Chardon church of Christ

Lesson of the Garbage Truck

Lesson Of The Garbage Truck!
Philippians 4:8, Philippians 1:12-23

ILL. Someone wrote, "One day I got into a taxi & we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when a car suddenly sped out of an alley right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, & missed crashing into the other car by inches!
The driver of that car stuck his head out of the window & yelled at us. My taxi driver just smiled & waved at him. So I asked, “Why did you just smile at him? That guy almost caused a wreck & then began cursing you!”
That was when my taxi driver taught me what I now call the “Lesson of the Garbage Truck.” He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger & disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it, & sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Don’t take their garbage & dump it on other people at home, or at work, or on the streets. Just smile, wish them well, & move on.
You see, what you pay attention to, what you dwell upon in life will generally determine the kind of decisions you make.
Ella Wilcox wrote:
"One ship sails east & another west with the self-same winds that blow.
'Tis the set of the sail & not the gale which determines the way they go."
The apostle Paul gives us great advice in Philippians 4:8. "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things."
Now we ought to memorize that verse, realizing that what so many are doing today is the exact opposite. Look at the TV programs, popular magazines, even newspapers & you will often see glorification of things that are impure & untrue.

INTRO: People focus so much on the negative that the media seldom features positive news because they’re afraid they’ll lose their audience. But let's break that pattern this evening, & look at the Apostle Paul as he focuses on the positive.
A family who had twin boys wanted to teach them a lesson about attitude. They took each boy and placed him in a room by himself. The room was full of horse manure. They told the boys they had to stay in their rooms for an hour, then they would come get them. When the family returned to the first boy’s room, he was sitting in the corner of the room just watching the clock, but when they returned to the second boy’s room, he was shoveling the manure out the window. “why are you doing that?” they asked. He replied, “With all this manure in here, there has to be a pony at the bottom of the pile.” The boys were in similar situations, but took completely different approaches.
In Philippians 1:12-23, Paul mentions some negative things that are going on in his life unpleasant circumstances, unreasonable people, & his uncertain future.
But Paul goes on to show that God was able to use those negative things in a very positive way.

1. UNPLEASANT CIRCUMSTANCES
   A. Paul begins by talking about unpleasant circumstances. In vs. 12 he says, "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel."
   We think we have troubles, don't we? But how does your list compare to that of the apostle Paul? How many times have you been shipwrecked? How many times have you been beaten near unto death? Or how many times have you been arrested, chained up & imprisoned 24 hours a day?
   Yet Paul says, "I remember all these trials, & I see that they have all served to advance the gospel."
   Now the Greek word translated "advance" in vs. 12 has an interesting history. It originally was used for wood cutters who go before an army, clearing a way through the underbrush so that the army can proceed unimpeded.
   Paul is saying, "All these things that have happened to me have resulted in clearing the way so that the gospel might be preached more effectively."
   B. In vs. 13, he says, "As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard & to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ."
   Now here is the situation. For 24 hours a day Paul is chained to Roman soldiers, each serving a 6 hour shift. So every 6 hours a new soldier comes in & chains himself to Paul. The soldier was doing his duty, making sure the prisoner couldn't escape.
   But Paul saw this as a wonderful opportunity to tell the soldier about Jesus. There was no way that the soldier could escape. And it worked, for in the 4th chapter of this letter, vs. 22, Paul writes, "All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household."
   Now that tells us that some of these soldiers became Christians, & the gospel made its way into the pagan household of Caesar all because Paul was in prison.
   C. There was a second positive result. In vs. 14 he says, "Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously & fearlessly."
   Paul is saying, "Because of my hardships, because of the things that have happened to me, other Christians have been encouraged. They have seen how God has encourage & protected me through difficult situations, & given me strength beyond my own power."
   "Now they're facing difficult circumstances, too. But because of what they have seen in me, they're convinced that God will take care of them also."
   ILL. Bob Benson, in his book, "See You At The House," tells of a good friend who had a severe heart attack & almost died, but was now well on the road to recovery.
   Visiting him, Bob asked, "Bill, how do you feel about your heart attack?' Bill answered, ‘I hate it. It nearly killed me.'"
   Bob asked, "Would you like to have another one?" "Certainly not!" "Would you recommend it for someone else?" "Absolutely not."
   Bob went on, "Bill, now that you're feeling better, do you treasure your life more than before?" "Yes, I guess I do." "You & your wife have always had a good solid marriage, but are you closer to each other now than before?" "Yes," Bill answered.
   "And what about your relationship with God? Has that changed since your heart attack?" "Yes, I feel a whole lot closer to God now than I ever did before."
   "Bill, in the light of all this, how do you feel about your heart attack now?"
   SUM. You see, God can take the most negative things that happen to us, & make them positive, if we'll just focus on the positives that are there.
   APPL. So what are you chained to this morning? Are you chained to loneliness or grief or despair? Are you chained to an imperfect body? Are you chained to declining health? How do you really feel this evening?
   ILL. I like this story about John Quincy Adams, the 6th president of the United States. When he was 80 years old & not too long before his death, a friend asked him, “Well, how is John Quincy Adams today?”
   Adams replied, “John Quincy Adams is quite well, thank you. But the house in which he lives is becoming dilapidated. It is teetering. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it, & it is becoming quite uninhabitable. I shall move out of it soon. But John Quincy Adams is quite well, thank you.”
2. UNREASONABLE PEOPLE
   A. Secondly, Paul talks about unreasonable people. In vs. 15 he says, "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy & rivalry, but others out of good will." What Paul is saying is this, "There are some people who are envious of me, who see themselves as rivals, competitors in preaching the gospel."
   Now what happens when people become envious of someone else? They usually try to tear them down. They point out all the negative things they can about that person, thinking that by pulling them down, they're building themselves up.
   XXXXXXXX
   SUM. And as we are all now very painfully aware, anyone who is in a position of prominence is liable to all kinds of criticism & accusations.
   B. Even as Paul was writing this letter, he was a prisoner of the Romans because of the false accusations made by Jewish rulers in Jerusalem. Listen to what he wrote in vs. 18, "But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice."
3. UNCERTAIN FUTURE
   A. Finally, Paul mentions his uncertain future. In vs. 19 he says, "I know that through your prayers & the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance."
   Paul is facing trial in Rome. If he is found innocent, he'll be freed to preach some more. If he's found guilty, he'll be executed. He knew he was either going to live, or he was going to die, depending upon the results of the trial.
   B. So he writes in vs. 20: "I eagerly expect & hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death."
   Do you hear what he is saying? "My concern is, when I stand before a pagan judge in a pagan court, that I won't do anything to embarrass Christ Jesus, my Lord.
   ”I pray that I will have enough courage to stand up in their midst, & that by what I say & do Jesus Christ will be exalted. Whether I live or whether I die doesn't matter. All I want to do is exalt Jesus."
   C. Vs. 21 is also a familiar verse. You may have memorized it at one time or another. Paul says, "For to me, to live is Christ & to die is gain." The Living Bible paraphrases it this way: "To me, living means opportuni¬ty for Christ, & dying, that's even better!"
   D. In vs's 22-23 Paul says, "If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart & be with Christ, which is better by far..."
   ILL. An old country preacher lived to be 90 years old. On his death bed, as family & friends gathered around him, they saw the agony & pain he was experiencing.
   But all of a sudden everything changed, & a look of peace & a smile came upon his face. His eyes opened, & he lifted up his hands, & said, "I see it! I see it! Do you see it? It's so beautiful!" And then he died.
   That's why Paul could say, "For to me, to live is Christ & to die is gain."
   ILL. Kenneth Dodge tells about an 8 year old boy named Frank. Frank had a date with his father to go fishing on Saturday. They were going to fish the whole day. On Friday night he had everything laid out. He was ready to go!
   But Saturday morning he awoke to discover that it was raining cats & dogs, & they couldn't go fishing. So 8 year old Frank grumbled & griped all morning long. He kicked the furniture & the dog. Nothing was right. "Why does it have to rain today?"
   His father tried to explain to him that the farmers needed the rain. But that didn't satisfy Frank. "But why does it have to rain today?" he said.
   About noon the clouds broke & the sun came out. His dad said, "Well, we can't go fishing all day, but at least we can fish this afternoon. Let's go." So they went to the lake, fished all afternoon, & caught more fish than they had ever caught before. Their baskets were full, & they had a wonderful time together!
   They came home, & mom cooked some of the fish for supper. As they sat down to eat, Frank's dad looked at him & asked, "Would you ask the blessing?"
   8-year-old Frank prayed this prayer: "God, if I sounded a little grumpy earlier today, it was because I couldn't see far enough ahead."
   APPL. That's the problem, isn't it? We get so caught up in the circumstances & people & things that surround us that we just can't see far enough ahead.
   But when we take time to look & listen, we'll begin to focus more & more on the positive, because in Christ we have a wonderful future. It may seem uncertain right now, but one day we'll see Him face to face & be with Him for all eternity.
   

INVITATION: If you're here & you have a need to make your life right with the Lord
Either through baptism for the remission of your sins
Or by turning BACK to God and asking for the prayers of the congregation
we extend His invitation to you.
If you truly believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, we urge you to make your faith known, & then to follow His example & command in Christian baptism. If you do, He has promised to forgive your sins, & give you a brand new relationship with him. We encourage you to come as we stand & as we sing.

Contributing Sermon Given By
Melvin Newland

Common Mistakes to Avoid!

Common Mistakes to Avoid!

 Psalms 31:1-20, Genesis 12:10-13

 A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me, what do you see?” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity – boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”

Are you the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity wilts, becomes soft, and loses strength? Are you the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Does your shell look the same, but on the inside are you bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or are you the coffee bean? Actually changing the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level?”

Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? How do you reacted to adversity?

INTRO: Have you ever heard someone say, "That’s the first mistake I’ve made today?" Or, someone who is a little arrogant might say, "That’s the first mistake I made this year." And, of course, someone who is really obnoxious would say, "Well, that’s the first mistake I’ve ever made."

We tend to joke about our mistakes because we all make mistakes! We might make them because we have poor information, or because we have bad judgment, or just because we are making the wrong choices.

Mistakes aren’t necessarily sin, but they can become sin, because of the domino effect. One mistake often leads to another as we try to excuse or cover up our mistakes. Soon we are getting in deeper & deeper, & a chain reaction has begun.

Now, I am not an expert in most things, but I am very nearly an expert when it comes to mistakes. I have made enough mistakes in my lifetime to pretty much make me an expert. Maybe you have too!

So this morning I have taken some of my mistakes, & added some of yours mixed them all together & have reached the conclusion that there are at least 4 major categories of mistakes, & all 4 of them are found in the Bible. Listen carefully, & I think we will see ourselves in each of these 4 areas.

PANIC PROMPTED MISTAKES

1. First, there are panic prompted mistakes… mistakes that are made because we are in too great a hurry, or because we are afraid that something is going to happen. So we take quick action to try to keep it from happening.

We are worried about something & we are hesitant about letting God take control. So we handle it ourselves & the result is that we make mistakes.

ILL. You remember the story of Abraham. God told Abraham to leave his homeland & go to a land that God would show him, where he & his family would be greatly blessed. Abraham would become the father of a great nation, & all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him.

When Abraham finally got there he built an altar to God.

Time passes, & Genesis 12:10 tells us, "Now there was a famine in the land, & Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while, because the famine was severe."

Now that is a panic prompted mistake.  When a famine arose, Abraham was afraid that he & his family would starve.

So he panicked & packed his bags & family & moved down to Egypt. The first domino fell.

The 2nd domino is found in vs’s 11-13, "As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ’I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ’This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.

“Say that you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake & my life will be spared because of you."

That was mistake #2, & the dominoes are beginning to fall. One mistake led to another, & the first thing you know Abraham & Sarai were in a dangerous situation in Egypt, & only the direct intervention of God saved them.

1. Now let’s bring it down to today. People make panic prompted mistakes, & they make them primarily in two areas of life. First, in the area of romance, & second, in the area of finance.
2. How many times have we met people nearing the mystical age of 30, who haven’t met that "right someone" yet, & they are about to panic? "I am going to be a bachelor, or old maid the rest of my life. No one will ever marry me!"

So, in panic, they grab the first one they find. They get married, or they throw away their morals in the hope of catching someone, anyone. The result is a domino chain reaction that makes the situation worse, & not better.

I know people who have been there. They made mistakes back when they were 20 or 30, & now they wish they could go back & do it right. Oftentimes in the area of romance, whether it is 20, 30, or 50, people panic.

1. It can happen in the area of our finances, too. It is so easy today to get into a financial bind. MasterCard works. Visa works. Stores urge us to use their "easy payment" plans.

And the first thing we know, the bills start coming in & we suddenly realize that we just don’t have enough money to pay all our bills.

So we panic. We run down to the "quick loan" place & get a "bill consolidation loan" at lower monthly payments. But the problem is that we now have a little breathing room, so we often start charging all over again. It soon becomes worse than ever, & the dominoes are falling.

SUM: You see, panic prompted mistakes often start out as simple mistakes, but like falling dominoes, the momentum gets out of hand, & the result can be disastrous.

MISTAKES OF NEGLECT

1. Secondly, we make mistakes because of our neglect. One very clear example of this is King David. David, as you know, was a very special person. He is called a "man after God’s own heart."

But King David made just as many mistakes as we are capable of making. For example, David had 18 wives, & that is a lot of mistakes right there!

But notice 1 Kings 1:5 6 where it tells about David & Adonijah, one of his sons. "Adonijah exalted himself, saying, ’I will be king,’ so he prepared for himself chariots & horsemen & 50 men to run before him."

Now listen to this, "And his father (that’s David) had never crossed him at any time." Actually, the Hebrew word is "never pained him." What it means is that David had never physically punished him, had never spanked him had never disciplined him at any time!

The result was that Adonijah developed a selfish & rebellious nature that one day led him to say, "I want to be king, & I want to be king now! I can take the throne away from my father, & I’m going to do it!” And one reason that he was that kind of son was because of David’s neglect.

David made the same mistake that many have made, & maybe are still making. He became so busy being King, being important, being an administrator, that he neglected his family.

1. Neglect is not limited just to family, either. It can affect our spiritual lives, too.

As I mentioned last Sunday, the writer of Hebrews wrote, "Neglect not the assembling of yourselves together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25)

We gather together to remember Jesus, to examine our own lives in the light of His Word, to rededicate ourselves to what God wants us to be, & to encourage one another.

That is why today, the Lord’s Day, is an important day. That is why gathering around the Lord’s table is such an important event.

As I talk to people I have often been told, "It is so easy to get out of the habit of going to church." That is true, isn’t it? We have all kinds of groups to help us quit drinking, or quit smoking, or to lose weight but we don’t need an organization to help us quit going to church!

It is so easy to get involved with other things & completely neglect our spiritual life, & the "assembling of ourselves together" with fellow Christians. Spiritual neglect is a mistake that leads to sin, too.

So welcome home, child of God. I pray that God & His people will make you feel so needed & wanted here that you will never, ever, drift away again.

UNRESTRAINED, DISOBEDIENT CURIOSITY

1. Thirdly, unrestrained, disobedient curiosity can be a mistake that leads to sin.

ILL. In 1 Samuel 28, King Saul is beginning to lose all confidence in himself. He has disobeyed God time & time again, & God is no longer with him. The battles are going against him, & he feels a desperate need to talk with Samuel, the prophet of God who once was his closest advisor.

But Samuel is dead. So what does Saul do? On the basis of bad advice, he disobeys God’s clear command & consults a spirit medium who claims that she can communicate with the dead.

The result is shocking, & King Saul himself is dead within 24 hours. His unrestrained, disobedient curiosity resulted in his death.

1. Unrestrained, disobedient curiosity could very well be the primary sin of many young people today, but it is not exclusive to young people.

In the teen age world, & even younger, there is so much emphasis on that which is evil & satanic & unrestrained, disobedient curiosity can suck you in. It may begin as a foolish mistake, but it can become a sin that will rob you of your soul.

I believe with all my heart that much of the drug scene is satanic influenced & controlled by Satan. And if you are playing with that, you are playing with a spiritual world that can grip your soul & squeeze it to death.

Unrestrained, disobedient curiosity. Sure, others may do it & tell you that it is perfectly okay. But I caution you to be aware of the dangers that are there, & to avoid the evils that can result from unrestrained, disobedient curiosity.

“BLIND SPOT” MISTAKES

Fourthly, there are “blind spot” mistakes… mistakes that we make because we are unable to see ourselves & the situation as it really is.

ILL. At one time the Apostle Peter had a blind spot. When he was with Paul & among Gentile Christians in Antioch he was just one of the group. Jews & Gentiles were fellow Christians worshiping together.

But when ultra-orthodox Jews who had become Christians came to Antioch, they still had their own Jewish prejudice against Gentiles. So they wouldn’t even associate with the Gentiles who had become Christians too.

Sadly, Peter, in his eagerness to welcome the new Jewish Christians into the church at Antioch began meeting exclusively with them, & no longer had anything to do with the Gentile Christians there.

Evidently Peter had a blind spot about what he was doing. He didn’t realize the hurt that this was causing in the church.

When Paul saw the division that this was creating, he confronted Peter & said, "What you are doing is wrong!" Suddenly Peter realized the result of what he had been doing & immediately made it right in the church.

Don’t we all make “blind spot” mistakes? It is so easy to see the mistakes that others make.

We go out of church on Sunday mornings saying to ourselves, "I sure hope so & so paid attention to that sermon," or "I wish that so & so had been here. He (or she) really needed to hear that."

Blind spots! The sermon may have been speaking right to you or me, & we weren’t listening because we have a blind spot. We need to open our eyes & realize that there can be blind spots in our lives, too!

SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?

Folks, we could go on with this sermon because we make all kinds of mistakes. But the important question is, "What are we going to do about them?"

Turn with me to PSALM 31. This Psalm must have been written by David after he had made a bunch of mistakes. So David pours out his heart to God in this Psalm.

In vs. 2 David pleads with God, “Turn Your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.”

And in vs’s 4 & 5 he says, “Free me from the trap that is set for me, for You are my refuge. Into Your hands I commit my spirit."

