Herod Missed Christmas while the wise men worshipped (Matthew 2:1-12)

Posted on January 3, 2016 by sarhodes

Opening:
Video clip of the Elf Code from the movie Elf— “Treat every day like Christmas”
Christmas is not over and that is good because some have missed Christmas. Let me tell you about some of the Bible characters who missed Christmas and exhort you that it is not too late. You can celebrate Jesus’ life death and resurrection any day of the year.
Read with me Matthew 2:1-12:
The Magi Visit the Messiah
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

I. Herod missed Jesus (Matthew 2:1ff).
a. Herod was afraid of another king. Herod was the local king of Jerusalem. Herod was not even Jewish as he was an Edomite which means he was a descendant of Esau. Jewish kings were to be descendants of David.
b. Herod not only missed Christmas, Matt 2:16 tells us that Herod killed children 2 and under. Herod was so afraid of another king that he slaughtered the children of that age range.
i. Now, what about you? Have you missed Christmas
ii. Instead of simply taking stuff out like sin management, let’s make our Christian life a passion pursuit. Let’s follow Jesus so adamantly that we are so focused on Jesus and His greatness that we can’t miss Him.
iii. As the magi followed the star, let’s follow Jesus.
iv. It is not too late. We should worship Jesus as Lord every day of the year. We should celebrate His birth, life and resurrection every day of the year.
II. The teachers of the law and priests missed Christmas. In Matthew 2:3-4 Herod called them together and asked them where the Messiah was to be born and they responded, “In Bethlehem of Judea…”
a. They knew this. They had to have known why Herod asked. Why did they not go and look for the Messiah?
i. I think they were obviously indifferent. They were happy as religious scholars.
ii. We have the Messiah, we have the Gospel and His Word.
b. Please don’t be indifferent. Acknowledge Christmas. Don’t let the busyness of this time of year rob you of the joy of this time of year.
Something More at Christmas
What is supposed to be a time of peace and good will becomes, for some, a time when the reality of human greed and folly and cruelty mocks the lovely sentiments of the season. But I’m not sure anyone can experience what Christmas really means without confronting that sense of lost innocence and the potential for disillusionment the holiday can bring. Only after we truly face up to Christmas without Santa can we as adults begin to grapple with what Christmas is all about … God’s gift of ultimate hope that our human destiny is something more than a brief doomed moment in “the benign indifference of the universe.”
c. A few weeks ago I decided to put the Christmas tree up. It was prior to thanksgiving and Mercedes was very excited. She literally jumped up and down as she saw me bring the decorations up. Abigail watched with big eyes as I pulled the tree out of the box. She exclaimed “wow!” She really did. She was an amazement, real, true amazement. They were overjoyed. They watched intently as I was running our antique Lionel train.
d. I find myself missing the significance of Christmas. I am no longer like a child mesmerized. I wonder if I could be as excited as Mercedes and Abigail. Could I think with fresh eyes, “God became a man!”
e. It is not too late. Every day it is important to acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
III. I bet that is not all. It appears from Scripture that the people living in the immediate vicinity of the birth of Jesus missed Christmas. He was born in a stable. I know, I know, they didn’t know any better. No one knew the importance of this baby.
a. You now know. You know the importance of Christmas.
IV. Let’s be like the wise men who worshipped Jesus.
a. They recognized who Jesus Is and worshipped.
V. In verse 11, while Herod missed Christmas, in humility, the wise men worship Jesus.
a. They bowed down.
b. The N.E.T. Bible has a note that reads: “they fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”
c. Are we here to worshipping God in reverence?
d. Listen, I also have no problem with hand raising in worship but know what that means. What does that mean? It means surrender. We are surrender to Jesus and we raise our hands surrendering and exalting Jesus.
e. These wise men, or magi were wealthy, very wealthy and very wise and they surrendered and bowed down to a toddler.
f. My toddler wants me to surrender to her, but Jesus was and is worthy.
g. Whether we bow down or not, are we surrendering?
h. Are we metaphorically bowing down when we sing songs to God? What about when we pray to God?

Linus didn’t miss Christmas. Listen:
Play clip from the Peanuts.
This dog didn’t miss Christmas:

John 3:16 for God so loved you that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Do you believe that? It is something amazing! This is something to worship about every day.
Pray

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)
Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)
Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)
Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

The Journey, Luke 2:1-7

Posted on December 22, 2015 by sarhodes

Intro:

A few weeks ago I was visiting with one of our senior saints. I was talking about Christmas and she said, “I don’t know how they had babies back then.” I said something like, “yes and to be traveling during the ninth month of pregnancy!” We continued our conversation, I then parted ways, but I have to imagine the travel that happened in order for the first Christmas was very difficult.

But think about Christmas today. Our difficulty and even our busyness is of our own doing.

What do you have to get done for Christmas?

Shout some things out:

Bake cookies

More shopping

More decorating

Wrap gifts

Travel

Groceries

Etc.

These are all great things, but they are nothing compared to what Mary and Joseph went through. I am not meaning to criticize anyone here either.

Now, switch gears, think with me about a difficult time that ended okay… Maybe you did not know that God was going to use it for good until sometime later. Maybe you were laid off for a while but then God gave you a better job. Maybe you were laid off but then you realized you didn’t even need the job. Maybe something else was taken from you…

I also believe that God can use our hard times.

We are going to look at Luke 2:1-7 and mainly focus on the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

A few years ago, I had Elvis playing on the CD player while Meagan, myself and our two girls were driving around looking for a fishing spot. I thought it was great fun. But Meagan said something like, “Great, my idea of fun, driving around getting car sick while listening to Elvis.”

But when we think about Mary and Joseph traveling it was not in a car, they had no CD player, and, unfortunately, no Elvis music.

Think about it, they are traveling, Mary is in her ninth month of pregnancy. Mary could not have been enjoying this as a sight-seeing journey. But God used this difficult journey to bring the Savior into the world.

Let me say right now, I greatly benefited in ideas as well as cultural, geographical information from Adam Hamilton’s book, The Journey.[1]

Theme:

Mary and Joseph had a difficult journey heading into Jesus’ birth. God was going to use this for the good.

Application:

Let God use difficult things you go through for His glory and purposes.

Let’s read the passage:

Luke 2:1-7:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Let’s start by talking about what led up to the journey.
1. It is likely that while Mary was visiting her relative, Elizabeth, she went to see Joseph and tell him that she was pregnant. During that time She would have been in Ein Karem which is close to Bethlehem, which is where Joseph is from. Of course, Joseph was likely upset but then God spoke to him in a dream (Matthew 1:20-23) and he decided to stay by her.
2. Following that, it is likely that they talked to her parents and planned a wedding. We could call it eloping if we want. It is likely that they got married when she was about five months pregnant with our Lord.
3. There could have been people questioning things, likely there were.
4. It is likely that they traveled the 70 some miles back to Nazareth for the wedding.
5. It was common in that day that there would be a formal engagement. Following the formal engagement a husband would build a room onto his father’s house. About a year later he would marry the bride to be and they would live at the father of the groom’s house until they could afford their own house and land.
6. In this case things are different. Maybe, they planned to live at Joseph’s parent’s house after baby Jesus was born. However, they were in Nazareth prior to the census. It seems that they were planning to give birth in Nazareth. Nazareth would allow Mary to be close to her parents and maybe a midwife that she would know.
7. But then the census comes. The census meant that they would have to travel to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown and since Mary was married to him she would have to register with him in Bethlehem. It is likely that Joseph’s parents had a home in Bethlehem.
8. So, now they have to travel.
9. Mary is likely nine months pregnant, do you think she was excited to travel? What do you think?
10. I think she might have been thinking, “This is not how it was supposed to be. Why am I going through this?” She likely was having a hard time.
11. Sometimes we, also, are in difficult situations and we may be asking questions of the Lord as well. We may be going through cancer, loss of a loved one, out of work, dealing with difficult children. We can be sure that God is with us. We can be sure that God can also use what we are going through for His glory and will.
12. The route: There are two likely routes: and the following information about the route comes from the book The Journey by Adam Hamilton
  1. (There is a third route but not mentioned that often by scholars)
  2. The first route would have taken Mary and Joseph to the east, crossing the Jordan, then south sixty miles, and finally recrossing the Jordan near Jericho and west to Bethlehem. This route would have been followed by the Jews wishing to avoid the Samaritans who were a people of mixed race whose faith was largely influenced by Judaism but that had its own distinctive elements. The land of the Samaritans, Samaria— separated the Northern region of Galilee from the southern region of Judea. Many Jews considered the Samaritans unclean, or heretics, or worse. Because of the conflict with Samaritans, some Jews felt it might be dangerous to travel through Samaria; hence, for purity or safety many Jews went out of their way to avoid passing through it. But taking this route around Samaria would have added twenty or thirty miles to Mary and Joseph’s journey— perhaps two days.

This first route is believed by many pastors, teachers, and Biblical scholars to be the route that Joseph and Mary would have taken. Some argue that this route along the Jordan would also have been easier to travel because the Jordan River valley is a plain, and there is some truth to this.

The second route and the one Adam Hamilton thinks likely, was more direct. It took them nearly due south from Nazareth through the Jezreel Valley and along the road known as the Way of the Patriarchs. This route was easier through the first half of the journey, though the second half included some hills and mountains, with well known places to stop for water along the way. This route would have meant two fewer days of travel than the first route described.
In following the route through Samaria, the holy family would have been retracing sixteen hundred years of Biblical history.
The first century Jewish Historian, Josephus, is said to have noted that during the Passover, when large numbers of Jews were making their way to Jerusalem, it was not uncommon for Jews to go through Samaria.

