The reunited meeting between Jacob and Esau

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 28 MAY 2023

GENESIS 33 VERSES 1 – 15

How important it is to have a meeting with the Lord.  Yes, it is good be here and have fellowship with each other, but we need however an individual meeting with God.  Gideon met with God and God opened up the task before him.  Some of the lonely moments we have are with the Lord.  Gideon was a man threshing wheat when the Lord came down.  The enemy had come into the land and there was great poverty and starvation as a result.  One man Gideon worked away bringing in a little sheaf and threshing it in the quietness of the night.  Moses was a man quietly tending to the needs of his sheep.  He would take them out into the pasture and still waters, made sure they were fit and healthy.  When God met with him Elijah was out in the wilderness quietly thinking of the persecution he has come under.  The threat made on his life was going through his mind.  Genesis chapter 32 tells us the crux of what we want to think about today.  Jacob met with God while he was having quiet thoughts about the next day.  As he divided his family up, he is troubled about what that meeting will mean.  God had it all in hand.  Nicodemus came to Jesus at night.  He stepped away from all his religious friends.  He wanted to come privately.  To speak with Jesus.  He said to Jesus “we know thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles except God be with him.”  He knew there had to be more.  Jesus told him “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  All his churchianity was washed away in that one statement.  A personal encounter with Christ.  It can be a lonely place.  Here was this man Jacob who wrestled with God all night.  In chapter 33 he lifted up his eyes.  As another day dawned on his soul God has changed him.  Verse 31 “And as he passed over Peniel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.”  The results of a night wrestling with God could be clearly seen in his life.  Remember when Moses came down from the mountain – he had to veil his face because his countenance shone.  Remember when Peter came from a time of prayer – the people brought their sick into the streets just for his shadow to fall over them as he passed by.  When we come out of our meeting with God it has to tell on us.  Jacob knew this was the day he was going to meet his brother, but he spent a night in prayer wrestling with God first.

What did he face?  He had an uncertain event to face, and he knew it was not going to be easy.  He knew he had to cross the river and face his brother, to look into his eyes.  Sometimes we have to face difficult situations.  We feel that everything should be plain sailing when we get saved but we forget that we make a great enemy of the devil himself.  Actually, we face more problems when we get saved than before.  Sometimes we think we should be able to leave them behind.  Jacob knew what was going to happen to him that day.  He would be in a difficult situation.  Sometimes they pile up on us.   Hezekiah was a good king in Jerusalem.  He was facing the Assyrian army coming up at a time when he himself was sick, actually dying.  The enemy came to his door.  Jacob had left home 20 years previously.  He didn’t leave on good terms.  He left a trail of hurt behind him.  He must now address that hurt.  He had to go back, make an apology, to say sorry.  Remember that he tricked his brother out of his birthright.  One day Jacob had a stew cooking when Esau came in from the fields.  Jacob asked Esau to give him the birthright in exchange for the bowl of stew.  Jacob then went in to his father and tricked him into believing he was Esau.  He prepared some venison for his father to eat so that he would receive a blessing.  Jacob tricked his father out of the blessing meant for Esau. Jacob had to leave as Esau threatened to kill him.  This would be a difficult day for Jacob.  Maybe even a dangerous day.  Jacob had to face the situation for himself.  There are things in our previous life we have to sort out.  Maybe someone was hurt because of something that was said or a wrong attitude was shown.  In chapter 31 the Lord told Jacob to return to the land where he had been born.  I am sure Jacob quizzed God about why he was being sent back.  Maybe there is something you are facing tomorrow that is making you fearful in heart.  Remember God has it all sorted out.

What Jacob feared.  As Jacob lifted up his eyes in verse 1, he saw Esau coming with 400 men.  Something is dawning on his soul.  He recognised his brother coming with an army of men.  That only meant one thing.  He was going to take his revenge.  There was the fear of the unknown before him.  If you are asked to do something you are not sure about are you not afraid?  Nothing takes God by surprise today.  Maybe Jacob thought something else, but God had it under control.  I am sure Jacob wondered “am I right, did I get it wrong when God told me to come back?”  The only ground we can stand on is the ground God has given in his word.  You and I need to be standing on that ground.  Maybe fear is gripping his heart.  This man should be depending on the Lord. But Jacob starts making his own plans in case things go wrong.  Jacob divided his children, his wives, his handmaids.  He kept Rachel and Joseph to the back.  How difficult it was for that father and mother back in Egypt with their son called Moses.  They knew God had his hand on their son, yet the decree went out that all baby boys should be put to death.  What did they do?  They hid him.  They were not afraid of the king’s commandment.  In World War 2 General Patton was a decorated man.  In his commission they said they never saw a man as brave in his actions.  He replied “I never entered a battle, but I was terrified. I never took counsel from my fears.”  Don’t let fear overrule you.  Get your eyes on the Lord today.

