A gospel of no impact

Sermon notes from Sunday 26 January 2020

Hebrews chapter 4 - A gospel of no impact

"For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." verse 2

When we turn to the book of Hebrews we realise it has an unknown author in the physical sense.  There have been many arguments over its writer.  There is one thing for sure though - this writer has a great knowledge of the nation of Israel, all the ceremonial rights, ark of the covenant, role of priests.  The Lord is high above all these things.  They have come to an end and Jesus is now Saviour.  Verse 2 is our key verse today "For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."

The writer is comparing the actions of those in bygone days travelling to the land of promise.  Remember Moses bringing the people out of Egypt, going with great promise in their heart.  God went before them as a pillar by day and a flame of fire by night through that wilderness journey.  They came to the banks of the promised land but somehow they would not enter in there.  They would not beleive that God had given to them a place of rest.  The author compares it with the people of his day.  An eternal rest is promised to the children of God today.  An eternal blessing through the name of the Lord.  If we are to come in faith and trusting him he gives unto us eternal life.  "He that believeth on the son hath life and he that believeth not the son hath not life."  How do we believe?  We come to the place called Calvary, to that hill where we see 3 crosses standing - one thief on one side and another on the other side.  2 men who had done so many wrong things there.  On the middle cross we see none other than the Son of God, Christ himself.  He is dying there not because of his sin but because of the thieves sin on either side of him and because of the sin of the Pharisees and chief priests, the religious leaders standing watching as well as the Roman centurions.  He is dying because of your sin and mine.  To believe means when I take the Lord as my own personal Saviour.  "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3 verse 23)  The God of heaven took his own son, placed him on the cross of Calvary, every sin of the whole world was laid on him.  He way dying to atone for the sins of the world, dying there to take your sin and my sin.  Have you accepted him?  The work has been done, completed.  The work pleased his fahter in heaven with the sacrifice given.  Have you pleased the Lord, have you accepted him as your Saviour, asked him into your heart, into your life?  The people could not go any further, could not take the step into the land, couldn`t believe that God had done this for them.  Maybe you cannot believe that God has done that for you.  Until you do that you cannot enter into that rest.  A gospel of no impact.  How often we ask the question why people are not getting saved, how can someone stand up after hearing God`s voice speaking through his word and not be saved?  That is a gospel of no impact.

The gospel challenges.  Here were people who came to the brink of the Promised Land but could not enter in because they wouldn`t receive it by faith.  The gospel message challenges.  It challenges us in the way we are living.  When that happens people close their ears, don`t want to hear this message of how they are living.  Think of the people in Ephesus.  How where they living?  They were worshipping the goddess Diana, not the God of heaven.  Acts 19 verse 28.  For some 2 hours after Paul preached the word of God the people chanted "great is the goddess Diana".  Imagine for 2 hours they stood up after listening to the gospel message chanting "great is the goddess Diana."  Paul challenged the way they were living.  In Acts 17 Paul was in Athens and as he waited for the rest of the team to join him he spent his time looking at the city.  He looked into the eyes of men and women passing by him.  Here was a city given over to idolatry, blinded by that worship.  Paul`s heart was moved and stirred.  He presented to them the gospel.  Challenged the way they were living.  He came to the conclusion that people were very religious, the most religious he had ever come across.  Today there are many who are very religious.  They have their church, they read their bible, they say prayers.  The gospel challenged the lifestyle of the people of Ephesus.  In Acts 17 verse 22 when Paul stood on Mars Hill he said "I perceive that in all  things ye are too superstitious."  Paul was challenging their way of life  Paul was comparing their religiousity with faith in Christ.  They had come so far short.  Have we been challenged in our lifestyle?  "As I passed by and beheld your devotions."  It was not something made up.  He had the proof of their worship of idols.  He found an altar, somewhere they could bring sacrifices to day and daily to appease their gods.  Paul said "I found an altar to the unknown god."  There are these gods we worship but just in case there is one we haven`t named lets put up this altar to an unnamed god.  Paul challenged them about this.  He opens up the word of God to them.  God will one day ask us to stand before him.  God loved us and gave his son to save us.  For the Thessalonians it was the same.  People given over to religious lifestyle.  The gospel challenged them.

The gospel convinces.  This people Paul was speaking of in verse 2 had no problem with the gospel.  The problem was with their hearts.  They were challenged in how they were living, they were now convinced about what they should do.  Sadly though they were not convinced to step into the promised land.  Deuteronomy 1 verse 21 "The Lord has set the land before you, go up and possess it."  Moses brings the word of a promised rest but they couldn`t go through with it.  The gospel brings the promise of rest in salvation - "come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest."  Caleb tried to convince the people to go in and possess the land.  They felt it would be better to return to Egypt.  That is what we find in people today.  We present Christ as the Saviour of the world but then comes the convincing.  The Thessalonian people began to compare how they were living, they became opposed to what Paul was preaching.  In Acts 2 the people had been challenged about their lifestyle.  They are convinced that they need to do something.  Have you ever been challenged about your life?  Are you living a selfish life of idolatry?  The jailer in Philippi asked "what must I do to be saved?"  When he looked at the life of Paul and Silas he saw the rest they had, he was convinced he had to do something.  We can only be convinced when we face up to it.  

