The Christian Conduct

 

LIMAVADY BAPTIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 28 APRIL 2024 MR JOSHUA WATSON

1 PETER 2

 

1 Peter majors on the topic of suffering and how to deal with it in the Christian life.  Peter wrote this letter to comfort his readers in their trouble but also to show them that Christ has a purpose in their suffering.  This was something he experienced himself.  As believers we set Christ before us an example to follow but in that example we see injustice, pain, suffering.  In this epistle Peter encourages the believes that this aspect of Christ’s example is not something to shy away from but rather embracing it.  Isn’t that an unique challenge to consider today - how we are to act when the going gets difficult.  Peter was the man who when the going got difficult cut off the ear of the servant.  When the tough got difficult he denied Jesus 3 times in quick succession. Through the inspiration of God Peter wrote this epistle to give hope through suffering.  Someone once said “to hope for something you must have been in a position to suffer for something.”  Peter does not give a theory of suffering or of hope but rather he gives an insight into his personal experience.  There are 5 sections in this chapter I want us to consider.

 

Verses 1 – 3 our desire. 

A simple comparison is made in these verses – one bad and one good.  Things we should seek to do and those we should seek to avoid.  Verse 1 “the laying aside” or putting away, getting rid of.  A number of things are listed - malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies and all evil speakings.  Why have these 5 sins been chosen when other sins such as pride, sexual sin and heresy are usually focused on?  All seem to directly relate to how we interact with others in our day to day lives.  Are we malicious to others, seek to call others out?  Are we deceitful to others, do we lie and cut others up?  Have we hypocrisy with our friends?  Do we come to church on Sunday and most of the week don’t live like that at all?  Do we envy what others have and we don’t have?  Do we speak evil of someone, slandering others?  As we go through this list we realise it describes life in this world.  We are often surrounded by these things and they become normal behaviour.  We can be sure that if we can do what the bible says and set these things aside then we will be noticed by others and changed.  Notice this is not an active command – it doesn’t say avoid these things but it says set them aside.  We already have the possession of these things.  These are the things we need to get rid of.  Maybe they feel alien to us but if we put examples against them they become more recognisable of a sudden.  Our desire is not to partake or interact in such a way and every believer would agree to that.  No believer would desire these things at all and we will try to avoid them like the plagues.  Will we  leave them all aside?  What should our desire be?  Verse 2 tells us what it should be - God’s word.  It is interesting that Peter has a list of things to avoid and only one thing to desire.  Simply that is all we need.  Do we desire God’s word?  To read it, to understand it, to let it shape our lives?  To answer that honestly it would lead to a certain amount of guilt.  Maybe there is excitement at times as we read but other times it is more difficult, maybe the excitement was not there.  There are things that distract us away from it.  Given this challenge along with other desires which are pulling us one way or another.  Are we desiring God’s word?  Are we prioritising God’s word?  Psalm 1 verse 1 “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”  Peter speaks of the desire for God’s word whereas for the Psalmist his delight is in God’s word.  One speaks of what should drive us to pick up God’s word while the other what will happen when we read God’s word.  Not something boring or habitual but rather something to read that we should delight in.   “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea sweeter than honey to my mouth.” (Psalm 119 verse 103) Someone once said there are 5 levels to studying God’s word:

 

Firstly Listening to it read and preached from.  An important step for the believer.

Secondly reading – spending time reading a chapter every day.

Thirdly studying which is different that reading because you are using paper and pen to work out themes and an understanding of the message.

Fourthly memorising – usually we leave this to children but actively committing God’s word to memory.  It is an important activity for any believer to be fully equipped with God’s word.

Fifthly meditating – when we done all these things then we can meditate on god’s words and go about our days digesting it and realising the depths of its meaning and the application for our lives.

 

As you think of those levels what level have you reached?  At the one end of the scale are you meditating on God’s word during the day or are you simply listening?

 

Verses 4 - 8 Our cornerstone

We are used to the idea of building.  Peter is directing our attention to 2 things – smaller living stones verse 4 “To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.”  Those who have repented and been saved by God and part of the family of God.  A family also makes us the building of God.  Secondly the cornerstone representing the Lord himself.  He is the stone the builders rejected.  Those who were supposed to be the experts rejected him.  John said “he came unto his own and his own received him not.”  This stone is the foundation of the church of God.  When we come to Christ, we come to the one who is our foundation stone.  The one who can build our hope and life on.  So many will ask us “why do you talk of this one man so much?  Why are you fixated on him?”  Because Christ is our foundation.  Upon him we live and breathe, our eternal destination is secure in him.  Our life is not founded on our families, on religion, on Christian friends, only on the Lord Jesus Christ. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.  Do you realise the reality of this today?  Too many live a life that appears well founded but when one of those foundation stones fall all else fails.  When tragedy strikes, when people cause discouragement or we are mocked for our faith they can fall away.    Has their faith been founded on Christ?  When we get saved we are saved for time and eternity but we need to make sure that the time since then that we are building on the one foundation, that is sure and steadfast.

