A Step in the Dark

Sermon notes from Sunday 17 August 2014

“What God hath cleansed, that call not common” Acts 10 verse 15

“Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation’ but God hath shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” Acts 10 verse 28

 A STEP IN THE DARK

Peter was on his knees before God when the heavens opened and God gave him a vision of the sheet with all the unclean animals on it.  Peter had to learn to surrender to God’s will.  What did it mean for Peter - to bring the gospel to the Gentile nation.  Peter had to sacrifice to God’s work.  Peter was about to take a step in the dark.  A nation would be saved through the obedience of one man.  Never under estimate what God can do.  Once we come to the place Peter came to only then can God move in such a place.  As you open yourself up to God he might save a complete household through your ministry.  Look at the sacrifices Peter had to make.

He had to sacrifice previous trophies.  All we have to do is look at the great biographies of men and woman in past days.  There were things these people had to give up to take the gospel out to far flung parts of the earth.  Think of Hudson Taylor and David Livingstone for example.  C T Studd was a young man of 18 when he was saved but he got stuck.  He went on with his normal days business but never felt the need to get down before God and ask him what he wanted him to do.  The Lord came again to him again 6 years later.  On the day he got married his bride asked him “how much exactly is in our bank account?”  He told her the exact amount.  He had inherited a fortune from his father.  His wife asked him “what are we going to do about it?”  C T Studd gave all his money away and went out to the mission field.  Acts 9 verses 32 – 35.  Here was a man who could not stand or walk.  Peter was called to this house and a miracle took place that day because Aeneas was able to walk again.  In verses 36 and 37 Peter is again called to another house.  Dorcas did a lot of charitable work for the poor and widows.  The people realised he was in the town and called on him to come to the house.  In verse 40 Peter put them all out of the house.  He then knelt down and prayed.  God answered that prayer.  Answered prayer might not always be in the way we might think or hope but in this place God answered Peter’s prayer for healing.  Dorcas is raised to her feet because of Peter’s prayer.  In verse 42 we read “and many believed in the Lord.”  How was Peter feeling after these 2 incidents?  He saw men and women coming to the knowledge of Christ through what he has done.  He doesn’t stop there though.  He is in the midst of blessing but God is going to call him away from all that.  God now seems to be giving him an impossible task.  He is calling him to something that is unheard of.  He must not dwell on these previous trophies.  If we want to serve the Lord we cannot dwell on previous trophies.  In Acts chapter 16 Paul was praying for a way to go into Asia but he was forbidden (verse 6).  Then in verse 7 we see Paul wanted to go to Bithynia “but the Spirit suffered them not”.

Peter had to sacrifice his precious time.  How often we look at the clock and say “I should be somewhere else.”  It only took 2 days to go to Cornelius’ house and I’m sure Peter felt he could do so much more in those 2 days but he would have to sacrifice his time.  Can we call that a sacrifice?  From the one who died for you?  Jesus left heaven and the praise of angels and came down into the world.  During his time on earth everyone tried to find fault with everything he did.  He would eat with sinners and publicans but there were those ready to condemn him for doing so.  Then we see him on that cross, he suffered, bled and died in agony because he was dieing for you and I.  God comes to us and asks us to given an hour to pray.  C T Studd said “if Jesus Christ be God and died for me then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”  Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan.  A man was robbed, beaten, stripped and left to die in the road.  A priest came down the road but instead of stopping he passed on by.  Then the Lord put the spotlight on a Levite.  Surely he would stop but no he didn’t.  He passed on by.  A Samaritan did however stop.  He poured oil in to the man’s wounds then raised him to his donkey and took him to a nearby inn.  He tells the innkeeper to care for the man and pays for his care.  That is what people need from us today – time to care, to sacrifice our time.  Anything we have today is not ours.  It is God’s and some day we must leave it all behind.  We are only using what is God’s today.

Peter would have to sacrifice his personal ambitions.  God was showing Peter the Gentile nation all around him.  They needed to hear the gospel.  They were termed as unclean by the Jewish nation.  God was giving Peter the keys to go into those homes and tell them about Jesus.  He had to sacrifice his traditions.  Some times we have to set aside the things we love because God is asking us to do something else.  John Wesley began to preach salvation through faith in Christ in churches but he was told to leave the churches.  He had to then take the gospel to open airs and he began to preach to people as they passed by.  He admitted one day that he had thought it would be a sin to see a soul saved outside a church building.  Maybe there are things you have to sacrifice – your time, your traditions – but God will use us mightily to save precious souls.

The will of God

Sermon notes from Sunday 10 August 2014

“And now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter”

Acts 10 verse 5

This converted fisherman is on his knees in the presence of God.  He is seeking the way of God day and daily.  We need to be seeking the presence of God in our lives.  Peter’s face was towards heaven and his heart is open to God.  We see now that he is surrendered to the will of God.  I trust we will be those seeking the way of God.  He may choose to show us a different way but we need to be surrendered to the will of God.  This is the most important aspect of Christian living – to know, to find and to do the will of God.  Not just to be saved.  Remember what Jesus said “not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”(Matthew 7 verse 21)  F B Meyer was on board a boat one day which was heading into the port of Holyhead.  It was a dark night and there were no stars in the sky.  He came up and stood beside the captain of the ship.  F B Meyer asked him “how can you be so sure you can get into the port with no light to guide you?”  The captain said “can you see 3 green lights in the distance.”  “Yes I can” Meyer said.  The captain said “once the pilot sees those 3 green lights lined up and watches them continually he knows he is on the right course.  He can sail in the harbour very easily.”  F B Meyer went back to his room and thought on those 3 lights that lit up to direct the boat into the harbour.  He thought of his own Christian experience and how he might put that in writing.  The 3 lights – one is knowing the will of God and two is doing the will of God safe in the knowledge of him.  First there has to be conviction in the heart, something God is laying on my heart to know what to do.  Next is the light of circumstances, that I am able to do the will of God.  Then comes the clarity of God’s word to my heart.  He says it with his word.  That is how we find the will of God.  May we seek God’s will for our lives.  See how Peter surrenders to the will of God.

First of all he is gaging the will of God.  In verses 11 to 16 Peter has a vision of what the Lord wanted him to do.  It was the picture of a sheet sent down from heaven and on the sheet were animals.  Peter was told to rise up and eat.  It was something he had never done before.  Leviticus tells us the laws of unclean animals the Jewish people were not allowed to eat.  God told him “don’t call them unclean, I have made them after all.”  He was giving Peter the key to go in to the Gentile nation and present the gospel to them.  Now Peter is sitting thinking of what this all meant.  We need to be clear as we seek God.  It is not God’s will that none of us perish.  It is his will that we shall all be saved.  God sent His son into the world to die on Calvary’s cross for the whole world’s sin.  He is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance and faith in Christ.  Peter needed to discern what God was teaching and the way he was leading.  We need to be careful and know where God’s will is leading us at this point in time.  We could go back hundreds of years to another man sitting in Joppa – Jonah.  God told him to go down to Nineveh and preach the gospel.  “Not so Lord.”  He gets up and runs away from the Lord.  Peter is told to go to the Gentile nation and take the gospel.  Jonah ran away, Peter surrendered.  Which will we do?  Peter no doubt had his own plans in mind. He got on his knees before God and God stood all his plans up on their end.  It is very possible to pray “Lord guide me” but to have our own agenda and goal, to never invest in the way God really wants us to go.  Paul writing to Romans said his heart was longing to go there, he was ready to go but he was hindered time and time again.  At the end of his letter he wrote “I am going into Jerusalem then on to Spain then I am coming around by you if it be the will of God.”  Paul got to Rome alright but as a prisoner not a free man.  We think of a home in Bethlehem Judah, the translation of that name means ‘house of bread’.  We see a man sitting with his head in his hands, he doesn’t know what is happening.  There was a famine in the land and he had decisions to make.  He had a wife and 2 sons.  He lived in the days of Judges, the atmosphere was heavy.  “Men did that which was right in their own eyes.”(Judges 21 verse 25)  They had no king.  Something happens down in Moab.  He realises there was food down in Moab.  We don’t read of him getting before the God of heaven and ask him what to do.  Disaster later struck the family – he and his 2 sons died in Moab.  His wife had to come back to the beginning again.  Are we prepared to go through with God?  To surrender to him totally?

