’m afraid. In due time, yes when we get to heaven and Jesus says well done good and faithful servant, then he will exalt us and we will be with him. In due time, I think he is again reminding them of the eternal perspective they need to have to survive the suffering they are experiencing.

Next Peter quotes from Ps 55:22, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." This is what humble people do. Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt, those who have nothing in themselves of value to offer God. Humble people who realize their bankrupt and desperate condition cast all their cares on Jesus. All, is not only every one of your cares, as in quantity. If you were to write out all of your cares and you listed 103 cares, you need to cast all 103 cares on the Lord. All also means the whole of your cares, even if you only have on big care, you don’t hold anything back you cast the whole thing on the Lord.

But we have a tendency to hold some things back so we have something to worry about. We cast our cares for our eternity on Jesus, but we worry and fret about our current health. We cast our cares about our job on Jesus, but we worry and fret about the direction our government seems to be going. We have our pet cares, maybe it’s some relationship, maybe it’s some besetting sin you can’t seem to shed. We hold onto these cares. We shouldn’t, we should caste them all, in there entirety on Jesus.

Matt 11:29 Jesus said: “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 wants us to find rest in Him. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not about resting on Saturday or Sunday, the Sabbath is about resting in Jesus. It’s about not striving and trying to work your way to heaven. We find rest, Sabbath rest in Jesus and we cast our cares on Him.

The second thing Peter says in his conclusion is to; “Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary, the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

Be sober, this is the second time he uses this admonition. The first time was; 1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” NKJV

Be sober, don’t be under the influence, be self controlled, don’t be distracted by the world, don’t be frivolous. The world is all about having a good time. They are always looking for a party. Eat, drink, and be merry.

As Christians are we to never have fun? Oh we can have fun but it’s a different kind of fun. I checked the King James, Revised Standard, the New American Standard and the English Standard and the word “fun” does not appear. Now the word Joy appears about 160 times. That’s a different kind of fun, it’s deeper, and it’s rooted in the Gospel, knowing that our sins are forgiven and that we are no longer enemies of God.

I have fun every Sunday when I gather with Christians and talk about Jesus. I have fun every Monday night when I gather with some Christian friends in Des Moines and we talk about Jesus.

Be sober, life is serious business. Souls hang in the balance. One hundred years from now everyone we know and meet will be either in heaven or hell. Think about that. That should sober you up real fast if you comprehend what that really means.

Be vigilant. Be alert, know your surroundings. Be aware of the dangers that are out there. Know your weaknesses, so that you can avoid the places and things that temp you. Know that you have an adversary.

In 2009 Barna took one of His surveys and he found out that 40% of those who profess to be Christians don’t believe that Satan is a real personal being. They believe that he is a metaphor for evil. Now Barna doesn’t have any criteria for determining if people are Christians or not. He lets them self profess what they are. He asks, Are you a Christian? And if they say yes, he puts their responses in the Christian column. Now my profession would be that those 40% are not Christians. Now I suppose it is possible for a young Christian to be confused for a short time, but if he is reading his bible, by the time he has read Job, and the Gospels, 1 Peter and Revelation, there would be no doubt left. Satan is real and he is warring against the saints.

Satan is real, demons are real, we need to be sober and vigilant. We need to be aware of his devices. Paul in 2 Cor. 2:11 when talking about our need to forgive, said that we need to forgive one another; “Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” Paul knew that a lack of forgiveness would cause bitterness and that would leave the door wide open for Satan to do all kinds of mischief in the believers life.

We need to be vigilant; we need to be aware of His devices. His arsenal is only so big. He only has a few weapons he can use against us. 1 John 2:16 sums up Satan’s devices. It really only comes down to these three things, “For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.” NKJV

For all that is in the world, lust of the flesh, appetites for sex, drugs, alcohol, and gluttony. The lusts of the flesh. The lust of the eyes, that would be covetousness, it’s looking with desire, its materialism, the desire to be rich or famous. And the pride of life. There is that old pride again rearing its ugly head.

