Incarnation and Crucifixion Visualized in the Lord’s Supper

 

Let’s begin this morning by reading once again from Galatians 4.4 [Read]

 

God has commanded us to often gather around the Lord’s Table in order to remember Jesus our Lord and to proclaim His death until He comes. This morning as we gather around the Lord’s Table I want us to first remember that “God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law”. The bread, which represents the body of Christ, reminds us of the birth and sinless life Jesus lived on earth. Had Jesus not come to earth and lived as a son of Adam he could not have been a sacrifice who died for our sins. Had Jesus not lived a sinless life before God while on earth he would not have been an eligible sacrifice for sin. So God sent His Son into time and history to be born of a woman and to live a sinless life, that Jesus might be an acceptable sacrifice before God for the sin of mankind.

 

In Hebrews 10.5 we read, “When Christ came into the world he said, …a body have you prepared for me”. This body was conceived by the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary and developed in Mary’s womb (Luke 1.31, 35). Jesus was not a heavenly being that appeared to be a man. Jesus was born fully human and to this very day retains a physical body and will keep that body for all eternity.

 

One thing Jesus did not receive at his birth was the sinful nature of Adam. Romans 8.3 says that God sent His Son, “in the likeness of sinful flesh”. Luke writes that as a result of being conceived by the power of the Most High “the child to be born will be called holy”. Hebrews states that Jesus was tempted in every respect as we are, “yet without sin” (Hebrews 4.15). So Jesus lived a real human live but never sinned.

 

We read in the NT that Jesus was born the son of Abraham and the son of David and we have two genealogies of Jesus that trace back his human ancestry to David, Abraham and Adam (Matthew 1; Luke 3). Yet we are told very clearly in Philippians 2.6-7 that Jesus was in the form of God and equal to God before he came to earth but was willing to humble himself and obey God as a servant and was born in the likeness of men. Matthew 1.23 states that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. The incarnation was God coming to earth, conceived from one of Mary’s eggs, born a real human baby with a family tree, who became a growing, learning boy with brothers and sisters, who grew into a young man, who eventually became a carpenter and then a preacher and teacher. Jesus lived a real human life and yet without sin.

 

Somehow, in our familiarity with these truths we are not gripped with the awe of the incarnation as we should be. Paul writes, “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3.16).

 

John the apostle, who wrote his Gospel and letters later than the other Gospels, seems to have taken 50 years to just shake his head in unbelief that God would come to earth and take a human body and live among us. John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. …And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1.1-2, 14). “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.” (1 John 1.1-2).

 

Would that we might have the same sense of awe and worship as John and Paul, and be humbled all the more by the truth that God sent His Son to be born of a woman and that God lived on earth as one of us yet without sin.

 

Let us partake of the Lord’s Supper as we remember the life of Jesus through the symbol of the bread.

 

*Remember Jesus who was sent from the Father, willingly obeyed, was conceived by God, was born of a virgin, lived without sin, and who was God with us.

———————————————————————————————

Let’s continue this morning, reading once again from Galatians 4.5 [Read]

 

I began this morning by reading to you Hebrews 10.5 where Christ says, “a body you have prepared for me”. Now let me read Hebrews 10.5-10 which gives us the purpose for the human body that God prepared for Christ [Read]

 

God’s purpose was to have His Son, Jesus Christ, take a human body and live as a man, and then to offer that sinless body as an offering for sin to make many people holy. We are told the same truth in Hebrews 2.14-17. [Read]

 

Philippians 2.8 says, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

 

Not only was the child born to Mary to be called Immanuel which means God with us, but the son was to be called Jesus, “for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1.21)

 

God the Father and all of heaven acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the only acceptable sacrifice for sins and the only way for a person to come to God. “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests for to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5.9-10)

 

We are made righteous through the offering of the body of Christ. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many will be made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5.19)

 

Now each one of us who are trusting in Jesus Christ for our salvation “have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our only but also for the sins of the whole world”. (1 John 2.1-2)

 

Finally, Christ is able to completely save those who draw near to Him because He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7.25)

 

With these thoughts in our minds I would like to invite you to partake of the Lord’s Supper as we remember the crucifixion of Jesus through the symbol of the cup.

 

*Remember Jesus who gave his life as a ransom so that many sinners could become righteous before God and receive eternal life.

 

The Eternal Plan for Incarnation and the Cross   Galatians 4.4-5

In these two verses we find a concise summary of the plan of God to bring salvation to mankind. A plan to take those who were created as sons, lost to sin, and to make these sinners once again into sons.

These verses teach us that the plan of God for the salvation of mankind was initiated by God.

We learn that to fulfill His plan God sent His Son Jesus to be born of a woman. In theological language we call this the incarnation – God the Son taking a human body and human nature. This is the birth of the Messiah that we celebrate at this time of year.

John the apostle tells us that God’s motive in sending His Son to us was love for His creation. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3.16).

We are told in this verse that Jesus lived under the Law of God. Jesus was not exempt from God’s commands and rules but completely fulfilled them. Because Jesus was not born with a sinful nature, and was continually filled with the Holy Spirit, and completely committed to God’s will, He never sinned, even while living under the Law.

Because Jesus lived a sinless life before God, He was eligible to redeem those who sinned under the law. Those who have sinned under the law of God include every person who was ever born. Jesus who knew no sin was made sin for us, so that in Jesus we might receive God’s forgiveness and as this verse tells us, adoption as sons of God.

The incarnation of the Son of God and the death of Jesus on the cross to redeem mankind is the wonderful Good News we are given to proclaim to the entire world.

This morning I want to focus on the first part of verse 4, “When the fullness of time had come”. The point I want to make this morning is that the incarnation, the coming of the Son of God to earth as a human being, and the crucifixion of Jesus to redeem sinners, along with the resurrection of Jesus, were planned by God at the very least from the foundation of the world and more likely in eternity before the foundation of the world. Before the earth or man or time ever came into existence, God had planned for the birth of Christ into humanity, the death of Christ on the cross, the resurrection, and His ascension into Glory. The teaching of the NT leads us to believe that before the earth was created, God had planned and prepared for the salvation of mankind through the birth of Christ as a human being, his perfect life lived on earth, his death on a cross for the sins of mankind, resurrection, and his ascension into heaven back to his original Glory with God the Father.

The birth of Christ in a manger in Bethlehem was a plan conceived in the mind of God, likely before God ever created the earth or mankind, and then was manifested when the fullness of time had come.

Please turn with me to Ephesians 3.7-11. [Read]

Paul says that he is a minister of God to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul is a minister of the message of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ for the salvation of mankind.

Not only is Paul a minister of the Gospel, he is also bringing to light for everyone the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. This hidden mystery Paul is now revealing to everyone, in the Gospel, was according to the eternal purpose of God which has now been realized in Christ Jesus our Lord. What God had planned in eternity, God worked out in time, until the time when He brought His very Son into the world as a baby in Bethlehem, through a perfect life, and unto death on a cross, to resurrection and ascension to Glory.

We have the same idea revealed to us 1 Peter 1.18-21. [Read]

Christ, the Lamb of God who saves us with his precious blood, was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for our sake. Through Christ we now believe in God who raised Christ from the dead and our faith and hope are in God. The historical event of the birth of Christ and of the crucifixion of Christ and the resurrection and his ascension into Glory and the coming of the Holy Sprit and the formation of the Church, originated in the eternal purpose of God and was worked out in time according to God’s plan and power.