 

Verse 9 and 10 Our position 

Peter starts off by saying “But ye are” and then lists a number of things we are as believers.  People’s opinions of us intrigues us.   We would love to know what others say of us.  Alfred Nobel had such an opportunity to hear what others said of him.  He lived a life of scientific inventions and making a great fortune of money.  His most significant invention was dynamite.  When his brother died a paper ran an article thinking it was Alfred that had died.  He was able to read his own obituary.  What he read horrified him so much – the newspaper said “the man who made it possible to kill more people quickly than anyone else who had ever lived while alive.”  He made 2 discoveries.  This was all he would be remembered by but this was not what he wanted to be remembered by.  He went on to establish the most famous award for outstanding achievements in literature, peace, economics, medicine and the sciences.  Everyone is familiar with the Nobel prizes today but relatively few know how he made his fortune.  Peter in this chapter is dealing with how God feels about his children.  Firstly “a chosen generation.”  In the Old Testament God’s chosen people was Israel.  In the New Testament it was still the Jews who were the chosen people, God had not finished with them yet.  God also had the church.  We became part of the chosen generation when we came to Christ.  The people Peter was writing to were suffering persecutions.  They would be scattered throughout the world, making them feel nobodies.  Their enemies wanted them removed from the face of he earth.  Peter reminds them that they are part of his chosen generation. Secondly “a royal priesthood”. Christ calls us a royal priesthood, children of the king, we part of his family, adopted by God.  The King of Kings calls me his own.  As heirs we enjoy privileges, spiritual ones today.  “A Priesthood.”  In the Old Testament priests had access to God through the Holy of Holies.  When Jesus died the temple veil was split in 2 symbolising that no longer was it only the priest who had access to God.  We have access to God to come into his presence.  “A holy nation.”  We have a holy standing before God.  As we look at the church today we might say “I am not holy.”  We are not holy because of our own righteousness but because of the righteousness of Christ and what he did for us at the cross of Calvary.  Philippians 3 verse 9 “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”  Christ calls me and you a holy nation, a peculiar people, a people of his own.  Peter is writing to people who have suffered for their faith, who lived in fear of persecution. Peter is saying in Christ you are a people of his own.  If life buffets you, challenges you, remember we are a people of his own.  Keith and Kristyn Getty have a song entitled  “I am not my own.”

 

The one who made the heavens, made my heart and soul

Before I drew a breath, I was loved and known

I am His creation, the Maker’s masterpiece

And all that he designs will be done in me.

 

My body is a temple of the living God

I’ll worship in this house that His blood has bought

As I bear His image, oh, may I not profane

The holiness I hold in this earthly frame.

I belong to the Lord, oh, I am not my own

I belong to the Lord, I am not my own

I will honour Him for this I know

I belong to the Lord, I am not my own

 

And if He has redeemed me, I am not my own

The measure of my worth is His love alone

He declares my standing and he declares my state

So I will know myself by the name He gave

 

I belong to the Lord, oh, I am not my own

I belong to the Lord, I am not my own

I will honour Him for this I know

I belong to the Lord, I am not my own

 

I am not my own and now my heart is free

O Maker, come and make what You will of me

There is nothing broken that You cannot repair

So Lord, I leave my life in Your loving care (I know that)

 

I belong to the Lord, oh, I am not my own

I belong to the Lord, I am not my own

I will honour Him for this I know

I belong to the Lord, I am not my own (oh, I am not my own)

 

I will honour Him for this I know

I belong to the Lord, I am not my own

 

Christ has taken ownership of us.  Because of that he has called us a peculiar people, a people of his own. Our position.  All we can really do is as verse 9 says praise him for the blessing to be in Christ, to tell of Christ’s position, to be in Christ, to be in no condemnation.  Do you realise where you stand today?  The world fights for power, for privilege, for position.  They would do anything to get it but they will never get it through their own efforts.  It is not anything we have done but we can say today “the king of Kings calls me his own.”