The gospel converts - are we happy in the life we are living or do we want something better?  God has given an opportunity to be convinced about the lifestyle we should be living that we want to become converted.  Can we look back to a day when we were challenged and then became convinced?  Have we become converted?  Acts 17 verse 34 "certain men clave unto him and believed."  Challenged and convinced but converted.  1 Thessalonians 1 verse 5 "for our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."  Paul in an old prison house told a jailer "believe on the Lord and you will be saved."  He knew he had to something.  He believed and was converted, saved by the grace of God.  In Acts 10 God opens the lid and lets us see what is happening in a Gentile house - the angel came to Cornelius as he was praying.  He was told "your prayers have been heard."  Cornelius was a well respected man in his home, looked up to in the community, treated the poor very well, gave all he could, had a great relationship with God because he prayed but he wasn`t saved.  We need to understand how close we can get and not be saved.  Cornelius was convicted but he needs to be saved.  He was told to send for Peter.  That however is not conversion.  Cornelius might say he had a religious experience in his own living room when the angel came down but it was not conversion.  Many are challenged that something needs to happen but it is not conversion.  Many today are living their own lifestyle, say they were challenged and convicted in meetings but never converted.  Some would say they have experienced the lovely presence of the Lord.  To be saved or converted is something that Cornelius found when Peter came to his home and opened up the word of God.  The Holy Spirit fell on that meeting.  They accepted what Peter preached about.  They accepted Christ as Saviour.  Salvation is a living encounter with Christ, nothing else.

The gospel changes.  1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9 - when Paul preached to the Thessalonians they took their idols to the one side, they were now waiting on the Lord.  The gospel challenges me that I am not living right.  The gospel convinces me that I need to do something.  Conversion saves my soul.  The gospel also changes me from the inside out.  You are a new creature in Christ.  Galatians 5 verse 1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."  Is there a change in our lives?  Are we new creatures in Christ?  Paul says it didn`t profit them - why - because it wasn`t mixed with faith.  To be saved today means you have faith in your heart.

A great profession, patience and peace

Sermon notes from Sunday 19 January 2019

Micah 7 verses 1 - 7

The first week we looked at this verse we considered the word "therefore" at the start and thought of the situation Micah found himself in.  He was living among a people who had a great outward profession for the Lord but were really going through the motions.  Their lips were near to God but their hearts were very far off.  Things were very discouraging, a depraved society, crumbling around him.  There was no-one that he could trust or depend on.  Micah brings himself into the equation in this verse - it is personal to him and to us.  What am I going to do?  Maybe the days will be long and discouraging.  Micah says "therefore I will look unto the Lord."  It is a great profession.  He also has a great patience - "my God will hear me."  Finally Micah has a great peace in his heart - "God will hear me."  What a challenge for us as we go into a new year!

A great profession

Micah is professing his faith in the living God.  He will get his eyes off everything else and place them on the Lord.  Paul could say in Romans 10 verse 10 "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."  Micah was confessing his faith just as Paul did.  We thought previously about Joshua leading the people into the land of Promise.  The land was being divided up, Joshua looks all around him and tells them they had a choice to make.  They could serve the gods of their fathers before the flood or the gods already in the land of the Amorites but as for Joshua "as for me and my house we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24 verse 15)  Joshua and Micah made the decision to follow the Lord.  Much water had flowed since Joshua took up the mantle from Moses.  For Caleb it was 40 days from the day when he went to spy in Canaan yet he asked Moses to give him the mountain.  Is that our resolve - to look to the Lord?  Micah meant business with God.  Man had failed him, society was corrupt but he was going to look to the Lord.  Remember David when he returned to Ziglag.  All the houses were burnt and the people had been taken captive.  David`s army are turning against him - if they hadn`t been away fighting they might have saved their own village and people.  They were at the point of stoning David.  David said to himself "I will encourage myself in the Lord." (1 Samuel 30 verse 6)  Remember Paul and Silas in the prison house in Philippi.  They were beaten and sore, cast into the prison but at midnight they sang and prayed.  They were encouraging themselves in the Lord.  Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, they were not left to their own devices.  When we bowed our knees at the foot of the old rugged cross, when we realised that Christ had taken our sin, borne our sins on his own body, when the Holy Spirit showed us our need of salvation, when we said that day "Lord come into my heart and life, I am trusting thee as Lord."  Have you trusted Christ as Saviour yet?  We are not left to our own devices when we come to Christ.  He has given us his precious word to lead and direct us for the way ahead.  When Moses came out of Egypt with the multitude of people he could look to the pillar in the day and the fire at night.  God will not leave himself without a witness.  God would direct every step they took.  Can you imagine their faces when they came out of Egypt and the pillar turned a different way from what they expected?  If they had gone the way they had expected it would have been through the land of the Philistines.  They would have experienced warfare going that way and probably would have led to them wanting to return to Egypt.  God knows what is in our lives, how difficult it can be.  We think God doesn`t fully understand and is taking us a different way that is not in our opinion the right or best way.  God knows best.  He wants to lead you if only you will let him.  Remember Paul when he was taken into the third heaven one day and shown things he could never imagine.  When Paul was brought back to earth something had happened to him - he was given a thorn in the flesh.  A blessing followed by a hindrance.  He prayed 3 times which really means he prayed continually, possibly up to 300 times for this thorn to be taken away from him.  God said no to Paul and then said to him "my grace is sufficient for you."  Maybe there are difficulties in your life right now and you have prayed earnestly for God to take it from you.  God says "I understand it all today, I am with you in it, keep looking to me."  Paul says "I know the pain of suffering, God will strengthen you in ways you never thought possible."  I am sure when he had to leave Miletus with a friend lying sick he couldn`t understand God`s ways but he trusted God to work it out.  If your prayers are not answered today leave it with God.  He will help you through it.  Micah was determined to look to the Lord, to keep his eyes on the Lord.  So should we.