Then in vs’s 9 & 10 he says, "Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul & my body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish, & my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my sins."

Do you hear that? David is saying, "I am laying it open to you, Lord. Here it is all the scars & scabs & ugly sores that are there. Here are the sins I have committed. I can fool others, but I can’t fool you, Lord. So here it all is."

And God sees the neglect & immorality in the life of David, but He doesn’t say, "Well, that’s it for you, David. If that is what you really are like inside, then you are no longer a man after my heart. I don’t want anything more to do with you."

But David realizes that God isn’t doing that. So in vs. 8 David praises Him, “You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.”

Have you ever felt claustrophobic - when you feel as if your sins have dropped you into a pit? David says that "God picked him up & put his feet in a spacious place" where there was room to move again, to flex his muscles, & to be the kind of person God always wanted him to be.

And in vs’s 19-20 David cries out, "How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. In the shelter of Your presence You hide them…” God hides, & forgives, & protects.

ILL. There used to be a bumper sticker that proclaimed, "Christians aren’t perfect just forgiven.’ I like that, & it says what I am trying to say this morning. We’re not perfect, but because of Jesus we can be forgiven!

Despite all the mistakes, & all the things we do wrong, & the times we stumble & fall God still says, "Come, I want to forgive you."

Will you come as we stand & sing?

Contributing Sermon Given By: Melvin Newland

 

The Mysterious Melchizdek

The Mysterious Melchizedek
Genesis 14:11-20, Hebrews 7:1-3, Hebrews 10:11-12, Hebrews 10:14

OPEN: During WWII, the Geneva Convention allowed Allied POWs to receive gifts from home. Some of the most popular gifts were board games and decks of playing cards, and one of the most popular board games was Monopoly... especially the Monopoly games sent to them by British government. The reason this was so popular was because, hidden in the box were tools for escape. There were real bank notes mixed in amongst the Monopoly money, and – concealed inside the box - were Compasses, metal files, and a silk map (so it wouldn’t be affected by the elements). And it worked; soldiers DID use these to escape.
Decks of “playing cards” were also popular because these card decks contained special cards that, when soaked in water, revealed hidden maps of routes the POW’s could use for their escapes.
Hidden in these games - were the keys to freedom. And hidden in our text today, is one of the most important keys to OUR freedom.
But first, a little background. Abraham and his family have been living down near the Dead Sea. There were 5 major cities in the area (including Sodom and Gomorrah) and these cities were vassels of the powerful Kingdom of Elam to whom they were obligated to pay tribute. Apparently, they decided they didn’t like that arrangement any longer and they rebelled. Now, the King of Elam didn’t like that, so he led a massive army down from the North and devastated Sodom and Gomorrah - raiding their cities and carrying away plunder and captives... including Lot and his family.
When Abraham heard that this had happened, he led his own personal army of 318 men against the Northern King.
And he rescued all the captives, including Lot and his family, and brought back all the goods that had been plundered.
What I found interesting about our story today was that, as Abraham is making his way back home, we’re told: “... the king of Sodom went out to meet (Abram) at the Valley of Shaveh. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’ And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” Genesis 14:17-20
Did you notice that the King of Sodom comes out to meet Abraham FIRST. But it’s like Abraham ignores him and gives all his attention to this King of Salem, this man named Melchizedek. And it seems that even Melchizedek ignores the King of Sodom.
NOT that the king of Sodom was worth their attention. SODOM was one of the wickedest cities that ever existed and apparently neither Abram nor Melchizedek thought he was worth their attention.
But in this part of the story, Melchizedek is front and center. He not only gets Abraham’s attention, he gets a 10th of all the plunder Abram rescued.
Long ago, I learned that if Bible mentions something it’s there for a reason. In fact Romans 15:4 tells us that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
That would include this story about Melchizedek.
But ... wait a minute! That doesn’t make any sense! Genesis only gives Melchizedek 3 verses. And that’s the only time he’s mentioned in Genesis. In fact, in all the rest of the Old Testament, Melchizedek is only mentioned in one other verse.
And even when you get to the New Testament, the name of Melchizedek is never mentioned in the Gospels, the book of Acts, or in any of the “Pauline Epistles” nor the writings of John or Peter. It’s like the guy disappeared from history... like nobody paid him any attention.
Well... that’s not entirely true. There’s one New Testament book that dedicates – not just 3 verse but – 3 entire chapters to Melchizedek. And in those 3 chapters of that one New Testament book, this Old Testament King and Priest becomes one of the most important men in all of Bible History. He’s hidden away everywhere else in bible... but NOT in this book!
Hebrews tells us “this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but RESEMBLING THE SON OF GOD he continues a priest forever.” Hebrews 7:1-3
Now Melchizedek was NOT Jesus. Verse 3 says He was RESEMBLING the Son of God. It’s kind of like that driver’s license you have in your wallet. Everybody hates them. It’s not a perfect resemblance of you, but its good enough that the policeman who pulls you over can tell it’s you. It’s not a perfect picture... but its close.
But when God took a snapshot of Melchizedek, it was a perfect picture - it perfectly resembled who Christ was going to be.
Now remember, there’s only 3 verses in Genesis that describe Melchizedek - And that’s deliberate, because all that God wanted you to know about Jesus is wrapped up in those 3 verses.
For example: His name was Melchizedek – which means “King of Righteousness.” And in Romans 3:22 we’re told “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ.”
In addition, Melchizedek was the King of “Salem” – which means “King of Peace”. And in Romans 5:1 it says “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jesus was our King of Righteousness and our King of Peace. And when God introduced Melchizedek He deliberately left out who his parents were! We’re told that was because that declared this King had “neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest FOREVER.” In fact, in the Book of Psalms, God makes that declaration about the coming Messiah: “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Psalm 110:4
So, what we find is that God declared that when Jesus came He would be our Peace and our Righteousness, and that He would be our PRIEST forever.
PRIEST? Why would Jesus need to be my priest? I mean, I can understand Him being my King and I can appreciate that He would RULE over my life... but why would Jesus need to be my Priest?
Well what does a priest do? In the Old Testament, a priest would make sacrifices so that sins could be forgiven. And the Bible repeatedly teaches us that the guilt/shame of our sins had to be paid for and that something had to die to PAY for my sins.
So, as our Priest, Jesus made a sacrifice for our sins. But when did He do that? He did it when He died on the cross. Hebrews tells us “Day after day every (human) priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God... by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:11-12 &14
When Jesus died for you and I – His one sacrifice wiped away ALL our sins for ALL time for those who believed on His name, repented of their sins and were buried in a watery grave for the forgiveness of their sins.
You see... that’s what church is all about. We haven’t gathered here just to be a social club, to slap each other on the back, sing a few songs, listen to an encouraging message, and then go out and eat some ham salad together. We are HERE at church... because Jesus died for our sins. We remember that every time we take communion. We take of the bread and Jesus said “This is my BODY broken for you.” And we take of the cup and Jesus said “this is my BLOOD that is poured out for you.” We gather every Sunday and remember His High Priestly sacrifice in this communion meal. It’s what we do and who we are.
And that’s not the only thing we do to remember His sacrifice. Every time we baptize someone into Christ, Paul tells us that we “baptize (them) into (Christ’s) death. We bury (them) with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, (they now) too might walk in newness of life... united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5)
We see His sacrifice in the Lord’s Supper and in our salvation action of baptism. His sacrifice is what we are about. And if we ever forget that this is our primary purpose and teaching... we have nothing to offer this world.
So, Jesus Is Our High Priest! And because that is true, He gives us confidence that now that our sins are removed we can boldly go into the presence of God without fear, without shame and without guilt. In God’s presence we now simply have peace!
Now, I want to go back to Genesis 14... Do you remember my saying that Melchizedek ignored the King of Sodom? Why would he do that? Well, he did that because OUR King of Righteousness, OUR King of Peace, Our High Priest... wants nothing to do with the sin. Sodom was the wickedest city on the face of the earth,
and it - and it’s king - were ultimately destroyed because of their wickedness. And so Melchizedek had nothing to do with the king of Sodom!
But while Melchizedek didn’t focus on the King of Sodom... he DID focus on someone, and he did bless that someone. Who did Melchizedek bless? Abraham. He said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” Genesis 14:20
Now, why would he do that? Well, he did that because Abraham believed in God and Abraham followed God and Abraham gave his life to God. And you can see that in what happens when Abraham meets Melchizedek.
ILLUS: An old preacher made this observation: “When Abraham saw Melchizedek he was looking at Christ because he resembled Christ.” SO notice that when Abraham SAW Christ that day... two things happened: “Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.... And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” Genesis 14:18 & 20
That was how Abraham worshiped God that day. And that’s how we should be worshiping Jesus... IF we really see Him. If you are really seeing the face of Christ that should compel us to DO something.
It should compel you to make sure you take of Communion every Sunday and it should compel you to make sure you give back to the lord every Sunday.
One last observation... the CHURCH is the one place that we know we are going to see Jesus. Ephesians says “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25) You mean Jesus died for this building? Of course not, He died for this group of people because YOU are the church. Granted He died for your own personal sins, but He also loved us as a group and He died to establish His church... US.
What’s interesting is how the church is described in Ephesians 1:22-23 which says Jesus is “the head over all things to the church, which is his body.” We are the BODY of Christ. So (work with me here) when I see the church... I’m seeing His body. When I see the church, I’m seeing Christ.
Because that is true there’s one thing I can only do at our gathering as a church. It’s only when we gather as a church that I really see Jesus. When I sit at home, I can turn on the TV and here a preacher preach a message, and I can turn on the radio to a religious radio station and listen to uplifting songs of praise, and I can turn everything off and offer up prayers to Christ. I can do all that at home. But the one thing I can’t do at home is see the “body of Christ” – which is you.
It is here that I experience ... the BODY of Christ.
CLOSE: A preacher shared a story about a woman in his church who’d gone to the doctor because she had a spot on her head that was irritating her. He looked it over and noted it was a small spot on her head and he told her was nothing to worry about... he’d look at it again in a month. But at the next appointment, the spot had grown dramatically and proved to be melanoma. It was serious enough that he scheduled surgery and removed – not only the skin on her head, but part of her skull. In addition, they inserted blue dye into her veins at the affected area to see how far the cancer may have gone in her lymph nodes.
As soon as they pumped in the blue dye she IMMEDIATELY began to feel pain. The Doctor tried to comfort her as best he could but explained that the dye had to do its work... and there was no way to relieve the pain. But many had found it helpful to “Find their happy place.” Thinking about the things that would make you feel safe, relaxed, and at peace often helped people deal with the pain.
Knowing how much this woman loved riding horses, the preacher remarked “Well, I guess your happy place was thinking about the times you’ve spent riding your horses in the field.”
“Oh no,” she said “the first thing I thought of was Church. Church was my happy place. I began to focus on the faces of people at church. I started on the right side of the building and remembered each of their faces and prayed for each one of them, thanking God that they were my friends and that I knew they prayed for me. And then I focused on the people in the praise band and was so thankful for the songs they led that made me want to praise and worship God. And then I focused on you (the preacher) and how much you loved God and how dedicated you were to studying and proclaiming God’s love... THEN I thought about riding my horses.”
Church was her happy place! Why? Why was the church her happy place? Well, it was her happy place... because when she looked on the faces of the people at church... SHE SAW JESUS.

Contributing Sermon
Given by Jeff Strite

Who's Got Your Back?

Who's Got Your Back?
Genesis 12:1-9

OPEN: A mother was read a Bible story about Abraham to her 5-year-old daughter. when she finished, she started asking her a few questions about it. “What was Abraham's name before God changed it?” She looked puzzled for a moment... then smiled as she asked, “Lincoln?”
God changed Abraham’s name? Well... yeah. In our story today, we see that Abraham’s name had ONCE been Abram. Abram means “exalted Father” and Abraham means “Father of a multitude.”
But now, why would God do that? Why change this man’s name? Well God seems to do that a lot in Scripture especially when He’s making a major change in the person’s life. For example,
Jacob became Israel;
Simon was renamed Peter;
and Saul was transformed into Paul.

And of course in Revelation 2:17 God promises us “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
Even we can get a new name.

In each of those people’s lives (Jacob, Simon and Saul) there was like a rebirth that took place. They became different men than when they had their old names.
So what became different about Abraham?
What did God DO with him?
Well Abraham was once just a normal guy. He was a shepherd and a husband and he tried to live a life pleasing to God.

But then, one day God says “I want to do something special with you. I want to make a covenant (or contract) with you. And that’s what this Genesis 12 passage is all about. God introduces Himself to Abraham... and then He makes a promise. “I want you to leave your home and your kinfolk... and go to a land I’ll show you.
And I’ll make you into a great nation; I’ll bless you and make your name great; I’ll make you into a blessing for others; if others bless you, I’ll bless them, but if they curse you... I’ll curse them.”

And when all was said and done Abraham became one of the important people in the Bible. In the Old Testament, we read the phrase “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob over and over again.

And Abraham’s grandson Jacob was renamed Israel and became the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. So, literally, Abraham was the great-grandfather of the 12 tribes of Israel. So when God said he would make Abraham into a great nation... Israel comes to mind.

But then, in the New Testament we’re told that Abraham is Our Father too! Galatians 3:7-9 says “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

So God made Abraham the father of,
not just the people of Israel,
but ALSO of you and me,
and of every Christian who ever lived.

AND, that means that this covenant God made with Abraham (Genesis 12) applies to us right now.
ILLUS: Two young Christian men got into a debate. One of the men didn’t think the promises God made to Abraham in Genesis 12 applied to us. He was particularly offended with the promise: I’ll bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” “You can’t claim that promise,” he said. “That is only made to Abraham. Now, that really annoyed the other man because he was pretty sure that was wrong, but he didn’t know quite why! But then he read in Galatians 3:29 “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
The promises found in Genesis to Abraham are ours because we’re Abraham’s offspring.

For example, when I die, my children will be heir to my estate (such as it is) I hope they don’t plan on getting rich!. As my heirs they inherit everything that belongs to me!!! In the same way, we are heirs of Abraham - so, we get what he got... including his promises.

For example, God told Abraham “I’ll bless those who bless you.” And Jesus said, “whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42) Are you Christ’s disciple? Well, that means that whoever blesses you will be blessed by God.

And God told Abraham “I’ll curse those who curse you.” Paul wrote: “God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you” (2 Thessalonians 1:6) What’s that mean? It means God will curse those who curse you.

Well, that’s kinda cool. But what does that mean to us?
Why should I care?
Well, I should care because it means God will watch out for us. He’s got our back. Romans 8:31 says: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God’s basically saying – “You mess with my kids, I’ll mess with you.”

So, that’s interesting. God will bless those who bless me... and curse those who curse me. Curse those who curse me? HMMMMM!!! I kinda like that. I mean, have you ever had people at work that were jerks who gave you a hard time? Or family members who’ve mistreated you? Or course you have! It’s only right that God nail them for their behavior. Right? I mean - they don’t know who they’re messing with!
But that’s not quite how God thinks. In Proverbs 24:17-18 we’re warned “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.”

His judgment upon them is intended to make us feel pity for our enemies and give us an opportunity to reach out to them. That’s why II Peter 3:9 says “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God doesn’t want to destroy your enemies – He wants to convert them. Thus, when He brings judgment upon our enemies, we should pray for them and feel a sorrow for them that leads us to try to bring to Christ.

Now, what about the part of the covenant with Abraham where God said He would bless him and then make him a blessing to others? Does God promise to “bless us?” Of course He does. In John 1:16 we read “From the fulness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” And in Romans 8:32 we’re told “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” God promised to bless us, just like He promised Abraham.

Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t encounter difficulties, and frustrations and hardships and pain, and even death. It doesn’t mean we’ll avoid those things in this life. But what it does mean is that we have an edge – we’ve been promised God blessings.
Aside from the answered prayers and active ways that God works in our lives... just by following God and listening to His guidance in Scripture, studies have shown that faithful Christians tend to live longer and better lives than those who don’t go to church. It’s true.

ILLUS: A study from Duke University Medical Center found that people who regularly attended things like church and Bible study had a 50% lower risk of dying over a 6-year period than others
of the same age and health status. In other words we tend to live (on average) 6 years longer than those who don’t follow Christ.

Other studies have found that Christians experience less anxiety and stress. Why? Because we realize that God will always be there for us, and we’re repeatedly told to not be afraid, but to be strong and courageous.

And we’re less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. Why?
Because those who abuse those things are seeking ways to avoid the difficulties of this world and mask their pain.
By contrast God leads us through our hardships and comforts us in the midst of our difficulties. In addition, we’re less likely to commit suicide.

Years ago, there was a book written about how to commit suicide – and in the forward the author explained that he doubted Christians would want to read his book. Why?
Because Christians are constantly reminded that our life has value and that we have a purpose no matter what happens in our lives.

And, we tend to be more grateful for what we have than others are because we’re constantly reminded in Scripture to rejoice and be thankful for everything that we have. The rest of the world tends to constantly complain about what they don’t have and what they’ve lost, but God say “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I’ll say rejoice.” Philippians 4:4

So God blesses us and equips us to be better prepared to handle life.

But then, God told Abraham that he would be a blessing to others. That promise applies to us as well.

Jesus commanded “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” Matthew 7:12.
And Paul wrote “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” Galatians 6:10. And Hebrews 13:16 tells us “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Being a blessing to others is kind of our job description. It’s what each one of us should be known for. We sing the song “LET THE BEAUTY OF JESUS BE SEEN IN ME!

One last thought... why did God choose Abraham? I mean Abraham wasn’t portrayed as a mighty warrior like David facing Goliath, and he never built a city or ruled over a mighty nation. And he didn’t even come from a particularly godly family.

In Joshua 24:2 God told Israel “Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.” Abraham grew up in a pagan society!

So why pick Abraham?
What set him apart from others of his day?
Well, I think it may have a lot to do with something I’ve read in
II Chronicles 16:9 (NKJV) “The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”

God looked inside Abraham’s heart and saw a man who’d be loyal to him. Or as I Samuel 16:7 says “man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Just like God looks in our hearts to see if we’re loyal to Him as well.

