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.