 

Verses 11 – 20 our witness 

There are 3 things from these verses that are particularly challenging.  First honest behaviour verse 12 “having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”  I am sure you have heard it said “you cannot worry what others think about you.”  We see many live their lives in a carefree attitude and they don’t worry about how their life, language, actions are perceived by others.  As Christians we should be worried about what others think of us.  Our life, our language, our actions are perceived by others.  We are a testimony of what it is to be a child of God, to have that position which we have thought of.  Is our behaviour honest among others because those others can be spoken to by our lives?  Secondly, submissive behaviour – verse 13 “submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake; whether it be to the king, as supreme.”  We should submit to kings and those in authority.  Then verse 15 says “For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.”  We should be doing our best to live as part of the laws of society.  Verse 16 “as free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness but as the servants of God.”  We have this great liberty, freedom as believers but we shouldn’t misuse it, that we can do as we like.  We are still expected to submit, a rebellious attitude shall not be part of a believers life.  Thirdly patient behaviour – verse 20 “for what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”  If we suffer patiently for something we have actually done wrong then there isn’t much glory in that.  If we suffer for something wrongly and we take it patiently then that is acceptable to God. When we suffer injustice we should suffer in silence.  Verse 21 “for even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.”  When ye were called suffering was part of the deal.  Someone once said “Christians shall suffer the same tragedies as non-Christians so the world may see the difference to see what our witness is like.”  What a challenge there is in these verses, there is so much to work on.  There is also so much help at hand. For the Lord has provided us the Holy Spirit to help us to live the spiritual life in a way in which is obedient to his word.

 

Finally our example 

These verses show us our example as we try to live our life as believers.  It is nothing new to try to live more like Christ, to be more like him each day.  It is only through the help of the Holy Spirit that we can decide to do that.    We don’t think of this particular aspect of Christ’s example.  Christ is the example in how we should live.  He is also our example in how we expect life to go.  When we suffer for the sake of our faith we have Christ as our example to follow.  Philippians 3 verse 10 “I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”  Paul wanted to know what it was to suffer for the sake of Christ.  Someone once said “we share our joys with many but our sorrows are shared with an intimate few.”  Paul wanted to be disadvantaged for the sake of Christ, to be marginalised and ridiculed for then he would have fellowship in his sufferings.  Then he would know more of his precious Lord.  What about justice?  In verse 23 we see how Christ delights with it.  “Who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.”  He committed himself to him who judges righteously.  To let God deal with any mistreatment.  Romans 12 verse 9 “vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord.”

 

I want to conclude with verses 21 and 22 “For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.”  If we are going to place ourselves at that cross that day and imagine being one of the crowd what would we see?  A wounded man.  Christ’s back was like a ploughed field, furrowed deep.  He was wounded for our transgressions.  Behold how they mocked him.  They placed a crown of thorns and a purple robe.  Behold also a rejected man.  Here the cry go up “away with him, crucify him”.  He was also a rejected man.  Isaiah would say “he was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him.  He was despised and we esteemed him not.”  Many in life face rejection and many face it in death but no one will have faced the rejection he faced in that crowd that day.  All this was done to a man who did no sin neither was guilt found in his mouth.  This is the loving and gracious one we serve.  The foundation stone who we give honour and thanks to today.

 

One day when heaven was filled with his praises

One day when sin was as black as could be

Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin

Dwelt amongst men my example is he.

Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved and thy house

 

LIMAVADY BAPTIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 21 APRIL 2024 – MR JOSEPH KENNOWAY