A great patience

Micah now says "I will wait for the God of my salvation."  In the midst of all the coldness and carelessness his only hope was in God and he was willing to wait.  The Psalmist could say "my help cometh from the Lord."  Even when there were no signs to bolster him up.  Let`s get our eyes off the signs and discouragements and look to the Lord.  Psalm 40 "I waited patiently for the Lord."  It was a very difficult period in his life, he described it as being in a pit, a miry clay.  In this hole in the ground signifies there was nothing concrete for him to stand on.  He was in danger of drowning, what terror held him.  He was waiting on God to move, there seemed no hope for him.  Day after day no-one cared for his soul.  He was in a very lonely place.  We can be in a similar place where no-one understands us.  The Psalmist didn`t just wait, he waited patiently.  Micah could see no outward evidence of a society coming back to the Lord.  There is very little evidence even today of a people turning back to the Lord and it is very discouraging.  Micah says "my eyes are on the Lord."  It speaks of unanswered prayer for the Psalmist.  How often he prayed and nothing happened.  Are you still waiting today?  That Psalm was probably written at a time when David was on the run from his own son or in the cave hiding from Saul.  He felt very lonely, there were few he could trust and depend on.  Micah was prepared to wait.  No doubt he was crying to the Lord.  God will lift us out of the darkness.  Think of the story of Joseph.  20 years of age and cast into a prison at the behest of Potiphar`s wife.  She slandered his character.  He met 2 men in that prison - Pharaoh`s baker and butler.  He talked with them and Joseph realised they could help him.  He asked to be remembered when they went back before Pharaoh.  When that day came neither remembered Joseph in the cell.  It was 2 years until God moved in the butlers heart.  God moved.  Let`s have patience with God today.  Philip Keller wrote a book entitled "Lessons from a sheep dog."  He tells about a sheep dog he got when it was old and he thought it wouldn`t learn any new tricks.  He had a great relationship with that dog.  He would go down into the valley, in amongst the thorns and briars to bring the sheep back to the fold.  The hardest thing for the dog to do was to wait.  The dog would squat down and sit there.  No more commands, just wait.  If he moved the sheep were gone, scattered.  Patience.  That is what we need as we go into 2020.

Micah`s great peace

Micah had peace that God would hear and answer.  Everyone else had let him down.  People had disappointed him.  If we are prepared to stand and wait on the Lord we can have a great peace, a peace that passeth all understanding.  Isaiah 40 verse 13 "but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  He knew about waiting patiently on the Lord and that is what we need to do.  Walter Scott was considered a dunce.  He was in the house one day when the poet Robert Burns was present.  Robert Burns was admiring a painting with a poem beneath it.  He asked who wrote the poem.  No-one could answer but Walter Scott recited the poem and told who the author was.  Robert Burns told Walter Scott "you will be a great man in Scotland one day" and the rest is history.  Jairus had a daughter who was dying.  He asked the Lord to come to his house to touch her.  On their way to the house someone came out and told him not to trouble the master any more as she had died.  The Lord looked to Jairus and said "she is not dead just sleeping, only believe."  Maybe that is how we feel.  We think things are dead.  People in our family have no interest, they have no chance of coming into the house of God.  Have patience and peace - God will move.  Let us look to the Lord for this year.  Have patience, he knows our anxieties and worries.  We need to have peace and faith.  Trust in the Lord today.

Therefore I will look unto the Lord

Sermon notes from Sunday 5 January 2020

Micah 7 verses 1 - 11

"Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me." (verse 7)

Micah was a holy man of God, set apart by God.  He starts this verse with the word "therefore" and we have to ask the question - what is it there fore?  Is there some difficulty in our lives, something hard, something we cannot get around?  Here is God`s word for us!  The setting of Micah was in one of the darkest of the days.  We think today as being the darkest day but in Micah`s day it was far worse.  Chapter 1 verse 1 "the word of the Lord came unto me."  Will we be those who seek after the Lord?  There was Micah going about his normal day`s business, society was crumbling, falling apart when he was called to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world in those dark days.  We are the same - the Lord has placed us in a certain place that we might be the light in the darkness.  You don`t take a lamp and hide it but you set it up to be seen by all people.  Therefore, because of the darkest of times Micah would turn unto the Lord.  Is it dark in your home, is God not answering your prayers any more?  Do you feel cold and miserable?  Micah in this verse resolves to look to the Lord, not to a church, not to a preacher or evangelist but to the Lord.