Hundreds of thousands of others would be traveling south from Galilee just like Mary and Joseph.
It was in this area, in the center of this country that God appeared to Abraham and promised to give this land to his descendants.
1. Here Jacob saw angels ascending and descending to and from Heaven.
2. [If they went this way] Mary and Joseph’s Caravan made camp near springs and wells each night that had been used since the time of the Patriarchs, including “Jacob’s Well” near the town of Sychar.
3. They passed the place where Joseph, the son of Jacob, whose story we recall from the Old Testament, was buried after his bones were brought back from Egypt.
4. They came to Shiloh, where Joshua had set up the tent of meeting and the Ark of the Covenant.
5. They walked where the great early prophets Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha ministered.
6. They followed the path of the Assyrian army when it came to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel and where the armies of Babylon marched as they invaded Judea and Jerusalem itself and carried away its people.
7. They also retraced the steps of the exiles who returned singing “unto Zion” after the Exile was over.
8. God walked with His people through all of these journeys.

If they took this route it would have been a recounting geographically of God’s salvation history. Also, the Baby in her womb was and is the Apex of this history.
Later in John 4:10 and 14 we see that Jesus stopped in Samaria at Jacob’s well in Sychar and offered a woman “living water.”
Luke 10 and Jesus’ scandalous parable of the good Samaritan in which He made a Samaritan man the example of what it means to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” showing the Samaritan to be more righteous than either a Jewish priest or a Levite.
Did Jesus learn this attitude from His mother and father?
Who are our Samaritans and where is our Samaria?
Which groups do we feel an aversion for?
Where are the places in our own city, country or world that we would avoid because we are uncomfortable with “those people”?

Let’s think about the travel
1. There is no mention of a donkey though Joseph likely would have procured an animal for her to ride on. The apocryphal Gospel of James does mention a donkey.
2. They would have a descent from the hills into the Jezreel Valley. This would have been the easiest part of the journey and may have taken the first two days.
3. The Jezreel Valley was the location of so many of the ancient battles that it became synonymous with war and bloodshed. The writer of Revelation saw the final, apocalyptic battle between good and evil—the battle of Armageddon— taking place here. (Armageddon means “hill of Megiddo,” with Megiddo being a city built upon a hill along the Jezreel Valley— see Revelation 16:16.)
4. The child in Mary’s womb would be called the Prince of Peace yet someday will return on a white horse, to wage war against evil and ultimately to triumph over it (Rev. 19:11-16).
5. The journey would get more difficult after several days. Following the ancient road that curved back and forth as it ascended and descended the hills and mountains of central Israel.
6. Mary and Joseph would have traveled up higher and higher hills.
7. From Jerusalem it would only be a few hours walk to Bethlehem across several miles of arid desert and some hills.
8. Then they arrive at Bethlehem.

But think about Jesus’ birth. If Joseph is from Bethlehem, why no place to stay.
1. Think about a first century home:
  1. central room that served as a kitchen and living area
  2. sleeping quarters where parents slept

guest room where children slept and they yielded to guests when there was company

when there were guests the children slept with their parents or in the living area
there was also a stable or small barn either behind the home or, in the case of homes built around caves, beneath the home. The stable protected the animals from predators or animals at night.

Assuming that Joseph’s family was of modest income, they would have had one guest room. The guest room might hold bed mats for 6 people sleeping side by side. The main living room and kitchen could hold several more.
How many of Joseph’s extended family were in Bethlehem because of the census?
If Joseph had four or five siblings and each of them had family, it is easy to see why there would have been no room in the guest room.
Imagine her sitting on the birthing stole, between contractions choking back the tears, thinking this is not how it was supposed to be. She was not supposed to be giving birth in her in-laws barn.

Some final applications:
1. This was not a silent night
2. All was not calm and bright
3. It was a disappointing and depressing night. It was hard.
4. He was born not in a hospital, or in a guest room but in a stable.
5. We all have journeys that are difficult:
  1. Jacob’s son, Joseph, was sold into slavery. (Gen. 37)
  2. David fled Saul and fled to the Philistines for a few years (1 Samuel 19ff and chapter 27) and he wrote Psalms asking, “Why do You allow my enemies to prosper?” “When are You going to save me?” That was not the end of the story.
  3. Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego were told to bow down and worship the king’s image, but they didn’t. (Daniel 3) That was not the end of the story.
  4. The people of Israel were exiled for 50 years but that was not the end.
  5. Now, the child born in a stable would walk to Calvary, but that was not the end of the story.

All of us take difficult journeys but God walks with us on the journeys. God redeems the journeys and that is not the end of the story.

Mary could not see that the angels would be rejoicing. She could not see that we would be reading the story two thousand years later. However, we are.

Prayer

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

[1] Rev 2:20-23

Hamilton, Adam (2011-09-01). The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem. Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

Posted on December 14, 2015 by sarhodes

Opening:

The American storyteller Garrison Keillor recently claimed that you don’t have to believe in Jesus to have a great Christmas. Keillor said,

Although you may decide that instead of Christmas carols you are going to hold hands and breathe in unison, Christmas will still live deep in the cockles of your heart—or actually in your neo-cortex, stored as zillions of neuron impulses … It’s [your brain] that sends tears to your eyes when you smell the saffron cookies that your grandma used to make or you sing Silent Night. So Christmas is: number one lights, number two food, number three song, number four being with people you like. You need no more.

Tim Keller comments on Keillor’s quote:

Keillor is saying that it doesn’t matter whether you believe in God or not. You can still hold hands, you can still breathe in unison. All the good feelings of Christmas are just a reaction in our brain. But here’s why that doesn’t work. I know enough about Garrison Keillor to know that he is very upset with cruelty and prejudice. But if it’s really true that there is no God, if there is no supernatural or miracles, and if everything is a function of natural causes—if that is all true, then it is also true that love, and joy, and even cruelty and prejudice are just all chemical reactions stored in our brain. Keillor is against cruelty and prejudice, but if it’s true that everything is just chemistry, then how in the world can you say there’s a moral difference between love and cruelty, between kissing someone or killing someone? They’re both nothing but neuro-chemical responses. So if there is no God, and if Christmas is all about lights, songs, and being with nice people and your neo-cortex going crazy about it, then I don’t see how Keillor can stand up and say that there is something wrong with cruelty and prejudice. He can’t do it. Without the theology behind Christmas, you lose the core meaning of Christmas.[1]

So, as we move towards Christmas remember the importance of what is happening. Remember the reality and the truth of what is happening. Next, to get closer to today’s message, we see certain values present in Mary’s Magnificat. We see certain values addressed. The Magnificat is addressing injustice. We’ll look at that in a moment, but let’s look at a bigger picture. The Gospel is addressing injustice. Somehow we know and we believe in morality. Somehow we know and we believe that certain things are wrong and others are right. Somehow we believe in love. We believe in joy. We get these values somewhere. The Bible teaches that we get these values from God. (Romans 1:18-19; 2:15) Even more than that, we believe that certain things are wrong. If we believe certain things are wrong like murder, stealing, telling lies and just being mean, which the Bible calls sin. How do we make it right? Jesus’ death and resurrection takes care of our sin.

So, Mary is pregnant with Jesus. She is likely a little bit down. She may be very down. She doesn’t know how she is going to handle everything coming her way, but she is encouraged by her relative Elizabeth. Have you ever been encouraged?

Have you ever thought you had more coming your way than you could handle?

Who encouraged you?

Who motivated you?

Let’s look at the passage.

Let’s read Luke 1:39-45:

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!

Theme: Mary visits Elizabeth and she is encouraged

Applications: Kneel before Jesus as Lord and be used of God to encourage others.

Kneel before Jesus as Lord.
1. We need to notice who the first person to call Jesus Lord was. If you look at this passage it was Elizabeth.
2. Let me put this in context. The angel Gabriel visit Mary and tells her she is going to be pregnant with the Messiah. That happens in Luke 1:26-38. That passage ends with Mary saying, “I am the Lord’s servant…” Then Mary leaves and goes to visit her relative Elizabeth. This was likely an 8-9 day journey through Mountains and rough land. She is going from Nazareth to Ein Karem which is the traditional location of Elizabeth and Zachariah’s home.

Adam Hamilton believes that another reason for Mary to visit Elizabeth would be the proximity of her home to the home of Joseph. Tradition says that her home would have been in Ein Karem just about an hour walk and a few miles from the Temple mount in Jerusalem. Ein Karem is mentioned in Jeremiah 6:1 and Nehemiah 3:14 as “Beth-Haccherem” Ein Karem is 80 miles from Mary’s home in Nazareth. This may have taken 8-9 days and she would not have traveled alone. Mary stayed with Elizabeth until the end of the pregnancy.[2]

Mary enters Elizabeth’s house and says, “Elizabeth, it’s me!” Then the baby in Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptizer, leaped in her womb. Verse 41 says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Understand that is an amazing statement. In the Old Testament only prophets and certain kings received the Holy Spirit. So, in Psalm 51:11: King David laments: “Take not the Holy Spirit from me.” There was a fear of losing the Holy Spirit.
It was once said, “I wonder what it was like for Moses to talk to God as he did.” Yet Moses could have thought, “What is it like to have God with you?” We receive the Holy Spirit when we commit to Christ (John 14-17). We have God with us. (2 Cor. 6:16) Don’t take this lightly.
Now, having the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth encourages Mary.

