Podcasts about there god

The Sadducees, a group ofJewish leaders who do not believe in angels, resurrection, or spirits pose a hypothetical question about a man who marries a woman and dies, andaccording to the law of Moses, his brother must marry her. Seven brothers endup marrying this woman, all die without children, and the Sadducees ask, inheaven, if there is a resurrection, which one of these men will she be marriedto? They think they have Jesus in a dilemma, but He answers them. InMatthew 22:29, Matthew records Jesus immediate response to their question. Jesussaid, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power ofGod." Jesus points out their ignorance of the Scriptures and the power ofGod. They only recognize the first five books of Moses, while Jesusacknowledges all 39 books of the Old Testament in the Septuagint (the Greek translationof the Old Testament available in the time of Jesus). Yet even from the Law ofMoses, Jesus affirms there is a resurrection.  Asa young pastor, I sometimes preached at funerals, stood by the casket, andsaid, "This is just a body." I wish I could go back and tell thosedear people I was wrong. God created us individually, uniquely, with a body wewill live in for eternity. Your spirit, soul, and body are eternal in a sense.According to Scripture, such as Job 14:14; 19:25-27; Psalms 16:9-10; 17:15; Isaiah26:19; Ezekiel 37; and Daniel 12:2, the bodies of both the lost and the savedwill be resurrected one day. These bodies will either go to heaven or to aneternal lake of fire, where they will be tormented day and night forever. Jesusand the Bible teach this truth. My friend, Jesus believed that God has thepower to raise us from the dead. Inheaven, we will have glorified bodies, with no need for procreation. Regardingthe Sadducees' question about the seven brothers, I've always thought after thethird or fourth brother, I'd say, "I'm not marrying her; I'm not takingthe chance of dying like the rest!" When we question Scripture and try tofigure it out logically, we miss the point and like the Sadducees we will misinterpretand wrongly apply the Scripture to our lives. ButJesus went beyond logic and referred them to the Word of God, particularly whathappened to Moses as recorded in Exodus 3. There God identified Himself withAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and thus affirmed that these three patriarchs werevery much alive. But if they were alive, then they were "out of thebody," for they had died (James 2:26). There must be a real world ofspirit beings or Moses would not have written these words. (By the way, Mosesalso affirmed the existence of angels: Genesis 19:1, 15; 28:12; 32:1.) ButJesus is also basically saying that Exodus 3:6, 15-16 teaches not only thetruth of life after death but also the reality of the resurrection. In whatway? Not by direct statement but by inference. God is the God of the wholeperson—spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23), because He created thewhole person. He does not simply "save our souls" and ignore the restof our being. Inherent in the very nature of God's creative act is His concernfor the total person. Hence, He will not keep us disembodied spirits foreverbut will give us glorious bodies to match our heavenly perfection.  ForGod's covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be fulfilled, they willneed resurrected bodies to rule and reign with Him in the millennial reign ofJesus Christ. We have something to look forward to. God knows our future. Ilove what Job says in Job chapter 19, verses 25-26: "For I know that myRedeemer lives, and He shall stand on the earth. And after my skin isdestroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God."  Godis not the God of the dead, but of the living and He made us whole—soul,spirit, and body—and He knows how to take care of all of them. Godbless!

WATCH ON YOUTUBE MESSAGE NOTES: When Life Gets HardScripture: Exodus 1-2Here = the hard presentThere = the promised future God is preparingThe journey = often slow, unexpected, and full of God's preparation 1. Here: Hardship feels endless. 2. God is working behind the scenes. 3. Moses forced the rescue plan. 4. God uses Moses impatience to prepare him. 5. There: God hears and moves toward rescue.

Passion for the church. Far too many Christians take coming to church far to lightly By Pastor George Lehman   The most expensive piece of furniture in the church is the empty seat. We are not in the seat filling business; we are in the heart changing business. When the heart truly changes the seats will be filled. After a bad sermon a pastor was asked what went wrong.  His answer was really good.  He said, “Poor preaching is God's judgment on a prayerless congregation.” You were formed for a family.  From the beginning of time, God has always wanted a family. A family that will last for all eternity. From Geneses to Revelation it's all about God and His family Hebrews 2:11 (Jerusalem bible) - Jesus and the people He makes holy all belong to the same family.  That's why He isn't ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters. NB! We were not just called to believe.  We're called to belong.  To belong to the family of God. John 1:12 (Amp) - But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name. Hebrews 2:10 (NCV) - God is the One who made all things, and all things are for His glory.  He wanted to have many children to share his glory.   1 John 3:1 (NLT) - See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for He allows us to be called His children, and we really are!   Paul says: 1 Timothy 3:15 (GWT) - God's family is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. A building without a support and foundation will collapse.  In the same way we need people, a family, for support to help us in our walk with God. That's why we need a place of fellowship. Living in the ‘real world' it is so important to establish yourself on a solid foundation.  Surrounding yourself with Christian friends, mentors and make attending church a habit and priority. As a family we all need each other. The church is a body, not a business.  A family, not an institution. Ephesians 4:16 (Amp) - For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. The more you grow in your faith in God the more you're going to love and treasure the church.  Taking up your full responsibility in the church. When people grow weary, drift and become lukewarm first to go is your church attendance. Sadly, there are people who say to Jesus, “We love you” but we don't “love your body”.  I accept you, but I reject your body. We do this whenever we develop the ‘triple C' [criticize, complain & condemn] towards the church. Except for a few important exceptions referring to all believers throughout history almost every time the word “CHURCH” is used in the bible it refers to a local, visible congregation of Believers. A Christian without a church home is like: An organ without a body. A sheep without a flock. A child without a family. Ephesians 2:19b - You belong in God's household with every other Christian. There are some whose faith is not strong enough to bring them to church services, - but they expect it to take them to heaven. The difference between being a church attendee and a church member is commitment.  Attendees are spectators.  Members get involved in the ministry. If you're looking for the perfect church when you join it, it won't be perfect anymore!  We are called to - love imperfect people. Psalm 133:1 (TEV) - How wonderful it is, how pleasant for God's people to live together in harmony! Verse3 says: There God commands a blessing. Ask yourself:  Do you build or break harmony in the church? Are you an asset or a liability? Are you a momentum-maker or a momentum- breaker Real fellowship means:  Being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus. 1 John 3:16 (LB) - We know what real love is from Christ's example in dying for us.  And so, we also ought to lay down our lives for our Christian brothers. Giving yourself, putting others first, being the least, promoting peace, harmony and unity isn't easy.  But God asks us to do it because He first did it. When there are plenty of oxen in a stable, there will always be a common factor – manure. Proverbs 14:4 (NLT) – Without oxen the stable stays clean but  you need a strong ox for a large harvest. If there's only manure, then obviously something is wrong.   Here's a measuring stick: Philippians 2:3-4 (NCV) - Give more honor to others than to yourselves.  Do not be interested only in your own life but be interested in the lives of others. It's not about thinking less of yourself.  It's about thinking of yourself less.   Romans 12:10 (GWT) - Be devoted to each other like a loving family.  Excel in showing respect for each others.   Romans 12:16 (NLT) - Live in harmony with each other.  Don't try to act important but enjoy the company of ordinary people and don't think you know it all. 2 Corinthians 12:20 (Amp) - For I am fearful that somehow or other I may come and find you not as I desire to find you and that you may find me too not as you want to find me: - that perhaps there may be factions (quarreling), jealousy, temper (wrath, intrigues, rivalry, divided loyalties), selfishness, whispering, gossip, arrogance (self-assertion) and disorder among you. If you proclaim to be a child of God, you're part of the body of Christ.  And as a part of the body you have a responsibility to promote unity and harmony. Colossians 3:14 (LB) - Most of all, let love guide your life, for then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony. Question: How passionate are you to ensure and promote unity in the church? What did you ‘hear' in this sermon?  The Bible says, “let him who has ears (spiritual ears) let him hear what the Spirit is saying”. What are you going to do with what you have just heard?  You CANNOT remain ‘neutral'.  

Our world revolves around “the performance plan.” If we work hard enough, perform well enough, and impress the powers that be sufficiently enough...we'll make the cut. It's not surprising, then, that “the performance plan” shows up in the realm of religion as well. Religion could be defined as: a system of beliefs, rituals, and behaviors by which a person can be made right with God. It is an attempt to make the ultimate cut.This “performance plan” approach is what Paul is warning about in Philippians 3. “Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh…” (vs.2-3)In order to understand what Paul is talking about, we have to go back to the story of Abraham found in Genesis 17. There God makes a covenant with Abraham. In essence, “I will be your God and you and the descendants I give you will be my people.” Then God chose circumcision as the outward sign of this covenant. Circumcision became the symbol of man's need to be cleansed from sin at the most basic point of his identity. But from the very beginning, this outward act was secondary to something of far greater importance: an inward belief. In Genesis 15:6 we read that “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Faith came first – then the symbolic action.  The problem is that all too quickly the Jewish people came to believe that to get right with God all a man had to do was to be circumcised, bypassing the heart change altogether.But making the cut and getting on God's team has never been a matter of performance. It is a matter of turning to Him in faith, confessing your sinfulness and receiving His forgiveness.  In the N.T. this became clearer. Jesus came to replace the old system, giving His life to offer access to not only God's team but to God's very family. And He offered that to one and all as a free gift received by faith.Enter the Apostle Paul – or Saul as he was formerly known. He had not only been taught this misunderstood performance plan, he had become its greatest proponent.  In fact, he was so committed to it that he had sought to snuff out the Jesus movement.   And then one day, he encountered Jesus who offered Him grace, forgiving him and freeing him from the need to perform. Paul never got over that and devoted the rest of his life to sharing this good news.He would go from town to town, planting communities of Jesus-followers. After getting these churches grounded, Paul would head off to a new city to continue spreading the gospel. Now, many of these new believers were Gentiles – uncircumcised non-Jews. And after Paul left, often a group of people called “Judaizers” would come in behind him and tell these young non-Jewish believers that in order to truly be saved, they had to become Jews. More specifically, they had to be circumcised. In other words, faith alone wasn't enough. They had to jump through the hoops of the performance plan. When Paul heard about this, he came unglued! This is what he was confronting in Phil. 3:2. He says, “Do you want to compare performance? My pedigree, degrees, and zeal are second to none. Yet all of that is utter garbage because it didn't deal with my heart. Only Jesus can do that.”Are you still depending on the performance plan to be made right with God? Text: Philippians 3:2-9 Originally recorded on October 26, 2008, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN

Look at our lives—the problems, the pains—and it's easy to conclude that we are losing. Look at the world—the brokenness, the bedlam—and it's easy to believe that the devil is winning. It all can lead us to despair. Yet this turmoil is exactly what God said would happen already in the Garden. There God declared that until the end of time enmity would prevail between the devil and mankind. But God promised more than that. He promised that from humanity would rise one who would completely defeat the devil. We need a top-down faith to understand that things are definitely not what they seem. Yes, the devil and his allies are constantly doing their worst. Their work always brings pain. Yet, ultimately, even in the face of what appears at times to be defeat, Jesus always wins. And his victory is our victory. 

Raising children! You know, it's not easy to know what's best for those little lives that God entrusts to us is it? A lot of times we don't know until years later if we did too much or not enough, or just the right amount. We have choices to make about discipline, medical treatment, and education. We've got to decide where the boundaries are going to be; what happens if they go out-of-bounds. Some choices actually make the difference between life and death. It was exactly that for a couple who had Siamese twins. The girls were joined at the chest. They shared a common heart. The doctor said there was no way they both could live, but if they were separated, one would certainly die, but the other one had a chance of living. Those parents were faced with a choice for which there was no textbook. They had to decide whether they would let one die so the other child could live. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Expensive Choice." Our word for today from the Word of God - Romans 8:32. Here's what it says: "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" This is the most expensive choice God the Father ever had to make. The most expensive choice ever made in the history of this planet. Someone had to die for your sins and for mine or we would. According to Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." There is a death penalty for our sin, and it can only be paid one way; somebody's got to die. God loved us so much He sent His one and only Son to be your substitute and mine. But then came that heart-wrenching moment for a Father; that moment when the Son of God is on the cross. He actually carried all the guilt and all the hell of all my sin and your sin. If I were God, I think my fist would have come crashing down on that hill and said, "You can't do this to my Son!" There God is faced with that awful choice, "Who would die for your sins?" Look, I deserve to; you deserve to. Only one could live, and He chose you. That's why Jesus cried, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" God looked at His Son carrying all of my sins, all of your sins, and He turned His back on His Son so He would never have to turn His back on you. And that is what makes it so tragic and so unforgivable when you ignore that love. We try to make it to God with our pitiful good works; our religion. If that could do it, He never would have sacrificed His Son for our sins. So today, you and I stand confronted with this question, "What will you do with Jesus?" God's most expensive choice was to turn His back on His Son. Your most expensive choice will be if you turn your back on His Son. Because there goes forgiveness, there goes a relationship with God, there goes eternal life, there goes heaven. So, what will you do right now? Isn't it time you say to this God who paid this price, "Oh, God, thank You. I am so grateful You chose to have Your Son die so I can live. I am Yours." This is the price God paid so you could have a relationship with Him. Don't wait another day. Don't risk missing this relationship with God. It's time to open your heart to Him. Nobody loves you more. Are you ready to make that choice? You ready to open your heart to Jesus? I'd love to help you get this settled today, now. That's what our website's all about. Just go there - ANewStory.com. Please go there today. God made His most expensive choice at the cross when His Son died for you. You are now making your most important choice to give yourself to Him and to live.

God provided for Abraham on Mount Moriah. There God provided a ram to sacrifice in Isaac's place. Around 1,500 years later, in nearly the same place, God provided His only son Jesus to sacrifice in our place. Exodus 12:1-13 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Matthew 26:17-19

Whole Life StewardshipGenesis 1:28 says, “And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'” That verse presents what's often called the creation or cultural mandate … which, in turn, is the foundation of “whole life stewardship.” We'll talk about those ideas today on Faith and Finance.THE CULTURAL MANDATESo what exactly is the cultural mandate?  It's the very first set of orders given to man in the Garden of Eden, before the Fall. “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.”Ironically, the “cultural mandate” found in the Bible is about 180 degrees opposite of what the culture of the world is teaching and preaching today. Some view man as a blight upon the world. They would like man's presence reduced, population limited, and the “carbon footprint” shrunk. To some, this presents a conundrum. What are we to believe? God's Word? Or “experts” who've been warning us about imminent starvation for over 200 years now? Englishman Thomas Malthus first predicted it in 1798.GOD'S OWNERSHIPI think we should consult the Owner on this— and it's not us. The Bible makes clear that as the Creator, God owns everything.1 Corinthians 10:26 teaches, “For the earth is the Lord's, and all it contains.” Hagai 2:8— “‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,' declares the Lord of hosts.”Psalm 50:10 says, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.”And yes, God even owns us. 1 Corinthians 6:19 reads, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.”Now, even though God owns the world and everything in it, He has given it all to man to act as His stewards, to “fill the earth and subdue it.” We also find in Psalm 115:16, “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, But the earth He has given to the sons of men.”And in a somewhat narrower context we have Joshua 1:30, “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.” There God was giving all of Canaan to the Israelites.So, God created everything, including us. He owns everything, including us, and He's told us to subdue and have dominion over the earth, to be His stewards. Now, what exactly does that mean?WHAT IS STEWARDSHIP?This is where the concept of “whole life stewardship” comes in. God didn't tell us to be stewards on weekends only. Our stewardship “hours of operation” are not listed in the cultural mandate. We're to be stewards 24/7.We are to use ALL of the resources He entrusts to us wisely and in a way that glorifies God. As Larry Burkett liked to say, “Every spending decision is a spiritual decision.Finally, God did not tell us to be stewards only with our time and money, but also with our skills, talents, and interests.God created us in His image and he wired each of us in a unique way.Whatever your skills or talents, pray about ways you can begin using those more fully for Kingdom work.God has been incredibly generous with us, and He wants us to share in the joy that comes with being generous. He wants us to be “whole life stewards.” On today's program, Rob also answers listener questions: What are gift annuities and when do they make sense?Are there credit card accounts that accrue rewards that go to charities?Is it wise to use money from your 401K to pay off your mortgage?What is a qualified charitable distribution and how can you make use of it?What is the wisest way to use or invest proceeds from the sale of a home?RESOURCES MENTIONED:Christian community credit unionChristian credit counselorsRemember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network as well as American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community, and give as we expand our outreach. 

It's episode 22 and Mitch and Ant are back with fresh reviews of The Flash, Transformers Rise of the Beasts, No Hard Feelings, The Blackening, Are you There God? It's Me Margaret! The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Brooklyn 45 and as Always, we bring you the hottest movie news, Box Office Numbers, and What is coming to streaming and theatres The Flash Spoilers Start at 31:00 minutes go to 43:00 Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Spoilers at 55:50 to 57:30 Email us questions or comments at: thehollywoodpersona@gmail.com @TheHollywoodPersona on Facebook and Instagram @mitchydaily on Twitter and Letterboxd  Ant on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/antsmovies/ More of Mitch's stuff on Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mitchydaily Join the CinemAddicts Facebook Group and the Film Vault Fan group Facebook Page Artwork done by Dominic M.  Music done by Quinn Letendre

Kelli Hanson's movie review of "Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret" took a turn when Steve made a shocking discovery live on the air. Plus, do you know what the most dangerous job in America is? Betcha don't! And w attempt to find out the soup of the day! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kelli Hanson's movie review of "Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret" took a turn when Steve made a shocking discovery live on the air. Plus, do you know what the most dangerous job in America is? Betcha don't! And w attempt to find out the soup of the day! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mandys are on a podcast tour of soured romance as they explore some Bad Dates with Jameela Jamil. But don't worry, they also have an update on the drama surrounding the eggroll in a bowl, Mandy's explorations in politics, adopting Scottish people, and confirmation that stuff that happens in Vegas, actually goes on to New Orleans, back to Las Angeles, and upward from there. (00:00) - Welcome to The Mandcave (00:27) - Eggroll in a Bowl Redux (01:24) - Mandy in Politics (03:00) - Mandy Adopts-a-Scot (05:31) - Bad Dates (30:38) - The Vegas Story (40:53) - Reach out! Share your dates! Support the Show and Become a Fandy! (42:29) - Games! (46:04) - Coming Attractions: Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret

Isn’t it satisfying when an ending brings clarity? The last minutes of a game inspire a great comeback. The final scenes of a movie explain the plot twist. In the same way, the last days of a life can provide a sense of purpose and reflection. Before David’s life and his rule ended, he gave the best advice he could to his young son Solomon who would sit on the throne after him. David reminded Solomon of the covenant God had made with him (2 Sam. 7:4). There God promised David an heir to the throne and said that the success of this descendant would depend upon his obedience to God’s commandments. David had followed God wholeheartedly, but certainly not perfectly. Mindful of his own life story, he exhorted Solomon to “be strong” (v. 2). Strength of conviction and character would be necessary to walk in obedience to God, to “keep his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies” (v. 3). These words summarize the content of the Law of God given to Moses (Ps. 119:1–8). David reminds his son to obey all that God had commanded. This, he says, will be the key to his success. Of course, obedience does not guarantee prosperity or a life of ease. Even when David obeyed, he had faced tremendous difficulty. For all of us, hard times are a part of life this side of eternity. Rather, the success David held out to Solomon, that Christ holds out to us, is a fellowship with God that sustains us through these difficulties. As God’s people, our innate desire to obey and please Him comes as a function of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We strive to obey God because of our relationship with Him. Which of us does not want to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant”? >> Just as Solomon needed God to sustain him through the challenges of leading Israel, we need Him to sustain us in the challenges we face. How do we maintain a close relationship with God? By obeying His commands.

This Week: Kevin starts with a look at the box office, then sounds off about the comments David Zaslav said at Cinemacon. Next, he looks at new trailers for Black Mirror: Season 6 and Wish. Later, he reviews Are you There God? It’s Me Margaret, Clock, Peter Pan & Wendy, The Black Demon and Ghosted. […]

This Week: Kevin starts with a look at the box office, then sounds off about the comments David Zaslav said at Cinemacon. Next, he looks at new trailers for Black Mirror: Season 6 and Wish. Later, he reviews Are you There God? It’s Me Margaret, Clock, Peter Pan & Wendy, The Black Demon and Ghosted. […]

“Movies are a Thing?” is a weekly podcast where we look at the movies that are being released this week to help you find the one you want to watch this weekend. Hosted by John, Allan, and Travis, going off on movie related tangents that somehow still are relevant to the movies this week. _____________________________________ Movies covered this episode: Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret Big George Forman Peter Pan & Wendy Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary Release _____________________________________ Support us on Patreon Follow us on Twitter | Facebook PodBean | Google Play | iTunes | Spotify _____________________________________ Intro/Outro Music: EzaOne - Supernova: youtu.be/xZDYu5azS-c

After Eliyahu's great victory at Har Carmel against the Baal prophets he is now forced to flee to the desert as he realises that Achav is still in power and Izevel is still queen. There God gives him a message that is one of the most powerful statements of the Jewish understanding of God and of what it means to be a Jewish leader. Hebrew and English text for this chapter can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/I_Kings.19

Scripture, in its prophetic nature, reveals the sufferings of the messengers of the Kingdom of God and the centrality of the cross for salvation. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Turn in your Bibles now to Mark 9. We continue our studies here in Mark 9:9-13, and as I look at this text, indeed, look at every text in the gospel of Mark, I come again and again to the centrality of the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Christ is the absolute center of the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul made this plain again and again in so many of the things that he wrote. He said in 2 Corinthians 2:2 , “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” He said later in that same epistle, 1 Corinthians 15:3, "for what I received, I passed onto you as a first importance that Christ died for our sins According to the scriptures." He said in Galatians 6:14, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." But Paul also made it plain that the cross is a stumbling block. 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those whom God has called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Why was the cross such a stumbling block, especially to the Jews? It had to do with Jewish expectations of a glorious messianic kingdom. God had predicted a glorious kingdom established by the Son of David, the Messiah, and that Messiah would reign on David's throne establishing and upholding it, from that time on and forever [Isaiah 9]. His kingdom would extend from shore to shore as Psalm 72 makes it plain, and his enemies would lick the dust at his feet and all the nations’ Gentiles would serve him. The apostles were completely convinced that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of David. Peter had spoken for all of them on that matter. In Mark 8:29, Jesus said, “'What about you? Who do you say that I am?’ And Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ.’" The apostles believed that Jesus would reign in Jerusalem on David's throne and that the arrogant Romans would finally be crushed under his awesome power. They're utterly convinced that this kingly reign was imminent. Some of them indeed were angling for positions of power in his throne room, but they had no conceptions of the cross, the need for the Messiah, the Son of the living God, to die a bloody shameful and cursed death on their behalf. They stumbled over that. So Jesus had to establish this in their minds again and again, there in Caesarea Philippi. He began the process of instructing his disciples accurately on what had to happen. Mark 8:31-32, "He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priest and teaches of the law and that he must be killed. And after three days rise again." He spoke plainly about this. As a matter of fact, we're told in Matthew's Gospel that He began a consistent pattern of teaching on this theme. That's when it started, and it was again and again and again, He taught them about this. We see it again in Mark's Gospel in Mark 10: 32-34, “They were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished while those who followed were afraid.” Again, He took the twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ‘We're going to Jerusalem’, he said, ‘and the son of man will be betrayed to the chief priest and the teachers of law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.’" This caused their minds to reel. It just seemed inconceivable that Jesus would be rejected by his own people, condemned by the Romans and die on a Roman cross there at Jerusalem. Jesus had walked on water, spoken to the wind and the waves, and they had obeyed him. He had driven out a legion of demons with a word, and they obeyed him with a clear fear of him there. There was literally nothing He could not do. How then could He die? How could He be rejected and killed? Peter had spoken for all of them there at Caesarea Philippi, “Never Lord.” He said, “This shall never happen to you.” Then after that, as we've noted, comes the Mount of Transfiguration, I believe, to re-establish his transcendent glory in the minds of his apostles. He took Peter, James and John up a high mountain, and there He was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling, white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. It is clear that He does that to make their confidence in his glory firm and stable, given the message of the cross that they're now being schooled in. The stunning glory of Jesus Christ blinded their eyes. They could be no doubt of the absolute supremacy of his person. Then Moses and Elijah came to confirm his glory. But as they talk together, Luke tells us the topic was his imminent death and they spoke about his departure, his exodus, which He was about to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem. Peter still cannot comprehend the need for the cross before the glory of the kingdom. He did not understand that Christ's blood shed on the cross was essential to redeem his sinful people from the curse of God that they had earned by their violation of his holy laws to bring his people wholly and pure into the kingdom of God. They didn't understand that and that there could be no other way than that, no other way than the cross of Christ and His atoning blood shed on the cross. Peter up there on the Mount Transfiguration wants to stay there and bask in the moment. Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say. They were so frightened. I talked to the staff this week about this and I said, "Do you see what's going on with Peter? What was the plan? Is he going halfway down the mountain to get some brushwood and some sticks and lean them against each other to make a temporary shelter for Jesus and Moses and Elijah? There was no plan." So when you don't have a plan, just keep your mouth shut. If you think you have a plan, in any case, even your best plan isn't good compared to God's plan. So I don't know what the tabernacle thing is, but just “we're going to stay here on the mountaintop.” But then God, Almighty God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ shows up in a glory cloud. A bright cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud, “'This is my son whom I love. Listen to him." Suddenly when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus,’” Almighty God, speaking from the glory cloud makes it plain. They need to listen to what Jesus is saying, to the word Jesus is saying, and I mean specifically about the need for the cross, about his imminent suffering and death on the cross on our behalf. Moses and Elijah are merely servants. They didn't merit equal treatment with three shelters there, not at all. Jesus is the only begotten son of the living God, and so Jesus only is left, not even the cloud. It's just Jesus and they need to listen to Him. Especially they need to listen to him teach his suffering and his death. I. Coming Down From the Mountaintop They're coming down off the mountaintop. The time has come to descend, seeing the radiant, brilliant glory of Jesus, seeing Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus, hearing the voice of God, a glory cloud coming from a brilliant cloud which enveloped them and surrounded them. There has never been such a mountaintop experience as that, but they cannot stay up there on that mountain. They have to descend. They have to descend to the writhing, seething, suffering, hate-filled, sin filled wicked world, the world of sin and death to continue that journey to the cross. That's what they need to go do. Jesus has to continue to instruct them, and the central lesson must be the cross. The apostles who are going to take the message of the cross to the ends of the earth, they need to be prepared for that message. Until they're ready, they're forbidden to talk about what they had just seen on the Mount of Transfiguration. Look at verse 9, "As they're coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the son of man had risen from the dead." Why is this? This is again and again, we bumped into this messianic secret, this prohibition of talking about all of this again and again. First and foremost, I think the reason is for crowd control because the crowd is getting heated up in their messianic expectations. We have clear evidence of this in John 6 after the feeding of the 5,000, and we're told that some in the crowd there [John 6:15] wanted to take Jesus by force and make him king, so He had to hide himself from them. That's out of control. The apostles themselves expected that the kingdom of God was imminent, that the glory was about to come. None of them were even beginning to remotely comprehend the cross, the blood of Christ shed under the wrath of God. They all would've joined Peter in rebuking Jesus about that. Now, if Peter, James and John come down off that mount of glory, and they start telling the other nine apostles what they had just seen and then start telling the crowd what they had just seen, the stunning transfiguration of Jesus and heavenly glory, Moses and Elijah talking with him, the glory cloud, the voice of God, Oh my. Their faulty expectations of imminent glory would've been inflamed, greatly inflamed, like pouring buckets of kerosene on a fire. They do not yet understand the whole message and the primary need for his atoning bloodshed on the cross before they could be fit for a kingdom of glory. J. I. Packer, the great theologian, wrote the classic Knowing God. He wrote these words, “A partial truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.” A partial truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth. The apostles had only part of the equation at that point. Jesus is powerful, more powerful than they can possibly imagine. Jesus is a physical healer from every disease and sickness. Jesus is absolutely powerful over the demons with effortless power. He can drive them out anytime He chooses. Jesus is radiantly glorious. He is the son of the living God. He will reign on David's throne and He will make it more glorious than they can possibly imagine, and it will extend from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. Yes, that's all true, but that's only part of the truth, and if they tell that partial truth as the whole truth, it becomes a complete untruth. Before any of that can happen the incarnate son of God must die on the cross. He must die under the wrath of God. He must shed his blood. For without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. So the cross must come before the glory. The cross must come before the kingdom and the subjects of the kingdom have to have that work done. Hence the prohibition. Verse 9, “As they're coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the son of man had risen from the dead.” This sparked a continued discussion. Verse 10, “They kept the matter to themselves discussing what rising from the dead meant.” They did obey. They did keep the matter to themselves in the short term, but they couldn't understand this “Son of Man rising from the dead” phrase. They discussed it among themselves, and they're talking about what rising from the dead could mean here. The issue is not that they had no idea how a dead person could rise from the grave. Jesus had risen dead people, Jairus's daughter and others. They knew that and the general Jewish expectation was of some kind of life beyond the grave; the Pharisees definitely, the Sadducees did not. But there was a general expectation of some kind of resurrection. But the issue is the Son of Man rising from the dead. What is that? The Son of Man is a title of glory that they almost certainly had underestimated before Jesus came along and showed them the glory of the Son of Man from Daniel chapter 7:13-14. How the Son of Man comes into the presence of the Ancient of Days and receives from him sovereign glory and power to rule over every nation on earth and all the peoples of the earth will worship. The Son of Man who comes on the clouds of glory, and then Jesus again and again and again and again called himself the Son of Man. They knew He was talking about himself, but how could that glorious, radiant, kingly Son of Man rise from the dead? That would mean He would have to die first, so they stumbled over the stumbling stone. They stumbled over the cross, so they changed the subject. II. The Prophecies About Elijah Fulfilled We have a question burning in our mind right now. What's this whole thing about Elijah coming before the Messiah? [Verse 11] Why did the teacher of the law say that Elijah must come first? The topic is the return of Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the Messiah. This was the clear teaching of the Scribes, the teachers of the law, that was indeed based on a prophecy at the very, very, very end of the Old Testament era. It was among, if not literally the last word, spoken of in written scripture by the Old Testament prophets, Malachi. Malachi 4:6. There God says through the prophet Malachi, "Behold, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes, he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." I always thought it was interesting that in our English Bibles, the last word in the Old Testament is a curse, and the first word in the New Testament is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of David. It's pretty powerful. There it is. There's the prediction about Elijah. Remember that Elijah had never died but had mysteriously ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire sent by God himself. So now I want to bring your minds to the final conversation that happened between Elijah and Elisha. We try to understand this connection here, this Elijah prophecy as they were walking along together. Elijah had anointed Elisha as his successor prophet after him as God had told him to do, and they're walking and talking along, and there's a school of prophets that are kind of hanging out. Some young guy prophets that are, it's like a little seminary, and they're walking along. Elijah and Elisha are ahead of them, and they come to the Jordan River and Elijah takes off his cloak and strikes the Jordan River with it, and it parts like the red sea. Wow. Elijah's an exciting person to be around. The two of them walked over, and as they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Wow. Scholars date that event sometime around the year, 852 BC. Malachi the prophet, made his prediction over four centuries later, somewhere around 440 to 400 BC. The prophecy said that that God would send Elijah back as a forerunner before the day of the Lord, which the Jews understood as the coming of the Messiah. The Jews were waiting for Elijah before the Messiah. First Elijah, then the Messiah. The prophecy took on vigor we’re told in the intertestamental period. So much so that Bible-believing Jews who were serious about the scripture were expectingly waiting for the Messiah, but they were expectingly waiting Elijah first. They'd actually put out an empty chair for Elijah at the Passover. They're waiting for him to come. That's a symbol of their belief in the prophecy. The apostles are curious about this whole thing. It's acute. They're absolutely utterly convinced Jesus is the Messiah. That's done, especially now that they've seen Jesus' transcendent glory and God speaking about him out of a glory cloud. But they just had seen Elijah on the mountain, and it seemed like he went back up to heaven. So it seemed like Elijah has been up in heaven and he's still there, but Jesus is definitely the Messiah. They’re just interested in this one scripture. I like the attitude. I think we need to take scripture seriously. I'm going to do that in this text. They want to know about this. Were the scribes wrong about the prophecy? What about Malachi 4? How do we understand that? Jesus seizes the moment to teach them about his own suffering. That's his priority here. The real issue is the cross. They're going down off the mound of glory to the cross. They need to understand that. He answers them immediately about Elijah 12, to be sure Elijah does come first and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? We go back to his own sufferings. Jesus tells them that Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished just as it is written about him. Jesus' priority is the suffering and rejection of the Son of Man, His own suffering. But first, let's talk about this Elijah prophecy. Jesus teaches the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy to be sure Elijah does come first. The scribes had Malachi right, and he says "He restores all things." That's an interesting statement. He's come to restore Israel to bring it to a greater place of spiritual health. Think what Malachi said, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of the children to the fathers.” That's a work of restoration, bringing the hearts of the Jewish people together, beginning with the family, father, son relationship, and the union there. Malachi's words are not comprehensive about what “restore all things” means, but they do refer to the striking of the land with a curse, and anyone who knew the old covenant, it's blessings for obedience to the laws and curses for disobedience. The idea is I'm going to turn the hearts of Israel in repentance back to God and back to the laws of God. That would be Elijah's work of restoration, comprehensive turning of the hearts of the Jewish nation, repentance of the laws of God. But before speaking the rest about Elijah, Jesus brings their minds back to the cross. Verse 12, “Why then is it written that the son of man must suffer much and be rejected?” Jesus is going to talk about Elijah with the real issues, the cross. Now verse 13, "But I tell you, Elijah has come and they have done to him everything they wished just as is it is written about him." Unless we have any doubt whatsoever about what Jesus is talking about, Matthew elucidates it very plainly, not left to wonder. Matthew 17: 12-13, "But I tell you, Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wish in the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Matthew 17: 13, "Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist." John the Baptist. In another place, Jesus also makes this connection perfectly clear. Matthew makes it clear in the text, but Jesus himself says it in Matthew 11:11-15, "I tell you the truth", Jesus said about John the Baptist, "I tell you the truth, among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist, yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it for all the prophets and the law prophesy until John, and if you're willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears let him hear." That settles it, John the Baptist is the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy. There's a clear connection between John the Baptist and Elijah. Remember his godly parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, they were way past childbearing years, and Zechariah was a priest. He was chosen by lot to go in and offer incense. He's in there and then an angel appears to Zechariah and tells him. "Your prayers have been heard." "What prayers were that you wanted a child, right?" "Oh, we left that behind a long time ago." "Doesn't matter. God heard your prayer." The angel said, "Do not be afraid Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to give him the name John." Four verses later, "and he will go on before the Lord in the Spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Clear. What does this mean “in the spirit and power of Elijah”, not Elijah himself. Remember that this is the exact thing that Elisha, his successor had asked him for in 2 Kings 2:9-14. When they crossed over, remember Elijah struck the Jordan with the cloak. It parted like the Red Sea. They crossed over. When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I'm taken from you?" "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” Elijah replied, "You have asked a difficult thing." Elijah said, "Yet, if you see me when I'm taken from you, it will be yours, otherwise not." Elijah's an interesting guy. It's like, “I don't know. We'll see if you'll get it. If you don't, you won’t." Wow. As they're walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this. Stop right there. The conditions were met, he saw it and he cried out, "My father, my father, the chariots and horseman of Israel", and Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart. He picked up the cloaks, sometimes KJV gives us mantle.” You pick up the mantle”, it's like picking up someone's work after they're done with it. He picks up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. Wow, what did he ask for? I want a double portion of your spirit. It's not Elijah coming back down to do that, Elisha’s going to carry on. “In the spirit of Elijah" and the school of prophets watching it saw it and said these words, "The spirit of Elijah is now resting on Elisha." It's a transferrable spirit, a transfer of spirit and power to another man who carries on that kind of ministry. John the Baptist picked up this approach. It went down to the manner of his dress. There are two verses and only two verses in the entire Bible that mentioned a leather belt. One of them is connected with Elijah the Tishbite where he's identified 2 Kings 1:8, "He was a man with a garment of hair and a leather belt around his waist." He wears a hair garment, a rough kind of garment of hair and then a leather belt around his waist. Mark 1:6, "John wore clothing made of camel's hair with a leather belter on his waist." It's not acting him, he's dressed the same way. Furthermore, their personalities seem about the same. I don't feel like it'd be an enjoyable dinner conversation with them. I feel like I'm going to want to repent the whole evening and that would be a good work. But I mean, it's not a comfortable field to be around them. The same thing with John the Baptist. It's the style of his preaching, the manner of his personality, and then where he lived, he's out in the desert. They were eating strange food. Elijah, the foods brought by ravens little at a time and then locus and wild honey for John the Baptist. Interesting. John the Baptist was actually not Elijah. John 1:19-21, "When the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levis to ask him, they asked him, ‘Who are you? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ But John went on in front of the people of Israel to tell them, to call them to repentance and faith, faithfulness to the law and to prepare the way for the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah." III. The Greater Prophecies About Christ’s Sufferings Now, let's talk about the most complex part of this whole thing. The sufferings of the Elijah who was to come, the sufferings of the Elijah who was to come. What are we talking about? It's not, what are we talking about? What was Jesus talking about? Look again at verse 13 and look carefully at it. “Jesus said, ‘But I tell you, Elijah has come and they have done to him everything they wished just as it is written about him.’" Now, I have to tell you, that statement perplexed me for about three weeks when I was memorizing the Gospel of Mark. I was like, "I don't know what Jesus is talking about." Jesus never says anything wrong and He never says anything that's a throwaway. What does it mean? That's the way it is with scripture. We need to study every phrase. Not everything's equally important, but everything's equally true. We want to try to harmonize this. Jesus is speaking of the enemies of John the Baptist, who have done to him whatever they wished. There can be little doubt that He's talking about how John was killed, the suffering, the imprisonment and the death by beheading of John the Baptist of which account we've already walked through. In Mark 6, you remember the story, Herod the Tetrarch arrested John and had him put in prison because John was boldly preaching against his marriage to his brother's wife, Herodias. John told the truth about that. Herodias hated him. Mark 6:19-20 says, "Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him, but she was not able to because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled, yet he liked to listen to him." So Herod is holding off his rage-filled wife, Herodias. He's holding her off because he likes John. He likes to talk to him. He's puzzled by him. He would set him free probably if he could, but Herodias hated him. Finally, Herodias sees the opportunity at Herod's birthday. Herod never saw it coming. In the text in Mark 6 ,”Finally the opportune time came." Opportune for what? For Herodias, like a spider, to spin a web. She sends out her beautiful daughter who dances a lascivious dance and entraps Herod. In his lust, Herod makes an oath saying, "I'll give you whatever you want after that dance, up to half my kingdom." The girl goes out to her mother Herodias. "So what should I ask for?" "The head of John the Baptist." She answered. The head of John the Baptist. At once this girl hurried into the king with the request, "I want you to give me right now, the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guest, he did not want to refuse her. So immediately he sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went out and beheaded John in prison. That's what happened. But how was it written in scripture that that would happen? You get two verses in Malachi 4 and there's nothing there about any suffering, none of this. I'm telling you, there's no other prophecies in the 39 books of the Old Testament about the coming of Elijah before the Messiah. So what does it mean just as it is written about him? Jesus said "They did to him whatever they wished." Who was they? It was Herodias. Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. There's no verbal predictive prophecy that Elijah would die, but Jesus said it was written. So this is my answer, John the Baptist lived in the transferrable spirit and power of Elijah and carried out that pattern in the same way. I believe the spirit and power of Jezebel, the enemy of Elijah went over to Herodias, but she got what she wanted when Jezebel didn't. Now who's Jezebel? She's the wicked woman who is married to wicked king Ahab. Ahab was very much like King Herod, a vacillating, weak kind of man, a puppet to his scheming, conniving wife. When Jezebel heard what Elijah had done on Mount Carmel and how he had killed all her prophets of Baal, she made this statement, 1 Kings 19:2-3, "May the God's deal with me, be it ever so severely if I don't make your life Elijah like one of theirs by this time tomorrow." She's not a woman of idol threats. "John the Baptist lived in the transferrable spirit and power of Elijah and carried out that pattern in the same way." So what do you do? He ran for his life and gets to a cave. God speaks to him in a still small voice. He gives him some final things to do, including anointing Elisha as his successor. Then he goes up to heaven. What happened to Jezebel's vow? Nothing. She didn't get what she wanted. God rescued Elijah out of her fingers, he slipped through her fingers. She didn't get what she wanted, but Herodias did. The spirit of Jezebel lived on in Herodias, and she manipulated her weak vacillating husband to do what she wanted and they were able to kill John, the messenger of the Messiah. Now in Old Testament prophecy, there are two kinds. There's verbally predictive prophecy, and then there's acted out prophecies. They're just acted out in history and they picture something coming later. Like the building of the ark is a picture of end time and the ark is a picture of the gospel. Every animal sacrifice is a type or a typical prophecy acted out. That's what this prophecy was. This whole thing was acted out in the time of Elijah, but with a change —he was rescued, but John wasn’t, and they were able to do anything they wish to him just as it is written about him. So what? The precision, the accuracy of Jesus' words, the precision and accuracy of scripture. The real thing wasn't about the prediction of Elijah's sufferings, it was the clear prediction of the Messiah sufferings. That's the point. Verse 12, to be sure Elijah does come first and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected? Where is that written? All over the place. Start with Psalm 22, which begins famously, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" David wrote that 1,000 years before Jesus. Then a few verses later he describes, in detail, the crucifixion. Psalm 22:14-17, "I'm poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It has melted away within me. They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones, people stare and gloat over me." That's crucifixion, pierced my hands and my feet. But even clearer is Isaiah 53:5-6, "But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." The apostles needed to understand that Christ had to die according to the scriptures for their salvation and friends, so do we. So do we. We stumble over this too. IV. Lessons So what lessons can we take from this? First of all, just marvel at the perfection, the depth and detail of scripture. Let me just tell you in general what I've learned from careful study over decades. Scripture says more than you think it does, scripture's deeper than you think it is. Now that doesn't mean that a child can't understand its basic saving message, a child can. The milk of scripture is clear for everybody, but there's always, always more to learn. So let's marvel at the perfection and complexity of scripture. Let's take every part seriously, but that's not even the point here. The point here is the centrality of the cross. We tend to stumble too. We tend to underestimate how much we need a Jesus to drink the cup of God's wrath for us. We underestimate our sins. We think they're not no big deal, and we need to go again and again in our minds to the cross. Even if we've been Christians for decades, go again and again to the cross and say, “that's what it took to save a sinner like me. That's what it took to save a sinner like me, the blood of the Messiah for me, shed from me.” That meditation has a withering effect on our lusts and our temptations and sins. Meditate on the cost of your salvation. Meditate on the blood that was shed to make you fit for the kingdom. Don't minimize the glory of the kingdom. "The point here is the centrality of the cross. We tend to stumble too. We tend to underestimate how much we need a Jesus to drink the cup of God's wrath for us. We underestimate our sins." It's actually more glorious than the disciples ever thought it would be, more majestic, more powerful. And it's coming. The kingdom's coming. We pray for it. May your kingdom come and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's coming. The glories are coming. But first, the work of the cross. That's what we're called on to take to the ends of the earth. The apostles needed to understand that. By the time Jesus ascended to heaven, they understood and they preached the message of the cross. That's what we get to do here in the Raleigh/Durham/Triangle era. We get to preach the gospel, the cross, but we should not imagine, this is the final subpoint, that it will come without cost to us. What was the cost to Elijah to tell the truth about Baal worship? Jezebel wanted to kill him. What was the cost to John the Baptist to tell the truth about marriage and divorce and morality and the law? It cost him his head. What was the cost to Jesus for our sins? His blood. What was the cost of the apostles to take the gospel to the ends of the earth? They would be hated, despised and rejected like He was. What's going to be the cost to us? What's the cost to you to share the gospel at your workplace this week? It may cost you something ,you may have to suffer, but that's the cost and that's what God's given us to do, to take the message to the cross to this region. Let's close in prayer. Father, thank you for the time we've had to work through this passage deeper than we thought it was, more powerful. We thank you that shining above all of this is the price that was paid once for all, once for all, the blood of Jesus shed in the cross for us. Thank you for that. And now, Lord, give us courage, give us a willingness to suffer. Our suffering will be nothing compared to Jesus, probably less than that of Elijah and John the Baptist. But Lord, help us to be willing to pay the price to open our mouths even this week and share the gospel. Help us, oh Lord, to be willing to have the work of the cross mortify our lusts and our sins daily in our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Bart Byl on 1 Kings 19:1-18. Series: Christ in the Old Testament The prophet Elijah, discouraged by Israel's shallow repentance and fleeing for his life, makes his way to Mount Sinai. There God tells him to wait for him to pass by. Elijah experiences a tempest, an earthquake, and a fire, but God is not in any of these fearsome phenomena. Finally, the prophet hears a still, small voice — and recognising that God is present at least, he emerges from his cave. --- Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Latter-day Saints revere Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. His role is absolutely central to the claims of Mormonism. LDS Church President Joseph Fielding Smith highlighted this important role:“Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 1:188. Italics in original)In light of this, it makes sense to examine the story of Joseph Smith to evaluate what we should think of him. Consider five elements of his story that bear upon this question.Occult Treasure Hunting Money digging was a fairly common practice in frontier America in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It involved certain rituals or ceremonies performed to obtain buried treasure. The treasure was thought to be guarded by evil spirits. Joseph Smith as a young man offered his services for hire as a money digger. Smith's entire family practiced various folk-magic practices, including visions, dreams and occult rituals.Joseph's method in finding lost treasure involved the use of a seer stone, which he discovered in 1822 while digging a well for a neighbor. He would place this small rock in his hat and pull his hat up over his face to block out the light. He claimed that he could see supernaturally through the stone to help locate the place where the treasure was buried.The Vagrant Act, a New York law at the time, defined a disorderly person to include one who pretended to have skill in palm reading, telling fortunes, or discovering where lost goods could be found. In 1826 - during the period while Joseph was supposedly being prepared by God to receive the gold plates containing the Book of Mormon - he was arrested, brought before a judge, and charged with being a “glass-looker” and a disorderly person. The judge determined that Joseph was guilty, though no penalty was administered.Shortly after this, Joseph stopped money digging but kept the seer stone. It was with this stone that he claimed to find the gold plates and to later produce the Book of Mormon. Historians have documented many points of connection between Joseph's early occult practices and the origins of the Book of Mormon.The First Vision Joseph Smith's “First Vision” is a key part of the LDS story and establishes several unique LDS beliefs. The official account of this vision describes how the 14-year-old Smith, eager to learn the truth about which of the competing Christian churches was true, went to a secluded grove to ask God. There God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him not to join any of them, for all of them were apostate. That event launched the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith to restore Jesus' original church to the earth. The official account, now included in LDS scriptures, was written by Joseph Smith in 1838, 18 years after the events it recounts. Yet historical research in recent years has uncovered eight other accounts of the First Vision. Some were written by Smith himself, or were recorded by others who heard Smith tell about it. Most of these accounts are earlier than the official version. It appears that over time, the story changed and grew into its final form. In some versions, two personages appear to Smith. In another, only “the Lord” appears. In others, the glorious personage is an angel. In the official version, the personages tell Smith that all churches are corrupt. In another version, this message comes from an angel. In other versions, this message is missing. In some versions, In one version, Smith reports that he was told, “Your sins are forgiven.” But this is absent in other versions. The official account says that Joseph was 14 when he had the vision. Another version, in Smith's own handwriting, says that...