I think we get an idea of the kind of man Abraham was by what’s said in our text this morning: “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.
And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.” Genesis 12:7-8

In those two short verses we find Abraham building not one, but two altars. In fact, throughout his life, it seems like everyplace Abraham went ... he built an altar! Why an altar?

Well, altars were places where a worshiper would offer up a burnt offering. But it was also a place where people were declaring “I’m here. I’m available. I’m not too busy to honor you and listen to what you have to say.”
And later, as people would come across these alters they could remember that GOD was real and part of their lives.

ILLUS: For us older folks, we remember what a busy signal was. Younger folk with their cell phones may hear “the party you’re calling is not available” OR the call goes to voice mail

but we heard “EHHH, EHHH, EHHH, EHHH.” The line was busy. We couldn’t get through. And the sound was realllly annoying!

Imagine how annoying it is to God when we’re too busy to listen to Him.

An altar was Abraham’s way of saying “I’m not too busy for you. I’m available. I’m listening, and I want to hear what you have to say.”

That’s the kind of person God is looking for. Someone who’s not too busy to hear Him.
Someone who is always “listening” to hear God in Sunday School, and Bible studies,
and your prayer times
and private reading of the Bible.
And especially here at worship services.

Now, I realize that there are people who come to church because it’s the “thing to do” and they’re just putting in their time.

And if that’s why you’re here, I can work with that.

But I hope the reason you’re here is to HEAR God,
to learn how to be His child and how to be loyal to Him.
And most importantly, if you’re not a Christian today,
my prayer is that you hear the most important message God has to give you today – His offer of salvation.

INVITATION

Contributing Sermon
Given by Jeff Strite

A Confident Meaningful Prayer Life

A Confident Meaningful Prayer Life  

1 John 5:13-17

 

INTRO:

Good evening.   Last week we talked about “What Shall I Render Unto The Lord” and one of the things we saw the Psalmist offered to God was prayer.   This morning we talked about how David went to the God when he had lost his footing.   For this evening I would like to look at some things about prayer in our walk before the Lord.

 

Clearly prayer is something we often hear about and people have many different concepts about what prayer consists of and how best to approach the throne of God.

 

Let me start with a story. Three men were discussing the proper posture for prayer. The first said that one should be on one's knees with your head bowed in reverence to the Almighty.  The second argued that one should stand with your head raised looking into the heavens and speak to the face of God as would a little child. The third spoke up and said "I know nothing about these prayer positions, but I do know this: the finest praying I've ever done was upside down when I fell into a well!"

 

On the subject of prayer, let us see what the Apostle John has to tell us today. In 1 John 1:9 he talked about the value of confessing our sins to God in prayer. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In 1 John 2:1 he talked about how Jesus Christ who is the righteous One, is our advocate in prayer.   “My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” In 1 John 3:22 he talked about how God answers prayer if we do what He asks of us. “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

 

1. Turn with me in your Bible to 1 John 5 where John is going to share with us how to pray with confidence. 1 John 5:13-15 – “13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”[para]
   1. John in verse 13 confirms again that this is written to those in Christ, those who are Christians and he confirms to them that since they adhered to the fundamentals of the faith (a proper view of Christ, obedience, love), their salvation was sure.
   2. In verse 14 John turns to prayer and shares with us how to pray for our prayers to be answered. Here is the 1st requirement, is our prayer request in line with God’s will? Have you ever heard the expression “banging your head against a brick wall”? It’s the idea of trying to do something or trying to talk to someone but nothings happening.
      1. I read something from one preacher who said; “I have heard many prayers from all sorts of people and sometimes I believe certain people haven’t got a clue what they are asking for.” He said; “I have heard prayers for God to accept homosexuals into His church because they can’t help being homosexual, it is the way they were born. In other words just carry on with your sinful behavior. It’s ok.”   “I’ve heard prayers to God for Christ to come into people’s lives without the need for baptism.” “I’ve heard prayers to God at funerals where the minister will ask God to accept this person who is now deceased and didn’t even know God, into His kingdom.”
      2. After reading that I thought wow, they are all banging their heads against a brick wall, so to speak. They are banging their heads against a brick wall because they do not know the will of the Father.
      3. For people to pray according to God’s will, they first need to know what God’s will is! Prayer is not about assuming that God will automatically answer that prayer. There are times, and we need to understand this, that God will on occasion say “No” to our requests. Especially if the request is not according to His will.
      4. Why does the model prayer say “Thy will be done”? (Matthew 6:9-10). When we pray, “Thy will be done,” we acknowledge God’s right to rule. We do not pray, “My will be done”; we pray, “Thy will be done.” Asking that God’s will be done is a demonstration of our trust that He knows what is best. It is a statement of submission to God’s ways and His plans. We ask for our will to be conformed to His.
      5. I would like to read you a poem by Claudia Minden Welsz; it’s called “And God Said, NO."

I asked God to take away my pride, And God said, "No."

He said, “It was not for Him to take away, But for me to give it up”.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole, And God said, "No."

He said, “Her spirit is whole. Her body is only temporary.”

I asked God to grant me patience, And God said, "No."

He said, “Patience is a by-product of tribulation. It isn't granted, it is earned.”

I asked God to give me happiness, And God said, "No."

He said, “He gives the blessings, the happiness is up to me”.

I asked God to spare me pain, And God said, "No."

He said, "Suffering draws you apart from Worldly cares and brings you closer to Me."

I asked God to make my spirit grow, And God said, "No."

He said, “I must grow on my own, But he will prune me to make it fruitful.”

I asked God if He loved me, And God said, "Yes."

He gave me His only son, who died for me. And I will be in Heaven someday because... I believe.

I asked God to help me love others As much as He loves me,

And God said, "Ah finally, you have the idea."

6. Our prayers are dependent upon the will of God. Even Jesus' own example of prayer illustrates that answer to prayer depends upon whether or not it is in harmony with God's will.  Remember when Jesus was praying in the Garden?   He’s praying to God and what did He say? Matthew 26:39-42 – “39. He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.'' 40. Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What, could you not watch with Me one hour? 41. "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'' 42. He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.''” Two times Jesus prayed and said, “Father, your will be done.”
7. Remember the apostle Paul was struggling with a thorn in his flesh?  He said in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 – “7. And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  Three times Paul asked God to take his torment away and three times God said, “No.” Why? Because it stopped Paul from becoming big headed and so his request to God wasn’t in line with God’s will.
8. What we see here emphasizes the importance of studying the Bible. The more we learn God's revealed will through His word the more likely we will pray according to His will.  The more we pray according to His will, the greater confidence we can have that our prayers will be answered accordingly.

21. That brings us to the 2^nd requirement of prayer. We not only need to pray according to God’s will but we also need to keep God’s commandments.  John has already stressed the importance of keeping the lord’s commands in reference to prayer in 1 John 3:21-22 where he writes; “21. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”,
    1. He’s saying even if we are asking for something that would normally be within God's will for us, if we are not keeping His commandments can we really expect God to answer our prayers? I don’t believe we can expect God to answer our prayers if we just live our lives in anyway we want.
    2. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:12 – “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.''”   The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,-- who are the righteous?  We need to go back to 1 John 3:22 where John tells us the righteous are those who "do those things that are pleasing in His sight."
    3. Sometimes we struggle to do what is pleasing to Him don’t we?  We know what to do but we don’t do it. Maybe we need to pray to God for strength to do what He wants us to do.  God understands that we struggle at times to live according to His will, but folks, pleasing Him is His will.  He wants to help us live by His will, but He can only do that if we ask Him for help.
    4. Allow me to illustrate. A father was watching his young son try to dislodge a heavy stone. The boy couldn't budge it. "Are you sure you are using all your strength?" the father asked. "Yes, I am," said the exasperated boy. "No, you are not son," the father replied. "You haven't asked me to help you."
22. We struggle to pray with confidence because we don’t fully know what His will is or we struggle to keep His commandments, it is then that we should be praying for God to help us understand His will and to help us keep His commandments.
    1. The Psalmist says in Psalm 119:18 – “Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.” What is the Psalmist asking? He is asking God to help him understand God’s will, so that he can live his life by God’s will.
    2. A little later in the same Psalm, he says, Psalm 119:173-176 – “173. Let Your hand become my help, For I have chosen Your precepts. 174. I long for Your salvation, O Lord, And Your law is my delight. 175. Let my soul live, and it shall praise You; And let Your judgments help me. 176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; Seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.”
    3. The Lord’s commands are not burdensome; His commandments are there for us to delight in. His commandments are there to sustain us in everyway.  
23. After what John says in 1 John 3:21-22 talking about confidence in prayer, he goes on to say in verse 23 – “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.”   Not only are our prayers to be according to His will, not only are they to be on the condition that we keep His commands, but prayer requires that Christians remain in Jesus and His words remain in us.
    1. Jesus said referring to prayer in John 15:7- “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Jesus just summarized what John has been saying to us in 1 John. Confidence in prayer depends upon keeping His commandments, but keeping the commandments is the key to remaining in Jesus.  
       1. John says the exact same thing back in 1 John 3:24 – “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
       2. What John is telling us here? If being confident in our prayer lives depends upon asking according to God's Will, and it depends upon Jesus' words remaining in us; then won't knowing Jesus words help us know what God's will is?  Won’t that help us to know what and what not to ask for in our prayer lives?
    2. 3^rd that brings us to John’s final point concerning prayer, we should pray like we mean it. One of the great themes running through John’s 1st letter is the theme of love.  Knowing that, it shouldn’t be surprising for us to find him talking about prayer and love together. He goes on to say in 1 John 5:16-17 – “16. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. 17. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.” Time and time again John has stressed the importance of brotherly love. He says in 1 John 3:16 that we "ought to lay down our lives for each other”  He asks us in 1 John 3:17 that if "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”[para] It’s not surprising then that he says we should be willing to pray for each other.
       1. You’ve heard the story about the little boy who was with his father in boat fishing at a local lake. He asked his father, “Where do all the fish come from dad?” His dad said, “I don’t really know son.”    Then he asked his dad, “Dad where do all the clouds come from dad”?  Again his dad said, “I don’t really know son.” This went on for a few minutes and then he finally asked his dad, “Dad do you mind me asking you all these questions?” His dad said, “Not at all son, how else are you going to learn anything?”
       2. Like the little boy, to get the right answers we need to ask the right questions.   There is no escaping the fact that this is a difficult text to understand.  It has led to some unfortunate views that do not agree with the rest of scripture very well.
          1. What is the "sin that doesn’t lead to death”?
          2. What is the sin that “does lead to death”?
          3. What does John mean when he says, "God will give him life"?
       3. At this point I will be giving my understanding of the verses. In the context of this section John makes it very clear in verses 1 thru 8 he is addressing Christians, brethren. In verses 14-15 it is clear the subject is prayer.   In verse 16 John is saying, “Listen, if anyone sees his brother sin.” John is talking about after the fact, after the sin has taken place that one should pray for a brother who has sinned. Or he will ask as some translations have it.
       4. Let’s look at this part about praying for our brother a bit more before we continue. Since we are commanded to love our brethren’s soul and care for their physical well being (1 John 3:10, 17; 4:20), John now commanded that we pray for our brother who is in sin. Just as we pray for one who is ill in body, physical illness, so we pray for one who is spiritually ill.
       5. What do we know about prayer and sin? Let me give you some texts:
          1. Sin equals lawlessness and unrighteous acts (1 John 3:4; 5:17).
             1. The one “born of God” does not continue in sin (1 John 3:9).
             2. The one “of the devil” continues in sin (1 John 3:8, 10).
             3. A premise is therefore established; i.e., All sin, but the righteous do not continue in sin. The righteous repent and confess their sins and those of the devil do not.
          2. Repentance is demanded and brought forth by truth (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38, 17:30; 2 Corinthians 7:9).
          3. Repentance moves one to “confess” their sins (2 Corinthians 7:9; 1 John 1:9).
          4. The desire for heaven and truth motivates one to purify them self (Matthew 13:16-17; 1 John 3:3).
          5. Here another premise is established: God will forgive the sinner who confesses their sin (1 John 1:9); however, He will not forgive nor will He hear the prayers of a sinner who continues in his sin through stubbornness and hardness of heart (Psalms 51; Isaiah 57:15; 66:2).
          6. The sin “not unto death” must therefore be the sin a Christian commits and receives forgiveness through humility and contriteness of heart (1 John 1:9; 3:3).
          7. We understand that, and indeed in the invitation we state that, if someone has sinned and comes forward, confesses that sin and repents we will pray for them and with them.  The sin that doesn’t lead to death and the sin that does, isn’t a specific sin. It depends on the response a person has to their sin.
       6. What kind of sin could a Christian commit that would lead to death? James says in James 1:13-15 – “13. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God''; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” According to James, any temptation can lead to sin and death.   But what we need to remember is that sin does not produce "death" until it is "full-grown."
          1. How do we avoid sinning toward death? What is the sin that doesn’t lead to death? John gives us the answer in 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
          2. When we put these scriptures together we can clearly see that the sin that leads to death is the un-repented and un-confessed sin. If we follow this understanding of the text it is obvious that the sin that doesn’t lead to death is the sin which has been confessed and repented of.  
          3. It is this sin about which John says that we can pray for our brethren and God will forgive.  Common sense tells us that we cannot expect God to forgive a person who refuses to repent.  That why John says in 1 John 5:16 – "I do not say that he should pray about that."
       7. We need to remember that when John is talking about death here, he’s talking about spiritual death.  Remember when Adam was in the Garden and God said to him in Genesis 2:16-17 – “"Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.''”
          1. We know that both Adam and Eve ate from the tree and they were cast out of the Garden but they didn’t die physically, did they?   They died spiritually.
          2. In 1 John 5:16 John says, “16. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life”. If the "death" in this passage is "spiritual death"; it is natural to believe the life is "spiritual life."
          3. How then shall a brother pray for a sinning brother who is currently in sin yet is not one who has hardened their heart and rejected God?
             1. First we can pray that they will come to the realization of their sin, that they are in danger and repent. 1 John 4:6 – “We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
             2. Second if they repent then we can pray for help that they remain strongly opposed to their temptations. You see the "life" which God will give the repentant sinner in answer to our prayers could also be described as "forgiveness." What we can not pray for is the forgiveness of a brother that does not repent.
          4. One writer puts it this way.   In our experience that there are two kinds of sinners.  There is the person who may be said to sin against their will; that is they sin because they are swept away by passion or desire, which at the moment is too strong for them; their sin is not so much a matter of choice as it is a yielding to temptation which at the moment they are not able to resist. Then there is the person who sins deliberately for the set purpose having their own way, although well aware that it is wrong.
          5. These two people may begin the same way. It is the experience of every person that the first time that they do something wrong, they do it with shrinking and with fear; and, after they so it, they feel grief and remorse and regret.
             1. But, if they allow themselves again and again to flirt with the temptation and to fall, on each occasion the sin becomes easier; and, if they think they escape the consequences, on each occasion the self-disgust and the remorse and the regret become less and less.   In the end they reach a state where they can sin without fear.
             2. It is precisely that state which is the sin which is leading to death.  So long as a person in their heart of hearts hates sin and hates themselves for sinning, so long as they know that they are sinning, as long as they live they are never beyond repentance and, therefore, never beyond forgiveness; but once they begin to revel in sin and to make it the deliberate policy of their life, they are on the way to death, for they are on the way to a state where the idea of repentance will not, and cannot, enter their head.
          6. In 1 John 1:9 John tells us that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  That is what the brothers and sisters of the sinner are praying for, that the sinner repent. That’s why he says in 1 John 5:16 that “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life.”
             1. Now the question occurs, why would we bother to pray for a repentant Christian if their sins will be forgiven anyway? That’s a good question and I suggest we consider the Book of James.  James 5:16 – “ Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  When you know of another’s sin and they repent you can pray they are forgiven, not of God but of man, then pray for the strength they need to resist further temptation. The sin of a person can be a snare to brothers and sisters if they do not forgive the repentant person. In a sense you pray not only for their healing and support but for your own as well.
             2. This is where many people make a mess of it.  Our newspapers are filled with celebrities and people who have been caught in the act of doing something terrible.  Many publications are in the business of exposing people’s lives.   When they discover that a person has done something wrong, they share it with the world and they make them feel like a criminal.  Listen folks, that’s not how it works in the Lord’s church.
             3. When a Christian confesses their sin to God and has shown that they have repented, that should be the end of the matter.  Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 – “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”[NIV]

 

CONCLUSION:

Folks, prayer is a privilege and a wonderful blessing, especially when we pray with confidence and pray like we mean it.

Don’t pray for someone publicly if you don’t mean what you say.

Don’t ask God to heal someone spiritually if you don’t want them to be healed.

Don’t ask God to forgive someone if you don’t want to forgive them.

Don’t ask God to help you live the life of a Christian if you have no intention of living that life.

Mean what you pray and pray from the heart.

 

Like the hymn says, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer”.

 

How is our prayer life this evening?  How do we each feel about our prayers to God?

Are we remaining in Jesus, and letting His words remain in us?

Are we keeping His commandments and doing the things that are pleasing in His sight?

Are we asking according to God's Will?

Are we praying not only for ourselves, but for each other?

Are we praying for those Christians who have been overtaken by sin, but who have demonstrated that they are repentant?

We all need the fullness of God's blessings in our lives.

Let's encourage one another to do whatever we can to be able to pray with both confidence and with meaning.

 

 

 

 

Lessons on Suffering and Grief from Psalms

Lessons on Suffering and Grief from Psalms

Psalm 69:1-3

 

INTRO: Good morning.   Our lesson this morning is going to be a study from Psalms and the life of King David.   I will generally use the KJV or the NKJV but some verses I will paraphrase.   I’ve left this lesson until last in the series and to fully appreciate what we see in the Psalms we need to take a look at some of David’s life, primarily from First Samuel.

 

I want us to notice what God has to say about David in First Samuel 13:13-14 where Samuel is telling Saul his kingdom will not continue – “13. And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14. "But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.''” The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart and in First Samuel 16 we read that when Samuel was shown the youngest son of Jesse “the Lord said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”. That’s what God has to say about David. David was a man after His own heart.

 

What an awesome thing to be able to say that about any man. What we will do in our lesson this morning is take a look at the big picture of David's life. We will consider the major events that happened to him and how he was greatly blessed.  