She says in verse 42: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child that you bear.”
Imagine Mary being down and struggling with this task and now her relative is saying, “You are blessed.” “You are really blessed.”

But verse 43: “But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Catch this: Elizabeth is an ordinary person and God calls her to do an extraordinary thing. She is bearing John the Baptizer. She is encouraging Mary. She is saying, “Who am I?” But then she calls Jesus Lord.
How would she know? She is filled with the Holy Spirit and so she is the first to call Jesus Lord.

Romans 10:9-10 tells us to call Jesus Lord, do you?
In verses 39-45: 3 times the word “blessed” is used. Twice it refers to Mary and once to Jesus.

Be an encourager.
1. Mary is likely 10 days pregnant at this point. She has not been pregnant long.
2. She needs encouraged and Elizabeth gave her that encouragement.

Everyone needs an encourager. Let me jump to mentors. Elizabeth is an older woman, that is not Mary’s mom, who can voice wisdom in her life. I have often heard that everyone should have a mentor, everyone should be mentoring someone else and everyone should have a peer that they can connect with. How are you doing in this area?

I heard about a church that decided to take this mentoring seriously, so on all of their committees they chose to have one third of the participants be fifty-five and older, one third are to be thirty-five through fifty-five years old and one third of the committee are to be thirty five and younger. What a great idea for mentoring.

The Gospel is counter-cultural, let’s look at the Magnificat.
1. I want to put out some verses from the Magnificat. Mary’s Magnificat is in verses 46-56.
2. Magnificat comes from the Latin: “magnify” or “praise” this is based on the way Mary began her Psalm: “My Soul Magnifies the Lord.”

Mary was from a town so small it could barely be a dot on a map. Joseph was a carpenter and his net worth could fit in a tool box.

He scatters the proud and pulls down the mighty from their thrones. (verses 51-52)
Compare this with what Jesus will later say:
Jesus had said, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.”

Jesus said, “if you really want to be great you will be the servant of others.”
Jesus said, “If you are invited to a wedding banquet take the lower seat.”

Jesus said, “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.” (Matthew 20:16, 26; Luke 14:8-11; James 4:10)
In Mary’s Magnificat we find a picture of a God who is for the underdog and is for people who have been made to be feel like nobodies. Those are the ones He lifts up. That is the character of the God proclaimed in the Scriptures. That is the character of His Son.
The Magnificat says that “He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty handed.” (verse 53)

This is an opportunity for the rich to humble themselves and be used of God.
The Magnificat is counter-cultural. The Magnificat is about how God uses ordinary people for extraordinary things.

So, review:

Mary and Elizabeth, two ordinary people who God used to do the extraordinary.

Theme: Mary visits Elizabeth and she is encouraged

Applications: Kneel before Jesus as Lord and be used of God to encourage others.

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] Adapted from Tim Keller, “God with Us: Conversations with Tim Keller about Christmas”

[2] Hamilton, Adam (2011-09-01). The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem. Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

Joseph, God used ordinary people

Posted on December 7, 2015 by sarhodes

Tell me about Joseph. Shout out something that you know about Joseph.

Think about your nativity scene. How many of you have a Nativity Set?

Is Joseph old or young?

So little is known about Joseph that by the beginning of the second century, Christians began to develop traditions about him— traditions that are not likely historically accurate, although we cannot be sure. They began to teach that Joseph was an elderly widower when he married Mary; one source says he was 93 at the time and lived to be 111, dying when Jesus was 18. This tradition seemed to have developed as a way of asserting that a kind elderly gentleman took Mary in to care for her, and since he was more like a grandfather than a husband, the marriage was never consummated and Mary remained a virgin throughout her life. This picture of Joseph also provided one possible explanation for the brothers and sisters of Jesus mentioned in Matthew 13: 55-56 and elsewhere: they could have been Joseph’s children by a deceased wife. (Roman Catholics, for whom the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary is important, will also point out that “brothers and sisters” in the Gospels can also mean cousins or close family members.)

This idea that Joseph was elderly is represented in a good deal of art from the Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions, where Joseph is often portrayed as an older man. Most Protestants who regard the second-century traditions that developed about Joseph as spurious assume that Joseph was likely the age of any other young man getting married at the time— around fourteen or fifteen. So, Protestant portrayals tend to show Joseph as a young man. (As an aside, take a look at your nativity set and see if your Joseph is portrayed as an older man or a young man; if he is older the artist likely came from a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox tradition.)

Theme:

Today, I want to talk about Joseph. I want to tell you that Joseph was ordinary. I want to tell you that God used Him.

Application:

I want to tell you to never discount the ordinary. God will use ordinary events, ordinary people and you.

Let’s read Matthew 1:18-25:

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:²³“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Let’s start by talking about Joseph as ordinary.
1. Joseph never said a word in the Gospels. He is never quoted.
2. Joseph is from Bethlehem.
3. In Matthew, Nazareth is not mentioned until 2:23. Then Jesus would have been at least two years old.
4. In Matthew’s Gospel, Bethlehem appears to be Joseph’s hometown. Luke 2:3 would seem to corroborate this when it notes that, with the census.
5. Since Nazareth was certainly Mary’s hometown, Joseph and Mary’s engagement was most likely long-distance, arranged by their respective families in Bethlehem and Nazareth. Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1: 39-56). The traditional location of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s home is called Ein Karem, only four miles from Bethlehem. So, immediately upon discovering she was pregnant, Mary traveled nine days south to a town four miles from Bethlehem, where she would spend the next three months.
6. Since Joseph’s hometown was Bethlehem, then it would have been during this time that Joseph visited Mary and learned that his betrothed was pregnant. It would have been during this time, these first three months of Mary’s pregnancy, that Joseph would have had his own “annunciation” by means of a dream.
7. I learned something recently and that is Following those events, he would have taken Mary back to Nazareth, where the couple was married and began their life together until forced to return to Bethlehem for the census.
8. Bethlehem means “House of Bread.” It was home to laborers and sheepherders, but it was also home to farmers who grew wheat and barley and likely to millers and bakers— hence the name, “House of Bread.” We can surmise that bread was baked there and then probably delivered to customers in Jerusalem.
9. Bethlehem and Nazareth were both common, ordinary places. Joseph was a common, ordinary man.
10. A few years ago I mentioned that Joseph would have been a common day laborer and I received a question later on. Carpenter in that day was not the same as a carpenter today. As I wrote in my Chimes article, to be a carpenter meant “one who works with their hands.”
11. There was not a lot of wood in Israel and Joseph likely worked with stone or even in the fields. This was a common, ordinary job. It was not a respectable job. It was hard work. It was back breaking work. The occupation was just above the servant status.
12. Joseph was ordinary. Don’t discount what God will do through the ordinary.
God did the extraordinary through Joseph.

Joseph could have had Mary stoned. He could have divorced her. But he did not. First he could expose her as unfaithful and maybe she could be stoned, though that was rare in the first century. She would probably suffer shame of a public divorce. (Deut. 22:23-24)
A second option was to grant her a private divorce, in which case Joseph needed only to hand her a written certificate in the presence of two witnesses (cf. Num. 5:11-31).75
His third option was to remain engaged and not divorce Mary, but this alternative appeared to Joseph to require him to break the Mosaic Law (Lev. 20:10).
1. You know I bet that once it was out that Mary was pregnant Joseph had all kinds of people telling him what to do. Don’t you think there were many people telling Joseph their opinion? If your spouse is pregnant by another man wouldn’t some of your co workers be telling you various things? People are probably telling Joseph to have her stoned. People are probably telling him to make a statement with this. People are probably telling him to divorce her quietly. And I am sure he has friends saying, “Ya know Joseph, I have known Mary’s family. We are waiting on the Messiah, maybe she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit.” There may be those saying, “Ya know Joseph, I have heard about Zechariah the priest, his wife wasn’t supposed to get pregnant and she is. Supposedly, he saw the angel Gabriel. Maybe God is doing something new. Maybe you should believe her.”
  1. God spoke to Joseph in a dream. (Matthew 1:20-21) Joseph obeyed. Joseph likely went to see Mary while she was at Elizabeth’s place and that is when he found out she was pregnant. In the walk home he may have been boiling. He might have been weeping as he walked away. But he calmed down. He would have had about a ninety minute walk home. During this time he must have thought about how much the news would damage Mary. He must have thought about how she could be stoned. Then God spoke to Joseph.
  2. He surrendered to the Lord (verses 20-25 show how he followed what the Angel of the Lord said. Verse 24 specifically says that he obeyed)
  3. So verse 19 says that he would divorce her quietly.
  4. Verse 19 says that he was going to do that because he was a righteous man.
  5. Then verse 20 has the angel of the Lord coming to Joseph in a dream. The child to be conceived is from the Holy Spirit.
  6. Verse 21 has the angel telling Joseph that He will save His people from their sins. Then verse 22 is stating that this is happening to fulfill what and Isaiah 7:14 says. Verse 23: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).
  7. Verses 24-25 show that Joseph obeyed what the angel said.
  8. Joseph was faithful to God’s Word including purity (Verse 25 says that he kept her a virgin until the birth.).
  9. This was the man who was the earthly father of Christ the King.