What he forgot.  In this situation Jacob forgot about God’s leading in his life.  Remember the night he lay under the stars when he fled from his father and brother, Jacob had a dream of a ladder reaching to heaven.  He saw the angels ascending and descending and the Lord standing at the top of the ladder.  God promised to be with him and that one day he would return to inherit the land.  Genesis 28 verses 13 – 16.  It has taken 20 years for this plan to materialise.  Remember – God is in control whilst it may not look it at present.  There has to come a time when we step out and face our fears.

What Jacob found.  Not a violent force coming against him.  Jacob approached Esau and bowed 7 times.  Esau kissed him.  Remember the story of the Prodigal Son.  It was while he was feeding the pigs that he remembered his father’s house and what the servants had to eat.  But he had to get up and go back to his father, admit to what he had done wrong.  When he did that, his father embraced and kissed him.  He was brought back into the family again.  It was all worked out long before the returning.

The courage Gideon needed for the future

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 21 MAY 2023

JUDGES 6 VERSES 24 - 32

It was not what Gideon would do through the Lord but rather what the Lord would do through Gideon.  We can be the very channels God could use in his great plan in the days ahead.  Are we prepared to be used? God has a plan to deliver men and women from their sins that is through his son Jesus.  He was sent into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.  The last action in this meeting was to make an offering - verse 24.  Gideon makes a sacrifice to God and calls on Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is peace.  He found a great peace in meeting with the Lord.  It is wonderful to think you can come into God's presence with a heart broken in pieces, meet with God here in this house and find a peace that passeth all understanding.  Gideon had a mighty task in front of him.  There is a family in your house that needs to hear the gospel today.  There is a mission field from the doors of our church today.  It is wonderful when God challenges us to do that.  It is very easy to look to our own abilities, think who am I?  Let's look to God.  He is the answer today.  Look again at the meeting with God that Gideon had.  Can God use a man like this?  Can he use you today?  He used Deborah and Barak in bygone days but now he wants to use Gideon.  God has given us a mission field all around us today.

A challenge to Gideon.  The first test was whether he will go or not  A challenge to Gideon's mindset.  Before he would go to tell Israel he has to take a stand in his home and his community.  He had to bear the testimony.  He has to make an offering.  Do we need that challenge today?  To the mindset we have?  Verse 13 "the Lord is with thee."  Gideon looks and sees nothing but the poverty and starvation, a nation turned upside down.  God is going to work in a mindset to show he is with him.  God allows things to happen in our lives.  Isaiah was going through the waters and fire but God changed his mindset.  In verse 14 Gideon said he could not do it.  God had to work on his mindset.  Andrew looking out on the crowd, Jesus told them to go and feed them. Andrew found a little boy and brought his lunch to Jesus saying "what is this among so many?"  His mindset said nothing could work into this situation.  When you look around you and see many not saved you might ask "what am I amongst so many?"  What about Moses - his mindset out in the wilderness was tending to the flocks but he stopped at the bush.  God spoke into the situation  He knew everything about going back to Egypt "I couldn't, I am not eloquent."  Maybe God is dealing with your mindset today.  Sometimes we have to step out of the safe environment we are presently in.  What about the widow woman in Elijah's day?  God challenged her to feed the prophet.  When Elijah came he found this woman out gathering sticks.  She was going to prepare a little meal and that would be the last food they had.  Elijah told her to feed him first then there would be enough for her and her son.  Joshua followed Moses leading the children of Israel.  Joshua had to take the role Moses played one day.  In verse 12 the challenge came with one promise that overruled all his mindset.  That is what kept David going "yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me."  We need to offer ourselves holy unto the Lord and allow the Lord to work in us and through us.  In the days of trials and troubles God is with us.