In Genesis 3.15 God speaks of the seed of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent. We know that God’s plan was already purposed from the time that mankind fell into sin. We see God’s plan pictured in the sacrificial system of the OT. And then finally we see Christ born and brought to the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

As I was reading about the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus from Luke 1 and 2, I was impressed with the repetition of the word “will”. Elizabeth will bear you a son, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, he will turn many to their Lord, you will be silent and unable to speak, you will conceive, he will be great, he will be called the son of God, God will give to him the throne of David, the Spirit will come upon you, this will be a sign for you. The birth of Christ was not being worked out on the fly. This was not a seat of your pants operation. What we are reading about in Luke is an eternal purpose that was now being manifested in the fullness of time, exactly as God has planned. And how God had planned it was the way it was going to happen. This is what will happen.

Just a couple more verses and then we can think about some of the implications of this teaching. In Acts 2.23, in speaking about the crucifixion of Christ, Peter says, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” And then in Acts 4.27-28, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” Like the birth of Christ, the crucifixion was arranged and ordered according to God’s eternal purpose and predestined plan. Each participant played their part according to God’s script.

Now what does this truth of the birth and crucifixion of Christ as the eternal purpose of God to save mankind, worked out in time in every detail according to God’s plan, have to teach us this morning? Let me just mention four things.

1) You can be assured that your God has a purpose in all that He does and that He has the power to carry out that purpose. When Christ was born in a stable and a manger it may have seemed to Mary and Joseph that God had not prepared for the birth of His Son as He should have. When Christ was crucified it may have appeared that God had lost control of the crowds and religious leaders and that God’s plan was unraveling, but in the chaos God’s plan was being working out to the last detail, in His time and in His way.

When we look at the world today we see disorder and confusion and economies falling apart. Be assured that God is not surprised and making emergency plans. God’s eternal purpose is being worked out to the letter. What God has described in the book of Revelation is certain to happen.

When you look at what God allows to enter your own life be assured that God’s Sovereign rule is at work and His plans are being worked out.

2) If you belong to God this morning, you can be certain that your salvation will be worked out to its final completion. God always completes His plans and if your salvation is part of God’s plan, then you will be saved and nothing will prevent your presentation before the presence of God’s Glory blameless and with great joy. The amazing precision and power shown in the working out of the eternal plan of the incarnation and crucifixion of Christ is applied to your own salvation in Christ. “I will never leave you nor forsake you; I am with you always, to the end of the age”. These are not sentimental statements, but statements of truth based on the purpose and character of God.

3) Coupled with the Goodness of God and the Love and Mercy of God, we have the confidence through this truth of God’s power to work out His purposes in this world, the confidence to obey what God asks us to do. “If God be for us then who can be against us”? When God asks you to surrender something to Him, know with confidence that He can keep you in that surrender and provide all you need because you obeyed in your surrender to God. God’s eternal purpose is to conform us to His Son Jesus Christ and for that to happen we have to give up our own ways and our own strengths and depend on God and let God do what He wants to do in us. God wants to break our self-sufficiency and our self-will and our pride, and as we see God’s eternal plans worked out with such fruitful results in the incarnation and crucifixion, we can with confidence lay down our lives at His feet.

4) Finally since God has made His purposes known to us in His Word we should make God purpose, our purpose. God’s purpose is His Glory and the establishment on His kingdom. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven”. “Glory to God in the highest”. Our purpose is to seek the kingdom of God and to be holy to the Glory of God. Looking at how God has worked out history so far and reading what God has told us with regard to the future, I am lining up all my energies and efforts with the purposes of God. I do not want to be found working against God but with God.

I pray that during this Advent season as we think of the birth of Christ we will remember that this historic event began in the mind of God in eternity. I pray that we will remember that throughout the many centuries of time, over thousands of years, God worked out every detail, moved every person in place, arranged thoughts and actions, to fulfill His eternal plan. This can give to each one of us who know God the assurance, the certainty, and the confidence to put our own lives completely into God’s hands and to work with God to fulfill His purposes.

And if you do not know God as your Father this morning, if you have not been born again, may the realization of the power of God to save you from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, and His power to keep you as His own until you come into His presence, motivate you to ask God to save you from sin in Jesus Christ and to make you one of His children.

Rosedale Baptist Church’s 73rd Anniversary Service

Guest Speaker:  Jeremy W. Johnston

 

1 Corinthians 13 “An Excellent Church is a Loving Church”

 

What is a healthy Christian church look like?

An excellent, healthy church is characterized by:

- Christ centred

- Bible believing

- LOVING

 

1 Corinthians 13

- Not often preached on (except at weddings!)

 

- Yet LOVE is the heart of Christianity

- John 3:16 “for God so loved the world”

 

- Ironically, Christians are most often accused of being “unloving”

 

- Hippie: make love not war

- Hollywood: mushy, gushy stuff

- Beatles to Beiber “Love is all you need”

 

* the church needs to take back LOVE: show the world what love really is, that God is all you need

 

1. Why does love matter so much?

 

1 Co 12:31b – 13:3—why is love the “most excellent way”?

v. 13— why is love “the greatest”

 

1. Love is the LAW of Christ

John 15:9-17

• vv. 12, 17: “Love is the LAW of Christ”
• vv. 13, 14: Heart of the gospel is LOVE
• You would not be a Christian if it wasn’t for Christ’s love

 

2. Love completes your joy

John 15:9-17

• v. 11-12
• cf. 1 Co 13: no joy in impatience, no joy in anger, etc

 

3. Love is the ultimate Testimony of Christ at work in His world

 

John 13:34-35

• Love one another: by this all men might know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (NB: Christians loving Christians)—that Christ is truly at work in a believer’s life

John 17

• v. 20 —priestly prayer for believers
• v. 21 — oneness in Christ and with each other: “the world may believe” in Christ

- “the final apologetic” Francis Schaeffer—ultimate defence, ultimate testimony of the reality of Christ and His gospel

 

2. How should we love in the church?

 

Three things to note about LOVE:

1.  LOVE is an action: it requires effort/will/perseverance
2.  LOVE involves other people—cannot be a loving hermit
3.  LOVE often involves unlovable people: e.g., cannot exercise “patience” without something to “try your patience”—e.g., “I would be patient if it wasn’t for X, Y, & Z!”

 

NB: The Marks of Love are interconnected: envy/self-seeking—e.g., “I deserve such-and-such more than so-and-so…”

 

1. v. 4a—Be patient, be kind

- not every Christian is at the same level of maturity or sanctification: Trust in God’s timing; Teach God’s ways—cannot learn from impatient teachers

1. v. 4b—do not envy: Trust in God’s provisions for you

- do not envy other churches: “your” church is really His church

- do not provoke others to envy (by boasting): our attention must be on Christ

1. v.5—not rude: put others first, be considerate, be deliberate

- not self-seeking: people aren’t thinking of us as often as we think of ourselves!

- not easily angered / offended “stewing”

-  keeps no records of wrongs: FAITH in God’s judgement

1.  it is not up to you to “make him pay”
2.  it is not up to you to right the wrong done to you

-   compare Christ on the Cross

 

1. v.6—does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth (i.e., “being loving” does not mean Christians tolerate sin!)