It's almost Christmas, and today I want to give you a story and a message for Christmas. I've had a few listeners wondering if I could address some of my thoughts about the religious significance of Christmas. So in today's episode I want to talk about what Christmas means to me, what my faith means to me, and how the two are connected. I also read you a very sweet and inspiring story written by Leo Tolstoy. It's also known as "Simon the Cobbler" and it tells the story of an elderly shoe maker. One day he hears a voice - God - saying that He would come and visit him tomorrow. So that next day Simon gets up and works by his window, looking out at the people and waiting for Christ to arrive. What he sees and does in response is what makes this story a beautiful message of what God's love looks like. This is a bit more religious than what I usually do on my podcast, but I felt like it was a message I wanted to share, and in some ways needed to share. My hope is that this episode will encourage you to be kind, to do good, and to honor Christmas in your heart, and try to keep it all the year. From me and my family to all of you, I hope you have a very merry Christmas! Time Stamps: 00:00 Introductory thoughts and intro to the story 10:08 Where Love Is, There God is Also, by Leo Tolstoy 39:32 Thoughts on the story, and my Christmas message of encouragement to you   Past episodes that might deal with a bit of the religious side of Christmas: The Life of Our Lord: a Brief Look at The Gospel According to Dickens: https://cozychristmas.libsyn.com/the-life-of-our-lord-a-brief-look-at-the-gospel-according-to-dickens An Easter Carol by Charles Dickens? with Guest Gina Dalfonzo https://cozychristmas.libsyn.com/an-easter-carol-by-charles-dickens-with-guest-gina-dalfonzo   Ways to support the show: Wish list: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2PTGNQWISVZE/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_3 Buy me a coffee? www.ko-fi.com/cozychristmas  Ornaments, Mugs, and Notebooks: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CozyChristmasPodcast  Logo shirt designs: http://tee.pub/lic/edygC_h4D1c    Contact Me: facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cozychristmaspodcast  instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cozychristmaspodcast/  twitter: https://twitter.com/CozyXmasPod  youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCikiozEbu0h9pKeI1Ei5TQ email: cozychristmaspodcast@gmail.com     #christmas #podcast #stories

Today's Reading: Table of Duties: Civil GovernmentDaily Lectionary: Isaiah 30:15-26; Revelation 2:1-29Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil (Rom. 13:1-4).In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. One of the great comforts of Jesus becoming Incarnate man is that Jesus knows about life here in this fallen world.  You're not the only ones who have lived under the rule of earthly kings and princes; Your Lord Jesus did too.  Our Table of Duties from the Small Catechism teaches what our life looks like in this fallen world.  We, the baptized, are instructed about Civil Governance not just so we can live, breathe and have our being when they do their job well. We're to be subject to governing authorities even and especially when the people who bear the sword of the Law of God aren't Christian, even when they act in ways that are contrary to the very word of God. God cares so much about order, safety and care for all people that He appoints servants to bear the sword of wrath, the sword of Justice and civil punishment for varying violations of the 10 commands; it's good to have order, it's good that the wicked are punished for crimes and we are given the promise that God ordains this sword for order, for good and not in vain.  Out of Chaos, darkness and nothingness God said “Let there be light…” and there was; evening and morning the first day.  There God appointed Adam as steward, caretaker of the creation, Adam named animals, called them by the names that have stuck since then.  But the reading gets sorta strange when we see that God the Father appoints ministers, that is, avengers to execute wrath on those who practice evil.  This passage in the table of duties isn't talking about your pastor, or even a vigilante Christian who seeks to impose morals and virtues across the land. No, the table of duties reminds us that God has appointed authorities, by His good and gracious will, to maintain order here in the land we sojourn through.  Ministers, persons given authority by God to punish criminals, law breakers and the like.  This ought to be.  But what do we owe to those men and women God has appointed for our good; yes, even when they act out of line… gulp!Why do we owe them honor?  Simply put, Our Gracious God has placed them over us to execute their charges for our good. Yes, there will be tyrants and despots and we pray the Lord will be merciful to them when they abdicate their calling. We should pray for our President, Congress, Governors and Mayors, Police and School Boards that their ears would be opened to hear the gracious care of our Lord. We pray that they be given strength and integrity to govern us in a way that is good and right in the sight of God; we owe them honor not because THEY are good, but because our Lord and God is good and He has graciously given them to us as a defense, for our safety and good.  In the Name of Jesus, amen. Lord, keep this nation under Your care.  Bless the leaders of our land that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to the other nations of the earth.  Grant that we may choose trustworthy leaders, contribute to wise decisions for the general welfare and serve You faithfully in our generation; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.-Pastor Adam DeGroot is Pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, New Mexico..Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Harrison Goodman.Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”  Luke 20:27-38   Resurrection  Marriage is a beautiful thing. From the beginning of time, God created man and woman to complement and complete each other. Having already created the animal kingdoms, God said, “It is not good that man should be alone, so I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). Clearly, God made us to be relational beings. This mirrors God's Being: God is one God in three divine Persons. In today's Gospel, the Sadducees are not questioning the goodness of marriage, but they are questioning the relations of married people in the afterlife.  Seemingly out of nowhere, since this is the first time the Sadducees appear in Luke's Gospel, the Sadducees come forward and put Jesus to the test. Because they did not believe in the resurrection, they bring Jesus a scenario of what they think is an air-tight argument against it.  But in order to understand their argument, we must first grasp one of the Jewish commandments in Deuteronomy. There God says,  When [a brother] dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband's brother shall come to her, marrying her and performing the duty of a brother-in-law. The firstborn son she bears shall continue the name of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. (25:5-6) God gave this commandment in addition to the first-ever commandment given to Adam and Eve: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22). This shows that, in addition to valuing relationships, God values life. But the Sadducees could not see the connection between marriage, remarriage (after the spouse's death), and the afterlife in Heaven. So they pose a simple question to Jesus, “What if seven brothers were married to one woman but they all die; whose wife will she be in Heaven?” And Jesus says something to the effect of, “No one's because there is no marriage in Heaven.”  Jesus' answer is profound on many levels. First, Jesus is not afraid to directly answer the question of his opponents. Second, he tells us there is no contradiction between remarriage and resurrection; in fact, he gives us an insight into the very purpose of marriage. Third, he gives us an insight into what existence will be like in Heaven.  Jesus' answer implies that marriage is a means to man's ultimate end: which is salvation. Our Lord tells us: “[T]hose who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.” Therefore,  Jesus is telling us that Heaven is an eternal state of being with God, a place reserved for the risen.  Our Lord's response would have irked the Sadducees because they had just attempted to argue that belief in the resurrection of the dead is absurd. But Jesus doesn't stop there; instead, he goes so far as to appeal to their highest Jewish authority. He says, “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush….” His listeners would have known he was speaking about the great prophet Moses' experience at the burning bush in reference to God's theophany—the manifestation of God. Here God called out to Moses, saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). Jesus concludes with a question: why would the living God refer to himself as the God of our fathers if they too were not still alive in him? Interestingly, this same reasoning and defense of the resurrection of the dead can be found later in the New Testament from both St. Luke (Acts 7:30-34) and St. Paul (Acts  26:22-23).  Let's take a moment to thank our living God today for the great reality and the great gift of the resurrection. Pray to “be made worthy” and that you may persevere to the end in order to experience this gift firsthand on the last day.    Is it time for your Exodus? Learn more here: https://ex90.cc/sunday

Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 35:1-7, 16-25; Colossians 3:1-25 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Galatians 3:17) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The world demands a lot of us. Parents, teachers, friends, bosses, and coworkers demand that we "do this" or "do that." Sometimes, the Bible seems no different. "Set your minds on things that are above" (Galatians 3:2). "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you" (Galatians 3:5). "As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive" (Galatians 3:13). "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Galatians 3:17).Even that only names a few of the list of demands Paul gives to the Galatians and to you and me. Often the Bible can seem very Law-heavy and demanding. It preaches the Gospel, like Paul does to the Galatians, but then Paul seems to undo it with a list of demands. Sometimes, even the Gospel can seem like a demand. "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). So what are we supposed to do? What demand does the Bible put on Christians?None. Even here, Paul is not demanding anything of the Christian, nor anything of you. No, he is appealing to our freedom. He is rejoicing in the freedom that we have because of Christ. Jesus has done everything that is necessary and fulfilled every demand for your salvation. Nothing is left for you to do. Even repentance and Baptism isn't for you to do, but it is God's work. He does it all for you. He dies and rises for you. It is all His work for you, to make your salvation sure and certain apart from your works. Nothing more is demanded from you or of you. You are free from every demand and command.What a wonderful gift to be free! How wonderful it is to have our freedom from sin. We are no longer held by sin but are raised with Christ. We are free to love as Christ has loved us. We are free to do whatever we want, in word or deed, in the Name of Jesus, giving thanks to God. We are free to focus on higher things, to glorify God, to bring our neighbor into God's kingdom with us to set them free. We are free to be God's means to save others. We are free from worrying about ourselves because Christ has done it all for us. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Where charity and love prevail There God is ever found; Brought here together by Christ's love By love are we thus bound. ("Where Charity and Love Prevail" LSB 845, st.1)-Rev. Brett Simek is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hilbert, WI. He also serves as catechesis coordinator for Higher Things.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschStudy Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Writing Lessons from Nora Ephron  Nora Ephron was one of the most popular and accomplished writers in American literature and film. She did it all. Movies, books, essays, magazine articles and more.   Today I'm sharing her strategies that you can use to improve your own writing.   For more helpful writing tips check out podcast episode 171: Words that Sell: 5 Top Copywriters Share their Best Advice with Laura Belgray, Lacy Boggs, Tarzan Kay, Kimberly Houston, and Danielle Weil  The New York Art Scene Circa 1962  There's an exhibit called New York 1962-1964 covering that 3-year period of art in the city. It was a time of epic changes, and the exhibit explores the way artists documented the era.   Looking at art through the lens of the events during that time frame reminds me that what's happening in our world impacts how we see and experience events which affects our expression and the art we create.   Does the Supreme Court get to decide: What is Art?  This fall the supreme court is going to hear a case about Andy Warhol's paintings of the artist known as Prince. Specifically, the legal concern is if the images violate the copywrite law with a portrait of the musician.   Essentially, they are deciding “what is art?” Why is this coming up now? The Andy Warhol foundation has licensed work that was originally based on a single-use license.   It's complicated and I have lots of questions. Let me know what you think on Instagram.   Want to know how to make sure you're protected? Check out podcast 44: Protect Your Art from Copycats and Freeloaders with Legal Expert Katie Lane  Take Yourself Seriously as an Artist  Did you read any books written by July Blume? Her book Are you There God, It's me Margaret was instructional for me as a young 4th grader. A movie based on the book will be released in 2023.   This was the first of 29 books written by Blume but when this was published everyone, including her husband (at the time) laughed at the idea that she was a writer.   Not Judy. She knew she was a writer.   It's time to re-write your story. Start taking yourself seriously. I want you to choose to believe in yourself as the artists, the writer, the creator that you are.   Your Friends Shape Your Mindset   A new study from Harvard found that poor children found that kids who had friends from across class lines has better outcomes that those who didn't.   I became friends with a group of girls, and we decided that we were gifted. We talked about becoming poets and artists and though I am not in touch with them now, I found out that is exactly what happened for at least 2 of them. The seeds of who we were and who we became were planted during those 6th grade friendships.   Our friendships shape what we see as normal. It helped us all believe what was possible for us.   Listen to Master the Emotional Side of Goal Setting with Miriam Schulman schulmanart.com/175  If you are looking to surround yourself with other artists and creators, check out the Artists Incubator.  Pre-order the book Artpreneur: Schulmanart.com/BOOK Come tell me what you think @schulmanArt

Singer-songwriter Joy Dame is on the Creatively Christian podcast, interviewed by Andrea Sandefur. Joy Dame writes both worship songs and songs geared toward reaching the next generation. She talks with Andrea about how God opens doors through collaboration, specifically song co-writing (she's a pro at this!). We also get to hear one of Joy's original songs at the end of the episode, so be sure to stick around to enjoy that. Growing up in Michigan, Joy dreamed of writing and singing Christian music since the day her dad took her to a Steve Green concert. After Bible school, she and her husband moved to France to serve as missionaries. There God further formed her as a worship leader and songwriter through the pain of loss, joy of healing, and her passion for reaching others with the gospel in song. Her ministry in the U.S and overseas have involved Productions and Concerts in schools, prisons, camps, and social events. She and her husband and three boys now live in Florida. She enjoys writing songs for other artists as well and is currently working on her own next two singles. This episode can also be found on YouTube. Show Notes The following resources were mentioned in the show or are useful resources recommended by the guests. Links might be marked as affiliates, meaning we earn a commission if you buy through the link. God Songs by Paul Baloche: https://www.amazon.com/God-Songs-Write-Select-Worship/dp/1933150033/ref=sr_1_4?crid=O6JV2OM4MQSP&keywords=paul+baloche+god+songs&qid=1659912902&sprefix=paul+baloche+god%2Caps%2C794&sr=8-4Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric and Structure by Pat Patterson: https://www.amazon.com/Songwriting-Essential-Structure-Techniques-Writing/dp/0793511801/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3FG4GKPLQF6VV&keywords=pat+patterson+songwriting+essentials&qid=1659912964&sprefix=pat+patterson+songwriting+essenti%2Caps%2C494&sr=8-2The Songwriter's Workshop: Melody by Jimmy Kachulis: https://www.amazon.com/Songwriters-Workshop-Melody-Berklee-Press/dp/0634026593/ref=sr_1_1?crid=W0NM00OZ847O&keywords=jimmy+kachulis+melody&qid=1659913019&sprefix=jimmy+kachulis+melody%2Caps%2C434&sr=8-1Andrea Stople on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreastolpeofficial/Lake City Lights Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/488962356343614 Learn More About Our Guest You can follow this guest on several platforms, including: Joy's Website: https://joydamemusic.com/Joy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joydamemusic/Joy Dame Music Tribe: https://www.facebook.com/joydamemusic Credits Today's episode is hosted by Andrea Sandefur. Andrea is a civil engineer turned stay-at-home mom and singer-songwriter. She plays the piano, leads worship at her church, and loves to write new songs. One of Andrea's favorite activities is encouraging creative artists in her congregation through hosting artist showcases. Follow Andrea on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Support this show and get access to exclusive content by donating at https://www.patreon.com/creativelychristian. This show is produced by Theophany Media (https://www.theophanymedia.com). The theme music is by Bill Brooks and Andrea Sandefur. Our logo is by Bill Brooks. This show is hosted by Brannon Hollingsworth, Andrea Sandefur, Dave Ebert, and Rachel Anna. Jake Doberenz produces. Follow Theophany Media and the podcast on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. (Luke 1:80) This verse is speaking of John the Baptist. John grew and was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. I don't know about you, but when I think of my children growing up and living their adult life, I wouldn't in a million years think that they would live in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey and wearing camel hair outfits. However, as a Christian parent who is raising godly young children, I do expect they'll face spiritual wilderness, likely more than once in their lifetime. When we think of the wilderness in biblical accounts, it's a physical and metaphorical place, but often seen physically displayed in an account while reading the spiritual work being done there. Examples in the Wilderness Jesus was in the wilderness leading up to His ministry, being led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil after fasting for 40 days (Matthew 4). The apostle Paul spent time in the wilderness after his conversion on the road to Damascus in which he grew in the LORD and was prepared for his ministry (Galatians 1). The prophet Elijah spent time in the wilderness as God told him to hide by the brook Cherith. There God provided his needs through ravens bringing food and when the brook water had dried up, he was sent out to serve God again (1 Kings 17). Likewise, John the Baptist was also being prepared, spending time with God alone, for when he would make his public appearance to make straight the way of the Lord. In all these people, time spent in the wilderness led to wonderful works of God being worked through them. And yet, it's not only through Jesus and these biblical figures that we see the Holy Spirit working. He is still working through men and women today, and they go through their own wildernesses and preparation in order to be fully equipped for the good works that God has prepared for them to walk in. What Season Are You In? If you’re in a wilderness right now, take heart, God has good plans for you, for hope and a future. He knows what He's working in you through this season of wilderness, which may feel dry at times, but I can guarantee you that if you're spending time with God through it, you'll be like a tree, planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. Keep meditating on His word day and night! (Psalm 1) If you're also a parent, would you pray for your own children's seasons of wilderness? That they too would be brought through it well, being refined and prepared for the next season of work in their life. It doesn't matter how old you or your children are, God can use you and will use you if you're surrendered to His will. My prayer for you and your family is that you all grow strong in spirit in any and every season of your life, but that you especially continue that growth in seasons of wilderness.

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-18 A great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. 1 Kings 19:11 The prophet Elijah was running for his life. He had been faithful to God, warning King Ahab and Queen Jezebel that they needed to obey God and stop misleading the people of Israel. But Ahab and Jezebel would not listen—not even after God showed his power through Elijah in a dramatic showdown (1 Kings 18). In­stead, Jezebel threatened to hunt Elijah down and kill him. So Elijah ran away into the wilderness. There God sent an ­angel to care for him, and that gave him energy to keep traveling all the way to Horeb (Mt. Sinai), where God had met Moses and the people of Israel many years earlier (Exodus 19-20). In a cave on Mount Horeb, Elijah heard God calling him to come out and meet him as he passed by. A series of storms came. A great wind tore at the mountain and shattered rocks. But God was not in the wind. Then the earth shook, and fire came out of nowhere, but God was not in the earthquake or the fire. Then there was a sound of stillness. And Elijah emerged, with his face covered, to meet with God. God spoke with encouragement and care, giving Elijah new tasks to do. And these included anointing another prophet so that Elijah would no longer work alone. In this way the Lord reaffirmed Elijah, and Elijah continued to serve God faithfully. Dear Lord, we long for your guidance in our lives today. Thank you for your encouraging Word. Help us to serve you faithfully. Amen.

Welcome back to Word of God! We are: Ash (the old-time fan), Emma (the latecomer), and Wyatt (the newbie). We're digesting this show in chunks of about two episodes a week.  LET'S GET READY FOR BLORBOOOOOOOSSSSSSS! It's finally season four, the show as we remember it has finally started! If you're just jumping on the ship now, welcome! You have no idea what you're about to get into. For our returning fans, tighten your seatbelts there's a lot of screaming in this one. Today we talk about 4.1 "Lazarus Rising" and 4.2 "Are you There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester." Show Notes (also here on tumblr) Sources for references made this episode: article about Cas's Constantine look Emma's new notebook casting side for Castiel Misha Collins' TSA video (CW: parental abuse mention) trans!Dean moments compilation by @theangelisgay (contains spoilers for later episodes) “Every angel is terrifying” SPN symbols on LJ Content warnings for this episode are HERE Check our Listen page or go to our Pinned post on tumblr to find a list of platforms you can find us on - don't forget to rate and review if you can! The music for Word of God is The Last Ones by Jahzzar from freemusicarchive.org, licensed under Attribution share-alike 3.0 international license. Find the song HERE Have any questions or comments? Email us at wordofgodcast@gmail.com, tweet us, or send us an ask on tumblr!

There are walls that have been put up in our lives that block our true self, our diamond light inside of us, from shining. These walls shape our way of being in the world, even if we don't realize it. In this episode we will identify a wall that has shaped our thoughts and actions, and either made us hide with shame or try to prove that these walls are wrong by striving. We will attempt to let their power over us go. Our listening portion is from Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers Prayer is standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart; that is, at that pint of our being where there are no divisions or distinctions and where we are totally one. There God's Spirit dwells and there the great encounter takes place. There heart speaks to heart because there we stand before the face of God. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/angie-winn/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/angie-winn/support

It is the glory of the gospel that it is founded upon the principle of restoring in the fallen race the divine image by a constant manifestation of benevolence. This work began in the heavenly courts. There God decided to give human beings unmistakable evidence of the love with which He regarded them. In this episode we study the everlasting gospel. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/endtimepublications/message

  Where is Mt. Moriah?  In this lesson we find that the actual Hebrew in the Bible implies that Moriah is not a proper name.  The word itself is ancient and disappeared from use as we get closer to the Second Temple period, 600 B.C. till 70 A.D. In the “JPS Torah Commentary – Genesis” the etymology of the word is unknown but trusted scholar like Nahum Sarna suggest that Moriah (מֹרִיָּה) might come from the Hebrew word “to see” or râ'âh (רָאָה).  So, this could then result in the two places in the Hebrew Scriptures where Moriah occurs to have an equivalent meaning.  See below. Gen. 22:2 (original) - He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."   Gen. 22:2 (alternative) - He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land where it‘ll be seen, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."   Then we go to 2 Chron. 3:1 where our translations sayu based upon rabbinic tradition that Solomon built the 1st Temple on the mountain called Moriah.  Let's loo at both the original and the alternative.   2 Chron. 3:1 (original) - Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah (the Hebrew actually says “on the mountain in the Moriah”), where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.   2 Chron. 3:1 (alterntative) - Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem in the place where it'll b seen on the mountain where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.   The Hebrew is precise.  Moriah is not a proper name.  Thus, there is no mountain that is named Moriah.  On top of that it says it took Abraham 3 days to walk from the area of Beer Sheva to Jerusalem.  That is over 50 miles on good trails and roads.  It has been shown this is a 5 day trip at least.  In other words, the mountain where we study the Binding of Isaac is likely not the Temple Mount.    In his JPS Genesis excursus 16, Nahum Sarna surveys several suggestions for the etymology of the word “moriah”: The Lofty Country – Septuagint The Land of Worship – Aramic Targum / Ramban The Land of Vision – Vulgate /Samaritan Targum The Land of the Amorites – Peshitta / Rashbam The Land that I will show you – Genesis Rabba 55:9 The Place from which fear of the Lord emanates – R. Jannai in Tanchuma The Place from which teaching issued to the world – b. Taanit 16a / Rab. 55.9 These multiple creative suggestions highlight the difficulty of assuming that the land of Moriah was meant to reference a particular place. The simple fact of the matter is, we cannot be sure of the actual place meant when the Torah describes Abraham taking his son into the Land of Moriah.  For a detailed study on this refer to the “JPS Torah Commentary – Genesis,” by Nahum Sarna.  I was thinking about this and I offer this idea – God seems to pick special unique places where His covenant and His agenda is seen.  This relates to the possible meaning of Moriah (מֹרִיָּה) – a place of vision, a place where it'll be seen, a place where God's covenant is seen.    So, Abraham passes the test on a mountain Yahvay (the Lord) took him to.  In Gen. 22:16+ God tells Abraham that all the promises he made to Abraham in Gen. 12:1-3 He will honor and they will happen since Abraham passed the test; Abraham showed is allegiance to God by being willing to sacrifice his own son that he loved.  Matter at this place we read that Abraham says …   Abraham called the name of that place “The LORD Will Provide,” as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided."  (Gen 22:14)  Problem!  It does not say that.  The word used is “to see” or râ'âh (רָאָה).  God took Abraham to a land where it'll be seen, perhaps the root of Moriah.  And, indeed, it was seen.  God provided the ram as a substitute for Isaac and this is clearly a special mountain, a special place, for a special event, and a special man, Abraham.  There is another mountain someplace in the Sinai where one might say the Lord led His people to a mountain in the moriah, in the place where it'll be seen, in the place of vision.  There God established His NEW covenant with all Israel, at His mountain, with His handpicked leader and prophet, Moses.  It was hear that the people SAW the evidence of God's presence on the mountain.  So, we have a different mountain for a special event involving a special man, Moses. But, the mountain of God moved.  The Temple Mount became the “Mountain of God.”  This is easily seen in the book of Isaiah chapter 2 and many other places.  And at this place of vision, at this place where it'll be seen, we see the establishment of a New Covenant with Jew and Gentile, this happens at this special mountain, and involves a special man, the manifestation of God Himself in Messiah Jesus. Amazing.  Could this be what's going on?  Is this what God wants us to understand and know?  I am not sure but it sure makes more sense than the unbiblical, non-historical, and non-geographic views of the rabbis.  Here's a great Jewish scholarly website that has a fantastic article on this issue.  The site is called "The Torah" and here's the link to the article - https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-mysterious-land-of-moriah Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - click here for the teacher's background                              

Reading I Gn 46:1-7, 28-30 Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called, “Jacob! Jacob!” He answered, “Here I am.” Then he said: “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.” So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father and their wives and children on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport. They took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt. His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters all his descendants—he took with him to Egypt. Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen, Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Joseph saw him, he flung himself on his neck and wept a long time in his arms. And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive.” Psalm 37 - The salvation of the just comes from the Lord. Trust in the LORD and do good, that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security. Take delight in the LORD, and he will grant you your heart's requests. R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord. The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted; their inheritance lasts forever. They are not put to shame in an evil time; in days of famine they have plenty. Gospel Mt 10:16-23 Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sofia-fonseca7/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sofia-fonseca7/support

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.And with these words the American colonists declared their intention to throw off the yoke of British oppression, launching the movement that would eventually establish the greatest nation on the face of the earth. It was all about FREEDOM.It was in August 1776 when a committee composed of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John  Adams proposed a design for a national seal. Each gave their own ideas, with Franklin and Jefferson proposing the image of Moses and the Israelites being rescued from the hand of Pharaoh and his armies. That design idea made its way to the final proposal, with the words: “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.” Unfortunately, the red tape of government was conceived at the birth of the nation, and the idea of Moses and Pharaoh on the seal of the US was tabled - never to be considered again.BUT the idea of the story of the Biblical exodus validated and rallied groups that are confronted by an enemy greater than themselves. For the American colonists, success against the mighty British Empire would not be achieved without God's help.You see, at the end of the book of Genesis God's people had made their way out of Canaan to live in Egypt. There God fulfilled His promise to Abraham to bless them and to increase them in number. But the promise that they would be afflicted also came true. A pharaoh who had not been educated as to the importance of the Hebrews living in the land grew afraid of their numbers and decided it would be best to enslave them.The Hebrew people fell under oppression and slavery in the land in which they had once enjoyed freedom. They were forced to make mud bricks - filthy, miserable work - to supply their oppressors with the resources to build an empire.At the end of it all, God led His people out of slavery, to the mountain where the law was given, through a wilderness experience where they learned to obey, and finally to the land He had promised the patriarchs He would give to His people one day.The story of the exodus out of slavery into a promised land is the same story as those who have turned their lives over to the Lord Jesus.As Americans, slavery isn't a part of our present reality, so if you were asked what enslaves you, you'd think that was an odd question. You might even get a bit defensive. This is America - land of the free, home of the brave!That would be pretty much the response that Jesus received from the Jews in John 8. 