The courage that was going to be needed.  Is it easy to work for the Lord?  No because you need courage.  You will be asked to do things that go against your grain.  Gideon would have to take a stand in his own home, to show a good testimony.  His father was a Baal worshipper.  He had raised up an altar in his own home.  The first task Gideon would have was to stand against that.  Maybe it takes greater courage to stand in the home, in the community, in the work place.  The day and hour you were saved in that family God gave you a responsibility to see the rest of your family saved.  Wouldn't it be awful to see them lost?  The principles of the home life are there in the very foundations of the bible.  You have to stand.  Whenever Jesus spoke to the religious leaders he pointed them back to creation and the roles within that.  Matthew 19 says "have ye not read".  It is important to go back to the word of God  "He made them male and female" in the very beginning then he went on to say in Matthew 19 verse 5 and "for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh."  Psalm 11 verse 2 "For lo the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed what shall the righteous do?"  The foundations are being attacked today.  We need to take a firm stand in our own homes and in our families today.  The institution of marriage is under attack to redefine marriage.  We might look at it with a blind eye.  Our children are being deceived.  Uncertain of bodies.  Gender mix up because of the media.  God says stand fast for your family  Nothing is too hard for the Lord.  Deuteronomy 6 verse 5 tells us to teach our children and our childrens children.  Remember the demonic.  He couldn't stay in his home village.  He had to go out into the wilderness amongst the tombs.  At night he cried out, wounded himself.  No-one would pass by him until the Lord met with him and delivered him from every demon.  He said he would follow him.  Jesus told him no, here's what you are to do.  You are to go home to your friends and home village, tell them the great things the Lord has done for you.  Take a stand in your home and show them. That is the responsibility.  The foundations we need to build upon are bible study and fellowship. "Study to show thyself approved unto God."  Jesus spoke of the builder who builds his house on the rock.  We can build our families on the rock.  Studying his word produces what it says in that word.

The change that was going to be made.  This young man was told in verse 25 to take his fathers bullock and the second bullock, to throw down the altar of Baal and raise up a new altar to the Lord.  Gideon had to look within before he could look without.  He had to look into his own life and see the changes that needed to be made.  Isaiah could say" I am a man of unclean lips."  He received the purging as the angel lifted up the live coal.  Jesus spoke of the beam in our own eye before taking the beam out of someone else's eye.  Gideon had to destroy that altar and break the groove into pieces, to make a fire for sacrifice.  Isn't that what Elijah had to do?  To rebuild the altar of God.  He broke down the false altar first of all.  He had to lay down the sacrifice haphazardly.  There had to be changes to his thinking and attitudes.  This was done in fear and trembling.  Maybe you have to do the same and are afraid to do this.   Nicodemus came by night to see Jesus.  He didn't want anyone to see him.  Maybe there are changes in our lives that need to be made.  The altar of prayer needs to be built up again.  The altar of bible study maybe needs to be built again.  Maybe the quiet time needs to be built up again.

A criticism that came.  If you are going to live for God you will be laughed at.  The people of Gideon's day asked "who has done this, bring him out we will kill him."  Joash his father stood up for him - verse 32.  Maybe things need to be changed for us today.  It will bring criticism from our family and friends.  What stand are you going to take?

Prophecy fulfilled in the scriptures

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 14 MAY 2023 - MR HAROLD ALCORN

Matthew 26 verses 47 - 56

"But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?" verses 54 and 55

The fulfilment of the scriptures is mentioned twice in these verses.  The setting of the verses is that Jesus was about to be arrested.  Peter used a sword to cut off the ear belonging to the servant of the high priest.  Jesus told him to put away his sword for those who use the sword will die by the sword (verse 52). Jesus was thinking ahead to his own death and the scriptures he referred to were those written years before.  Bible prophecy was being fulfilled.  Jesus said he could call 12 legions of angels to stop his arrest (verse 53).  In the Old Testament in one night an angel struck 185,000 soldiers dead (2 Kings 19 verse 35)  Top priority was Jesus' death being carried out just as scripture foretold.  Our Lord was baptised in the Jordan, then spent 40 days in the wilderness and started a preaching tour in his own home town Nazareth where he was brought up.  Remember when Jesus was born in Bethlehem Herod ordered that all the children under 2 should be killed.  So there were no-one there of his own age.  People probably knew he was Mary and Joseph's son, scripture records "and the eyes of all them were fastened upon him." (Luke 4 verse 20)  When Jesus read the scriptures he started by saying "today is the scriptures fulfilled in your eyes." (Luke 4 verse 21) The first message he brought was to his own people.  