There is a song that has been sung now for several decades. It’s an OK song but there is a phrase in the second verse I can’t bring myself to sing. It’s the song; “They’ll know we are Christians by our love”. That’s true, that’s biblical, but the second verse ends this way. “We’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride.” Now I’m ok with guarding each man’s dignity, but I see no where in scripture where it says we are to save a man’s pride. Rather the contrary, we preach the Law and the Gospel in such away so that a man’s pride will be stripped away, because without that they can’t be saved.

We must be vigilant because our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He says the devil walks about, that’s the same language found in Job 2:2. “And the Lord said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Satan answered the Lord and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it." NKJV

He is walking to and fro and seeking whom he may desire. Other places in Scripture he is described as a serpent, another place an angel of light, here he is describes as a roaring lion. He has many disguises that he uses to deceive the masses.

Think about a lion, when does he roar? If he is hunting alone he won’t roar because the prey will hear him and take off. Usually a lion will roar in an effort to intimidate and protect his territory. Sometimes they will roar in a self-satisfied boastful way after feasting on some gazelle. If he is injured, he will roar hopefully to intimidate any challenger and try to cover up the fact that he is injured. There is a time when a lion will roar when hunting and that is usually when there is a huge flock of antelope, gazelles, zebras etc. And they generally do this when hunting in a group. They will let off a roar to let the flock know they are there, so they will scatter, in doing this they can observe and pick out who the weakest are, the very young, the old and the lame. Then they know who to go after.

I think one could probably make a spiritual application for each one of these situations. I will only briefly mention two. The pack hunting, the roaring to cull the herd, to separate the weak from the strong, I’m sure you’ve probably seen that played out. The weak brother or sister who are never able to find victory, who always seem to be under Satan’s attack, who never seem to be able to grow in there faith. We need to help them, we need to strengthen them, and we need to encourage them. We need to help them grow.

I’m afraid that were like the old chickens. When one of them gets injured or hurt, gets an open wound on their skin, the other chickens will peck it to death. Now I hope were not quit that bad but do you know what I’m talking about. We attack our own, somebody stumbles, maybe even it’s a big stumble, and our actions toward them are anything but loving. If someone stumbles, our number one concern should be their restoration. We should strive to lead them to repentance and full restoration in the body of Christ, and if they refuse to repent, we should set them outside the body, not vindictively, but with tears, hoping they will see the error of there way and repent. The way we treat our young, the sick and the lame will determine in part if Satan will devour them.

The other application is the wounded lion, trying to intimidate and bluff his way through so we don’t notice that he is in fact a defeated foe. We need to remember Satan is a defeated foe. He was defeated by the cross of Christ. He’s defeated and he knows he’s defeated. That’s when many animals are the most dangerous, when they are wounded and backed into a corner.

So we need to be sober, and vigilant, but at the same time we know that the victory has already been won.

The third admonition or command from Peter is still concerning Satan. How are we to battle Satan? Only one way, and that’s resistance. Resist him. Some people are foolish enough to speak to Satan, to rebuke him, to command him to leave. Dangerous territory if you ask me. Now there may be times in actual demon position where we might need to command a demon. “In the name of Jesus I command you to leave.” But even there we need to be careful or we’ll end up like that man in the books of Acts who tried to cast out a demon, and the demon attacked him saying, Peter I know and Jesus I know, but who are you?

Don’t speak to the Devil; he will always get the best of you, just as he did with Eve in the garden. Instead we are to resist him. James 4:7 says the same thing; “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” It’s the same way with sin, we are not to reason with temptation, ponder it, argue with it, we are to flee from it. 2 Tim 2:22 says we are to:
“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” Our natural tendency is to do just the opposite. We pursue youthful lusts and flee righteousness. At least that’s what our flesh wants to do, but we need to master the old flesh, flee from sin, flee from idolatry, Resist the devil and he will do the fleeing. He will flee from you.