 

Unfortunately because of the sin of his father-in-law Saul he was also greatly sinned against. Even though he was greatly blessed, he was also greatly persecuted by Saul and suffered grievously, yet he never allowed the sin committed against him to cause him to become bitter and hate Saul back.  He never sinned against the man who sinned against him. In this examination of David's life we see how David learned to deal with his grief, and his sorrow, and his depression.

 

18. That being said now let's start with David's life and we will begin in First Samuel 18.  It is after the slaying of Goliath that we read in First Samuel 18:1-2 – “And it was so, when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father's house anymore.”
    1. Whenever I think of best friends, people who are historically known for being the very best of friends, I think of Jonathan and David.   They were the best of friends.
       1. You would think this would be a time of joy, Goliath is defeated and David and Jonathan have become the very best of friends.  Yet right off the bat Saul started being negative toward David.
       2. After the killing of Goliath and the great victory over the Philistines, when they were coming back into the city the people were rejoicing over the victory. The women were singing "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.'' (Verse 7).
    2. This angered Saul and he became jealous of David.   “Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?''”[NKJV] (Verse 8)
       1. We read on in Verses 12 and 13 – “12. Now Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul. 13. Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.”[NKJV] Here we find David was promoted and Saul hoped the Philistines would be the end of David. (verse 17)
       2. In verses 14-16 and I paraphrase “14 In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.” [para] Everybody loved David.  Wherever he went, whatever battle he went into, they won. Whatever David did God blessed it. Every time they came back from victory there's David at the head of it. The people greatly loved David.  Wow, how much better could it get for a man?
    3. In verse 20 we learn; “Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased.”[para] David has been elevated in the kingdom of Saul to a leadership role in the army.   The King’s son is his best friend.  God is with him and everywhere he goes he has victory.   All the people love him.  Now the King's daughter is in love with him and David ends up marrying her.
       1. Let me ask you; that must be pretty good, right? That's awesome! You're married to the King's daughter and his son is your best friend and you're a leader of the army.  Everybody loves you.  Everything's great in your life—well, not quite.
       2. Saul started to put two and two together and began to realize that David was going to be the future king and not Jonathan. Saul became intent on killing David.   In First Samuel 19:1-7 we learn that Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David but Jonathan warned David and then talked his father Saul into an oath not to put David to death.
       3. That did not last long as we find in First Samuel 19:11-12 – “11. Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.'' 12. So Michal let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped.”[NKJV]  
    4. David can't go home.  He can't go back to his wife because if he does he'll be killed. In chapter 20 David meets Jonathan and asks; “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” Jonathan is not convinced Saul would really kill David but they form a pact, Jonathan will warn David if this is so.   Jonathan’s conversation with his father does not go well. Verses 30-34 – “30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!” 32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David. 34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.”
       1. The cards are on the table and Jonathan goes to the place where he and David agreed to meet and warns David to flee. In verse 41 it says; “they wept together, but David more so”
       2. These two men who are historically known as probably being the best friends that ever were, now realize they can't be around each other anymore.  
       3. David’s forced to flee for his life. He has to be away from his wife. He has to be separated from his very best friend.  The position in the government is gone. Everything he was blessed with was taken from him by his father-in-law who intends to kill him… and he hasn’t done anything wrong. He had served Saul faithfully.
       4. David stays in strongholds in the wilderness and remained in the mountains. Saul sought him every day but God did not deliver David into his hand.
       5. Every day David was running for his life, hiding and living in caves. He went from being a leader of the military to living in a cave, running and hiding like an animal.   He had lost everything. Everything.
    5. That was the background we need to know in order for us to understand David’s emotional state, and now we will look at what David says in Psalm 69:1-3 - “1. Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. 2. I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me.   3. I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God.” In verse two he is not saying that he is literally in a swamp.   It is the idea he can not get his footing. He can't get his mind and his emotions stable.   It doesn't matter how hard David works at it, he cannot find mental and emotional stability.
       1. This man after God's own heart is suffering with depression.  That's what this describes.  I'm bringing this up so we understand depression itself is not, never has been, never will be sinful.   This may be a man after God’s own heart but he is a man, he is human.
          1. Being depressed is part of the human condition that we sometimes experience because of great loss. It is what David is going through. He is experiencing depression because he has lost everything.
          2. This is a man who is a man's man.  He's one of the greatest soldiers that probably ever lived.  Yet here he is. He's crying his eyes out and he can't stop crying. He's crying so much that his throat is dry. It doesn't matter how hard he tries he can't get his emotional footing.  As he says in verse two I sink in deep mire where there is no standing.  I can't stand. I've come into deep waters.  David feels like he's up to his neck, he's drowning.
       2. In Psalm 31:9-10 – “9. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; My eyes waste away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body! 10. For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away.”[para] Folks, that's very deep depression. His eyes were wasted away with grief, his soul, his body was wasting away, his life, his spirit. Notice David’s lament in verse 10. It is not an every now and then thing, he says;. My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing. This is something he struggled with because of the great loss.
          1. It is something that we can understand because we sometimes see it in our lives. There may be moments in our life when we are so blessed by God, and then because of circumstances unfortunately the blessings are gone.  It could be the loss of our health. It could be the loss of our family. It could be the loss of our possessions.  It could be the loss of our job. It could be the loss of our marriage.
          2. Christians go through all of those things, losing their marriage, losing their possessions, losing their family.   Whenever we have great loss that is where the emotional struggle comes from, the grief being so intense, so deep that it just presses down upon us and we find our self struggling continually with our emotions.
       3. David writes in Psalm 6:2-3 – “2. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. 3. My soul also is greatly troubled; But You, O Lord how long?” Do we see the pain?   Do we see the grief?    Verse 4 – “Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies' sake!”
          1. Now verses 6 and 7 – “6. I am weary with my groaning; All night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears. 7. My eyes waste away because of grief; It grows old because of all my enemies.”
          2. We realize what's happening to him is because of his enemies, what they have done and are doing to him in the present.  He talks about how he's crying all night long. That's extremely deep grief.   What we are seeing in the scriptures is what happened to David, how everything was taken from him and how it affected him. It crushed him in his emotions.
       4. Psalm 18:6 – “In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”
          1. This is one of the main lessons I want us to see.   When those times happen in your life when you're struggling in your emotions when you're finding you can't control it, because you're crying so much, because you're hurt so deeply, you need to learn to go to God first and often. You need to realize he really is there. Cry out to him. He will hear your prayer. He is in your life.  You are not alone.
          2. There is nothing wrong with you grieving.  There's nothing wrong with you if you're struggling with depression. Nothing is wrong with you. You are experiencing a natural human emotion. When you're going through it remember how David turned to God in prayer.
       5. It says again in Psalm 61:2 – “From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” OK let’s tie these two together.  Remember what he said back in Psalm 69 about where he is standing?   It was like standing in mire and he can't get his footing.  What is he seeking for?   He's seeking for stability.  He's wanting stability in his emotions, stability in his mind, stability in his heart and life again.   He's needing rock underneath him that won't budge.
          1. Here in Psalm 61 is where he realizes the rock is not going to be himself.   The rock is going to be God.  
          2. Notice how he says My heart is overwhelmed.   That idea of being overwhelmed, there is more coming at you than you can handle.  It's coming so heavy, so fast, so much;… you cannot emotionally deal with it. That will happen to us at times in our life.   There will be times when you feel like you're not controlling your emotions and something is wrong with you.   It is not your normal frame of mind and what you're experiencing is part of what it is to be a human.
          3. It says in Psalm 25:17 – “The troubles of my heart have enlarged; Oh, bring me out of my distresses!”
          4. Psalms 143:11 – “Revive me, O Lord, for Your name's sake! For Your righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.”    He understands the only way he can get out of this is with God.
          5. Psalm 28:7 – “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.”  You cry out for help and God will give you help.   You cry for strength and God will give you strength.   When you can't go any further… He will hold you up.
          6. Psalm 30:5 – “… Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” David understood weeping for a night.   He understood crying to the point his bed is covered in tears but he also understood there is joy at the end of the storm and the joy comes from God.
          7. These are lessons we need to understand.   Getting the joy, the strength, the stability back in our life, finding the rock that we can stand on, are all in our relationship with our Lord.  

• The story doesn't end there.   There will be times in our life when other people will sin against us.    That is what happened to David.  David was sinned against by his own family.  Saul was his father-in-law and his father-in-law was the one wanting to kill him.   David could have allowed the sin committed against him to make him extremely bitter, angry and filled with wrath, hatred, and malice. He could have allowed that to happen to him—but he did not.
  1. In this we find one of the great lessons from David. How he did not allow the sins committed against him to overcome him, to overwhelm him spiritually, to where he in turn—sinned.
     1. First Samuel 24:2-7 – “2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.
     2. 3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’”
     3. Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” 7 With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.” [para]
  2. David rose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe.  What happened?   David rose up and quietly cut off a corner of Saul's robe and then David's heart troubled him because he had cut off Saul's robe.
     1. All right stop right here.   We understand the men that were with David in the cave said David should kill Saul.   He's with his men hiding in the cave, and Saul goes into the cave to relieve himself. David then comes up and cuts off the corner of Saul’s robe.
     2. Then David is ashamed.   I can't believe I cut off the corner of his robe!    I shouldn’t have done that! When in reality his men are probably standing back there saying, hey, you didn't kill him. He was right there and God led him into you, you could've killed him.  Saul had been chasing David all over but David did not kill him.
     3. He said to his men The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed . I don’t know about you but I find that amazing.   Amazing that someone has that degree of character.  
  3. Yes, David is indeed a man after God's own heart because he did not allow the sin committed against him to in turn, cause him to have malice towards Saul and to harm him. David then confronts Saul telling him “Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand!”
  4. At the end of First Samuel we see the Philistines defeating Israel and Saul and his sons die.   Second Samuel 1:11-12 – “11. Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. 12. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.” This is an amazing story. For years David had been running for his life.  
     1. David had even gone down to the Philistines and was living among them.   He has finally gotten to the point now where he's doing pretty well for himself.  He's got a large following then he hears a message. Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle.
     2. What would you expect to hear from someone who has been told the man who's been trying to kill you all these years, is dead?   You might think, well that is a relief, now David can go home.   How about a celebration? No, there was no rejoicing over the death of Saul. David tore his clothes and it wasn't just for Jonathan, he's weeping over the death of his enemy.
     3. Here we see the magnitude of this man's heart.   In Proverbs 24:17 – “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;”  That's the way David was.  He did not rejoice to hear that his enemy had fallen.
  5. To the contrary do you know what he did?   He wrote a song for him. You know David’s a psalmist.  Here in Second Samuel we have the song that David wrote for Jonathan and Saul. We find David’s lament in Second Samuel 1:17-27 – “17 David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):[NKJV]

 

19 “A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel.

   How the mighty have fallen!

20 “Tell it not in Gath,

   proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,

lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad,

   lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.

21 “Mountains of Gilboa,

   may you have neither dew nor rain,

   may no showers fall on your terraced fields.

For there the shield of the mighty was despised,

   the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil.

22 “From the blood of the slain,

   from the flesh of the mighty,

the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,

   the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied.

23 Saul and Jonathan—

   in life they were loved and admired,

   and in death they were not parted.

They were swifter than eagles,

   they were stronger than lions.

24 “Daughters of Israel,

   weep for Saul,

who clothed you in scarlet and finery,

   who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.

25 “How the mighty have fallen in battle!

   Jonathan lies slain on your heights.

26 I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;

   you were very dear to me.

Your love for me was wonderful,

   more wonderful than that of women.

27 “How the mighty have fallen!

   The weapons of war have perished!””

 

1. It says that Jonathan and Saul in life they were loved and admired. David, are you talking about the same Saul? When I read this song written by David about Saul being loved and admired I think, well David must be thinking about Saul before he tried to kill him.   Before Saul busted up his marriage and before he put David in danger and running for his life and before he destroyed David’s and Jonathan’s friendship.
2. David says in verse 24 Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul. That brings to mind the way the Lord would put it in the New Testament.   Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)   The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12; Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.

 

CONCLUSION:

There unfortunately will to be things that will happen in our life and it is not time and chance, it is some body intentionally doing it.   It certainly is one thing when its due time and chance that bad things happen to you.   It is another matter entirely when a person is doing it to you and they're doing it intentionally, trying to cause you harm.

 

How do you deal with that?   The way to deal with that is love your enemy even if he's your enemy.   Do not allow the evil committed against you by other people to overwhelm you, to overcome you, to poison your heart, and to poison your life.  There are many people who suffer because of some one sinning against them and those in the church of Christ also experience this.   There are those who have been greatly sinned against by people in their own family.   Then they struggle in their emotions on how to get past it.   If that happens to one of us I hope we remember David and Saul.

 

David did not allow the evil in Saul's heart and the wickedness committed against him by his father-in-law to make him wicked.   He continued to love the man and honor the man all the way, even when he was dead. Never ever do we see him hating Saul or wanting to do harm to Saul.

Yes he prayed for deliverance.  He's wanted God to punish his enemies but whenever Saul was right there in front of him he would not take advantage. David even is upset that he cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.   We are not to allow the sin committed against us to overwhelm us.  

 

In our life when we go through moments of great loss we are going to grieve.    We find our selves emotionally unstable and we struggle for that stability.   When we feel that way, and can not seem to get our footing, we need to remember David.   The way he found stability after years of grieving was by having the rock of God supporting him. That is the way for us to overcome and deal with the grief in our life, to realize that stability is not of our self, the stability is of God.

 

There might be somebody here this morning who is not a member of the one body.

It may be you believe that Jesus actually is the Christ, the Son of the living God and you're willing to openly confess your faith and motivated by your faith make the commitment of repentance to serve God and follow God’s word all the days of your life.

If you are willing to make that commitment we’ll be glad to assist you and baptize you into the one body for the remission of your sins.

 

If you’re child of God already and there's sin between you and your God we want to encourage you to deal with it.

Our God is gracious.

He's merciful.

He's willing to forgive us.

Take your sin to God.

Confess it to him and turn from it.

We as your family will pray for you.   We will pray with you.

We will do the best we can to try to encourage you and help you.

 

If you're subject to the Gospel call in any way let us know while we stand and sing the song which has been selected.

 

 

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon by: Wayne Fancher

 

The Practice of Mercy

The Practice of Mercy

Luke 10:30-37

 

INTRO:

Good evening.   This evening I would like to go back to one of the parables of Jesus we have already looked at. In Luke Chapter 10 is the parable we most often call the parable of the Good Samaritan. Although we talked a little about this parable last April when we started the parable series I thought that in view of this morning’s lesson on The Mercy of God, that this would be a good time to take another look at the Good Samaritan.

 

The lessons we see in this parable of the Good Samaritan come as a direct answer to the question of the lawyer and I think they provide for us a clear calling for mercifulness.   The story in this parable teaches us about mercy and that we should be merciful to people.  It might be better if we were to call this the parable of the Merciful Samaritan rather than the Good Samaritan.

 

The story ends in Luke 10:36-37 when Jesus says; which of these do you think was neighbor to him?   The lawyer said; he who showed mercy on him.

 

I think that's interesting because the Samaritan was good in the way we understand things.   Why would he do what he did?   Well he was good as people would say.   He did for someone something that was not bidden by any obligation.   He was good because he showed mercy, because he was a merciful person, because there was a feeling in his heart that was born out of the activity that he engaged in.

 

That is the standpoint I would like us to take, as we look at this particular parable.   There are a lot of lessons to be taught from this story. Often the parable is viewed in an allegorical framework.   But there is a consideration in which the lessons of the parables are simple, sometimes single faceted in the sense that there's one literal, primary lesson of the story that Jesus wants us to see.

 

I think the parable of the Good Samaritan may fall into that category.   There are a number of things to see about ourselves, about God, about circumstance, and about obligation from this particular story but there is one primary thought.