Peter didn’t guess the will of God.  Verse 17 – I don’t believe he doubted but rather questioned the meaning of it and the way in which God was leading.  God doesn’t reveal all at once what the plan is.  It is revealed by degrees.  The Psalmist said “thy word is a lamp unto my feet.”  The picture is of a light just lighting one step at a time.  He doesn’t open up the whole picture.  God doesn’t show the full picture.  John said “if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”(1 John 1 verse 7)  Elimelech couldn’t wait for God to answer, he just picked up and went.  In Judges 6 we read the story of Gideon.  The enemies were coming down against the Israelite forces.  Gideon asked the question “wherewith shall I save Israel?”  The angel had come to him, told him “you are a mighty man, God will use you to deliver Israel, just through you.”  This was definite, no guessing.  If we are prepared to wait before God he will show us the way to go.  Gideon told the angel “my family is poor in Manasseh. I am the least in my father’s house. You are coming to me and asking me to do this, surely others could do it better than me.”  Verse 16 God gave him a great promise “surely I will be with thee.”  What did Gideon do?  He showed God a fleece and said – “If you are with me here’s a fleece.  Tomorrow morning if it is you speaking to me it must be wet and everywhere else around it dry.”  That wasn’t enough though – he tried it the other way around.  Both times he proved God.  Maybe God is saying to you “enough fleeces let’s get on with the work.”  There is no guessing with God’s will.  He wants you to simply surrender, take him at his word.  Peter on the little boat fished all night and never got any.  Jesus came and told him “launch out into the deep and let down your net.”  Peter replied “all night we have fished and caught nothing nevertheless at thy word I will do it.”  No guessing, simple surrender.  God wants us to do something similar – surrender to his will.  What is his will for your life?  What is his will for this church?

The guiding of God’s will.  For Peter it was a change of direction.  Peter would be the evangelist to bring the gospel to nations outside of the Jewish people.  Maybe there is someone God will lay on your heart to be used to take the gospel to.  A re-direction of your life.  Peter has to go down to the house of Cornelius.  He gaged the will of God for his life, he didn’t guess the will of God, he was gently directed down into this house following God’s guiding for his life.  Abraham’s servant went down to look for a wife for Abraham’s son.  When he met her he said “I being in the way God led me.”(Genesis 24 verse 27)  We need to get started in God’s will.  As we do so he will guide.  Don’t set aside his word saying you need to be saved instead surrender to it, come to the Lord and trust him as Saviour and Lord.  We need to seek God’s way and surrender to his will.

The guarantee of God’s will.  In verse 19 Peter was told there were 3 men coming to see him.  When he made his way down from the rooftop he found 3 men waiting on him.  F B Meyer talked about conviction then circumstances coming together and that was true for Peter – he had the company to go down to Cornelius’ house.  He also had the clarity of God’s word.  If we are going by that we will not go far wrong.

A late call

Sermon notes from Sunday 3 August 2014

Matthew 20 verses 1 – 16

A Late Call

This man owned a vineyard and he called for labourers to go and bring in the harvest.  Notice in verse 6 it was “about the eleventh hour”.  It was a late call for these labourers.  Notice what Jesus does in this portion of scripture.  He points to a man and is going to teach the people an eternal truth through a simple illustration.  A man at one time owned a vineyard.  He worked hard in it.  He sowed good seed and reaped a good harvest.  The trees were laden down with fruit and he wanted men to come in to gather in that harvest.  He had a great concern for the vineyard.  Think about the concern God has on his heart for you tonight in that you are not saved.  Imagine what God has done.  He took his only son, sent him down to this sin cursed world, he knew no sin and was made a sacrifice for our sin on the cross.  He gave his life that you and I might be saved.  He doesn’t want you to be lost for all eternity.  He is doing everything in his power to see you saved.  Those who were hired entered into the vineyard.  They were going in to serve.  If God saves us he saves us to serve.  Jesus is still gathering in.  This man who owned this vineyard went out at certain times of the day – early in the morning, at the third hour, at the sixth hour and at the ninth hour.  Now he is coming at the eleventh hour.  Think of those called at that time of the day.

It was a gracious call.  Jesus paints the picture of the call going out – verse 3.  He went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place.”  He is calling them to work for him.  He points to the vineyard and tells them to go in and work for him and when they had served their time he would pay them their just reward.  The Holy Spirit is going out tonight.  If you are not saved the Holy Spirit is seeking your heart.  He is not pointing to a church or to a denomination but shows you your greatest need – that you are not saved, that you have never been born again of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit points to Christ the door to heaven.  “I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.”  The man didn’t have to hire all these labourers but did it out of the goodness of his heart.  God didn’t have to save us.  It is the “goodness of God that leadeth all men to repentance” (Romans 2 verse 4) Paul said.  When we entered into the world we took Adam’s sinful nature on ourselves.  God sent his son in grace to save us though.  We have nothing to earn or to give in place of God’s salvation, only receive it as his own personal gift.  Have you come the way of the cross, taken the Lord as Saviour for yourself?  Are you looking for heaven’s glory at the end of your life simply through what God has done for you?  The call was gracious in that the day was far spent.  It was the eleventh hour.  This man was still out pleading with workers to go into the vineyard.  There were still people standing outside the vineyard.  The eleventh hour of God’s grace is upon us.  We are nearer God’s return than ever.  God’s word says “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21 verse 28)  There are those in congregations called early in life, perhaps through a faithful Sunday School teacher.  Just like Timothy who had a grandmother who loved the Lord.  His mother also loved the Lord too.  He was being taught the word of God daily but there came a day when he turned to the Lord himself.  His mother and grandmother alone were no good to him in that sense.  He had to come personally to the Lord and take him for himself.  There are children coming to the Lord today through parents and Sunday School teachers.  There are those who have come through their youth, through camps and teenage ministries while others have come to faith later when they were first married and perhaps had their own children.  Enoch in the Old Testament in Genesis 5 verse 22 “walked with God”.  There was a time when he wasn’t walking with God.  It was after he begat Methuselah, after that child came into his home when he looked on Methuselah as God’s grace to him.  He realised his responsibility.  There are many in the latter years, almost at their eleventh hour and are yet not saved.  For many in our province the days in their lives are far spent.  Heaven beckons and they are not saved.  What about you?  Do you know the Lord as Saviour?  Have you trusted him to take away your sin?  What are you clutching onto tonight?

It was a general call – verse 6 “He found others standing idle and saith unto them why stand ye here all the day idle”.  It doesn’t say that they were being taken note of for some special reason.  They were standing outside the gate of the vineyard.  How general it was, not based upon their ability, who they were but on the goodness of the man who called them.  The gospel message is  a universal general call.  God goes out into all the world tonight.  In John 7 Jesus was going up to the feast.  It was the last night of the feast.  People were taking their leave of Jerusalem and going back home.  It was the final day of celebration.  Jesus came and gave a general invitation – verse 37 “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink.”  The qualification for that invitation – only if they felt thirsty.  There would be those walking past, going about their normal day’s business but there were also those who would come to the Lord.  The call goes out tonight.  There are those who will rise to their feet, ignore the pleadings of the Holy Spirit and turn their backs, walk out the door – why – because “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4 verse 4)  There were those outside the vineyard that day who heard the call and said “this is for me” and went in to work at that eleventh hour.  Maybe you are saying this call is for me, God has spoken to me in nights past but now he is coming again.