- some “churches” only read 1 Co 13

- we need to rejoice and live by the truth, the whole truth

- we should not delight even when someone gets his “comeuppance” / “just desserts” (instead, love always protects…)

 

1. v. 7—always protects: avoid tempting your brothers and sisters to sin!

- always trusts: we do not know the hearts or motives of other people (you are not a mind reader…) God’s Will will be done!

- Always hopes: in God’s Spirit working in people’s lives

- always perseveres: it ain’t over ‘til it’s over

- we are never done loving, never done waiting on the Lord

- cp. “running the race to win”

 

3. vv. 8-13
1. Faith: belief in the Lord
2. Hope: wait on the Lord

- BOTH WILL CEASE

3. Love: delight in the Lord and delight is His church (body)

- WILL NEVER CEASE

 

 

Heaven is a love feast.

Love Christ? You will love His body: the church

You will be with these Christians for eternity.

Loving God, loving Christ and his body is a taste of glory: a loving church is a bit of heaven on earth

SERMON OUTLINE

Final Glory   Revelation 17 to 22

 

Introduction

The Glory of God is the highest purpose of God, man and creation. God’s wrath is also a manifestation of His Glory.

 

The Final Glory of God

Revelation 19.11-16   

-The warrior-king on a white horse

-Zeal and determination for God’s Glory

-Majesty. King of kings and Lord of lords

-A robe dipped in blood

-Captain of the angelic army

-Power and authority

 

Revelation 20.11-15

-Judge of all men.

 

Revelation 21.22-27

-Temple and Light of the New Jerusalem

 

Final Glory of the Church

Revelation 19.6-9

-The Bride is perfected and married to Jesus

 

Revelation 21.1-8

-New earth, new heaven, new bodies, dwelling with God

-No tears, death, mourning, crying, pain

-All things new

-Write this: It is done!

 

Revelation 21.9-11

-Having the Glory of God. Radiant like a most rare jewel

 

Because we belong to God through the cross of Christ

SERMON NOTES

Final Glory

-For our Communion Sundays this year we have been focusing on the Glory of God. I began by teaching that the Glory of God is God’s highest purpose and so it should be our highest purpose as well, and the purpose of all of God’s creation. “The heavens declare the Glory of God” and we who are made in God’s image are to declare the Glory of God.

-The Glory of God is Who God is in His Being and character, and the manifestation of His Being and character in history.

-When Jesus came He expressed and exalted the Glory of God.

-Creation and mankind are to exalt the Glory of God.

-Through sin mankind falls short of the Glory of God and through salvation in Christ mankind once again brings Glory to God.

-Through obedience the Christian brings Glory to God.

-As believers we partake in the Glory of God both here on earth and in eternity. We should expect a future glory in Christ.

-The Glory of God is the highest motivator given to us as we go through service, sufferings and trials. Through suffering we increase our future inheritance of glory.

-God is glorified through His Church and we should rejoice that we are part of God’s Church. As the Church we are the Son of the Father, the Bride of Christ, and the future dwelling place of God by His Spirit.

-Today I want to conclude our consideration of the Glory of God by thinking with you about the Final Glory described for us in the book of Revelation. I would like to read you selected verses from Revelation 17 to 22. I read these verses to give us a glimpse of the final Glory of God and the glory that lies ahead for all those who belong to God through Jesus Christ. We also see here what God has planned for the unbeliever. Let me encourage you this week to take some time to slowly and meditatively read through Revelation 17 to 22. Take your Bibles and turn to Revelation 17.

-Revelation 17.1; 18.1-2; 19.1-2, 11, 16; 19-21; 20.4-6; 21.1-4; 22.3-5 [Read]

-Proceeding these final 6 chapters of Revelation is an unprecedented outpouring of God’s wrath upon a sinful world. Even as the power of creation and miracles, and the resurrection and the transformation of sinners into saints manifests the Glory of God, so the fury of God’s wrath is the manifestation of the Glory of God. God’s holiness and His Judgment carried out against sin is a manifestation of the Glory of God. The Glory of God is as evident in His wrath as it is in His great power and abundant mercies.

-In these 6 final chapters of the Bible we see the final collapse of both the economic and religious systems of the world. The economic and religious systems of the world are called Babylon the great and the great prostitute. This collapse is followed by the second coming of Christ with all authority and power as King of kings and Lord of lords to establish His earthly 1,000 year kingdom and to destroy all opposition. After this millennial reign and the final destruction of the Devil we read about the new heaven and the new earth where the perfected church forever dwells with God.

-I cannot tell you when these things will happen or explain all the details mentioned in these chapters but I know that God wins and that His people receive all that God has promised them and dwell with God in Glory for all eternity. Each day we are watching the world move toward this final end. God’s victory, God’s final glory, our final glory with God, is as certain as the resurrection of Christ, for the same God who raised up Jesus from the dead has proclaimed how history will end and the final destiny of mankind.

-For the last part of this message I want us to take a closer look at the final Glory of God in Jesus Christ. I also want to spend a few minutes looking at the final glory of the believer and unbeliever as God fulfills His promises to them.

-Let’s begin with Revelation 19.11-16. [Read]

-Here we see heaven opened. Jesus is coming to earth from heaven for a second time, this time not as a weak baby born in poverty but as the King of kings on a white horse. Jesus once rode into Jerusalem humbly and passively on a donkey, but here Jesus is the warrior-king riding a white horse to bring judgment and to make war with all that is evil. He is called Faithful and True and he judges and makes war in righteousness.

-His eyes are burning with zeal and determination to bring Glory to God in the final conquest of all the enemies of God. His majesty is evident to all as he wears the royal crowns of all the kingdoms of the earth. He is the one and only Sovereign Lord.

-Jesus is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. This is not his own blood but the blood of the enemies of God as he pours out the wrath of God. This is a picture of God taken from Isaiah 63.1-3 as God returns from destroying Edom, “I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel”. Here is God’s complete and final destruction of all His enemies through Christ the conquering-king. In verse 15 he is “treading the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty”. In this he is covered with the blood of his enemies.

-Jesus is Captain of the hosts of heaven and is accompanied by the mighty angels of heaven all dressed in white linen and riding white horses. At his arrest Jesus said he could have appealed to the Father and the Father would have sent twelve legions of angels to set him free. God’s purpose at that time was to provide salvation to a lost world, not pour out His wrath. Now the time has come for righteousness to rule and for all evil to be judged and destroyed.

-Out of the mouth of Jesus is no longer an appeal to “follow me” but the word of destruction and the rule of God’s power. God will be glorified and all those who have opposed God’s Glory will experience the wrath and fury of God and be eternally separated from him in the lake of fire.

-Not only do we see the final outpouring of God’s full wrath upon evil, the judgment of all evil, and the establishment of God’s righteous kingdom but we also see the central focus on the Glory and Majesty of God. In chapter 20.11-15, we see God judging all men according to His Holy character. Then in chapter 21 God forever dwells with His redeemed people, sitting on His throne, the light and temple of the New Jerusalem, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the Lamb.” The brilliance of the Glory of God is the very light of the New Jerusalem. God’s final Glory is manifested in the final judgment and destruction of evil and in the final worship of His people who love Him and want to be with Him forever.