 

1. Let’s start with the question; “What is the comparison between the lawyer and the Samaritan?”   That's not an obvious contrast in the parable because these are two individuals, one's real and one's imaginary or simply a character in the story, the Samaritan.
   1. The lawyer who asks the question is a real person that talks to Jesus and Jesus interacts with.   Jesus draws in the lesson a contrast between the one who's asking the question and the one who's the main character of the parable.
   2. The lawyer was a man who would have much to recommend him as he comes to Jesus, his credentials.
      1. He was a man by occupation who knew the law.
      2. He wasn't a lawyer in the sense that we would think of a secular lawyer but the lawyers in the scripture were those who had studied the Law of Moses.
      3. They are individuals who were well versed in the particular applications of law and even the traditions that surrounded the law, the traditional interpretations and applications of the law.
   3. This man comes with a good and relevant question.   He says; “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
      1. That is a valid and important question for someone to bring to Jesus.
      2. Jesus does not dismiss this question.  He doesn't in any way approach it from a standpoint that it is not relevant or important.
      3. In fact Jesus recognizes the legitimacy of the question and answers it in a context that this man should understand.
   4. The lawyer himself is no doubt an intelligent person even an individual who could be respected because he has studied and he's come to knowledge.   He knows the law and he can quote it accurately.
      1. We see in verse 27 and 28 that's precisely what he does.  He quotes the law. In fact, he quotes the law in a very similar fashion to which Jesus quoted the law in His own summery.
      2. If you recall when asked the question of what was the greatest commandment Jesus summarized all of the commandments in His answer.   “Thou shall love the Lord thy God all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thyself.”  He says; “on this hangs all the law and the prophets.” Jesus had made a similar statement or summary to the law that this man makes in verse 27.
      3. It was the right way to look at the law, not that there were only two commandments, but if you were to ask the question of what it meant to keep the law, it is a very good way to answer that question.   Everything depends on the relationship you have with God and the relationship you have with your fellow man. Your relationship to God and to your fellow man summarizes the obligations of love.
      4. This lawyer was intelligent and had studied so he knew the answer and Jesus says you've answered rightly.
   5. But there is a deficiency in that His understanding of the law. His understanding of the law was what we would call orthodox.   His orthodoxy is not accompanied by practical righteousness. By this I mean that he had the right information but not the right application.  A person may know and approve the law and yet not keep it.  He answered right but was not righteous. We find that in religion today.
      1. That's seen by how he reacts to the answer that he’s just given. He next attempts to justify himself by immediately bypassing the implications of the commandment of Love and asking Jesus another question. “Who is my neighbor?”
      2. He goes right over the obligation to put the question back on Jesus to come to some further understanding or for some further interpretation of the law.  There are some folks like that.
   6. Obviously we do not know enough about this man to come to a full conclusion yet the pattern I see here is familiar. I have met people I think fits this pattern. They want to know it all, they want to know what God said, they have an interest in knowing the truth but that's all they want, the knowledge.  
      1. Even when you bring them to the point of clearly making application of the law to their lives, bring them to the point that you think is the point of conviction, they immediately turn sideways and ask another question.   Rather than confront what is before them they simply want more explanation.  
      2. I do not know if this man was like that but I know some people are.     They simply want to speak and talk about the law.  They don't want to apply it.
      3. That's why I suspect that may be a deficiency in this lawyer.   He simply wants to know and approve of the law but he's not interested in really keeping the law. He answered right but he wasn't righteous and that's the point that Jesus confronts in the story.
   7. Now let’s compare him with the Samaritan who is a character in the parable.   Jesus tells us enough about this man that we can come to some conclusions.   We know for the fact that Jesus names him as a Samaritan.
      1. Just taking that at face value, the Samaritan was religiously wrong as opposed to the lawyer.  There were things about the law that the Samaritan probably did not know or understand correctly.   He probably couldn't give you God's word, God's revelation on it in an accurate way because the Samaritans, as Jesus even points out in John Chapter 4, had some things they missed.
         1. Salvation was of the Jews.   There were questions that could be answered about worship only in the context of the revelation that God had given the Jews.
         2. These were interpreted rightly by the Jews and the Samaritans would have given the wrong interpretations.  
      2. Jesus names him as a Samaritan interestingly enough not to commend his Samaritanism but rather to commend his character.  
         1. What does Jesus recommend about this man?
         2. What is it that's good about the Samaritan?
         3. He's a person of true human compassion.
         4. He is an individual that is not met on every street corner, you don't find them everywhere.  He comes across a circumstance and reacts in a very extreme way to that circumstance.
         5. He acts mercifully in response to a person who's in deep distress.   In the context of the parable he acts as a neighbor ought to act to this injured man and that becomes the single point of the parable we want to look at.
      3. Jesus answers the question of who is my neighbor not by pointing to who the neighbor is but rather points to the man who acts in a neighborly way.
         1. The question what must I do to inherit eternal life is an important part of the story. The lawyer's answer to it was right and summarized the whole law, love God and love your neighbor.
         2. Jesus told him “do this and he would live eternally”.  Jesus does not discount that the aspect of obedience to the law is the way to life.
         3. Contrary to the Calvinist ideas Jesus does not dismiss this man's answer and say well no you're being legalistic about this.   You really don't need to keep all the commandments.
         4. Jesus doesn't put in opposition faith and obedience.   Jesus recognizes that this man's understanding of law and the necessity to keep law - was right.
      4. Rather then confess that he would not and had not done this, which is possibly what Jesus wanted to man to do, the lawyer simply excuses himself and asks; “Who is my neighbor?”
         1. He assumes something about law.  He assumed that there was a limitation to the law of love whether it is to God or to his neighbor.
         2. He assumed that there were some parameters that he needed to be aware of, that there was something about the law that maybe Jesus could explain to him or there was some interpretation that would in essence get him off the hook in some instances. I believe he sought a loophole or as the Bible says he sought justification.
         3. He also attempts to qualify and we'll look at this as we go along.   But any time we look at a law God that places obligations upon us and then immediately attempt to qualify, we show an attitude about ourselves that God does not approve of.
      5. I suspect that Jesus tells this parable to turn his perception around. The law of love to God and to man that this man summarizes in his own words, was not conditional on the proximity or the status of the recipient.
         1. He could not judge whether or not a person is his neighbor by how close he was, or by whether he was the same social class, or by whether he was a Jew, or by whether you agreed with him on certain opinions or by whether he was of a certain economic status.   There were no parameters, in terms of who was his neighbor that Jesus would give to this man.
         2. Jesus taught him what it meant to be a neighbor and what it meant to act in love towards a neighbor by showing him what a neighbor would do under the circumstances.   This is the lesson, and it is a lesson on love and mercy.
         3. John MacArthur wrote about this; Jesus instead of talking about who qualifies to be your neighbor talks about the quality with which you love.  If you're even asking the question who is qualified for you to love, you can't fulfill the commandments to love.  It's not about who qualifies.  It's about your character, the character of your love.

• Jesus is talking about the love of the individual to someone in need, not about where the person in need qualifies to be loved. Notice that it is an integral part of the parable that this mans needs cannot be dismissed.  It's certainly assumed in the story that he does not qualify in any way to be helped by those who are given the responsibility to help him.  Think about the story for a moment as we read it.
  1. Luke 10:30 – “Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him, "and went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?''” [NKJV] I find a good way to start is to look at the context.
  2. Starting with verse 30, Jerusalem sits on hills and the man was going down from the hills to Jericho which is a bit below sea level, a drop of 3000 feet in about 17 miles. It was a place with hills and cliffs and deep crevices, a place where there were a lot of caves and steep drops and a place where traveling was going to be difficult.  It provided a geographical opportunity for robbers and thieves to hide and ambush people as they came along the road.
     1. It was known for that in Jesus’ time. So the familiar thing happened to this man.   He traveled the dangerous road and what usually happens on dangerous roads is people get taken advantage of. He was robbed, beaten and left for dead.
     2. His condition, apart from any outside aid, appeared rather hopeless.  This man was left for dead. Jesus uses this language to indicate that if nobody comes to his aid, he's going to die.
  3. Verse 31 by chance a certain priest comes by. By the opportunity that's given to this priest there is a hope that this man will be rescued.   Certainly on the surface it seems that way doesn't it?
     1. If you're left for dead on the side of the road and you don't have anybody to help you, who would you want to come by?   A religious man or an irreligious man?   A man who believes in God or a man who didn't believe in God?
     2. Here is a religious man.  He is the best of the pious among them. He would have been familiar with the law. Leviticus 19:34 – “But the stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself”   It is told in the law you have to love him as yourself. Exodus 23:5 – “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.” The law says even if you do not want to, you must.
     3. This is a general requirement of benevolence among the Jews and was a part of the law, if anybody knows that the priest knows it. If anybody is going to help it's going to be somebody who knows the law, right?  No.  He passes by on the other side.
  4. Verse 32 Likewise a Levite… The Levite was the other end of the scale of the religious ladder. The priests were at the top the Levites were at the bottom. They did certainly do service within the temple but they were not as high class as the priest.
     1. Again we see represented in the parable those who knew, those who understood the law.   Those who by spiritual obligation would be given an opportunity to help.  Yet, they pass by on the other side.
     2. Did you ever wonder why?   Why does the priest go by?  Why does the Levite not stop? We are not told.   There are many comments on the priest and the Levite but they are conjecture trying to imagine what these two were thinking. We know this is a parable and Jesus doesn't fill in all the blanks for us in terms of what's happening in the mind of the priest as to why he passed by.  
     3. Jesus doesn't really tell us what's missing in the life of the priest or the Levite.  What Jesus does do is simply tell us what was in the heart of the Samaritan and that's the lesson.  
  5. Verse 33 - But a certain Samaritan…, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him Why did the Levite and priest go on the other side?   I would suggest because they had no compassion.   We don't know what their duties were or what would have happened or what might have happened, or if they were afraid of the robbers. The Bible doesn't tell us any of that.  What we do know is that the Samaritan stopped because he was a compassionate man.
     1. Think about the expectations. This injured man by implication is a Jew.   We might assume that since he's coming down from Jerusalem.   If we do assume that then everything points to the fact that this man could not have expected this Samaritan to help him.
     2. The Samaritans hated the Jews and the Jews hated the Samaritans.  The racial differences and the cultural differences were enormous. What we recognize is that he had met an enemy on the way, and an opportunity.
     3. Usually when enemies meet each other they can't expect to be treated in any way other than with animosity.  He would know nothing about this man's circumstance.  He would know nothing about why he was where he was.   There seemed to be no motivation for him to stop, yet stop he did.
     4. It was this element of human compassion that made him stop. When he saw him he had compassion.  
  6. What we also see is that there's no evidence of any qualification.  Jesus is saying to the lawyer there is no process of qualification in the act of being a neighbor.
     1. The Samaritan that stopped would not have thought that the Jew qualified as one he should help.
     2. The priest and the Levite could never have looked at this aspect from a standpoint of qualification. Surely in the context of law.
     3. The Samaritans inclination, we can phrase it that way, his inclination when he saw the victim was injured, was to help.
     4. What's our inclination when we find somebody in trouble?  Do we use it to assess the circumstance from a standpoint of whether or not they are a good person or a bad person, to qualify them as the neighbor?   Or is the first inclination to be merciful?
  7. Verse 34-35. “and went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'”
     1. The Samaritan himself is not the center of the parable though he becomes the main character.   What becomes the story here is what he does.  That's really the focus of what we're talking about tonight, the activity of mercy.  We need to not miss this because what we see is not just one act but several.   Not just a little help but a deep involvement in the distress of the victim.
        1. Verse 34 says he went to him.  It simply means that he went to where the injured person was. This is the first thing that he does; he goes up to the man.   He does not try to evaluate from afar off.  He does not dismiss him by looking at him from far away like maybe the priest and the Levite did.  He goes up close and he evaluates the man's circumstances.
        2. He sees what his needs are and assesses his condition.  After investigating he does not turn away.  You see if we don't go look then we are less compelled to be involved.  If we go look we might through some form of compassion be drawn to be involved.   However if we look real close and we see how bad it is we might be compelled to turn and go the other way. It can work both ways.
        3. By not looking we might step away from it.   By looking we might step away from it. But not this Samaritan. He sees what's there.   He sees the stressful and difficult situation this man is in and that he's ready to die – but he doesn't turn around. It says and went to him and bandaged his wounds.  The Greek word for wounds there is the word trauma (Strong’s G5134).   It indicates wounds that needed immediate attention.  That's the aspect here.
     2. What did he bandage his wounds with?   We are not told but we are told he fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing
        1. The victim was lacking in material for bandages so if there's anything to use for a bandage it probably came from the Samaritan, perhaps his own clothes ripped to make bandages and stop the bleeding.
        2. In says he poured in oil and wine into the wounds [para].   Wine was an antiseptic and the oil was used to lubricate the wound and keep the tissue soft so it would heal and not be as painful.  
        3. This is all part of the process of making the man more comfortable and seeing to his ultimate healing. These things that he gave were probably his own.  There's no indication in this that the victim had anything with him he could use and since he had been robbed of even his clothes it would be unlikely.
        4. Why would the Samaritan use his own supplies? Because of his compassion.
     3. The text says; pouring on oil and wine. The word pouring here in the original language is actually a phrase which indicates the Samaritan generously poured it on the victim’s wounds.   He didn’t just dab a little bit.  He was pouring it on to make sure that he was applying enough.  
        1. What I see in that is the Samaritan was a man who was compassionate but not just that, he was generously compassionate.   He was lavish in his compassionate activity.
        2. Next it says he set him on his own animal. We don’t have enough information to really know if that would mean the Samaritan had to walk.   Was the animal loaded with goods or not? Being used for riding or not?   But we can recognize that there would likely be some inconvenience in doing this.
        3. Whatever the case he puts him on his animal and he takes him.  That's not minimum care that's maximal care.  He doesn't leave him on the side of the road to fend for himself. He doesn't leave him with a first aid kit.   He's got to follow through with it.
        4. A question at this point occurs to me, How far is the Samaritan going to go?  He has already acted as EMT now he is an ambiance service. How far is he going to follow through with his activity?   He's getting in deeper with every line of the text; in everything that he does he becomes more involved.
        5. On occasion we may start out with somebody that just needs a little bit of help and so you give a little bit but they’re still in trouble. So we'll do a little bit more and... Sometimes that turns us away.   Sometimes that extinguishes the compassion and compassion turns into annoyance.  Not the case here with the Samaritan.
     4. The text says; he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. He transports the victim to a place where he can be protected and cared for and he personally takes care of him!
        1. Do we see the contrast?   The lawyer wanted at the very beginning, before he even understood the application of the law, he wanted to hedge the law and limit it.
        2. The Samaritan in Jesus parable never gets to that point where he says Okay I've done enough.  He bandages his wounds, he brings him to the inn, and he cares for him there.  He negotiated the place to stay and he cared for him.
        3. Well for how long?   All night. Text says; On the next day, when he departed… He stayed with him through the night and cared for a stranger he knew nothing about. He was compassionate to the victim and stayed with him until the next day even though he was socially his worst enemy.
     5. The text continues when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, `Take care of him… His mercy compelled him not only to do everything that he could, but to engage somebody else to take care of the man.
        1. He was willing, not only to extend himself, but he was willing to go far enough to say I'm will ask somebody else to help me here. We sometimes balk at that point don’t we?
        2. We feel an obligation to do this ourselves but true compassion doesn’t stop there. It recognizes that other individuals can help this person as well or perhaps even better because of skill or position or resources.  If we really care about someone we'll assist, and we'll get those in a better position to help to assist as well.
        3. Here is another place where there is much speculation about how long the two denarii paid for. Some suggest that it could have been as much as several weeks but we are not told and so we really don’t know.
        4. We also don't know how long the Samaritan’s journey was or when he’s going to be back.  Again that's all speculation. But this is pretty amazing, pretty generous, for a total stranger. He doesn't qualify him, he simply… did.
     6. Verse 35 and said to him, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. Wait a minute.  The Samaritan gave the innkeeper money upfront to take care of the victim for the 24 days, 12 days, or however long it was, two days…we don’t know.
        1. Then he says OK, keep a tab. If he runs up the tab, if you spend any more when I come back let me know.  I'll take care of that too.  The man has really exposed himself to serious extortion here.
        2. He's exposed himself to being taken advantage of on a large scale. Its one thing to be taken advantage of standing right there and watching people do it.
        3. But if you go away and you're not around to take care of what the money’s spent on and see how is done, you really open yourself up.  The picture here is rather impressive to me. It's shocking but it's impressive.
     7. Now verses 36 and 37 – “36. "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?'' 37. And he said, "He who showed mercy on him.'' Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise.''” Jesus brings the question back on the lawyer. But wait, it is not exactly the same question is it?  It wasn't who is my neighbor but Who was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?
        1. The question is not who qualified to be a neighbor but who acted like a neighbor.  Which of these three individuals would you suppose did what was neighborly?   What would fulfill all the requirements of the law?
           1. How could anyone in the frame mind of the lawyer, remember he wanted to limit the application of law for himself, how could he comeback in any way and say that the Samaritan, this man who was despised culturally, had not kept all that God required in the law to love his neighbor as himself?
           2. He couldn't bring himself to make that conclusion.  He couldn't bring himself to say the Samaritan either, notice that. He is asked which one of these and he doesn't say that it’s the Samaritan. Maybe he can't bring himself to say the word. What he says here is the one who showed mercy.
        2. This is a picture of mercy in action in a very powerful way. Mercy is a powerful force. Compassion is a powerful force.
           1. It gives an individual the ability to transcend racial and social barriers.  It provides an opportunity to do what is in the heart of an individual, to overlook differences that become roadblocks and barriers to other people.
           2. I believe what Jesus teaches us here is that just the knowledge of what is required, even in law, does not provide that opportunity.  It doesn't provide the motivation for an individual to go beyond and transcend these barriers and to be generous.
           3. The only thing that does that is the feeling of compassion, of human compassion that exists in the heart of an individual for someone else.

 

CONCLUSION:

Tonight we looked at this parable with a single focus on the aspect of not attempting to justify, not attempting to apply limitations of the application of law or to qualify the recipients who would receive our mercy.   Rather that we are to be truly people of compassion. We extend that mercy and compassion in a generous and extensive way.

 

We need to be careful however to recognize it's not legitimate to use the story of the Good Samaritan to authorize unlimited benevolent activity for the church corporately, to activate the church in some way to feed all the poor of the community.

 

Jesus isn’t talking about what the church should do corporately.  He's not talking about what we should do institutionally.  He's talking about what you and I are to do in our own lives when we see someone who's in need.   He's talking about our personal responsibility to be merciful to another individual.   To have the type of heart that would motivate us to be compassionate and in no way attempt to justify or set aside what the implications of God's law is to us as individuals.

 

The Christian must be merciful.   This story gives us a pretty clear picture of what that involves.  It also makes me recognize that in terms of what was said earlier, that prompted this particular story, it leaves me rather short.  What must I do to inherit eternal life?   Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.  How well have we done that?

 

Jesus is able to put parables in such stark contrast to where we are really, that it compels us to see, not only what God requires more clearly, but how far away we are from that.   The challenge that's before us is to truly be merciful people like God is merciful. The parable helps me to better understand what Jesus means when He says I desire mercy and not sacrifice.  Sometimes we feel satisfied with just giving the sacrifice.

 

In conclusion, I believe that it's this type of merciful activity that we see in the life of the Samaritan that we see in the heart of our own salvation. It illustrates to us in the person of the Samaritan, who God is.

 

Are there any limitations that God has placed on Himself and what He will do in order to save us?   Is there anything that He will hold back?   We did not look at this as an allegory of the Gospel story but when we look at what the Samaritan did, how the only thing that provoked his action, the only thing that made it happen, was the love and the compassion he had for another human being, we recognize that's precisely the Gospel story.

 

Why did Jesus die for me?   Were there any qualifications?   Was there anything that obligated Him?   Or was it just as we sing so often… because He loved me so?  That was it.  God is a compassionate and merciful God and that's the reason we are saved.   Jesus came without any limitations on what He would do but He went all the way to the death of the cross.   He gave everything that we might be saved.   That's the aspect of mercy.

 

Think about the lesson Jesus taught in John Chapter 13 when He went got down on his knees and He washed the disciples’ feet, an act of absolute servitude. It was the act of servitude of the cross that was coming that was to motivate them to be servants of one another. It was not just an explanation of the Gospel story.  It was the application of the Gospel story to their life.  This is as well.