It was a generous call.  All who entered in were awarded the same amount no matter what time they came in.  God’s call and rewards do not change.  Verse 7 – generous in the sense that they had stood back and watched others take up the call and go in but they entered in at this late hour.  God is gracious.  God has taken our sins and placed them on the Lord on the cross.  God’s call is general because you and I can be saved.  Saul of Tarsus looked into the face of Timothy.  He was praising God because of the grace of God which had come to him “the chief of sinners”.  It is the last hour and you have still an opportunity to be saved.

It was a greeted call – verse 9.  The reaction was positive.  They accepted that call at the eleventh hour.  Maybe you have rejected God’s call unwittingly.  You have turned your back on the Lord time and again.  You realised you needed to be saved yet you said no.  Naaman in the Old Testament when he heard what God could do for the leprosy in his body threw back his head and couldn’t do it.  Later he repented and did as he was told and his leprosy was gone.

The calling of God on a person's life

Notes from a sermon heard on Sunday 3 August 2014

Acts 10 verses 1 – 23

In Acts chapter 10 we find a man who is longing for God.  As we look at Cornelius we see a man whose soul is longing after something he hasn’t got, something is missing in his heart.  He was a man full of religion, full of good works, looked upon well by the community, revered, thought highly of.  If there was a Christian in Caesarea it was him.  Can you see how closely a person can get to salvation and yet not have it?  There is a big difference in being religious and being saved.  Cornelius was like the young man in the scriptures who came to the feet of Christ one day and asked the question “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He could say “I have kept the commandments from my youth.”  Many today would say “I was brought up in such and such a church, sent to Sunday School, never missed a Sunday at church, brought up under a good minister, never did a thing contrary to the word of God on a Sabbath.”  This young rich man had been brought up under an environment where he respected the word of God, respected the person of Christ yet lacked something and didn’t know what it was.  He was so full of good things yet not saved.  The challenge to me was that God heard this young man’s prayers.  God took an angel from his presence to go to that man’s house and tell him “I have heard your prayers, send for Peter, he will come and show you how to be saved.”  Peter knew nothing about it.  He didn’t know that 40 miles away there was a man sitting on his knees praying and pleading.  Here’s the challenge – could God send for you today to step into a similar situation? 

The place of prayer.  Think of Peter here and the man God uses.  Will you be that Peter in the coming days?  Peter is searching for the way of God here.  He was before God searching for the way God would lead him into.  Verse 9 “On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.”  Where do we find Peter?  He was in the way of prayer, seeking God to find the way to go.  I’m sure the words of the Psalmist rang in his head “Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55 verse 17)  He lifted up his voice to God in prayer.  The sixth house was at midday.  Peter remembered the words of the psalmist.  It is good to set aside time to pray, to seek God.  Look at the place Peter comes to.  Peter went up unto the housetop to pray.  He knew he had to get alone with God.  It was somewhere to get a clear vision of the Lord.  It was a place of separation.  It was a place of seclusion.  It was a place of serenity.  He didn’t want any interruptions.  He was rising above everything and everyone else.  He was getting alone with God.  “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place?  He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” (Psalm 24 verses 3 and 4)  Remember Daniel when the government officials turned their backs on him.  He knew if he was to go to the place of prayer he would be cast into the den of lions so he went into his house, opened up his windows and faced towards Jerusalem and began to pray.  Have we a place where we can go to and pray?  We have to rise above all the problems and difficulties.  “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.”  Remember the man who brought his son to Jesus who was possessed of a demon.  The disciples could do nothing for him.  Jesus told his disciples that “this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17 verse 21)  If it is a prayerless effort it will fail.  We have to be in the place of prayer.

The persistency of prayer.  It is not just something quick, a flash in the pan but he will persist – verse 10 “”And he became very hungry and would have eaten but while they made ready, he fell into a trance.”  There will also be the temptation to take us away from the place of prayer.  There will always be something to come in and separate us from prayer.  Maybe it is the call of work.  Maybe something in life that is unseen until you get up and do it.  We need to persist in prayer to see souls saved.  There were 4 men in Kells who came night after night to meet together and continue in prayer.  They prevailed until revival came.  In Luke 18 Jesus gave the parable of the widow woman who kept coming to the unfair judge. She persisted until he folded and granted her request.  We need to be pleading and praying.

The power that Peter experienced.  Peter wanted to know the way God wanted him to go.  Has the church got into a state where we no longer need the God of heaven to guide us?  The power only came when he persisted – verse 11 “And saw heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth.”  Verse 13 “And there came a voice to him, Rise Peter, kill and eat”.  It all happened when he was persisting in prayer.  Alone with God Peter sought clarity and leading in his prayer.  In chapter 9 we find Peter was called to visit a man called Aeneas who was sick of the palsy.  Peter said unto him “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole arise and make thy bed.”  Peter was stepping from that great miracle.  Peter had taken the man’s hand and he walked.  He had never walked until that day.  Next we find Peter in Joppa.  A woman named Dorcas had died and Peter is called to visit.  Again he takes her by the hand and lifts her up.  She is raised to life again.  Now in this chapter we find Peter searching for God in prayer.  He could easily have looked back and felt such pride in the way God had used him.  Peter has come back into the presence of God to seek God’s will.  Once more we see the power that came down.  We don’t see him living in the past blessings.  He is now living afresh, he has to seek God for the day he is living in.  Moses went down into Egypt time and again to see Pharaoh and asked him to let God’s people leave Egypt but each time Pharaoh told him no.  Each time Moses stepped back out into the presence of God.  Remember when the battle was going on in the valley – Moses was praying on the mountain top.  His hands were raised in prayer to God but they got tired.  Aaron and Hur had to hold up Moses’ hands.  While those hands were raised Joshua prevailed in battle in the valley but when they were lowered the enemy prevailed.  There is nothing as tiring as prayer.  Here was Peter in the place of prayer.  He was surrendered to the will of God.  He had to learn that a sacrifice was called for in the work of God.  Later he had to learn to spread the word of God.

Go and tell Peter

Sermon notes from Sunday 20 April 2014

MARK 16 VERSES 1 – 8

“go your way and tell his disciples and Peter.”

Peter was not to be left out.  The significance of these 2 words come in the light of what he had done in the garden of Gethsemane.  He denied the Lord 3 times and forsook him, ran away, abandoned the Lord.  Now he was forlorn – if only he could relive those moments.  Then this wonderful message came that the stone had been rolled away, that the tomb was empty, when they were asked “you seek for Jesus of Nazareth, he is not here he is risen.”  Then the women were told to go and tell his disciples that he would meet them in Galilee and tell Peter.  He needed to hear those words of comfort and solace.  Maybe there is a Peter here tonight.  Maybe there is someone who needs to hear these words.  What did it mean for Peter?  Turn to Luke chapter 22.

Here was a challenge to his faith – verse 31.  Here they are in the Garden of Gethsemane when the Lord says to him “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat.”  He came to this great juncture in his life.  There was a specific battle going on for his soul.  He was coming to the knowledge of putting faith in Christ.  Now comes a challenge to his faith.  Satan wants to take everything good in your life and sift you as wheat Jesus told him.  One thing the devil wanted to do with Peter was to bring him down, take him away from the Lord, destroy him.  Maybe the devil seeks to bring you down this evening.  There is already something in your life that is challenging your faith.  You are being told to go forward but there is something holding you back.  An obstacle to climb.  The devil will challenge you the whole way.  The Lord Jesus in all his grace and mercy wants to save your soul.  He has brought you here that he might reveal his great love for you, to show you his sacrifice for your sin, that he might save you from a lost and Christless hell for eternity.  The devil wants to destroy your life, to rob you of the greatest gift he could ever give you, the gift of eternal life.  There was something before Peter and he needed to make up his mind.  The devil was there to oppose him.  Remember that first day when Peter came to know the Lord.  Andrew his brother told him he had got saved, he had found the Messiah the one they had been searching for in the scriptures had been found.  We have come to trust him.  John has told us he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.  Peter didn’t leave it there until he came to where Jesus was and found him for himself.  The Lord wants to save your soul.  Peter came and trusted the Lord for himself.  Remember when the Lord came again out fishing, mending and washing nets.  The Lord called to them “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  There was a day he fully surrendered, forsook his boats, gave his all to the Lord.  Do you remember that day when you trusted the Lord as Saviour?  Do you remember the night when you gave your all to the Lord?  Maybe your all is not on the altar for the Lord.  Peter said you can have my boats, my nets, my livelihood.  He said I will follow you Lord.  Sadly now he is here at this junction in his life – a challenge to his faith.  Do you feel there is a tug in your life?  The devil wants to stop you in your tracks.  Have you faced this challenge?