The accuracy of scriptures.  God breathed into the minds of men to bring the scriptures together.  The children of Israel went down into Egypt and God drew them out 430 years later.  Paul refers to that in Galatians 3 verse 17.  Exodus 12 verse 41 says "even the selfsame day all the hosts of the Lord went from the land of Egypt.  God made sure it was the exact day.  Think of Daniel and the great prophecies given to him.  70 weeks or 70 x 7 years = 490 years in total.  "After threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off." (Daniel 9 verse 26) Chapter 9 verse 25 "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. "  This prophecy was given to King Cyrus at that time.  Scholars can work the days out and it brings you forward to Palm Sunday.  In the last part of the prophecy 7 years are still to be fulfilled and they are known as "the days of Jacob's trouble. "  In Revelation we see that split in two lasting 3 1/2 years each.  God's prophecies always come to pass.  We are living in a day when many reject God's prophecies  The Lord's return is prophesied in scriptures.  No day is given in scriptures.  It has been prophesied that the whole world will know of Christ for themselves.  It has been prophesied that the world will mock Christians - 2 Peter 3 verse 4.  "Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. " The Lord's concept of time is different than that of ours. How then shall the scripture be fulfilled?  The greatest day in history for man was the crucifixion of Christ Jesu but the battle was won in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was arrested.  What agony he suffered that night. To be the sin bearer for you and me.  He sweat great drops of blood.  

How then shall the scripures be fulfilled? Isaiah 53 "who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? "  Verses 3 - 10.  Our Lord suffered because of our transgression.  "And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death" a direct reference to Joseph of Arimathea who took Jesus' body and buried it in his own grave.  Psalm 22 verse 8 shows how people would mock and say he trusted in the Lord let him deliver himself.  Psalm 34 tells us much about the crucifixion, that his bones would not be broken (verse 20).  Peter got it right in Acts 2 verse 23.  "Him being delivered by the determined counsel and forknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Peter was proving that God was in control.  One day the Jews tried to stone Jesus but it had to be the shedding of blood to satisfy the divine justice of God. Jesus' death was planned by God.  Jesus died on the cross and cried "it is finished".  At that exact moment the High Priest was actually finished the last offering of the sacrifice of lambs in the temple.  That was for all time and eternity, there was no need for any more sacrifices.  Jesus cried with a loud voice the bible tells us at the end of his life.  No man at the end of his life can cry with a loud voice.  Jesus' cry was heard throughout all the land.  It was predicted that he would cry "I thirst" and would be given vinegar to drink (Psalm 69 verse 21).  In Isaiah 700 years before Jesus was born it was prophesied he would be born (Isaiah 7 verse 14 and chapter 9 verse 6).  Amos 9 verse 15 tells us the Jews will return to their own land never more to be pulled up.  It was predicted that the desert in Israel would blossom and that is happening today (Isaiah 35 verses 1 and 2).  In 1967 the 6 day war occured in Israel.   Israel defeated 3 Arab armies, gained territory 4 times its original size and became the preeminent military power in the region.  God was behind it all.  No other country has suffered as much as Israel as.  At just 0.2% of the worlds population the Jews are small (16 million of the 8 billion worldwide).  They are the sixth country in the world to develop nuclear weapons. They are top for technology developments in the world.  What particular event was the most prophesied in scripture? The first coming of Christ.  God wants you to understand what took place at Calvary.  His son was made a sacrifice for sin to satisfy divine justice.  God is in control of all the events of the world.  Jesus did die for you and I.  His sacrificial death was to satisfy divine judgment.  "Heaven and earth willl pass away but my words shall not pass away." (Matthew 24 verse 35). There is a heaven and a hell.  Are you prepared for that? There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.  The only way to be prepared - God made a promise in his word - it is through the work of the Saviour.  You need to confess your sin and repent, look to Jesus tonight.

The meeting between Gideon and the angel

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 14 MAY 2023 am.

JUDGES 6 VERSES 11 – 23

Maybe today you are sitting thinking of a day in the past when you knew God’s hand in situations.  Today it is dark, and you cannot see or know the experience of God.  In Gideon’s day it was dark.  The enemy had come down and taken the crop.  In a physical, spiritual and mental state.  Satan robs us today of our peace and all that is good, but God will raise up a deliverer.  Gideon was that man for Israel.  From this scripture let’s compare ourselves today.  God is in our midst.  Maybe the answer is for a fresh challenge from God today.