 

James 2:13 – “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” To those who have shown no mercy or judge others with partiality and have not learned to live by the law of love, there is only judgment without mercy. Those who triumph are those who learn to be merciful.  Mercy triumphs over judgment. It is a very comforting thing to know that mercy triumphs over judgment. Why? Because God is merciful, and God is a God of justice.

 

I also would suggest that there is application in this life.   As long as we're people that want to extend mercy and do good for the other person, as long as we're generous and we want to even go to the farthest degree we possibly can to help other people, there is a triumph in our lives.   There’s a triumph over the judgment and the condemnation that exists among classes of people and individuals in society today.

 

Mercy triumphs and it opens up doors for evangelism to teach people who might be far away from the Gospel. If they see mercy, if they see people that are willing to help, they may be more malleable to what God said.  They open their hearts. If God's people are not people of love they have no right to even claim to be children of God.

 

We're going to sing a song of invitation.

 

If you're not a Christian and you're here tonight we want to encourage you to do what you need to do and respond to the mercy of God.

 

He's willing to forgive you of your sins and the mercy of God will triumph over the condemnation of your own sin and you can be free. If you need to respond in any way we invite you to make it known while we stand and sing.

 

Invitation: 636

 

Reference Sermon: Dave Schmidt

Psalm 37 - Do Not Fret Because of Evil Doers

Do Not Fret Because Of Evil Doers

Psalm 37, Psalm 73

 

INTRO:

Good morning.   We're continuing our series of sermons from Psalms.   As I reviewed some of the Psalms I thought about the ones that are my favorites.  I invite you to take out your Bible and turn over to Psalm 37.

 

Psalm 37 is actually one of my favorites and the reason it is one of my favorites is like the reason that Isaiah 41:10 is a favorite verse from the Old Testament because the text speaks to me and my spiritual needs.

• Let’s start right off then by reading Psalm 37:1 – “Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.” We find this verse quoted in Proverbs 24:19. The beginning of the text is talking about those who are evil doers or in another translation, the wicked.   As we look at the world around us we see that the majority of the world is in darkness. They're not making any effort to try to follow the Word of God and as a result we see the majority of mankind living in sin.

1. We're living in the age of information where you can turn on the screen and see all the news, not only in our state, but our country, and the whole world. We have access to knowledge of actually how much wickedness there is.
   1. Notice how the verse begins, it says “do not fret”. The idea of that word “fret” is don't be anxious, don't be worrying, and don’t be afraid. As a verb it means to be constantly or visibly worried or anxious and the second definition is enlightening; “gradually wear away (something) by rubbing or gnawing.”
   2. The British use it as a noun to indicate “a state of anxiety or worry”.  
   3. As we look at the news on television, computers or smartphones, we see all the things that are happening around us and sometimes we find ourselves struggling with worry, being anxious, even afraid... fretting.
2. Let’s jump down now to verses 7 and 8, Psalm 37:7-8 – “7. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. 8. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret, it only causes harm.”
   1. Here the psalmist is talking about our seeing people that are prospering doing things “their way”.  It seems like they're doing well and yet they're living in wickedness. They're getting away with it.
   2. Do we sometimes watch the news and after we turn it off we find our self being angry?   Or after we turn it off we find our self being afraid?   I know we do.
   3. I actually quit listening to a number of programs for that very reason. One night at about 3:00 in the morning I experienced something I'd not experienced since the cold war days—a panic attack.
   4. I was not actually afraid for myself, after all I've been blessed to live a long life of freedom in our country.  My fear was for our children, and our grandchildren; wondering what kind of country will they have in the future?   Are they going to have the same freedoms we have?    Or is socialism going to take over and all of a sudden all of our freedoms are gone?    Are we going to lose the freedom of religion? It just started snowballing. Amazing how one worry piles onto another, fretting.
   5. I thought of Psalm 23 – “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” I read Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'” .
3. Guess what?   It didn't work. Rather than pulling out of the fear it just built up and got worse.  That's what a panic attack can do, it can consume you.
   1. I finally had to ask myself the question, what's wrong with me? I got out of bed, made a cup of coffee and did a lot of soul searching and the conclusion I came to is my problem was not that I could not find things in God’s words to help me.
   2. My problem was, that at least at that moment, doubt.   Is God really with us?   When you see the world going crazy… isn't God the ruler of this world?   Well yes.   Isn't Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of lords?   Isn't He the King over all the world? Isn’t this is His domain, His kingdom? Well yes.
   3. Don't you see what's happening God?  Don't you see what's happening to your kingdom Jesus? Don't you see what's happening in the world? Are you aware?
   4. You see the problem was not God, the problem was my trust.   That's why I was afraid. The text says fretting only causes harm.
4. In general I have stopped watching CBS News and MSNBC news.  I would get angry after I watched them and then I would have to calm down.   I'm tired of it. I watch now only sparingly, enough to be sure I have not buried my head in the sand.   But as soon as my face starts to flush, “click”.  
   1. Here is something interesting.   Fake news has actually helped me. I know a long time ago someone said “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see”. The problem is today because the things we see and hear are so well presented we tend to believe more then we should. Coming to realize that a large portion of what is out there is false, either in fact or in presentation, (out of context, misquoted, and so on) has helped me damp down my anger.
   2. When you see the news do you find yourself becoming afraid because of what you see happening in the world?   It seems like there's so much wickedness and it seems like they're getting away with it.
      1. Is the republic going to fall?
      2. Is socialism going to take over?

• Are our children going to be persecuted?

1. Are we going starve?

1. All of a sudden it just starts going crazy and we find our selves struggling with anger and fear. That's why this is one of my favorite Psalms.  It speaks to me where I really am and my spiritual struggles.

• By the way if you don't know this, a good cross reference to Psalm 37 is Psalm 73.  Look at Psalm 73:3-5 and here scripture is speaking about not being envious; “3. For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4. For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm. 5. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men.”  
  1. That attitude plays well to us. I remember decades ago when there was a show that we sometimes would watch “lifestyles of the rich and famous”.  
     1. We like to watch shows about fancy houses and the big cars and all the money and all the wealth. We look at that world and start thinking; they’ve got it made.  Look how good their life is. Look how wonderful their life is.
     2. We wish we had a life like that. We find our self starting to be envious of them.   Envy because their life is so good and ours so tough.
     3. The scripture says don't envy.   Don't fret.   Don't envy.   Don't be afraid because of what we see going on out there and don't start wishing we had that lifestyle.
  2. The same text continues in Psalm 73:17-19 to say; “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.”
     1. I’m sure we all realize that just because somebody is wealthy doesn't mean their life is good.   On the other hand just because somebody is wealthy doesn't mean that life is necessarily bad.
     2. The mistake we sometimes make is we equivocate wealth with a good life.   We assume if a person has a lot of wealth their life is good and it doesn't really matter if what they're doing this wicked and sinful.   They will get away with it because of their wealth.   We see this in films all the time and on occasion in real life.   They can buy justice. Or their wealth can be an excuse. Think of the affluence teen who is in the news again.
     3. From that logic people reason all you have to do is try to get money.  It's all about how much money can you get in your life and so therefore this is what you want.
  3. I see on the covers of the magazines when I walk out of Wal-Mart or the grocery store that they never say these people with wealth and fame have a life that is wonderful.
     1. It is always the next divorce or the next turmoil or how their life is miserable.   Those magazines on the covers talk about addictions, infidelity, illness and betrayal.
     2. The scripture here is talking about how there are those that are wealthy and they are in slippery places where they are continually falling.   Their life is falling apart and they're miserable.
     3. We may think their life is great just because they've got wealth but in reality not many would want to change places with them.  We do not want to be in their shoes because we do not want the destruction, grief and the sorrow that is in their life.
• Going back now to Psalm 37:2 it says about those who are evildoers; “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.”  Then in verse 10 “For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look diligently for his place, But it shall be no more.”
  1. For those that are wicked there will come a time when they're not going to be here anymore.   All the evil that they've done that we fear is going to stand forever blows away like the wind and they are soon forgotten.
     1. If we find our self being wicked and prospering in sin, we need to realize because of that choice there will be consequences in this life.  God's going to set us in slippery places.
     2. The text says here he went into the house the Lord and he understood their end…their end in this life and their end in judgment.
  2. Going back to Psalm 37:16 – “A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked.” You won’t find a show about lifestyles of the middle class.   It would not make a good show as far as the world is concerned. Who would watch something about a life where there is a good marriage, peace and joy? About people who are right with God?   People that are content with who they are and what they have right now?   Don't look at the wicked and the prosperity of the wicked and start thinking my life stinks because I don't have all that stuff.
     1. To the contrary, your life is good if you've got God in your life.
     2. If you've got God in your life you are a winner in this life and on judgment day you are a big winner.
  3. Notice in the text as we go further in this; Psalm 37:12-13 – “12. The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth. 13. The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.”  The point to see is this.   The wicked have all kinds of problems in their life because of the choice to live wickedly.   Even though they may have a lot of money God has set them in slippery places that continually cause them to stumble and have all kinds of grief and problems.
     1. He talks about God sees their day coming.   If we think anyone is getting away with sin we need to understand they're not getting away with anything when it comes to God.
     2. They may be able to buy off judges in this world and buy off, get out of and avoid justice in this world, but they're not going to avoid the judgment of God and True justice from God. Their day is coming.   They're going to have difficulties in this life and they're going to lose big time in judgment.
     3. Again the other side of the coin if God is in our life, because of that fact and that fact alone, our life is blessed now and we're really blessed on Judgment Day.
  4. Let's go back to Psalm 37.   Psalm 37:3 – “Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” In the beginning of the Psalm he laid out the problem.   The problem is we see wickedness and wicked individuals who are financially prosperous and it seems like they're getting away with it. We see this wickedness and evil out there in the world.   We find ourselves struggling with fear. We find ourselves being angry sometimes because of circumstances and situations that we see in the world around us.
     1. As I told you earlier when I found myself struggling with a panic attack at the very heart of it was this problem… I didn't trust the Lord.   Do you honestly believe that this is God's world? Well yes.   Do you honestly believe that Jesus is Lord of Lord and King of kings now?   Yes. Is Jesus in control?   Is God in control? Yes.
     2. There's something I've found that has helped me immensely.   First of all I love our country.  As many here know I love the Fourth of July celebrating our freedom. But when I see the rise of some of the ideas that being openly talked about in American politics I have to fight being afraid again because I know the history of the last century.
     3. When I find myself again struggling with the fear of what's coming then I have to step back and realize—I am a citizen of another nation, another kingdom. I am a citizen of the kingdom of Christ.
        1. That comes first and Jesus really is king and God really is in control of this world.   What it really comes down to is this.
        2. Do we trust God?   Or do we think God doesn't know what's going on, or that God is not aware of what these people are doing, or that God doesn't realize they're getting away with what they're doing? Is God being fooled? Of course not!
        3. God is not being fooled.   God knows exactly what's going on in everybody's life and God is in control.
        4. In the final analysis; the way to overcome the fretting and the fear is by trusting in the Lord…absolute total confidence in God.
     4. Psalm 37:5 – “Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” There are two things there. Trusting in the Lord again but then committing our way to the Lord.   What we need to be doing when it comes to our walk in life is to commit it all to the Lord.
        1. That takes us back to the giving of ourselves in Romans 12:1 as living sacrifices to God. My life is yours Lord, everything connected to me is yours.
           1. God I commit myself totally over to you.  I trust you, I trust that you're telling me the truth about how to live my life, to get the most out of it now and how to live my life to make it to heaven.  
           2. I believe you when you say you're in control, and when you say you're going to have a time of judgment.
        2. It always comes down to this, do we trust God?   Do you trust His word enough to obey it to realize this is the truth?  
           1. At the very heart, the very core of our relationship with God, is trust.
           2. That is what God desires of all of us.  Just trust in Him enough to do what he says…to have confidence in Him, and remember when it seems like the world's going crazy; God is in control.
        3. This can be a very difficult thing for us at times. Proverbs 3:5-6 – “5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6. in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
           1. What we see in this verse is what we saw in Psalm 37 Commit your way to the Lord.   In all your ways acknowledge him it says in Psalms.   God tells us how we are to conduct our life, our walk, our way. He tells us about our relationships with family, how to handle our job, our brother, our neighbors, our own life and we are to acknowledge Him in all of our ways.
           2. We do not lean upon our own understanding of our fears, our fretting, our worrying, and our anger.   We are not going to use that to guide us but we are going to trust in the Lord.   What we see in the scriptures, even in the Old Testament, the primary message is that what God desires of all of us is trust. That is where the Israelites failed and where even Christians fail today. Trusting God to where we'll acknowledge His word, His ways… in everything.
        4. Going back to Psalm 37:23-25 – “23. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. 24. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. 25. I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.”  That verse should be very encouraging to us.  God knows if you trust him, God knows if you've committed your ways to Him. God knows if you're acknowledging Him in all your ways and following His word in your life.  He's talking about this good person here.  If that is our life and we are trusting in the Lord, following His word by faith, we are that good person.
           1. The Psalm says the good persons steps are ordered by the Lord.  The idea is the hand of God is in your life, protecting you.  He's with you.
           2. The Psalm talks about “though he fall”, wait – fall?   Stop right here.  Have any of us by any chance had a fall spiritually at different times in our life?   Yeah.   That's me.  Then the Psalm says “he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand”. Whew!   I don’t know about you but that gives me comfort because it says the Lord upholds him with His hand.
           3. Because we trust the Lord we're acknowledging His ways in everything, and are trying to follow His word by faith.   In those moments when we do fall the Lord knows that we've committed our way to him. He provides for forgiveness and gives us the opportunity to get up and get back into the race.  
        5. With this confidence he says; “ I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.” I told you earlier I had a panic attack and it was not about me.   My panic attack was about my children and my grandchildren.
           1. I wonder what's coming for them.  What's the future going to be like for them.  What's this country going to be like, and I started being afraid.
           2. This verse gives me comfort, that not only will God take care of me he'll take care of my children and my grandchildren.  Again it goes back to trust and belief.   Do we believe the verse?   Do we trust that God will take care of us?   That he's ordering our steps?
        6. I learned, as I am sure many of you have, that delighting in the joy and peace of our Lord, having peace in the mind is directly connected to our trust in God.   The reason I could not bring my panic attack under control was because my trust faltered.   My fear was consuming me and it was sinking my trust.

• Let's get back to Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” When we're going to God in prayer and we cast before God all our fears, all our anxieties, all our worries, all the things we're fretting about, He hears our prayer and He will answer our prayers.    We realize the hand of God is in our life and we can take our problems, threats, fears, worries, all to God and then cast all our care upon Him because He cares for us. In that realization is where the delight in the Lord comes from.
  1. Let me give you a New Testament verse on this; Philippians 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”  Notice the comparison. Delight yourself also in Lord from Psalms, rejoice in the Lord always from Philippians, “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” from Galatians.
     1. Joy and Peace.  The joy and the peace of Christianity is a product of trust.   I want to say that again because that's the main point we need to internalize, the joy of Christianity and the peace of Christianity is a direct product of our trust in God and our commitment to the Lord.
     2. Just trusting God is in control I'm going to do the best I can, by faith, with what I have and where I am.   If I fall again I'll ask God's forgiveness and get up and get back into the race and keep going forward, by faith.
  2. Psalm 119:174 – “I long for Your salvation, O Lord, And Your law is my delight.”  Psalm 1:2 – “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.” How is it that God speaks to us?   It is not by a wee voice in the middle of the night. God speaks to us today through His word.   If you want to draw nearer to God and if you want to strengthen your trust in God, your relationship with God, you need to let God speak to you through His word.   Find the scriptures that fit where you are in your spiritual journey and in your struggles and then read those particular verses and meditate on them.
  3. I find that I do not fully grasp things sometimes when I first look at them and I need to think about them a bit.   Sometimes I need to see other things in God’s word on the subject to try and round out the picture.   I need to come back to it again.   Something happens over time.
     1. I’ve found that over time you find yourself falling in love with the word of God to where you delight in the scriptures and you delight and rejoice in meditating on the scriptures.
     2. You come to understand their strength and how they shape your life. How they help and guide you in your life.   When you find yourself delighting in the scriptures in reality you are delighting in the one who gave the scripture.
     3. I’ll say that again.   If you're delighting in, rejoicing in, the scriptures, you're actually delighting in the one who gave you the scriptures. You're delighting in God. You're rejoicing in the Lord.   Find the scriptures that fit you. Meditate on them, read them over and over again.  