Acts 16 verses 16 – 40

Many people today are asking questions, important questions – what is the purpose of life? Why am I here?  There has to be more to life than this.  The bible has many questions – verse 31 “what must I do to be saved? And they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.”  There is only one salvation, only one way to be saved.  Simply trusting Christ as Saviour for our souls.  The Lord deals with us as individuals, in a personal individual way.  No 2 conversions are ever the same.  Some come to Christ suddenly.  Others come forcefully.  None is ever the same.  Children bought up in Christian faith - there is nothing dramatic about their coming to the Lord.  The Lord tenderly opened their hearts and drew them to himself.  In Acts 16 there are different types of conversion.  The gospel has penetrated into Europe for the very first time.  The very first convert was a woman, Lydia - verse 14 "whose heart the Lord opened.”  Nothing dramatic about Lydia’s conversion.  The Lord simply calls and she answered the gospel call.  Then we have the conversion of another lady.  She was demon possessed.  She sold herself to the devil.  He had control of her life.  She was in a desperate situation.  Many people are like that today.  They are full of the devil.  They are bound and fettered by the evil one.  Humanly speaking there is no way out.  Demonic control but there is power in the gospel.  There is hope in the gospel.  There is life in the gospel. There is salvation in the gospel.  “He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.”  This woman was in a desperate situation.  “And It came to pass as we went to prayer a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us.”  A desperate situation but she was not too far gone from the Lord.  One touch from the Lord was all she needed.  Life would never be the same again.  Verse 18 “And this did she many days.  But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.  And he came out the same hour.”  2 conversions so different, both saved, wonderfully saved by Jesus.  I have known people who have listened to testimonies, dramatic testimonies and as they have begun to listen they say “I didn’t get saved in that way.  It is not how the Lord dealt with me. Maybe I am not saved at all.”  It is not the circum stances surrounding our salvation but the grace of God that saves us.  Jesus died for me the bible says “For by grace are ye saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9)  The Lord is wonderfully blessing here in Philippi.  When you have the blessing of God you have the opposition of the devil.  It happened here in Philippi.  The devil doesn’t like people getting saved.  He isn’t interested in churches that want people to get saved.  Christians have an active role in seeing people getting saved.  The bible says “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5 verse 8)  As believers we need to be careful.  The devil will fight us all the way.  “Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.”  The devil likes to distract the Christian – he is determined, he despises Christians and he will discourage them.  The devil also likes to divide the Christians but we have overcoming power in the blood of the Lamb.  We will overcome by the power of the Lamb and the word of testimony.  Satanic opposition came to Philippi – verses 19 and 20.  We would love to turn this town upside down and inside out.  The Lord is able to do it.  “He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.” (Ephesians 3 verse 20)  Satanic opposition came to Philippi – what did they do?  Protest?  Petition?  No – they had a prayer meeting.  The Lord is blessing in Philippi and it is an answer to prayer.  The prayer of God’s people.  This is the third mention of prayer in the chapter.  Look at verse 13 – there was a prayer meeting outside the city and Lydia was converted.  In verse 16 they were going to prayer and a demonic lady was saved.  In verse 25 the Philippian jailer and family were saved.  Two men, Paul and Silas were in this Philippian jail praying.  True faithful consistent praying is what counts in the Christian life.  Their lives counted for God.  Their lives were saturated in prayer.  God is “a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11 verse 6)  “Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4 verse 6)  “Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33 verse 3)  If you are ever going to turn this town upside down and inside out for God it will be in answer to prayer.  Prayer alone.  E M Bounds said “What the church needs today is not more and better machinery, not new organisations or more innovative methods but men whom the Holy Spirit can use – men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.  The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods but through men.  He does not show up on machinery but on men.  He does not annoint plans but men – men of prayer.”  Will you be such a man or such a woman?  Our spiritual lives are no greater than what we are on our knees.  Our spiritual barometer is measured by our prayer life.  Verse 26 – not only do we have 3 prayer meetings in this chapter but we have the first praise service in Europe.  Paul and Silas had been hammered for Christ, whipped for Christ, physically crushed for Christ.  What suffering is seen here in Philippi.  Verse 23.  2 faithful men of God.  Bad things can happen to good people.  Their only crime was loyalty to Christ, to the cross of Christ, to the gospel.  They are in prison and what do the Christians do when they suffer?  Maybe you are suffering today – you have the suffering of sickness.  You have a loved one who is sick.  Maybe it is a bereavement.  What do we do when we lose our loved ones?  Maybe it is the suffering of financial crisis.  What do you do when you go through that depressed, distressed, desperate situation?  Is there any hope and comfort for me?  Paul and Silas did not wallow and complain in their suffering.  They took a different path.  They lifted their eyes to heaven – to Jesus, the Lord.  He did not fail them.  “Whosoever offereth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God” (Psalm 50 verse 23)  There was an earthquake in Philippi.  When the 2 men prayed and sang the prisoners heard them.  There is no mention that the jailer heard them – perhaps he was like so many people today.  Disinterested.  Unconcerned.  Couldn’t care less about the gospel and their soul.  The Lord had to speak louder to the jailer because he wasn’t listening.  Maybe you are listening to the claims of Christ on your life.  He wants to come and enter your life and bring you to the foot of the cross.  Are you listening to the claims of Christ on your life?  What is your answer today?  The jailer was busy sleeping.  Verse 27.  God speaks to men and women in different ways.  No 2 conversions are the same.  This one was different and dramatic as any could possibly be.  The Philippians jailer wasn’t listening but he is listening now.  He thought all the prisoners had escaped.  He was in deep distress.  He was at rock bottom.  In a black hole.  He was feeling suicidal.  In verse 27 he drew out his sword and would have killed himself.  Suicide is so prevalent today.  Is there any way out?  There is even hope for the suicidal – it is in Jesus Christ.  Verse 28 “Paul cried with a loud voice saying Do thyself no harm for we are all here.”  There is hope in the gospel.  Every circumstance, every situation, every distressful thought, every black hole.  We need a Saviour in times like these.  We need an anchor – that is Jesus Christ.  There was household salvation promised in Philippi.  It was in an unusual place – a prison.  It was in an unusual person – a jailer ... and his family.  “What must I do to be saved? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”  Maybe you are not a Christian today.  Do you know how to be saved?  It is not head knowledge the Lord is looking for.  Even the devils believe and tremble.  It is believing that Jesus died for you, turning to him in repentance from your sins, asking him into your life and accepting him as your Saviour.  There are many we meet on the journey of life who we don’t realise are so close to trusting in Christ.  We want to be the last one who points a person to Christ, to be the last link in the chain but God sometimes uses us as only one more link on the chain.  The best thing you can do for your family is to be saved.  The best thing you can do for your community is to be saved.  The best thing you can do for your soul is to be saved.  The jailer was promised household salvation.  What an encouragement for those who have been prayed for over the years.  “It is no secret what God can do, what he has done for others he can do for you.”  God can give you forgiveness of sins, peace with God and an assurance of a home in heaven.