There was a disloyalty in leadership.  Chapter 3 verse 1 "is it not for you to know judgment?"  Chapter 7 verse 5 "Trust ye not in a riend, put ye not confidence in a guide, keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom."  The people should know better, the princes and heads of states should know how to judge properly.  There was injustice in the land.  These were the days of rich society - power, position and riches.  All these corrupt those in leadership.  That is why Paul said we should pray for those in authority over us.  Paul when writing to Timothy tells him to pray for all men, no-one should be outside of his prayer limits.  Then Paul goes on to tell Timothy to pray for kings - why - because of their power, their position and their authority.  The love of money is the root of all evil, not the money itself but the actual love of money.  Notice the apostle Paul could say in Romans we are to pray for those in authority over us.  Sometimes we feel that these are the darkest times the church has ever come through.  In the 1800`s Johann Tetzel was a Roman Catholic monk who came up with the great idea that he would go out and sell indulgences.  These were letters from the Pope himself stating that people`s sins were forgiven.  These were for those who had already died.  Martin Luther said he would look to the Lord and the Lord would answer them.  In the 1700`s John Wesley, Whitfield and others lived during the days when Parliament couldn`t operate because they couldn`t get enough people sober enough to sit in Parliament.  Wesley decided to stand and in doing so led to great revival.  There was a disloyalty in leadership.  There is a challenge for us today - to know judgment and to carry out God`s word.  In the days of Eli the priest in the Old Testament, Eli`s 2 sons were sinning before the Lord - they were turning the people away from the offering of the Lord.  We need to stand like Micah and wait for God to work in our day.

They were deceptive in the worship of God.  Micah was living among people who appeared to be religious, they engaged in religious ceremonies and rituals - chapter 1 verse 7 "And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces and all the hires therefore shall be burned with the fire and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot and they shall return to the hire of an harlot."  Isaiah spoke similarly of religious deception going on in the land - chapter 1 veses 10 - 13.  Then in verses 15 to 18 God says what he wants them to do.  The people were coming bringint their sacrifices.  They were coming to the right place but somehow were just going through the motions.  Isaiah 29 verse 13 "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men."  We can see something in Micah 3 verses 5 to 7.  The prophets and priests were prophesying lies, leading the people astray.  They were only in it for the money, for what they could get out of for themselves.  They wanted an easy life with plenty of wealth.  There was no mention of repentance.  Today there is much easy believism being proclaimed and little mention of repentance.  There is no crying out for mercy, it is just a matter of looking to Jesus and everything will be OK.  Chapter 2 verse 11.  The people were gathering together, wanted to hear what these false teachers were teaching, didn`t want to hear about repentance and faith, they only wanted to show they were doing ok.    Paul in the New Testament warns us of a form of godliness in the last days.  That word "form" means a robe or a gown.  It means a covering up.

A dishonesty in the trading.  Micah 6 verse 11.  Trading standards were at an all time low, people were not acting straight.  It led to all sorts of waring and arguments.  They were using false weights.  When you wanted to buy you used a heavy weight and when you wanted to sell you used a lighter weight.  They were making the ephah too small and the shekel too large.  There was corruption in the government.  That led to a discontentment.  Remember Ahab and Naboth.  Ahab had all the riches of Israel but he wanted Naboth`s vineyard.  Naboth wouldn`t sell his vineyard.  Ahab went to bed and sulked.  Jezebel came and asked him what was wrong.  She went out and took the vineyard for Ahab.  This was the day Micah lived in.  Micah was able to turn away from that and look to the Lord.  We need to set the things of the past aside and look to God today.

Go home to thy friends and tell them

Sermon notes from Sunday 5 January 2020 pm
Mark 5 verses 1 - 9, 18 - 20
"Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee."

The commission the young man was given

A testimony is what the Lord has done for us.  Someone stands in a court of law and is asked to give an account of the things that have happened, not what they think has happened.  January is the beginning of the year, a new beginning, a fresh beginning.  Testimonies are to tell about a new beginning in a life.  A new life of faith in Christ.  When Jesus does something special in your life.  This young man must have had a wretched life but the Lord delivered him from that life.  He wanted to follow the Lord but the Lord told him to go home and tell his friends what the Lord had done for him.  Can you tell others of what the Lord has done for you in your life?

The experience this young man had.  Salvation is a life changing, life transforming experience.  Not found in a church but the Lord himself.  The Lord came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.  We were born as sinners, born into this world lost in our sin.  The Lord set aside the glories of heaven to step down into the world to die on the cross to save our souls.  Each of us has an experience if we have been saved.  Each of us have a different experience of the Lord speaking into our lives.  A personal experience that is real, genuine.  This young man before this experience, his life must have been in a real mess.  We are not told his age in this passage but can see him being born into the home with his parents who loved him with so much love.  They nursed and fed and nurtured him, passed from one to the another.  See him growing up, learning to walk, talk and eat for himself.  As he grows up and gets older now he is going out into the village and meeting with others his own age.  Somewhere in his life his life was opened up to the powers of the devil.  He became possessed of these devils.  We are told there were a legion of them, meaning 1000 devils reigned in his life.  That reminds me of the prodigal son.  He was not content with what he had, with the home he had, the father he had, the money he had.  He knew he was coming into money.  The world was beginning to play on his mind.  Not long after he set out into the world and found friends that would take him on a different pathway.  This young man of Genessaret probably had good parents just like the prodigal.  Soon his life took a downward spiral.  He was eating the very pigs food.  He realised he had to go back.  That is a turning away from the life he was leading.  He needed to return to his father and ask for his forgiveness.  The devil was a hard taskmaster to this young man possessed of devils.  They tried to chain him, tie him up.  They tried to help him in every way possible.  There was help in no other than Christ.  "There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."  He needed a reality of Christ in his life.  No church can give you that reality.  Remember the woman bound and fettered.  The devil had bent her double until Jesus one day saw her sitting in the temple under the reading of God`s word yet the devil had her bound.  Jesus called out to her and he healed her. 