• Going back to Psalm 37:39-40 – “39. But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 40. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.”
  1. Do we see the emphasis in this Psalm?   It keeps coming back to this; because they trust in Him.   It's because they trust in Him that God is going to give them salvation.  It says the salvation of the righteous is how? It's from the Lord.
     1. We want to go to heaven.   We want to be saved.   Who's going to take care that actually in the end for us?   God.
     2. The only reason we are going to make it to heaven is because of the Mercy and the grace of God.  You've got to let that sink in.
     3. If you think you're going to get heaven because you deserve it… you're going to be afraid all the time.  
     4. The truth of the matter is the only way we're going to make it is to be forgiven and it is God that's going to forgive us.   And we've got to come to God His way.
  2. We've got to trust in the Lord and acknowledge His way.   His way is the gospel and His way is Jesus Christ.   If we don't come to the gospel and we don’t come to Jesus Christ, then we don't come.
     1. When you realize that we have salvation and that it is just from the Lord, that God has mercy on you and that God is showing grace to you, then you will find delight in the Lord.   You will be thanking God and wanting to be with God and loving the Lord.   Then your relationship with Him will grow stronger and stronger.
     2. Do you ever have times of trouble? We all do fairly often.   Sometimes for some of us it may seem nonstop.  He is our strength in time of trouble. He'll help us. He'll deliver us. Do you believe it?   Do you believe the Lord is with you in your time of trouble or are you all alone?   If you think you're alone you're going to be what? Afraid.
     3. If you look at your sins and you think I'm going to go to hell because I'm a sinner and I've messed up yet again, you've got reason to be afraid.   Unless you deal with the guilt of sin in God's way and take it to him and pray for forgiveness.
  3. You draw strength from this relationship with God by trusting in Him and by knowing (there is a key, trust leads to knowing) knowing that God will help you and God will deliver you.
     1. From that knowledge, comes joy.   That's where the delight in the Lord comes from.   It comes to those who trust in him.   Romans 12:11-12 – “11. not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12. rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;”.
     2. One more verse on this.   Hebrews 3:6 – “but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”  From Romans 12:12 the phrase rejoicing in hope.  Then from Hebrews 3:6 the rejoicing of the hope.   Hope is an aspect of faith where we honestly believe the promises of God, that He's telling us the truth about the forgiveness of our sins.   The truth about the resurrection that's coming, the truth about eternal life, and the truth about heaven.
  4. For our own self-examination some questions to ask are; is what the scriptures are telling us about the forgiveness of sins true?   Is what the scriptures are telling us about the resurrection true?   Is eternal life in heaven with God for eternity a myth or is it true?
     1. Our joy is directly connected to the answers we give.
     2. If we answer I'm not sure, then we may never have the joy of Christianity.
     3. If we answer no we'll definitely never have the joy of Christianity.
     4. Our joy is directly connected to the trust that the promises of God or true. See the connection in these two verses rejoicing in hope and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. He wants you to hold onto that confidence.
     5. It is the trust in the Lord that is the way to the joy when we believe He's telling us the truth about what's coming.
  5. Psalm 37:7 – “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.” We've talked about trusting in the Lord, committing it all to the Lord, delighting in the Lord and now the last part of this psalm is rest in the Lord.
     1. This next phrase says to wait patiently for Him.   Whenever we talk about God's judgment and God's punishment do we sometimes in our mind find ourselves thinking God, punish these people?  
        1. We see wickedness and think Lord, please deal with this now.
        2. Well the text here says wait patiently for him.   This is His world.   God knows what He's doing.  Do we?   This is Christ’s kingdom; do any of us think the King needs our advice?   I think He knows what He's doing.
        3. The best thing that we can do when it comes to the world and the prosperity of the wicked, when we see that they seem to be getting away with it and we're wondering what's going to happen in the future… is just trust God.   Pray for those that are going wrong that they may wake up in time and then just trust God.
     2. Don't be afraid because of all the craziness that's going on around us.   The way we avoid the fear and overcome it is by trusting in God.
  6. Going back to Psalm 37:37 – “Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace.” Peace is in opposition to fear isn't it?   Peace is calmness.
     1. Isaiah 26:3 – “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Again we see it is all because we trust in Him.  
        1. There is a peace the Lord described as perfect peace. He tells us the way that we get to this level of perfect peace is by keeping our mind set on him.
        2. In this crazy old world when there are all kind of storms around us, we need to do the best we can to keep our mind set on the Lord and trust in Him.
        3. We can not allow the craziness to cause us to start fretting and being afraid and worrying.   It only causes harm. It doesn't help us in any way to worry and fret.  
     2. Just a bit more and the sermon is yours Philippians 4:6-7 – “6. 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.”  Do we see that? Psalm 37 – “Do not fret”. Philippians 6 – “Be anxious for nothing”
        1. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication (there it is taking it to God) with Thanksgiving (what do you do when you've got problems, fears, worries, take it to God in prayer and he says) let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding Doesn't that sound like perfect peace from Isaiah 26:3? Yeah. This is the same kind of peace. The peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 

CONCLUSION:   Here we are told that to get this peace that passes all understanding we are to pray in trust and make our request known to God. James says in James 1:6-7 – “6. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;” James talked about how the man who doubts can not expect to receive anything from the Lord.   Doubting is like a leak in the boat, it can cause us to sink.

We see from scripture that God wants us to trust Him and commit our way to Him in our trust.   By your trust and by your faith - you obey His Word. If you do that He'll take care of you spiritually.   He'll even take care of you physically.  He'll bless your life now and on judgment day you'll be with him forever.

As we grow in our trust of God, in our confidence in God, we will leave doubt behind and we will see the joy and the peace and the love that is the life of a Christian.

 

The Christian life is directly connected to our trust in our God. Keep examining yourself, increase your understanding and you will realize; Yes, He's telling me the truth. Yes, I'm going to follow His truth by faith all the way to the close of my life. The resurrection is real. Eternal life is real.  Eternity in heaven is real.   We're going there. That'll make you smile won’t it?   That'll give you peace. That'll give you joy - even in a crazy world.

 

If there's anybody here this morning who’s not a member of the one body, if you honestly believe that Jesus Christ the son of the Living God, if you are willing to openly confess your faith and then motivated by your trust and your faith in God commit your way to him. Committing your way to the Lord, trusting him completely and then you follow His word by faith that is repentance.

 

If you're willing to make that great commitment of repentance we will be glad to assist you and baptize you into the body of Christ for the remission of your sins.

 

If your child of God and you realize there is sin between you and God as we learned earlier God knows that, trust him.  God knows those that love him.

 

Those who are righteous, when you stumble, when you fall, because you are following Him you take it to God in prayer.   You ask for forgiveness yet again and then you get up to follow him again.

 

If you realize there is sin between you and God deal with it.   We'll pray for you, we'll pray with you and we'll do the best we can to try to encourage you.  If you're a subject of the Gospel call in any way let us know while we stand and sing the song selected.

644—Trust and Obey

The Ultimate New Year's Resolution

The Ultimate New Year’s Resolution  

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

 

INTRO:

Good evening.

This morning was dark, drab and wet.   It reminded me of this story a preacher from Scotland told.   I wish I could use tell it with a brogue but I’ll have to let you imagine.

 

It was a cold, rainy Sunday evening in the North of Scotland. The preacher was standing at the front of the building and as he looked around the building there was only him and a scruffy looking guy right at the back of the church. When six o’ clock struck, the preacher walked over to the man and said: “Look, it’s cold; it’s wet; it’s only you and me. Do you think we should just cancel the service”?

 

The guy looks up at the preacher and says: “Son, I’ve farmed in this area for thirty years. Hail, rain or shine, I go out to feed my sheep. I don’t worry if one turns up or a hundred turn up. I do my job and feed the sheep”. This upsets the preacher. He storms down to the front, marches into the pulpit and preaches solid for an hour and a half.

 

When he finishes, he walks smugly up to the man at the back and says: “Well, what did you think of that then?” The shepherd looks up at the preacher and says, "Son, I’ve farmed in this area for thirty years. Hail, rain or shine, I go out to feed my sheep. I don’t worry if one turns up or a hundred turn up. I do my job and feed the sheep. But, son, if only one turns up, I don’t dump the whole load on it!”

 

A couple of days ago, most people we know were thinking about the birth of Jesus Christ, remembering the greatest Gift ever and remembering the greatest Giver ever.   Later this week we begin a New Year, which means that many people will make New Year’s Resolutions.   It also means that people will be reminiscing. We like to look back on “the year in review” and recall what happened.   The newspapers, tv, and internet are full of things like “What was Christmas like the year you were born?”  

 

Sometimes it is fun to look back, sometimes entertaining and sometimes saddening.   When we review what has happened before, we can uncover a range of emotions and hopefully learn some things as well. As we see things that are perhaps less positive we often take the opportunity to resolve to avoid issues that have happened, to change behavior that has produced less then desirable results, in short we resolve to do things differently.  

 

Today I would like us to look back at something that I hope will help us appreciate what will be happening between now and the middle of the week as we consider our resolve.  Certainly we need to always appreciate and be thankful for all things that God has given us.   God gives us material and spiritual blessings that we each enjoy to help us in this life and to prepare for the one to come.   He gave the gift of His Blessed Son who came into this world by human birth, and gave Himself as a sacrifice that we may have redemption from our sin.  

 

There are things in the Old Testament that are a type of what is seen in the New Testament and what God spoke to Israel has lessons for us.   What we will look at this evening is what the Lord told Israel in Deuteronomy 8, and if you have never read this before, you might think that it is talking about America!

 

1. Remember God’s Commandments – In Deuteronomy 1:1 we learn that these are the words Moses spoke to all Israel on the side of the Jordan in the wilderness. Deuteronomy 8:1 – “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers.”  Israel was told they could not neglect any command. They could not pick and choose what they want to do and what they don’t want to do.
   1. God had a reason for these commands which is stated in this verse.    
      1. If they followed every commandment, as they stood at the border of Canaan, God promised that they would live and multiply.
      2. They could go into the Land of Canaan and possess it, just as the Lord had sworn to their fathers.
      3. God keeps His promises, but did they keep His commandments?
   2. Jesus gives us our commandments of the New Testament. Will we keep His commandments?
2. Remember God’s Leadership – Deuteronomy 8:2–4 – “2. "And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3. "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. 4. "Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” Israel, remember how God brought you through everything.
   1. He sustained you during those years wandering in the wilderness. But He also humbled them and tested them, to know what was in their hearts, whether they would obey Him or not.
      1. He wanted them to see how they responded to the difficulties of life and thus knew whether they would follow Him in all circumstances.
      2. He humbled them by allowing them to hunger, giving them special food, and not allowing their clothes to wear out or their foot to swell.
      3. God showed He would take care of their physical needs. All He wants is for them to do what He asks.
      4. They would then learn that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that God says. He knows that they need more than bread.   That’s why He gave them His word.
      5. Israel, did you learn that God has been taking care of you? You didn’t have to bake bread or make new clothes because God understood you were in a difficult situation.
   2. Jesus tells us in not to worry about material needs. Do we believe Him?

• Remember God’s Chastening – Deuteronomy 8:5 – “So you should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you”
  1. God tells Israel I know you’ve had some rough times here in the wilderness.  It’s not because I want to hurt you. It’s because I love you.
     1. “Look at how you treat your own children”.   They chastened their own sons, and the Lord did the same with them, not to destroy them or hurt them, but as part of the growth process.
     2. Israel, did you learn to be corrected, did you grow?
  2. Paul tells us in Hebrews 12 the Lord disciplines whom He loves and receives and in Second Timothy that “scripture is profitable for correction”.   Do we know how to be corrected?   Do we understand that reading scripture can sometimes be uncomfortable and if it is, are we willing to see our error in our Father’s eyes and make a change?

6. Remember God’s Blessings – Deuteronomy 8:6–10 – “6. "Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7. "For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8. "a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9. "a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10. "When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.”
   1. I don’t know if the land of Israel today is in the same condition that it was 3500 years ago.   It sounds to me as if they would have whatever they needed.
   2. Knowing how the Lord had sustained them, and what He had taught them, they were then to keep His commandments, walking in His ways and fearing Him.
   3. Israel was about to go from a wilderness to a land that had an abundance of natural resources, so much so that they would not have to be in want again, because they would have everything they needed.
      1. God would fill them in that new land. Then verse 10 said that they needed to bless the Lord for what He had given them.
      2. God wants them to remember Him and bless Him.
      3. Israel, did you learn to thank the Lord for everything continually or did you think it was by your own hand you were blessed?  
   4. Paul tells us in First Thessalonians 5 – “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Do we do that?
7. Remember God – Deuteronomy 8:11–17 – “11. "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12. "lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13. "and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14. "when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15. "who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the rock of flint; 16. "who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end   17. "then you say in your heart, `My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'”
   1. It’s like Moses could see what’s coming.   You needed God when you were struggling, don’t you need Him just as much when things are good?
      1. This section begins with the stern warning not to forget God, and Moses even identified the way in which they could forget God, by not keeping His commandments, judgments, and statutes.
      2. Moses is not saying just remember Him in your mind, but remember Him with your actions. In other words, do what He says. Here the Scripture provides insight into the nature of man, that once we are doing well, we lift up our hearts and forget what God has done for us.
      3. Israel, did you remember God in times of plenty? Or did you turn to idols of stone and wood and give them credit for the plentiful harvest?
   2. Do we remember God in all our blessings?
8. Remember God’s Power – Deuteronomy 8:18 – “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
   1. Remember that the Lord God is the One who gives the power to gain wealth.
      1. It does not come from the government.  It does not come from businesses.  It does not come from universities. It does not come from natural resources. God gives the skill necessary to do well.
      2. He saw that Israel was thinking that maybe I just did it all myself.
   2. Is that how we think?

• Remember God’s Warnings – Deuteronomy 8:19-20 – “19. "Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20. "As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.”
  1. I wonder how much it hurt Moses to say that. His whole life had been about Israel.   He has lived for no other reason.   He has been the intercessor between God and Israel for the past 40 years.
  2. Now he has to say if you forget God after all He’s done for you, you shall surely perish.   The chapter ends with these warnings and they should remember them.
  3. Here then is another insight into human behavior.   If we forget God, we will turn to other things. We will attribute God-like power either to ourselves or to someone else or to something else.
     1. Moses tells Israel; you are about ready to go into that land and you know that the nations there are wicked nations. God is going to use you to remove them.
     2. If you follow the course that they have followed, God will do the same thing to you. He will bring in foreign nations to be your downfall.
  4. Guess what? It happened. That’s what Old Testament history was about and it’s what world history is about. God sent prophets to remind Israel to turn back to Him until finally God said that’s enough.   If Israel misplaced their faith, the Lord laid out clearly what He would do, they would perish just like the nations before them.
  5. Centuries later the great man Daniel, confessed to God in prayer, Daniel 9:13 – “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.”
     1. God had been truthful.
     2. It happened just as God said it would.
     3. God kept His promises both for the blessings as well as the curses.
     4. Here is Daniel praying to God and you can almost hear him weeping as you read his words.
     5. He understands that God has been true to His word and they have not.

 

 

 

CONCLUSION:

 

What shall we do as an American Christian?

We read - Remember God’s Commandments – Deuteronomy 8:1

Millions of people have come to America.  God has blessed countless numbers of people, because they tried to obey Him.  Therefore, He gave us a good land.

 

We read - Remember God’s Leadership – Deuteronomy 8:2–4

America has also suffered much in her history, and she will in the future because that is part of a nation’s life. God allows those things to happen so we may see what we would do.  Have learned that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that God says?

 

We read - Remember God’s Chastening – Deuteronomy 8:5

God loves the United States of America even as He loves all the nations and peoples of the earth.   Therefore, He let us experience severity that we might learn to lean upon Him.

 

We read - Remember God’s Blessings – Deuteronomy 8:6–10

I cannot read these verses without thinking of us. We have a land with an abundance of natural resources, so much so that we do not have to be in want again. How many of us have ever really been in want? Why is that?   It’s because those who have gone on before us have honored God. They have loved God. God has blessed us for that.   Then as verse 10 said let us bless the Lord for what He had given us. We need to continue to bless Him and be thankful.

 

We read - Remember God – Deuteronomy 8:11–17

We cannot forget God, for even as He has given us blessings, so also He can take them away. Yet it seems the further we have gone in our history, the more we have prospered; the more we have kicked God out of national and individual life. We don’t need you. He were good in the beginning. We needed that.   He was okay while we struggled, but now that we have all we need, we see no need for Him.

 

Many now seem to think we have a big government that will take care of us and insurance companies and everything else so we don’t need you God. At some point He is going to respond to that.   We believe that we can do without Him, that our national prosperity had nothing to do with Him, we did it ourselves.

 

We read - Remember God’s Power – Deuteronomy 8:18

Remember that the Lord God is the One who gives power to get wealth.

It does not come from our government.

It does not come from our businesses.

It does not come from our universities.

It does not come from our natural resources.

It does not come from the fact that we are Americans.

As our national motto says, “In God We Trust.”

 

We read - Remember God’s Warnings – Deuteronomy 8:19, 20

As I said, these verses provided an insight into human behavior.  If we forget God, we will turn to other things.  The faith that the average American used to put in God, now goes into government, insurance, business, the economy, etc.  

Verses 19 and 20 showed to us that if Israel forgot God, He would cause them to perish from the land.

 

If God did that to Israel, if God did that to the Canaanites, if God did that to the Egyptians, if God did that to the Babylonians, if God did that to the Persians, if God did that to the Greeks, if God did that to the Romans, and countless nations after them--do you think He will ignore us?

 

If He ignores us He would have to apologize to them.   I don’t think He’s going to apologize.   He’s still the same God.

 

We should also understand where we as individuals stand in our own part, if the nation serves God, but I fail to serve Him, I shall perish.   If the nation fails to serve God, but I serve Him, I shall live forever.   Remember God now, and He will remember you later.  Forget God now, and He will forget you later. “Depart from me I do now know you”

 

At the Judgment He shall cast away from Him, those who forgot Him, but He shall invite to be with Him, those who remembered Him. Remembering God brings blessings now and later.

 

Even as parents want their children to remember them, so the Lord wants us to remember Him. For this reason, He set up the Lord’s Supper during which we remember the sacrifice of His body and His blood.  He doesn’t want us to forget that, so that’s why we observe it every single week. Failing to take part in this memorial will result in the Lord forgetting us.

 

Why do we take the Lord’s Supper every week? The Bible tells us to remember God,

Ecclesiastes 12:1 – “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in them'':”

Psalm 20:7-8 – “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen; But we have risen and stand upright.”

Isaiah 44:21 – “"Remember these, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!”

 

God is saying if anyone is going to forget it’s not going to be Him.

 

Paul says in Second Timothy 2:8 – “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel,”

 

What do you think about all that the Lord has done for you?  What has He done for you as a Christian?   He’s forgiven you of your sins.   What does that mean? It means Hell is no longer your eternal destiny.

 

What has He done for you as an American?   To me being a Christian means you are the most blessed person on earth.   To be an American Christian is a double blessing.

 

Of all the people on this earth right now, the people who should remember God more than anyone are Christians and American Christians in particular.

Whatever your struggles in life have been, you have somehow made it to this day.

How have you made it through the incredible struggles you’ve had?   Someone has been working behind the scenes.   Someone has been working in your life to bring you where you are today that you might remember Him today.   God has poured out His blessings on each of us and if you are not living a Christian life then who is the one holding back.

 

Remember God. Remember Him now.   He remembers you in all things. Remember how He sent His Son that we might be redeemed?

 

How about if you start remembering Him now?  You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

 

He has poured out many blessings upon you, but if you are not living a faithful Christian life, He has withheld several.   Did you get around to remembering Jesus a few days ago?   Good, but make a resolution that starting now, starting the New Year, you will remember Him everyday for the rest of your life.

 

Let us help you make that resolution!