Notice also how the coldness sets in.  A few hours later Judas enters into the Garden with the soldiers.  He took the Lord in an embrace and kissed him.  The soldiers arrested Jesus and dragged him out of the Garden – verse 54 – “and Peter followed afar off.”  He considered the challenge and he has backed off.  Something has happened in the Garden and his faith is faltering.  He is not where he once was.  He realised he had lost out on ground.  Maybe you have lost out in that spiritual life of yours.  There would have been a time when Peter stood shoulder to shoulder with Christ.  We need to be careful because coldness soon settles in.  Peter remembered the former days in the synagogue.  Jesus was preaching when a man stood up and opposed Jesus.  Peter stood with the Lord.  Peter remembered the day when Jesus was invited into his home.  His mother-in-law was so sick.  The Lord reached down and raised that woman up.  Peter knew what it was like to have answers to prayer.  He remembered that day when he went up the mountainside.  The glory of the Lord filled the whole place.  Here he is now walking afar off.  Maybe you remember that day you were saved, remember how the Lord answered prayer for you.  Sadly tonight you are walking afar off, not just as close as once where.  Remember John Mark and the day when Paul came to him and said “come with me to preach the gospel.”  He went with Paul and stood shoulder to shoulder with him and Barnabas.  When they came to Antioch they preached the word of God.  They saw a demon possessed man who tried to stop them.  Somehow John Mark saw something that day he didn’t like as a Christian.  We can come up against battles and when they come we tend to step back.  John Mark left them and went back to Jerusalem.

Notice the carelessness that enters in.  Verse 55 “Peter sat down among them.”  He had heard a challenge and the coldness had settled in.  After that came the carelessness.  He didn’t really care about the things of God.  He was careless about meeting the Lord, in remembering his word and praying.  He began to walk afar off.  Peter is attracted to the fire which led him into the wrong company.  Who attracts us and what places attract us?  It leads us into the wrong company.  Here Peter was sitting down amongst the Lord’s enemy.  What happened there?   3 times he denied the Lord.  He is sitting at the fire amongst the Lord’s enemies taking part in the conversation.  He got himself into the place of temptation.  In the Old Testament scriptures Abraham and Lot came out of Egypt, they had lots of herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and were very wealthy.  What happened?  The herdsmen began to quarrel and fall out.  Abraham realised they could not dwell together.  He told Lot the people of the land can see what is happening.  We are going to separate – you take whatever you wish and I will take the rest.  Abraham dwelled in the land of Canaan while Lot dwelled in the plain.  Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom and it tells us “but the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly”.  That is where Lot made his choice.  You will make a choice tonight – choose which pathway you will tread as you leave God’s house.  There is a narrow way that leads to heaven and home and a broad way that leads to hell and destruction.  You can step out tonight and trust the Lord as Saviour.  Lot made a choice that ruined his family and home for many years.  Many a young person who has been brought up in a Christian home, had the influence of a godly parent, minister or teacher but has been attracted by a relationship and are now out in the wilderness.  A lot of places are away from the word of God, all bubble and squeak with no foundational teaching from the word of God.

The conviction that settles in – verse 61 – the Lord’s eyes meet Peter’s.  No place to hide.  There is still no place to hide tonight.  The Lord is speaking to you tonight.  Verse 62 “and Peter went out and wept bitterly.”  That is conviction.  Do you realise that you are not saved tonight?  You can remember Sunday School teachers, missions you have sat in yet you are not saved.  That is conviction.  It is not something parents or Sunday school teachers can put in your heart, that is the work of God himself.  Peter realised what he had done and he wept bitterly.  As we come to the cross of Calvary let us weep tears of bitterness and regret.  Do you feel conviction in your heart tonight?  Things are not as important to you as once were in the spiritual realm.

The compassion – Mark 16 verse 7.  Knowing all Peter had done the women were instructed to go and tell the disciples but also to tell Peter.  The significance of those 2 words.  He might have thought he was forgotten about.  He had faltered, failed, been frightened but the Lord didn’t forget him.  Maybe you are running from God, come running back to him.

There was also a conversion there.  The disciples went fishing one day.  They saw the Lord on the shore.  The first person Jesus spoke to was Peter.  “Peter lovest thou me?”  3 times he had denied the Lord and 3 times he was asked if he loved the Lord.  He had denied the Lord at a coal fire now Jesus brought him back to a coal fire.  You have got to come back to the place where you denied the Lord to walk afar of.  Are you coming back?

An unusual encounter at a well

Sermon notes from Sunday 1 June 2014

John 4 verses 1 – 19

We meet this lonely figure coming out to a well.  She meets with the Lord.  We could really call it a memorable occasion for this woman.  She never would forget this day.  Remember how she left her house at midday and made her way to the well.  How she gazed on Jesus’ face.  Remember how she laid her sins at his feet never to be remembered again.  She seized that opportunity as it passed by.  Opportunities come and go.  There is a tremendous opportunity tonight.  God has promised to be here and be one of our number.  The Lord is here tonight and he beckons you as a sinner to come to him.  It is good to seize the opportunity.  Remember the women folk on the night of the sinking of the Titanic.  The women were ushered into the lifeboats, they seized the opportunity to get to safety.  Salvation is passing by.  An opportunity for you to seize.  You need to call on the Lord to be saved.  Zacchaeus had a passing opportunity.  He made the most of it, he climbed up into a sycamore tree and there Jesus stopped.  Remember the leper who lived on the mountainside.  He recognised Jesus as he passed by.  “If thou wilt thou can make me clean.”  The Lord touched him and told him to go and show himself to the priest.  These opportunities were passing.

This woman was a foreigner to Christ.  She was born of mixed race.  When the Northern Kingdom was divided they turned their back on God, they broke God’s commandments.  The Assyrian army came and carried them away captive.  Other people were planted in the cities they were carried away from.  They were looked down on by the Israelites as impure.  People had no dealings with each other.  The Jewish people thought of them as unclean.  No respectable Jew would have bothered with this woman, given her the time of day yet the Lord had time for her.  She would have been ignored but Jesus on his way had to go through Samaria.  Why?  To save this woman.  Was it any wonder he was given the definition of friend of sinners?  What is a friend?  The definition of a friend is one who comes when the whole world has left.  He is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.  He approached a foreigner.  He made contact with her.  He spoke to her.  When everyone would have forsaken her the Lord came to save this particular woman.  The apostle Paul said in Ephesians “know ye therefore are no more strangers and foreigners.”  Paul uses the word – he was a guest of the family but not a member of the family.  You could be that as a foreigner.  You can be joining in the worship of God, singing great songs, have great respect for the word of God, faithful to the denomination you support yet still be outside the family of God.  Would you take this opportunity to seize with both hands the Lord Jesus Christ?