The most unlikeliest of meetings.  Gideon had gone out under the cover of darkness, reaped a number of sheaves, gathered them in to the winepress and was threshing them.  Quietly he did his work.  He couldn’t do it publicly.  In times past they would have threshed on top of a hill so that the wind could blow the chaff away.  Now no-one could that as the enemy would have plundered the wheat for themselves.  Gideon was trying to do a small part to keep his family alive.  God looks for the individual doing something for him today.  Perhaps if you had lived at this time and were asked ‘can God raise up a deliverer?’ you might have had your doubts.  We are living in similar dark times.  We feel God is not moving.  Perhaps we feel that God has left us.  The people in Gideon’s day were in total despair.  In Gideon’s own home there was an idol to Baal.  You might say there was no chance of God raising up such a man.  The memory of what Deborah and Barak had achieved was just a distant memory.  Those who looked back to such times were laughed at.  They probably said they didn’t need to look constantly to the past, they needed a person for this day and the future.  Gideon hadn’t much education, but God came to him one day.  God can use any one of us, we just need to be willing.  Think of Samuel who as a young boy opened and closed the temple doors each day.  One night he heard God’s voice speaking directly to him.  Or think of the little boy with his lunch.  He gave it to the disciples one day and I am sure he wondered how so little could be used to feed the vast crowd that gathered around Jesus.  Paul says “but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea and things which are not to bring to nought things that are. That no flesh should glory in his presence.” (1 Corinthians 1 verse 27)  That is why God uses someone like you and me.  Oswald Chambers said, “if you think that God is using you, he is not.”  He uses us whenever we feel like Gideon or the boy sitting in the crowd, asking us ‘what is this among so many.’  We could say the same when it came to the fulfilment of the promise in Genesis 3, the very first promise of the gospel.  “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  I will give the very best heaven has – my Son.  He will come down as flesh and will take the sin of the world on himself.  He will bruise the heel of Satan.  Think of when this was fulfilled.  It came through a young girl called Mary.  Not into the palace or through someone of popularity.  A city named Nazareth and the virgin’s name was Mary.  Jesus was laid in a manger.  God’s promise was fulfilled.  God can do it again that we might be his vessels to be used today.  As Jesus looked around him one day, he saw the harvest field white unto harvest.  He said those words as they were coming out of Samaria.  The people knew he was the Promised One.  When did they hear about him?  From a woman at a well who met Jesus.  That great revival began there – the most unlikeliest of places.

It was also an unexpected meeting.  Gideon didn’t know when God would come to him.  God had turned his back on his people or so Gideon thought.  He didn’t realise that God had withdrawn his power from his people.  Don’t we hear people asking, “where is God?” when something happens.  God has been set aside today, out of people’s thinking.  They have no time for God.  Gideon was doing what he could.  He defied the enemy by going out at night to bring in the sheaves to thresh.  Quietly feeding his family. You and I are to do what we can for our families.  We cannot save them.  I am sure there are people we would love to see inside God’s house.  That is the burden we have today.  We need to do what we can, however.  Are we seeking to get them under God’s word, to bring them in, to hear God’s word?  Zacchaeus climbed up into the tree.  He never knew Jesus would stop with him and invite himself back to his house.  God comes in during unexpected times.  For 40 years Moses had attended the sheep in the desert.  A routine job every day taking them out to pasture and water.  It was a far cry from the days in Egypt in a palace.  He knew he would lead the Israelites out of Egypt but for 40 years he was set aside.  All that ambition was forgotten about.  At 80 years of age, he takes his flock out as usual.  Something happened that day, something that was unexpected.  He saw a bush burning.  God spoke from that bush.  Do you expect God to speak to you today?  To move in a way never done before in your life.  Let’s not give up but live each day expecting God to.  Without faith it is impossible to please God.  Diligently seek God today.

It was an unannounced meeting.  He was trying to save the crop from the enemy when the angel appeared. He was startled and then this person spoke to him.  God didn’t announce it beforehand.  No flashing lights, no earthquakes, no dark clouds.  God doesn’t announce anything to you.  He comes unexpectantly.  The 2 on the Emmaus Road were making their way from Jerusalem.  They were talking of all the things that had taken place.  One joined with them.  He listened to their conversation and asked them questions, but they didn’t recognise it was the Lord himself.  God comes in the quietness and stillness.  Elijah in the cave came out to the entrance.  He was looking for God.  A great wind blew, then an earthquake and a fire but God was not in any of these.  He came to Elijah in a still small voice.  Sometimes we look to the big things.  All the glitter and razzamatazz.  Sometimes it can be just in the normal everyday of getting up and reading God’s word that he speaks to us.