The purpose of this passage is not to talk about ordinary, the purpose is to talk about the birth of Jesus. But God did use the ordinary.
1. Are you willing to be used of God?
2. What about ordinary people, events, places, do you discount them?
3. Do you think, “God could never use me…”?
4. Do you discount others?
5. Now, notice that Joseph obeyed and we must as well. Notice that many times in Scriptures God uses people who were discounted such as John 8 and the woman in adultery, but also notice that Jesus says, “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11)
6. But He first said, “I do not condemn you” (she was given forgiveness) and we all need forgiven, we need to know that we are forgiven. It is that forgiveness that drives us to serve God, to live for Him, to honor Him. Forgiveness is a stronger force than saying “go sin no more.” The “sin no more part” will naturally follow and flow out of our gratitude of being forgiven so extravagantly, so completely. How can we resist loving a God who does that? How can we resist giving our all for Him who gave His all? How can we resist doing whatever He asks of us? If we do resist, then we either do not have an understanding of His extravagant forgiveness or we are unable to forgive ourselves. But He has forgiven us, so if we refuse to forgive ourselves, we are sinning by not accepting His forgiveness.[1]
7. We must follow Him. Are you following?
8. Follow Jesus, God will use you.
9. Trust that God will use your children and grandchildren as well. Trust that God will show up and use the most unlikely of circumstances.
10. I believe this and I believe this is so that He is more glorified. Our lives are about God’s glory.

In a short devotional for Christmas, writer Paul Williams reflects on why he still remembers one particular Christmas pageant from 1981. It all starts with a strep-stricken son. He writes:

The dull eyes tipped me off before he could open his mouth. Jonathan had strep throat. It seemed the children in our family picked up strep two or three times a year, and someone always had it during the holidays.

Jonathan had been excited about the nursery school Christmas play for a couple of weeks. He would be Joseph. Mary would be played by a Jewish girl from down the block. Yes, her parents had given permission for her to be in the Christmas pageant.

With neck glands swollen and his voice a nasally whine, Jonathan begged to go to the festivities. Against our better judgment, we acquiesced. Bundling our son in his warmest coat, we drove the five short miles to the Central Islip Church of Christ. By the time all the parents had squeezed into the small auditorium, Jonathan was as white as the pillowcase he was wearing as a head covering. He looked fragile and diminutive.

Cathy and I sat on the front row. Jonathan came down the aisle hand in hand with Mary, and the two sat down on the second step below the manger, recently retrieved from its usual home in the boiler room. Jonathan was looking paler still, all the light out of his big blue eyes. He looked at us and managed a weak smile.

As soon as the play was over we hauled Jonathan off to the doctor’s office. Since our family doctor was a friend, we sneaked in and out in no time. Filled with penicillin, our son was feeling better the next morning. I do not remember much about the rest of that Christmas season, though I am sure it was utterly delightful, as all Christmas celebrations are.

I have often pondered why that is my only remembrance of that Christmas, in December of 1981. Of all the memories of all our family Christmas experiences, what makes that one event stand out?

I know the reason.

Christmas is truly about frail vulnerability, freely chosen. With heart in throat God watched his infant Son cry and squirm in the cold manger, where there was no penicillin.

I know how I felt watching my son with his head resting in those small hands, wanting to be brave, but weak and unsteady. I can only imagine what my heavenly Father thought, seeing his infant Son in the hands of a frightened young girl.[2]

Used by permission. For more articles like this, visitChristianStandard.com.

Paul Williams, “And So It Goes: One Christmas Pageant,”ChristianStandard.com(11-18-09)

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] Janet Wise’s comments

[2] http://www.preachingtoday.com/search/?query=joseph&searcharea=illustrations&type=keyword

We Are Released from the Law, Bound to Christ (Romans 7:6)

Posted on November 16, 2015 by sarhodes

Opening:

John Ortburg writes:

My friend, Jimmy, and his son, Davey, were playing in the ocean down in Mexico, while his family—his wife, daughters, parents, and a cousin—were on the beach. Suddenly, a rogue riptide swept Davey out to the sea. Immediately Jimmy started to do whatever he could to help Davey get back to the shore, but he, too, was soon swept away in the tide. He knew that in a few minutes, both he and Davey would drown. He tried to scream, but his family couldn’t hear him.

Jimmy’s a strong guy—an Olympic Decathlete—but he was powerless in this situation. As he was carried along by the water, he had a single, chilling thought: My wife and my daughters are going to have to have a double funeral.

Meanwhile, his cousin, who understood something about the ocean, saw what was happening. He walked out into the water where he knew there was a sandbar. He had learned that if you try to fight a riptide, you will die. So, he walked to the sandbar, stood as close as he could get to Jimmy and Davey, and then he just lifted his hand up and said, “You come to me. You come to me.”

If you try to go the way your gut tells you to go—the shortest distance into shore—you will die. If you think for yourself, you will die. God says, “If you come to me, you will live.” That’s it—death or life.[1]

The Bible talks about this in Romans. We are now in Romans 7 and this small passage is a continuation of chapter 6. Chapter 6 was about how our sin nature died with Christ. Chapter 7 now illustrates how we died to the law and we are free to live by the Spirit.

Theme:

We are released from the law, bound to Christ

Application: Walk by Jesus (Col. 2:6)

Read with me Romans 7:6:

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Let’s also read Col. 2:6:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him…

Some translations say: ‘“Walk’ in Him…”

Look at verse 6. We are released from the law.
1. The Bible says that we are dying to what once bound us.
2. We were bound to the law, but not anymore.
3. Do you think the law helps us to live for Jesus?
4. Do you think the law makes us righteous?

Experiment Shows How the Law Leads to Sin

Robert Cialdini, a researcher and an expert on the theory of persuasion, conducted an experiment at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The park had a problem, as it made clear on a warning sign:

YOUR HERITAGE IS BEING VANDALIZED EVERY DAY BY THEFT LOSSES OF PETRIFIED WOOD OF 14 TONS A YEAR, MOSTLY A SMALL PIECE AT A TIME.

The sign plainly appealed to the visitors’ sense of moral outrage. Cialdini wanted to know if this appeal was effective. So he and some colleagues ran an experiment. They seeded various trails throughout the forest with loose pieces of petrified wood, ready for the stealing. On some trails, they posted a sign warning not to steal; other trails got no sign. The result? The trails with the warning sign had nearly three times more theft than the trails with no signs.

How could this be? Cialdini concluded that the park’s warning sign, designed to send a moral message, perhaps sent a different message as well. Something like: Wow, the petrified wood is going fast—I’d better get mine now! Or: Fourteen tons a year!? Surely it won’t matter f I take a few pieces[2].

That is a humorous example and psychologist could get into how some people are natural law keepers and others are natural law breakers. I remember being taught about that in college.
For example: some of you are driving down a country road in the middle of the night and you come to a red light and you will stop and wait and wait and wait. No one is coming but you wait and wait and wait. Is that you? Raise your hand.
Others come to the red light in the middle of the night and you wait a second and think, no one is coming I am going.
A better example is when the sign says “No right on red.” Isn’t it easy to say, “Come on it is 2:00 A.M.” But others would not dare disobey that law.
The law does not make us righteous.
This passage is not meaning the law is bad.
Just turn to Psalm 19 or Psalm 119. The law is good, but we could not keep it.

So, we are to serve in the Spirit.
1. With children it is said to make sure you replace things if you take something away.
2. In that manner we are released from the bondage to the law and instead we have the Spirit.
3. The point is that our first husband was the law and he died, so we are free to marry our new husband Jesus.
4. Paul writes about that in verses 2-5.
5. The law side died with our sin nature when we committed to Christ. The law was good, but the need to keep the law in order for salvation died with our sin nature.
6. This goes along with Romans 6:3-4: Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptizedinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

We are free to walk in the Spirit or live by Christ. Look at Col. 2:6: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,continue to live your lives in him…

Let’s apply this:
1. We now serve Christ out of grace, not because of a law.
2. We are not “in the flesh” (verse 5) we are no longer bound by our sin nature and the sinful passions. We are in the Spirit. We must live in the Spirit, being an imitator of God (Ephesians 5:1-2, 8 and 15; Col. 1:10 and 2:6)
3. Now in the newness of the Spirit we produce fruit, spiritual fruit.
4. We must live Christ victoriously, not as if I am defeated, stuck in sin.
5. Our old sin nature, flesh nature, died with Christ (Romans 6:3). So, we are “pre-resurrected” with Christ as well. We must live this way. (Romans 6:4)

Closing:

God gave us grace and mercy.

Max Lucado shares:

The bank sent me an overdraft notice on the checking account of one of my daughters. I encourage my college-age girls to monitor their accounts. Even so, they sometimes overspend.

What should I do? Send her an angry letter? Admonition might help her later, but it won’t satisfy the bank. Phone and tell her to make a deposit? Might as well tell a fish to fly. I know her liquidity. Zero. Transfer the money from my account to hers? Seemed to be the best option. After all, I had $25.37. I could replenish her account and pay the overdraft fee as well. Since she calls me Dad, I did what dads do. I covered my daughter’s mistake.

When I told her she was overdrawn, she said she was sorry. Still, she offered no deposit. She was broke. She had one option, “Dad, could you…” “Honey,” I interrupted, “I already have.” I met her need before she knew she had one.