-The final glory of God’s people joined together in the Church is also described in Revelation. The Church as the perfected Bride of Christ is to be married to him, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure – for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” (19.6-9).

-Let me read to you Revelation 21.1-8. [Read] Listen this is your future I am describing if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ.

-We will dwell in the new heaven and a new earth with new resurrected bodies and God will dwell with us as our God. God will wipe away all tears from our eyes and death will be no more. There shall be no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain, and all that is from this sinful world, our life in Adam, our sinful past, all our miseries and pains will be no more. God who has made us new creatures now in Christ, will make all things new.

-I am so glad as I read that God said to John, “write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true”. We see the same emphatic command to write in Revelation 19.9 to assure us of our marriage to Christ, “And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’. And he said to me, ‘These are the true words of God.” So God said to John in 21.6. “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

-In verse 8 God also tells us the final end of all unbelievers, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” In chapter 20.15 we read, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Final hell for the unbeliever is as certain as the final glory of the saints.

-In Revelation 21.9-11 we read, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal.” Fellow Christians we are destined to be righteous and beautiful like a most rare jewel, filled with the Glory of God, dwelling with the God of Glory, forever. It really is too much to grasp and to even believe, but it is what God promises to us in Christ.

-There is so much more encouragement in these verses both in the final justice of God and in the fulfillment of His gracious promises to us. For this week’s weekly meditations I have taken some readings from these last 6 chapters of Revelation so that throughout the week we can meditate on the Glory of God and the glory that God will bestow on us as His children.

-We love God and long for God’s Final Glory because God has called us to be His through the cross of Jesus Christ pictured before us this morning in the Communion Table.

Communion

This morning we celebrate the Lord’s death until He comes. In celebrating His death we also celebrate His resurrection for we await the coming of a living Lord. We also await the second coming of the Lord, the establishment of His kingdom, and the new heaven and earth where we will dwell with God forever, with certainty and full assurance because God has spoken it and we know it will come to pass.

Rev 22.12, 20

On October 31, 2010 the day before All Saints Day, worshippers arrived at their church in the Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad to remember the Christian saints and martyrs of the past. Few if any would have imagined that within minutes two of their pastors and several dozen other friends would be added to the souls under the heavenly altar crying out for justice.

The believer’s attending Our Lady of Salvation Church that morning are Assyrian Christians, part of the Middle East’s oldest continuous Christian community. Assyrian Christians credit the arrival of the Gospel to the preaching of the apostles Thomas, Thaddeus, and Bartholomew in the first century. Before the Iraq War began, they made up about five percent of Iraq’s population. Since the war, they account for forty percent of the refugees who have fled the country, cutting the number remaining in Iraq by half.

Soon after worship began, there was a burst of gunfire outside the church. Suddenly gunmen burst in. “You are all infidels,” they yelled, “We are here to avenge the burning of the Qur’ans [in the United States] and the jailing of Muslim women in Egypt.”

According to the UK Guardian, they then murdered the pastor before spraying the church and its icons with bullets. Congregants were lined up. “We will go to paradise if we kill you and you will go to hell,” said the gunmen as they shot, killing young people first.

By the end of it fifty-nine were dead including one unborn child and another seventy-eight wounded in what was the worst attack on Christians since the Iraq War began in 2003.

This horrific story is a fitting reminder of why we pray on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

That the Church is persecuted should come as no surprise. Jesus foretold that it would happen. “If the world hates you,” he said, “keep in mind that it hated me first. …in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God” (John 15:18-16:4).

That persecution began soon after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost when Stephen became the first to die for his faith. “On that day,” we read, “a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem….” (Acts 8:1b)

Not many years later Emperor Nero executed the apostles Peter and Paul and, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, made killing Christians “a matter of sport.” More persecutions followed under the emperors Decius (249-251), Diocletian (284-305), and Julian the Apostate (355-363). Rivers of blood flowed, but not nearly the torrent of blood we saw in the twentieth century and are beginning to see in the twenty-first.

Largely as a result of totalitarianism in Russia, Germany, China, and elsewhere, more Christians died for their faith during the twentieth century than in all of the previous nineteen centuries combined. As George Weigel writes concerning Christians killed by the Communists and the Nazis:

“Because Christian faith affirmed the truth about the inalienable dignity of the human person, anyone who hated that truth hated, implicitly, the Christian faith. Modern totalitarianism was an implicit form of odium fidei [hatred of the faith], because it reduced persons to things.”

Today in North Korea, Vietnam, Burma, and China, the totalitarian beat goes on. North Korea, for example, is itself a sort of giant concentration camp, denying basic human rights to all but a select few of its citizens. The state arrests any suspected dissidents along with their families and sends to real concentration camps. Religious people considered the most dangerous sort and, according to former prisoners in the camps, the cruelest treatment is reserved for Christians.

If the state demands our highest loyalty, it will brook no rival and persecution is inevitable.

Besides secular totalitarianism, religious totalitarianism results in persecution. We often hear that every religion in the world preaches some version of the Golden Rule: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). Would that they would all follow that Rule—at least a little bit.

According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2010 report to the president and Congress: The government of Iran continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused.

Serious religious freedom concerns persist in Pakistan, where religiously discriminatory legislation has fostered an atmosphere of intolerance.

Systematic, egregious, and ongoing religious freedom violations continue in Saudi Arabia. …the Saudi government persists in banning all forms of public religious expression other than that of the government’s own interpretation of one school of Sunni Islam, and interferes with private religious practice of both Muslims and non-Muslim expatriate workers.

The government of Sudan commits egregious and systematic violations of freedom of religion or belief in those areas under its control. Christians, Muslims who do not follow the government’s extreme interpretation of Islam, and those who follow traditional African religions are particularly targeted.

Because the suffering is overwhelming, the prayer needs are overwhelming. A single Sunday set aside for those prayers is only a way of reminding us to pray for the persecuted Church every day.

And note, we don’t pray for persecuted “churches.” There is, as the Nicene Creed puts it, “one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” in which all Christians believe and to which all Christians belong. Because Jesus is one, we pray in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in distress. This is not some metaphorical solidarity, but the true spiritual solidarity that marks the “communion of saints,” which is the unity of all Christians—living and dead.

And so under the heavenly altar, the martyrs cry out. Before the altar at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad, the persecuted and suffering cry out. In every church and before every altar, let us cry out for rescue, redemption, and justice for the persecuted Church—and for her persecutors.

 

 (Revelation 6:9-11)

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

 

 

 

Jim Tonkowich is a Senior Fellow at the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation and a scholar at the Institute on Religion & Democracy. He holds a degree in philosophy from Bates College and both a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. More of his work can be found at jimtonkowich.com.

 

SERMON OUTLINE

PRAYER   1 Thessalonians 5.17

 

Introduction

-Upcoming prayer: Day of Prayer; IDOP; Family Day

-Increase in present needs at Rosedale

 

Mark 9.29

-Powerless without prayer

-God can help faith to grow

-God is looking for intensity/seriousness from us

-More intense bondage and slavery to sin today

 

2 Chronicles 7.14

-God’s promise to bless the humble, confessing, praying

-The intense battle for unbelievers and believers

 

2 Corinthians 10.3-5

-Most powerful weapons are pray, proclaim, godliness

-Strongholds are ideas against the knowledge of God

-Take ideas captive for Christ and let them rule you

 

Prayer

-Requires time. Make the time in your schedule.