This woman was fearful – verse 6.  At the sixth hour means midday in our day.  The sun was at its height.  Most people would not have ventured out at this time.  Here was this woman fearful.  Can imagine her peering out before she set out to walk to make sure no-one else was about.  Jesus deals with people in the most unusual of circumstances.  Imagine the Lord still found time to speak to this woman, explain to her the way of salvation, how she might be saved.  The Lord has drawn you in that he might meet with you.  It is the most unusual place but God’s place and God’s timing.  God walked with a man in Philippi, the darkest hour of the night, midnight in a prison cell.  That man set out for work never thinking for one moment that he would meet with the Lord.  God dealt with a man out in the wilderness on his way home.  He was reading the word of God and couldn’t get it out of his mind.  God brought his servant beside him, showed him, pointed him to Christ.  That man was Philip, God’s own servant.  Used at the right time by God.  God saves people in the most unusual ways and in the most unusual places.  Maybe this woman was scared of what people would say.  Nicodemus came by night because he didn’t want anyone else to see him.  That fear sometimes keeps up from God.

This woman was also focused.  Now she begins to focus on the Lord.  She came with her water pot.  She sees Jesus standing at the well.  I’m sure it was an unusual thing for her to see him.  Maybe this woman was ashamed at the sin in her life.  She came out at midday.  Imagine her lifting up her head and seeing Jesus at the well.  As she approaches the well Jesus begins to speak to her.  She is astonished at him speaking with her.  He was making a conversation with her.  Her heart was gripped and she began to focus on the Lord.  She wanted someone to talk to her.  Remember Bartimaeus in his blindness who sat at the way side.  He was begging.  There was a noise all around him and when he asked what it was about someone told him “Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.”  Once he heard that name something within him told him to cry out more.  “There is no other name given among men whereby we can be saved.”  Bartimaeus could not be silenced that day.  He became focused on the Lord.  It is good to get our eyes focused on Christ.  Sometimes others would distract us.  The disciples would have stopped Bartimaeus from calling out to Jesus.  Sometimes friends, neighbours, families can distract us from holding on to Jesus.  Remember the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years.  She had tried every doctor and physician.  None could help her.  One day she heard of this wonderful name Jesus.  Jairus was bringing Jesus down the street.  As Jesus passed by she reached out and touched the hem of his garment.  She was focused on the Lord.  The woman at the well began to focus.  She saw him as a prophet, then as the Messiah, the Son of God.  In Luke 4 he came to his own place of Nazareth, he went in to the synagogue and started to read from it.  He explained what the words meant.  After he had finished all eyes were on him.  Are you focused on Christ?

A falsehood dispelled.  This woman had all the religion she could ask for.  She began to debate with the Lord about her religion.  “Thou hast nothing to draw with.”  She is still thinking of the water in the well.  He has nothing to reach in and draw it out with.  The well is deep.  The Bible says “he shall grow before you as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, he has no comeliness that we should desire of him.”  In verse 20 we see this woman has a great argument about her religion.  “Our fathers worshipped here.”  Many would say “I was brought up in that church, my father and mother before me went to this church, if it was good enough for them it is good enough for me.”  For this woman to be saved a falsehood had to be dispelled. 

The forsaking of a lifestyle.  She came out in the heat of the midday sun with her water pot.  When she met with Christ she left that water pot.  She left it all behind her and began to go out and tell people about Christ.  What an experience.  This could be your opportunity to seize.  Christ wants to take you in to his family not as a guest any longer.

A call to action!

Sermon notes from Sunday 18 May 2014

Esther 4 verses 13 – 17

God looks down from heaven to the tangled mess we are facing.  Greater challenges than ever before because of the powers of the prince of darkness.  He knows his time is short.  We are living in a day when God looks down with a heart of love, compassion and wants to save sinners.  He is saying “many more could I save if I only had my instruments.”  God could step in and save without us but he has chosen in his sovereignty to use human instruments.  In every generation he has needed instruments.  God raised Abraham, called from a pagan background of Ur of the Chaldees.  Through him he established a nation to represent him to a generation still to come.  Moses was similar.  The New Testament church was the same too.  Down through the generations the great reformers saw it too.  They changed the course of history.  We have entered the second generation maybe even the third.  God is looking for his instruments again.  Esther was a Jewess, an orphan girl who had an uncle Mordecai.  He had raised Esther as his own daughter.  She was brought as a captive from Babylon and now the Medes and Persians were reigning.  She was brought into the palace to be queen.  The decree to destroy all the Jews brought a crisis.  God had someone in the right place before she could become an instrument for God to save the nation.  We can trace God’s dealings with her in her life.

Through Mordecai there was a complacency that needed to be dispelled. He was living in a palace, in luxury and comfort but had no control over the situation around him.  He was oblivious to it, complacent to it, no urge to get involved.  Complacency led to carelessness and it leads to inactivity and stagnation.  Stagnation leads to death amongst many of God’s people.  He wants to use his instruments but there is a feeling of complacency not concern about the situation.  Probably was because of an absence of vision, didn’t realise what was going on, didn’t see the peril.  There is such an absence of vision among Christians.  Somehow they don’t see and understand that we are living in days when all the powers of hell are unleashed against the church of Jesus Christ.  We need to be awake and aware of the day in which we live.  If we do not see the enemy attacking we will feel all is well, not too bad, become comfortable.  Esther needed to get a vision of the peril facing her but also the possibility of God.  God was still on the throne looking for his instruments.  There was an assimilation of the culture in which she was living in.  When she was brought into the palace she fitted in very well with her surroundings.  They didn’t know she was Jewish.  She was told not to reveal who she was.  She went along with all that was happening.  She conformed to the culture all around her and that added to her complacency.  Christians will always be a misfit in the world.  When the Lord saved us he delivered us from this present evil world.  We should not be trying to fit in with the attitudes and cultures of the world around us but rather stand out for God.  Think of another young man before Esther who was also brought from his homeland into Babylon.  He rose to the very top.  His name was Daniel.  He succeeded in being an instrument for God without compromising his principles.  God expects us to be people like that today.

There was a commitment that had to be displayed.  Two things revealed her commitment and personal involvement.  She was in the palace and not over concerned for the situation around her.  God opened her eyes and touched her heart.  She had to sent that message back to Mordecai “yes I will do what is right and if I perish so be it.”  God could save the world without us but he has chosen to use ordinary human beings.  God cannot use us as instruments until first we commit ourselves to be personally involved in the word of God.  In the church of God we cannot expect everyone else to do something but not ourselves.  You can pray, invite neighbours to the gospel service, encourage the pastor and other believers.  No matter who you are there is something you can do for the sake of the kingdom of God.  God is looking for someone to make a commitment.

There has to be a passion to intercede.  Esther said “go gather together all the Jews in Shushan and fast for me.  I also will fast likewise and will go in unto the king.  If I perish I perish.”  Not fatalism but determination.  Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue.

There was a consideration that was demanded.  When she said “I will go into the king he may put me out of the palace, remove me like Vashti but whatever it means for me I will step out and do what I can for Christ”, there was a willing choice.  Mordecai said if you hold your peace you can not do it and God will raise up someone else but you and your faith will perish.  We have a choice – do we give all to God or do we hold back?  A choice that had to be made.  A decision that had to be made.  There was complete surrender – whatever it cost or meant.  It is worth it all to give it all to Jesus.  “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee.”