There is the evidence this man had.  He couldn`t have gone home and told without that.  Verse 19 "go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee."  This young man was going into the very village he had left, the very home he had forsaken.  There were those who would recall what he was like.  Verse 14 those who fed the swine had witnessed what had happened.  They went back to tell all and sundry what had happened in the wilderness.  People came out to see if what they said was true.  They found the man sitting clothed and in his right mind.  This was the evidence before them.  One time he was naked, one time he was tormented, cutting himself, abusing himself.  There was a peace in his heart.  Can you imagine the father and mother coming out to see him.  In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were in the prison house.  The old jailer came in and asked them "what must I do to be saved?"  Paul and Silas led him to salvation.  The jailer went back to his home and what a difference that home was now.  He had everything going against him but now his whole life had changed.  The children wanted to hear more about what had happened to him.  Paul and Silas went into that home and everyone in that home was baptised.  As a result when this man walked out of his home his life was in disarray.  That was the evidence of the change.  "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature."  Nothing else.  There is no growing into salvation but rather a stepping into it.  We grow in grace.  We are however changed.  The old things are passed away and all things have become new.

The expresssion - verse 19.  Jesus said to this young man "go home and tell them."  It has got to be something personal.  A honest expression.  Not asked to explain it but tell. How could he ever tell how it had happened.  How could he ever go into the depths of it.  He never could.  He accepted it as it was.  That was enough.  The blind man in Luke 11.  The Lord gave him his sight back.  The Pharisees and religious leaders were up in arms.  They couldn`t understand what had happened.  He was chased and followed around the town.  They brought the parents in and questioned them.  The blind man looked into their eyes and said "listen, there is only one thing I know, once I was blind but now I see, don`t ask me to explain it, I have accepted it."  You cannot explain God`s salvation tonight.  Jesus shed his blood on Calvary for your sin.  A free gift for you.  He will save you if you only will accept it for yourself.

The final approach

Sermon notes from Sunday 29 December 2019 pm

Luke 19 verses 1 - 10

The Final Approach

I am sure for each of us these words are very familar to us.  We know much of this man Zacchaeus and the visitation of Jesus to Jericho one day.  This would be the final time Jesus would ever pass through Jericho.  The last time for men and women to find salvation in God in Jericho that day.  There is something very solemn as we reflect on a year gone by.  Here`s a man Zacchaeus who realises that Jesus is passing through Jericho for the last time.  Maybe it is the thought that he would never pass this way again.  Maybe that is why he made the effort to see Christ.  This visit would change a man`s life for time and for eternity.  A wonderful day for Zacchaeus, the greatest day in his life.  Was there such a day for you, when you accepted Christ as Saviour?

The last visit to Jericho brought a tremendous privilege to this man Zacchaeus.  God gave him a wonderful opportunity.  We have to think of the many privileges God has given  to us.  Many opportunities in past days in the past year when God has spoken to our hearts but we have done nothing about it.  We don`t know how many opportunities he had in the past to hear Jesus.  He was getting an opportunity on this day.  Have you ever had such an opportunity with Christ himself?  As we look at this man we might think he was rich and so he was because verse 2 says that.  We cannot point the finger just because he was rich.  He was a tax collector.  A good job.  Maybe he lived in a good part of Jericho.  Maybe he had a lovely house.  The great privileges he had.  The privilege Christ was giving to him, would see this man`s life changed for all eternity.  God has extended to you his offer of mercy.  He wants to save your soul.  You have heard it so often before bt this may be your final change to hear it.  What a privilege to know Christ.  He loved me with an everlasting love.  He was willing to turn his back on everything he had done, left it all behind.  He came down to walk in the villages and cities, came down to be spat upon, accused, rejected, to be put on the cross for your sins.  Only he could do it.  As Jesus came up out of Jordan after he was baptised the voice came from heaven said "this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."  He fulfilled his father`s will to die on the cross for the sins of the world.  Only he could atone for your sin.  What a privilege.  Opportunities come and opportunities go.  We cannot catch the opportunity once it goes by.  The opportunity comes tonight to close in with God`s mercy and his offer of salvation.  This opportunity will fly past you once again.

The final visit was met with passion - verse 3.  He sought to see Jesus and who he was.  A deep hunger in his heart.  He wanted to see the Lord, to find out more about him.  Matthew was a tax collector, sat at the seat of custom.  One day the Lord came by and said to him "follow me".  He got up from the custom desk and he followed after the Lord.  Zacchaeus was also a tax collector.  Maybe he knew Matthew.  Maybe Matthew told Zacchaeus about the day Christ came across his pathway.  One day maybe that witness interested Zacchaeus.  Matthew told him how Jesus restored sight to the blind, restored strength to a man.  Maybe he became interested.  Perhaps conviction of his sin was setting in.  Maybe told he was a sinner and need to be saved.  A passion coming up in this man`s heart.  Isn`t it wonderful when God creates a passion in the heart after the Lord.  No-one could be saved until the Lord does that for us.  Peter preached in Acts 2 and "the people were pricked in their hearts."  God convicted them of their sin.  Lydia was similar - "her heart was opened by the Holy Spirit."  We have to close in with his call of mercy.  Only when he is calling us.  That is what happened to Zacchaeus.  He wanted to see who Jesus was.  He wanted to discover Jesus himself.  Maybe he had heard about him.  "O taste and see that the Lord is good."  No-one can taste the Lord for ourselves.  You cannot do it through anyone else.  You have to come in yourself, you have to bow at the foot of the old rugged cross.  It is all right for another person but doesn`t do it for you personally.  The Pharisees could have been asked by Zacchaeus what they thought of Jesus.  He is the devil himself, Beelzebub the chief of the devils.  Maybe could have said to Nicodemus what he thought of Jesus.  Nicodemus would have said he is a teacher come from God.  Look at the miracles and teachings he has done.  No-one can do these except God is with him.  Maybe could ask some of the people in Jerusalem, some of them would say some are saying he is Jeremiah one of the prophets, a mighty prophet.  Zacchaeus would go away confused even more.  He knew to find out for himself.  We need to find Christ for ourselves.  We cannot somehow go with the crowd tonight, say we are on the way to heaven and somehow go through life drifting along.  We need to taste and see that the Lord is really God.  He asked the question to his disciples "who do men say that I am?"  Peter replied "thou art Christ, the son of the living God."  Jesus told him "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven."  This is a revealed Saviour.  Unless it is revealed to you in the meeting your great need of salvation, who you are dealing with and who has bought that salvation, we will never be saved.  The Holy Spirit reveals the truth of what Christ has done for me in drawing me to the foot of the cross for myself.