Long before you knew you needed grace, your Father did the same. He made an ample deposit. Before you knew you needed a Savior, you had one. And when you ask him for mercy, he answers, “Dear child. I’ve already given it.”[3]

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] John Ortberg, in the sermon The Way of Wisdom, PreachingToday.com

[2] Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Think Like a Freak(William Morrow, 2014), pp 115-116

[3] Max Lucado, Cure for the Common Life (Thomas Nelson, 2008), pp. 69-70

Today’s sermon, Romans 3:21-31

Posted on October 11, 2015 by sarhodes

In Josh McDowell’s book More than a Carpenter he has a dialogue with a group when he says he hates religion to which they respond and he writes:

“I didn’t say religion, I said Jesus Christ!” She pointed out something I had never known: Christianity is not a religion. Religion is humans trying to work their way to God through good works. Christianity is God coming to men and women through Jesus Christ.[1]

Religion is works based.

Ray Ortlund Jr writes:

We were married to Mr. Law. He was a good man, in his way, but he did not understand our weakness. He came home every evening and asked, “So, how was your day? Did you do what I told you to? Did you make the kids behave? Did you waste any time? Did you complete everything I put on your To Do list?” So many demands and expectations. And hard as we tried, we couldn’t be perfect. We could never satisfy him. We forgot things that were important to him. We let the children misbehave. We failed in other ways. It was a miserable marriage, because Mr. Law always pointed out our failings. And the worst of it was, he was always right! But his remedy was always the same: Do better tomorrow. We didn’t, because we couldn’t.

Then Mr. Law died. And we remarried, this time to Mr. Grace. Our new husband, Jesus, comes home every evening and the house is a mess, the children are being naughty, dinner is burning on the stove, and we have even had other men in the house during the day. Still, he sweeps us into his arms and says, “I love you, I chose you, I died for you, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And our hearts melt. We don’t understand such love. We expect him to despise us and reject us and humiliate us, but he treats us so well. We are so glad to belong to him now and forever, and we long to be “fully pleasing to him” (Col. 1:10)!

Being married to Mr. Law never changed us. But being married to Mr. Grace is changing us deep within, and it shows.[2]

Christianity is all about Jesus. As we have looked at Romans we see that we have all broken the law. Last week we looked at a list of sins and a passage showing that we have all messed up. So, now there is a transition and Romans 3:21-31 is all about how we are made right by Jesus.

Theme: Jesus came to freely make us right with God

Application:

We must only trust in Jesus, not our own hard work in order to be right with God.

Let’s read Romans 3:21-31:

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²²This righteousness is given through faith in^[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. ²⁸For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. ²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,³⁰since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. ³¹Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Let’s briefly look at the passage: Let’s look at verses 21-24:
1. Verse 22-23:
2. This is about the righteousness of God.
3. How does this righteousness come?
4. For all those who believe—- through faith in Jesus Christ.
5. For there is no distinction.
6. This means that there is no distinction in who can be saved.
7. Verse 23 is like a tag line: for all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.
8. Verse 24:
9. Justified: just as if I never sinned. This is a legal term. It means that God looks upon us and sees Jesus’ righteousness and not our sinfulness. This a legal term mixed with an accounting term that means that God adds our full sin debt to Jesus which He paid in full at the cross and then Jesus gives a full credit of purity, righteousness and holiness to us. To God we are holy. To God we are perfect. To God it is as if we never sinned. This is a loaded term. Notice this verse says that this happened as a gift, by His grace. Grace means unmerited favor. We are all justified freely. This is by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. To redeem means to buy back.
10. It is like buying back a slave. This passage is full of terms that are legal and have to do with salvation. AMEN!!!
11. We could not earn salvation!!! Jesus gave it to us. Remember chapter 3:1-20 and what a mess we were all in? Now look what Jesus gifts us with?
No boasting allowed, we are saved by God’s grace.
1. As we get into verses 25-31 Paul writes about boasting. Can we boast in our salvation? No way.
2. This passage meant that the Jews cannot boast by being Jewish.
3. This is all about Jesus.
4. Imagine that someone out there is the child of a millionaire. As the child grows up he has a lot of pressure on him, but also a lot of privileges. So this young man is raised with the best of an education. He has the best college and grad school. After school he is very successful. He might have worked hard, but can he boast? No, he cannot. His father gave him advantages. His father gave him freely the best education.
5. I was once talking with a family and a woman said, “My husband would say, ‘I worked hard for what I have.’” That may be true, but there are others in other countries or places in the U.S. who work just as hard for less.
6. This is all about Jesus.
7. Romans could end here. The rest of the book of Romans is illustrating and defending the idea of salvation for all by grace.

Give glory to God
1. How do we respond? Give glory to God.
2. Do you ever think about God’s Glory?
3. The term is used some 340 times in the Bible we see
4. verses such as:
5. Exodus 14:4: (see also 14:18; 16:7,10; 24:16; 24:17; 28:2; 28:40, etc.)
  1. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”
6. We fall short of God’s glory. We always will, there is no way that we cannot fall short of
7. God’s glory, we always sin. So, Jesus made a way.
8. We serve a God who is to be glorified and IS full of Glory.

Close:

I have shared this before but it fits so well:

In his best-selling book The Reason for God, Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan, shares the story of a woman in his congregation who was learning how the grace extended to us through Christ’s work on the cross can actually be more challenging than religion. He writes:

Some years ago I met with a woman who began coming to church at Redeemer and had never before heard a distinction drawn between the gospel and religion [i.e. the distinction between grace and what is often a works-based righteousness]. She had always heard that God accepts us only if we are good enough. She said that the new message was scary. I asked why it was scary and she replied: If I was saved by my good works then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with “rights”—I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if I am a sinner saved by grace—then there’s nothing he cannot ask of me.”

She understood the dynamic of grace and gratitude. If when you have lost all fear of punishment you also lose all incentive to live a good, unselfish life, then the only incentive you ever had to live a decent life was fear. This woman could see immediately that the wonderful-beyond-belief teaching of salvation by sheer grace had an edge to it. She knew that if she was a sinner saved by grace, she was (if anything) more subject to the sovereign Lordship of God. She knew that if Jesus really had done all this for her, she would not be her own. She would joyfully, gratefully belong to Jesus, who provided all this for her at infinite cost to himself.[3]

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] McDowell, Josh D.; Sean McDowell (2011-08-17). More Than a Carpenter (Kindle Locations 193-195). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[2] Ray Ortlund, “Who are you married to?”The Gospel Coalition blog—Ray Ortlund (2-15-15)

[3] Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (Riverhead Books, 2008), pp. 189-19

God’s wrath on us points to our need for Jesus (Romans 1:18)

Posted on September 20, 2015 by sarhodes

Introduction:

In Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Grace he gives real testimonies of:

Racists transformed by God’s grace
Addicts transformed by God’s grace
Murderers transformed by God’s grace
The Abused transformed by God’s grace
The Abusers transformed by God’s grace

From street children to death–row convicts, this book shows time and time again that grace can break through every circumstance, situations and darkness. It is an unstoppable force for good, one you can chose to revolutionise your life and others around you today.

I remember jogging up Georgetown road listening to one of the “Case for…” books as Lee writes about a man formerly on death row who had been transformed by Christ and is now a pastor.

How does this happen? How do people change? What is the big deal?

C.S. Lewis writes about our moral law and believes that this is evidence for a God. Without God, how can we know that there really is a right and a wrong?

I want to get into a passage about this very thing and my theme comes from Romans 1:18 and is:

God’s Wrath on us Points to Our Need for Christ

That is my theme. As we look at this passage and the messages over the next few weeks, we will see that we all, and everyone, need Jesus. No one is good enough.

Application:

Trust in Jesus and point others towards Him as well.

Read with me Romans 1:18:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness…

First let’s look at the context of this passage.
1. From 1:18-3:32 the major point in Romans is that being Jewish does not give one salvation, nor does being gentile. No one escapes the consequence of their sin.
2. Remember Romans is Paul’s great treatise on Salvation. This is called This is very important for us to take seriously.
3. As we look at the following verses we see a litany of sins.
4. As we jump ahead we see chapter 2 which is directed at the Jews and begins with: You, therefore, have no excuse.
5. As we get into chapter 3 Paul begins with What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of Christ.
6. In 3:10-20 there is a quote from the Psalm regarding Jewish unrighteousness.
7. Then we come to 3:23: for all have sinnedand fall short of the glory of God,
8. But check out verse 24:
9. and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
10. Do you see my point?
11. Prior to looking at these passages and thinking, “How legalistic Paul is!” Prior to looking at these passages and thinking, “I cannot believe Paul would mention these political incorrect things!”
12. Realize that Paul is pointing people to Jesus.
13. Paul and the other Inspired writers of the Bible were not afraid to offend people and this is because we must be aware of our sin so that we realize that we need a Savior.
14. Preach the Gospel
15. I read somewhere: Nobody in hell says, “I’m glad my feelings were never offended.” Preach the gospel.”
16. Spurgeon said: “I will not believe that you have tasted of the honey of the gospel if you can eat it all by yourself.”
I do wish to briefly talk about this passage. First let’s read it from the Message translation:

But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

^24–25 So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

^26–27 Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.