What's the most important book you ever read? That life-changing one? Remember those books you read as a tween or teen? The ones that answered all the questions you were too embarrassed to ask and grateful someone wrote them all down... if you remember it, stay tuned.  My Guest Nat Kringoudis is a two times best selling Author, two times podcast host, and all round women’s health and natural fertility practitioner. She founded Melbourne’s home of natural health her clinic, The Pagoda Tree where she has helped over 20,000 women rescue their hormones and reclaim their best life. You may even know her from her old online TV series Healthtalks.... or her latest book, Beautiful You.   If you feel like there HAS to be another way there is. She’s here to provide you with another option. Nat believes there isn’t just one way and is on a mission to educate and empower women just like you, so you can get clued up on your body and take control of your hormone health. She’s here to help you ditch the stress, the confusion and the endless disappointment, and give your body the love and attention it deserves. Remember the Most Important Book You Read as a Teen? Beautiful You… is the “Are you There God, it’s me Margaret” of this century. Do I have any other Judy Blume fans in the house? Questions we answer in this episode: When should we start to talk to our children and grandchildren about their sexual and reproductive health Why children appreciate the facts when it comes to learning about their body Why the pill is a terrible ’solution’ for teens What to do if your teen is missing their period Why it is important to focus on your health as a teenager to set health up for the long haul How we can make menopause better (starting in the teen years) Connect: www.natkringoudis.com  Instagram: @natkringoudis  Facebook: Nat Kringoudis  The 10-Day Hot, Not Bothered challenge OPEN NOW.

In the shadow of the valley, there is hope. No one ever expects life to go the wrong direction. But there God meets you in the shadow of the valley. The valley seems so dark and still. But not a feeling you want to linger long. It's this haunting urge that gnaws at your nerves leaving you exhausted, thirsty, and brokenhearted. Desire to be supported and encourage by other like-minded women? Join us at Women of IMPACT. http://bit.ly/WomenofIMPACT The valley so dark and still. But in the shadow of the valley, there is hope. Stars can only be seen in the darkness. They shine ever so bright when illuminated by the deep darken skies What's unknown is scary and frightening; the dark. However, what if in the shadow of the valley awaits someone who has already gone before you? The times you feel all alone, there you sit swallowed by tears and hurt. "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." ~ Isaiah 41:10 NIV The shadow brings hope in the darkness; a shimmer of help in your every day. The K.I.S.S. ~ In the shadow of the valley! You are not alone. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." ~ Psalm 23:4 Sometimes life happens and here you sit wondering why? Why did this happen? Why now? Why me? Answers don't always come easy, but God knows all. Fear does not rule the night or the valley. God placed the stars to bring comfort in the dark. The shadow that scares you may comfort you. "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." ~ Colossians 1:17 Let fear fade into the night just as the light pierces the darkness. Faith over fear in the shadow of the valley. There God meets you in the shadow of the valley. "Be present. Be incredible. Be YOU!!!"   #SweetSpirit #CreateYourNow #SoulfulSunday TAKE A.I.M. ~ Action Ignites Motivation  - This is a complimentary (FREE) coaching call with me. You will be able to discuss your specific situation and gain tools and strategies to move you forward. Live. Love. IMPACT!  "One step at a time leads to miles of greatness!"   Subscribe to Create Your Now TV on YouTube. Listen to Create Your Now on Spotify and Pandora. Listen to Create Your Now on iHeart Radio. Click here. 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You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive1 4. Create Your Now Archive 2 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive2 5. Create Your Now Archive 3 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive3 6. Create Your Now Archive 4 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive4 7. Create Your Now Archive 5 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive5 8. Create Your Now Archive 6 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive6 9. Create Your Now Archive 7 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive7 10. NEW Website! Go check it out and tell me what you think. http://www.createyournow.com 11. Sign Up for The A.I.M. Academy! You will be the first to learn all about it. http://createyournow.com/m-academy-2 12. Schedule a Discovery Call. This is a free 30-45 minute call for those serious about coaching with me. 13. Newsletter and Library: If you desire to get weekly emails, be sure to sign up here so you can stay connected. http://createyournow.com/library   Cover Art by Jenny Hamson   Music by Mandisa - Overcomer http://www.mandisaofficial.com Song ID: 68209 Song Title: Overcomer Writer(s): Ben Glover, Chris Stevens, David Garcia Copyright © 2013 Meaux Mercy (BMI) Moody Producer Music (BMI) 9t One Songs (ASCAP) Ariose Music (ASCAP) Universal Music -  Brentwood Benson Publ. (ASCAP) D Soul Music (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.

It's Lent, so that means another twofer! As Pastor Aaron continues exploring Jesus' great questions, this week we dive into the story of the Gerasene demoniac, and Jesus' question to him, "What is your name?" It's about identity, and God knowing us and loving us not in spite of who we are, but because of who we are.  And Pastor Paige engages with one of the most well-known, if not best understood passages, the 10 Commandments. There God promises not only freedom, but purpose and community. Join us for a fabulous far-ranging discussion.

THE GOOD LIFEPastor Kent LandhuisGenesis 2:7-8Key question: What is the good life and how do we get it?OUTLINE1. The God-formed life.• Genesis 2:7 “The LORD God formed the man.”• Psalm 139:13-16• Jeremiah 1:52. The God-inspired life.• Genesis 2:7b “He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”• Psalm 104:28-29• Psalm 146:2-43. The God-placed life.• Genesis 2:8 - “There God placed the man he formed”• Genesis 1• Jeremiah 29:4-7

THE GOOD LIFEPastor Kent LandhuisGenesis 2:7-8Key question: What is the good life and how do we get it?OUTLINE1. The God-formed life.Genesis 2:7 “The LORD God formed the man.”Psalm 139:13-16Jeremiah 1:52. The God-inspired life.Genesis 2:7b “He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”Psalm 104:28-29Psalm 146:2-43. The God-placed life.Genesis 2:8 - “There God placed the man he formed”Genesis 1Jeremiah 29:4-7SUPPORT THE MINISTRY OF CEDAR HILLSwww.cedarhillscr.org/giveSupport the show (https://pushpay.com/g/cedarhillscr)

After God delivers them from slavery in Egypt, he reveals himself to Israel at Mount Sinai. There God gives his people the law and the instructions for constructing the tabernacle. The tabernacle will become the place where God can dwell among his people.For this month's reading plan and reading plan booklet, please visit: https://www.fbclowell.org/Ministries/Adult-Ministry/2018-2019-FBC-Reading-Plan Music: Fresh Lift by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

God did NOT curse the woman in Genesis 3:16  IN ANY WAY! But modern translations make it look like God did. So it is necessary to think again about the word patterns in 3:15-17, and the larger context of Genesis 2-3, to see what God really said. Genesis 2-3, in Hebrew, is a  meaningful seven-part pattern that is a chiasm. A chiasm can be pictured as a rainbow or as a bell curve.Line 1 of 3:16 is the center of a linchpin pattern that links verse 15-17. The first linking Hebrew word is ‘itsebon which means “sorrowful-toil” and points down to the same word used in verse 17. There God tells the man that the curse on the ground made because of him will result in ‘itsebon or “sorrowful-toil.” In working the ground with their hands each one, the woman and the man, would have ‘itsebon or “sorrowful-toil.”In Line 1 of 3:16 the second linking Hebrew word heron which means “pregnancy” or “conception” points back to the Hebrew word zera‘ which means “seed” or “offspring” which is used in verse 15. A literal translation of the four Hebrew words of Line 1 of Genesis 3:16 in English would be as follows: (1) Multiplying (2) I-will-multiply (3) your-sorrowful-toil (4) and-your-conception.GO DEEPER

Today's lesson was blessing comes with obedience. In this story, Abram's dad passes away, and then Abram is instructed to go to the Land that God will show him. There God will make a great nation out of him. So Abram follows and takes everyone in his household and his nephew Lot, and they make there a way to Canaan. One night or maybe during the day. God shows up in person and affirms what he said to Abram. Abram then responds in worship.

Grappling with God A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli for Foundry UMC August 9, 2020, tenth Sunday after Pentecost. “Close Encounters with the Living God” series.        Text:  Genesis 32:22-31 It’s a scene tailor-made for a movie script or a budding psychoanalyst’s dissertation. The archetypes are stacked one upon another—estranged twin brothers who have different ways of being in the world; a shadowy antagonist; a struggle alongside a river crossing with foreboding heavy on both sides; the thin place that exists in the hours just as day is breaking.  Jacob is at the center of this scene. Over the centuries, he’s become a kind of stock character, a trickster, a hustler—his name is translated “he supplants” or “heel”—for he was born holding the heel of his twin brother Esau. From the beginning of his life he’s engaged in one kind of struggle after another, working angles, trying to get ahead. And he always seems to come out smelling like a rose, always one step ahead of danger. But on this night, Jacob knows that his life may have finally caught up in a way that could be the death of him.  You see, at God’s leading (Gen 31:3), after around 20 years away, Jacob is heading back home after some trouble with his father in law. His brother Esau, still living in their hometown, vowed to kill Jacob back in the day for taking his birthright and his blessing. Jacob sends word to his brother that he’s coming, that he’s done alright for himself, and hopes that they can, you know, make up (Gen 32:3-5). The response is swift: Esau is on the march to meet Jacob with four hundred men. Cue the ominous orchestral theme… Jacob does several things at this point. He prays to God, humbly but directly—“I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown” (32:10)—“I am afraid of him…” (and then, in case God forgot) “Yet you have said ‘I will surely do you good…’” (32:11-12) He sends gifts ahead to try to appease his brother. And he sends his wives and children ahead of him as well, never knowing if he’ll see any of them again.  Jacob has done everything he can, worked the only angles he’s got, he’s prayed, he’s planned, he’s gifted. And now he is alone.  Imagine Jacob, afraid and knowing he may die, reflecting upon his life… The way he came into the world holding on to his brother. The way that relationship got twisted—in part through the actions of their parents. How Jacob developed his own strengths of quick wit and cleverness, so different from his brother’s strength in the hunt and the fields. How he had gone through an elaborate ruse to try to be like his brother so that he might receive blessing from his father. How, in the process, he hurt his brother and humiliated his father and was forced to leave home and his mother’s fierce love and protection. I imagine Jacob remembering all the highs and lows of love and marriage, the complications with Leah and Rachel, and with his father in law, Laban. He might also have played back the dreams and visions he’d been given, images of his children’s faces, the beauty and bounty he’d experienced…as well as all he’d said and done that was unkind, unjust, deceitful and hurtful. I imagine Jacob looking back over his life with gratitude and regret and guilt and fear and hope all tumbling over his mind like a creek flowing over rocks.  And when night fell the wrestling began… Can you relate? Ever found yourself awake in the wee hours of night in a kind of wrestling match in your mind and heart? Your story won’t include the details of Jacob’s life. But who among us doesn’t grapple with fear? Who among us doesn’t carry things from childhood forward that we are bound to run into on our life’s journey? Who among us is without the marks of our parental or sibling relationships on our psyches? We have all made decisions that led us down one path or another, sometimes into danger and regret and other times into freedom and joy. There are different energies within us, like twins who have different gifts and strengths, all deserving nurture and love—but often it’s difficult to honor it all and hold these energies together with any sense of wholeness. What have you done in order to try to get love? What have you sacrificed in order to try to earn the blessing you crave? Who have you been willing to hurt in order to gain wealth or comfort or pleasure? What losses have you suffered that are yet uncared for, what wounds are untended? What are you proud of in your life and what would you give anything to do over?... When we are alone, when it is clear we are vulnerable, that things are going to be different one way or another, that we must confront the reality of our life—all our history, our personality, our gifts, our mistakes, our strengths, our woundedness, all our complications—in those moments, there is struggle. There is wrestling. That’s what happened with Jacob. Is he fighting with himself (like Luke Skywalker in the cave)? Is it a demon? An angel? Is it God? The struggle is intense and it leaves Jacob limping. But he holds on. He holds on even when the man tells him to let go. He holds on even when he doesn’t have a clue who he’s wrestling. He holds on when it seems it would have been a big relief to let the mystery assailant go on his merry way. But Jacob would not let go. And it is here that the story turns.  You can characterize Jacob in all sorts of ways. But the thing that seems consistent throughout his story is that he is determined to fight for the life he longs for. And he’s not afraid to ask for the blessing that he needs. “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The response to Jacob is simple: “What is your name?”    All Jacob has is the name he was given, “Jacob”—the supplanter, the usurper, the “heel.” In speaking his name, Jacob makes a kind of confession, an admission of the mix and mess and striving of his life. Here I am, alone—no “Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham.” Just Jacob. And this one with whom Jacob has been wrestling has something to say to that. “That name, that narrative, is not all of who you are. All the striving of your life—the struggle with humans, with yourself, and with me has led you to this moment. And when you cross the river, when you pass into this new day dawning, when you leave this place walking differently as a result of your hip, I will call you Israel.” Jacob asks the man’s name. And the implication is beginning to get clear—this is God! And God asks, “Do you really need to ask my name?” There God blessed Jacob/Israel. I wonder whether the whole encounter was the blessing, this close encounter with the living God… What does Jacob’s grappling with self, others, and God teach us about our own?  If Jacob’s story is any indication, we learn that the whole of our lives is held in God—the painful bits and the joyful surprises and the tensions and the triumphs. God is always at work for good—not just in the world around us, but in our world. Paul writes, “all things work together for good for those who love God who are called according to God’s purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Lately, this verse has made more and more sense to me. It isn’t that God causes everything that happens to you, but that God is with you in all of it and desires nothing more than to help you come through, to survive, stronger, wiser, with more compassion and love. Jacob’s story reminds us that God knows all of you, so you might as well be honest. God knows you better than you know yourself—knows not only what you’ve done, but why. God knows everything you’ve experienced, suffered, offered, achieved, everything you’ve sacrificed, everything you’ve dreamed, how hard you try and how much you’re carrying. God knows what you’ve done that was harmful or hurtful. God knows it all.  If you read the whole of Jacob’s story, you’ll see how God just keeps showing up even when we might think Jacob doesn’t deserve it. Morning by morning, new mercies are received…over and over.  I am increasingly convinced that the most difficult thing for many of us to grapple with is God’s mercy. To acknowledge who you are—all of it—and then to receive God’s mercy is a deeply humbling, awe-full experience because you know you didn’t earn it, but that somehow God believes you’re worthy. Receiving God’s mercy is a blessing that, if fully received, changes us because we begin to recognize the depth of God’s love and the stubbornness of God who is determined to get it through our thick heads that we’re more than the worst thing we’ve done, that we’re more than the self-limiting names that we or others assign to us. We struggle to believe that God cares so much, that God loves us and wants to bless us. Jacob is a champion of demanding the blessing which God always wants to give.  Many among us are metaphorically at the ford of the Jabbok river right now. Some are facing difficult decisions, perhaps feeling stranded and afraid, uncertain about the future or how to proceed, having worked every angle and done everything you know how to do. Many among us are weary and worn down with grief and rage and loneliness and stress. Some among us are paralyzed with guilt and regret, a sense of unworthiness or emptiness. Others are trying to discern how to step into life as it continues to shift and change all around us, how to adapt and find ways to thrive and to serve and to grow. As a nation we are standing at the river being asked who we are, being asked to tell the truth about our whitewashed history, being asked if we’re willing to hold on even though it’s painful to acknowledge our nation’s sins, being asked whether we’re willing to meet as siblings and write a new narrative of true liberty and justice for all, whether we’re willing to be substantively changed so that we move together in a new way. And when we find ourselves at this point, when things get really difficult, when we feel most vulnerable, weary, guilty, wounded, uncertain, angry, and afraid, knowing that things in our lives need to change, the temptation is to just give in—to shut down or let go of our faith, our hope, our love. At this point God always shows up and takes hold of us—sometimes as a parent tenderly holds a child and sometimes like a mysterious wrestling partner. In any case, like Jacob, our part is to hold on, to persevere, to not let go before we step into the new day dawning.  As we hold on to God, trusting God to hold on to us as we step up to face what is before us, we eventually learn to let go of our idols of self-sufficiency, control and comfort, to let go of the names and narratives that hold us back from life God knows is ours to live, to let go of our deepest fears and self-loathing.  As we hold on to God, Jacob teaches us not only to expect but to ask for God’s blessing. That blessing may not be what you imagine, but it will be life for you. Because it will always be some form of God’s tender mercy and liberating love. And that’s something you won’t want to let go—even if you could. https://foundryumc.org/

Today, Friday July 31 - Jehovah-Jireh (Genesis 22:14) I've been told that the Jewish interpretation of this compound name of God is: "God will see and choose that very place to cause His Shekinah to rest on and to offer the offering." Today there are so many broken lives around us, living with a sense of despair and hopelessness and feeling they "can't see" their way through another day! That might be you, or a friend or someone you know. Remember the other day, I said that one of the devil's biggest lies is that God doesn't love you and no one cares about you. My friend, this name, Jehovah-Jireh, is a powerful reminder and witness to the fact and truth that God does love you! "In the mount it shall be seen...." The place where you "can see" that God does love you is Mt. Calvary! There God gave His only begotten Son for you and me! (John 3:16; Romans 5:8) Please believe, and put your faith and trust in the Cross of Jesus Christ! God bless!

Israel’s leadership failed at every level, resulting in the lossof the nation, the city and the Temple – thus the only hope for God’s people isin the better leader, Jesus, who succeeds at every level and prospers the nation. Due to technical difficulties, 9 minutes of the sermon were not recorded, beginning at the 24:42 minute mark. The complete text of this section is below. II. From Micah to Christ A. He came as the better ruler (indeed, King of kings!) Israel’s rulers were the complete opposite of men who love their brothers. They were predatory cannibals! But Jesus turns that upside down. Because Jesus taught us that he came into this world, not to feed on the people of God, but to feed them! And what is more, he feeds himself to us! John 6:48-51 “48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”” Jesus is no cannibal of God’s people. He made himself the food of our souls as he died on the cross for our sins! --- Unlike Israel’s heads & rulers, Jesus actually brings justice to the people of God at the cross. Romans 3 tells us that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was a cosmic display of God’s justice. There God meted out the punishment rightly due to his people, and Jesus satisfied the demands of justice for us fully in that act. Our sins were punished, and we were justified by the imputation of his righteousness. And what is more, we were made able by Christ to begin to practice God’s justice ourselves…to be covenant keepers ourselves, in his power, following his lead. --- The rulers of Israel were told that God would not hear their cry for justice when their day of doom fell upon them. But it was not so with Jesus our Lord. He lived justly before God, and when he went down into the grave, he cried out to God for vindication, and he was heard! Our pious king was heard, and God raised him up in power. Hear his prayer: Psalm 130:1-2 “1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!”Thus he prayed, and God answered him in power through the resurrection! So you see, Jesus came as the better head & ruler: one who loves justice. B. He came as the better Prophet cf. 3:8 1. Jesus spoke the final Word from God Hebrews 1:1-2 “1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” 2. Jesus came in the Spirit and power Matthew 3:16-17 tells us that at his baptism, the Spirit of God descended on Jesus, and the Father spoke from heaven to confirm that this was his beloved son in whom He was well-pleased. And Jesus’ preached in a way that demonstrated the Holy Spirit and brought life. Jn 6:63 “63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Jesus preached words of life, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Like the prophet here, and unlike the faithless prophets, he was willing to call out sin. John 7:7 “7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” 3. He spoke of sin, righteousness & judgment (John 7:7; 16:8-11) When Jesus was promising to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples after his ascension to heaven, he confirmed the nature of these Spirit empowered words. John 16:8-11 “8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” His point was that the Spirit would come and continue to say through his disciples what Jesus himself had always said by the Spirit. He convicted of sin, he showed righteousness, and he preached of judgment. C. He came as the better Priest & Temple Unlike the priests of Micah’s day, Jesus came to do the will of God. Hebrews reminds us that Jesus was a faithful high priest & He made himself the sacrifice! Hebrews 9:11-12 “11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” Far from bringing about the destruction of the Temple in judgment, Jesus brings about the restoration of the Temple in his own body. He is the better Temple! --- John 2:18-22 “18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” --- Revelation 21:22 “22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” Jesus causes Jerusalem finally to come to glory (he reverses her doom) --- Revelation 21:1-4 “1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”” Jesus Christ reverses this curse of doom for Jerusalem in Micah 3, levied on account of her leaders and their sin. Through his saving work, his death & resurrection, Jesus brings to his people this new Jerusalem, which is nothing less than the Bride of Christ, a great company of redeemed people that no man can count, made beautiful in holiness, to be his own prized possession. III. Applications for all under Christ’s leadership A. Come under Christ’s headship by faith alone When a person hears how Jesus Christ is the faithful leader who not only DOESN’T lead them to ruin, but instead leads them to the greatest experience of blessing the world has ever seen…the first thing a person needs to do is to come under the headship of Jesus Christ. If you are outside of Christ today, I appeal to you to come to Christ. If you do not know Jesus Christ, you are in the exactly the same horrible place as was Jerusalem in the days of Micah. You are looking at the very same judgment of doom. Understand that the leaders are singled out here, because of their influence and responsibility toward the people. But all of the people are just as much to blame for their own sin. And so are you. You cannot blame your sin on anybody else. We live in a world that tries to persuade you that all the bad things are somebody else’s fault, and you are the victim of other peoples’ sins. The world never mentions to you that you perpetrate horrible sins of your own. Maybe you don’t literally tear the skin off their bodies or that sort of thing, but you are selfish and you are always grabbing what you want and you don’t listen to God, either. If you were listening to God you would hear that your own sins are going to be visited upon you. The punishment will fit the crime. As we have said each week, listening to the prophet Micah, you are a covenant breaker. You break God’s law. Indeed, because of the way the Law of God hangs together, it turns out that whenever you break one commandment, you break all the others, too. You just don’t love God. And you just don’t love your neighbor. Here is the funny thing about that: I don’t have to work hard at all as a preacher to get you to see how big of a sinner all these other people around you are. Like I said, the world is happy to point out other peoples’ sins. It is plain as day to you how THAT GUY is such a sinner. But it is not obvious to you at all that you are the biggest sinner you know. If only you would be honest with yourself, my dear unbelieving friend. Can you not slow down, look in the mirror and just see how you fall very far short of the glory of God? Name one thing about you that is truly commendable to God. Name one way that you please God. Name one instance where you have given to God the thanks and honor he is due as your Maker. You can’t do it. And deep in your heart, suppressed down in there somewhere, you know that this is true. You know there is a God to whom you owe allegiance and honor and obedience, and you know that you don’t give it to him. I am calling on you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to repent and believe the Gospel. Admit your sins. Confess to Jesus. Ask for forgiveness. Ask for cleansing from sin. That is the offer of the gospel today. Today Jesus calls sinners just like you to come to him by faith alone, And he will receive you to himself. He will be your king. He will be your Savior. And you will be spared from the wrath to come, and you will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit. You will be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. This tent is filled with people exactly like you, sinners who by the grace of God have come to Jesus and been saved. The playing field is level here. We are all the same. The only hope for you as a sinner is to come to Christ and be saved. Will you come to Christ? B. Learn sacrifice (not cannibalism) from Christ Micah’s grotesque description of the leaders who act like cannibals makes for a perfect contrast to the way of Christ (that is deliberate). We already said that Jesus, far from feasting on the helpless, has made himself the feast for sinners. He made himself a sacrifice for his brothers. And his way is to be learned as your way. Follow his lead in his power. So here is an apt description of living as a Christian. Ask yourself: are you making yourself a sacrifice? (sermon audio continues here)

200524 Easter 7 Drive in Service Audio200524 Easter 7 Order of ServiceSermon manuscript:The people of Israel were specifically chosen by God to be his own. They were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were led out of Egypt by God’s powerful hand. They cleansed the polluted land of Canaan, putting its idolatrous inhabitants to death, in order that they may live there eating milk and honey. Everyone had his own vine and his own fig tree. But what was more important than any earthly treasures (which were never as great could be found in other lands) was the fact that they knew the Lord God. They had the Word of God that went all the way back to creation. They were given judges and prophets and kings to make known the will of God so that they would fear, love, and trust in him, calling upon him in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks.There was no other nation like Israel on the earth. No other nation named their children with such faithful and pious names. Samuel, Daniel, Michael, Ezekiel—the “el” at the end of these names is Hebrew for “God.” They all say something about God. The same is true for those names that have a “Jah” or “Yah” in them. That’s another way to say God’s name. John, Jonathan, Joshua, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hezekiah, Zechariah—all these names are saying something about the Lord. They are saying that he is gracious or that he remembers, and so on.And so there was a tremendous relationship in Israel. God loved this people. This people loved God. It did not last, though. God did not change, but this people did. Their love grew cold for God. Their love for other things grew hot. And so they somewhat left behind the Lord God for other gods. They did not leave the Lord God behind entirely. In fact, they continued to name their kids with these very pious names. But they came to believe that the way you get ahead in life is by copying what the more powerful people around you do. And that is just what they did. The began to believe that the ways of the Canaanites or the Egyptians or the Phoenicians or the Assyrians were better than the life that God had given to them. They had milk and honey, but now they wanted gold and a life of convenience and leisure.God, again, for his part, continued to be faithful. The prophets he sent to his people were no joke. They denounced and warned and threatened so that the people didn’t take God’s grace for granted. Those who heard and were frightened, they also comforted: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” God was patient and sent prophets for centuries—amazing, wonderful men like Elijah and Isaiah, but the people resented having their sins pointed out to them. They wanted to do what they wanted to do, and they weren’t going to let some preacher get in the way of their plans. If those prophets stuck to their posts and stuck to their guns, then they would have to be forcibly removed.  And so it came to pass that God’s people ended up killing God’s prophets.What can God do with a people who will no longer listen to the ones whom he sends to preach his Word? God, in his anger, took up blunter instruments and punished his people with them. Whenever trouble befalls us we do well to ignore what the world and our own flesh say about it. The world and our flesh are comforted with the thought that it is just happenstance and fate that brings tragedy, not the heavy hand of the Lord. But we do well to fear God when we are judged by him, so that we repent and do not plunge headlong into eternal disaster. When God finally smashed the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel with blood and violence and pandemics and the death of loved ones, I guarantee you (knowing human nature) that most of them said that this was just a stretch of bad luck, but don’t worry, the sun will come out tomorrow. Therefore, God did not relent and spare them. He pushed harder, but they would not repent. Finally, they were scattered to the wind—sent away from their homeland. No more milk, and no more honey; but what’s vastly more important is no more instruction in God’s Word, no more prophets. They became strangers and aliens to God. They melted into the unbelieving population, just thinking like everybody around them thinks. This is the worst thing that can ever happen to a believer. When hearts are hardened against the Word of God being spoken, God will finally take that Word away altogether.  Then there is no hope of salvation.This introduction that I’ve given helps set the scene for our Old Testament reading this morning from the prophet Ezekiel. After humbling his people with an incredible amount of violence and heartache, God had mercy on those who would listen by raising up Ezekiel and sending him to speak. Ezekiel is one of the last prophets. He lived during the time that the Jews were conquered by the Babylonians and had to live in exile in Babylon. He spoke to a people who used to be great, but now had been brought low. They didn’t even have a temple to worship in anymore. The Babylonians had leveled it to the ground and taken all their money away. All the hankering after gold and success was impossible with this basically enslaved people. They didn’t have anything left.But they did have God. It is better to have everything taken away from you, and to still have God, than to be on top of the world without him. The bitter experience that the people of God had just been through taught at least some of them this hard lesson. It is to these humbled and frightened people that God speaks through the prophet Ezekiel.We heard in our reading: “Therefore, say this to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says. I’m about to act, O house of Israel, not for your sake, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.’”There are two things I’d like to point out here. First, how good it had to have sounded to these God-forsaken people to hear God say, “I am about to act.” That had to have been music to their ears. But then, notice, secondly, that God also says, “I’m not doing it because you have earned it.” In fact, the people hadn’t learned their lesson. As they were driven out they became worse not worse. God said that they had profaned the name of God among those people to whom they were driven. The Bible, and the Bible alone, teaches us what people really are like. The world gets fooled into thinking that we are pretty good people after all. We’re able to learn our lesson. No. Not even with the best teacher of what’s right and wrong—namely, God—we still can’t become a lick better by our own reason or strength.So God says that he is going to act because his name is holy—not because the people have kept his name holy. Then he says, “I will take you from among the nations. I will gather you from all the lands, and I will bring you to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your filthy idols.” God does not flatter these people. He does not tell them that they are good little boys and girls. Because he won’t like this with flattery, it can make him seem harsh. That is totally wrong. He speaks truth. The truth is that he is gracious. He couldn’t have said anything kinder to these people who were so miserable. He tells them that he will gather them to himself and be their God. He will bless them and protect them. He will sprinkle them with clean water so that they don’t stink anymore with the filth they rolled themselves in while worshipping the devil.This speaks to what we are about in the new Israel—the Christian Church. When God is gracious, when he raises up Christians to speak, what these Christians have to say is the same as what God says through Ezekiel here. We say to those who are lost in perversions, in excesses, in hatred of themselves, “Come, be sprinkled with clean water. Be baptized. Be set free from the devil’s bondage that you are otherwise under.” This speaking, done by Christians, is God’s way of gathering together the people whom he has chosen. Or another word you could use is “congregation.” God congregates people into congregations. There God himself cares for them by feeding their souls with his Word, washing them with baptism, feeding them with Holy Communion. In this way those who formerly did not know God, come to know him—that he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.But this is not the end of the story. God has more gracious words to speak to us through the prophet Ezekiel today. He says, “Then I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and lead you so that you will walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my judgments. Then you will live in the land I gave your forefathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God.”Here God speaks about what is known in the Church’s vocabulary as “sanctification.” To sanctify means “to make holy.” And so sanctification is the process of being made holy. As it seems to be with all the parts of our Christian faith, the devil loves to confuse what’s true. He does it with sanctification too. All too often sanctification is seen as the part that we now need to play in order to pay God back for saving us from hell. Jesus did his part. He died on the cross. Now we need to do our part of being good boys and girls.Theoretically this seems like it should work out fine—I think that’s why our reason likes this notion. But anybody with any experience at all of trying to be a Christian knows that theories are one thing, real life is another. Anybody who tries to live a holy life will soon bitterly learn what Paul says in Romans chapter 7: “The good that I want to do, I don’t do, and that which I don’t want to do is the very thing that I end up doing! Who will deliver me from this body of death!?” Theoretically it would be nice if we could give God tit for tat. We’d feel a whole lot better about ourselves if we could do our part and pay back God. But then we would come to love and believe in ourselves more than we ought. God, therefore, may very well allow us to fall into sin so that we learn the bitter lesson that we aren’t as good and faithful as we hoped we were. Then we are turned away from ourselves as the source of blessing (which will totally disappoint us) and turned toward God as the fount of every blessing. (He will not disappoint).And so instead of seeing sanctification as payback, as an obligation, as a debt we have to pay, we should see it as a gift on top of a gift. It is a continuation of what God does when he sprinkles us with that clean water, washing away all the filth. The new heart of flesh (that is to say, the heart that loves) is better than the old heart of stone. The heart that follows after the will of God is joyful. The one who follows after the will of the devil is filled with self-loathing. God works on the hearts of his people, sanctifying them by his Word and Holy Spirit. As he does this, day in, day out, we are fed and built up. It is just like sheep who are brought into good pasture. They are nourished and grow and become healthy and strong. It is a good thing that God does in his Christians. He reworks us, conforming us to the image of his Son. This is something wonderful that God does already in this life, in part. He will finish this work with the death of our old sinful flesh, and our resurrection with purified, that is, sanctified bodies.God speaks to us today through the prophet Ezekiel. Our times and circumstances are different than those of his time, but not nearly as much as you might think. The story of our existence has been basically the same from the beginning. The devil’s on one side. God is on the other. The devil wants us to never think of God at all, to be filthy, to hate ourselves. God wants us to believe and trust in him, to be clean, and to live together with him. Therefore, hear what God is saying to you today and rejoice in it.God is gather you to himself, even though you have been and are a sinner. He who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion in the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who has called you is faithful. He will surely do it.