It was an unsettled meeting.  He was going to face his fears.  God gives a hunger and thirst in our lives.  He has a task just for you. Remember when you were a sinner and God came to you.  He forgave you, showed you the cross.  Didn’t he do that with Mary?  Settled in Nazareth and the angel came to tell her she would bare the Saviour of the world.  Moses saw the burning bush and heard God’s voice.

It was an unmistakable meeting.  Gideon would look to that day when he heard God’s voice.  Are you looking for that today?  When he presented his sacrifice, the angel put forth his staff and fire lit up the flesh and unleavened cakes – verse 21.

Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 7 MAY 2023 pm

LUKE 23 VERSES 39 - 43

Over the past week I have been listening to people interviewed on the Mall in London.  They were asked why they came.  Some said it was for the atmosphere, others said they wanted to get as close as possible to see the King as he passed by.  It took me back to Isaiah chapter 6 when Isaiah came into the temple.  King Uzziah had died and Isaiah sees something he had never seen before.  He saw the Lord high and lifted up.  He realised that he was a man with unclean lips.  I thought of the words in chapter 6 verse 5 "for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts."  Simeon in the temple when Jesus was presented said "now lettest thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word." (Luke 2 verse 29)  Simeon was ready and willing to step out into eternity.  Here we see this man on the cross beside the Lord.  What a look he had.  You and I, we might look at our lives and compare them with others.  We know we should not compare our lives with anyone else's but the person we want to compare our lives with tonight is Christ.

Here was a man who was seeing now the results of his life.  He had been judged and condemned - verse 41.  He acknowledged that he had listened to those who nailed Christ to the cross.  He had heard the Roman soldiers laugh and mock and jeer as they put Jesus on that cross, as they drew lots for his garment.  He had heard the High Priest conclude that Jesus was an imposter.  This thief rebuked the other thief when he said "we are here because of what we have done but this man has done nothing amiss."  Life had caught up with him.  The sentence had fallen on him.  This is a man who had got caught up with the wrong crowd, perhaps coaxed into things.  We don't know more than the fact he was there as a result of his life.  "Sin will take you farther than you want to go.  Slowly, but wholly, taking control, Sin will leave you longer than you want to stay, Sin will cost you more that you want to pay."  Sin will result in separation from God.  Achan in the battle of Jericho was told not to take any of the spoils from the battle of Jericho but when he saw the silver, the gold, the Babylonish garment he just had to have them.  One by one the people were singled out until he was found to be the culprit.  Your sins will find you out.  Moses made the decision one day to no longer be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.  He left behind a life of absolute luxury - why - to become associated with the people of God.  He knew the life in the palace would only last for a season and he would rather enjoy the afflictions of God.  Sin lasts for a season and the result is death.

The thief is hanging on the cross listening to the other thief and others.  He was turning his attention to the Lord.  He was now looking outward to the Lord.  The Holy Spirit begins to take a dealing with us as we come into his presence.  God is turning a spotlight on our lives.  The reality was setting in for this man.  Death was coming.  The wages of sin is death.  There is a physical death, a spiritual death but also an eternal death.  Spirilltual death is when we are cut off, separated from God.  If you die in that position it wcoculd be eternal death.  Somehow we cannot grasp that.  It means to close our eyes in this world, to step out into eternity, to be lost.  Hebrews 9 verse 27 "it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment."  The reality - an appointment is made for you and I.  It is made by the hands of God.  We don't know when it will be fulfilled.  Abraham speaking to Isaac said "behold now I am old and I know not the day of my death."  He couldn't cancel it.  Paul said "for I am now ready to be offered, the day of my departure is at hand."  That is the reality.  Balaam was called on by the King of Moab to curse the people coming from Egypt into the Promised Land.  The King was concerned that if this people settled he would be destroyed.  Balaam said in Numbers 23 verse 10 "let me die the death of the righteous."  He knew that life would end "and let my last end be like his."  We have to live the life of the righteous, we need to come to the Lord, repenting of our sin, trust in Christ who died to take away our sins.  Romans 5 verse 19 "for as by one man's disobedience many wer made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."  There is only one way to be made righteous - through the blood of Christ.  You have to come tonight, make your way to Calvary, acknowledge what he has done.  The pain, separation he bore on that cross - all for you and I.  Balaam had a great hunger in his soul.  When this man looked at the righteous he knew something about them was different.  The Philippian jailer knew that same thought too.  He looked at the righteous and wanted to die that death.