The certainty of God's salvation

Sermon notes from Sunday 11 May 2014

Acts 17 verses 30 – 34

The certainty of God’s salvation

The apostle Paul has come to Athens and found out something about this people – they were very religious  They had a lot going for them in a religious aspect.  What does it mean to be saved?  There are a lot of different experiences in coming to God for salvation.  Noah’s ark was built for the salvation of the world.  There was only one door into the ark.  Every animal came from every part of the world but there was only one entrance

There has to be an awareness of sin.  That is made clear through the preaching of God’s own word.  “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”  Acts 17 verse 32 “when they heard”.  There had to be that awareness in their lives.  Until you are aware of the danger you are in, in your sin you will never be saved.  Peter in Acts 3 preached about the person of the Lord who came into the world as a little baby, grew up as a man, preached about how he would die on the cross.  That was his purpose in his life – to die.  To make a way of escape.  To provide salvation for you and I and there on the cross he carried that out.  He loved you with all his heart, with the greatest compassion he ever had.  Peter preached about the power of Christ.  He found nobody in the tomb when he went to find him.  The chains of death couldn’t hold him any longer.  There is a great power to lift you from the sin you are in.  Peter preached about a pathway that had to be taken.  There is a pardoning that is waiting for you.  It all came through the preaching of God’s word.  Verse 37 “when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts.”  An awareness of their sin.  Was there an awareness of your sin when you came to Christ first and foremost?

An action that has to be taken.  The Bible says “when they heard this”.  They listened to this and realised they were not walking with God.  On the night you were saved was your conscience pricked?  When David lay on his bed in the evening time he couldn’t sleep so he got up and it was then that he saw Bathsheba.  He had to have her.  He lay with her.  He did wrong in that he coveted.  The Bible says you shouldn’t do that.  David had her husband killed.  Not only committed adultery but he committed murder.  Naboth came to David and told him a story about a rich man and a poor man.  The rich man took the poor man’s lamb.  David was upset and said that wasn’t fair.  Naboth turned to him and said “you are the man.”  Psalm 51 “before God I have sinned.”  He was made aware of his sin.  “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  That is our starting point in life.  An action that has to be taken.  Jesus spoke of it himself – “there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”  That is the starting point.  What do you do when you are made aware of sin?  There is an action to be taken.  As Paul preached here to this religious people “in your ignorance God winked at it now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent.”  Maybe until this point in time might have never thought of your souls salvation.  God is beginning to speak to your heart and soul.  You realise something has to be done.  It is God that saves not a church, a preacher or a denomination.  God points to an action that must be taken.  In Athens Paul told them you have to repent.  When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost people knew there was action to be taken.  There has to be a repentance.  The rich young ruler realised he wasn’t saved.  When the Lord was in that area he ran to him.  There was a hunger in his soul.  He came to the feet of Jesus and asked him “what must I do?”  An action that must be taken.  Jesus pointed to the commandments.  “All these have I kept from my youth up.”  He realised there was still something lacking.  Have you ever come to that place where you realised there was something missing?  Jesus said to the young man “go sell all you have then come follow me.”  Is the Lord saying to you “it is time to come to me and in coming to me you must be prepared to leave that scene behind.”  There is an action to be taken.  You are not going to drift into God’s salvation.  It is a place of choice.  Remember Joshua when he brought the people to the Jordan.  He asked them to “choose you this day whom you will serve.”  There is an awareness of sin and an action to be taken.

There is an acceptance that takes place – verse 34 “and believe”.  They heard the word of God.  They hung on to the Lord and believed.  They took the Lord as their own and personal Saviour.  The Lord calls for you to step out and accept him as Saviour.  Acts 2 verse 41 “when they heard this.”  Peter preached and “they gladly received his word and were baptised and there were added unto them 3000 souls.”  The Holy Spirit came down upon them and they took the Lord as Saviour.  Here was a people who were made aware of their sin.  They were shown an action that must be taken.  Never be saved if don’t accept the Lord as Saviour.  “What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul.?  Jesus himself said what good would it do to hold onto a few religious relics hoping that was the way you would get into heaven?

There was an assurance that was granted.  “To as many as believed on him gave he the power to become the sons of God.”  “These things have I written unto you that ye might know you have eternal life.”  Do you know you have eternal life not an emotional experience?

Labourers in God's harvest field

Sermon notes from Sunday 11 May 2014

Matthew 9 verses 26 – 38

Consider for a moment the role of a labourer.  We started out meeting at a very specific palace. The Lord had been brought to the home of Jairus.  He had a girl with a sickness that brought her to the point of death so much so that they took it for granted that she was dead.  Jesus came into her home, took her by the hand and she stood alive on her feet as a result of that act.  Great fear spread because of what had been done.  He is speaking here in terms of the harvest as he looks on the multitudes gathered all around him.  Speaking here of a spiritual harvest.  Upon his heart he has a great compassion for the souls all around him.  He was opening the hearts and minds of his disciples to the great need and the fact there were no labourers.  Every farmer needs a harvest.  There is great planning that goes into it.  The farmer goes out and plants his seed.  He prays for the right temperature so that seed will produce.  The farmer knows at the end of the year there is a great urgency to get that crop in.  He will hire labourers to bring that harvest in.  The labourers are required today to reach others with the gospel of saving grace.  What are the qualifications of a labourer today?

The labourers are appealed for.  “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”  The Lord is asking for specific prayers.  The Lord knows there are a multitude of people who need to hear of their need of salvation.  Sadly they have been blinded by the God of this world.  We have the responsibility to pray that God might send forth more labourers.  We have lost the interest of taking that need to the God of heaven.  Acts 2 as they ministered in that group, meeting together, studying the word of God and praying the Holy Ghost said “separate unto me Silas and Barnabas.”  It only happened when they fasted and prayed that God really began to work.  In Acts 16 Paul and the team were waiting on a door to open for them.  Paul has a dream of a man beckoning to him “come over into Macedonia and help us”.  That man was appealing to God to send someone to preach the gospel to them.  That is what God is asking for.  Are you a labourer?

The labourers are appointed.  The farmer is not going to come to me and say “I need you to do this work for me.”  He knows I wouldn’t have the ability to do it.  The labourer is appointed.  Jesus said you are to pray that God would send forth labourers.  It is not you that does the appointing but the Lord himself.  Jesus sent out 70 labourers in Luke 10.  He selected and sent them out himself.  It is to those who are labouring that he asks them to pray for more labourers.  We never should pray for others to do a work we are not prepared to do ourselves.  The instruction is for us to pray that the Lord would send forth labourers.  The man in Macedonia wasn’t disappointed.  He asked for help and Paul was sent by God to do the work.  After he had seen the vision “immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.”  The Holy Spirit was active in that whole account.  The God of heaven is waiting for you to pray.  When the Lord looked on the multitude his heart was full of compassion.  They were lost and going out into a lost eternity.  The labourers are appointed in answer to God’s prayer.

The labourer has an accountability.  Acts 3 God reached down and called Paul and Barnabas from the very midst of the church.  If God calls people to come forth make sure they are ready to be part of his work.  Are we prepared to be labourers today?  Are we prepared to pray for labourers today?  Will you leave yourself open to God to even be that labourer? 

Believer's Baptism

Sermon notes from Sunday 15 June 2014

Acts 8 verses 26 – 40

The Ethiopian eunich is a great example of every father and grandfather taking leadership and responsibility.  We don’t know much about him but just that he held a very responsible office as chief of the Treasury under Queen Candace of Ethiopia.  Here we are meeting a man with a tremendous love for the things of God.  He travelled from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to worship the God of heaven.  There were 3 times when people would travel to worship in Jerusalem and one of these was the feast of Pentecost.  As he is down on this particular occasion something happens to him.  As he returns to Ethiopia something touched his heart and he wants to find out more.  Out on the desert road he is reading the word of God.  Something has made him turn to Isaiah.  God deals with us in various situations as he was dealing with this man.  Maybe it was through what he had experienced in Jerusalem.  Maybe you have felt God touching your heart over the past weeks.  God manufactures the situation for himself.  You have felt the stirring of God in your heart.  Somehow God has spoken to you.  Maybe already God is dealing with you today.  As you lifted your head today you knew God was with you and dealing with you.  “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee.”  Would you step out today in obedience to do what God asks?  God brings this man to the place of salvation.  As he makes his way in verse 36 “they came unto a certain water.”  Once he saw the river whatever it was touched his heart again – “see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptised?”  He said this to the evangelist that had first pointed him to Christ.  He was simply asking ‘is there anything you can point me to that I shouldn’t be baptised.”  Philip replied “if you believe on the Lord as Saviour there is nothing.”  Today let us think of the conditions of baptism.  Not thinking here of infant baptism but believers baptism.  What brought this man to this position in his life?