Romans 11:33-36 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid?” 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. The very first promise of redemption comes immediately after the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden. There God declares that the “seed of the woman” would “bruise the head of the serpent” (Genesis 3:16). In the earliest churches, this great promise was artistically represented by mosaics of dragons on floors—upon which everyone in the congregation could step and jump and stomp. We don’t have a mosaic in our foyer, but we have included a wonderful Celtic dragon image designed by Caleb Faires on the following page, which you may enjoy printing, decorating, and stomping. So on this Resurrection Sunday morn, go ahead: join with the saints across the ages who have followed after Christus Victor in crushing the head of the serpent! —Pastor George Grant Key Words: Riches, Wisdom, Knowledge, Unsearchable, Inscrutable, Gift, All Things Keystone Verse: From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. (Romans 11:36)

Letting Jesus Create Your New Normal Luke 5:33-39 Exegetical Main Point: Jesus brought a kingdom founded on a New Covenant that could not fit with old. The religious leaders would reject Jesus for the Old. Sermon Main Point: We must submit to Jesus and let him create our normal. Intro About twelve years ago Jesus came and rearranged my life so thoroughly that it would never look the same. My mind was set on a career in music – a dream that I had worked at for almost a decade – but then Jesus came near and everything changed. When Jesus calls men to follow him, he calls them to come and die. He taught that the old life must go to the cross, with every passion and dream, so that the dying sinner can find new life in him. But as one year goes by, five, ten, I’ve found that it’s very easy to slip back into the same patterns of life I once walked in. Life generally looks different, but it often feels more like I’m just going through the motions. I’m doing what I know I’m supposed to do, but there’s little passion for God in it like there was at first. Maybe this is your experience also. As I’ve been trying to find my new normal under the Covid-19 situation, it seems like the Holy Spirit has been shining a spotlight on this part of my life and calling me to let him create my new normal. This text challenged me greatly this week, showing me the reason why we so easily slip into old patterns. I believe it has something for you also. Here’s where we are going: 1) 5:33 The Pharisees Question About Fasting 2) 5:34-35 Jesus Response 3) 5:36-39 A Parable 1) 5:33 The Pharisees Question About Fasting And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” When you’re reading your Bibles and you aren’t quite sure who or what’s being talked about, context is key. These first two words “and they” are connecting us back to the previous passages, where the scribes and Pharisees have an issue with Jesus’s behavior. Not only did they think Jesus was hanging out with the wrong crowd, apparently they thought Jesus and his disciples looked more like hedonists than chaste spiritual leaders. When everyone else was fasting, Jesus and his followers were feasting. Fasting was common in the time of Jesus. Not only were there a nationwide corporate fasts (Zc. 7:3, 5; 8:19),[1]the Pharisees developed the practice of fasting twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays in intercession for the nation as a whole.[2] You can observe this in Luke 18:12, where the Pharisee prays: “ I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get’ (Luke 18:12). We know from Luke 4 that Jesus also fasted, so he wasn’t condemning the practice. But in this moment, he and his disciples had a reason not to be fasting, and the Pharisees questioned why. This is not friendly questioning. Jesus was attracting great crowds because of his miracle working and dynamic teaching, so when he didn’t follow their rules he was threatening their power. Some historical context is important to understand their behavior. If you look back at Israel’s history, after the exile to Babylon, Israel swung from one end of the pendulum, living in licentiousness and idolatry to the other, into something called legalism, which was just as deadly, if not more. In an effort to keep Israel from breaking any of the 613 commands in the Torah, Israel’s leaders interpreted and added thousands of additional commands that must be followed so as to not come close to breaking the Law. They expanded the Law and demanded everyone to adhere to it. Let me illustrate this with a story. As a young, but maturing Christian in my twenties, I struggled a lot with vanity. So I decided to stop looking in the mirror. I set up a fence around the thing that often brought temptation. But despite my new rule, I found over and over again that my heart was just as vain. A mentor eventually helped me see my problem. I had started to put faith in my ability to not look in a mirror more than in the God who is able to kill the sin in my heart. Fences can be helpful in the fight against sin, but they can also subtly create the illusion that you don’t need God anymore to keep you from sinning. Eventually, it gets hard to see your sin. You feel like you’re practically perfect. You’ve begun to inch towards a salvation by works. Reaching heaven or keeping your land, like Israel wanted, then, has little to do with God and everything to do with you. The Pharisees were beginning to believe that if they kept the nation from sinning by enforcing the Law AND their traditions, then God would have to bless them. Eventually, fasting and prayer is not a cry for the Messiah to come save them from their sins, but another checkmark in the rule book. Their hearts grew hard and proud. Sin festered within while they whitewashed the outside. Let’s look at Jesus’s response. 2) 5:34-35 Jesus Response 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” What is Jesus saying? Jesus is asking a rhetorical question, with the obvious answer being no. Yes, it was fitting for people to fast in the waiting and longing for the coming of the Messiah, and yes, Jesus prophetically reminds them that there would be a time that would come again when fasting would be appropriate, but now was not a time for mournful fasting. Something worth celebrating was here! Joel and Carly got married a few months back. It was such a happy day and they had a nice spread of food and dessert. Imagine how inappropriate it would have been for me to withhold from feasting with everyone because it was Tuesday fast day. Even more, imagine me scowling at the other pastors who fast with me on that day because they chose to feast instead of fast. The same principle was true in that day. It was actually forbidden to fast at a wedding![3] Jesus is making a comparison. In the same way, his presence makes fasting totally inappropriate. His presence gave reason for joy, not mourning. He’s saying “Don’t you understand? Can’t you see the moment we’re in? Can’t you see who I am? Jesus is comparing himself to a bridegroom Please turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah 62. There God prophesies over Israel the day of her salvation. This bridegroom metaphor is actually applied to God as Israel’s rescuer. Starting in verse 4: 4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called My Delight Is In Her,[a] and your land Married[b]; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. 5 As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. Isaiah prophesied a coming day when God would rescue his adulterous bride and again rejoice over her. This was the day! Jesus is the bridegroom king coming to save his bride like the prophets had foretold (cf. 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25–27; Rev. 19:7–10).[4]This was not a time for fasting, but for joy! This was everything Israel needed and was waiting for, everything we need, but not everyone was rejoicing. The Pharisees couldn’t see beyond the fact that their rules were being broken and their power was challenged. Let’s continue in verse 36, where Jesus continues his response in parable form. 3) 5:36-39 A Parable: The Old Cannot Mix With the New 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ” Let me unpack this historically challenging parable for you. Here Jesus gives two separate metaphors that make the same point – you cannot mix the old with the new – and then in verse 39 he offers a sort of challenge. The first metaphor uses a new and an old garment. Imagine I have an old pair of jeans with a whole in the knee. It would be silly for me to buy a new pair of jeans to patch the old. First, the new would be wrecked. Second, the piece from the new garment would not match the old and when you washed it the new would potentially shrink and tear the old. The point is this: you cannot mix the old with the new. The second metaphor is a little more complicated because most of us are not familiar with 1stcentury winery’s. This is where a good commentary or book on historical context is helpful. Jesus is saying that in the same way you wouldn’t try to fix an old garment with a new, nobody puts new wine in old wineskins. New wine needed to be placed in new elastic skins which were made of goat’s skin or some other skin sewn together, because during the fermentation process the skins would expand and stretch. Old hardened wine skins would burst from the pressure of the new wine and destroy both skin and wine.[5] Again, the old is incompatible, unfitting with the new. You cannot mix the two. Now, in verse 39, Jesus offers a challenge that goes along with the second metaphor. He says, “No one wants the new wine after they have had the new. They say the old is better.”This most of us can understand. Old wine is better than new like vintage guitars are better than new ones. Once you’ve played the old guitar or had the old bottle of good wine, no one wants the new. Jesus, here, is basically saying, “I get it, you will ultimately reject me because you would rather have the old than the new.” You see, Jesus was bringing a kingdom founded on a New Covenant, in which faith in him would be central to justification before God, not obedience to the Law. Under the Old Covenant favor with God was contingent on how well you kept God’s commandments. But the Law only proved that no one was capable of the kind of holiness that God demanded. Even under the Law substitutionary blood sacrifices were necessary for the sin the people would most certainly commit. The Law had its purpose, but it was never sufficient in itself for salvation. The point was always to bring us to God, who alone can save. So, why would they reject what he was bringing? Because it didn’t taste as good. It was easier. It didn’t threaten their power. But in so doing, they were rejecting God. A rejection of Christ is a rejection of God. Jesus’s parable exposes the religious leaders’ hypocrisy. Even in there strict rule following they were not worshipping God, but their own system. They had instead twisted God’s Law into something that they could control. If you are already righteous on your own, what need do you have for God. But Jesus doesn’t give us that option. We don’t get to mix a little bit of our righteousness in with his. We must lay all down at his feet, acknowledging the inadequacy of our good works and our man-made systems. The bride of Christ must choose whom she will marry! You don’t get the old with the new. If you’re tuning in today and you’ve never truly submitted all to Jesus and let him rearrange your life path, then hear his call today, “Repent of your old life and come and find new life in me. It will cost you everything, but by it you will gain everything!” If that’s you today please reach out to us so that we can help you on this journey. For the rest of us, it’s easy to look at the Pharisees and scoff. But you need to remember that Jesus’s challenge is even for us. It’s not just Pharisees who have a hard time humbling themselves, but the human race. We are all proud. There is a little bit of Pharisee, a little bit of legalism, in all of us. Where in your life are you trying to make the old compatible with the new? Don’t you see that it can’t work that way? You don’t get to stand at the altar and say your vows to Jesus while holding the hand of another behind your back. Where have you subtly snuffed out relationship with God by trying to have things your way? I was helped by Christian psychologist Dr. Ed Welch, who identifies another subtle strand of legalism, namely, narrowing of the Law. In the narrowing of the law, we still keep the Law, but we only do as much as is necessary and no more. Both expanding and narrowing of the law are deadly. In each case, the legalist obeys the law while the heart is not be submitted to God at all. The heart wants control in either direction. When I think about you, All Peoples Church, and the temptations we face in this age in this nation, I think about how easy it is to find our normal and sit in it. I know from experience. I think many of us tend towards the legalism that narrows the law. Maybe you’ve had a radical encounter with Jesus that rearranged your life at one time, but now things have settled down. The Christian life feels pretty normal. Even easy. I read the Bible. I pray. I go to church. I’ve kept myself for marriage. Sometimes I even talk to co-workers about Jesus. We think we’re good. But then Jesus calls you deeper? He asks you to do something that is costly, and so often we resist. My fear for myself and for you is that we are being lulled to sleep under the American dream. I’m afraid that our Christianity has gotten too easy. We’re too comfortable in America, where everybody is a little messed up, but still pretty good. But as it gets harder to be a Christian in our society, as we are challenged for being intolerant bigots, we are extremely slow to follow Jesus into confrontation, into bold witness, and persecution. In a documentary called Sheep Among Wolves, After living in America for a matter of months, a Christian Iranian couple decided to move back to Iran. The wife told her husband: “There is a satanic lullaby here. All the Christians are sleepy and I’m feeling sleepy.” What is disturbing is that the woman found the threat to her faith in America was far greater than the kind of persecution that was happening in Iran. I’m afraid that for many of us we do just enough to not turn any heads or break our own conscience, while at the same time we disobey some of Christ’s fundamental commandments of making disciples, interceding for the lost, living holy lives, giving and serving generously. We’re unwilling to let Jesus disrupt our comfort. Please understand me. The American dream is not all bad. Scripture doesn’t condemn having nice things, or living a long life or being comfortable. But All Peoples Church, today Jesus is calling us to let him redefine our normal – daily. We must submit to him. When you spend money, is Jesus at the center of the decision? When you watch something on Netflix, is he at the center? Is he at the center of how you use your time, or how you make your plans? What if everyone one of us were willing to drop our plans for the day to minister to someone? What if everyone of us were willing to drop everything here to take the Gospel abroad? I think our church would look a little different. I am jealous for you, that we would be a pure bride on the day of his return, that we would not be judged for living our lives like the man who buried his talent in the ground and was cast out of God’s presence. The man who buried his talent didn’t waste it in sinful living. He buried it. He built a fence around it so that he could live how he wanted rather than being required to live in faith. Why are we so prone to this ditch? Because we would rather be comfortable. The old tastes better than the new. Sometimes following Jesus disrupts our lives and it’s hard. But we must repent. We must let him define normal behavior in this world. We must submit to him. Jesus confronts this sort of thinking because it hinders people from a true relationship with God. Legalism in the form of expansion or narrowing keeps us from daily dependence on God. It keeps us from fruitful living. But I have Good News for you. Jesus came to save us from this proud and unfruitful behavior. Jesus lived his life in perfect submission to the Father, and then laid down his life for his bride on the cross so that even when we are erring, he doesn’t leave us. He won’t divorce us. He’s sealed us with his Spirit and he is coming soon to marry us. He calls us back to faithfully follow him, and empowers us with his Spirit to do so. So, I challenge you today. By the Spirit, lay down your pride, come and follow him, and let him redefine your normal. Please do not resist him and prove with your actions that you are still given to another and not betrothed to Jesus Christ. He has proven to us that he is worthy of following. Oh church, let’s be willing to let our bridegroom king disrupt our lives if he wants. Let’s let Jesus create our new normal so that we can have eternal life in him. What if this crazy time under COVID-19 was God’s call to us to reset and let him redefine our practices and life? Have your way, Lord. [1]Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text(p. 221). Exeter: Paternoster Press. [2]Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text(p. 221). Exeter: Paternoster Press. [3]Pao, D. W., & Schnabel, E. J. (2007). Luke. In Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament(p. 293). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos. [4]Pao, D. W., & Schnabel, E. J. (2007). Luke. In Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament(p. 293). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos. [5]Butler, T. C. (2000). Luke(Vol. 3, p. 82). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Letting Jesus Create Your New Normal Luke 5:33-39 Exegetical Main Point: Jesus brought a kingdom founded on a New Covenant that could not fit with old. The religious leaders would reject Jesus for the Old. Sermon Main Point: We must submit to Jesus and let him create our normal. Intro About twelve years ago Jesus came and rearranged my life so thoroughly that it would never look the same. My mind was set on a career in music – a dream that I had worked at for almost a decade – but then Jesus came near and everything changed. When Jesus calls men to follow him, he calls them to come and die. He taught that the old life must go to the cross, with every passion and dream, so that the dying sinner can find new life in him. But as one year goes by, five, ten, I’ve found that it’s very easy to slip back into the same patterns of life I once walked in. Life generally looks different, but it often feels more like I’m just going through the motions. I’m doing what I know I’m supposed to do, but there’s little passion for God in it like there was at first. Maybe this is your experience also. As I’ve been trying to find my new normal under the Covid-19 situation, it seems like the Holy Spirit has been shining a spotlight on this part of my life and calling me to let him create my new normal. This text challenged me greatly this week, showing me the reason why we so easily slip into old patterns. I believe it has something for you also. Here’s where we are going: 1) 5:33 The Pharisees Question About Fasting 2) 5:34-35 Jesus Response 3) 5:36-39 A Parable 1) 5:33 The Pharisees Question About Fasting And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” When you’re reading your Bibles and you aren’t quite sure who or what’s being talked about, context is key. These first two words “and they” are connecting us back to the previous passages, where the scribes and Pharisees have an issue with Jesus’s behavior. Not only did they think Jesus was hanging out with the wrong crowd, apparently they thought Jesus and his disciples looked more like hedonists than chaste spiritual leaders. When everyone else was fasting, Jesus and his followers were feasting. Fasting was common in the time of Jesus. Not only were there a nationwide corporate fasts (Zc. 7:3, 5; 8:19),[1]the Pharisees developed the practice of fasting twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays in intercession for the nation as a whole.[2] You can observe this in Luke 18:12, where the Pharisee prays: “ I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get’ (Luke 18:12). We know from Luke 4 that Jesus also fasted, so he wasn’t condemning the practice. But in this moment, he and his disciples had a reason not to be fasting, and the Pharisees questioned why. This is not friendly questioning. Jesus was attracting great crowds because of his miracle working and dynamic teaching, so when he didn’t follow their rules he was threatening their power. Some historical context is important to understand their behavior. If you look back at Israel’s history, after the exile to Babylon, Israel swung from one end of the pendulum, living in licentiousness and idolatry to the other, into something called legalism, which was just as deadly, if not more. In an effort to keep Israel from breaking any of the 613 commands in the Torah, Israel’s leaders interpreted and added thousands of additional commands that must be followed so as to not come close to breaking the Law. They expanded the Law and demanded everyone to adhere to it. Let me illustrate this with a story. As a young, but maturing Christian in my twenties, I struggled a lot with vanity. So I decided to stop looking in the mirror. I set up a fence around the thing that often brought temptation. But despite my new rule, I found over and over again that my heart was just as vain. A mentor eventually helped me see my problem. I had started to put faith in my ability to not look in a mirror more than in the God who is able to kill the sin in my heart. Fences can be helpful in the fight against sin, but they can also subtly create the illusion that you don’t need God anymore to keep you from sinning. Eventually, it gets hard to see your sin. You feel like you’re practically perfect. You’ve begun to inch towards a salvation by works. Reaching heaven or keeping your land, like Israel wanted, then, has little to do with God and everything to do with you. The Pharisees were beginning to believe that if they kept the nation from sinning by enforcing the Law AND their traditions, then God would have to bless them. Eventually, fasting and prayer is not a cry for the Messiah to come save them from their sins, but another checkmark in the rule book. Their hearts grew hard and proud. Sin festered within while they whitewashed the outside. Let’s look at Jesus’s response. 2) 5:34-35 Jesus Response 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” What is Jesus saying? Jesus is asking a rhetorical question, with the obvious answer being no. Yes, it was fitting for people to fast in the waiting and longing for the coming of the Messiah, and yes, Jesus prophetically reminds them that there would be a time that would come again when fasting would be appropriate, but now was not a time for mournful fasting. Something worth celebrating was here! Joel and Carly got married a few months back. It was such a happy day and they had a nice spread of food and dessert. Imagine how inappropriate it would have been for me to withhold from feasting with everyone because it was Tuesday fast day. Even more, imagine me scowling at the other pastors who fast with me on that day because they chose to feast instead of fast. The same principle was true in that day. It was actually forbidden to fast at a wedding![3] Jesus is making a comparison. In the same way, his presence makes fasting totally inappropriate. His presence gave reason for joy, not mourning. He’s saying “Don’t you understand? Can’t you see the moment we’re in? Can’t you see who I am? Jesus is comparing himself to a bridegroom Please turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah 62. There God prophesies over Israel the day of her salvation. This bridegroom metaphor is actually applied to God as Israel’s rescuer. Starting in verse 4: 4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called My Delight Is In Her,[a] and your land Married[b]; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. 5 As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. Isaiah prophesied a coming day when God would rescue his adulterous bride and again rejoice over her. This was the day! Jesus is the bridegroom king coming to save his bride like the prophets had foretold (cf. 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25–27; Rev. 19:7–10).[4]This was not a time for fasting, but for joy! This was everything Israel needed and was waiting for, everything we need, but not everyone was rejoicing. The Pharisees couldn’t see beyond the fact that their rules were being broken and their power was challenged. Let’s continue in verse 36, where Jesus continues his response in parable form. 3) 5:36-39 A Parable: The Old Cannot Mix With the New 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ” Let me unpack this historically challenging parable for you. Here Jesus gives two separate metaphors that make the same point – you cannot mix the old with the new – and then in verse 39 he offers a sort of challenge. The first metaphor uses a new and an old garment. Imagine I have an old pair of jeans with a whole in the knee. It would be silly for me to buy a new pair of jeans to patch the old. First, the new would be wrecked. Second, the piece from the new garment would not match the old and when you washed it the new would potentially shrink and tear the old. The point is this: you cannot mix the old with the new. The second metaphor is a little more complicated because most of us are not familiar with 1stcentury winery’s. This is where a good commentary or book on historical context is helpful. Jesus is saying that in the same way you wouldn’t try to fix an old garment with a new, nobody puts new wine in old wineskins. New wine needed to be placed in new elastic skins which were made of goat’s skin or some other skin sewn together, because during the fermentation process the skins would expand and stretch. Old hardened wine skins would burst from the pressure of the new wine and destroy both skin and wine.[5] Again, the old is incompatible, unfitting with the new. You cannot mix the two. Now, in verse 39, Jesus offers a challenge that goes along with the second metaphor. He says, “No one wants the new wine after they have had the new. They say the old is better.”This most of us can understand. Old wine is better than new like vintage guitars are better than new ones. Once you’ve played the old guitar or had the old bottle of good wine, no one wants the new. Jesus, here, is basically saying, “I get it, you will ultimately reject me because you would rather have the old than the new.” You see, Jesus was bringing a kingdom founded on a New Covenant, in which faith in him would be central to justification before God, not obedience to the Law. Under the Old Covenant favor with God was contingent on how well you kept God’s commandments. But the Law only proved that no one was capable of the kind of holiness that God demanded. Even under the Law substitutionary blood sacrifices were necessary for the sin the people would most certainly commit. The Law had its purpose, but it was never sufficient in itself for salvation. The point was always to bring us to God, who alone can save. So, why would they reject what he was bringing? Because it didn’t taste as good. It was easier. It didn’t threaten their power. But in so doing, they were rejecting God. A rejection of Christ is a rejection of God. Jesus’s parable exposes the religious leaders’ hypocrisy. Even in there strict rule following they were not worshipping God, but their own system. They had instead twisted God’s Law into something that they could control. If you are already righteous on your own, what need do you have for God. But Jesus doesn’t give us that option. We don’t get to mix a little bit of our righteousness in with his. We must lay all down at his feet, acknowledging the inadequacy of our good works and our man-made systems. The bride of Christ must choose whom she will marry! You don’t get the old with the new. If you’re tuning in today and you’ve never truly submitted all to Jesus and let him rearrange your life path, then hear his call today, “Repent of your old life and come and find new life in me. It will cost you everything, but by it you will gain everything!” If that’s you today please reach out to us so that we can help you on this journey. For the rest of us, it’s easy to look at the Pharisees and scoff. But you need to remember that Jesus’s challenge is even for us. It’s not just Pharisees who have a hard time humbling themselves, but the human race. We are all proud. There is a little bit of Pharisee, a little bit of legalism, in all of us. Where in your life are you trying to make the old compatible with the new? Don’t you see that it can’t work that way? You don’t get to stand at the altar and say your vows to Jesus while holding the hand of another behind your back. Where have you subtly snuffed out relationship with God by trying to have things your way? I was helped by Christian psychologist Dr. Ed Welch, who identifies another subtle strand of legalism, namely, narrowing of the Law. In the narrowing of the law, we still keep the Law, but we only do as much as is necessary and no more. Both expanding and narrowing of the law are deadly. In each case, the legalist obeys the law while the heart is not be submitted to God at all. The heart wants control in either direction. When I think about you, All Peoples Church, and the temptations we face in this age in this nation, I think about how easy it is to find our normal and sit in it. I know from experience. I think many of us tend towards the legalism that narrows the law. Maybe you’ve had a radical encounter with Jesus that rearranged your life at one time, but now things have settled down. The Christian life feels pretty normal. Even easy. I read the Bible. I pray. I go to church. I’ve kept myself for marriage. Sometimes I even talk to co-workers about Jesus. We think we’re good. But then Jesus calls you deeper? He asks you to do something that is costly, and so often we resist. My fear for myself and for you is that we are being lulled to sleep under the American dream. I’m afraid that our Christianity has gotten too easy. We’re too comfortable in America, where everybody is a little messed up, but still pretty good. But as it gets harder to be a Christian in our society, as we are challenged for being intolerant bigots, we are extremely slow to follow Jesus into confrontation, into bold witness, and persecution. In a documentary called Sheep Among Wolves, After living in America for a matter of months, a Christian Iranian couple decided to move back to Iran. The wife told her husband: “There is a satanic lullaby here. All the Christians are sleepy and I’m feeling sleepy.” What is disturbing is that the woman found the threat to her faith in America was far greater than the kind of persecution that was happening in Iran. I’m afraid that for many of us we do just enough to not turn any heads or break our own conscience, while at the same time we disobey some of Christ’s fundamental commandments of making disciples, interceding for the lost, living holy lives, giving and serving generously. We’re unwilling to let Jesus disrupt our comfort. Please understand me. The American dream is not all bad. Scripture doesn’t condemn having nice things, or living a long life or being comfortable. But All Peoples Church, today Jesus is calling us to let him redefine our normal – daily. We must submit to him. When you spend money, is Jesus at the center of the decision? When you watch something on Netflix, is he at the center? Is he at the center of how you use your time, or how you make your plans? What if everyone one of us were willing to drop our plans for the day to minister to someone? What if everyone of us were willing to drop everything here to take the Gospel abroad? I think our church would look a little different. I am jealous for you, that we would be a pure bride on the day of his return, that we would not be judged for living our lives like the man who buried his talent in the ground and was cast out of God’s presence. The man who buried his talent didn’t waste it in sinful living. He buried it. He built a fence around it so that he could live how he wanted rather than being required to live in faith. Why are we so prone to this ditch? Because we would rather be comfortable. The old tastes better than the new. Sometimes following Jesus disrupts our lives and it’s hard. But we must repent. We must let him define normal behavior in this world. We must submit to him. Jesus confronts this sort of thinking because it hinders people from a true relationship with God. Legalism in the form of expansion or narrowing keeps us from daily dependence on God. It keeps us from fruitful living. But I have Good News for you. Jesus came to save us from this proud and unfruitful behavior. Jesus lived his life in perfect submission to the Father, and then laid down his life for his bride on the cross so that even when we are erring, he doesn’t leave us. He won’t divorce us. He’s sealed us with his Spirit and he is coming soon to marry us. He calls us back to faithfully follow him, and empowers us with his Spirit to do so. So, I challenge you today. By the Spirit, lay down your pride, come and follow him, and let him redefine your normal. Please do not resist him and prove with your actions that you are still given to another and not betrothed to Jesus Christ. He has proven to us that he is worthy of following. Oh church, let’s be willing to let our bridegroom king disrupt our lives if he wants. Let’s let Jesus create our new normal so that we can have eternal life in him. What if this crazy time under COVID-19 was God’s call to us to reset and let him redefine our practices and life? Have your way, Lord. [1]Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text(p. 221). Exeter: Paternoster Press. [2]Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text(p. 221). Exeter: Paternoster Press. [3]Pao, D. W., & Schnabel, E. J. (2007). Luke. In Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament(p. 293). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos. [4]Pao, D. W., & Schnabel, E. J. (2007). Luke. In Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament(p. 293). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos. [5]Butler, T. C. (2000). Luke(Vol. 3, p. 82). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

On Jordan's Stormy Banks On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye To Canaan’s fair and happy land where my possessions lie. All o’er those wide extended plains shines one eternal day. There God the Son forever reigns and scatters night away. [Chorus] I am bound (I am bound), I am bound (I am bound), I am bound for the promised land, I am bound (I am bound), I am bound (I am bound), I am bound for the promised land, No chilling winds nor poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore. Sickness, sorrow, pain and death are felt and feared no more. When shall I reach that happy place and be forever blessed? When shall I see my Father’s face and in His bosom rest? [Chorus x3] ©1997 Christopher Minor Music. Words by Samuel Stennett. Music by Christopher Minor Arrangement by Daniel Campbell

On Jordan's Stormy Banks On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye To Canaan’s fair and happy land where my possessions lie. All o’er those wide extended plains shines one eternal day. There God the Son forever reigns and scatters night away. [Chorus] I am bound (I am bound), I am bound (I am bound), I am bound for the promised land, I am bound (I am bound), I am bound (I am bound), I am bound for the promised land, No chilling winds nor poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore. Sickness, sorrow, pain and death are felt and feared no more. When shall I reach that happy place and be forever blessed? When shall I see my Father’s face and in His bosom rest? [Chorus x3] ©1997 Christopher Minor Music. Words by Samuel Stennett. Music by Christopher Minor Arrangement by Daniel Campbell

Today's Bible Readings: Exodus 31; John 10; Proverbs 7; Galatians 6In the extended metaphor of the shepherd in John 10, Jesus keeps revising the dimensions and application of the metaphor as he drives home a variety of points, a few of which we may pick up.(1) For the biblically literate, it would be difficult not to think of Ezekiel 34. There God denounces the false shepherds of Israel, and repeatedly says that a day is coming when he himself will be the shepherd of his people, feeding them, leading them, disciplining them. Jesus’ insistence that, so far as shepherds go, those who came before him “were thieves and robbers” (John 10:8), would call Ezekiel 34 to mind. Then, toward the end of that Old Testament chapter, God says he will place over his flock one shepherd — his servant David. Now the Good Shepherd is here, one with God (1:1), yet from David’ s line.(2) In defining himself as the “good shepherd,” Jesus says that the “good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (10:11). This pushes the metaphor to the wall. In real life, a good shepherd risks his life for his sheep, and may lose it. But he doesn’t voluntarily sacrifice his life for the sheep. For a start, who would look after the other sheep? And in any case, it would be inappropriate: risking your life to save the livestock is one thing, but actually choosing to die for them would be disproportionate. A human life is worth more than a flock of sheep.(3) Yet in case we have not yet absorbed the incongruity of Jesus’ claim, he spells it out even more clearly. He is not simply risking his life. Not is he merely the pawn of vicious circumstances: no one can take his life from him. He is laying it down of his own accord (10:18). Indeed, the reason why his Father continues to love him is that the Son is perfectly obedient — and it is the Father’s good mandate that this Son lay down his life (10:17; cf. Phil. 2:6-8).(4) Jesus’ sheep respond to his voice; others reject him. The implicit election is ubiquitous in the passage (e.g., 10:27-28).(5) Jesus’ mission includes not only sheep among the Israelites, but other sheep that “are not of this sheep pen” (10:16). But if they are Jesus’ sheep, whether Jews or Gentiles, they “will listen to [his] voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (10:16). Here is the fulfillment of the promise that in Abraham’ s offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And this is also why, in the last analysis, there can never be more than one head of the church — Jesus Christ himself.This podcast is designed to be used alongside TGC's Read The Bible initiative (TGC.org/readthebible). The podcast features devotional commentaries from D.A. Carson’s book For the Love of God (vol. 1) that follow the M’Cheyne Bible reading plan.

Are you There God, it's me Candlebox. In this episode we respond to some listener questions with gravity, levity, snark, and brevity. Except that last one. Dying to ask us something? That WAS your shot. But you can always send your questions are way. Make us dance, give us a hard time. Let's keep this going. It was a lot of fun and we hope you like it. While you're reading this, give us a 5star review, eh? 