To know Christ

 

LIMAVADY BAPTIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 14 APRIL 2024 – PASTOR JOHN TAYLOR

Philippians 3 verses 1 – 14

One commentator on this book has said “it is an open window in to the apostles very heart.”  Within this letter we see how much this church meant to Paul.  He had a great love for them. He enjoyed their fellowship in the gospel.  Paul saw his relationship with them as a partnership.  They had helped him financially and great blessing resulted.  The Philippian church was founded in Acts 16.  It all began during Paul’s second missionary journey.  He had visited a number of churches and encouraged them in the Lord.  Paul however was not permitted to go into Asia.  He arrived at Troas and heard that great Macedonian call “come over and help us.”  Paul responded and visited that Roman colony and there God blessed his ministry.  God was working behind the scenes long before this time.  At a meeting outside the city Lydia attended a prayer meeting and was converted.  She and her whole household responded to the gospel message.  Her home became the base for the Philippian church.  All of this happened simply because the Lord opened the heart of one woman.  One household was committed to Christ.  One home became the basis for that little church in Philippi.  Never underestimate what God can do through one persons life, in any family, in any individual church.  Never underestimate your life as an individual.  You might say “I don’t have these gifts.”  If you are prepared to give yourself to Christ there is no telling what he can do in your life.   In verse 10 Paul sets out his heartfelt desire for his life.  That every single one of us should have.  He is speaking about Christ – “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.”  An important part of the Christian life and journey is fellowship.  That is why we meet together in the local church, in prayer and bible study.   Through knowing fellowship in any church we should also know the fellowship we can enjoy in our relationship in Christ.  There are 4 things about this verse and Paul’s heart.

 

A personal dimension – “that I may know him”.  Paul already knew the Lord as his Saviour.  Jesus’ love for him gave him his motive for his ministry, kept him going when things were difficult.  Paul’s account of how he came to know Christ is recorded several times in Acts.  On the road to Damascus he was converted to the Lord and the risen Christ – “that I may know him”.  Has he lost the assurance of his salvation?  Some people do the same.  Some haven’t walked with Christ as should have done.  If you put your faith in Christ all those years ago maybe you are wondering why you are doubting.  Plead Calvary!  Don’t doubt your standing in grace.  Paul didn’t do that.  “That I may know him.”  Do you know Christ personally?  Paul wanted to come to know him more and more.  Paul said previously “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  Paul knew, loved and served Christ.  There is a desire in his heart even though Christ was pre-eminent in every area of his life – “that I may come to know him by experience.”  He wanted his relationship with Christ to deepen, for spiritual growth to develop, for his relationship to be more meaningful as every day passed.  Do you know Christ in a personal way?  Have you ever repented of your sin and come before him, bowed the knee and said “Jesus Christ I take you as my Saviour today?”  You are missing out on the most wonderful experience anyone could ever know.   In verse 7 Paul said in order to achieve this he was willing and prepared to give up everything for Jesus Christ.  I am sure if you love the Saviour, enjoy an intimate relationship with him that you would love to know more about him.  Paul is encouraging you today to keep on going.  Keep on growing.  Don’t become stale.  Strive for a closer intimacy in your walk with Christ.  You might be asking “how do I do that?”  How do you get to know anyone?  You take time with them, you listen to them and you share with them.  In all those ways your relationship with that person becomes real, more meaningful.  With Jesus it is the same.  You need to spend time listening to his word and then in obedience follow it through.  Surely our pressures and problems today will draw us back to God more and more.  It is good to come to him and tell him, to ask him for more grace.  Grow to know God.  Grow to love him and you will reap great benefits in your life.  To deepen our faith he will bring us into a personal intimacy.

 

A powerful dimension – “and the power of his resurrection.”  Paul is not just saying I want to know him more powerfully in my whole life but I want to experience more and more of the power of the risen Christ in my life  That power was the resurrection power.  We have just come through Easter when we were thinking of the death of the Lord.  Chris died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried on the third day.  He rose again from the dead.  He is alive and alive for ever more  We can know him personally and intimately.  You can know the power of the risen Christ in your life day after day.  The power to live above sin.  That is what Paul wanted in his service.  To transform him, to make him more like Christ.  We all have our weaknesses.  That is what I need.  More power to live my life in a way that has a more meaningful impact on my family and in the world I live in.  Paul knew something of the power of Christ – “it is no longer I that liveth but Christ that liveth in me.”  What I need is more of the power of the risen Christ every day.  To live above sin.  To cope with all the temptations that life brings.  Not just going through the motions of life but to do it from the depth of my heart.  We need that in our lives, in our land and in our world.  We need that power in the pulpit and the pew.  Powerful living for witnessing, for serving.  That will only come when we lean to personally cultivate personal intimacy with Christ.  C H Spurgeon said if he had only one prayer in his life it was this “Lord send into thy church men filled with the Holy Ghost and with power.”