^28–32 Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!^{^[1]}

I recently read someone had said “the difference between God and us is that God never thinks He is us.”
This passage is about pride, Pride puts us in the place of God and makes us think we can do whatever we want.
Understand that God has set up a way in which we should live and we have all broken it. We all have dealt with pride in these ways. But this is no excuse to keep living in them.
Once you commit to Christ, live for HIM!
How many of you have committed to Christ?
Live for HIM.
This list of sins is not complete.
Additionally, though these lists are pointing us to Jesus this also means that Christ followers must work diligently to let the Holy Spirit reign with us and not live in them.
We have been bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:20)
This passage is about the holiness of God and the wrath of God on sin. These are things that we do not understand, though we must. We must take these seriously.
It seems as though there are many sins in this list which we have tried to excuse and in so doing we are also excusing our need for a Savior. I will repeat that:
It seems as though there are many sins in this list which we have tried to excuse and in so doing we are also excusing our need for a Savior.
Look at verse 25:

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

God is to be praised, don’t exchange His Truth for the world’s lie.

Let’s apply this:
1. Trust in Jesus and point others towards Him as well.
2. Who are you trusting in for Salvation?
3. Are you recognizing that you need Jesus?
4. Do you recognize that others need Jesus?
5. Point others to Jesus?

Close:

There was an episode of the hit show The West Wing in which a lobbyist comes in to see the President and she is against something on Biblical grounds. The President responds using Old Testament Scriptures for example:

Lev 19:19

“‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

The problem with this is that then the West Wing is teaching Theology and Bible. But it is not only the West Wing. It is all of the world.

The writers of The West Wing are not Biblicist. They are not Theologians. They apparently don’t understand hermeneutics which is the science of interpretation. In the Old Testament They had civil and ceremonial laws. God was setting up a Jewish Nation state so when something is in the Bible one time in the Old Testament and not repeated it could, just maybe, be something for Israel. The Jewish dietary laws were settled in the New Testament in Acts 15 as was the rite of circumcision.

These things in the world cause us to question and step away from God’s way but understand where they are coming from.

God has a standard.

We need Jesus.

Don’t miss that.

Point people to Jesus.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

^{^[1]} Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Ro 1:18–32.

Be Gospel Centric as Paul was Gospel Centric (Romans intro)

Posted on September 7, 2015 by sarhodes

Introduction:

WHITE OUTS by Pastor Rick Sams

White outs come in the form of blizzards where you cannot see a thing. No wants to think about these after the brutal winter we’ve had.

Then there’s the kind we used before computers. Wite-Out dates to 1966 when an insurance-company clerk named George Kloosterhouse and a guy who waterproofed basements developed a correction fluid for typing mistakes. It was originally called “Wite-Out WO-1 Erasing Liquid.”*

Have you ever sent a text message that you regretted? Now you can electronically “white it out” by using Apple’s app called “Wiper Messenger.”**

Don’t you wish we had a “white out” for all your words and actions?

We try to use white out when we say we’ve “stretched the truth,” but we’ve flat out lied.

We call it “spin” when it’s actually false reporting.

“Re-inventing” products is really the same old stuff in a bigger package and bigger price.

“Revisionist history” is just bad research and recall.

“Pardon my French” is a cover up for swearing. I’ve heard French and what follows this phrase is not French.

“Bless their heart,” is often used right after we’ve smeared someone, as if this makes it right.

“Communication breakdown” is often a cover for laziness or somebody not doing their job.

“Mistakes” are too often sins.

“Affairs” are adultery.

“Issues” are really problems–usually big and bad.

But the Bible says there really are do-overs and white outs: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18b).

Jesus’ death on Good Friday didn’t just white out our sin. He took our pain and penalty on Himself, which was separation from God.

But you must RECEIVE this gift for it to “work.” You must receive HIM: “To those who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 1:12; 11:25).

What a Savior. What a white out.[1]

Okay, that is exactly what we are going to start talking about today. We are beginning a sermon series on Romans. We will go through Romans chapter 11 over the next few months. We will not hit every verse, but instead I will be picking out key sections in each chapter. Romans is all about our great salvation. This is Paul’s treatise on salvation.

Do you think about your salvation?

What are you saved from?

How are you saved? Are you saved by works? Can you earn your salvation?

We find a lot of those answers in Romans.

Today, I want to introduce Paul’s Thesis in Romans and give a little bit of background to Romans.

My theme and application:

Be Gospel Centric as Paul was Gospel Centric.

Read with me Romans 1:16-17:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.¹⁷For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Now, turn to Romans 15:20:

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

Let’s start with the point, person and time of the writing of Romans
1. Over a million people lived in Rome at the time of this writing.
2. Paul most likely wrote Romans from Corinth around A.D. 57.
3. The theme of Romans is the revelation of God’s judging and saving righteousness in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the cross of Christ, God judges sin and yet at the same time manifests his saving mercy.[2]
4. Let’s think more about Rome.
5. What are some things that you think of from Rome?
6. Anyone answer this.
7. Has anyone here ever been to Rome?
8. The Colosseum is estimated to have seated more than 45,000 for gladiatorial spectacles.
9. Daily life in Rome could be luxurious for the wealthy but onerous for others. Multiple aqueducts and a huge sewer system provided for the immense water requirements of Rome, including the many bathhouses, fountains, and latrines. Food had to be imported to satisfy the needs of this thriving metropolis, and the emperor often directly oversaw the vital grain supply. Luxury villas in Rome were the privileged possessions of the wealthiest families (often of senatorial or equestrian rank) and especially of the emperors, but most of the housing in ancient Rome consisted of insulae(multistory apartment buildings often constructed above first-floor shops). Contemporary authors spoke of a severely overcrowded, loud, and smelly city—a place that provided every virtue and vice known to mankind. The residents of Rome were mostly pagan, although a sizable Jewish population also existed (as evidenced both by 1st-century literature and by later remains of inscriptions). The expulsion of the Jews under the emperor Claudius (d. 49) was a limited measure.
10. Getting into Romans:
11. Some specific theological topics include principles of spiritual leadership (1:8–15); God’s wrath against sinful mankind (1:18–32); principles of divine judgment (2:1–16); the universality of sin (3:9–20); an exposition and defense of justification by faith alone (3:21–4:25); the security of salvation (5:1–11); the transference of Adam’s sin (5:12–21); sanctification (chs. 6–8); sovereign election (ch. 9); God’s plan for Israel (ch. 11); spiritual gifts and practical godliness (ch. 12); the believer’s responsibility to human government (ch. 13); and principles of Christian liberty “(14:1–15:12).
12. The Epistle to the Romans is, by popular consent, the greatest of Paul’s writings. William Tyndale, the great English reformer and translator, referred to Romans as

“the principle and most excellent part of the New Testament.” He went on to say the following in his prologue to Romans that he wrote in the 1534 edition of his English New Testament:

“No man verily can read it too oft or study it too well; for the more it is studied the easier it is, the more it is chewed the pleasanter it is, and the more groundly [sic] it is searched the preciouser [sic] things are found in it, so great treasures of spiritual things lieth hid therein.”

Martin Luther wrote the following commendation of this epistle. “[Romans] is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it
We find Paul’s purpose written in Romans 1:16-17 and I believe in 15:20:

So, as we look at Romans, that is Paul’s Thesis:

Romans 1:16-17:

We will come back to this next week.

But I see another core belief in Romans:

Now, turn to Romans 15:20:

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

Paul wanted to go to Rome and use Rome as staging point to launch a ministry to Spain, wow!

But as we look at this passage, are you Gospel Centric? Paul was centered on the Gospel.

Next are you sure of your salvation?

Think about “white-out.” Have your sins been whited out?

Walking Down the “Romans Road” to Salvation . . . .

Because of our sin, we are separated from God.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
The Penalty for our sin is death.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
The penalty for our sin was paid by Jesus Christ!
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
If we repent of our sin, then confess and trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from our sins!
For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)
…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)[3]

So, have you asked God to use the “white out” on your sin?

Pray

[1] * I read this in Rick’s Ramblings from Rick Sams. He referenced: “Forgiveness Is God’s Gift to ‘Wite-Out’ Mistakes,” John Ortberg, PreachingToday.com 8/5/14 **“Delete Your Conversations from Other People’s Phones,” Kim Komando blog (9-9-14)

[2] ESV Study Bible

[3] http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/about/becoming_a_christian.aspx

BY Faith, Daniel

Posted on August 23, 2015 by sarhodes

Intro:

Dottie Peoples: I see the Handwriting on the Wall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pseEVLE4ioU

So, today we look at Daniel’s faith and I am going to the passage about the handwriting on the wall. Listen, if you ever think God needs us, He doesn’t, He chooses to use us.

By Faith Daniel, let’s talk about Daniel.

My theme and challenge: Be Like Daniel: Daniel served the Lord all his days, he was bold and he was ready to give an answer.

Let’s read Daniel 5:1-31: Tonya reads:

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. ²While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. ³So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. ⁴As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

⁵Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. ⁶His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

⁷The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck,and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

⁸Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. ⁹So King Belshazzar became even more terrifiedand his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.

¹⁰The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. “May the king live forever!” she said. “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! ¹¹There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. ¹²He did this because Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar,was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”

¹³So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. ¹⁵The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it.¹⁶Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

¹⁷Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

¹⁸“Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. ¹⁹Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. ²⁰But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. ²¹He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.

²²“But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. ²³Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. ²⁴Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

²⁵“This is the inscription that was written:

mene, mene, tekel, parsin

²⁶“Here is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

²⁷Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

²⁸Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

²⁹Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

³⁰That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, ³¹and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

Be like Daniel: my sermon revolves around the applications.