There is a genuine conversion.  Not saying if you are not baptised you are not saved.  All I would do is point you to Luke 23 for the proof of that.  There we find Calvary just outside Jerusalem where 2 thieves hung on crosses and the Lord also hung in their midst.  They were placed on the cross which was raised from the earth.  As the scripture unfolds on that particular day these men were cursing the Lord, swearing at him to his face, both were as bad as each other.  As the day wore on the Lord began to deal with the hearts of these 2 men.  One man realised he was going out into eternity and something in his heart made him realise that the person on the middle cross was very special. And on that middle cross he bought your sin and my sin.  He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.  We have to take him into our hearts and lives as Saviour.  The thief was listening to the other man.  “We are here because of our own sin but this man has done nothing amiss.”  He asked the Lord “remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” and Jesus replied “today thou shalt be with me in paradise.”  He didn’t get down from the cross to be baptised but he was still saved.  Baptism is not necessary for salvation, it is for obedience to God.  Ephesians 2 “for by grace are ye saved through faith.”  It is not a ritual ceremony.  You are saved by faith today, only one way by placing trust in Christ.  Genuine conversion.  It also involves an unveiling of the scripture.  “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”  Here was this man in Acts 8 sitting in his chariot.  He had heard something in Jerusalem that made him open the word of God at Isaiah the prophet.  It was the account of the lamb being led to the slaughter.  When he was reviled he reviled not again.  He loved you with an everlasting love.  There has to be an unveiling of scripture.  There also has to be an understanding of scripture.  For the scriptures to be unveiled there has to be preaching of the word of God.  Remember when Jesus told the parable of the sower and likened it to the preaching of the word of God?  There was a hard ground – why was it hard?  The seed was only lying there and the birds of the air would come down and peck it up.  That is like those who hear the word of God and don’t understand it.  You have to understand the scripture.  We all have sinned and cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  You have got to understand how you have sinned.  It came directly from Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden.  It has been passed down from generation to generation.  How can you be saved?  Jesus took your place and my place and died on the cross.  There has to be an unfailing faith too.  The scripture might be unveiled to you, you might have a good understanding of it but you haven’t taken the third step.  Acts 8 verse 37 “if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest.”  He was referring to experience he had minutes before when he placed his unfailing faith in the one who came into the world.  He saw the one dying on the cross of Calvary, who had done no offence that we might go free.  The eunich asked “is this the one the scripture is speaking of or someone else?”  With his unfailing faith he trusted Christ as Saviour and Lord.  Does that match up to your experience today?  When you heard the word of God did you believe in the word of God?  Did you trust the Lord as Saviour?  Is that a genuine experience for you?

A gracious concern.  It is only then by God’s grace that he leads, directs, guides us.  Every motivation after conversion is from God.  Here is a man who realises baptism is the next step.  He knows he has had his sins forgiven and is on his way to heaven.  Now he wants to do something for the Lord.  This man is a leader in his country.  Imagine the people with him listening to him asking the Lord, trusting the Lord as Saviour, see him stopping the chariot and going down into the water to be baptised.  He is taking his stand for the Lord.  That is what baptism is.  This man was coming from Jerusalem, from the Pentecost feast.  The day when the Holy Spirit came.  He probably saw Peter opening up the word of God and begin to preach.  He preached about the Lord coming into this world, how his works were approved by God.  In his death the Jewish people chose Barrabas over Jesus.  Then as Peter preached there was no doubt he saw something.  The Holy Spirit came down and began to move amongst the people.  The people cried out “if this be the case what shall we do?”  3000 people that day repented and trusted the Lord.  They were also baptised.  What a scene that eunuch saw that day.  He realised when those people believed the next step was baptism.  No doubt as he returned that day he realised the importance of knowledge in Christ but also the desire to be baptised.  Nothing stood in his way to be baptised.  The Lord left 2 commandments – one was the Lord’s table for every believer “this do in remembrance of me”  and also baptism.  Remember it is for us he died and one day he will come again.  The eunuch realised this was a symbol of what he had just done.  An outward profession of an inward change.  He was not getting baptised to be saved.  He is going through the waters because he is saved.  Have we put paid to the old life or do they still haunt us?

The glorious character of baptism.  Believer’s baptism is what scripture teaches.  The outward sign of an inward work of divine grace in the heart of man.  It is showing the change of heart and direction.  We are really glorifying the God of heaven.  Baptism is an act of worship.  The Philippian jailer in Acts 16 was baptised along with his whole family.  Many take this to reinforce infant baptism as they state there must have been infants in the house today.  Remember Lydia who met the Lord at the riverside in Acts 16.  Both her and the Philippian jailer could have gone down to be baptised at the river.  John 3 verse 23 “John also was baptising because there was much water there.”  Emphasising total immersion.  Baptism means to be totally immersed.  Romans 6 Paul dying in Christ in baptism rising again to new life as come out of the waters.  Baptism is for believers.

Surely this was the Son of God!

Sermon notes from Sunday 13 July 2014

Matthew 27 verses 34 – 54

“Surely this was the Son of God”

What was it that moved and motivated this Roman centurion to say these words?  He could have believed that Jesus was the Son of God but had never declared it openly until now.  What influenced him to say it?  3 aspects – what he knew about Jesus, what he saw that day and what he heard that day.  As we go through these points ask yourself – what do you know about Jesus?  .

What he knew about Jesus.  It doesn’t tell us specifically what he knew.  His job for that day was to put to death 3 men on the cross.  He was in charge.  He had some input into how the crosses were made.  Think of the down post and the crossbeam.  That is where our picture of the cross stops.  This is not the picture given in God’s word.  There was an accusation put across Jesus’ head.  Some would say these words were maybe written into the cross but we do know they were written in Greek, Hebrew and Latin.  They were probably written on another crossbeam above Jesus’ head.  Perhaps people could read it clearly from the ground.  The King of the Jews was the title given to him.  Many in the world today want Jesus as Saviour but not King of their lives.  All of our wills, ambitions, plans and desires must be given to him for him to be king of our lives.  Remember the words of the hymn “King of my life I crown thee now.”  Unless he is King we are not bringing the honour he richly deserves.  The old thief on the cross who repented of his sin cried out “remember me (as Saviour) when thou comest into thy kingdom (as King).”  All that was planned that day was planned by God so many years before.  The Roman soldier would have known the accusation of Jesus.  He would also have known about his arrest probably.  It was probably talked about by the soldiers.  John’s gospel tells us when he was arrested and they came to take him Jesus asked them “whom seekest thou?”  Then the scriptures record “the men fell backwards.”(John 18 verses 4 and 6)  That shows Jesus’ power and authority through his voice.  Each one of us will one day find the power and authority of the voice of Jesus when we stand before him in judgement, when he will separate the sheep from the goats.  When Jesus will say “depart from me I never knew you” or when he will say “enter into the rest I have prepared for you.”  That is Jesus’ power and authority being shown.  That power and authority caused his arrest.  Many say he has delayed his coming again but he delayed coming in a familiar story in the Bible when he raised someone from the dead.  He knew a family who lived in Bethany – Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  Lazarus took ill and died one day.  The sisters sent for Jesus but Jesus delayed in coming – why – “so that others would believe.” (John 11 verse 15)  When Jesus arrived in Bethany he told them to take away the stone.  The people said that Lazarus had been dead for so long and his body would stink if they took the stone away.  Jesus then spoke “come forth” to Lazarus“. The scriptures record that “he cried with a loud voice” meaning he yelled (verse 43).  He could have done it with a still small voice but he wanted everyone that stood there to be left in no doubt.  The Bible goes on to say “from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.”(verse 53)  The Roman soldier would have also known about the acclamation Jesus received a few days earlier.  As Jesus was coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey all the people praised him.  The Roman soldiers would have talked about this too.  Matthew 21 verse 10 “the whole city was moved saying who is this? Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”  Maybe that is why the soldiers mocked him so much as a king.