 

A painful dimension – “and the fellowship of his sufferings”.  To grow as a Christian, to seek that place of intimacy will never be achieved without pain and without difficulty.  You and I need to be under no illusion.  The Greek scholar said that the word “fellowship” means a joint participation in something.  Paul does not say he wants a share in the substitutionary sufferings of Christ on the cross because he would never understand what it meant for God the holy one to bear away our sin. Paul is talking about suffering here on earth for righteousness sake.  If every day Christians were called to rise up and suffer for Christ surely it would cost so much more.  It costs greatly to stand out for Christ in the face of discouragement.  In a day when the bible is being turned on its head to suit every whim. there comes a time when you have to stand on what the word of God says.  That will not be without its difficulty.  For Paul it cost him greatly to suffer – he was beaten to the point of death, shipwrecked, imprisoned for his faith. But what did he say?  “I count it an honour to suffer for Christ’s sake.”  Imagine saying that.  Sometimes we don’t understand what it means to suffer and sacrifice for the gospel.  To become uncomfortable in our lives and lifestyles.  We don’t know today what others come through for the sake of Christ.  Paul says “don’t become too comfortable that you lose sight of him.”  Many around the world are being asked to suffer for Christ.  Many Christians across our world are suffering today.  Churches are being burned, believers tortured and killed because of faith in Christ.  If you and I are going to take a stand for the word of God and the fundamentals of faith it will cost us.  Paul was willing to do that.  “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.” (C T Studd)

 

A practical dimension – “being made conformable unto his death.”  Paul wanted to get to the place where he would die to self and sin.  He wanted to get to the place in his experience of Jesus Christ that he would empty himself of everything that would hinder him.  His desire is for Christlikeness.  Conforming to Christ.  We ought to desire more and more of Christ.  That is the very reason why God has saved us.  The goal of the Christian life is true Christlikeness, a great conformity to Christ.  That would solve many of the problems today.  If we were to pray “let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me” what a difference it would make in this world.  Robert Murray McCheyne lived his life so much that people knew he was in the presence of Christ.  Such was his daily fellowship with Christ that he brought a great likeness of Christ wherever he went.  He said “it is not great talents that God blesses so much as a great likeness to Christ.”  Paul says of him “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.”  Get to know him.  Grow to love him.  Serve him whatever the cost.  Pray daily that you would become more like him.

 

 

A conscious sense of God's presence

 

LIMAVADY BAPTIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 7 APRIL 2024

2 SAMUEL 7 VERSES 18  - 29

I want you to notice in the opening verses of our reading there is a lovely scene and it begins with these words “Then went king David in and sat before the Lord.”  God wants to speak to us about entering into God’s presence.  If I was to ask you today what is missing in the lives of God’s people today what would you say?  It is also missing in our churches and in the pulpit.  A conscience sense of God’s presence.  We have been seminary conscious, church conscious, conference conscious but we can have all the meetings of the day yet not be God conscious.  If any of God’s people need something today it is to be God conscious, being conscious of God’s presence.  Proverbs 22 verse 4 “by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life.”  If anything is going to enrich the life of the believer it is a conscious sense of God.  This is something we all need – a personal experience of God’s presence.  David had this personal experience of God’s presence.  But not only a personal experience of God’s presence he has also a personal conscience of God’s presence.  The Psalmist could ask “where shall I flee from thy presence?”  Do we sense God’s presence, do we feel God’s presence in our lives today?  Job 23 verse 15 “I am troubled at thy presence.”  We have got to know the presence of God.  It would affect us if we did.  It would change our attitude.  It would give us a fear of God.  The church needs that fear to fall on us.  There is no fear of God today.  If anything is going to strike revival in the hearts of God’s people it is the fear of God.  We need a move of God amongst God’s people today.

Verse 22 – David noticed the greatness of God.  We need to grasp the greatness of our God – Deuteronomy 3 verse 24.  How our souls would be blessed, our spirits lifted if only we could grasp something of the Lord’s greatness.  There is so much to annoy us today.  So much to despair of, to get us down.  If only we could grasp the truth of the greatness of God.  We need to learn the sense of God’s presence.  To know the greatness of God.  Hudson Taylor woke up one day with a spirit of depression and despondence.  He was downhearted and near giving up on life.  He took his bible and got alone with God.  He said “if you are really there God come to me now, reveal yourself to me.”  His bible fell open at Psalm 48 verse 1 “great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.”  Maybe you are down today.  Maybe you are discouraged in your work.  Maybe you are wondering how you will face tomorrow.  It seems impossible to face.  God is greater than your problem.  God is greater than your sorrow.  God understands. 