First, Daniel is bold. We must be bold in what God calls us to do.
1. Daniel calls out a king and the nobles in sin. Did you notice that? Think about it. There are 1000 nobles and their wives and concubines in this massive thrown room and Daniel is called in and he reads the writing on the wall. But even before that in verses 22-24 Daniel tells the king he is arrogant and he will have to learn a lesson in humility. In verses 17-21 Daniel talks about how Nebuchadnezzar had pride but God brought him down and that is in chapter 4. Then in Daniel 5:22-24:

“But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. ²³Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. ²⁴Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

That took guts. Does Daniel realize who he is talking to?
Does Daniel realize that he is out numbered?
It doesn’t matter because— Our God is so big, so strong and so might there is nothing that our God can’t do. The mountains are big, the valleys are big, the stars are his handiwork too. Our God is so big, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing that our God can’t do.
Daniel was bold because he knew that he served a big God, a strong God. In chapter 3:19-25 his friends are saved from a fiery furnace. In the previous chapter he watched God bring down the great Nebuchadnezzar. In the next chapter he will be delivered from the Lion’s Den. In chapters 8-10 he has visions from Gabriel. Yes, there were 1000 nobles and a king in front of him, but he knew that He served the true king.
We must be bold regardless of where we are or who we are talking to as well. We also serve the True King. We serve a strong God and we don’t need to fear. Remember God’s message to the Apostle Paul: Acts 18:9-10: One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. ¹⁰For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”
1. There is a movie with Michael Douglas called, An American President. In the movie there is a lobbyist who was prepared to go into a meeting with the President and tell him exactly what should happen. However, she entered the Oval Office and entered another room at the White House and she is in a meeting and she cannot say it. She says, “I am a little intimidated by my surroundings.”
2. Look we have no reason to be intimidated by our surroundings. We have Jesus with us.

Daniel was not intimidated. But he was ready. He was ready to give an answer.

Also, Daniel is old. We must serve God all our days.
1. Daniel was likely 80 years old and retired or forgotten, yet he was available and called out sin.
2. We must live a life after Jesus and finish well. We must not give up.
3. It seems obvious that Daniel could have known that Babylon was under attack, yet he still came and ministered. He could have known that Babylon suffered a crushing defeat north of their city. He could have thought this was too dangerous, he could have thought he was too old, yet he still came to minister.
4. Daniel might have known that he was going to be ministering with people in deep sin. He could have known that they were participating in drunkenness and maybe, likely, sexual acts. It sounds like what was going on was actually a drunken orgy, but Daniel went right in and ministered. He could have said that he was too old for this. He did not. He ministered.
Daniel was ready to give an answer. We must be ready to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15).

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…

Daniel knew the language of Aramaic.
Daniel had served the Lord and was in a position where God could use him.
Are we ready to be used of God?
1. Notice how this passage, 1 Peter 3:15, begins with: “Revere Christ as Lord.” Some translations say, “Set apart Christ as Lord…”
2. Are we doing this? Are we pursuing God? Are we setting Him apart as Lord?

Is Jesus Lord of our lives?

How else are we to be ready?
We must study the Word.
We must study culture.
1 Chron 12:32: men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do…
We must study apologetics.
We must be ready.

There were a number of prophesies about all of this:

Isaiah 13:17:

See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who do not care for silver
and have no delight in gold.

Jeremiah 50:14

“Take up your positions around Babylon,
all you who draw the bow.
Shoot at her! Spare no arrows,
for she has sinned against the Lord.

Jeremiah 51:31-32:

One courier follows another
and messenger follows messenger
to announce to the king of Babylon
that his entire city is captured,
³²the river crossings seized,
the marshes set on fire,
and the soldiers terrified.”

Let me tell what happened to Babylon:

Having lost a brief skirmish outside the walls of Babylon, Belshazzar had retreated to the city and made light of the coming Persian siege. The Babylonians had 20 years of provisions, and the city was a seemingly impregnable fortress. Nevertheless, Darius diverted the waters of the Euphrates and entered below the water gates. He took the city that same night without a battle and killed Belshazzar. Xenophon noted that the city fell while the Babylonians were in the midst of a drunken feast. The kingdom of Babylon fell just as foretold by Daniel in his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue (2:39). The head of gold (Babylon) had fallen and was replaced by the chest and arms of silver (Medo-Persia) (2:40).

(2014-03-15). The Moody Bible Commentary (Kindle Locations 53845-53848). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Close:

Daniel, he was ready. He was ready and available to be used of God and look how God used him. You know that I still hear the phrase about the handwriting on the wall? I still hear people saying, “they saw the writing on the wall.” That came from Daniel.

I believe that God wants to use you. I believe that God wants to use me. I believe that God wants to use us. We all have people who need the Lord. We can be like Daniel.

In your bulletin there is a piece of paper. I am going to give you a minute to fill this in. Please take it out and answer the questions:

Who have your family, friends and acquaintances needs Jesus?

How can you witness to them?

Do you need to be more intentional?

Pray for them…

Please take that home and stick somewhere in order to remind you to pray for these people. Pray that God gives you opportunities to witness. You never know: God may give you handwriting on a wall. Maybe you need to take advantage of what God gives you. Maybe you need to write some letters talking about your faith. Maybe you need to take them out to lunch and talk.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

David and Goliath and the Holiness of God

Posted on August 16, 2015 by sarhodes

Intro:

I heard about a Methodist Church that closed down. The church became a reception center and someone said with disgust, “They have the bar, right where the pulpit used to be!”

What is the big deal?

This is a big deal because the pulpit is usually viewed as representative of God’s Word being preached and because of the preaching of the Word happening there, the pulpit is considered

“sacred”

“holy”

“set apart”

We think the same things about our Bible, or we used to. I know of a missionary who was working in a country and she had her Bible on the floor under a chair and as she was sitting she casually allowed her foot to end up on top of the Bible. The people in that country were offended. They were offended because Bibles were hard to get and so they were set apart, holy.

The Bible is holy.

What is your view of God?

Do you view God as holy?

Do you view God as set apart?

Do you think that someday you will stand before God and you will cower in His presence?

I have a dog that is about 15 pounds and I have seen him chase deer. A few weeks ago I saw him chasing turkey. How dumb dogs can be. They don’t realize what they are trifling with. I would say the same with us. We trifle with the Holiness of God and it is a dangerous game. We chase sin, we condone sin, even corporately and we are messing with the holiness of God. Sin, is always, always, breaking the holiness of God. Technically sin is breaking relationship with God. Yet, we act like nothing is wrong. We don’t realize how awesome God is.

Just think of creation:

HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?

Tony Campolo was once confronted by an atheist who was one of his students. The young man told Campolo, “For me to believe in God, I have to have a God that I can understand.”

And Campolo replied, “God refuses to be that small!”[1]

Crazy Love, Francis Chan writes:

Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is? He didn’t have to make hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but He did. He didn’t have to put three thousand different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did. God didn’t have to create so many kinds of laughter. Think about the different sounds of your friends’ laughs—wheezes, snorts, silent, loud, obnoxious.

How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upward from the ground into their stems and veins? Or did you know that spiders produce three kinds of silk? When they build their webs, they create 60 feet of silk in one hour, simultaneously producing special oil on their feet that prevents them from sticking to their own web. (Most of us hate spiders, but 60 feet an hour deserves some respect!) Coral plants are so sensitive that they can die if the water temperature varies by even one or two degrees.

Did you know that when you get goose bumps, the hair is actually helping you stay warmer by trapping body heat? Or what about the simple fact that plants take in carbon dioxide (which is harmful to us) and produce oxygen (which we need to survive)? I’m sure you knew that, but have you ever marveled at it? And these same poison-swallowing, life-giving plants came from a tiny seed that was put in the dirt. Some were watered, some weren’t; but after a few days, they poked through the soil and out into the warm sunlight.

God is awesome, God is great!

Remember the song I have used:

Our God is so big so strong and so mighty, there is nothing that my God can’t do.

The mountains are big, the valleys are big, the stars are His handiwork too.

Our God is so big so strong and so mighty, there is nothing that my God can’t do.
We sing that song not realizing the incredible implication. If God is big, strong and mighty and if He has a standard and we break that standard, then we better be more than afraid.

Prov 15:33

The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom,

and humility comes before honor.

Prov 19:23

The fear of the LORD leads to life:

Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

Rev. 7:11 and 11:16 the people fall on their faces before God. In the Old Testament we would see the same thing.

In John 18:6 the people came to arrest Jesus and they arrived and Jesus said, “Who is it you want?” They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said, “I am He.” When Jesus said this they fell down. With just a breath of His nostrils they fell down.

In the Old Testament Moses wanted to see God’s glory:

Ex 33:18-20

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

No one can see God and live. God is holy.

Now, I want to look at David and Goliath and I want to show you something about this passage.

As we look at the passage I must talk about correct interpretation. Bible scholars will say it is improper to look at this passage and say that God is going to take care of your giants as well. That is not the purpose of the account. David is fighting for God. In similar ways it is improper to look at the passage in which Jesus calms the storm (Matt. 8:24ff) and say, “Jesus will calm the storms in your life too.” That is not correct interpretation. That is not the purpose of that account.

It seems clear that David is fighting for God’s army. But further, I believe that David is defending God’s honor. David is offended by what offends God and that is blasphemy.

Goliath is an enemy of God’s people and God uses David to take him down. Goliath has blasphemed God. Goliath is calling curses down on God’s people by his “pagan” gods. I believe this narrative is about the holiness of God.

In 1 Samuel 16 God wants to choose a king after His own heart and so David is anointed. In 1 Samuel 17 we see why. David could not sit by and watch this guy curse God’s people and blaspheme God.