-Leads to intimacy, burden, fervency, faith

Conclusion

1)    Do you want to get in the battle?

2)    Will you choose to come to God in prayer?

3)    Will you let Christ rule your thoughts and your life?

SERMON NOTES

Prayer                          1 Thessalonians 5.17

-Over the next couple of weeks we are going to spend more time in prayer than our normal schedule would call for. Thursday we are having a Day of Prayer for Missions. I encourage you to become part of that Day of Prayer even if you have not participated in a day of prayer in the past. For those who are used to prayer I would encourage you to stretch yourself by taking more than one time slot and perhaps a time slot that requires a sacrifice for you to fill it.

 

-Then next Sunday we will be sharing in prayer as a congregation, praying for the persecuted church. We will be praying for our brothers and sisters in those parts of the world where being a believer and possessing a Bible is a crime or strongly opposed by the culture and citizens of those countries. We will be praying for the countries of Iran, Egypt and Sudan and for the believers in those countries.

 

-Then on November 20^th, we are going to spend a Sunday praying together for the church family. So prayer will be more of a focus over the next couple of weeks.

 

-Over the last couple of weeks I have been burdened to spend more time in prayer for individuals and the church and have sensed a greater burden for you as a congregation in the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of your life. This may mean that we are under spiritual attack. I may be that God is preparing us to be drawn closer to Him. Or it may be both of these things working together. I just see and sense something beyond the ordinary is happening. Because of this I believe that we need to give ourselves more to prayer as we move forward in the work at Rosedale. We need to give ourselves more to prayer both to keep what we already have in relationship to God, and to move ahead to become what God wants us to be in Christ, and to achieve what He has called us to do in Welland. These are crucial days in your individual walk with God, and in my individual walk with God, and in the future spiritual life and fruitfulness of our congregation. Personally I sense a great need to learn how to pray more effectively and with more authority, and would like nothing better than that we move forward together as a praying people.

 

-As I prayed about today’s message three scripture portions came to mind.

 

1) The first was Mark 9.29, “This kind cannot be driven out, by anything but prayer.” Some translations say, “by prayer and fasting”.

 

-In this story, Jesus is up on a mountain with Peter and James and John getting his final instructions for his departure from this world. Down in the valley a man brings his son who has an evil spirit to the remaining disciples and asks them to cast out the demon, but the disciples are not able to do this. They have cast out demons in the past but in this situation they are unable to cast out the demon. When Jesus descends from the mountain the man asks Jesus to cast the demon out of his son. He says to Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus questions the man about his son and then says, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” The father of the son honestly answers, “I believe, help my unbelief!” Jesus then casts the demon out of the son. Later the disciples ask Jesus why they could not cast out the demon. Jesus does not put the blame on the lack of faith of the father as so many present day faith healers would do, but on the lack of prayer by the disciples.

 

-There are two lessons for me in this story. The first lesson is that God can help my faith to grow if I ask Him. I can believe that God is able to do something and yet still have unbelief when I pray and ask Him to do it. God will help change my unbelief to belief as I learn more to trust Him beyond my senses and reason for the miraculous and the supernatural.

 

-The second lesson in this story is that God is looking for me to show Him that I am serious about His work and His kingdom. The scribes who copied these verses caught the sense of the intensity that Jesus asked of the disciples and added fasting to prayer to show this intensity. Even though fasting is clearly not in the original Greek the sense of the intensity that Jesus required of the disciples is evident in the story. This was a difficult case. The evil spirit was determined not to leave this boy. The evil spirit was not going to give up his territory easily. Today the lost are held strongly in the grip of the Devil through his many lies. The blindness of men is stronger today than ever before and these lost lives will not be won for Christ without effort in prayer on our part. Addictions, abuses, dysfunctional families, depression, anxiety, sexual openness, lack of commitment, the focus on entertainment, multiple religious options, the teaching of evolution and so much more hold the lost and even believers in slavery from their freedom in Christ.

 

-The question is do you want to fight for the salvation of the lost and for the freedom of believers according to God’s promises or are you content with things as they are? Each one of us will choose how far we are going to press into God to see His power work in and through our lives and the local church. The results will be evident to all.

 

2) The second scripture verse which came to mind was 2 Chronicles 7.14, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.” This is God’s promise to His people. God will forgive His people and answer their prayer if they humble themselves, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways.

 

-Today there is an intense battle going on for the minds and souls of men, women and young people, and for families and children. The flesh we are born with along with the evil world that is under the rule of the Devil, provide for all of us what we need to destroy ourselves and to erase from our lives the image of our creator God. Today even as God’s people we fall for the lies of the world and follow the ways of the world. Most of our problems are the result of our not seeking God and not obeying God’s Word and following God’s ways. We have produced our own prisons and problems by unbelief.

 

-A choice to come to God in prayer is a choice to redirect our hearts and our minds and our lives in line with God and to have His Goodness and Blessing upon our lives. God wants to work in us and through us. We need to seek Him and correct those areas in our lives where we have not followed after God. This begins with prayer.

 

3) The third scripture verse which came to mind is 2 Corinthians 10.3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” The most powerful weapons that we possess against the world and the Devil are prayer, the proclamation of the truth, and a godly lifestyle. The strongholds we are seeking to destroy are the ideas and opinions that oppose the knowledge of God. Our goal is to take every thought captive to obey Christ. That goal of taking every thought captive to obey Christ is not only for the unbeliever but especially for the believer. How many of your thoughts are captive to obey Christ and how many of your thoughts are really captive to the way of the world. We all need to become captives of Christ in our thinking and actions by taking hold of the truth, by prayer, and by choosing to live godly lives.

 

-Prayer requires time. If you recognise that you need to spend more time in prayer the first thing you need to do is make time in your busy schedule for prayer. On the monthly calendars this year I have an appeal that says, “This year I will pray ____ minutes every weekday”. Will you take up the challenge? It is not easy to step into your closet each day to pray and leave the world behind, but if you consider prayer important that is what you must do.

 

-Through prayer you will come to know God more intimately and through prayer God will work in your life and in circumstances. Over time as you pray you will receive God’s burden for the church and for those you are praying for and for the lost as a whole and that will lead you to more fervent and specific prayer.

 

-As time goes on you will desire to learn more about people, countries, and gather prayer requests from many different sources.

 

-As you pray your trust in God to answer prayer will also grow.

 

-Let me close by saying that I believe that through our present circumstances that God is calling me and you and the church to more prayer and is watching to see if we will respond. Our response to this call to prayer will determine God’s response to our circumstances and to the need of the lost in Welland. Will you make the time to pray? Will you join in the battle for souls and the sanctification of believers?

 

-This morning I would like us to end our service with a time of silence. We will not have a closing song. During this time of silence speak with God about your present prayer life, your desire or lack of desire for God or prayer, and what you would like God to do in your life. When you are done with your personal time with God you are free to leave.

“GOD NOTICES THE GRATEFUL HEART”

Luke 17:11-19

 

Same circumstance… but different attitude or perspective.

- Dog vs. cat.

- Shoe salesmen in Africa.

- What about us?  Gratitude is the appropriate response of the blessed.

 

Verses 11-13

- Ten lepers asking Jesus to have mercy on them.