The final visit brought a great problem to this man.  When Zacchaeus put his nose out the door he realised everyone had also realised it was Christ`s final day in Jericho too.  The Bible says "he was little of stature".  He could not see over the crowd of people.  It brought a great problem to him.  Maybe God has put a passion in your heart to show you your need of salvation, given great privilege but the problem is the crowd you are friendly with.  What holds you back from coming to Christ?  There is no call for this salvation you say.  The crowd can keep you back.  In Acts 13 there was an official in Paphos.  Paul preached the gospel and this man was anxious to hear the word of God.  He sent for Paul and pleaded to hear of Christ.  A man in his office tried to prevent him and turn him away from the faith.  Many are listening to friends and family, listening to crowd around them.  What an influence.  Pilate was listening to his own conscience.  Sometimes that conscience can put us off.  Pilate`s wife came to him and told him not to have anything to do with him.  The crowd came in and said "if you let this man go you are not Caesar`s friend."  Maybe as you speak about Christ`s salvation they will tell you you are alright.

The final visit brought a great plan in place.  Luke 19 "he ran" down the street.  This was this man`s plan and nothing would hold him back.  This man wanted to know everything about Jesus.  His final visit takes place where Zacchaeus was to be found.  He was sitting in that tree wrapped in foliage.  Jesus came to where he was.  He stopped there and told him to come down.  No-one has to point Christ to you.  He knows exactly where you are tonight and all the problems in your life.  He comes right to the place where Zacchaeus would not be disappointed.  Jesus stopped at the place where he was, then he asked him to come down straight away.  That is what Jesus does to us.  He doesn`t ask us to clean up our lives first.  He comes to exactly where we are and to what we really need.  That would be a special place for Zacchaeus in the future.  It became so significant for him.  Have you a special place tonight?  Remember the woman in John 4.  Every time she walked down the street she saw the well and remembered what happened there.  The man at the side of the pool for 38 years would always remember that place, remembered what happened there.

The peace that he received.  Verse 9 Jesus said "this day is salvation come to this house."  The peace of God flooded into his soul.  A debt was paid and peace reigned for ever more.

The leading of God

Sermon notes from Sunday 29 December 2019

Deuteronomy 32 verses 1 - 13

The book of Deuteronomy is one of the 5 books written by Moses.  The word Deuteronomy comes from 2 words - Deuter to mean 2 or second and nomos meaning law.  Moses is giving to the people the second law.  This book is made up of 34 chapters.  There are 3 discourses by Moses himself then a blessing and a song.  It all revolved around Moses` death and his burial.  Graham Scroggie said when he heard of those who were trying to condemn the book as false.  David went to face the great Goliath, he picked up 5 stones by the brook and put them in his pocket.  Only one of those stones was used against the giant.  The Lord himself spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness.  He took 5 books with him and only used one of them when the devil came against him - 3 times he quoted from this book of Deuteronomy.  Moses was coming to the end of his days.  Chapter 31 verse 14 "the Lord said unto Moses behold, thy days approach that thou must die."  The Lord knows the day of our birth and our departure.  Our latter end is in the hand of God.  He told Moses to fetch Joshua and come together to the tabernacle of the congregation.  Moses would not lead the people of Israel into the promised land, Joshua would.  Let us consider Moses` song.  In it Moses is looking back, then forward and on into the future.  At the end of another year it is good to reflect on the things that have gone by as well as where we are in the light of God`s presence.  We should also look to the future, it can be bright as we follow after God.  Verse 10 "he found him (Jacob) in the desert."  Jacob is described here as the nation because he became known as Israel.  This is God speaking through the prophet Moses to the nation but we can take it to mean something to ourselves today. 