Today we will be studying Daniel chapter five, the famous writing on the wall passage. Once again, we've done this for a few weeks now, since this is a longer text, we will be covering this text in sections. We are going to begin by reading the first nine verses, but as we work through the text, we will be reading all of it. 1 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3 Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. 5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” 8 Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. Daniel 5:1-9, ESV In the months leading up to the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War Two, historians tell us that the Allies had launched this successful deception campaign against Germany and the Axis powers. Among other measures, the Allies had strategically placed inflatable dummy tanks on the south coast of England and employed double agents to report back to the German hierarchy. All to convince Hitler that the impending invasion of Western Europe was to happen in the French city of Calais, rather than where it did eventually happen in Normandy. Despite that virtually everyone knew that the Allies were going to invade western Europe at some point, Hitler was convinced that the defenses that he had constructed all along the northern French coast were more than enough to repel any invasion that the Allies could throw at him. He considered them militarily inferior to his own forces. On June 6, 1944, the famous date, all of these factors came to a head when the Allies invaded in western Europe at Normandy. When the reports of this invasion began flooding into German HQ, the response, for a number of reasons, was lacking from the Germans. For one thing, the necessary reinforcements weren't able to be called up in time because the only person who was able to act, Hitler, was busy sleeping and nobody was brave enough to wake him. When Hitler finally woke and learned of the invasion, he didn't think it was the real thing because he had bought hook, line, and sinker the Allies' deception campaign. He thought the real invasion would happen elsewhere, so he refused to send reinforcements. Then to top it all off, according to reports, Hitler was apparently relieved when the news came his way that the invasion had taken place. He wasn't angry or alarmed because he thought so little of the Allies' efforts and so much of his own forces. You see for Hitler, at the time, June 6, 1944 was really by and large just another day in the war. The truth is that June 6, 1944 was the decisive day that brought the end to his reign. When Daniel five opens, we read a story of another ruler. A ruler by the name of Belshazzar who is also, at least at first, far from alarmed when he should have been alarmed. In the first four verses he is so not alarmed that he is having a party where he and his nobles are singing and engaging in all manners of practices such as debauchery, drunkenness and unrestrained idolatry. In no way, at least in these first four verses, is Belshazzar concerned even about his own security as king or about his spiritual condition. As the narrative unfolds, we learn quite quickly that he should have been alarmed by both. We haven't read the final verse of this passage yet, but by the end of Daniel five, we learn this is the final night, not only of Belshazzar's life, but also of the kingdom of Babylon. Around this time in Babylon history, they had been engaged in this prolonged war with the Persians and Meads. Ancients historians tell us that on this very night those armies had made their way just to the outside of the city of Babylon. The city was virtually surrounded and everyone in the city apparently knew it. Yet Belshazzar was apparently so confident in his defenses and the vast supplies in his storehouses, this wasn't itself a troubling reality in the slightest. Similar to Hitler's response to D-Day, Belshazzar had suppressed the military realities that lie outside his gates. Even more consequential than the military realities that were apparently suppressed by Belshazzar are the spiritual realities that he had suppressed. This is what Daniel homes in on in this text. We will see in a moment that Belshazzar should have known of all his responsibilities before the Lord. He should have known how a king should conduct himself under the Lord's authority, the one who ultimately rules the kingdom of men. He should have known that such unabashed participation in idolatry and wonton pride would eventually reap spiritual consequences before God. So, our big idea is this, The Lord will sovereignly act, even when truth is sinfully suppressed. As we work through this text, we will break it down into three points. 1. Presuming Upon God's Patience 2. Suppressing God's Truth 3. Knowing God's Sovereignty in Salvation Presuming Upon God's Patience Thus far in Daniel, ever since the opening chapter, everything that has transpired and everything that we have surveyed during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. If you remember back in Daniel chapter one, we were in year one of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon at the time, had just ascended to the throne and when he did he took the best and the brightest of Judah, which had included Daniel, into captivity to learn and labor in his kingdom. As we move through chapters two, three and four, we are propelled further and deeper into Nebuchadnezzar's reign. We slowly saw it unfold how an ungodly king, gripped by idolatry, obsessed with visions of his own grandeur, who continually failed to see the Lord for who he is, was eventually brought to a place of humility in chapter four. After which, it seemed that he finally got it. Nebuchadnezzar's reign covered about forty years, and though we do not know where many of the events in chapters one through four fall in that timeline, one thing is reasonably clear from Nebuchadnezzar's story when we put on our theological spectacles. That is, the Lord was exceedingly patient with Nebuchadnezzar. Through all the years of pride and hardness of heart that we see in Daniel one through four, the Lord was patient with Nebuchadnezzar, and he didn't immediately deal with him in judgement according to what his sins merited. Thus far we have seen in Daniel, God's abundant patience unfold with King Nebuchadnezzar, through the first four chapters. We may expect that when we come across another king, a similar pattern would unfold. We have seen forty years of God's patience with Nebuchadnezzar, and we will see forty years of patience with another ruler, right? That doesn't happen, when Daniel five opens, three kings have already come and gone after Nebuchadnezzar, in the span of twenty-three years following Nebuchadnezzar's death. The kingdom is far from the powerhouse that it was during Nebuchadnezzar's day. If Belshazzar is any indication of the spiritual environment in the kingdom, that's why things haven't improved since Nebuchadnezzar. Look with me starting at verse one. We learn in the opening line that King Belshazzar made a great feast. That may sound relatively innocuous, but it actually tells us quite a bit. You see back in chapter three, when it opened, we heard this same phrase and, in that text, we heard that Nebuchadnezzar made something too. He made his colossal image of gold that towered to the sky. It was blatant idolatry, but as a symbol of power it was something of a marvel to behold. Yet, when we meet Belshazzar in chapter five, he makes something else, but he makes a feast. As one commentator, Ian Dougwood, put it, “While Nebuchadnezzar archived throughout his life, great military success, destroyed cities, erected mighty statues, and was even responsible for constructing one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. All King Belshazzar was able to arrange was a drinking party.” You see, the kingdom of Babylon has fallen quite far from the once great heights it once occupied. Its current weak geopolitical position is really just an illustration of its sinful spiritual state. This is especially emphasized for us in the next three verses. Belshazzar, we learn, arranges this drinking party with his nobility, and other women in the kingdom are involved. Once he has too much to drink, he makes the demand that shows just how desensitized he is to the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. He orders that the vessels of gold and silver, that were taken out of the Jerusalem temple about seventy years before this by his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar and brought to Babylon, be brought out for this drinking party. These vessels that were created for the worship of the Lord are now included in the celebration of the Babylonian moon god sin. That's probably the context for what is going on in this story. It is a feast to one of the Babylonian gods. Then they drink from these vessels, in verse four, and they praise the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and stone. The kingdom of Babylon has fallen fast and hard from the once great heights it occupied, geopolitically in Nebuchadnezzar's day. The pride of this new king has reached new heights. What makes this entire scene worse than it already is, is that Belshazzar should have known better. When Daniel comes around later in this passage, he is going to tell Belshazzar exactly that. Belshazzar should have known what Nebuchadnezzar came to learn. Namely that the Most High rules the kingdoms of men and gives it to whom he will. Belshazzar should have known that the only reason that he rules is by the will of God. Belshazzar should have known of his grandfather's experience and God's patience with him. He should have known that he better not presume upon God's patience. Rather than learning these important lessons from his grandfather's day, we meet a king who “double-clicks”, as it were, on Nebuchadnezzar's sin. In a sense, Belshazzar's opening action here is an illustration of Lamech's boast in Genesis four. In Genesis chapter four, after Cain kills his brother Abel and then he is driven out from the presence of the Lord. We read about how Cain's descendants multiplied and a few generations later a man named Lamech is born, who we quickly see is more evil than his ancestor Cain. For one Lamech corrupts God's design for marriage into polygamy; Cain didn't do that. Then he turns proportional justice into disproportionate revenge. Then to top it all off, it's almost as if he sings about it. In Genesis 4:23-24 he says, 23 Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.” Genesis 4:23-24, ESV In one sense, Belshazzar's actions in Daniel five are an illustration of this sort of unrestrained pride at work. He knew of God's patience with his grandfather and he should have learned from that. His spiritual sense had been so numbed, not by alcohol but by sin. So now God acts in judgement. After this opening party unfolds and all seems to be going well for him and his nobles, we read in verses five through seven, 5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Daniel 5:5-7, ESV At this point in the narrative we don't quite know what the context of what was written on the wall was, but we see that Belshazzar is absolute terrified by it. His complexion changed, that phrase that we read in verse six, “his limbs gave way”, could also be translated, “his bowels gave way”. He immediately summons the best and the brightest with the promises of great reward for whomever solves this riddle for him as soon as possible. Belshazzar might not know what exactly this message from God; the God who in contrast to his idols actually does speak. His response suggests that he knows that this is not good for him. We know, as the reader, that because he has so presumed upon the patience of God that we have seen in Daniel one through four, and he has continued in the pride and sin of his ancestors. In fact, he has double-clicked on that sin and pride, that in the end it's going to cost him virtually everything. Theologically, the consequences that Belshazzar are about to reap are an outward being of what the apostle Paul writes in Romans 2:4-5, 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.Romans 2:4-5, ESV Belshazzar knew more than Nebuchadnezzar knew. He had this incredible story of God's patience, kindness, and mercy given to one of his ancestors. This should have led him to repentance. He had greater revelation and thus greater responsibility. In the end he so presumed upon God's patience, he was storing up wrath in the words of Paul for himself. Now the judgement of God is about to fall on him. Before it does, we learn that behind this presumption of God's patience. The reason we might say, that he presumes upon God's patience in the first place is that he had suppressed God's truth. Of course, these two points are very closely related. That leads to our second point. Suppressing God's Truth Look with me now at Daniel 5:10-23, 10 The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. 11 There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, 12 because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.” 13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. 14 I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. 15 Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. 16 But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” 17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. 18 O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. 19 And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. 20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. 21 He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. 22 And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. Daniel 5:10-23, ESV So, in order to prepare the way for Daniel and to offer some temporary relief into this situation, the queen (who commentators point out is probably the queen mother or may even be Nebuchadnezzar's wife) enters the scene and informs Belshazzar that there is a man in the kingdom who can make sense of riddles such as this. She talks about Daniel and how Daniel aided his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, in his own day and how Daniel will be able to offer an interpretation even of this. When Daniel comes before Belshazzar in verse thirteen and the king begins to address him, commentators note for a number of reasons that Belshazzar probably wasn't unaware of Daniel's existence. For one, the description he provides of Daniel in verses thirteen through sixteen goes slightly beyond the queen's description. There's even this subtle slight in his address to Daniel when he reminds him that he is one of the exiles of Judah. Belshazzar it seems, has probably known of Daniel's existence all along, but as Sinclair Ferguson suggests, his actions are more reminiscent of Rehoboam, Solomon's son. He has chosen thus far to ignore this wise man who is more than eighty years old at this point, in favor of counselors who are more like him; astrologers, Babylonians experts in wisdom. That was one of Rehoboam's sins in generations prior; relying on the wisdom of people like him rather than the older counselor who had advised his father Solomon. Nonetheless, Belshazzar's suppression of the truth is suggested already before Daniel even speaks. After Daniel rehearses Nebuchadnezzar's experience, he accuses Belshazzar of just that in verses twenty-two and twenty-three. He says, 22 And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.Daniel 5:22-23, ESV We learn from this that Belshazzar is an example of what the apostle Paul warns against in Romans 1:18-23, 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Romans 1:18-23, ESV Not only did Belshazzar have, like every person who has ever lived has general revelation at his disposal by virtue of being a human being and living in God's world. He should have known of God's eternal power and divine nature and was therefore without excuse. That's Paul's main point in Roman's chapter one. What makes it even worse is that Belshazzar knew more than that. He almost certainly knew of Daniel's existence. He knew of his grandfather's experience. Through all of that he should have known that the Most High rules. Yet, even with all of that revelation at his disposal, he exchanges the glory of the immortal God for idols of silver, bronze, wood and stone. Belshazzar's sin here wasn't rooted in ignorance. According to Paul, no sin is rooted in ignorance of God. It was rooted in knowledge. According to our confessions, specifically Larger Catechism 151, although all sins merit judgement before God, there are some aggravations that make some sins more heinous than others. One of those aggravations is when greater knowledge and conviction of sin doesn't produce the repentance that it should. This passage in Daniel, specifically 5:22-23, is actually cited as the prooftext for that catechism question. You see, Belshazzar should have been convicted by the knowledge that he possessed. But he persisted in it anyway. He suppresses the truth and as a result, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. We see that unfold in the final part of our passage. God is Sovereign in Salvation 24 “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an enDaniel 27 TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wantinGod 28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” 29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. 31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old. Daniel 5:24-31, ESV Now we here the verdict pronounced. In Daniel's speech thus far, he has been acting as a prosecuting attorney of sorts. This is often how Israel's prophets functioned as the mouthpiece of God. They brought God's case against his own people and against the nations. That's what Daniel does in this text. In one speech he martials the evidence the is stacked up against Belshazzar. He brings Nebuchadnezzar to the witness stand. He issues his closing remarks and then he issue the verdict, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.” These words are Aramaic words. This portion of Daniel that we are in was originally written in Aramaic, not Hebrew like most of the Old Testament is. On the surface these Aramaic words refer to weights or measurements in decreasing value. The “mene” is a mena, the “tekel” is a shekel, the “parsin” is a half shekel. With some minor adjustments these words can be turned into verbs. This is the approach that Daniel takes. He sees in these words, not just bare measurements, which might by why everyone else has failed to offer an adequate interpretation to Belshazzar, but Daniel see through the Spirit who empowers his prophetic gift, a word play that is based on the word's verbal form. As Daniel explains it, the interpretation is also charts in descending fashion. Yours days are numbered; you've been weighted in the balance; and your kingdom is given. There may even be an additional word play in that “parsin” can also refer to Persia, the kingdom that would take over that very night. In many respects Belshazzar has been revealed through this verdict to be just like the rich fool that Jesus describes in Luke chapter twelve. Who, after building his own kingdom, settles down and says to himself, soul you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink and be merry. Belshazzar has indeed been doing that. He's been eating and drinking all the while convincing himself that all is well, even when enemies are camped outside his gate. When Daniel comes around through his speech and the verdict that he pronounces at the end, he exposes the reality that judgement is on its way. Belshazzar, just as he mimics that rich fool in Luke twelve, he will also receive the judgement that rich fool is pronounced in Luke twelve. There God says to him, fool, your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? That's what happens next in our text. After Daniel speaks, apparently Belshazzar has nothing to say, he is speechless. He's not boiling over in anger, nor does it seem that he's alarmed or that his alarm has increased. It's not that he is repentant either. He simply gives the command to honor his word to Daniel. He makes Daniel the third ruler in the kingdom, which at this point is really a meaningless reward. Then he waits to die. We learn that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. Ancient history tells us that very night the army of the Persians marched into Babylon without a fight while the Babylonians were drunk and participating in a feast to the moon god. It wasn't entirely bloodless because one of the Persian generals marched into the palace and assassinated Belshazzar. In the space of just one chapter, this short story of another Babylonian king concludes. Whereas we've seen forty years of one king's life, for this king we see not even a full day of his life. The Babylonian empire is in all effects finished and the narrative transitions us to this next guy, Darius the Meade, who we will read about whenever we come to Daniel chapter six. Theological Implications While this story is done, we as the readers are invited to consider a couple of theological points that emerge from this story. 1. The first is, I think there is something about this story that satisfies our sense of justice. I'm indebted to a guy named Shawn Michael Lucas for this observation. In this story, we meet a king who is consumed with pride. He participates in debaucher, he profanes what is holy, he relies on the wisdom of the world to solve riddles and mysteries that only the wisdom of God is equipped to solve. Then when we zoom out and consider the entirety of the Babylonian empire, our sense of justice is maybe further satiated. We know that this text also marks the end of Babylon which is an empire responsible for inflicting horrible ills on the people of God. It feels right, and maybe it would have felt even more right to the original readers of this text. Belshazzar, and Babylon by extension, would be weighed in the balance and found wanting. Yet, as heinous as these sins were before a holy God, would you or I really fare much better if we were weighed in the balances of God's justice. The answer is no. In fact, the thought of standing before a holy God on our own merit should alarm all of us. There is absolutely nothing we could bring before God that would move the balances of justice even one tick in our favor. In one way or another, all of us have lifted up ourselves against the Lord of Heaven in pride and autonomy. If any of us were to be weighed in the balances, we would be found wanting too. Even more than satisfying our sense of justice, when we know this to be true of ourselves, more than anything else this text should increase our desire for Jesus. Friends, the only hope we have before a holy and justice God is that Jesus Christ was weighted in the balances and found righteous. Our only hope is that when the evidence is stacked up against us in God's court, for the judge, rather than condemning us, to give us the righteousness of his son so that we would be justified. That is our only hope. In Christ alone, through faith alone. That is the glorious reality that is ours to lay claim to. It's a reality that doesn't extinguish our sense of justice in this broken world but is a reality that should deeply humble us in our sense of justice. 2. The Lord is sovereign over salvation. If God indeed justifies the ungodly through Christ, this he does, then why is it that one ungodly king, Nebuchadnezzar, is shown forty years of mercy by God, while another king, Belshazzar, is not? Or maybe, do bring the question a little closer to home to use, why is it that God saves some of us, but passes over others? Ultimately the answer to that question has to lie in the Lord's sovereignty over salvation and judgement. We've heard throughout Daniel this announcement time and time again that the Lord is sovereign. The Lord is the one who sets up kingdoms. The Lord is the one who tears down kingdoms. The Lord is the one directing the wheels of history to their God ordained ends. The sovereignty of God that Daniel proclaims over kingdoms, also extends to individuals. Despite some of the contrast between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, the one thing, among many, that they had in common was that both of them were sinners who deserved no mercy. There was nothing intrinsic to Nebuchadnezzar that prompted God to show him mercy that Belshazzar didn't also share. Both kings, in other words, deserved judgement. The only thing to account for their diverging fortunes is the sovereign will of God. That is what Paul gets at in another chapter of the book of Romans. In Romans 9:15-18 Paul writes, 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. Romans 9:15-18 The Lord is sovereign over kings and kingdoms, and the Lord is sovereign in both salvation and judgement. That is the second theological take away from this text. Applications Tying this all together, let's briefly consider a few applications, a few things to take away with us as we prepare to close. 1. Know that God is patient and kind towards you, but don't presume upon his patience of kindness either. All of the blessings and good gifts that we enjoy in this life are fruit of God's kindness towards us. God has restrained human wickedness from being as bad as it possibly could be. He sends rain to water the crops and give us food. He preserves creation for our enjoyment and benefit and his glory. Beyond these common grace manifestations of his kindness, we have special revelation. We have the Word of God so that we might know him, receive salvation, and receive spiritual nourishment through the ordinary means of grace. He supplies for his church. As Christians, the Lord is kind towards us and patient with us. He is patient with us in our sanctification, our sin, our sometimes faulty theologies. The Psalmist tells us that the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Know then that the Lord is kind. Know that the Lord is patient. That has all manner of applications for us. From tempering our own anxiety, to learning what it means to be patient with others. I came across a quote this week by a Puritan named Stephen Charnock that I thought was applicable. “God has exercised a long suffering from the fall of Adam to this minute on innumerable subjects. Shall we be transported with the desire of revenge upon a single injury? How distant are they from the nature of God, who are in a flame upon every slight provocation, from a sense of some feeble and imaginary honor, that must bloody their sword for a trifle and right their avenge in wounds and death.” God is patient with us friends. Does God's patience and kindness in Christ influence the patience that you show or don't show to other? Ask yourself that. If you are not resting in Christ for salvation, recognize that God is patient towards you too by deferring, for now, judgement. I invite you, don't presume upon God's patience by charting your own course in this life. None of us are guaranteed one more day. So, I beg you to turn to Christ now and be saved. The Lord is kind and patient. That is the first application. 2. Don't suppress the truth. Again, this applies to both those of us who profess Christ and claim to love his word, and those who might not. First, all of us have been exposed to truth, that makes us accountable to God. We heard that already in Romans chapter one. Even if all you know is what the scriptures refer to as general revelation, that is a revelation of God and his invisible attributes simply from his creation. Scriptures tell us that's not enough to bring salvation, but that is enough to be held accountable. So, let me urge you to turn to the word of God, to hear the gospel of God for what it is and believe and be saved. According the scriptures, anything less than that is a form of suppressing the truth. In the words of Paul, “exchanging the truth of God for a lie.” As Christians, there is also a sense in which all of us who know the word and love the word may suppress the truth too. For instance, when you hear the word of God proclaimed and it pricks your conscience a little bit. What do you do about that? Do you humbly submit yourself to the word, or do you deflect it in some way? Again, there are millions of ways we could do that in an attempt to ignore the conviction of sin that the Spirit brings through his word. As Christians, the invitation we have is not to numb ourselves to God's word, especially when it picks our conscious in ways that might sting a bit. Instead, we are called to hear the word, to hear the message of God's patience and kindness towards you. To humble yourself under it. To remember that Jesus Christ loves his church, is patient with his church, and is kind to his church.

I’m sure it comes as no newsflash, but we are living in a war-torn world.   Think of the serious conflicts that rage globally. Hotspots include: Turkey and Syria, India and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and the list goes on. Not only are there are conflicts between nations, there are conflicts within nations—places like Venezuela and Hong Kong. In fact, it might be easier to list the countries that don’t have war than those that do. Recently the Institute for Economics and Peace evaluated 162 countries. Only 11 were not involved in conflict of one kind or another.   It’s bad enough to have conflict within the league of nations, but how bad is it when it erupts in Little League?! On June 15, 2019, a baseball game for 7-year-olds in Lakewood, Colorado descended into chaos when parents disagreed over a decision made by the 13-year-old umpire.  Spectators captured video of a shocking brawl that ensued. Authorities ultimately issued citations for disorderly conduct to twelve adults. Crazy!   Let me get more personal still.  What about your family?  What about your own heart?  Are you at peace?   This coming Sunday at Istrouma we will focus on James 4:1-10. There God gives us a prescription for peace.  We’ll see the sources of conflicts, the seriousness of conflicts, and the solution to conflicts. Be sure to join us!   James: Practical Spirituality “A Prescription for Peace” James 4:1-10   The sources of sinful conflict   What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? (4:1a)   We are self-centered   We are self-sufficient     The seriousness of sinful conflict   You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a firend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (4:4-5).   We become adulterers to God   We become adversaries to God     The solution to sinful conflict   But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (4:6-7).   God offers a present God orders a prescription

SERMON TRANSCRIPT BELOW: You’re probably familiar with the tragedy of “friendly fire,” but have you thought about the potential of “friendly faith”? Let me unpack the difference. Friendly fire refers to incidents when, in the fog of war, a soldier will accidentally fire upon his own forces. The history of warfare is replete with examples. Perhaps the best known is the case of Pat Tillman. He was a gifted athlete who played in the NFL. After 9-11 he voluntarily gave up that lucrative career and became an Army Ranger. He died in the mountains of Afghanistan as a result of “friendly fire.” Friends can hurt friends (and not just on the battlefield!). But, it is equally true that friends can help friends. Your faith in the Lord can encourage and transform the lives of your friends. That’s what I mean by “friendly faith.” A great illustration of this is the biblical account of four friends who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus. There he found healing and, more importantly, forgiveness for sins. God wants to use our lives and, particularly, our faith to influence others for Christ. Whom can you pray for or encourage today? Whom can you “bring” to Jesus? A kind deed, a quick email or note, a word of witness, an invitation--all of these are examples of ways that we can live out a "friendly faith." Join us this Sunday at Istrouma Baptist Church as we continue our series entitled, “Who’s Your One?” We'll learn more about living out a faith that makes a positive difference in the lives of our friends.   Friendly Faith Sermon Series: Who’s Your One? Mark 2:1-12 Istrouma Baptist Church – Jeff Ginn, Lead Pastor 9:15 AM Sermon March 31, 2019 https://vimeo.com/327794391 https://www.facebook.com/istrouma.org/videos/1013316938861397/     Outline:   CooperativeFriends        And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men (2:3). Come the same way Carry the same weight         CreativeFriends        And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay (2:4). Are desperate Are determined   ConfidentFriends        And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”(2:5) Have a faith that is visible Have a faith that is victorious     You’re probably familiar with the tragedy of “friendly fire,” but have you thought about the potential of “friendly faith”? Let me unpack the difference.   Friendly fire refers to incidents when, in the fog of war, a soldier will accidentally fire upon his own forces. The history of warfare is replete with examples. Perhaps the best known is the case of Pat Tillman. He was a gifted athlete who played in the NFL. After 9-11 he voluntarily gave up that lucrative career and became an Army Ranger. He died in the mountains of Afghanistan as a result of “friendly fire.”   Friends can hurt friends (and not just on the battlefield!). But, it is equally true that friends can help friends.   Your faith in the Lord can encourage and transform the lives of your friends. That’s what I mean by “friendly faith.” A great illustration of this is the biblical account of four friends who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus. There he found healing and, more importantly, forgiveness for sins.   God wants to use our lives and, particularly, our faith to influence others for Christ. Whom can you pray for or encourage today? Whom can you “bring” to Jesus? A kind deed, a quick email or note, a word of witness, an invitation--all of these are examples of ways that we can live out a "friendly faith."   Today, I want to speak on the theme, not friendly fire, but its exact opposite, “Friendly faith.” That is, your faith in the Lord Jesus, lived out, can be a blessing to your friends. It can change their lives and their eternity. I’m going to take you to a story in the Bible where it’s a case of friendly faith. Four friends living out their faith influenced their lame, paralytic friend for time and eternity.   The story is found in Mark chapter 2. So if you have a copy of the Bible, I want you to open it there, please. Mark 2. And in honor of God's word, would you please stand as we read these verses. Mark 2:1-12. There God’s word says: 1And when he [that is, Jesus]returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.   Could I pause right there and just note what Jesus was doing? As the crowds came, Jesus preached the word to them. You might think that Jesus was a great miracle worker who occasionally preached, but you'd actually have that backwards. He wasn’t a miracle worker who occasionally preached. He was a preacher who often enough did miracles. There is an emphasis in the word of God on the preaching of these truths because it is the preaching of the word of God that is used by him to bring folks to eternal salvation. So today, in the tradition of Jesus, we are preaching the word. Now look, please, to verse 3 and we’ll continue the reading.   3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4And when they could not get [him near] because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, [take]up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”   Let’s pray.   [Prayer]   Please be seated.   God wants to use our lives and particularly our faith to influence others for Christ. He wants us to live out what I'm going to call today a “friendly faith.” Now today, we're continuing our series entitled “Who's Your One?” We're going to learn more about living out of faith that makes a positive difference in the lives of our friends. You'll know that we have challenged one another through the course of 2019 to pick one person that God would lay on our hearts, a friend that we could pray for and seek to influence in an effort to bring them to faith in Christ. Do you have your one? I trust that you do. All throughout this week, we've been praying day by day, have we not? I hope you have been using your prayer guide. For the 30 days leading up to Easter we're going to be praying for our friends, and I want you to encourage you to invite them to come and worship with you here. If you'll go to the Welcome Desk before you leave, we have a lot of invite cards that you can pick up and use to invite others to come and worship with us, particularly on Easter that's right before us.   Now, the four friends in the story that we’re studying today are great examples for us of what it means to live out our faith with our friends. I'm going to describe these men with three words, and I'm going to give you the three words, and then we'll go back and look at them each in turn. They are Cooperative. They are Creative. And they are Confident. These are going to be the three key words for this morning.   Let's begin, then, by first of all describing them as “Cooperative friends.” Cooperative friends. Now here, I'm thinking of verse 3. Look at your Bible again, please. There it says:  3And they came [these four friends], bringing to him [Jesus]a paralytic carried by four men.   Now, there are two things that I notice about these four friends. First of all, they come the same way. That is, they’re traveling the same road. They have the same destination. They have the same North on their [compass], and he is Jesus. Notice that it says “they came...to him.” They are all going the same way. Now here they are, each of the four friends, I can imagine them, each one at a different corner of this cot on which the man is lying. Had they been going different ways, they would have drawn and quartered the poor fellow. But instead, they’re going the same way. They are coordinated. They are cooperative. And did you know that churches function best when we are like these four friends, and instead of us each going our own way, we cooperate together to do the Lord's work.   I'm so thankful here at Istrouma we have a North. We have an aim. We’re going the same way. And what is that way? We have a mission, and I think all of you probably can now quote our mission. It is, “We glorify God by making disciples of all nations.” Now, I want us to quote it together. Are you ready? “We glorify God by making disciples of all nations.” That is our aim. Our aim is to get people to Jesus and to help them become followers, dedicated followers, of the Lord Jesus. Let me remind you, here's our process that we follow. It's very simple. Four key steps in it. Number one, Connect. We're looking to connect people to Jesus by salvation and in active church attendance. Connect. Once connected, we want to help them Grow in their faith. Primarily, we do this by helping people get connected to a small group. A lot of these projects that you heard described that went on on Go Day, those were driven by our small groups. Cooperative friends working together to carry out the mission of the Lord. Growing in our faith. Connect. Grow. Thirdly, Serve. That is, get your hands dirty. Put your hands to the plow. Pull your weight. These projects, and projects like them that we do around the world, are avenues for you to put your spiritual giftedness to work for the Lord. And then, the process culminates by us actually going, locally and globally, to the very ends of the earth. This is our mission. This is our North.   I think it's largely because of this that Istrouma, now listen to this, you won't believe it; if you've been a Baptist for a long time, you really won’t believe it, Istrouma is almost a hundred years old – next year we celebrate 100 years – and did you know, to the glory of God, this church has never had a church split. We have always walked in harmony. Have you ever wondered why, why is it we don't fuss and fight? It's because we cooperate. We have the same mission. We have the same goal. We have the same aim. Jesus is our Lord, and we're cooperating together going the same way.   I remember a story I heard some years ago about this fellow who was moving. He was moving from his house, and so he was there in the doorway of his home, the front door, and he was working with a refrigerator. A passer-by walking there, a Good Samaritan, happened to note the fellow wrestling with the fridge in the doorway. The Good Samaritan said, “Hey, could I help you?” And the homeowner said, “I'd love it.” So the man jumped up the steps and came up, and each one got on one side of the refrigerator, and they began to struggle with that heavy fridge there in the doorway. After a couple of minutes they paused to kind of catch their breath. The Good Samaritan said, “Whew! I don't know if we're ever going to get this refrigerator in your house.” To which the owner said, “In? I'm trying to get it out!”   Now, I’ve loved that story across the years, because the truth is we've got to know which way we’re going. We've got to know which way we’re carrying this load. As a church, we don't ever need to be confused. We are working together, and our aim is to make disciples of all nations. If we’ll have the same North, and if we’ll have the same mission, if we’ll go the same way, we’ll be in harmony with one another. So these men, they’re coming the same way.   Secondly, they’re carrying the same weight. They're carrying the same weight. Have you ever heard this saying, “Many hands make light work”? It's true. Many hands make light work. I don't know if you’ve ever had to sustain someone who is what we’d call dead weight. Maybe someone passes out, and you realize how heavy the body is when there’s no life force at work in them. Here's this man, he's a lame man, he can't carry himself, and what a struggle it would have been for just one of these men to have borne him all the way to where Jesus was. But thankfully, there was not one friend or even two friends; there are four friends working together sharing the load.   Now the application is very easy to make, is it not? We, God's people, each need to take hold of our corner of the cot. Each one of us has a load to bear in helping our friends get to Jesus. Each one of us has a load to bear in helping the work of the church go forward, in giving life, and bringing the life-giving news of Jesus to a waiting world. I tell you, it's amazing what can be done when people cooperate together.   I want you to watch a video clip. It's from Perth Australia. You're going to get a glimpse of what people together can do [Video clip was shown]. Here's the story: In Perth Australia, and you can Google this and watch it, there was an incident several years ago where a man was waiting on a commuter train to come through, like a subway. As the train arrived, the doors opened and this fellow began to make his way into the train. There was quite a lot of traffic, foot traffic, and as he was stepping into the train, his foot accidentally slipped down into a crack between the platform and the train itself, and it went all the way up to his hip. There he was, stuck between the platform and a 43-ton train. Soon enough, that train is going to roll out of the station. Well, when the passers-by saw what was going on, they all rallied to where the man was and they, with their bare hands, they leaned into that massive locomotive, and together the crowd relieved the weight of that train enough; they rocked it off that man enough, that the man was able to escape. Now, can you imagine such a thing, the power of working together that they could move a 43-ton train off the leg of that trapped man? It's a lesson to us that if we work together, there's nothing that we can't do that God would will for us to do. We, God's people, have all about us people who are trapped, if you will, in their sins. The Bible even describes us as dead in our trespasses and sins. As good as dead if there isn't some help brought to bear to help them escape from the snare of the devil. And we, God's people, bring that help when we are connected and when we grow and when we serve and when we go together the same way, sharing the weight, God will use us to change the world.   I tell you, we do this as Southern Baptists in a great way. If you don't know, Istrouma is part of a larger network. We’re not an independent church. We are autonomous but we’re not independent; we cooperate, just like the word I'm using to describe. And it's often call “CP Missions.” Cooperative Program, that's what “CP” stands for, the Cooperative Program. Many of you may not even be aware of this, but we’re part of a network of about 45,000 churches, all of us cooperating voluntarily. We, every dollar that you give in the offering plate here, we take a portion of that dollar, and we actually send it away. The very first thing we do with your offerings is we give from our receipts to the work of the Lord around the globe through what we call CP Missions.   Let me tell you some of the things that are done with your gifts through CP Missions. First of all, we have the world's largest Evangelical missions sending agency. It's called the International Mission Board. By the way, we happen to have a couple of our international missionaries with us today, the Melancons. Would you please stand, Pat and your wife? God bless you guys, missionaries around from around the world with us today. Pat's going to come and dismiss us in prayer when we conclude our service. He directs a ministry called Baptist Global Relief. Can I say all these things publicly, Pat? Okay, very good. Sometimes we serve in sensitive areas where there are security concerns. But whenever there's a disaster around the world, let's say that there's an earthquake in Nepal, how do resources get to Nepal to not only alleviate human suffering, but to take the good news of the Gospel? They do it through our CP gifts, and we're supporting missionaries just like the Melancons who serve 365 days of the year taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. So we support the International Mission Board, more than 4,000 career missionaries.   You know, sometimes we celebrate that we support a young couple in central Asia who are from our church; that Abbie and Tyler are about to go to Eastern Europe. We celebrate these young couples. But again, I say to you, you're not just supporting them. You’re supporting thousands of missionaries, many of whom you will not know their names until you get to heaven. But they're going to come and they're going to say, “Thank you for giving. And because you gave, I was able to go to Afghanistan or to Pakistan or to China or to Ecuador or wherever it may be in the world. Your gifts go. You go by virtue of your gifts. Not only the International Mission Board, but the North American Mission Board. Again, thousands of missionaries serving full-time across our nation, supported by your gifts. We have six seminaries, and many of them are multi-site. We're training probably in the neighborhood of 15,000 new pastors and missionaries and ministers who will serve all over the world, and your gifts sustain those seminaries.   We have the world's third largest disaster relief organization. I’ve already referred to Baptist Global Relief, but here in the states, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. The yellow hats and the yellow shirts that do relief in places like New Orleans when Katrina hit. Believe me when I tell you, much of the work that is done is done by our network of corporation. So I want to encourage you that God is using you in ways perhaps you never dreamed or never knew. But that's what happens when all of us get against that weight and we do our part in carrying our share of the load. All right, that's the first word, “Cooperative.”   Now, the second word. How could we describe these men? I want to use as my second word the word “Creative.” These men were creative, were they not? Look, if you will, in your Bible again to verse 4. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.   Now, I've entered homes by a variety of means. I've rung the front doorbell and I've going in through the front door. If I'm a close friend of the family, I might come in through the carport door. Maybe even I'll come in through the back door. Maybe you've got sliding glass doors to the patio; I've come in through sliding glass doors. I even, I have to confess this, I’ve even come in through the window a time or two. I remember when I was in high school, I stayed out late one night, and my mom and dad, I guess they thought I was already in the house and I was already in bed, all the doors were locked when I got home. I was a teenager, so I began to look for a window that was open. I found an open window in our dining room. So I'm about halfway in the window when I hear this shriek. It's my mother who sees this strange man climbing in through the dining room window. So I’ve come in to a home by variety of means, but I'll tell you this, I've never entered a home through the roof. And I don't suppose these men had either. But the Bible says, they could not get near him, and because they could not get near him through a door, or even through a window, their ingenuity kicked in. Their creativity kicked in. I love this. Churches ought to be seedbeds of creativity. But instead, we're often known for quite the opposite. In fact, somebody has said that the seven last words of the church, do you know what they are? I've told you before. The seven last words of the church: “We've never done it that way before.” The seven last words of the church.   I can take you to a lot of churches today, and they're doing things the way they did them in the 1950s. You open up the door, you walk in, the music they play, the technology they utilize, it's like you've gone back in time. It's like a time warp. And very often, those churches are dwindling.   Now, we're never going to change the message we preach. Don't be alarmed. We're preaching the message that was once for all delivered to the saints. It's an unchanging message, but we ought to bring creativity to bear in our outreach. Let me just ask you this, off the top of your head, I want you to think of the most creative company, or the most creative entity, that exists today. All right, you got one? Let me see a show of hands, you’ve thought of a company that you think's pretty innovative, pretty creative, raise your hand. All right, you got one in mind?   What's the one you have in mind? [Disney.] How many of you thought of Disney when you thought of creativity? All right, a few of you. Someone else, raise your hand. What did you think? [Apple.] Okay, very good, how many thought of Apple? All right, a lot of you did, I see a lot of hands. Maybe one more, any other creative company that came to your mind? [HelloFresh.] Pardon? HelloFresh? What is that? All right, very good. I've got to get more current, I can tell!   How many of you thought the most creative entity on earth today is the church? Wow, okay, one or two of you. I don't think very many people think of the church when they think of creativity, and could I just say, shame on us. Now why would I say that? Because we have the image of God stamped upon us, the Imago Dei. He said, male and female, he made them in His image. He made them. We're in His image.   What does God like? Let just start at the beginning. In the beginning God…? Created – the heavens and the earth. You see, he is creative. Just think of the flowers that he made, the beauty of them, the grandeur of them, the delicacy of them, the colors of them. Roses. Irises. Daffodils. But the Lord is so creative, is he not? And here's the thing: the church is to be creative. You say, “Yes, but I like the way we've always done things.” I know that. I know that. I know you like the way it's always been done. Y’all sit in the same pews every week! I know you like it the same way, and the truth is, I do too. We're all creatures of habit, aren't we? We get in ruts. Have you ever heard this definition of a rut? A rut is a grave with both ends kicked out. You may ought to get out of your rut. And the truth is, we do get out of our ruts. Most of you didn't get here by horse and buggy today. Most of you heated up your coffee with a microwave or Keurig, or whatever those things are.   You love innovation in certain spheres of life, and we in the church ought to appreciate creativity. I just want to say on behalf of Istrouma, and I want to say to the praise of God, we're a pretty creative bunch around here. By some measurements, relatively speaking, we're pretty creative. I can't say that for myself, I'm not that creative, but we have staff members who are quite creative. I would just put a piece of artwork here on the screen. This is from our artist here on staff. This was a design that was made by our art staff, and it was for our student DNOW event. That kind of artwork is very, very cutting-edge, and they were doing a Bible study on the Battleground, Ephesians 6, and the armor of God, and how to win in life. That's creative.   You know, the bumpers that you see before I get up to preach each Sunday, that's our staff, they produce those bumpers. Folks like Jim Szalay and Josh Boyd and Jana and Laura Fuson, very creative people, and it’s to the glory of God. We ought to rejoice in it. We're creative not just in artwork; we're creative, for example, in our outreach in sports. You know, it's not every day you have a church that has a whole sports ministry, and we're blessed that we have it. And I just want to say, Thank you Lord for giving us this ample property and that there were leaders before I came that had the vision to build ball fields and gymnasiums, and we utilize those for the Lord, and that's the way it should be.   A couple of Sundays ago we had a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, and of course this is the time of March Madness, so our Sports Ministry said, “Let's capitalize on that and let's have a basketball tournament.” But the real goal, and if you know ML Woodruff who directs our Sports Ministry, we don't play sports for sports’ sake. We don't even play sports for the children's sake. Well, we do, but I'll explain how. We really play sports for the Gospel's sake – and in that sense, for the children's sake and their parents and their grandparents that they might come to know Christ. For crying out loud, we even have a Pickleball League! That's right, pickleball. Very creative.   I think about our age-graded ministries. They're so creative. A recent Sunday, our children’s staff put on what I think they called “Pajama Day.” They let the children come in their pajamas to Sunday morning, and I know this out of the box, a little bit creative, but they wanted to do something fun for the children, something creative, something out of the box. And here's our children’s staff, just being creative. Don't be mad at them; rejoice that they’re being creative, trying to reach those boys and girls!   Our Student Ministry, they recently had what they called Paint Wars and they just throw paint on each other as a fun activity, and again, when they conclude that, they sit the teenagers down and they tell them the Gospel. Now, are y'all tracking with me? What are we talking about? We’re talking about creativity. Really, when you think about it, that's what Go Day is. Go Day is an expression of creativity, reaching out. We had teams yesterday wash EMS and first responders’ vehicles to touch them with the love of Christ. How creative!   I led the donut team, and we took donuts to Home Depot and just gave them passers-by. Had a team go to Istrouma High School and give out donuts there because our Sports Ministry was doing a baseball clinic, so there those two creative outreaches dovetailed.   We had a block party, and I can’t list all the projects. 53 projects scattered across the city, each one unique, creative, God-honoring, and that's how we ought to live our lives, for the Gospel. Let's do it.   Now, there's a couple of things about these friends and their creativity. The engine of their creativity was their desperation. They are desperate. Have you ever heard this saying, “Necessity is the mother of _____?” Invention. Exactly. These men were desperate. They knew they could not heal their lame friend. They’d known him perhaps all their lives. They knew no doctor could heal their friend. This is the time, this is the place, this is the person, this is the opportunity. If they don't seize it, it may never come their way again. They are desperate. If they can't come through the door and they can't come through the window, they're going to come through the roof, because they're desperate. And I’ll tell you what. One of the reasons our churches are not as creative as we ought to be is because we are not as desperate as we ought to be to see the lost come to Christ. I'm not as desperate as I ought to be, so one of our prayers this morning ought to be, “Lord, make us desperate to reach our friends with the Gospel.” If you're desperate to see your friends come to Christ, you will pray for them. You will invite them. You will share the hope of Christ with them, and I will as well. God help us to be desperate.   And not only were they desperate, they were determined. Yes, desperation makes you determined. They were not going to go home unless that friend got to Jesus. I can imagine it was hot. I've been to that part of the world. I remember one occasion Nell and I were in Jericho; it was 125 degrees in the shade. And here come these men. It's hot, that lame man's heavy, but they're not to be deterred. They're determined to get him to Christ, and they will not take no for an answer.   One last word I want to give you, and that is these friends were Confident. They were confident. Would you look now to verse 5? 5 And when Jesus saw their faith [you could just circle that word “faith”, When Jesus saw their faith], he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”   Now, I want to be clear about something because I don't want you to misunderstand me, and I don't want to fail to be clear. These friends were not confident in themselves. In fact, I would say they had no confidence in themselves. It was for that reason they made the journey to Jesus. They knew their resources had been exhausted. No, they had no confidence in themselves or in their flesh. In whom, then, was their confidence? It was in Jesus. That's why he was their North. They said, “We've got to get to Jesus.”   Two things about their faith stand out to me. Number one, it's visible. Jesus saw their faith. I'll submit something to you this morning. Listen. All genuine faith is visible. You say, “Where do you see their faith?” That hole up there in the roof. There's the evidence of it. You see, their faith drove them to that decision and that action. James said it this way, “You show me your faith without works; I'll show you my faith by my works.” He said, “I will show you my faith.” Now, we’re not to make a show of our faith, but if we have faith, it will show. Should I say that again? We're not to make a show of our faith, but our faith, if genuine, will show.   Their faith was visible, and then, because it was, that is because it was genuine, it was victorious. That is, their faith reached its goal. In fact, it not only reached their goal, it want far, far beyond their goal. I love what happens in this story. They let that man down in front of Jesus. Jesus looks at him. Well, let me back up. The Bible says Jesus saw their faith and he said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now here there ought to be a sound effect. There ought to be [screeching of brakes]. What? Like the needle coming across the record. Your sins are forgiven? Who said anything about sins? I don’t think they brought him there to get his sins forgiven; how embarrassing is that? Right there in front of God and the world, “Your sins are forgiven.” What sins; who is talking about sin? No, Jesus, he makes a turn here that is sudden and is telling.   You see, the greatest need of that lame man that day was not that he would walk again, as great as that need was. No, the far greater need was that he be saved. That he be forgiven. I don't know in what condition you’ve come today. You may be here a paralytic, and God can heal you and we would rejoice were he to do so this day. But your greatest need is not to be healed of your physical malady. You may be here with intense pain, and I know several of you have aches and pains and sicknesses, and O that God would heal you. But the greater need is our spiritual healing. You may be here in bankruptcy today, and I'm heartbroken that you’re in bankruptcy. But perhaps it is the bankruptcy that will bring you to Christ so that your greater need can be met, and that is that your sins be forgiven.   I think I may have misunderstood this passage for years, because it says “Jesus saw their faith,” and I always thought that meant the faith of the four. And he said he saw their faith, and then he said to the paralytic, quite apart from that, “Friend, your sins are forgiven,” as though they were a separate thing. But I’ve evolved in my thinking on that question. I actually believe that when he said “Jesus saw their faith,” it encompassed the five. He saw the faith of those four friends, and I believe he saw into the heart of that lame man. After all, the lame man was willing to be borne to Jesus. He was willing to come through the roof; he was anxious to. And so I believe Jesus saw right into his heart that that man had faith not only to be healed but to be saved, to be forgiven.   You say, man, what, you think Jesus can see into the hearts of men? Yes I do. Upon what basis? This very story. Because don't you follow the story? It said there were some Pharisees sitting nearby who said – in fact, they didn't say it, let me correct that, they were thinking it in their hearts – “Who is this man?” I can just hear the disdain in their voice, “Who is this man that he could forgive sin?” Jesus perceived what was in their heart while it was yet unspoken. So of course Jesus could see into the heart of that lame man, and he saw faith there, and he responded to the faith that he saw and he healed that man and saved him of his sin, because I'm going to tell you something, the only way to get saved is to exercise personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Here's what the Bible says. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.   The key to heaven is faith. The key to heaven is committing in your life in faith to Jesus as Lord. And I believe that's exactly what that lame man did.   And in Lagniappe, he got the great thing, forgiveness, but lagniappe came when he was healed. He was healed. Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven.” And then they questioned him, the Pharisees did, the religious crowd, and then Jesus put a question to them. He said – and I want to put the question to you; are you ready? Here comes the question: Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or rise, take up your bed and walk? Church, how do you answer that question? Which is easier, and I'll give you a hint, which is easier to say? “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” I'll answer it for you. The easier thing to say is “Your sins are forgiven.” And do you know why that’s easier to say? Because if I say to you, “Your sins are forgiven,” no one can verify whether it occurred or not. I'm clouded in this cloak of invisibility. You don't know if sins have been forgiven or not. But, by contrast, it’s harder to say, “Rise, take up your bed and walk,” because everyone will be able to see whether it happened or not, whether you’re genuine or not. So the harder thing to say is, “Get up and walk.”   Well Jesus took the easier route when he said “Your sins are forgiven.” But then he said to the religious rulers, But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” [lest you think I’m a charlatan]… rise, [take]up your bed, and [walk].”   That man took up his bed and he walked, and do you why that miracle occurred? That miracle occurred to confirm that Jesus is who he claims to be. Jesus is God come in the flesh to redeem sinners, and I'll say every miracle that occurs, occurs to verify and certify that Christ is Lord. It's pretty easy to say “Your sins are forgiven.” But it's not easy to accomplish.  Relatively free to say “Your sins are forgiven,” but excruciating to accomplish.   You know it's interesting, in the Bible, much of what occurs in the Bible occurs by virtue of God speaking it into existence. By divine fiat, God created all that is ex nihilo, out of nothing. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, no action required. No price to be paid. He spoke it, and it was. One of the few things, if the only thing, that required his action was to redeem us of our sins. He didn't just say “Your sins are forgiven.” No, justice demanded, holiness demanded, that sin be punished, it be atoned for, a price be paid. Justice demanded it, and love paid the price. Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, and to prove that price was paid, he arose from the dead. And he lives today to bring forgiveness and salvation to all who will put their faith in him.   Hey listen friend; I was talking a moment ago about the faith of these five. I honestly don't know of what quality their faith was or of what quantity it was. It could be that they came hopeful, not certain, but their faith was sufficient for them to make the journey, and what saves us isn't the amount of our faith, the quality of our faith. What saves us is that we exercise what little, feeble, weak faith we have. Come to Jesus, and when you come to Jesus, you'll find him sufficient to pay every sin.   Would you stand, please?  What a great story, a story about friendly faith. These friends brought their friend to Jesus. He got his cake, and he got to eat it too. He was healed of his illness and he was saved from his sin.     I know that God today wants to heal our sin-sick souls, make us his own. If never before you’ve called upon Christ as Savior, would you this day?  I want to lead you in a prayer to do that. From your heart, cry out to God.   [Invitation and Prayer]   [Lord’s Supper]   [Singing]  