 

Verse 14

- Jesus responds, by telling them to show themselves to the priests, and He heals them.

- Eph. 4:5… “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ when we were dead in transgressions.”

Eph. 2:1, Eph. 4:17-18, Eph. 2:12, Rom. 7:5, 2 Tim. 2:26

 

Verses 15-16

- One of the ten, a Samaritan, returns to thank Jesus.

 

Verses 17-19

- Jesus takes notice that the nine others did not return to thank Him.

 

Conclusion…

- God notices the grateful heart.

- Give thanks whatever happens!

- Be grateful to each other.

- Be thankful for our salvation.

- Be thankful for God’s love!

 

SERMON OUTLINE

Thanksgiving    Romans 1.21; 1 Thessalonians 5.18

Introduction

Calvary Church Seniors Thanksgiving lunch in 2008

Purpose to Always Give Thanks

-Not just to be polite and grateful

-A reflection of the Sovereign rule of God over my life

-An expression of trust and faith in God

-Like Philippians 4.4 and James 1.2

-Struggles can be the result of refusing to submit to God

-Initial submission in salvation, then growth in submission

Romans 1.18-23

-Wrath of God is revealed against ungodly / unrighteous

as seen in the Old Testament. Nations, Flood, Sodom

-Beware of God’s wrath. Romans 2.5. Repent and Confess

-Ungodliness: no worship or reverence for God. Attitude

of the heart against God.

-Unrighteous: wrong behavior, wickedness, Romans 1.24-32

-No reverence leads to no morality. 10 Commandments.

-God as Great Creator can be known. Without excuse.

-v21, Not honored or given thanks. No submission to God

-Refusal to submit leads to idolatry and immorality.

-The command to give thanks in all circumstances leads to

submission and conformity to Christ.

 

Conclusion

God’s wrath is highlighted to point us to God’s saving Grace in Jesus Christ for which we give much thanks.

SERMON NOTES

Thanksgiving               Romans 1.21; 1 Thessalonians 5.18

-In 2008, I was asked to come and speak to the Calvary Church Seniors for their October Thanksgiving lunch. According to my records I spoke there on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 22^nd. I chose as my verse 1 Thessalonians 5.18, “Give thanks in all circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. I chose that verse because I needed a verse that focused on thanksgiving. My preparation for that meeting and the meeting itself have become very special to me. My preparation and my talk began an ongoing interest and growing understanding in God’s command to give thanks in all circumstances.

 

-I discovered that God’s purpose in this command for me to give thanks in all circumstances is not just to make me a nice kind, polite, well behaved Christian that practices good etiquette by saying thank you in all circumstances. It is not even God’s ultimate purpose to make me a grateful person. I think that as Christians we should be kind and grateful people because of who we are in Christ and how God has blessed us with salvation and a relationship with Himself. But God’s command to give thanks in all circumstances involves so much more than gratitude and thanksgiving.

 

-This command to give thanks to God in all my circumstances cuts to the very core of my being by asking me if I am truly trusting in the God who Sovereignly rules over my life. This command calls me to show a deep trust in God’s Sovereignty and Goodness and Love in my life. God calls me to give thanks in all circumstances, and to rejoice always in my trials as an expression of faith in Him, as a sign of a surrendered will and a willingness to accept the will of God with joy. Giving thanks to God in all my circumstances shows my willingness to live for God’s purposes under His Sovereign rule.

 

-I find the same principle at work in God’s command to “rejoice in the Lord always”, and “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (Philippians 4.4; James 1.2). All of these commands are asking me to express a deep trust in God in all my circumstances.

 

-I believe that one of the biggest causes of discouragements, lack of joy and peace, and bitterness in Christians is our refusal to submit to God’s total rule over our lives and circumstances. Many a counseling session would come to an end if we chose to fully submit to God’s plan for our life and surrendered to God’s rule over us, giving up our rights and all our dreams and possessions to His direction and control. When I understand what God is asking me to do in giving thanks in all my circumstances I become more like Jesus in attitude and heart and deepen in my relationship with God.

 

-Our initial submission to God is when we accept that we are sinners and that we need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to be saved from God’s wrath. When we submit to God in repentance and confession He saves us from sin. From this initial submission in salvation, God desires to bring us to the submission and obedience that is seen in Jesus to his Father in giving himself even to death on the cross. The will of the Father was the will of Jesus, so that in all circumstances Jesus could give thanks to God in willing submission to God’s Sovereign rule over his life and circumstances.

 

-I hope you understanding what I am saying this morning. If you do not get it, let me encourage you to go to the church website later this week and read this message over a couple of times and ask God to help you to understand more fully what I am trying to say about the connection of giving thanks to God in all circumstances and the full submission of our will to God’s Sovereign rule.

 

-Please turn to Romans 1 and I would like to show you how being unthankful is an expression of sinful rebellion against God and leads to idolatry and immorality. [Read Romans 1.18-23; Keep Bibles open]

 

-Verse 18 tells us that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. If you want to understand the wrath of God against sin read the OT and notice how God destroyed wicked nations because of their idolatry, how God destroyed mankind by a flood in the days of Noah because “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”, how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because he could not find even 10 righteous people there. God’s wrath will always be against ungodliness and unrighteousness.

 

-The one thing you do not want is to be face to face with the wrath of God on Judgment Day. Look at Romans 2.5, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Flee from the wrath to come. Ask God to lead you to repentance and salvation. Ask God to change you hard and impenitent heart to a heart that loves Jesus. One of the reasons why Christians are filled with thanksgiving is because they know they are no longer under the wrath of God.

 

-We are told that God’s wrath is revealed against two things, ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Both the meaning and the order of these two words is important.

 

-Ungodliness translates a Greek word made from a negative prefix and the word for worship and reverence. So it literally means no worship or no reverence for God. This irreverence can range from ignoring God to outrage against God. This word describes an attitude of the heart toward God. Ungodliness describes a complete disregard for God and even anger against God. Today most people want nothing to do with God and become angry when presented with the Holy God of the Bible.

 

-Unrighteousness translates a Greek word made from a negative prefix before the word for doing what is right. This word points to wrong behavior towards God and towards men. This word points to wrong action, immorality, and broken relationships. It could be translated as wickedness as it is in the NIV. Romans 1.24-32 describes this wicked behavior as it is presently being lived out before our eyes.

 

-The order of these two words shows that a lack of reverence for God leads to wrong behavior in our lives and toward others. Our attitude toward God determines our behavior. Ignoring and rebelling against God leads to the sin that we find in the world today. When we worship God and fully submit to Him right behavior follows.

 

-God’s wrath is revealed first toward a heart that does not honor Him and then toward the wicked behavior that results from a hard and impenitent heart. In God’s first four commandments He calls us to reverence Him as God, and in the last six commandments He calls us to behave rightly towards others. Because of sin both our heart attitude to God and our behavior toward others is deserving of God’s wrath.

 

-In the last part of verse 18 and verses 19-23, we are given a description of how fallen man wickedly suppresses (holds down) the truth and moves toward idolatry and immorality. We will see that part of that process in not being thankful to God.