God is searching.  God is not found by accident.  He knows every situation we face today.  This song comes from Moses reflecting on what has happened to the nation of Israel.  They had been blessed with so much but there was a danger in them turning away from God now.  We too can forget about God`s blessings on our lives.  Deuteronomy 31 verse 19 "Now therefore write ye this song for you and teach it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel."  Deuteronomy 31 verse 27 "For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck, behold while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord and how much more after my death?"  Deuteronomy 32 verse 7 "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee."  Most writers agree that in this verse Israel is spoken of as being down in Egypt.  Jacob took his family down to Egypt at the time of famine.  Joseph was ruler, he was in charge but then things changed and a new king came to the throne who "knew not Joseph."  This new king began to put the Israelites into slavery.  God said "I have heard their affliction" and he sent Moses down to deliver them.  The wilderness is a place of want and hopelessness.  Where did God find you?  The people of Israel were shackled by an evil king and encompassed by an evil nation.  Egypt is a picture of the world and Pharaoh of the devil himself.  The Laodicean church in Revelation has a picture of Jesus knocking at the door of the church.  The people were saying "I am rich, I am increased with goods, I have need of nothing."  Do you realise you are blind, wretched, miserable and poor?  The Lord says "my son is standing at the door of your heart waiting to come in."  If only we would let him in.  Matthew was busy at his work recording the tax coming in, he was making sure it was all written down.  The Lord came to him and said "follow me"  Many a person is found in their work place.  The woman at the well was living in such a sinful state.  She came to the well and found the Lord there.  She didn`t want her immoral life to be seen.  The Lord found her though.  Remember the woman bent double in the synagogue.  She worshipped the Lord of heaven.  Right there in the midst of the people God found her.  Where were you found by Christ?  Has God found you today?  Can you look back to a day when he changed your life forever?  Do you know your sins have been forgiven today?

The schooling - verse 10 "he instructed him."  Once he found him, brought him out of the wilderness he needed to be instructed.  That is the character building of the Christian life.  God expects us to learn when we come into his family, to learn more of him.  Nehemiah leading the people, reflects back to the wilderness journey "thou givest also thy good spirit to instruct them." (Nehemiah 9 verse 20)  God`s Holy Spirit instructs us today.  Is the Holy Spirit leading us in the scriptures today?  Are we growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord?  Are we gaining more each day?  Psalm 32 verse 8 "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go."  We are saved but are we just content with that?  Wouldn`t it be awful to come to heaven and know nothing of the man who saved us?  Christians are born again but not fully grown.  So many things we have to learn, to mature, to develop.  Peter said "as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word of God."  Once we begin to crave after the word of God it is just like milk for a baby.  The place where we find knowledge is in the word of God.  The writer to the Hebrews was writing to a people undergoing so many trials and were in danger of turning away from God.  The writer speaks of how they have been taught in the things of God first in case they went back, in case they lost the taste for the things of God.  There are many things coming to take us away from the things of God.  He found you and he schooled you.  He wants the people to keep their eyes on him.  The people were entering into a new land, a new day but he doesn`t want them to forget how they had come through the wilderness.  Hebrews looks at a people who should be more advanced than they were "you ought to be teachers of the word." (Hebrews 5 verse 12)  Paul went out into the dessert of Arabia to study the word of God for 3 years after he became a Christian.

The strengthening.  "He led him about."  God strengthens us for the road ahead.  People could look back to deliverance from Egypt, from the harsh taskmasters.  Imagine the joy in their hearts coming out of Egypt, deliverance from Pharaoh.  No longer prisoners having to make blocks. Deliverance by the mighty hand of God.  They sensed the presence of God.  God didn`t leave them.  He didn`t deliver them and tell them to get on with things.  God is still with them.  He does the same to us today.  He doesn`t just save us and leave us alone.  The pillar of fire went before the children of Israel reminding them of his presence with them, teaching them how to walk with him each day.  Whatever we face today he gives us the strength to face each situation.  God is there in the midst whatever we face today.  Sometimes we don`t understand the leading of God in our lives but God is in the midst of it all directing us.  Exodus 13 verse 17.  God drew the people out of Egypt but he wouldn`t take them through the land of the Philistines.  I wonder if Moses questioned that.  The reasoning was for God said "peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt."  Do we feel God leading us today?

The security - verse 10 "he kept them."  In verse 11 the picture is given of the eagle who builds its nest on the highest of rocks.  When the young are led out of the nest the eagle will flutter overhead.  When eventually the eaglet comes to the edge of the rock the mother eagle will swoop underneath so that the young can rest on her wings until it gets strength to flap its own wings and actually fly.

The sufficiency of things to come - verse 13.  Hebrew scholars say that this verse is written in the future tense, every verb speaks of the future not the present.  There is sufficiency for the years to come.

The bigger perspective

Sermon notes from Sunday 15 December 2017 am

Luke 2 verses 1 - 7

The bigger persective

As we consider the events taking place in this passage we are reminded that some times things come into our lives, situations that arise, difficulties and problems.  Do we concentrate more on them rather than what it means in its coming into our lives?  Nothing comes into our lives by chance  God has allowed it to be so.  We can learn that lesson from Job, see how the devil would have loved to have marched into his front room and bring him down to the depths but he hadn`t the authority  Satan had to go into the presence of God and ask for his permission to test Job.  nothing comes into our lives but God knows about it.  Nothing happens by surprise.  It is good to step back and see the bigger picture.  Psalm 8 verse 3 "when I consider".  Think of the letter to the Hebrews written to so many under pressure and persecution.  The writer said "consider him".  We want to consider him above all.  We saw that in Esther`s life.  A crisis came into her life.  The hand of God was working in the background.  He was doing that in her life.  Remember again that God is still on the throne, he is still ruling and reigning.  Sometimes when we get down to prayer we want to remember that.  He does remember his own.  In a week gone by we have seen many changes, upsets, things that humanly speaking we did not see happening.  Many are anxious and concerned today.  Remember God is still working out his purposes today.  He has a plan this morning.  In this passage a government decree went out.  What did that mean to the people around?