David saw also the uniqueness of God.  Jeremiah 10 verse 6.  People forget that God ruleth in the kingdoms of men.  Isaiah 40 verse 15 “Behold the nations as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, he taketh up the isles s a very little thing.”.  He is unique as far as his power is concerned but he is unique as far as his pardon is concerned.  What a great God we have!  He delighteth in mercy.  Where would you be if he hadn’t forgiven you?  How many of Gods people are struggling with assurance today.  “Am I really saved?”  Micah 7 verse 19 “he has cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”  “As far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions.” Psalm 103 verse 12

David was conscious of the powerfulness of God – verse 22.  At the Red Sea after Moses had brought the people of Israel out of Egypt they were made aware of the powerfulness of God.  We see also the powerfulness of God in the resurrection.  What other God is like this?  God is in control of everything that is going on in this world, in your life.  As for God his ways are always perfect – not always pleasant but perfect. 

Verse 21 what we ought to need to do today – we need to get to know our God.  Getting alone with God, opening our bibles then God can really come to us.  Every meeting we hold cannot be substituted with getting alone with God.  We need to get God conscious again.  We need to encounter God today.  It is the presence of God that pastors need in our pulpits.  A conscious sense of God.  If pastors got a grasp of the presence of God there would be more humility and less pride.  May that be the desire of all of our hearts today, to get to know God in these days.  Conscious of God in every day living.  Paul said “O that I might know him and the power of his resurrection.”  If we got the sense of God things would happen.  “Then went king David in and sat before the Lord.”  What a picture – David the king sat before the Lord – just him and the Lord.  O that we could get to that place to be alone with God today.

The two thieves on the cross

 

LIMAVADY BAPTIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 31 MARCH 2024 pm

LUKE 23 VERSES 1 - 4, 21 – 24, 32 – 46

Here in our passage we have read about how the Lord stood before the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate.  He said of Jesus “I find no fault in this man.”  He gave into the pressure of the crowd, he wanted to keep in with them.  Many people reject the Lord Jesus today because they want to keep in with the crowd, too scared of what work colleagues would say in the morning if we tell them last night I accepted the Saviour.  They want to keep in with the crowd.  Pontius Pilate sees no reason at all to put the Lord to death.  He was completely innocent.  Pontius Pilate condemns Christ to the death of the cross.  The one who stood before him was the sinless Lamb of God.  For 33 years he walked this scene of time, he never sinned, never committed vile deeds or actions, said no vile words.  1 John 3 verse 5 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin.”  Peter said “who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth.”  Paul said “he knew no sin.”  The absolutely sinless Son of God yet Pontius Pilate has him flogged time and time again.  “The plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows.” (Psalm 129 verse 3)   There they put the crown of thorns on his head.  Man is inflicting on him all the evil.  Picture him as he walks towards Golgotha, as he makes his way through the city streets to outside the city walls.  Every step he takes is bloodstained.  He bears on his back the cross.  They come to the place called Golgotha or the Place of the Skull.  They laid him down on the cross and drove nails into his hands and feet.  “When they were come to the place called Calvary there they crucified him.”  It is the only time in scripture that we read of Calvary.  There on the cross he was crucified – not for any sin of his own but for yours and mine.  Rembrandt the famous painter painted a picture entitled “the raising of the cross”.  He painted himself amongst the crowd not because he was here but he knew Christ was there for him.  Christ hung upon the cross for you and I so we could be saved, so we could have the assurance of having our sins taken away and one day have a home in heaven. 

 

I want us to think tonight of the 2 thieves on either side of the Lord.  They were condemned men.  Sin had caught up with them.  The things they had done wrong.  The activities they were involved in had caught up with them.  They were condemned to the cross.  “He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed on the name of the Son of God.” (John 3 verse 18)  Are you trusting in Christ tonight?  Can you look back to a time in your life when you came to know Christ as your own Saviour?  Under condemnation.  Paul in Romans 8 verse 1 says “There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.”  You could come and put your trust in Christ, no longer be in condemnation, be saved and know assurance of a home in heaven.  Are you in Christ?  Have you experienced the new birth?  Do you know your name is recorded in heaven?  These men on either side of the Lord are facing death.  Death will come to them soon.  Death is coming for each of us.  We must be ready.  Hebrews 9 verse 27.  The world is full of people who think death is the end.  Death is coming and after that you will stand at the great white throne and from there be cast into the lake of fire.  You are going to the awful place called hell and one day you will stand before the Lord.  When you are cast into the lake of fire there is no way back.  You are there all because of sin.  Romans 5 verse 12 “wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.”  We all have an appointment with death.  We cannot put it off.  It is not like the appointment with the dentist or doctor which we can cancel and put off to another day.  Romans 5 verse 19 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”  That is what Christ was doing here on the centre cross of Calvary.  He carried out the Father’s will so that none should perish but come to repentance and faith in Jesus as their personal Saviour. 