 

-The invisible attributes of God, namely his eternal power and divine nature, can be plainly seen in creation, in the world that God has made. Man can see the regular movements of the Sun and Moon and stars, the power of wind and rain and snow, the abundance of fruit in the yearly cycle of seed time and harvest, the amazing dexterity of the human hand and the creativity of the human mind, and so much more. In viewing creation, including man himself, mankind must conclude that there is a Great Designer, a powerful Creator, and that this Creator is God.

 

-Creation cannot reveal mankind’s origin, mankind’s fall into sin, or God’s salvation in Jesus Christ, but creation can reveal that God exists and that He must be powerful. So because of creation, man is without excuse with regard to His knowledge of a Greater Divine Being.

 

-It is in verse 21 that we see man’s sinful nature and his hard heart in response to God. Man “knew God” the powerful creator but “did not honor Him as God”. Literally “did not glorify him as God”. As we learned in verse 18, mankind does not revere and honor God as God for reverence is to submit to God and sinful man refuses to submit to God.

 

-We are also told that mankind does “not give thanks to God”. To thank God would acknowledge that God is God who created, provided and sustained, and would again be submission to God. Being unthankful here is not just a lack of gratitude. It is not just forgetting to say thank you for receiving something good. Here unthankful is a refusal to submit to God and a refusal to acknowledge the majesty and supremacy of God. That is again an expression of the lack of worship mentioned in v18, the heart attitude that does not reverence God or submit to God. When we truly, from the heart, thank God for the circumstances He has engineered for us, we are bowing down to Him and submitting to Him as God.

 

-As a result of not honoring God or giving thanks to Him, a further futility in the mind and hardness of the heart takes place and this leads to idolatry, an “exchange of the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” and also to depraved immorality. Creation provided enough knowledge for humanity to know that God was not a man or a creature. In not honoring God or giving thanks to Him for all His power and provision, man refused to submit to God and was overtaken by his sinful nature and made foolish and blind, and led to worship idols and sensuality and to believe deceptive lies (man is the product of evolution; I am good enough to get to God). That is the history of humankind in relation to God. God’s command to give thanks in all circumstances is a reversal of man’s rebellion and stubborn refusal to submit to God.

 

-I have spoken a great deal about the wrath of God on sinful man this morning. The wrath of God is real and certain for those who do not know Jesus Christ. But I also want to remind you that the purpose of the book of Romans in showing us the certainty God’s wrath is to introduce us to the forgiving mercy God offers to the sinner in Jesus Christ. The wrath of God is hanging over everyone here who does not belong to Jesus Christ but you don’t have to face God’s wrath if you come to Christ for salvation. How thankful you are to God for His Grace shows if you are truly saved. Those who are not saved and are still under God’s wrath are not thankful for God’s Grace and hate God for saying that He will judge them in wrath. If you are not thankful to God this morning for His Grace and hate God because He will punish you as a sinner, you need to be saved.

 

-For those of us who are believers, how we genuinely give thanks in all our circumstances shows how much our hearts are submitted to God and how much more they need to be submitted to God.

 

-Do not just obey the command to give thanks in all circumstances because that is what the Bible says you are to do. Rather know that God is asking you to submit your life fully to His control and to His plan for you and that in honestly giving thanks in all circumstances you are expressing a heart submitted to God.

SERMON  OUTLINE

Glory to God Through Obedience   Luke 9.23

Introduction

Daily ongoing obedience brings Glory to God.

Obedience

1)    What is obedience?

Doing what God instructs me to do.

2)    What is the essence of obedience?

A willing submission of my will to God’s will with a desire to glorify God.

3)    Highest expression of obedience – the cross. Philippians 2.6-11

4)    Finest example of obedience – Jesus. John 4.34

Our Union With Christ

1)    Obedience that brings Glory to God is only possible through our union with Christ.

2)    By the cross we are forgiven of our sins, and we are cut off from our sinful past life in Adam.

3)    By the resurrection we are made new people who are spiritually alive and empowered to obey God for His Glory.

Galatians 2.20

 

My Obedience

1)    As I obey God, in Christ, I bring Glory to God.

2)    Because of the cross and the resurrection of Christ, we who are in Christ, can walk in submission and willing obedience to

God, and bring Glory to God. Luke 9.23

3)    We are called to be like Jesus. Romans 8.29

4)    When we disobey we can Glorify God by confessing our sin to God. Joshua 7.19; 1 John 1.9

 

Conclusion

The opportunity to Glorify God by our obedience should be one of our compelling motives for living.

SERMON NOTES

The Glory of God

The Glory of God in the Believers Obedience    Luke 9.23

-What I wanted to do this morning was show how our daily and ongoing obedience to God brings Glory to God. This led me to ask myself, “What is obedience?” My answer to that question was, “Obedience is doing what God instructs me to do.” In the Great Commission of Jesus to the church to go and make disciples of all the nations, he says we are to go and share the good news with them, baptise those who believe, and then “teach them to observe all that I have commanded you”. (Matthew 28.20) In other words teach them to obey. So obedience is to do what God commands me to do in His Word.

 

-Then I asked myself, “What is the essence of obedience? What does real obedience really like?” I can do what God commands me to do because I know I have to do it but is that genuine obedience? The Pharisees did what God commanded in His Word but were they really obeying God? What I concluded was that genuine obedience is not only outward compliance to God’s commands but a willing submission of my will to God’s will with a desire to glorify God. Genuine obedience to God is a willing sacrifice to God of my rights and of my self to do God’s will in order to bring Glory to God.

 

-The highest expression we have of genuine obedience to God is the cross, and Jesus is the finest example of genuine obedience. Jesus once said to his disciples, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4.34). In Philippians 2.6-11, we have a wonderful description of genuine obedience. In verse 8 we read, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”. It is this kind of genuine self-sacrificing, submission-to-God, obedience that brings Glory to God and this is the kind of obedience we are called to as believers.

 

-This obedience that brings Glory to God is only possible through our union with Jesus Christ. Genuine obedience to God comes through the cross and the resurrection of Christ. By the cross we are forgiven of our sins, and we are cut off from our sinful past life in Adam. In Adam the only obedience to God that was possible was selfish, self-serving obedience that brought no Glory to God. In Christ we are made new people who are spiritually alive and empowered to obey God for His Glory. In Christ we can live selfless lives of obedience to God which bring Him Glory for we are serving God in the life of His Son Jesus Christ.

 

-In Galatians 2.20 Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” My obedience glorifies God when it is obedience that is empowered by the life of Christ in me. This obedience in Christ possesses a cross-like attitude and resurrection power, which glorifies God.

 

-In Christ, the cross and resurrection enable me to obey God in a way that brings Glory to God. As I obey God, in Christ, I bring Glory to God. It was with the foreknowledge of His cross and His resurrection that Jesus said to his disciples and to us in Luke 9.23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Because of the cross and the resurrection of Christ, we who are in Christ, can walk in submission and willing obedience to God, and bring Glory to God. We can take up our cross daily and follow Jesus in obedience to God and bring Glory to His name. That is the reason why God put us in Christ. “For those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8.29). It is in Christ that we are pleasing to God and in obedience bring Glory to God.