John David Geib and Zev Rosenberg teach session I of a Course entitled "The Mountain Top View: What Jesus Wants us to See". The course will continue through June 17th. During the first session, the Leo Tolstoy's short story "Where Love Is, There God is Also" was discussed. The story can be read online at https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Where_Love_is,_There_God_is_Also  For those who use a Kindle, the story can be downloaded for free at https://www.amazon.com/Where-Love-There-God-Also-ebook/dp/B0071FCQ9A/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523838425&sr=8-1&keywords=where+love+is+there+god+is+also+by+leo+tolstoy The Sermon on the Mount will be a focus of the course. Please join us for this Westminster Class at Christ Presbyterian Church, 530 Tuscarawas St. W., Canton, OH 44702, phone: (330) 456-8113. The class meets every Sunday at 9:15 am in Westminster Hall.

March 25, 2018 - On each Passion Sunday we hear the Gospel reading from St. John in which Jesus, while in the temple, declares to the Jews and Jewish leaders that He is the Great I AM. To best understand what He is declaring to them, we look at Exodus 3 when God first declared His Name to Moses through the burning bush. There God tells Moses that He has heard the cry of His people and has come down to deliver them and bring them up to a good and large land. Today Jesus declares Himself to be the Great I AM who has heard our cry and come to be our final and eternal Deliverer.

Jacob takes his family and flees to Bethel. There God reminds Jacob of his new name Israel and blesses Jacob. Benjamin is born. Rachel and Issac dies. The descendants of Esau are listed. Joseph receives a coat of many colors from his father and his brothers are jealous. Joseph has a dream and shares with his brothers. This makes his brothers even more jealous.

Jacob takes his family and flees to Bethel. There God reminds Jacob of his new name Israel and blesses Jacob. Benjamin is born. Rachel and Issac dies. The descendants of Esau are listed. Joseph receives a coat of many colors from his father and his brothers are jealous. Joseph has a dream and shares with his brothers. This makes his brothers even more jealous.

Moses climbed up Mt Sinai into a dense. cloud. There God spoke words that revolutionized laws and behaviors in many nations.

Moses climbed up Mt Sinai into a dense. cloud. There God spoke words that revolutionized laws and behaviors in many nations.

We might have missed last week but we're back in full force this week with a SUPERSIZED dose of Pillow Talk! This week, Nick and Bill tackle tons of topics.   They start with Ostrich Jousting and the OJL, get a hilarious clip of Jen from England talking about the Olympics before turning their attention to the latest Flakka attack. Or is it just the beginning of the zombie apocalypse?   Next, they talk about Ghostbusters and Star Trek losing a ton of money and about how Ocean's Eight is destined to do the same, and it hasn't even started filming yet. Potterheads will rejoice at the news of a new eBook series, Pottermore Presents, Nick has seen Stranger Things and there will be some familiar voices in the new DC animated movie, Batman Return of the Caped Crusaders.   Then (nope, they're not done yet), the boys talk about another attempt at a new remake of The Crow, Scrapple and a great article from IGN, Are you There God?, it's me, The Vision.   Then they finish it all up wth a musical intermission sure to stick in your head for days.   Phew!

This week we’re doing you a solid with pop culture gift recommendations for everybody on your list. We’ve got kids’ books from toddlers to teens, and film, TV and movie picks for adults of every personality and type of gift obligation. Whoever you’ve got to buy for, we’re here to point you in the right direction. Pull up a chair and pop open your Christmas gift spreadsheet—it’s time for Après Culture. Important Note: We don’t want to risk spoiling anything for our listeners, so outlined below are the time-stamps of when we talk about each book or movie/show - listen at your risk or feel free to skip around! BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS Pre-School (Picture Books) 11:15-15:52 -Waiting by Kevin Henkes 11:15-12:55 -The Day The Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt 12:56-14:29 -Mr. Wuffles by David Wiesner 14:35-15:52 Early Grade-School (ages 5-7) 16:45-24:24 -Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems 16:45-18:50 -Story of Diva and Flea by Mo Willems 18:56-20:36 Upper Grade-School (ages 8-12) 24:45-34:18 -National Geographic: Weird But True series 25:24-26:40 -Who Was? series 26:42-29:15 -From The Mixed Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L Konigsburg 29:57-30:55 -Are you There God, It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume 30:57-32:24 -Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene 32:26-34:18 Middle School 34:32-48:20 -Nimona by Noelle Stevenson 36:19-39:41 -Lumberjanes series by Noelle Stevenson 39:43-42:53 -Drama by Raina Telgemeier 43:00-46:10 -Hatchet by Gary Paulsen 46:19-47:24 -The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 47:27-48:20 Teens 48:30-1:09:32 -My Friend Dahmer by Derg Backderf 49:15-53:50 -The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison 53:57-58:25 -Eleanor and Park / Attachments by Rainbow Rowell 58:30-1:02:46 -Dune by Frank Herbert 1:02:49-1:03:19 -The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson 1:03:21-1:05:42 -Agatha Christie books 1:05:47-1:07:25 -Dorothy L. Sayers books 1:07:29-1:09:32 TV/MOVIE/BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS Adults 1:09:40- -Please Like Me (PIVOT series) 1:09:32-1:13:09 -Silicon Valley (HBO series) 1:13:14-1:14:28 -Nova (PBS series) 1:14:35-1:16:25 -A Room With A View (movie) 1:16:39-1:18:00 -Trainwreck (movie) 1:18:28-1:19:26 -Between The World and Me (book) by Ta-Nehisi Coates 1:19:35-1:21:01 -Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN series)1:21:10-1:24:45 -Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It (book) by Mark Goodman 1:25:00-1:26:42 -Spotlight / Brooklyn (movies) 1:26:58-1:29:21 -Last Week Tonight with John Oliver 1:31:40-1:36:07 NEXT WEEK: Pop Culture Swap!: Christmas Edition Sara Ann’s Pick: Die Hard (1988) Kasey’s Pick: A Princess for Christmas (2011) TIPPLE OF THE WEEK: Sara Ann’s Homemade Eggnog

Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on Isaiah 52:13-53:3. The main subject of the sermon is the incredible suffering Christ endures for His people. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Introduction: The Great Metropolis of Scripture So I don't know that I've been as excited to preach a sermon as I am right now. I am just crackling with energy and joy. I don't know how to say that, I've been feeling that all day. We come to just one of the great, great passages of Scripture in the Bible as we come Isaiah 53, and I'm just so thrilled to be able to do that. I'm praying that God would be able to just unleash this chapter in our hearts line by line as we contemplate it. On March 15th, 1859, the greatest preacher in England during the 19th century, Charles Spurgeon, preached a sermon entitled Christ Precious to Sinners, and in that he told a story. The story went something like this: "A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he went to the old minister, and said, "What do you think of my sermon?" "A very poor sermon indeed," said he. "A poor sermon?" said the young man, "it took me a long time to study it." "Ay, no doubt of it." "Why, did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?" "Oh, yes," said the old preacher, "very good indeed." "Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn't you think the metaphors were appropriate and the arguments conclusive?" "Yes, they were very good as far as that goes, but still it was a very poor sermon." "Will you tell me why you think it a poor sermon?" "Because," said he, "there was no Christ in it." "Well," said the young man, "Christ was not in the text; we are not to be preaching Christ always, we must preach what is in the text." So the old man said, "Don't you know young man that from every town, and every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?" "Yes," said the young man. "Ah!" said the old divine "and so form every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ. And my dear brother, your business in when you get to a text, to say, 'Now what is the road to Christ?' and then preach a sermon, running along the road towards the great metropolis—Christ. And," said he, "I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savour of Christ in it." Well, I can testify, sometimes it actually is hard to find that road to Christ, but not today. Actually, I think there's an eight-lane super highway from Isaiah 53 to the great metropolis of Scripture that is Christ. There's not merely a savor of Christ, there is a Thanksgiving banquet from the kitchen, just the aromas are going to fill our hearts and our minds as we study this incredible chapter, Isaiah 53. 1 Corinthians 15 says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It says there in verse 3 and 4, "For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance. That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures." It is vital for us as Christians to embrace the centrality of prophecy in our faith, when it comes to the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our salvation is based on the unshakable rock of fulfilled prophecy. Now this should not surprise us, as we've been going carefully chapter by chapter through the Book of Isaiah. We've seen this again and again, that God proclaims his unique ability to foretell the future. He's the only one that can do it. We've seen this in Isaiah 46, in verse 10. There God says, "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." And then again in Isaiah 44, in verse 26, "The Lord carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers." No prophecy of Scripture is as important as this one. This was the central point of it all, this was why God raised up Abraham and from Abraham the Jewish nation. This was why God restored the Jewish nation back to the promised land after the exile to Babylon. This was the whole point of the Bible, this is it. Salvation for sinners to the ends of the earth. This is the whole point of it all. In Isaiah 53, we come to the most brilliantly shining star in the cosmos of the written Word of God, predictive prophecy, the clearest prophecy of the death and resurrection of Jesus, of his substitutionary atonement for our sins. Christ’s Forty-Day Seminary Now after Christ had died and rose from the dead on the third day, he had the equivalent of a 40-day seminary with his apostles, and with his disciples concerning Scriptures testimony to him. They talked about other things, but especially that. It began with those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. You remember that whole encounter? And Jesus was, in some way, incognito to people who knew him well, but there's just mysteries around his resurrection and he's walking falls and step along with these two disciples who are downcast, they're depressed, they're discouraged as they're walking with the resurrected Christ. Isn't that us? We're depressed and discouraged when we ought not to be, and they're moaning and groaning and saying, "We had hoped that he was going to be the one who was going to redeem Israel," all those kind of thing. "And now our women have confused us because there's some report of an empty tomb and we can't make sense of any of it." And Jesus says, "How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he showed them what was written in there about himself." Any chance you think he went to Isaiah 53? I think absolutely. Or, again, think about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch where the Holy Spirit told Philip, to run up to a chariot where there's this Ethiopian official, and he is reading a scroll of prophecy, happened to be Isaiah 53 and he can't make sense of it. And the Holy Spirit told him to go and stand and come alongside that Chariot. And the eunuch invited him in and he was reading this passage of Scripture, "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before it's shearer is silence, so He did not open his mouth, and his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will relate to His generation, for his life was removed from the earth." The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?" Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. Isaiah 53 is about Jesus and no one else. There's never been any other fulfillment of these words. There was never an immediate fulfillment and then a later fulfillment, it's only ever been about Jesus of Nazareth. Modern Tendency to Find Other Explanations Now there's a modern tendency to find other explanations. Some will tell you that Isaiah 53 is about the sufferings of the Jewish nation, how the Jewish nation plays the role of the suffering servant in history, human history. Others ascribe Isaiah 53 to some individual, Isaiah himself or Jeremiah or another of the prophets or even strangers, some mysterious unknown person. No one knows who this individual is, but despite the fact that the text says this person is going to be very famous and the whole world will know about him. It doesn't make any sense. First of all, can we just set aside, there is no way Isaiah 53 is talking about the Jewish nation. No way. Why would I say that? Well simply put, the chapter presents the suffering servant as clearly innocent, guiltless, blameless. Do you get the sense from Isaiah the prophet that he thinks the nation of Jews was innocent, guiltless and blameless? Not at all, from the very beginning of the book, chapter after chapter he's laying out the sins of his people. Even stranger, look at Isaiah 53:8, Isaiah 53:8 says, "For He," whoever we're talking about, the suffering servant, "Was cut off from the land of the living," he died, "For the transgression of my people, he was punished." Well, wait a minute, okay, who are Isaiah's people? When he says, "My people," who would you think he's talking about? That verse makes no sense of the suffering servant as Israel. How can Israel die for the sins of Israel except in judgment and punishment, certainly not redemptively. Israel was looking for a redeemer, one who would pay the price, to rescue Israel from sin and Isaiah 53 says who paid the price for Israel's sin, and it is Jesus. So here we come to the Mount Everest of predictive prophecy, what is our strategy going to be for scaling it? First of all, we're not doing it in one sermon. I hope you know that. There's no chance, unless you want to be here for hours, which you don't, neither do I. I'll run out of energy. But this week, what we're going to do is take a quick overview of the whole chapter. Division of the chapter into five sub-sections of three verses each. We're going to focus on the central doctrine of this chapter, which is the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, the son of God, for us, for our sins, and that by faith in him, we are forgiven, we are justified. That's the central message, it's the gospel. We're going to go carefully today through, God willing, the first two sub-sections, and we're going to seek to apply those verses to our lives. Then over the next two weeks, God willing, we're going to go through the rest of the sub-sections and seek to apply them. Now, if I can just say... And I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus here, but Isaiah 52-53, is the worst chapter subdivision in the entire Bible. Okay, Isaiah 52 verses 13-15 should have been included in Isaiah 53. So I'm giving them the honorary status of Isaiah 53 today, is that okay? Can we just call them Isaiah 53, early version, something like that? Actually, John Calvin called it a dismemberment. I think that's pretty humorous. It's like you picture an arm lying on a sidewalk. So we're just going to roll right through from Isaiah 52 into 53 and treat it all as what it should have been, one chapter, agreed? Okay, we're going to do that. I. A Four Part Outline of the Chapter(s) Alright, now five sub-divisions of this section, first, Christ repulsive, but redemptive, then exalted. That's 52:13-15. Second sub-section will title this way, Christ the arm of the Lord, but human and despised," verses one through three. Third subsection, Christ rejected, but our atoning substitute, verses four through six. Fourth subsection, Christ innocent, but willing to be slaughtered, verses seven through nine. And then the final subsection, Christ crushed so we could be justified, verses 10 through 12. So those are just some titles we could give to those. The central doctrine of Isaiah 53 is the substitutionary atonement. The idea that someone could die in our place, that sinners like us might be justified by faith in him. That's the central doctrine, really, of the whole Bible. So, let's go briefly over the... All these sub-sections. First, Christ repulsive but redemptive then exiled, chapter 52:13-15. So Christ is presented as one who will be successful then raised up, lifted up, highly exalted, verse 13. Yet we're also told he's going to be appalling to look at, he's going to be so disfigured so badly that he will be barely recognizable as a human being. Verse 14, but this disfigurement of the servant and the Lord is the way by which he's actually going to sprinkle many nations. We're going to talk about that. The word sprinkle we're going to discuss, but it means cleansing them from sin, making them pure in God's sight. This is the very one who's going to be proclaimed even to kings and they're going to shut their mouths because of him, because they're suddenly going to hear about him, they're going to hear this message, and they're going to believe in him, first subsection. The second subsection, Christ the “Arm of the Lord,” But Human and Despised, verses 1-3. So the next two subsections trace out simply the biography of Jesus Christ, just trace out the events of his life. It begins with an assertion though, that the message must be believed, that the suffering servant must be revealed by God or you will never see him. I could preach a thousand sermons on Isaiah 53 and if God does not reveal Jesus to you, you'll never see him as glorious. You will not see him properly. "The message must be believed, that the suffering servant must be revealed by God or you will never see him. I could preach a thousand sermons on Isaiah 53 and if God does not reveal Jesus to you, you'll never see him as glorious." He is revealed here as the arm of the Lord, the mighty power of God for the salvation of sinners. He will work for the deliverance, and redemption and salvation of his people. But then he is portrayed as human, he grew up before the Lord out of dry ground, he's a root growing up in dry ground. So not only is he human, he is unimpressive, he is weak, he's unattractive, he has nothing in his appearance that would make people follow him, still less worship him as God. He is despised and rejected, despised means thought little of, and rejected effectively by the will of people, they will say, "No," to him. People will be horrified by his appearance, he'll be held in low esteem. Verses 4-6, Christ rejected but he is our atoning substitute, this is the theological center of the Bible, this idea of substitutionary atonement. Christ takes up our pain, he dies for our sins. He was pierced for our transgressions, he's crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds, we are healed. Jesus thus gives health to diseased people, dying people. He gives health to them and life, and he gives peace to wicked rebels who are in rebellion against God, the King. And he does all of this at the cost of his own life. Verse six, "All we like sheep have gone astray," each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Fourth sub-section, Christ is innocent, but willing to be slaughtered. Verses seven through nine, Isaiah unfolds a shocking truth and that is the ultimate... The limitation and ultimate end of the animal sacrificial system. The essence of sin was willfulness. We willingly rebelled, we were not forced to sin, we chose to sin. An animal cannot atone for that willful sin, because it has no choice but to die. But Christ by his willingness to die in our place is able to atone for our sins. So this suffering man was exactly like a sheep led to the slaughter, in that he died. The killers led and Jesus meekly followed. But unlike the sheep that were led to the slaughter, Jesus knew exactly where he was going. It says in John's gospel, "Jesus knowing all things that were about to happen to him went forth." He's very well aware of what's happening, and he's willingly laying down his life. He's completely innocent, there's no violence in his actions, there's no wickedness in his speech, he was a perfect man, sinless, but dead in our place. The prophetic details here are significant. You have words like pierced, he dies by piercing. Not everyone has... Actually most people don't die by piercing, but Jesus did, he died by piercing. And it says he was buried in a rich man's tomb. That's not true of everyone. As a matter of fact, it's true of very few people in the world. Most people die as poor people because most people are poor. But Jesus was pierced, and buried in a rich man's tomb. Christ finally in the fifth sub-section was crushed so we could be justified, verses 10 through 12. It was God's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. All of this was done according to an amazing, and eternal plan crafted by Almighty God from before the foundation of the world. It was God's pleasure to do this. God delighted, in a mysterious way delighted to crush His son and cause Him to suffer? Not because he loved his son suffering. No, not at all. But for the joy that was set before both of them, he endured that. He was delighted in that suffering in terms of what it would produce. And His finished work, verse 11 says it all, Christ's resurrection completes our salvation and by his finished work many are justified, declared not guilty of their sins in God's sight. How amazing is all of this? That it was written seven centuries before Jesus was born. We're going to talk more next week about the miraculous aspect of this, so I'll just set that idea aside. We are the sheep constantly going astray are we not? We are the sheep. We are the wicked rebels, we are the ones made sick by our sin, and we are the ones at war with God. And before all nations, God lays bare His holy arm in the form amazingly of his frail, unimpressive-looking son, whom we as a race despised and rejected. This one carried our infinitely heavy load. He died under the infinitely fierce wrath of God, He was buried uniquely in a rich man's tomb, this same one rose from the dead, and now enjoys looking at his spiritual offspring for all eternity, from every nation on Earth. That's Isaiah 53. II. Christ Repulsive, But Redemptive, then Exalted (52:13-15) Alright, now let's look in details at the first two sub-sections. That's just an overview, we'll probably do it again next week. So Isaiah 52, as I've said is the beginning of 53, we'll start at verse 13 with the words, "Behold," most translations retain the word behold. And I love the word behold, "Behold my servant." So it's like Jesus just unveiled, like a curtain moving back, "Behold, my servant." This is the fourth of the servant songs in Isaiah. This is the fourth and last one. We've seen this idea, my servant before, this is the fourth. Isaiah 42:1-4 was the first one. It presented the servant and the Lord as one with a mission to the nations. You remember that was the "Bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he'll not snuff out"? He's the gentle King, who's going to go advance from victory to victory through gentleness, he's going to build a kingdom through gentleness. The first servant song Isaiah 42. The second was Isaiah 49, where it is told to Jesus by the father, "It's too small a thing for you to be my servant, to save the people of Israel. I'll make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Isaiah 49 that was the second of the servant songs. The third... By the way, in that second one, he's presented as someone who's going to have difficulties in advancing but he's going to overcome. It's going to be somewhat discouraging but he's going to overcome that. Now Isaiah 50 versus four through nine, the third of the servant songs presents in great detail some of the sufferings this servant will have to go through. And there he speaks for himself, he speaks in the first person, and he speaks of his willingness to be abused for the will of the Lord, he didn't hide his face from mocking and spitting, he didn't stop people from shredding his back. Yet, in that text, no reason is given for this abuse. Now, when we get to the fourth servant song now we get the reason, it's substitutionary atonement. He's dying for our sins, he's dying that we might be justified. And so all of it comes together. This is the fourth of the servant song. So Jesus is the servant of the Lord, he's a servant of God, he came down not to do his own will, but to do the will of him who sent him. He was the servant of God. And we're told here right away in verse 13, "Behold, my Servant will prosper greatly; he shall rise, and be exalted, and be lifted up exceedingly." Just like Isaiah 42, this predicts the success of the servant. He's going to succeed, he's going to do very well. The Hebrew word translated prosper greatly here is often used of David or other heroes, whose success is in some way linked to their wisdom. So sometimes you get, "My servant will act wisely." You get sometimes that translation. It's prosperity through wisdom, success through wisdom, dealing prudently. Because of his wisdom, he's going to be exalted to exceeding heights. Isaiah uses three verbs to talk about how highly exalted Jesus will be, he will raised and lifted up and highly exalted. It's just not enough. Any one word is just isn't enough for how exalted he's going to be. The text will describe and we're about to get into it, the great humiliation of Jesus. As a matter of fact, that's going to be most of the journey the rest of the way. How degraded, how appalling was his appearance. But he will not stay humiliated. In the end, he's going to be exalted and raised and lifted up. I can't help but think of Philippians 2:9-11: "Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father." I get that even in this, "My servant… will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted." No one is more highly exalted than Jesus Christ, and no one deserves it more. Because there was no one who was more humbled and humiliated, and degraded than Jesus. Jesus is at the right hand of Almighty God, right now with a 100 million angels worshipping him. With Seraphim, the burning ones covering their own faces, because he dwells in unapproachable light. That's how highly exalted Jesus is. The Stunning Degradation of the Servant of the Lord So, from this initial assertion of Jesus final victory and exaltation, the next many verses unlock, unfold, the lowliness, and degradation and humiliation of Jesus, and begins in verse 14. "Just as there were many who were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind." So it's interesting he puts in the second person there, not every translation picks it up, but he addresses the servant. Like Isaiah can't stay out of it, he wants to talk to him or maybe God the Father. And here we have the watching world looking on in horror. Many who are astonished at Jesus, astonished at his appearance, it's disgusting, it's degrading. As a matter of fact, his appearance will be so completely degraded that it will get to the point where he's barely recognizable even as a human being. The onlookers will not wonder, "Is this the servant?" They'll wonder, "Is this human? Is it even human?" Well, I think this is clearly fulfilled at the very end of Jesus' life when the flogging had shredded his back. The 39 lashes, and the beatings that he took around the face had puffed it up with horrible bruises and lacerations. What did his face look like? They smashed, they put that crown of thorns on him, and they smashed his head, the thorns into His scalp, and they beat him about the face and it must have been puffy and bruised and blood all over. It was repulsive. Barely recognizable as human at that point. And he had nails that were pulverizing his hands, and his feet, and on the cross, he's making this disgusting convulsive effort to breathe, as he pushes up on the nails in His feet, so he can just gulp for breath and then sinks back down, and pushes back up and gulps for breath and sinks back down. It's like you can't even look at it. It's hard to describe it. Total physical degradation, like one from whom men hide their faces, nobody wants to see that. In verse 15, we have the reason for this degradation and that is atonement. We're going to get it again and again. Isaiah is going to be so clear about all this. In verse 15, it says, "Even so" through that degradation, through the crushing of the servant, "Even so that is how he will sprinkle many nations." So there's a linking between verse 14 and 15. The crushing leads to the sprinkling, that's the way he will sprinkle the nations. Now, what does this word, "Sprinkle," mean? How do we understand it? Again these specific words can't be explained away. Sprinkled, pierced, rich man's tomb. These things just don't go away, they don't line up with the nation of Israel at all. So how does he sprinkle many nations? Well, this is an atoning word, very important in the animal sacrificial system, very important in the Levitical priesthood. All things were cleansed by the shedding of blood, it says in the Book of Hebrews, and so you've got this blood being sprinkled all over the tabernacle, and sprinkled on every... Sprinkled on Aaron when he's in his in priestly vestments. It's sprinkled everywhere, it's just used to cleanse from sin. The implication is everything we touched is defiled with sin, and the only way to be cleanses by the atoning blood of the sacrifice, that's the clear image of the animal sacrificial system. So in the book of Leviticus chapter 14 it talks about lepers, for example, how are they cleansed and made ceremonially clean? How does that happen? It says, "This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest... and the priest shall sacrifice a bird and he shall sprinkle the blood seven times on the one to be cleansed of the leprous disease and he shall be pronounced clean." Same Hebrew word, sprinkled. We are spiritually lepers in the sight of God, repulsive, disgusting, defiled. But the good news of the Gospel is that we can... We are made clean by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. By this sprinkling we are made cleansed, by this sprinkling we are atoned for. And who does it say that he's going to sprinkle here? Many nations. This one event in Jewish history, this one Jewish man is not the savior for the Jews, alone, but for the Gentiles too to the ends of the earth, many nations. So, we have in Revelation 5:9, so beautifully that image from Heaven and they're praising the lamb who is slain. It says, "You were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God, from every tribe and language and people and nation." So just putting it together, we could say the same thing. You were slain, and with your blood, you sprinkled men for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Next, it talks about the worship of kings. Kings are going to hear about this, they're going to hear about Jesus from missionaries and they will shut their mouth in astonishment about him. Look at verse 15, "Kings will shut their mouths because of him for what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand." Jesus is the glorious king of kings, even better, he's the savior of kings, Amen. He saves kings from their sins. Now, not many are wise, not many are influential, not many of noble birth, not many kings get saved, but some do. That's why in 1 Timothy 2, we should pray for kings and those in authority, because they actually might get saved. They actually might be saved. So I think about stories from missions history here I could just go on and on about the number of times messengers of the gospel, have come to a community and the first person they get dragged in front of is the king. And they have to make an account, they have to give a presentation to the king, and sometimes God gives grace to their king and they get saved, and with him the whole village, the whole community, it happens again and again. Look up the story of Columba with King Bridei of the Picts, great story. Columba, the king wouldn't let him in. He's forced to stay outside the city gates. So he sits there and prays for days and it's getting embarrassing. So finally, Bridei invites Columba in and he preaches the Gospel comes to faith in Christ. Awesome story. The Picts in Scotland. Again and again, kings are going to hear this thing, and they're going to see and understand through proclamation. III. Christ the “Arm of the Lord,” But Human and Despised (53:1-3) That brings us immediately to the next section verses one through three. Christ is the arm of the Lord, but he is human and despised. First of all, right away in verse one, we have this assertion that this message is hard to be believed but it must be believed. It's hard to believe this, it's hard to accept all this. Look at verse one, "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Again, we've got the clear idea here of a message, a report, words being delivered by messengers even to the ends of the earth. So, some report's going to go out. And we know from Romans 10:17, it says that faith comes by hearing the report of Christ. That's one translation. So faith comes when you hear this message proclaimed if God gives you the grace of faith. Then justification comes when faith has come. When you hear this message proclaimed and then God gives you repentance and faith, God sees the very repentance of faith, he just gave you and then He justifies you, forgives you, declares you not guilty of all your sins. That's how sinners are saved. And notice it says, "Who has believed our message?" There's a plural there. Now, there are different ways to understand that plural. Let's start with a simple one. He's thinking about the nation of Israel. And so, the our would be God plus Isaiah. So it's almost like the prophet is saying back, "God who's going to believe this? Our message, the message you've entrusted to me, it's our message, who has believed our message?" And then after that the church is collective proclaim messages. This is our report, our message. Now this message is going to be very difficult to accept. Very difficult to believe. Only as Christ is revealed, by God the Father, through the Spirit will anyone believe this message, look again in verse 1, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Unveiled, unveiled. We all have this veil in front of us and someone comes and preaches if God doesn't sovereignly pull the veil back from the eyes of your heart, you will never ever believe this. God must work on you or you won't believe this. So there's a joint effort, a cooperation here between the prophet representing human messengers, so missionaries, pastors, friends, co-workers, evangelists, our message and God revealing the arm of the Lord. It's a complete cooperation, the message must be proclaimed by human messengers, plus revealed by the Spirit of God or you will not get saved. This is justification by faith alone, apart from works. Now, Christ is the arm of the Lord. This is the shocker. Christ is clearly human and we'll get into that more and more as we unfold the chapter, but he is called here the arm of the Lord. He is sent by God to save us in our wretchedness and sinfulness and disease and suffering in warfare and rebellion and death. He is the power of God for saving sinners like us, he's the arm of the Lord, the omnipotence of the Lord. He is it. Now, we already had a mention of the arm of the Lord in Isaiah 52:10. Look back maybe just a couple of verses, and it says, Isaiah 52:10, "The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God." Well, the arm of the Lord is Jesus. He is God's power for salvation for sinners like us. And how delightful is that? But what we got was not some awesome display of omnipotence. You got Jesus, you got the one on... He's the lamb of God, what's a lamb like? You've got the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and landing on him. This is a picture of a lamb with a dove on it. I'm thinking, gentleness. I'm thinking someone who sinners feel attracted to and they're willing to come and be with and talk to and they feel confident telling their sins to him because they know that he's a friend for sinners. Children, I get the picture of children just climbing all over him and sitting in his lap, and he's putting his hands on them and praying for them, and they just love being with him. You can't fool kids, kids get scared easily, and they weren't scared of Jesus. And so how was he, this human being, the arm of the Lord, for the power of God in the world? But he was, gentle with sinners, but claiming to be God in the flesh, and this was the very stumbling block of Christ. The arm of the Lord had to be revealed or no one would see it. He'll be human, definitely human, and that's something Jesus' enemies could not accept that he could be human and God. At one point, his enemies were picking up stones to kill him. And Jesus said, "I've shown you many good works from the Father, for which of these are you stoning me?" "We are not stoning you for any work, but for blasphemy because you a mere man, claim to be God." That's a stumbling block. How could a human be God? As a matter of fact, this is exactly what they nailed him on. And his trial before the Jews... Before the high priest, they weren't getting anywhere with their false witnesses, they didn't have enough time to throw it together and do it well, and they did it very badly in the middle of the night. And the stories weren't corroborating, it was bad. So finally the high priest breaking every rule of Jewish jurisprudence directly addressed the accused and says, "Tell us under oath by the living God are you the Son of God." And Jesus answered, "I am." And the high priest shouted, "Blasphemy," and he tore his robs. That's what convicted him, that's what... It was for blasphemy that he was killed because He claimed to be God. Now without the arm of the Lord being revealed, you'll never see Jesus as God. Only by the Father's will, through the Spirit does this happen, like it happened to Simon Peter, at Caesarea Philippi, he said, "What about you…who do you say that I am?" Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And then Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by my Father in Heaven." If the father doesn't reveal all this to you, you'll never see it, never. But you'll have to hear it like you're hearing it now and you've heard it now. I've said it probably seven times, I said the Gospel already probably seven times. I might say it seven more. You've heard though. Question is, has the arm on the Lord been revealed to you? That's the question. It says in 1 Corinthians 12:3, "No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit," that's the only way it's going to happen. Now, we have in verse 2, the unimpressive origin and appearance of Christ. Verse 2, "He grew up before Him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him." So this brings us to the humanity of Christ. He sprang up out of the stump of the tree of Jesse, Isaiah 11. The Jewish nation was an enslaved people. They're dominated by Rome. No Davidic king had reined since the exile to Babylon. So it's just a sterile Jewish history, a sterile Jewish life at that point. No power, no strength, they're dominated enslaved people. The Davidic lineage is like an honorary title that meant nothing. Joseph was called "The Son of David," by the angel. It doesn't mean much he was a carpenter. It didn't get him much to be a son of David. So there's nothing there. He grew up like a tender shoot out of dry ground, nothing going on. He was conceived supernaturally with a human mother Mary, but he had no human Father. God was his father, but he was born in the ordinary way, a very normal ordinary appearance into the world. Now, it was an unusual circumstance he's there in a barn I guess, a cave maybe where some animals were. But other than some unusual things like the angel appearing and the star and all that, it just was a normal birth. He was fully human, he was born in the normal way. And if you'd been there it'd be like, "Yeah, this is God?" I'm sure Mary even wondered that. I mean, she knew what had happened in her body but just the wonder of it. It was just hard to accept because you just look like a normal baby. And then he grew up as babies do. And he was a toddler, Jesus, the toddler. It's hard to think of it but there he was. And it says in Luke 2:52, "And He grew in wisdom, and stature and favor with God and men." It means he just progressed in the normal way with one big difference. I know, you veteran parents, you know, the one big difference he never sinned. He never sinned. How would you like to be Jesus' younger brother? "Why can't you be like your older brother? He's never caused us any trouble except that one time when he was 12 and he was behind in his father's house, but other than that that wasn't really his fault, that was us." So no sin. But despite Gnostic Gospels and the weirdness there, he didn't do any miracles. His first miracle was the changing of the water into wine, wedding at Cana in Galilee. So you don't have... You just have a normal human growth and that's hard to accept that he was God. They struggled with this, "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary? Aren't his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?" They took offense at him. He had a human body, a true human body, all of its weakness. There was nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Now, on the mountain of transfiguration he pulled back the veil just briefly, so Peter, James, and John could see the heavenly glory flowing through Jesus, radiant glory, but then he shut it down again. Just in everyday life, he just looked like a normal human being. And I would say even within this humanity, there was nothing extraordinary about him. Like remember Saul, King Saul, he was a head taller than any of his other fellows. It was like, "Oh this guy he's going to be the king." There was nothing about that with Jesus, very average looking I think, like anybody else, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. If you lived back then, and you'd seen him even if you saw the miracles, even if you saw Lazarus raised from the dead, you wouldn't believe in him except that God revealed him to you, it's the only way. Scripture is clear about this. None of his miracles, or words, or deeds, or any of it would have converted you unless the Father had revealed Christ to your heart. Jesus was designed to be ordinary-looking. He was not especially handsome or tall or powerfully built, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Verse three, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we held him in low-esteem." So far from being attracted to Jesus by looking at him, his own people, despised and rejected him. "None of [Jesus]his miracles, or words, or deeds, or any of it would have converted you unless the Father had revealed Christ to your heart" The Servant Despised and Rejected Now, the word despise does not mean so much hated here, he was hated, but it meant they thought little of him, they underestimated Jesus. They put him lower than he really was. But beyond that they rejected him, they listened to his words, they saw his works, and they rejected him, "Not this man, but Barabbas," they said. They rejected him. He's also called here, a man of sorrows, an amazing title for the Son of God, the Lord of glory. Do you realize that Jesus is redeeming us to bring us into the presence of a perfectly 100% all the time Happy God? Isn't that awesome? We're going to a perfectly happy place. Psalm 16 says, "In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." That's who God is, he's a pleasure being all the time. And yet his son is called the man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. So he left all of that perfect joy behind to become a man of sorrows and well, well acquainted with pain. And by his perfect compassion, he felt acutely the miseries of the people he came to save. His heart's moved with compassion again, and again. He sucked miseries, out of life, the way a hiker sucks rattlesnake poison out of the bite in the leg of a friend who's dying. He sucked it out. People would come up and he would draw their misery and their sorrow and suffering and pain and grief and disease into himself, so that they could be healed and at peace and forgiven and restored. So he was a man of sorrows, and well-acquainted with suffering. His education in suffering, He learned obedience through what He suffered, his education in suffering reached its pinnacle at the cross, that's where he learned ultimate suffering there. He would die a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering like one from whom men hide their faces. IV. Applications So what application can we take of these first two sub-sections? Well, begin with this, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Have you believed this message? Have you believed that this Jesus of Nazareth really is God? He really is glorious, up at the right hand of God? Have you believed that you are a sinner, that you are broken and crushed by your sin, that you need a savior, and Jesus is the only one there is? There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Can I just plead with you, call on the name of the Lord to be saved. Don't leave here unconverted. Don't leave here lost. Plead with God to reveal Christ to you. I've been praying for this, I've been praying for this moment that you would hear and believe, hear with faith. I have to believe there are people here listening to me, that are still on the outside looking in, they're lost, you're lost. And if you don't believe this report you will be condemned eternally, to hell. Jesus came to drink hell in for you so you wouldn't have to suffer it, trust in Jesus, please. Secondly, marvel at the miracle of Scripture. I'm going to talk more about this at the beginning of next week's sermon, but just marvel at this book, this book is a miracle. These words were 700 years, written 700 years before Jesus was born, marvel at it. Thirdly, exalt Christ higher than you do. I'm talking to Christians now. He's still too low in your estimation, you still think too little of Jesus. In that sense, you still despise him, you don't esteem him properly, even as a Christian. And so I don't think there's anything wrong, everything right with you going to God and say, "Pour out your spirit on me so I'd have a greater estimation of Jesus than I ever did before. I just want to see the greatness of Christ. I want to be able to worship him better than I ever have in my life. I want to labor on my worship, my life of worship, I don't worship him, like I should, I honestly don't. And I want to." Fourthly, meditate on Christ's immeasurable suffering for you in this chapter, meditate on it, think about his suffering. Think about what he went through for you. Never... If you're a Christian, or a child of God never, ever feel unloved again by God, ever, he has loved you with a perfect love by pouring out his wrath on his Son. He loves you. It's immeasurable. God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Meditate on the sufferings of Christ. Now, I'm not saying as a medieval mystic would meditate on the five wounds of Jesus, and they did weird things with... I'm not saying all that, but just go over the words of Isaiah 53, and think about what he did for you, think about his piercing, think about the blood he shed for you, cling to it. Meditate on that as a measurement of Christ's love for you. If you're going through suffering right now, whatever it may be, I don't know, there are all different types of suffering, but if you're going through suffering right now, and you're tempted to think God doesn't love you, see in the wounds of the cross, the way to stop that kind of thinking. Joseph Hart in his hymn, "Come ye sinners, poor and needy," put it in these words, "View him prostrate in the garden. On the ground your maker lies, on the bloody tree behold him. Sinner, will this not suffice? Isn't that enough for you?" Behold, him on the bloody tree by faith and ask... Hear Joseph Hart's question, "Sinner, will this not suffice? Is this enough?" Is it enough for you? Is it enough for your guilty conscience? Is it enough for your extreme trial and your misery, your diagnosis? Is it enough for your future? Enough for your financial troubles? Is it enough to satisfy you? God loves you, the Christ loves you with a love that cannot be measured. Keep in mind that the Apostle John saw Jesus in heaven looking like a lamb that was slain. Jesus maintained the emblems of his suffering, and he will have for all eternity. Let a healthy meditation on the sufferings of Christ in Isaiah 53 calm you and assure you of God's love for you. Fifth, Lord, who has believed our message? Feed your faith with this book. I'm speaking to Christians, feed on this. Be in the word every single day, don't miss a day. Feed your faith by... It doesn't just have to be Isaiah 53 but feed your faith with the word of God. If you are not seeing Christ in the eyes of your heart, like you should is because you're not in the Word. So get in the Word, feed on it. Six, do not judge the progress of Christ's Kingdom by mere appearance. It doesn't look like as glorious as it will be. Just like Jesus, you can't judge him by mere appearance, you can't judge the church by mere appearance either. The church is going to be awesome, it's going to be radiant and glorious. Right now, it looks down trodden, oppressed, small, insignificant, doesn't seem like much is happening, but don't be deceived just as Jesus cannot be seen by mere appearance, so also the work of Christ cannot. And so therefore, pastors, elders, church leaders need to trust the clear proclamation of Christ crucified and resurrected to do the work of the ministry. We don't need gimmicks, we don't need... We don't need to measure by externals and all that. Let's trust that the proclamation of this message will build the church and don't judge by mere appearance. Seventh, feel the ministry of Christ as a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering and imitate him. We just want to be safe and secure and protected. Jesus left security and protection and honor to become a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. We're like, "Well, I'm glad he did it for me," but are you willing to do it for others? Are you willing to get out of your comfort zone and go become more familiar with suffering, than you've ever become before? So that you can suck the poison of sin and suffering out of people's lives by a clear ministry of the Word of God. Close with me in prayer.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on Isaiah 34:1-17. The main subject of the sermon is God's guarantee that He will bring wrath on all the wicked to the ends of the earth. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Well, 2012 is over and we made it, especially past December 21st, 2012, 3:21 Pacific time, that Mayan experts told us was when the end was going to come. I don't even know what I was doing at that point. I guess it would have been like 6:20 or so in the evening. I think I was just doing whatever I was doing on that day. Wasn't too troubled by the Mayan apocalypse. I guess I was convinced that God had not communicated his will for the future to the Mayans and not to us. For God has spoken through the Prophets by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And this church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And about that day and hour, Jesus said, “No one knows what's coming, not the angels in heaven, nor even the Son, but only the Father,” he said in the days of his incarnation on Earth. But it brings up this question of just the tendency that we have for an interest in doomsday scenarios, an interest in the future, a deep seeded yearning to know where are we heading? What's to become of us? And even deeper is the fear that it's not going to be good, that we're heading towards something really, really terrifying, something that really will bring the human race to an end, called doomsday scenarios. Perhaps some monstrous meteorite is hurdling toward us, and there's nothing that we'll be able to do, to stop it, and it'll smash the surface of the Earth and change the climate so significantly that no human life will be able to survive. Or perhaps radiation blast from solar flares on the surface of the earth will heat up the core of the Earth so significantly that life on earth will be impossible. Or a gamma-ray burst somewhere in the galaxy, which cosmologists tell us is the most powerful event that there is in the cosmos, will make its way to the Earth and end at all. Or maybe the gradual destruction of the earth's ozone layer. Global warming will change the climate enough to make the human race become extinct. Or perhaps the eruption of a super volcano will do about the same thing, all those scenarios basically come from physicists and environmentalists and cosmologists. There are doomsday scenarios that come from the science of politics, as well, and military might. In my childhood, when I was growing up, it was the Cold War between the West and the Communist block, the Soviet Union, specifically United States and the Soviet Union. When I was an infant, I don't remember this, of course, but the terror of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and students were trained how to huddle under their desks or how to go to a fallout shelter. Sometimes you see in old urban areas, those fallout shelter signs. In 1983, when I was a junior in college, there was a TV program called The Day After, some of you may remember it, in which the story line runs...it was a TV movie. Tensions between NATO and Warsaw Pact escalated to the point where there was a full nuclear exchange, resulting in nuclear holocaust. And the TV movie focused on what would happen specifically to citizens of two communities in Lawrence, Kansas and in Kansas City, Missouri. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, those kinds of expectations shifted a bit and moved over to the possibility of terrorist groups, irresponsible terrorist groups, getting hold of thermonuclear weapons and bringing an end to the human race, or perhaps the threats of biological, like an airborne pathogen that could just spread like wildfire through our race and bring us to extinction. Amazingly, some movies even depict the threat of robots of artificial intelligence, which will rise up against their creators and take over the planet, winning that war and ending the human race. Now, all of these doomsday scenarios and many others have been the fodder for movies and other things like that, showing the tremendous interest that people have for that, shows that the human heart is fixed on the future in a dark sort of sense. What's interesting to me as I look at all of these things, I find that with all of these popular depictions of the end, they're leaving one thing out, and I think it's the greatest threat that there is to the human race, and that is the wrath of God. And frankly, the clearest, doomsday scenario that there is, is unfolded in the pages of the book you carried with you in here this morning, the Bible. There is a clear doomsday scenario unfolded for us in the pages of the book of Revelation, most specifically there. And that book is filled with the outpouring of the wrath of God on the sinful human race. Our dark fears about the future have their origins in the Garden of Eden, when Adam was told, as I prayed about a moment ago, that he must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and in the day that he ate of it, he would surely die. And Adam sinned, he ate from that fruit, and he heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and he was terrified, and he hid from God. And God cursed him and cursed the ground because of him, but he didn't kill him that day. Instead, God had a purpose, a plan for history to unfold, and God decided to defer the death penalty that Adam did experience later on. And so that's where it starts, the looking ahead with fear to a dark future and wondering when is it going to come? And so history is unfolded in the Book of Revelation, you have one judgment after another, one seal of the seven seals being broken after another, one trumpet or one bowl being poured out on the surface of the earth after another, and phenomenon, just appalling, startling, terrifying phenomenon. The sun dark and the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from the sky and the earth being removed, shaken and terror striking the entire human race. And judgments on the fresh water and on all the oceans and everything in the sea, dying and all of the water turning to bitterness to wormwood and people dying, just huge, huge numbers of people dying—a third of mankind dying in some of these plagues. Just think about that! Billions and billions of people, several billion people dying at the same time, you just... We can't even conceive what that's like. Chapter after chapter of this doomsday scenario, which is portrayed as prophecy, it's going to come. The Bible says it's going to happen. And as we come to Isaiah 34, we have in microcosm, some of the themes that are unfolded for us in the Book of Revelation. As a matter of fact, Revelation quotes Isaiah 34 for some of it. We see in miniature the themes of the terror of the wrath of God being poured out on all nations on the face of the earth, right here in Isaiah 34. Now, next week, God willing will have the chance to look at the other side of the equation, Isaiah 35, which talks about the joy and delights of the redeemed. Some pastors take the two together, but I've chosen to preach this week on Chapter 34, and next week on 35, so please come back next week. And I won't fail to give you the good news in Jesus this week as I desire to do every week. I. God Summons the Nations to Listen (vs. 1) But today we have the difficult business of looking at the wrath of God on all nations as depicted in Isaiah 34, and it begins in verse 1 with a summons, God gives a summons to all nations to hear him and to listen to him. Look at verse 1, “Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!” God is summoning the peoples of the world to listen to him and the pages of Scripture here, and he raises up people like me to proclaim it and to speak it so that you hear the sound of these words. And this is incredible, this is God's grace, his indescribable grace to his enemies. To say, “I want you to know what's going to happen. I wanna tell you what the future holds.” He's the only one that can do it. God doesn't have to warn us, doesn't owe it to us to warn us. He can merely wipe out the sinners as he chooses to in his own time and in his own way—he does not have to warn us. But here he does give a very clear warning. He's gracious and he summons the earth to listen to him. Just like at the very beginning of this book, in Isaiah 1:2, “Hear, O heavens; listen, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.” He wants people to hear him speak. "God doesn't have to warn us, doesn't owe it to us to warn us. He can merely wipe out the sinners as he chooses to in his own time and in his own way—he does not have to warn us. But here he does give a very clear warning. " We can also see in this word, the incredible patience of God toward his enemies, who are seething with hatred toward him, who are living in rebellion against him, and yet God so patient. This chapter written over 27 centuries ago, it's a long time for God to wait. He is very patient. Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance, as it says in 2 Peter. Sadly, so many of the people are not mindful of the fact that God's kindness and tolerance and patience is meant to lead you to repentance. That's what it's for, God's grace. And the warning here of this chapter, what it's all about in the words of John the Baptist, as he called out to the sinners of his generation, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” That's what this is about, the coming wrath, the wrath to come. And he said, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” We also see in this summons in verse 1, the power of the word of God to deliver our souls. It is by listening to God speak that you will be saved. If you will just here and believe his word, you will be saved. Faith comes by hearing God's word, and this scripture gives enough warning of what's to come. He's told us what's coming. And if we heed that warning, if we hear it and believe it. Remember how I said in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, but also the [rebuke] of things not seen.” To be brought up short to be convicted, to be convicted of sin by things not seen, to deal seriously with Judgment Day and the wrath to come, that's a gift of faith, and God gives it by hearing the Word. So Isaiah 34 has the power to lift up in your heart the themes you need to deal with, so that you don't go in for the satanic illusion that things are always gonna go on is they always have. It's a lie. There's going to come an end. God himself will be the one to bring it about. But the good news in the center of all of this, faith in the crucified and resurrected Lord, has the power to deliver you from the wrath to come. If you will flee to Christ, he will welcome you. “All [that] the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive them away….[But] I will raise them up [on] the last day.” So you flee to Christ, and he will protect you from the wrath to come. You know why? 'Cause he is the wrath to come. He is the wrath to come, he is the wrath of God. And if you flee to him, he will deliver you. So that's a summons and he wants everyone to hear... And we're part of that, we're part of the world, we're part of the nations on earth. We who are living here in the United States of America, we here in North Carolina in Durham, we're part of the Earth. And God's summoning us to listen to him today in verse 1. What does he say? "There's going to come an end. God himself will be the one to bring it about. But the good news in the center of all of this, faith in the crucified and resurrected Lord, has the power to deliver you from the wrath to come." II. God’s Wrath is On All Nations and Their Armies (vs 2-4) Well, look at verse 2-4, “The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood. All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; [and] all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.” That's the message. And so there are two shocking kind of themes or ideas in this chapter. First is that God is a God of overpowering wrath. He's a passionate being, and he is angry about sin. It's very disturbing to people. Secondly, the fact is that God is angry with all nations—not just some of them, but with every single nation on the face of the earth. His wrath is against all their armies. And why is this? Why? What's the cause of this? Well, the Bible's answer is very clear: God is angry about sin. It makes him angry when we sin, and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. And why are there no exceptions? Why are there no exceptions? Well, it's because there's not a single political nation on earth that exists solely and exclusively for the glory of God in Jesus Christ—not one. That's why. It's very black and white, very simple, Jesus made it black and white, “He who is not with me is against me, and [whoever] does not gather with me scatters.” It's really that simple. What does he mean? Whoever “does not gather with me scatters.” What is he gathering? Well, as I said before, sin had a scattering effect on the universe an explosive effect, like a fragmentation grenade just blowing up this beautiful, orderly, perfect world that God made, and God in Christ is bringing all of those pieces back together and making them one under one head, God himself. And so he is gathering together all the scattered children of God and making them one, he says in John chapter 11, and in Ephesians 1:10, he is bringing “all things in heaven and earth together under one head, even Christ.” Is there a political nation on earth that's interested in those things, that's exerting its time and treasure and talents and efforts toward doing that? There's not one. And therefore they're against him, you see? If you're not gathering with them, you're scattering. Now, this chapter also gives stark pictures of judgment and wrath, armies, armies given over to slaughter, literally dedicated to destruction, there's a Hebrew word that's very significant theologically, it's related to the word for harem in English. The giving over, almost in a sacred...a solemn sacred ceremony, a giving over to something, for a sacred purpose. In this case, it's for the purpose of destruction. And so God in his holiness wants the toxic waste in one place and he wants to destroy it, and so it's given over to destruction. He uses the same word with Joshua when they crossed the Jordan River and he put the harem, he put that devotion to destruction on the city of Jericho and everything in it. He said, “Don't take any of it, it's all devoted to destruction, all of it.” Or again, the command that God gave to Saul with the Amalekites, they were under the same thing. Well, here he's doing it to all nations and all their armies; they're all given over to destruction in his mind. Verse 3 is horrible, it's horrible. Dead bodies, giving up a stench, mountains soaked with blood. This is not metaphorical, this is talking about dead people, lots of them, and the stench that comes from them. In Verse 4, even the host in the heavens will in some sense come under the judgment. In the ESV in verse 4, it says, “All the host of [the] heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.” Part of this I think is just in some amazing way, the end of the cosmos, as we know it. Copernicus is right, the sun doesn't revolve around the earth, the other way around. But this doctrine teaches that the earth is still the center of God's attention, and when events on Earth come to their end, the stars will fall from the sky. Now, that may seem like mythology to atheistic cosmologists, but the Scripture says it multiple places, not one or two. And so the stars will come to an end, when events on Earth come to an end, when God decrees it. Perhaps, and by the way, it says they shall rot away or dissolve, John Newton picked up on this in one of the not as commonly sung verses of “Amazing Grace.” They'll dissolve like snow. The sense is that all the elements in 2 Peter will melt in the heat, they will come apart and cease their present existence, they'll dissolve. So the stars—but this could also in some way, and I think prophetic language can do double duty, that there's a physical side, but there's also a spiritual side. And the host in the heavens could also refer to Satan and his armies as well. Because it says in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” And so there are hosts in the heavenly realm, Satan and his demons and all that, and they're going to get judged, God has spiritual enemies in the heavenly realms, and he has been very tolerant of them to allow them to continue to roam about the Earth and cause trouble and to tempt, and to accuse and to do all kinds of wickedness and evil. The heavens themselves, both physical and spiritual, are coming to an end. Hebrews 1, “They will perish….they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed.” III. Edom Represents God’s Human Enemies (vs. 5-15) Now, in verses 5-15, we turn our attention to the nation of Edom, to the Edomites, and I believe that Edom represents not only an actual physical nation that lived near Israel, but also, spiritually, they represent all of the reprobate human beings. These are people who hate God, who rebel against him, who stumble over the stumbling stone, which is also what they were destined for, as it says in Peter, 1 Peter. These are the rebels seething with hatred against God and against Christ. So it's not just that God is gonna do all this punishing of Edom, it's that the language just soars above that, and Edom then represents sinful humanity on mass, all those nations. Edom is all the nations. Does that make sense? So it's representation here. So we go from universal talking about the universe, to have focused on not just all the nations and all their armies, but zeroing in on Edom. Look at verse 5, “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; [behold], it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have [devoted to destruction].” Do you see that? They're given over to destruction, the people of Edom. Again, in verse 6, “The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood, [and] it is covered with fat—the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom.” Bozrah is the capital, a city of Edom. Again, in verse 9, look at it, “Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, [and] her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch!” So Edom as I have said, is both a historical nation and they are a spiritually representative nation, both in the Bible. Edom was made up of the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. Esau was the twin brother of Jacob; in the Bible, he is a symbol of the reprobate man, the godless man who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew, who has no faith at all. No interest in redemptive history, no interest in a birth right, no interest in a blessing, except that it meant a good relationship with his dad. Loved meat, loved the good life, that's Esau. He's a representation of the reprobate, there are many prophecies of judgment against his descendants, the Edomites. Amos chapter 1 says, “For three sins of Edom, [and] even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked, I will send fire upon Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah [capital city].” The whole little book of Obadiah is given over to a prophecy of destruction of Edom, who set their city up on a high place and thought that they could never be destroyed. God said, “I'm gonna bring you down.” But the most significant Old Testament prophecy about Esau is in Malachi 1:2-4. There God says to the Jews, to the Jewish people, “I have loved [you].” He says to the descendants of Jacob, “I have loved [you].” And they answer back, as they do throughout the book of Malachi, they answer back, “How have you loved us?” So he's gonna give an answer to that question, “‘Was not Esau Jacob's brother?’ says the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.’” So how have I loved you? Because I elected you, because I chose you and chose not to treat you the way I treated Esau. That's how I loved you. Not because you're so great, because you're not. But just because I chose you. So how have you loved us? Answer, I loved you in election, unconditionally. So to continue, “‘Was not Esau Jacob's brother?’ the Lord [said]. ‘Yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. And I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.’” Same language as Isaiah 34. Do you see it? The desolation language. Edom may say that we have been crushed, we will rebuild the cities. But this is what the Lord Almighty says, “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.” Now, the Apostle Paul takes that quote and drops it right into Romans chapter 9 to talk about God's sovereignty and salvation. You're familiar with the quote in Romans chapter 9, he uses this quote to talk about reprobates, or non-elect people, whom God has devoted to destruction. Romans 9:10-13, he says, “Not only that, but [Rebekah,] Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works, but by him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” Well, I'm not preaching through Romans 9, I've done that, you can listen on the internet, but basically, the lessons of that is unconditional election. God's purpose in election is that he would get the glory for human salvation, and that no one who ends up in heaven will boast against him for anything. And so he makes the election before they do anything or can boast about anything, good or bad. God's sovereign purpose, that's why that God alone would be glorified in salvation, that's the whole lesson of Edom of the descendants of Esau. So here in Isaiah 34, Edom is a real nation, they're facing real judgments from God, but they're also representative nation standing in the place of all of the reprobates mentioned in Romans chapter 9. "God's purpose in election is that he would get the glory for human salvation, and that no one who ends up in heaven will boast against him for anything. And so he makes the election before they do anything or can boast about anything, good or bad." In verse 5-7, it speaks of the sword of God's wrath. It says there, “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; [behold], it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat—the blood of the lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams, for the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom. And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. [And] their land will be drenched with blood and the dust will be soaked with fat.” So the sword of the Lord is his judgment against his enemies, and he does battle up in the heavenly realms and wins and then descends down to do battle on Earth with his human enemies. And the language here is very bloody, it's very sacrificial, there's a real sacrificial feel here, so I was meditating, what are the bulls and the oxen and the fat from the kidneys and all that. That's all sacrificial language. And I guess as I am meditating on this is how it works: basically, the whole purpose of animal sacrifice was to teach the lesson of substitution, right? The animal died, and the man or the woman didn't. You see? And all of that points to the cross. Don't you see that Jesus died and we don't. That's what animal sacrifice was to teach, but here, what's getting sacrificed, it's not animals. I know it's all talking about animals, but it's not animals. It's not the blood of animals, that's making the dust in the sand of Edom red with blood. These are people, because they would not follow him and they would not believe in him, and there was no substitution for them. It’s a great sacrifice, a terrible slaughter performed by the sword of God's wrath. In verse 8 it says there is a day of the Lord in which he will uphold Zion's cause. It says, “For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause.” So here we come to the idea of the day of the Lord, deferred judgment. It's not here yet. And so for all the Edoms there are in the world, it's just not here yet. Just God's patient and he's bearing with great patience, it says, the objects of his wrath prepare for destruction. Same teaching in Romans 9, he's patiently bearing with them, but he does have a day of vengeance, he has a day of the Lord that is coming, and people think as it goes on and saying, “It's not coming, nothing's gonna come. Everything's gonna go on as it always has.” That's what they think, but it's not true, because God has a day in store for judgment and for wrath. And it says specifically he is gonna take vengeance on the enemies of his people to uphold Zion's cause he's going to beat up on those who have beat up on his people. He's going to kill or shed the blood of those who shed the blood of his people. I think that's the home base of understanding, verse 8, “The Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion his people, to uphold their cause.” If you read about it in Daniel chapter 7, there are these four beasts that come up out of the sea, and they represent vast empires, human nations, organized and terrifying, and the fourth one, the terrible beast, not even described, we don't know what kind of beast it is, but it's worse than all the others. And there are these horns and there's this final horn, and it says that the saints were given over to the horn, he wages war on them and he conquered them, He shed their blood, he killed him, he was allowed to win for a while. Daniel says, “for a time, times and half a time.” Now, many scholars believe this is talking about the Antichrist, the final world ruler who will organize the world in one government and use all of that political power and military might against the people of God. And I think that's true, but I also think John says, “You've heard that there is an Antichrist coming, and many Antichrists have come,” so there's been lots of them. I think Hitler was one, I think he organized a nation, military power, and governmental structure against the people of God. He crushed them and killed them, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer for example. But when they die, when they get separated from their bodies and they go up, according to Revelation chapter 6, they go up and say, “OK, God, how long? How long until you avenge our blood?” Revelation 6, “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who'd been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. [And] they called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the Earth and avenge our blood?’ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer until the full number of their fellow servants and brothers who would be killed as they had been was completed.” Patience, more people have to die. But there is a day of vengeance that will come later in Revelation, “The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and in the springs of water, and they [turned into] blood…. [And] the angel in charge of the waters [said]: ‘You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were. the holy One, because you have so judged,” that's enough, but there's a reason too, “‘for they shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have now given them blood to drink as they deserve.’ And I heard the altar respond: ‘Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.’” Now, Edom's judgments are a foretaste of hell, look at verses 9-10. It says, “Edom streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.” If you know what to look for, this sounds a lot like hell, lot like hell. Revelation 14, it speaks of those that receive the mark of the beast and worship the image. And it says, if anyone does that “he, too, will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest, day or night.” It's almost the exact same expression. And so, Edom's judgment, in Isaiah 34 is a foretaste, a picture of hell of eternal judgment, unquenched fire, smoke rising, burning sulfur, unresting aspect day and night, etcetera. And in Verses 11-15, The once flourishing land of Edom is turned into chaos and emptiness, a picture of complete desolation and rejection by the Lord. Look at the verses, it says, “The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation. Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom, all her princes will vanish away. Thorns will overrun her citadels, [and] nettles and brambles her strongholds. She'll become a haunt for jackals, [and] a home for owls. Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also repose and find for themselves places of rest. The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; [and] there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate.” Many times Isaiah speaks in this kind of language, natural language of desolation, desert life, etcetera, coming on the land as an active judgment from God. So I think in space and time in history, God judged the people of Esau, the Edomites and turned their land into this. But look at some of the details, it says, “[I'm going to measure] out over Edom, the plumb line of chaos and the measuring line of desolation.” These are the exact words that God uses to describe the creation after Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Verse 2, “Now the earth was formless and empty.” Same words used here, so what God's saying is, “I'm going to deconstruct what I have constructed. It's the opposite, I'm going to take my power and go the opposite direction, not building up into beauty and order, but breaking down into chaos and desolation.” And he says, “I'm gonna use a measuring line and a plumb line.” It's a very meticulous careful work. He knows what he's doing. It's not accident, he knows what he's doing. And he speaks in the language of thorns. Thorns is the language of God's curse. It's gonna overrun her citadels, and nettles and brambles her strongholds, and desert creatures will live there undisturbed from generation to generation. So summary, Edom represents not merely one nation of God's enemies, but all nations, ultimately. Nations that fought against the people of God and persecuted them and oppose God's glory in the world, God will judge them completely, in effect speaking them out of orderly created existence, not annihilation, but just the end of that beauty of creation that they have known, and their land will become desolate because all of them will be dead. IV. God’s “Book” Is Written, and Every Line Shall Be Fulfilled (vs. 16-17) Now finally, in verses 16-17, we have the book of the Lord referred to here, “Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together. He allots their portions; his hand distributes them by measure. [And] they will possess it forever and dwell there from generation to generation.” So this is God's scroll, it refers to his sovereign plan. He has worked all this out, “All the days are ordained for [the world] were written in [God's] book before one of them came to be,” according to Psalm 139. And so you look in the scroll and it's all been figured out, all of it, and not only that, but we have his Spirit moving out to take what was written in the scroll to make it happen. So as you had early on Isaiah 14, you have God's plan and God's hand, as we've talked about before, God's plan and in his hand, God's plan plus his hand equals the future. Isaiah 14:26-27, “This is the plan determined for the whole world; [and] this is the hand stretched out over all nations.” See plan and hand. “For the Lord Almighty has purposed,” that's planned, “and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out,” there's his power, “and who can turn it back?” So there's gonna be a lot of wild animals there, and desolation will be there, and judgment, and that really happened, I think, to the Edomites, it happened to their nation, and all of it according to the purpose of God. Paul had it right in Athens, when he said, speaking of all of human history, “From one man [God] made every nation of men…and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. [And] God did this so that [people] would seek him and…reach out for him and find him, though, he is not far from [each] one of us.” V. How Isaiah 34 Prepares Us for the Second Coming of Christ Now, how does this chapter prepare us for the second coming of Christ? Well, it's going to happen, these things are going to happen. Jesus quoted this in Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24, he said, “Immediately after the distress of those days ‘“the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” ‘[And] at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all nations…will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” It's going to happen. It's not a metaphor, it's a prophecy. Revelation 6 picks up in the same language, “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. [And] there was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red…the stars in the sky fell to the earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. [And] then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks and the mountains. [And] they called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of that the their wrath has come, and who [is able] to stand?” They're gonna be looking for a refuge, like a cave at that point, there's no cave that will be a refuge. Oh, but there is a refuge. It’s right now today, it’s faith in Jesus is the refuge. Finally, at the end of the Book of Revelation, there is the the dragon, the great dragon, that gets thrown down in Revelation 12, because he's defeated in the heaven, comes down to the earth, and he calls forth this beast from the sea. As I've said the Antichrist, he comes forth, and in Revelation 17, sub-rulers, 10 Kings come together to give him their power and to make him chief among them. And it says in Revelation 17:14, “They will make war against the Lamb.” Think about that. They will war against Jesus. They'll have a war against Jesus. Can I just say bad idea, bad idea. They're gonna war against the Lamb and against his followers, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers. And so Revelation 19 depicts that final battle, and that's the fulfillment of Isaiah 34, that's the sword of the Lord, that descends. Jesus is the sword of the Lord, he is the wrath of God descending in Revelation 19. He comes back, the heavens are open, and he comes down with the armies from heaven, and they descend on the Antichrist and on the dragon and the false prophet and all of the armies of people that are assembled there together against the Lord and against His followers. In Revelation 19:19 and following says, “I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs in his behalf. [And] with these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.” Does that sound like Isaiah 34? It's exactly the same, Revelation 19. Now, that's the second coming, that's that final battle. But, friends, the deeper issue is deliverance from hell itself. It's just one day when the sword comes down and lots of people die, but the real danger is the second death. Now, I just wanna stop and say, I know for a fact, many people struggle with this doctrine, they struggle with the picture of God as a wrath-filled being. They do, it's repulsive to them. I even know some that have walked with the Lord for a while, very conspicuously and fruitful, who have recently turned away from evangelical Christianity because of a hatred of the doctrine of the wrath of God and hell, they just can't accept it, and other theologians and writers, people like Rob Bell and all that, try to come up with what they consider to be a better story than this. What arrogance to think that we can come up with a better end of human history than this one, we can't. God knows what he's doing, God knows what he's doing. And those people forget some things, they forget, for example, the very nature of God, that “God is light; [and] in him there is no darkness at all.” And he will have the darkness out of his universe, he will get rid of it, 'cause he hates it, and frankly, if he didn't hate the darkness, he wouldn't be good. "The deeper issue is deliverance from hell itself. It's just one day when the sword comes down and lots of people die, but the real danger is the second death." Secondly, all sin is an affront directly to his glory, and sin is proportional to the glory of the individual you sin against. It's weightier to spit in the face of your father than to spit in the face of your brother. It just is. It just has to do with the weight of glory and what is due, what honor is due to that individual. Well, how much honor is due to God? How much honor should he get from us? Therefore, sin against him is of infinite weight and value. Thirdly, and most significantly, Christ himself received the descending sword of God's wrath on our behalf, he took it inside himself, he died under the wrath of God as our substitute. He is the cave you'll be looking for when that sixth seal is broken, but you won't find any refuge then. Flee now. When I began, I prayed that God would give you faith. Now is the time. Believe that these things are coming. And flee to Jesus. Jesus died not for his own sin—he committed no sin, there was no deceit in his mouth—he died in our place, he bore, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By his wounds, we have been healed. That's what Jesus has done. He is our refuge. This is the gospel, for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as [a propitiation,] a sacrifice of atonement, [in our place] through faith in his blood.” Trust in him, come to him. Flee the wrath to come. And if you've already fled the wrath to come, if you have already listened to that and your heart was moved with fear, and you know that you early, long time ago, perhaps even fled, the wrath to come, then know this, you have fled successfully. The wrath will not come on you, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But you are surrounded by people who haven't fled yet, you live among them every day, you work with them, they may be relatives, they may be neighbors, warn them to flee the wrath to come. Tell them about it. Understand this, understand the universality of God's wrath against all nations, all nations, and all their armies. Now, where does that leave? Patriotism and nationalism. Oh, now Pastor, don't go there. Don't touch that one. I mean, this sermon is already too long anyway, and you're gonna start patriotism and nationalism, I just wanna say this one thing, if Isaiah 34:2 is true, don't exempt the United States of America from it, don't. I do believe that there are incredibly powerful witnesses, godly men and women infiltrating—and that's a good word for it—the federal, state, and local governments of this country and are salts in a very corrupt place and light in a very dark world and are doing an awesome job. Like Daniel, they are messengers of the king, like Daniel said, “Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that [God will let you] continue.” That's a great witness for a government official who loves Jesus, but I'm speaking of the political entity, the nation itself. I think there is a right place and a right scope for patriotism and love for your country, but idolatry usually takes a proper affection and pushes it beyond boundaries, you see what I'm saying? Don't go too far. Don't go too far. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we're waiting for our true king to come from heaven, and that's Jesus, and we're waiting for the city that he's building right now. The city that is to come with whose architect and builder is God? This end is coming. It's coming. All right, let's do the work that God's called us to do. Put sin to death by the power of the Spirit and share the gospel with lost people. Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the warning that we've had in Isaiah 34 of what is to come. I pray that we would tremble with it, that we would take it seriously. I pray that it would bring us to tears as Jesus wept over Jerusalem. I pray that we would be deeply troubled by the concept of just the bloodshed that is coming, and Father, I pray that you would please give us power to put sin to death as Peter put it, “Since everything [is going to end] in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming.” O God, help us to be pure and holy and to speed the day of God by evangelism, by missions, by proclamation of the message. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.