Our text says, “Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” Persecution will not weaken or challenge the faith of a true believer. It will strengthen their faith.

I think we know something of the suffering that is happening around the world. 60 -80 thousand North Korean Christians in jail simply because they are Christians. We read of beatings, rapes and murders in Islamic, Hindu and even Buddhists lands, it causes me to hang my head in shame when I read what there testimony for Christ costs them, and most of the time I’m too timid to even open my mouth. Lord forgive me.

Our natural tendency is to cling to our lives and the most precious thing to us is our very lives. Jesus gives us a different perspective. Matt 10:28
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” NKJV
We do fear those who kill the body, it’s natural. God put something in us that clings to life, a survival instinct. But as Christians we are to have a different perspective. Jesus said don’t fear those who can only kill the body. That’s all they can do, and we know that this life is just the beginning of what God has in store for us. And as Paul said, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and that is far better.

That’s the perspective of martyrs, all they can do is kill my body, my soul is hid in Christ Jesus and that is secure. And we can look at all of our suffering brothers and sisters and have hope that just as they are enduring persecution and staying strong, we will be able to as well. The grace that sustains them will sustain us as well.

Then Peter pronounces a benediction on his readers. Verse 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

But may the God of all grace. All Grace, he is the God of all graces. He is the God of common grace, the grace that causes the rain to shine on the just and unjust, the God who causes good things, happiness and joy to come into the life of a complete infidel. He is the God of the Grace of salvation for it is only found in his Son Jesus Christ. All the graces are his; he doesn’t share them with anyone. There is no grace anywhere else, or in any other religion. The God of the Bible has a monopoly on grace. He is the God of all Grace.

He has called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. He calls us by the Gospel to His eternal glory. He is eternally glorious and we are anything but glorious but yet he calls us to Himself, to His eternal glory and this is by or through His Son Jesus Christ. No one comes to the Father except by the Son. Jesus is the only way, we see it time and time in the scripture but yet many reject it.

Then he again reminds them of the temporary nature of there suffering. Peter didn’t know whether the suffering would be for days, months or years, but that didn’t matter, he was constantly reminding them of the briefness of our stay here on earth compared to eternity.

After they have suffered for a while Peter promises that God will do four things for them. He will “perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”
These are all architectural terms in the original. It speaks of our lives being square and true, we are properly nailed and bound together for maximum strength, we are strengthened, fortified, and we are on solid and settled foundation. We shall not be moved.

“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” Peter is sure that persecution will not faze these Christians. They will come out of it stronger than ever. That’s always the outcome for the real believer. Persecution always strengthens them. Does persecution drive some in the church away, yes but that may be evidence that they were never with us any way. They were goats and Jesus said the goats and the sheep will be separated some day.

Then Peter concludes the letter with some final greetings. Silvanus, many believe was Silas that we read about in the book of acts. The “She referred to is either his wife or it could simply be the church. Babylon was a code word for Rome, so that’s a possibility. It’s either his wife or the church in Rome that is sending its greetings. And Mark my son is John Mark that we also read about in the book of Acts, who was probably brought to Christ by Paul. Also this would be the author of the Gospel of Mark.

Peter gives the reason for the letter in verse 12. He said, “I have written to you briefly, exhorting, encouraging, and testifying, another way to translate testifying, would be, earnestly witnessing. Peter earnestly witnessed that this is the true Grace of God in which you stand. Again we have the exclusive message of the Gospel. It is the true grace of God, all others are false.

I’m going to back up to verse 10 again and end with that benediction. May the God of all grace, who has called us through the Gospel to His eternal Glory by Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a little while, and I know some of you are suffering physically right now, but remember it’s just for a little while, even if it ends in your death, it’s just for a little while. Because when we die we will be perfected, established, strengthened and settled in the bosom of Christ for all eternity. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.