Not only pondering the results and reality but the reasoning he was now making.  Verse 40.  Before this he was like the other thief and the crowd, calling out to the Lord.  Something happened to him.  Reality began to hit him.  He knew the results of a sinful life.  He was now beginning to reason within himself.  He was beginning to ask himself where would he spend eternity?  Maybe he had never heard these things before.  Maybe he had heard of Christ's ministry to the crowd one day.  Now he is face to face with eternity.  He is about to step out into God's eternity knowing within himself this life is not the end.  There is something more than this.  A heaven to gain and a hell to shun.  He realised he had sinned and he was suffering the just reward for his sins.  This man beside him had done nothing amiss.  "Does thou not fear God?"    He is beginning to see Christ as the King of a kingdom.  He is wondering where this kingdom begins.

Notice the request he makes.  "Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."  Like the prodigal son after wasting his life he sees the results of his wasting.  He is sitting watching the pigs eat and asks himself "if I was to arise and go back to my fathers house, even if he gave me only a servants position I would be better off."  He goes to his father and tells him "I have sinned against you, please accept me as your servant."  When Jesus passed by Bartimaeus he cried out and Jesus asked him what he wanted him to do for him.  He replied "that I might receive my sight".  A simple request - is that your request for salvation?

 The reassurance this man will seek.  Verse 43.  Look what he said to this poor lost sinner, a man about to go out into eternity - "today thou shalt be with me in paradise."  That man was saved just as he closed his eyes in death.  Don't leave it too long, too late to get saved, to come to Christ, to make it up with the Lord.  Jesus gave this man reassurance and it is yours for the taking tonight too.

The King

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 7 MAY 223 AM

1 SAMUEL 16 VERSES 1 – 13

We are turning this morning to this portion of scripture with the thought on our minds of the king.  We want to get our eyes on the God of heaven who was working behind the scenes.  We are told life is like a race – Hebrews tells us to keep our eyes on him, the author and finisher of our faith.  When we do that we cannot go astray.  On the past 2 Sundays we were thinking about Gideon.  The children of Israel had rebelled against God and the enemy had come in and destroyed the land.  The Israelites were in fear of their lives so they went to hide in the mountains and dens.  God was working in the background.  We need to keep that in our minds – in our lives, in our fellowship, in our province and in our nation.  God is still working in the background.  He is control of all the situations happening in our world today.  God heard their cries and he brought forth a Gideon.  He is working things out for our good.  Let us think through this story of how God is working in the background.

 

The sovereignty of God’s calling.  God is working out his plans.  Israel had come through the time of judgment.  A dark time in Israel.  God blessed his people but then Israel turned away from God.  They became complacent, went more and more into sin.  They cried unto God and he heard them.  God delivered them out of that situation.  Samuel was now old in age.  He didn’t live up to his reputation.  The people wanted a king, one who they could look up to, to lead them into battle.  Samuel felt hurt about what was being asked of him.  God gave him an answer to that problem – “they haven’t rejected you but they have rejected me.”  God knew the situation and he gave them a king in Saul.  He was a man after man’s own liking not God’s.  God told Samuel “I have provided me a king”.  God is working in the background.  No-one else knew about this.  God was working out his plans, overseeing the details.  How apt we are to get our eyes on men in certain situations but man will fail us and let us down.  David proved that – he said in Psalm 142 “no man cared for my soul.”  Something happened in his life.  He likened it to being in a horrible pit, a place he couldn’t get out of.  He was sinking deeper and deeper every day.  He looked around him and no-one was able to help him.  Sometimes we get ourselves into the situation where we can see no help.  No-one has the answer for us.  Psalm 40 “the Lord inclined his ear unto me, he heard my cry, he reached down to where I was and he lifted me out of that miry clay.”  There is nothing too hard for the Lord.  “He set my feet upon a solid rock.”  That is what some need too.  Looking in the wrong direction for your help but it should be the Lord whom we look to.  God is sovereign over all things.  Samuel went down with a little oil – verse 6.  As Jesse’s sons began to pass before Samuel he wondered which one the Lord had chosen.  As he looked at the first son he thought surely this is the Lord’s anointed.  God spoke to him and told him he was looking at the outward appearance but he looked at the heart.  God is looking at our hearts today.  What does he see?  Someone who has never trusted Christ for himself?  Think of God putting all the stars in the heavens.  When Jesus stepped up in the boat he rebuked those waves and winds.  We see Jesus’ sovereign power over the cleansing of peoples sicknesses or the blindness of a man sitting on the road to Jericho.  Or in the raising of Lazarus from the dead after being in the grave for 4 days.  Let’s not put our trust in man today.  It should be based on Christ not thinking we know better and best.  Samuel put his confidence in God.  It is the Lord who sets up kingdoms and brings them down.  Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2 saw a vision of different metals.  Daniel in his interpretation told him that God had given him the power and prominence.  In chapter 4 when Nebuchadnezzar went out into the gardens he declared “is not this great Babylon that I have built.”  When those words were in his mouth God brought him down.  “The king’s heart is in the hands of the Lord, as the rivers of water he turneth it withersoever he will.” (Proverbs 21 verse 1)  We need to pray for those in authority.  It is a challenge to us.  We should pray for kings and those who rule over us.  Remember those who are elected into government as well as the king on the throne.  Pray that God will bring the right ones into authority.  God’s sovereign hand in the background.