 

Now a change begins to take place – verses 39 and 40.  Here’s a man being crucified beside the Lord.  He acknowledges there is a God.  James 2 verse 19 “Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble.”  Maybe you believe there is a God but you don’t have a relationship with God.  You can remember when you were sent to Sunday School and church.  You could even teach theology and debate doctrine.  You can look back to times when you were taken to gospel meetings.  Perhaps you could even preach the gospel but you don’t know Christ as your own and personal Saviour.  If that is you, you are on the broad that will take you to the place of destruction and hell.  There is no way back.  There is no rerun.  There is no replay.  You are there and there for ever.  This man beside the Lord was a condemned man.  He becomes a convicted man – verse 41.  Here’s a man who realises he is there on the cross because his evil deeds have caught up with him.  He realises they are getting the due rewards of their deeds.  If you are not saved the first thing you must do is acknowledge you are a sinner.  Maybe you are saying “I know I have never been as bad as those men either side of Jesus.”  The bible says you are a sinner – Romans 3 verse 10 “there is none righteous no not one.”  It doesn’t matter if I was raised on millionaires row or poverty street I am still a sinner.  Romans 3 verse 23 “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  God has a standard.  We could never make the bar.  You must come and accept Christ and accept his righteousness.  This man has a change of mind which leads to a change of heart.  He confesses he is a sinner.  If you are going to be saved you need to accept you are a sinner. 

 

This man became a converted man – verses 42 and 43.  This man has recognised that he is a sinner.  He has also acknowledged that Christ is sinless verse 39.  Here this man acknowledges he is a sinner, acknowledged that Christ is sinless.  He is on the cross having done nothing wrong.  Christ was on the cross for your sin and mine.  He had to be perfect to be accepted as your sacrifice and mine.  Would you not come and confess the Lord as your Saviour?  He now realises he is going out into eternity.  We are all heading there.  There are 2 destinations, heaven or hell.  There is no half way house.  There is no waiting area.  Have you made preparation?  Amos 4 verse 12 “prepare to meet thy God.”  We are all going to meet God.  Will you meet him as your Saviour or will you meet him as your judge?  Have you made preparation for eternity?  Have you confessed that Jesus is Lord?  “Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”  He is acknowledging he now needs the Lord.  You need the Lord if you are ever going to enter into heaven.  John 14 verse 6 “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”  The Lord Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God was dying in place of fallen man.  He gave his life for you and I that you could be saved.  This man has no time to call on a priest although there were many there that day.  He does not call on Mary the mother of Jesus even though she is there.  There is no time to be baptised.  No time to check if his name is on the church roll book.  He simply puts his faith and trust in the Lord.  Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9.  If you are going to heaven, to be saved, you will have to put your faith in the Lord Jesus.  He is the only way to be in heaven.  Verse 46.  The Lord now has laid down his life.  We do not present a dead Saviour, we present one who is alive, risen from the dead.  He has now ascended and is seated at the right hand of the Father in glory.  Maybe you are saying “I know all that, I have all the time in the world to get saved.  I am healthy, young.”  Proverbs 27 verse 1 “boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may hold.”  Paul said “behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.”  Don’t put it off to another day.  You do not know where you will be 5 minutes from now.  It would be an awful thing to sit through a gospel meeting and in the week ahead go out into eternity, ending up in hell.  That you turned your back, walked through the doors still a Christ rejector.  We present one who is on the throne of heaven.  He loves you so much that he was willing to come from heaven to die on the cross so you can have eternal life.  “I give unto them eternal life and none shall perish, none shall pluck them out of my hand.”  We praise God for the eternal security of our soul.  Whenever Christ was on the cross he was able to cry out “it is finished”  There is nothing more for you and I to do.  It was completed.  He couldn’t go and confess his sins to the priest, clean up his life, bow his knee to pray.  He knows he is going out into eternity.  He confesses he is a sinner.  As you sit in your sin tonight, if you ever want to be in heaven you will have to come the way of the cross.  Maybe you are saying ‘You don’t know the awful sins I have committed, the awful things I have done.’  “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11 verse 28)  “He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6 verse 37)  If you put your faith in him and trust in him you will be saved tonight.  Come and rest our all upon Christ, his finished work.  He will save you and he will save you eternally.