Our Upbeat Bluegrass Gospel version of "I Am Bound For The Promised Land" also known as "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand"  It was a favorite at camp meetings and brush arbors.Hank Williams and Johnny Cash ,as well as many others, have recorded this tune 1.    On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,And cast a wishful eyeTo Canaan’s fair and happy land,Where my possessions lie. Refrain:I am bound for the promised land,I am bound for the promised land;Oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land. 2. O’er all those wide, extended plainsShines one eternal day;There God the Son forever reigns,And scatters night away.3. No chilling winds or poisonous breathCan reach that healthful shore;Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,Are felt and feared no more. 4. Filled with delight my raptured soulWould here no longer stay;Though Jordan’s waves around me roll,Fearless, I’d launch away. Samuel Stennett, pub.1787 Copyright: Public Domain  Miss M. Durham, pub.1835selahpub.com writes:History of this hymn"This well-known hymn by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Stennett (1727­-1795) first appeared in Selection of Hymns, a celebrated hymnal compiled by the Baptist editor John Rippon. Published in 1787, Rippon's hymnal also introduced in its enduring form Edward Perronet's "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name."A native of Exeter, Samuel Stennett spent his childhood in London where his father served a Baptist church as pastor. In 1758, he succeeded his father in the pastorate of the Baptist church in Little Wild Street, London, where he served until his death. A scholarly man, Stennett received a D.D. from King's College, Aberdeen in 1763. Known also as a friend of the reigning monarch, George III, Stennett nonetheless refused political or social opportunities to devote himself to ministry.His prominence among the Dissenting ministers of London afforded occasions to use his influence with political figures on behalf of religious liberty. Stennett authored 39 hymns, five of which appeared in Rippon's Selection (1787). His grandfather, Joseph Stennett, had also been a prominent Dissenting hymn writer, publishing several hymnals reflecting his Puritan-rooted religion of the heart. Samuel Stennett continued the tradition, although with less passionate language of glory and grace than had marked his grandfather's Puritan-influenced notions of Christian experience.Stennett wrote seven stanzas for "On Jordan's Stormy Banks." The hymn is also known by the title Stennett gave it, "Promised Land." Critics have noted that "Promised Land" echoes a well-known hymn by Isaac Watts, "There Is a Land of Pure Delight." More than any other of Stennett's hymns, "Promised Land" found enormous popularity in 19th-century America. Its acceptance by American Methodists and its subsequent use in camp meetings and brush arbors help account for this. The hymn has appeared in each American Methodist hymnal since Francis Asbury included it in his Supplement to the Pocket Hymn Book (1808). Stennett's eight stanzas are generally reduced to three or four, and several of these may be slightly altered. The song found its way into the 1835 Southern Harmony and is part of the American shape note tradition. At some times in American history, evangelicals have reinterpreted Stennett's biblical metaphors with a this-worldly eye toward the promised land just over the horizon on the western frontier."Promised Land" has been set to various tunes. Perhaps the best-known in the United States today is PROMISED LAND, a traditional early-nineteenth-century American melody with a strong resemblance to a once-popular dance tune. William Walker's Southern Harmony attributes the tune to a Miss M. Durham. Rigdon M. McIntosh revised PROMISED LAND and changed it from minor to major tonality. McIntosh also added a refrain. "Promised Land" can be found in American hymnals in major or minor keys and with or without refrains."from:http://www.selahpub.com/Choral/ChoralTitles/425-817-PromisedLand.html © 2012 Shiloh Worship Music COPY FREELY;This Music is copyrighted to prevent misuse, however,permission is granted for non-commercial copying-Radio play permitted- www.shilohworshipmusic.com

sermon transcript Introduction Please open your Bibles to Genesis 13. We are looking at this chapter that has already been read for you this morning, and continuing in our study in the Book of Genesis. As we come to Genesis 13, we come to a story of human conflict and we also come to the beginning of a contrast. So, I look at this as a chapter of conflict and of contrast. I was reading recently about a tragedy that happened in the summer of 1986. Two ships collided in the Black Sea and sank, both of them, bringing hundreds of passengers to the cold depths with them. This is a great tragedy in any case, but it became even more bitter when the cause of the tragedy of the two ships crashing together became known. It turned out that each of the two captains knew of the presence and the direction of the other ship, but neither one was willing to divert their course. And so, they continued steaming toward one another, charging the other to turn, until it was too late to stop the momentum of the ships, and they crashed into each other and both sank. Now, you might say, "What kind of stubbornness would result in this kind of a tragedy?" But all you have to do is look in your own heart and realize how much each of us plays the role of one of those ship captains from time to time. How we are unwilling to divert our course even if it brings suffering and tragedy to ourselves or our family, because we're just not willing to turn, we're not willing to yield, we're not willing to avoid the conflict for the sake of the relationship. I think as we come to Genesis 13, we see the way not to do a conflict on the one part, and then the way by Abraham's faith that a conflict can be avoided and by faith, overcome. I think we have a wonderful role model and example for us through the faith of Abram. We also see in this, I think, the beginning of a contrast, and it's not a major theme in these chapters in Genesis, but it's there. It's the contrast between the faithlessness of Lot and the outcome of his life, and the faithfulness of Abram, and this is a constant theme in scripture. In 1986, when I was on route to a mission trip I was taking in Kenya, I had the opportunity to visit one of the old diamond houses there in Amsterdam with some friends of mine and we wanted to look at some diamonds. It was unforgettable. I remember they served us ginger ale in goblets and all this kind of thing, and it was all very classy, and that's the way we spent our 20 hours in Amsterdam. It was a very exciting time. I remember that the salesman as he was bringing out the diamonds, first laid down a black velvet cloth and then sprinkled the diamonds onto the cloth, and the black velvet behind the glistening diamonds provided the perfect backdrop so that the diamonds could catch the light and by contrast, display their characteristics. And so, we see this again and again in scripture, how God will lay out the blackness of someone's sin and of their character, and then contrast it with the faith and the obedience and the love of someone else. So, by contrast, you can see what God wants you to see. Later in Genesis, you will see, for example, the contrast of the bickering selfishness of the sons of Jacob and the character of Joseph, as he stands under the plan of God and is willing to take anything that God sends his way. His arm staying limber to the service of God. Or, you could see, for example, the craven disobedience of King Saul against the man after God's own heart, David, as he was willing to obey God, no matter what God said. Probably best of all, you see this in John 18, the contrast between Peter and his repeated denials of Jesus, and Jesus, the sublime King who is in control of everything and who is totally courageous at every moment. The narrative is interwoven there in John 18 and 19, the faithlessness and cowardice of Peter, and the courage, boldness and the love of Jesus Christ. I think we see the same thing here in Genesis 13, by contrast. We see the faith-filled example of Abram and the faithless choice of Lot. Abram’s Faith-filled Restoration Abram’s Sojourn in Egypt: A Spiritual Disaster Now, what's the context here? As we look in Verses 1 through 4, I see a story of restoration, of Abram's spiritual restoration. It says in Verses 1-4, "So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. From the Negev, he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord." Now, Abram's sojourn in Egypt had been a spiritual disaster. A spiritual disaster. It was prompted, I believe, in my reading of the text, by his lack of faith in leaving the Promised Land, to begin with. Remember that God had called Abram to leave his country and his people and his father's household, and go to the land that God would show him. And so, Abram, by faith, left Ur of the Chaldees and then later, by faith, left Haran and eventually ended up in the Promised Land. There God spoke to him and said in Chapter 12, Verse 7, “To your offspring I will give this land.” And so basically, spiritually, you've come home. This is the Promised Land. Well, we see no word of command from God in the text to leave the Promised Land when the famine got severe. Look at Verse 10 of Chapter 12. It says, "Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe." Well, was that reason though to leave the Promised Land? Was that reason to turn his back on God and to believe that God could not provide for him? Was there any spiritual order from God to leave the Promised Land now and go down to Egypt? I don't think so. Could not the God who created heaven and earth have provided for Abram and for his household in the Promised Land, even despite the famine? Now, later on, once Abram's faith has been so sharpened and developed through all of these experiences, when his little son Isaac says to him, "Here's wood and fire, but where is the sacrifice?" You remember what Abram said at that point? "God will provide the sacrifice, my son." So, he's reached a different level at that point, but his faith wasn't there. He could have said God will provide food here in the Promised Land, but he didn't. And so, not by faith, but by lack of faith, he left the Promised Land and went to Egypt, and it was nothing but a disaster. It was lack of faith that prompted Abram at that point to say to Sarai in Chapter 12, Verse 13, "Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” The whole thing is so craven and cowardly. It doesn't seem befitting a man of Abram's spiritual stature. And, it was lack of faith in God that led Abram immediately into spiritual or physical trouble with Pharaoh. He really had to escape Egypt with his life, it seems, he's evicted almost from the country. The whole thing had been a faithless exercise and a spiritual disaster but the beautiful thing is, where we are faithless, God will remain faithful. It says in 2 Timothy 2:13, "For he cannot disown himself." How many of us count on that, for God to be faithful even when we are faithless? That really is the story of my salvation and yours as well. A faithful God who never forgets what He's about, and who continues to work with sinners like us, even when we make great mistakes and commit sins. And so, this has been a spiritual disaster. Abram “Heavy” with Wealth As Abram comes out of Egypt, he's bringing some baggage with him. He's bringing some baggage with him. Abram is literally heavy with wealth. Look at Verse 2, it says, "Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold." Now, the Hebrew literally is heavy, heavy with wealth. Gold, for example, is among the densest metals known to man. I calculated this out if my Bible here, which I'm lifting with one hand, if it were made of gold, it would weigh 42 pounds. Forty-two pounds. A 42-pound Bible, how would you like that? Or this podium here, I calculated this out, you wonder when I have time for this, and I really don't, but as you're looking this podium would be well over a ton if it were made of gold. And here is Abram coming out of Egypt, heavy with wealth. Well, it's one thing if you have a house with a foundation and you don't have to move much to be heavy with wealth. It has its own problems. But here is Abram traveling about in tents by camels, I guess, going from place to place. Wealth can be a crushing burden and can be a big problem as much as a blessing. John Lippett said, "I've been more bossed by my fortune than I've bossed it." I love that quote. Sometimes the wealth can be in charge of you rather than you in charge of the wealth. God sometimes does permit godly people to become wealthy. It does happen, but even then, it's a great burden and it comes with a warning. In 1 Timothy 6:17, it says, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." And so, that's a command and a warning in 1 Timothy 6, concerning wealth. Matthew Henry said this about this account in Genesis 13. It says, "Abram was very heavy, so the Hebrew word signifies; for riches are a burden, and those that will be rich do but load themselves with thick clay. There is a burden of care in getting wealth, fear in keeping wealth, temptation in using wealth, guilt in abusing wealth, and sorrow in losing wealth, and a burden of giving an account at the end on Judgment Day concerning the wealth. Great possessions do but make men heavy and unwieldy. Abram was not only rich in faith and good works, and in the promises, but he was rich in cattle, and in silver and gold." Now, Henry goes on to say that God does sometimes in His Providence make good men wealthy for His own reasons, and it is a blessing. But, it is also a burden that he carried with him from Egypt. Soon this wealth and Lot's together will be the cause of their parting ways. If you look at Verses 6 and 7, it says, "But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time." Abram Returns to His Spiritual Roots Because of their wealth and because of all of their possessions, they were not able to stay together, we'll say more on this in a moment. So, Abram has gone through a spiritual disaster. He's gone down on that sojourn to Egypt; it turned out terribly. He comes back burdened with additional wealth, but he does the right thing. He goes back to his spiritual roots. He knows that he needs restoration. He needs spiritual renewal and refreshment. Abram needed his soul restored, and the text stresses this in a number of ways. Look at Verse 3 again, "From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel." Now, the word Bethel means literally, House of God. House of God. So, he came to Bethel, the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier. This is harkening back to the earlier days of his time in the Promised Land, and the text does this on purpose. He's returning to his roots; he's going back to where he started. In Verse 4, it says, "where he had first built an altar." That's very important. That was the place where he called on the name of the Lord after he had received the promise of receiving the Promised Land. He built an altar and he lifted up holy hands in prayer to God, and his faith was strong then, but now it's not. Sin has brought him low, he's weak spiritually, and he needs to go back and start over again. And aren't you glad God lets you do it? Aren't you glad that He restores you and doesn't cast you off? I praise God for that. And so, he does the right thing, he doesn't give up on his walk with God, he doesn't give up on the promise, but he goes back and he looks to his roots. He looks to his spiritual foundation. He goes back to where he had first built an altar and there it says, "Abram called on the name of the Lord." The fact of the matter is, in our sojourning with Jesus here in this world, every day is not sweeter than the day before. Sometimes we get ourselves into spiritual deserts through sin and through bad choices like Abram, and we need to be renewed and restored. It says in Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters." And what's the next part? "…he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake." And that's exactly what's going on here in Genesis 13. Abram's soul and his vision are being restored by God. He's being renewed. Now, it could be that that is what you need today. I have no idea what's going on in your life. I have no idea what spiritual state you came in through the doors with today. I don't know what you did last week, over the last few months. I don't know if your quiet times have been what you want them to be. I don't know if your moment-by-moment walking in your obedience is where you think it should be. But perhaps you, like Abram, need to be restored, you need your vision renewed of why it is you're even here in this world. Go back to your roots. For Abram, that meant going back to a physical place. Going back to a physical place. Now, realize God is omnipresent, but yet at the same time, there are certain places that are spiritually significant. Like when God spoke to Moses in Exodus 3:5, and said, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." And later on, and I believe another Bethel, God spoke to Jacob, that's where he had his vision, at Luz, it says, of a ladder reaching up to heaven and angels ascending and descending. And Jacob awoke from his dream and in Genesis 28:16-17 he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. . . . This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” And so, he went back, Abram did, to the place where he had his vision and where he had called on the name of the Lord, and he was restored. And he called on the name of the Lord. Calling on the Name of the Lord This is more than simply prayer. It really has to do with a faith-filled, crying out to God, the God of history, the God who's done all of this up to this point, whatever that point is in redemptive history. The God whose reputation has been built through creation and through the flood of Noah at that point, and through His very call from Ur of the Chaldees, that God, he called on His name. We have a far better understanding of the name of the Lord, don't we? We have a far greater history of redemption and revelation, and we call on the name of the Lord, and this very phrase is the one that Paul picks out and that Peter did at Pentecost and that Joel did to say how we get saved. For it says in Romans 10:13, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." And so, it's simply by calling out to God, the God of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, I say the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who sent Christ in the world to die on the cross, calling on His name, saves our soul. And that's what Abram did. And we don't do it just one time, I believe once saved, always saved, and I know about walking the aisle and praying the prayer and all that, but we call on the name of the Lord all the time, don't we? We keep calling and we keep calling and we trust. And Abram went back and called again. He resumed calling on the name of the Lord. Abram’s Faith-filled Peacemaking, Lot’s Faithless Choice Cause of the Conflict: Wealth Now, in Verses 5-13, we see the conflict coming and the contrast. Abram has been restored, he's been renewed in his walk with God, he's returned to his spiritual roots, he's healthy and strong again. And now it's time for a conflict. That's just the way it is, isn't it? Just when you're getting back on your feet the next trouble comes, but by faith, you can overcome them all, by faith, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, and Abram carries himself so beautifully through this conflict. He does so well. The conflict comes as a result of their wealth, as we've already seen, it started with a conflict between the servants who are watching the flocks and herds. I think it had to do with grazing and with water, and there were only so many of these resources because the Canaanites and Perizzites are still in the land at that point. They are getting squeezed for grazing rights. I love history and I love reading about the history of the American West, and I've been reading a book recently about that. During the great cattle drives going up from Texas, up north so that the meat could be distributed throughout the country, the cattle herdsmen constantly got into land battles with the homesteaders, and literally, they became almost shooting wars that would happen between the cattlemen and the homesteaders. It's just a bloody chapter of our history and not well known. Eventually, they had to make corridors with fences so that the cattle could go on and keep them away from the homesteads. You could see the passion that would arise over these kinds of things, the anger and frustration, and I think at a different level, perhaps that's what's going on between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot. They are having constant conflicts over where the cattle get to graze and the water, this was life, the wells were life. Throughout the Book of Genesis, there are struggles over wells and who dug them and who had the right to drink from them, and I think that's what was going on here. What was the cost of their conflict? Well, realize, God said to Abram from the beginning in Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you." So, Abram is a missionary. Cause of the Conflict: Their Testimony Further Hindered That whole sojourn in Egypt was a spiritual disaster, because what kind of missionary can you be as a con artist and a liar, we need to be restored so we can get away from that. And now, what kind of witness is it that you're arguing with your family and you can't find a place to graze your cattle, you can't get along, and so their testimony is greatly hindered by this conflict. Remember the Book of Philippians, way back when. Philippians 2:14-16 says, "Do everything without complaining or . . ." What? "Arguing." Some of you memorized that verse and said, it's one of the hardest verses of your life. Working on it, some days you do well on the complaining but not the arguing. Some days better on the arguing and not on the complaining. Some days better or neither. But it's a struggle. Do everything without complaining or arguing, and why? "So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life." Abram’s Faith-filled Example of Peacemaking Well, what kind of star were they as they were arguing and having conflicts? How could they hold out the word of life to the Canaanites and Perizzites as long as they were having this conflict, and so we see Abram, his faith-filled example of peacemaking. Actually, truth be told, Abram never did argue in this account. It was the herdsmen that were having conflicts and it went right up to the top, and so Abram and Lot met together to try to resolve it. Abram gives us an excellent answer of how to end a conflict. Look at Verse 8, it says, “So Abram said to Lot, ‘Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left.’” Now, when I was a child and we were arguing over the last piece of cake, we were told that one person would cut it and the other would get to choose, you see, and that way, there is no conflict. Never has been a cake cut so perfectly as were cut in those days, it's incredible how accurate the cutting can be. Well, why not try this? Why not just cut it however and say, you take the biggest piece, I want you to have what's best. That's about what Abram does here, he says, “Whatever you want. You go ahead and I'll take what's left. I'll take what's left.” It says in Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” If ever there was a marriage verse, that's a good one. Okay. A gentle answer turns away wrath. So why should there be conflict between you and me. Well, there shouldn't be disagreements. “Tell you what, you choose, you go your way, you take whatever you want and we'll take the rest, and don't worry about it.” We see his humility, but I think behind it is faith, because you know why? He's going to get it anyway. Abram's going to get it anyway, God already promised him he was going to get it. So why should there be a conflict? “I'm going to get it anyway. And, if you stay with me, you're going to get it too.” And so, I can just let go. I don't have to have a conflict, you know, there was a problem in the Book of Corinthians, in which the Corinthians were arguing with each other and having divisions and in factions, and even some were suing the others, taking them to court. And Paul says, “Why not rather be wronged?” It's a shameful thing for a Christian brother to be in court with another Christian brother, and that the one is suing the other, it's wickedness. What will the pagans think? Why not rather be wronged? “Why not rather be cheated” than to take somebody to court. But he said earlier in 1 Corinthians 3:21, “. . .no more boasting about men! All things are yours . . .” You are going to get it anyway. So let it go. No more white-knuckled holding on to something earthly. It doesn't matter. Let it go. I think Abram's faith was behind his generosity. We see also his incredible humility here. He says, “We're brothers.” Lot was his nephew and Abram, his uncle, but he calls him a brother. He says, “We are brothers together.” There's a humility here that's very disarming and I think very attractive. I was reading a story recently about Booker T. Washington, who was a renowned Black educator, a very powerful and strong educator and an important man. Shortly after he took over the presidency of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he was walking in a wealthy section of town and a White woman stopped him, and not knowing the famous Mr. Washington by sight, asked him if he would be willing to earn a few dollars by chopping some wood. He said, well, certainly, and took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves and began to do the humble task, and when he had finished, he stacked up the wood, did a great job, and took his pay. Well, as he was doing that, he was recognized by a young girl in the house who told the wealthy lady who this man was after he had left. She was absolutely humiliated by this and went and visited him at his office the next day, and came in and said, she was very, very sorry. He said this, "Don't worry about it, don't worry. I always like to get a little exercise anyway. Besides which, it's always good to do something to help a friend.” It was a very gentle and humble answer. The lady went home, organized some of her wealthiest friends and gave thousands and thousands of dollars to the Tuskegee Institute as a result of his humility. If he had carried himself like a king and said, "Don't you know who I am, I don't chop wood," etcetera, none of those good things would have happened, but he built a friendship and the Tuskegee Institute was blessed by his humility. And, we see the same thing, I think, in Abram. The sacrificial generosity, is not the whole land before you. Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right, and if you go to the right, I'll go to the left. Well, Lot at that point made his choice. Imagine Lot standing up on that ridge and looking down and saying, “Okay, that's a good deal, so I get to choose first, wherever whatever I want. Alright, let me go do it then.” So, he looks down. Lot’s Sensual and Selfish Choice: Following the Eyes Look at Verse 10, it says, “Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So, Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom,” is what it says. Verse 13 says, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.” A. W. Pink in his comment on this text, made much of Lot's eyes. See Lot looked up and saw that the land was watered, and he made a sensual choice, he made a choice based on sense, based on sight, but we walk by faith, the scripture says, not by sight. And so, Lot looked down and saw only what he wanted to see, namely that it was lush and green, and I believe Lot probably at that point had caught a kind of virus from Egypt, the desire for a comfortable and easy affluent life, it's a spiritual virus that he's caught, and so he's led by his eyes there. The Future Cost of Lot’s Faithless Choice And this is the beginning of a decline or a descent for Lot, that will end up in incredible shame. I mean, it's a long, long way down. He looks down and he sees the land and sees that it's lush, but there are some things he cannot see. For example, he cannot see the true spiritual condition of Sodom, he can't see what's going on there. We get some hints in the text concerning God's feelings toward Sodom. Look at Verse 10, “the land was well watered,” it says, but this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. That's a bit of a warning, isn't it? There's kind of a heaviness, like a sword of Damocles hanging over Sodom and Gomorrah, this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. But Lot couldn't see that when he looked down at the plain, he did not see their great wickedness in the sight of God. Look at Verse 13, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.” Allow me to paraphrase, Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” and apply it to this situation. There were black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over the heads of the Sodomites, full of the dreadful storm and big with thunder. Had it not been for the restraining hand of God, it would have immediately burst forth upon Sodom. The sovereign pleasure of God at that moment in history was staying his rough wind, otherwise it would have come with fury, and Sodom's destruction would have come like a whirlwind, and the Sodomites would have been like the chaff of the summer threshing floor. The wrath of God was like great waters that had been dammed for the present, they increased more and more and rose higher and higher until an outlet was given at last. The longer the stream was stopped, the more rapid and mighty was its course, when once it was let loose. The floods of God's vengeance had been withheld, but Sodom's guilt was in the meantime, constantly increasing, and every day they were storing up more and more wrath. The waters were constantly rising and waxing more and more mightily, and there was nothing but the mere pleasure of God that held the waters back, that were unwilling to be stopped and pressed hard to go forward. If only God had withdrawn his hand from the flood gate, it would have immediately flown open the fiery floods of fierceness, and the wrath of God would have rushed forth with inconceivable fury and come upon Sodom with omnipotent power, and if the strength of each Sodomite was 10,000 times greater than it was, yes, 10,000 times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would have been nothing to withstand or endure. The bow of God's wrath was bent and the arrow was made ready on the string and justice bent the arrow directly at Sodom's heart and strained the bow, and it was nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that kept the arrow one moment from being made drunk with Sodom's blood. Jonathan Edwards reply applied to Sodom, and that's exactly what Lot could not see. The wrath was coming. Why live there? What else could Lot not see? He couldn't see the future, he couldn't see what would happen to his own heart by living there, the future cost of Lot's faithless choice, a gradual corruption enticed little by little by the life of Sodom. At first, he saw it from afar, standing up there on the ridge, and he didn't see anything, all he sees is well-watered plain land where he can go down with his flocks and herds and be away from Abram and away from the conflict. That's what he sees initially. Then the text says he pitched his tents in the direction of Sodom, you see he is closer now, he's living, but he's not in Sodom yet, he's just moving in that direction. And then in Chapter 14, the next account, he's abducted along with the other Sodomites and taken away by Kedorlaomer, and he has got to be rescued by Abram, and Abram does rescue him, but then. . . Already knowing what the people were like, he chose to go back and live there some more. The next time we see him, he is actually living in the city and seems to have a job as the gatekeeper or some kind of local city official. The people know his righteous commitments and stand because he says, he is this foreigner come to judge us, so he's probably already said, “Hey, you shouldn't do this,” or “You. . .” But it's not very strong. He is getting watered down, he's getting weakened, his wife became totally enamored with the life in Sodom and could not bear to leave, and despite the angels warning, "Don't look back at the city," she looked and was turned into a pillar of salt. And so, Jesus said, “Remember, Lot's wife.” Lot's sons-in-law had absolutely no intention of leaving Sodom when the angels came. No intention whatsoever. They stayed there. They mocked him and ridiculed him. And so, they stayed in and perished. Lot's daughters came with him though, with great reluctance, and they fled. He ends up in a cave with his daughters. I think they thought the entire world had been destroyed, and he ends up getting them pregnant after he got drunk. He didn't know what he was doing. It's one of the most shameful and despicable stories in the whole Bible and it began at that moment when Lot was just standing up there on the ridge looking down over the plain, and it looked good to him, and he figured he would travel there and see what it was like. And yet, Lot is a story of God's redemption as well. Frankly, if it weren't for 2nd Peter, I wouldn't know anything good to say about Lot, but it does say in 2nd Peter that Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard, and God sent an angel to rescue him, sent two angels to rescue. The angel says in Genesis 19:22, “But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you're safe.” That shows you something about God, doesn't it? Praise God for His faithfulness to His own. God’s Renewed Promise to Abram Lot’s Separation from Abram and Its Significance And so, we see the contrast, that is Lot's faithless choice, and we see how long the slide was, you talk about the slippery slope, it starts up here and it ends up down there, somewhere you don't want to be. But in Verses 14 through 18, we see God's renewed promise to Abram; Lot's separation from Abram was significant. Lot and Abram clearly had different agendas and different world views at that moment. Lot wanted to live by sight, Abram wanted to live by faith, they had to separate, and so they did. God’s Renewed Two-Fold Promise to Abram But God makes his promise to Abram, again, faith must be restored and renewed. This is one of the things that I've learned from studying in the book of Genesis this time, how many times God makes the covenant promises to him again and again and again, it's the same thing. Always a little more information, but God restores and renews faith by the Word of God, and so all of you, if your faith is weak today, get back in the Word, read the scripture. Saturate your mind in the word of God, memorize, meditate, fill your hearts with the scripture, if you came in today weak in faith, getting weary in your spiritual life, get back into the Word of God and in prayer. That's how it starts. And so, He made him the promise in Verses 14-16, “The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.’” Verse 17, I love, “Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” What an incredible thing, isn't it? God wanted Abram to touch the soil, to smell it, to feel it, to walk around, to look at this little watered valley or to look at some trees or to look at something. And just have his faith renewed. Say, I'm giving this to you. I'm giving this to you. What would you rather have? Ten years living with Lot, near Sodom, in that well-watered land, or 10 minutes of a walk like that with God and saying, I'm giving this to you, I'm giving that to you. Isn't that marvelous? And yet it's all just words. It's just promise. It's just faith. Two Promises: The Land and Numerous Descendants And the same two promises again and again, I'll give you multiple descendants as numerous as the dust of the Earth, and I'm going to give you this land, north, south, east, and west, go walk through it, I'm giving it to you. And so, He renews his faith, but in Verse 18, Abram has to live in a tent and build altars. That's what he's going to do. Verse 18, “So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.” Abram’s Life of Tents and Altars Promised Land is not Possessed Land You know, promised land is not possessed land. Do you know how long it would take for Abram's descendants to get that land? I calculated over 500 years. Now I think back 500 years to what was going on in history, 1504, that's how long it would take for this promise to be fulfilled, 500 years. The land was promised directly to Abram and his descendants, but the Canaanites and Perizzites are still there, and in Genesis 14, Abram is going to be told that his descendants will go to a land not their own and they will be there for 400 years. But that's way down the line, even as it is, Abram died never having received the land, as the book of Hebrews makes plain. Hebrews 11:13 says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” Abram Lived in Tents Abram lived in a tent, moved from place to place. Now, I'm not recommending that those of you that have houses with foundations sell them and live in tents. I'm not sure where you'd go, I don't think there's a lot of camping ground around here, and wouldn't it be interesting if all First Baptist members showed up there with tents. But you could have a great witness, I'm sure, as people ask you what you're doing. But there's a symbol here, the idea of a tent is movability and not being weighed down by any sense or illusion of permanence here in this world. You have to carry everything you own with you, and so it kind of benefits you to give it away. Alright, why be burdened by that weight. Abram Built Altars Abram, it says, built altars, in Verse 18, it says “he built an altar to the Lord.” This was the ancestral altar, this is the father of the patriarch setting up the family altar, and there establishing patterns of family devotion that he would teach to his son Isaac and would be passed on from generation to generation, the family altar renewed and established. Perhaps you, as a father, made a commitment to a family altar a short time ago or even a while ago. Maybe you, like Abram, need to go back to the family altar, as it were, and clean the weeds off it, get the stones that have fallen down off it, put them back up, clean it up, and get it working again. That's what Abram had to do with the altar when he came back after Egypt. Maybe that's what you need to do as a father. Spiritual Lessons Now, what kind of spiritual lessons can we take from this story. First of all, on wealth. In this passage, wealth is seen neither as a blessing nor as a curse. Just something to deal with. We see it as a blessing from God for the sustaining of Abram’s family during a famine, because much of the wealth was in livestock and you can eat that and it can help you to survive, but it also was the reason for the quarreling and the parting with Lot. Secondly, on resolving conflict. Abram shows the way that a faith-filled man resolves conflict. If you truly believe that you will inherit the earth someday, then you can say all things are yours, the meek will inherit the earth, let it go. And, if God calls on you to be generous it's easier by faith, resolving conflict then becomes easier, too. The relationship with that individual is more eternal than any of the stuff over which you're having a conflict. A gentle answer turns away wrath. Thirdly, on choosing by faith not by sight, try to make every decision, whether who you should marry, what job you should take, what church you should attend, what you should do with your time, based on faith and what the word of God says. Which of these two choices will bring me closer and closer to the promise of God, and which one is going to lead me away? And if you make a mistake, a wrong judgment like Lot did, have the wisdom to do a U-turn and repent and get out of there before it gets worse and worse and worse. Lot was saved, but is it as if by escaping through the flames, what happened to his life and his witness? What was the fruit of Lot other than a warning? Live by faith not by sight, and on living near Sodom, if you live in the land that's characterized by ease and luxury and sexual perversion, be afraid and be on guard, because brothers and sisters, we do. Are you shocked anymore by the things that are going on in our country? I hope so. I hope we are not numb to what's happening with gay marriage, I hope we are not numb to that, it's the same thing. I hope we're not saying, “Oh, live and let live,” or “it's just the same old thing.” Are we not shocked by some of the things that we see in America today? And even more pointedly, what's happening in your heart as a result of living near Sodom? What's happening in your heart? Guard your heart. And if you've compromised already, understand that the God of this text of Genesis 13 is the God of restoration and renewal, who welcomes sinners back to the promise He originally made to them, and who makes the promise even better the next time. God is a God of restoring faith and grace, renew your faith in God's promises. And finally, be willing to live in a tent, metaphorically. If any of you are thinking of doing it physically, come and talk to me about it, and I'd like to find out what you have in mind. But, basically, acknowledge that nothing here is permanent, there is nothing with a lasting foundation here in this world. And establish the altar in the center of your life, not physically, but a calling out on the name of the Lord. It could be that you are listening to me today and you have never committed your life to Christ. Maybe you have never called on the name of the Lord at all. Maybe Jesus is not your Savior, when you walked in the door, he wasn't. Trust in Him, call on the name of the Lord. Trust in Him for your salvation. And then having done that, walk by faith and not by sight.