 

The secrecy of God’s calling.  Jesse knew nothing in this decision by God and his  sons don’t know anything about it either.  David was out under a tree.  He knew nothing of it.  God was working it all out secretly.  God was calling Samuel in the quietness of the night in the temple.  Samuel was just a little boy serving in the temple.  He got up in the morning and opened the doors to the temple and closed them at night.  He also attended to the needs of Eli the priest during the day.  He knew nothing of God’s plan for his life.  God spoke to him in the night time. God was working and no-one knew about it.  Not even Eli the priest himself.  Samuel was the mighty prophet of God.  God was working in the background.  He was working in this young mans life.  The sheepfold was his training ground, away from the public gaze.  Only a young boy.  He seen the hand of God in his life.  He could testify to Saul the king of the night when the bear came and God delivered him.  And when the lion came God also delivered him.  It was his responsibility to look after his father’s sheep.  Surely it is a reflection of Jesus and the work he came to do.  He was guarding the sheep of Israel.  He was doing his Father’s work on the cross of Calvary.  He was showing God’s love to the world.  He was showing obedience to his Father as well, providing a way of salvation for us all.  Jesus said “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” (John 17 verse 4) Have you accepted that today?  David in his obscurity was being fit for this task in the secret place.  Joseph was only 17 years of age.  Sometimes we cannot understand the road God takes us down.  We can allow the devil to have a foothold in our lives.  Maybe you are going through a hard time.  Remember when Joseph went out to meet his brothers.  They rose against him and sold him as a slave.  He was sold into Egypt and the house into which he was brought into, the wife told lies about him.  He didn’t understand why the world was turning against him.  He was cast into prison for something he didn’t do.  God was working in the background bringing him down into Egypt to be the second in command.  A position of respect and authority.  The Israelites were 400 years in Egypt.  Moses was 40 years in obscurity.  God was preparing him to go down to speak to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out.  In the story of Esther we see Haman who hated the Jewish people.  He made a vow and had the king sign it.  He wanted all the Jewish nation completely wiped out.  God was working in the background to work it all out.  God brought about the demise of Haman through a girl called Esther.  She would become a queen and God would deliver the nation through her.  Haman was so wicked he had planned the gallows to kill Mordecai.  God worked it out that Haman would be on those gallows not Mordecai.  He was working secretly behind the scenes.

 

The simplicity of God’s work.  Some say David is about 16 years of age at this point.  He was out keeping the sheep, counting them, looking after them, feeding them, taking them to the cool water that no wild animal comes down to the flock and take them away.  Maybe we are not where we should be today.  God wants to guide us into the right place.  He is working out his plan.  They never expected this lad.  God spoke to Samuel about him. This is the one I have chosen.  God didn’t look upon the gifts of David but looked at his faithfulness.  Samuel calls for the young man to be brought.  When David was brought in Samuel knew he was God’s appointed man.  God is not looking for great talents but faithfulness today.  David was not perfect by any means.  He was always ready to admit his wrong, to come to repentance and trust in God, to bring him back to God.  We are only called to be faithful today.  We are not judged on our success but our faithfulness.  Caleb in the Old Testament earned the right to the land he would possess not because of his strength and ability.  His testimony was – he wholly followed the Lord.  The only testimony I want to have before God is that I wholly followed the Lord.

 

The significance here that God has.  David was to be the king of Israel.  God would carry out his plan and Samuel poured the oil on David.  Samuel anointed David for that task.  David was taken out from the family.  There is a separation. The oil poured on David speaks of the Holy Spirit.  Our ministry needs that Holy Spirit today.  God has a task for you that only you can carry out for him.