I heard a story about a man hiking in Alaska and he got too close to some bear cubs. But momma bear as behind them. This man was mauled and barely lived.

Goliath is like a big man going against a little man, but he doesn’t realize the bigger Man behind the little man. The bigger Man is God.

God is behind David. Goliath thinks he is simply mocking the Israelite people, but he is mocking God.

God’s wrath is mentioned some 700 times in the Bible. Don’t trivialize this attribute of God.

Also, we are to pursue holiness. The Bible says: “Be holy for I am holy.” (Lev. 20:7; Heb. 10:26; 1 Jn. 3:6)

The theme:

David trusts God as he defeats Goliath when Goliath was blaspheming.

The application:

Simply: Don’t mess with the holiness of God as that is what Goliath was doing.

Be ready to be used of God even when confronting sin and remember God is really the One using you. God is really the One fighting the battle. Have no fear.

Read with me 1 Samuel 17:41-50:

Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴²He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. ⁴³He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴“Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

⁴⁵David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

⁴⁸As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

⁵⁰So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

I want to begin with an overview of the story. As we look at this, notice this is not simply against Israel but against God.
1. 1 Samuel 17:1-19: Goliath’s challenge
  1. First we have an introduction to Goliath. He would have been about 9 foot and 9 inches tall. There is another interpretation dating back to Josephus that he would have been 6 foot 9 inches tall. In that day the average man was about 5 foot 5 inches tall. So, Goliath is still very tall.
2. 1 Samuel 17:20-30: David accepts Goliath’s challenge
  1. 1 Samuels 17:20-23: Prelude: David sees the battle
  2. 1 Samuel 17:24-25: David hears the fear in the Israelites and the king’s reward for the one who kills Goliath

1 Samuels 17:26-27: David is shocked by the way this man is able to taunt the Israelites

1 Samuels 17:31-58: David accepts the challenge and kills Goliath
1. 1 Samuel 17: 48-49: Goliath is killed
By the way, who is the major player in this passage?
1. Any guesses?
2. We might think David, but I am inclined to think this story is about how God won the battle.

I do not think that David won by his aim.

They do say that a man could hurl a stone with the slingshot at 100 mph and the stones would be the size of tennis balls, but I still believe it was God that did this.
God gave David the confidence.
God gave David the ability.

God guided those stones.
God allowed Saul to let David fight the battle.

God made that stone knock out Goliath.
God did it all.

Blasphemy is the major issue
1. As David came against Goliath, Goliath mocked him first. Then Goliath cursed David by his gods. (verse 43) This means that at this point Goliath is using the pagan gods to curse David. This is not an issue of David, this is an issue of proclaiming a god other than the true God. This is an issue of blasphemy.
2. By the way, by cursing one of Abraham’s descendants Goliath was bringing a curse on himself. Gen. 12:3: I will bless those who bless you,
  and whoever curses you I will curse;
  and all peoples on earth
  will be blessed through you.”
3. Also: According to the Torah, any individual guilty of blasphemy—even a non-Israelite—must be stoned (Lev 24:16). Perhaps this was an underlying reason why David chose the weapon he did in confronting the Philistine;⁵⁹ even before serving as Israel’s king, David would prove himself to be a diligent follower of the Torah and thus a man after the Lord’s heart. At the same time, of course, David’s use of the sling and stone also must have been motivated by the fact that he was skillful in their use and the weapon was especially suited for exploiting Goliath’s vulnerabilities.^{^[2]}

Lev. 24:16:‘Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.^{^[3]}

David was provoked. David was provoked because this giant mocked God and committed blasphemy.
This was not only when David actually went against Goliath. We can go back further in the account. In verses 8-11 he is shouting out against Israel: Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. ⁹If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” ¹⁰Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” ¹¹On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
Then in verse 23 the Bible says that Goliath was speaking the same words and David was hearing them.
In verses 26-27 David responds: What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgracefrom Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
Notice how David says “defy the armies of the ‘Living God’?”
David is defending God in this passage, but in reality David is really being used of God. Sometimes we think we are the ones making the moves, we are the ones fighting the battle, but if we are doing what God wants us to do, He is the one fighting the battle.

Are we offended by what offends God?
1. If this passage is about David defending the holiness of God, as I believe it is, are we bothered when God is mocked in our society?
2. There is no big giant out there mocking God for you to literally and physically take out. But God’s holiness is trifled with.
3. Jeremiah 6:15 and 8:12 says that the people do not know how to blush.
4. The people are so caught in sin, so desensitized by it, it no longer causes them to blush.
5. Does sin bother you?
6. I am going to talk about sin in your life and in your family or friends, because if it is in your home and you are an adult you could maybe say something, but you are afraid. If they are your children or grandchildren you need to say something, you better. Let me repeatedly say that I am not talking about struggles , but condoned, repeated, sin with an “I don’t care attitude.”
7. Are you bothered when your children or grandchildren use God’s name in vain?
8. Are you bothered when the television is on at home and people are watching something that would offend God? Are you watching it?
  1. Pornography in the home?
  2. Shows that endorse sex outside of marriage?

Shows that endorse adultery?

Shows that endorse homosexual behavior?
Shows, literature, radio that makes fun of people in homosexual behavior?
Racist shows?

Are we stuck in sin and not getting help? When I am talking about sin that needs taking care of I am not talking about sin that you or someone else is struggling with. No, I am talking about giving over to sin. I am talking about condoning sin.
What about addictions?
Are you, or do some in your home entertain lustful thoughts?
What about thoughts of murder and hate?
What about when God is mocked?
What about denying God as the creator, all powerful ruler?
What about denying God as the Savior? Does this bother you?
Pray and ask God to soften your heart to Him. Ask God to make it that you are convicted.
Listen, if I come to your house and make fun of your spouse or your children will that bother you? Then why does it not bother you when your Savior is mocked, made fun of?

Once you are offended, now slay the giant? This may be in your life or those closest to you.
1. Now, don’t fear. If you are the one dealing with sin, you have a Goliath in your life. With God’s help we can knock it out. Talk with me, a prayer partner, seek God.
2. If there is a repetitive condoning of sin in your family and this is a “so-called” believer talk to them.
3. I am not saying, nor will I say, to excommunicate them, or cut off the relationship. I am saying talk to them. They may not know.
4. I was in JROTC and the instructor said Jesus Christ in vain. He also talked laughingly about drunkenness. I later talked with him. He quoted the one verse that every pseudo Christian knows and often uses wrongly. He quoted Matthew 7:1 that says don’t judge. But the problem with that is that that particular passage is about over scrupulous judging, not talking to someone about sin. Later in the same passage Jesus talks about recognizing false prophets, so then we are judging. Also, when we use the Bible as our guide, God is judging through His Word. This NJROTC instructor later talked to the class about the dangers of drunkenness so there was a positive effect of our conversation.
5. I have had to be involved in people abusing spouses verbally and in other ways, but I had to say something and work with the family.
6. As you slay the giant, God is really the one doing the slaying.
7. Some things may have waited too long, maybe it is past time to deal with this.
8. Maybe you have family members that have the biggest GIANT, they don’t know Christ and you are there to share Jesus with them. Slay that giant.

I must say that in the Old Testament they were called to do drastic things like stone people to death for sin. We don’t need to even consider this. We must be full of grace and full of truth. They had to do that because they were setting up a Jewish Nation State. They had civil and religious laws in the Old Testament.

This also was showing the intense holiness of God.

God is Holy.

Ps 66:18

If I had cherished sin in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened…

Hab 1:13

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;

you cannot tolerate wrong.

Isaiah 6: even the angels cover their eyes at God’s holiness:

Isa 6:1-5:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

We are sinners in the hands of an angry God. The only way to fix this is to repent and turn our lives over to Christ.

Close:

How does this relate to today?

David conquers Goliath.

But why does David conquer Goliath. It is not so simple as that Goliath was challenging the Israelites. No, he was challenging God. He was even committing blasphemy.

I always thought of this story simply about a common iron age battle. It is not a common iron age battle. I always thought of this story to be about fearless David who was simply not afraid to be the warrior they needed, but that is not the whole truth.

David was convicted to battle Goliath. David was provoked as a young child around 13 years old. He was provoked when the whole Israelite army was not.

David was called by God to confront the sin of blasphemy and he didn’t bat an eye. David was fearless because he feared God and defended God’s name knowing that he was on the Lord’s side, he stood firm in his faith.

In this passage David is confronted. David is appalled at the way the Israelites refuse to respond to defend God. So David responds.

Slay the Giant. This may be not tolerating sin in your life or others in your household. This may be confronting sin.

There was new recently of a pastor of a church in Canada who came out as an atheist some 12 years ago. For some 12 years her church has condoned having a pastor who does not believe in God. Be ready to be used of God to confront sin as David did, but not with a sling and a stone, but with the Bible and the Holy Spirit.

James 5:20

remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Gal 6:1

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] (From a sermon by Jeff Strite, Trusting in Ravens, 8/8/2011)

⁵⁹ Whether or not Goliath’s blasphemy was the primary reason for David’s use of the slingstone to kill Goliath, the writer of 1, 2 Samuel has certainly gone to considerable lengths elsewhere in the presentation of David’s life to demonstrate that this king was scrupulous in his observance of Torah regulations—with one tragic exception (2 Sam 11:3–4).

^{^[2]} Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 195–196.

^{^[3]} New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Le 24:16.

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