 

The sermon is yours.   The invitation is available, if you are subject to the gospel call in any way, come forward and make it known while we stand and sing the invitation song.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 23

Psalm 23   

INTRO:

Good morning.   This morning we will continue our look at the Psalms. Our text is Psalm 23. I don’t think I could do sermons from the Psalms without including the most well-known Psalm in the world and that is Psalm 23.   It is a very short psalm, we will be breaking it down and as we study it I believe we will see how the Psalm explains Christianity to us extremely well.

 

Let’s read the psalm, Psalm 23 – “1. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”

 

1. Verse 1 is describing a relationship.   It is a relationship that we have between our self and our Lord Jesus Christ.
   6. Peter tells us in First Peter 2:25 – “For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” And if that sounds familiar that is because the first part of this verse in First Peter is taken from Isaiah 53:6. In Isaiah it talks about how “we all like sheep have gone astray” “we've each turned our own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” In this text Peter is helping us understand that unfortunately we've all sinned. We've all left God.   We've all gone our own way and done what we want to do contrary to the will of God.
   7. Those who are Christians have returned to the shepherd. Those who are Christians are returning to a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and we are submitting like sheep, recognizing that Jesus is the shepherd and we are the sheep of His flock.
   8. I’m turning now to John 10 and there will be a couple verses that I want us to consider in this chapter.   The first is John 10:11 where Jesus says; “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” Then in John 10:14 He says; “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
      1. The shepherd was the individual who watched out for the flock.
      2. He would see to it that the flock was well fed and watered.
      3. He would see to it that the flock was protected.
      4. He would see to it that they were led to good pastures, and that they were cared for.   The shepherd over a period of time got to know the sheep individually.
      5. The sheep recognized who the shepherd was and what the Shepherd did for them. There was a connection that existed between the two, where the shepherd knew every one of his sheep and the sheep recognized the shepherd as being the one that cared for them and provided for them.
      6. That describes a relationship doesn’t it?
   9. At the beginning of Psalm 23 the important questions that occur to me are these:
      1. Is the Lord Jesus Christ my shepherd? Do I recognize Him as being the good shepherd, who loved the sheep so much that He laid down His life for the sheep?
      2. I would suggest to you that if the Lord is not your shepherd the rest that follows after this in the psalm is not going to apply to you.  
         1. For everything else to apply to us in Psalm 23, the first condition which needs to be met, is that we actually have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  
         2. A relationship where we recognize Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the one that we are to be following by faith all the days of our life, totally trusting Him, totally trusting His guidance.
      3. The last part of this verse talks about how He knows those that are His.   I take great comfort in that. If you are a child of God, if you are a sheep in the flock of God, God knows about you. He knows you by name. He knows everything about you even the hairs on your head. He knows everything about you and He loves you.
      4. What I see in the verses which follow is scripture describing how we have this relationship with God through Jesus Christ, how that the Good Shepherd is our shepherd, and we will find benefits and blessings that come from this relationship.

• Going back to Psalm 23:1 the last part of the verse says; “I shall not want”. This is the leading thought, the essential idea; and it is carried throughout the psalm. In the next verse Psalm 23:2 the writer says; “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”
  1. His sheep are not going to need to wander around looking for food because they will be led to green pastures where they are blessed with good grass close at hand. Sheep will never lie down when they are hungry. Here they are well fed.
     1. Green pastures to me bring the picture of lush, tender grass.   It is in the green stage, not dried out.   Tender, healthy grass good for grazing. Here are the green pastures where the sheep have eaten their fill and then when no longer hungry they lie down.
     2. It says the water is still water.   The literal Hebrew here reads "waters of rest." This entire verse speaks of the tranquility that belongs to one in fellowship with God. As far as the metaphor goes, "the still waters" would refer to any undisturbed watering place for the sheep; but the human application to a life of tranquility appears to be very much in mind.
     3. Everything you're going to need is going to be provided for you by the shepherd.   There is an extremely important lesson that we need to learn in our life and our relationship with God through Jesus Christ… That is God will provide.
  2. That is the primary lesson of the Bible going all the way back to Genesis 22 when Isaac and Abraham were going up on Mount Moriah.   You remember the question Isaac asked Abraham?   Father here's the fire and here's the wood where's the sacrifice?  That's when Isaac was told by Abraham - the Lord will provide.
     1. When they get up on Mount Moriah, Abraham builds the altar and then he takes Isaac and is about to sacrifice him but the Angel of the Lord stopped him. Abraham looked and behind him there is a ram with its horns caught in a thicket.
     2. Where did the Ram come from?   Who provided the ram? God did. What is the name that place?  The Lord will provide.
     3. This is one of the overriding messages of the Bible.   If we will just trust God, if we will just trust the good shepherd Jesus Christ, and follow him, He will provide everything we need—everything. We will have no wants physically or spiritually.
  3. Let me draw your attention back to Isaiah and in Isaiah 40:11 – “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.” This is a prophecy of the Messiah.
     1. He knows His sheep and He recognizes exactly where we are in our journey. The shepherd is going to feed the flock. What if you can't even walk? He’ll take you up in his arms.  He’ll carry you.
     2. What if it’s difficult for you to go forward? He realizes exactly where you are. He understands your emotional and physical conditions and He will see to it that you're taken care of even if you can't go further, even if you've got nothing left to give, even when you have given all.   He’ll carry you.
  4. It is put this way in the Sermon on the Mount.   If you turn to Matthew 6:31-33 – “31. "Therefore do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' 32. "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33. "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
     1. As I study sometimes questions come up that I have not expected.   In preparing these studies of the Psalms, Isaiah and the New Testament references, some very important question occurred to me. As I thought about them, and asked them of myself, I realized these were good self examination questions for any Christian.    
     2. Do I believe the Lord will provide?
     3. Do I believe that when I seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness that all of my physical needs will be taken care of?
     4. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.
     5. Do I believe that?
     6. If we answer no to questions like that then we need to consider where we are lacking.
  5. In our relationship with God and our relationship with Jesus Christ, what God wants from us is absolute trust, total trust, with no doubting what so ever.   That doubt is like a leak in a boat and it is the doubt that causes us to sink.
     1. It is the doubt that causes us to fear.
     2. It is the doubt that makes us start wondering am I going to be able to make ends meet.
     3. Am I going to be able to survive?  Can I pay all the bills? Can I pay my taxes? Can I cover all these things that have to be taken care of?
     4. The answer is for us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.   Just trust the reality that the Lord is our shepherd.   The Lord will provide.
  6. Not only will He provide physically but look at this next verse from John.   John 10:9 – “9. "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” We're talking about spiritual needs. If we desire spiritual salvation there’s only one way to get to it, we've got to go through the one and the only door; and that is Jesus the Christ.
     1. He says we “… will go in and out and find pasture.” There are our physical needs.  
     2. Then in verse 10; "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, (notice the last part of this) and that they may have it more abundantly.”
     3. What kind of life is He talking about in this verse?   He has come that we may have life, that we may have it more abundantly. He's talking about eternal life.
     4. This text is talking about our spiritual needs.  If we go through the door we will be saved.   If we go through Christ we will be saved.
  7. Again we have come back to the concept the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.
     1. It’s the idea that in our relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, the Lord will provide everything we need physically and everything we need spiritually for all eternity.
     2. The way it’s put over in John 15:5 – “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
     3. I cannot live physically without what God has provided and provides.
     4. I cannot have the resurrection without God.  I cannot have eternal life without God. We are totally dependent on God, it is reality.  Just recognize that reality and accept it.   In our relationship with God through Jesus Christ we trust Him enough to follow, to seek first the Kingdom of God, His righteousness and the Lord will provide for us in this life and then when we die the Lord will provide for us in eternity.
     5. All the way, for eternity, always the good shepherd will provide for His sheep.
  8. Let's go to the next verse.  Psalm 23:3 – “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.” This is the thought of the shepherd metaphor in Jesus' parable of the lost sheep. The human application is that of restoring Christians who have fallen away from duty.  Some writers would soften what is said here by rendering "refresh" instead of "restore".   The rendering “refresh” is unfortunate and wrong. Scholars have pointed out; "The verb used here refers to `repentance or `conversion.'" In this context, the "restoring" or "bringing back" of the sheep, pictures the deeper renewal of the man of God. (James Burton Coffman on Derek Kidner p110)
     1. “He leads me in the paths of righteousness”. If we follow the Good Shepherd, where is He going to lead us? He is going to lead us in a path, and if we follow it, we are going to be living a life of righteousness.
        1. Going back to the verse we saw earlier from Matthew 6:33 - Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness...
        2. We are following the paths of righteousness when we're following the Good Shepherd, and that's exactly where Jesus is going to be leading us.
     2. In John 10:4-5 – “4. "And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5. "Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.''” .
        1. What Christianity basically is, would be this; Christians follow Christ by faith.
        2. We trust that Jesus is telling us the truth, the truth about God, the truth about sin, the truth about salvation, the truth about death, resurrection, and eternal life.   We believe He's telling us the truth.
        3. He guides us and says go this way, live this way, we trust Him enough to just follow.
     3. More questions to consider are; in my life who am I following? - Am I following myself and as some say; going my own way? Am I following my culture? Am I following my family? Or am I following Christ?
     4. In Christianity we follow Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.
        1. We follow Him by faith all the days of our life.
        2. We do not follow a stranger.
        3. If a stranger calls us and tries to get us to follow him, we say, No I'm not going that way.
        4. I'm not going to follow other people out there in the world, there's only one individual and I'm going to follow Him by faith and that is Jesus Christ.
        5. Again, we defined Christianity as those that follow Christ by faith and if we are following Christ He is going to lead us in the paths of righteousness.
     5. Psalm 23:3 again, “… For His name's sake” He restores my soul, He leads me in the paths of righteousness, For His name's sake.
        1. This passage is where many commentators have missed it altogether. Why does God do this, not for His reputation and not merely because it is His nature.  
        2. Think about it, why does the shepherd care for the sheep? Because they are His. It is because the ones cared for are called by God's name. The prophet Isaiah gave the correct answer in Isaiah 43:1-7 - "I have redeemed thee ... thou art mine ... I have called thee by my name ... I have created thee for my glory".
        3. Those persons who are the object of the kind of protection and guidance assured in this psalm, in the present dispensation, are Christians. Today those who are "called by God's name" (Isaiah 43:7) are the ones baptized into Christ.   Nothing in the Bible emphasizes the exclusiveness of these marvelous promises quite as effectively as Isaiah 43:1-7.
     6. Another place I would like us to look is in Second Timothy 3:16-17 where the text is explaining the purpose and the function of scripture in our lives. “16. 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.”
        1. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.   If we're going to be seeking the righteousness of God, we will find it in the Word of God.   If we just follow the Word of God then we are following the Good Shepherd.
        2. Whenever we follow the Word of God it is going to be leading us into a life of righteousness.   Just trust our shepherd and follow Him by faith.
     7. In First John 2:29 we read; “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” If we practice righteousness we're following the Good Shepherd who is righteous.   Living our life, practicing righteousness proves in reality that we have a relationship with Him, that we're born of God.  You are a child of God.
        1. How can you know that somebody is truly a Christian?   We look at who they are following.
        2. How do we tell who they are following?   By their life.   By their fruits.
     8. Getting back to what the Good Shepherd does for his sheep.   The Good Shepherd protects sheep. Psalm 23:4-5 – “4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.”
        1. In the shepherd metaphor we can imagine a time when the shepherd might need to lead his sheep through some dangerous, forested valley, where lions and other enemies of the sheep were lurking; but the safety of the sheep is assured by the presence of the shepherd.
        2. In reading the text, try to imagine that you are in the valley of the shadow of death. Imagine that you're right down in the very center of it and death is all around.   You're not on the outskirts looking in. You're down in the middle of it.
           1. Then realize you are with the Shepherd and you do not need to be afraid because He is with you.
           2. That is so vitally important for us to understand as sheep in the flock of God. God is with you, He will never leave you nor forsake you.
        3. Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'” I will strengthen you.   I will help you.   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Do we believe that?
           1. The beginning of the verse yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.  We're not going to be afraid, not because of how strong we are, but because of how strong the one who is with us is, the shepherd is.
           2. The shepherd will protect you. Let’s go and look at some versus on this.
        4. John 10:27-28 – “27. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28. "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” What wonderful comfort! No one, including Satan himself can snatch us out of the hand of the Good Shepherd.
           1. That is because we are being protected by the Good Shepherd.
           2. He knows what wolves are out there after you.  He will protect you.  He knows you're struggling.
           3. He will protect you and He will see to it that you get to the destination and the destination in the text here…eternal life.
           4. The soul that trusts in the Lord will most surely pass through many a dark valleys, even that of death itself at last; but no fear will be felt because the Lord will be with His own, "Even unto the end of the world" Matthew 18:20.
           5. We're going to go through life being attacked by the enemy right and left.  We just keep following the Good Shepherd.
        5. Let’s consider for a few moments the text of Psalm 56:4 – “In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” Look at the question and think, what can flesh do to me? The answer is quite a lot isn’t it?
           1. They can take all of your possessions.   They can put you in prison. They can torture you. They can kill you.
              1. Kind of sounds scary. It does, but they cannot take your soul.
              2. They may be able to take all of your physical possessions and even your physical life but they cannot take that primary gift of God that God gives you through Jesus Christ and that is eternal life. They cannot take your salvation.
              3. Just trust the good shepherd that He will provide.   Follow him and He will lead you in the paths of righteousness.
              4. Trust the good shepherd that He will protect you.   Even Satan cannot snatch you out of the hands of Christ.
           2. We do need to look at another point though. It doesn't mean you can't leave.
              1. If you continue to trust in the Lord, Satan cannot snatch you out of His hands but if you draw back in unbelief and you leave God, you have chosen to let go of your relationship with God.
              2. You have chosen to leave and as freewill beings we can choose to leave God and depart.   But as long as you are staying and trusting in God and following Christ, even Satan himself cannot snatch you out of the hands of the Good Shepherd because you’re protected.
           3. The text of verse 4 continues, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Shepherds of the time carried both. I like Matthew Henry's comment that these are, "The rod of correction and the staff of support."

• Going on to Psalm 23:6 – “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
  1. Isn’t that wonderful?   If we're following the Good Shepherd in our life there's going to be goodness.   In our life mercy will follow us wherever we go. We will be blessed wherever we go.
     1. He will prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies.   That's the idea of people trying to harm us but they can't do any harm because the Lord is with us.
     2. The Lord’s sitting at the table and giving you everything you need.   Our cup is over flowing we've got so many blessings.
     3. He is our shepherd and we are following Him by faith.   Goodness, mercy, and blessings are showered upon us daily in our life and then in the end… I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
  2. Let's look at this in the scriptures going back to Psalm 122:1 – “I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord.''”  The psalmist is describing his attitude about going into the house of Lord. You want to go down to the Lord? Yeah! Let’s do it, let's go worship God.
     1. I wonder about the attitude people have today about this?   Sometimes even those that are in the congregation.   Exactly what is our attitude about worshipping God now, on this side?
     2. For some it is wearisome, like we read about in Malachi 1:13 where their attitude was; “…`Oh, what a weariness!'…”
     3. For some their attitude is “okay I'll go because if I don’t someone will bug me about it”.
     4. If anyone has that attitude about coming and worshiping God I would ask them, plead with them and pray for them to change that attitude.
     5. Folks, this earth is going to be a dark memory in the mist. We must keep our eye on the shepherd and follow that Good Shepherd, then when we cross the Jordon we will come out on the other side snow-white and will be in the presence of God and Jesus Christ, worshipping them for eternity.

 

CONCLUSION:

Now I wonder, are we glad when it's the Lord's Day and we come to the house of the Lord?   Folks look with me at Psalm 92:13-14 – “13. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord” Let’s stop right there. What's the idea of being planted in the House of the Lord? You're here and you’re always here. Our roots are here.   There are some here today that are always here.   They come here because if the doors are open they are going to be here.

 

This is what he had to say about those who are planted in the House of the Lord. They “… Shall flourish in the courts of our God. (Look at this.) 14. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,”

Guess what?  Those of you that are planted, even your old age you can still bear fruit!   You can still flourish because you're planted in the House of the Lord, because your roots run deep in your relationship with God.

 

We read not long ago in class First Timothy 3:15 – “but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” In Psalms we were talking with the Tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testament.    What's the house of God today? The Church of the Living God, the congregation is the house of God.   It is the temple of God today. What is our attitude when it is the Lord's Day and we gather together to take the Lord's Supper at the Lord's Table?  Is it a wearisome burden to you or are you glad to go to the house of the Lord?

 

When the doors are open for us to worship God, and you are here because your roots run deep then your relationship with God will be strong and you will be able to bear fruit even in your old age and flourish all the way down to the close of your race.

I’m going to close with Revelation 7:14-17 – “14. And I said to him, "Sir, you know.'' So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15. "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16. "They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17. "for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.''”

If we follow the good shepherd, in the end we will be in heaven with God Almighty - forever. That is what the twenty third Psalm is trying to teach us about Christianity today.

I come back to my opening question.  Is Jesus, the good shepherd, your shepherd?  Do you recognize Him as the Good Shepherd and are you following him by faith?

If you're not, you're missing out; you're missing out on everything.   If you miss heaven you've missed it all. Don't miss it. Come to God through Jesus Christ.

If you honestly believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God, if you understand He died on the cross at Calvary for your sins, was buried and rose again the third day, if you believe this then be willing to openly confess that faith.

Then motivated by that faith to make the great commitment to repent and be baptized in His name for the remission of sin, and then continue to follow the Good Shepherd by faith.   That is what repentance is all about, it is following the Word of God and He will lead you in the paths of righteousness.

 

If you're in Christ already and you've stopped trusting and you've stopped following the Good Shepherd, you need to come back home, put your trust in God, put your trust in your Shepherd, get up and start following by faith, putting off whatever sin is standing between you and your God.

If there's sin between you and God deal with it. He’s merciful. He's gracious, He knows you and He will forgive you. Just take it to God for forgiveness, then get up and get back into following Christ.

 

If you're subject to the Gospel call in any way let us know while we stand and sing the song selected.

 

#73—The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want