What he saw.  The centurion saw the greatest day in history with his own 2 eyes.  Only we could imagine it.  How much more blessed are we to understand what was happening that day than they were.  He saw the darkness over the land.  Why was there darkness on that day?  God couldn’t bear sin and therefore he caused darkness to pass over so that sin would not be shown.  Darkness was for our benefit to help us understand the great judgement he was going through in bearing our sacrifice.  Darkness in the bible is a sign of judgement.  Remember the 10 plagues in Egypt – one of them included darkness.  The Israelites did not experience the darkness only the Egyptians.  On the cross Jesus also prayed for his earthly mother.  He said to John “son behold thy mother.”  Notice the love he had and how it was shown clearly on the cross.  The last thing the centurion saw that day was the earthquake.  Jesus used nature to speak as he paid the final debt – Matthew 27 verse 54.

What he heard.  He heard the conversion of a sinner.  The thief opened his heart and mind to accept the Lord as Saviour.  He realised Jesus’ righteousness and his own unrighteousness.  Here was a man who was not going to let Satan believe that death is the end.  Many do believe that today.  We need to focus not only on the here and now but on the Saviour’s everlasting kingdom when Jesus would be king forever.  Remember the Lord’s Prayer – “thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”  He also heard the cry “my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?”  The human heart was feeling the abandonment of God on his soul.  There’s a massive difference between the judgement Jesus bore on the cross for our sin and what we will face if we reject Christ as Saviour.  God has told us in his word that our judgement for sin will be for eternity.  He also heard the words “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.”  It shows Jesus was still in control of his destiny.  “It is finished” was the cry of triumph.  His blood had satisfied Jesus’ judgement.

What this man seen, heard and knew about Jesus caused him to declare he was the Son of God.  Each one of us needs to believe Jesus is our Savour to be sure of a home in heaven one day.

The word of God - rediscovered, read, revered, bringing repentance and reform

Sermon notes from Sunday 1 June 2014

2 Kings 22

We can trace every revival back to the word of God.  Even in our land and province revival came through the word of God.  Think of the revival in the 1700’s with John and Charles Wesley and Whitfield.  God really touched them and set them on fire for the things of God.  The church doors were shut down to them, there was a great apathy and coldness in the society they lived in.  Everything was at a low ebb.  Think of the 1859 revival in our province - men looking into the word of God and preaching it to people.  4 men in Kells gathered together for prayer and to read God’s word.  Revival came from those men.  They not only had the word of God in their hands but in their hearts.  Josiah was only a young man, 8 years of age when he came to the throne and began to seek after the God of heaven.  He hadn’t much going for him.  Manasseh was his grandfather.  He was the one who lay on his bed and pleaded with God for an extra 15 years of life.  In those years his own son Amon was born.  Amon was one of the wickedest men who ever ruled.  In later years he had a change of heart.  When he died Josiah came to the throne.  He turned his heart towards the God of heaven.  Things began to happen in his kingdom.  Think of Josiah and the word of God.  Verse 11 it was the book of the law that brought conviction to his heart.  The book of the law was God’s word.

A book that was rediscovered – verse 8 “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan and he read it.”  It was not any old book but God’s word.  Moses first wrote down the words God spoke to him on the mountainside.  That book had been set aside.  Ammon had turned against God.  The temple was misused, bolted up, doors closed so that no-one could enter in.  Replaced the worship of God and set up idols and they worshipped the sun, moon and stars.  It stands to reason didn’t need the word of God.  So it was set aside in the nation of Israel.  Everyone turned their back on the word of God.  Even the very leaders did at one time.  No special search was made for this book.  Perhaps set aside by some old apostate king who had turned his back on God.  So many philosophers and teachers tell us today the bible is an ancient book, it is out of touch with the young people and we need something else now.  ‘Our land doesn’t need this book’ we hear it day after day.  Without this book people were living by ritual.  They didn’t know which way to turn.  “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17 verse 6)  In the days of Naomi the family gathered together when the head of the house made a decision to go to Moab because he had heard there was food to eat there.  Moab was a wicked place.  The man died and so did his 2 sons.  Naomi was left with her 2 daughters in law - all because they thought they were doing what was right.  We need to get before the God of heaven and ask for his direction - is this the correct way to go?  The Lord will show us if only we ask.  Here was a rediscovered book.  Paul in Romans talked about the word of God being held down – chapter 1 verse 18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”  They are supressing the word of God and not opening it up.  Isn’t that what we have today?  People who don’t hold the word of God in high regard.  The 2 men on the Emmaeus road, their hearts were opened as Jesus opened the word of God to them.  Maybe someone had set the book aside because they felt they didn’t need it.  Maybe some apostate king did it or perhaps godly scribe did it to keep it safe for another generation.  Are we doing that – safeguarding the word of God for another generation?  The old sceptic said he couldn’t believe the bible because he couldn’t believe a book where the author is unknown.  A Christian in the meeting spoke to him – do you believe in the multiplication tables?  Yes the sceptic replied.  The Christian asked who compiled them?  The sceptic said I do not know but I believe them because they work.  I believe in the Bible because it works the Christian said to him.  Queen Victoria said “this is what made Britain great – standing on the word of God.”  Joshua told the people to meditate on the word of God day and night.

This book was read in Josiah’s day – verse 11.  He heard the book and rent his clothes.  The priest read it in his presence.  When the priest found that book he realised it was no ordinary book, something that should be in possession of the king.  Not a possession of the nation to be set aside in a glass cabinet and only read on special occasions but rather to be read day and daily.  “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119 verse 11) The Psalmist wrote.  The word of God is to be meditated on, kept hid in our hearts, taking time to ponder over it.  In many homes today the word of God is not present.  The only time it is taken out is when death comes to the home.  The goal of the great reformers was to place the Bible in every person’s hand, in their own language.  There were many who translated it and for some it cost them their lives.  We need to get back to the reading of God’s word.  You and I need to get back into the word of God and read it and meditate on it.

This book was revered – verse 14.  2 Chronicles 34 this was no ordinary book – verse 14.  It was given by Moses.  This priest realised the importance of the book.  It was God’s word given to the nation through Moses.  Many think it is an old book and out of date but it is perhaps more relevant than tomorrow’s papers.  2 Chronicles taken into the palace revered, given a place of prominence, priority and importance.  This book was revered, taken to the highest position.  The bible should receive the highest esteem.  Is it so in my life?  Are there so many books in my life that I take it for granted?  I wonder do we take this book into homes and other places where we go?  Is it upon our lips?  Do we tell others about this book or is it hidden in our hearts?  Do we love to get together just to talk about this book?  Malachi 4 verse 16 “then they that feared the Lord spake one to another.”  The Lord hearkened to their words.  Acts 8 as they went they were scattered about preaching the word of God.  Such was the revered word.  As we celebrate 40 years we need to be making sure we revere the word of God.  We might give generously to our missions, to those who take the gospel to other lands but we need to take the word of God to our neighbours, to people who haven’t heard the word of God.  Will you take the word of God to them?  Will we seek to share the word of God with others?

The book brought repentance.  The king rent his clothes and put on ashes.  Ashes were a symbol of repentance.

The book brought reform.  The king asked the priest to ask God what would happen in the future. He sent to consult the prophetess Huldah, who assured him that the evil foretold would indeed come, but not in his day; "because," she said, "thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thyself before the Lord." An assembly of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and of all the people was called, and the ancient covenant with God was renewed.