A strategy that was unfolding.  Here`s a decree going out from Caesar Augustus.  He was a leading light, he had changed his name, he was a nephew of Julius Caesar and took this name to show his position and greatness.  He was sitting making plans with all his delegates.  The word used for "world" here means the Roman jurisdiction he had control over.  The tax referred to here is similar to our census.  He really wanted to see what everyone owned whether in land or property. He didn`t really think about what he was doing.  God was working behind the scene.  He would bring his only begotten son into the world.  God was working it all out.  This was spoken of 5 or 600 years before through the prophet Isaiah.  Malachi the prophet also told where he would be born - Bethlehem.  God had announced it years before this man made this decision.  I wonder have you ever considered that God is working behind the scenes in our lives?  Perhaps it is not in sickness but rather you can hear someone praising God for his blessing in their life but nothing is happening in your life.  Perhaps we don`t see God working it out at present.  God was working everything out before this man would come to the throne.  In Daniel one night when the king Nebuchadnezzar put his head on the pillow he saw an image of a man made up of different materials.  The head was made of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron and the feet partly of iron and clay.  That image was of the various empires that would come to pass in days yet to come.  This is the role God will play in this land.  Each part represents a kingdom that would come to pass.  The head of gold represents your kingdom Nebuchadnezzar.  The breast and arms represented the Medes and Persian empire and in Daniel 5 we read they took the empire from Babylon.  The belly and thighs represented the Greek empire while the iron represented the Roman empire.  God was singling out every empire that would come to pass.  Remember Joseph in the Old Testament who was the Saviour of the nation Israel.  One morning he got up at 17 years of age and his father asked him to go and see how his brothers were doing.  He didn`t know when he left that day he would not see his father for 20 years.  I`m sure his father cried many nights, his heart was broken thinking of his son dead.  God was working it all out behind the scenes when he would bring Joseph to be head of the nation of Israel.

The subjects that are unveiled - verses 2 and 3.  All went to be taxed.  Everyone.  Not one left out.  The light now begins to shine on Joseph and Mary  Mary and Joseph would make their way to Bethlehem.  It was at a time when Mary was great with child.  The ordering of the decree led to Mary and Joseph being brought to Bethlehem.  What is happening in your life at this moment in time?  Are you a light that people are attracted to?  To bring people to God?  God was fulfilling the promise of Micah 7 verse 2.  Can you see the picture unfolding.  Joseph cannot see it.  It was an awful situation for him.  He had to take his wife Mary and make that journey to Bethlehem.  If this had been some other time but God has allowed this to happen specifically now.  It was the second time in his life that everything was turned upside down.  Just before their marriage Mary told Joseph she was pregnant.  She had no relationship with Joseph.  He wanted to put her away quietly then the angel appeared and told him not to be afraid but to take Mary for his wife.  This is now the second time when his life was turned upside down.  He didn`t know what was happening.  Think of the angel giving him that news.  The angel did not tell him that at the end of her pregnancy they would have to make a journey like this one.  Joseph handled the situaton really well.  A decree has gone out.  I`m sure he was thinking how is the Lord doing this?  This is God`s will.  God only shows him a little at a time.  God is doing something in your life.  Are you saying "I could do very well without this?"  God has a bigger plan.  David said "thy word is a lamp unto my feet."  God only shows a little bit at a time.  He doesn`t show us the end from the beginning.  The old hurricane lamp only shows a step at a time.  The lamp would only take him so far.  That is what God does with us.  Think of the early church and Saul of Tarsus.  He had such plans to destroy the Jewish people.  He wanted to take those who were Christian and imprison them, even put some of them to death.  He was persecuting the Christian believers but as a result they were spread outside of Jerusalem.  People didn`t realise it at the time.  It was the means God used to spread the gospel to others.  Today many are being persecuted for their Christian faith.  They don`t ask for prayer to be taken away from persecution but rather that they might endure through those hards times and see their familes saved as a result.  It took 20 years for Joseph to see the plan God had for his life.  Just enough was shown to him, a little at a time.

The supreme undertaking.  I`m sure Joseph thought this was bad timing.  He could have said it would have been better next year.  He could have done without the journey at this time.  He surrendered himself to the decree.  It is good to surrender ourselves to the will of God.  Moses out in the wilderness - for 40 years God was preparing him for what lay ahead.  One day he heard the word of the Lord out of a burning bush.  God told him that he would send him back to Egypt.  All those times in the desert.  This is the totality of it all.  I want you to go and bring my people out of Egypt.  Romans 13 verse 1 surrendered to the totality of God.  I wonder as Joseph picked up and got on with the journey to Bethlehem did he think God was in the plans ahead?  Jeremiah "for I know the thougths I have toward you, plans for good and not for evil, plans for your future."  Think of the 3 Hebrew children carried into captivity in Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar asked everyone to bow before this image he had set up.  The 3 Hebrew children wouldn`t do it.  They made a choice.  God is in this.  They could see the bigger picture.  Esther said "I will go before the king, if I perish I will perish."  Mary and Joseph surrendered to the decree which took them to Bethlehem, to their child being born to be the Saviour of the world.  What a God we have.  As we look at this scene - God brought everything into being.  We should want to worship and love God more and more when we see what he has done for us.  Look at the bigger picture today.  God is working in the background today.