 

-There will be times when we disobey God’s Word. This will give the world and the Devil the opportunity to slander God and will erode our credibility with other believers and unbelievers. But even in our sin because we are in Christ we are given the opportunity to bring Glory to God. There is an interesting verse in Joshua 7.19. The army of Israel has been defeated in their attempt to capture the small city of Ai and Joshua discerns that this is because there is sin in the camp of Israel. Achan the son of Carmi is chosen as the cause of this sin in the camp of Israel. Joshua says to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” In our obedience of confessing our sin to God we bring Glory to God. 1 John 1.9 says, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In confessing our sins we draw attention to the faithful and just character of God, we glorify God. It is when we refuse to repent and confess our sins that we do not glorify God.

 

-By saving us from our sins and uniting us with Christ, God has enabled us to obey and bring Glory to his name. Even when we sin and confess our sins we bring Glory to God.

 

-The opportunity that God has given us to bring Glory to God in Christ needs to become one of the compelling motives for living our lives. God created us in His image so that we might bring Glory to His name and share in His Glory. That is God’s call on your life and on my life. God enables us to be fulfilled in the calling of obedience to God and in that obedience we bring Glory to God.

 

SERMON OUTLINE

Forgiven Sinners Love Jesus       Luke 7.36-50

Introduction

1)   Not a repetition of the story in Matthew, Mark, John

2)   No proof that the woman is Mary Magdalene

3)   Outline: Setting – v36-38 with a response in v39

Parable – v40-42 with a response in v43

Teaching – v44-48 with a response in v49

Benediction v50

4) Who is this man Jesus? Demonstration of forgiveness.

The Setting   v36-39

1)    Careful Simon invites Jesus to eat with him

2)    An unnamed prostitute anoints the feet of Jesus

3)    Simon decides that Jesus is not a prophet

The Parable   v40-43

1)    Parable of the two debtors

2)    Simon’s reluctant response

 

The Teaching   v44-49

1)    Do you see this woman?

2)    Contrast between the woman and Simon

3)    Conclusion – A forgiven sinner loves Jesus

4)    Who is this man who forgives sin?

 

Conclusion   v50

Your faith has saved you go into peace.

SERMON NOTES

Forgiven Sinners Love Jesus        Luke 7.36-50

 

-In my preparation for the sermon this week I have come to deeply appreciate the compassion of Jesus displayed in this story and the love and gratitude produced by forgiveness. Let me try to communicate that compassion and gratitude to you.

 

-Before we look at the story I want to mention two pieces of information about this story. 1) This story is not a repetition of the story of the woman anointing Jesus given in Matthew, Mark and John. There are a number of differences in the two stories. Although both hosts are named Simon, the Simon in this story is a critical Pharisee while the Simon in the other story is a cleansed leper. In Luke the house is in Galilee while in the other Gospels the story is set in Bethany near Jerusalem. Here the woman is sinful, likely a prostitute, while Mary the brother of Lazarus is not. This incident takes place in the early ministry of Jesus while the other takes place just before the crucifixion. Here the woman anoints the feet of Jesus while in the other incident the head of Jesus is anointed. Finally in this story the discussion is about the woman being a sinner while in the other incident the argument is about wasting money that could have been given to the poor. So this story is a different story from the anointing mentioned in the other Gospels. 2) Some have argued that the woman in this story is Mary Magdalene but we have no proof of that. When Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the next chapter the focus is on her being delivered of seven demons not on her being forgiven. Mary Magdalene certainly loved Jesus a great deal, as this woman also did, because of her deliverance by Jesus, but beyond that we have no reason to name the woman in this story as Mary Magdalene.

 

-Let me give you an outline for these verses. Verses 41-43 is what is commonly called the parable of the two debtors, and the parable is part of a larger story of a sinful woman who is forgiven. This larger story can be divided into three parts. Each part describes a situation and then is followed by a response to that situation. The story closes with a benediction on the woman.

The Setting – v36-38 with a response in v39

The Parable – v40-42 with a response in v43

The Teaching – v43-48 with a response in v49

Benediction v50

 

-This story answers the question “Who is this man Jesus?” It also demonstrates the result of true forgiveness from God. It is this kind of forgiveness that leads to individual transformation and forgiving others.

 

-In v36 we are told that one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him so Jesus went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. We are not told why this Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to eat with him. We do know that Pharisees were very particular about who they ate with, not wanting to fellowship with anyone who was impure and not totally devoted to God as they were. We find out by the way Jesus was greeted at the door that Simon did not want to treat Jesus as an honoured guest, but we also find that Simon is not openly antagonistic to Jesus. I sense as I read this story that Simon is fearful of what his Pharisee friends might say if he were to greet Jesus too enthusiastically. Simon is curious about who Jesus is. Simon has heard a great deal about this teacher and miracle worker, this new prophet. And yet he had also heard that Jesus is a glutton and drunkard and eats with tax-collectors and sinners (7.34). Who is this man? Simon wants to examine Jesus a little more closely to find out more, but he is very careful in his actions. Simon is not deceptively planning any traps for Jesus but he is treating him with caution because of his own religious beliefs and his status as a Pharisee. Simon has not yet made up his mind on who Jesus is.

 

-Jesus on the other hand is quite willing to join Simon and his friends for a meal knowing that God will lead the circumstances and the conversation and so Jesus takes his designated place at the table. Jesus came to earth to seek and to save the lost, and Simon is lost.

 

-In v37 and new person is introduced into the story. She is an unnamed woman from the city who is a sinner. The Greek makes it quite clear that this woman was known in that city as a sinner. Literally the verse is “a woman who was in the city a sinner”. Most likely this woman was a well known prostitute in the city.

 

-She would never have been invited to Simon’s house and she would never have considered entering Simon’s house had she not learned that Jesus was eating there.

 

-The verse says that Jesus “was reclining at table in the Pharisees house”. Let me describe the scene to you. The city would be aware that Jesus was eating at Simon’s house. Not only would they be aware of Jesus in the house but people from the city were free to come to Simon’s house and observe the meal and listen to the discussions and perhaps even partake in the discussions.

 

-The house would be built in a square around a large open courtyard where the meal would be held. Along the walls facing the courtyard would be cushioned benches were visitors could sit and watch and listen. Sometimes the leftovers from the meal were given to the poor in attendance. So people coming in and out of the courtyard during the meal would not be unusual.

 

-Under normal circumstances this woman knowing her status as a prostitute would not come to Simon’s house. But in this case she had a very specific purpose for coming. Jesus was there and she wanted to anoint the feet of Jesus with perfume because his forgiveness had changed her life. No sense of shame, no dirty looks from those in attendance, was going to stop her from showing her love for Jesus. She was driven by a love which overcame all her shame and all her fear. This man Jesus had changed her life and she was going to express her love to him. Luke draws our attention to this unusual incident of a prostitute coming into Simon the Pharisees house by writing Behold at the beginning of the verse.

 

-Another detail to remember is that these meals were eaten in a reclining position. There was a center table with the food upon it surrounded by low couches radiating out like spokes of a wheel from the table. The guests would remove their sandals and recline on their left side leaving their right hand free to eat and drink with. That is why we are told that Jesus was reclining at table. This is also why the woman had access to the feet of Jesus which she was determined to anoint with perfume.

 

-The woman brought with her an alabaster flask of ointment. Alabaster is like the calcium deposits you find in your electric kettle or in the pot you use to boil water for your tea. If you have ever been in a cave and seen those calcium icicles hanging from the ceiling called stalactites you have seen alabaster. These small perfume flasks were either carved from larger chunks of these calcium deposits or made by mixing calcium in water and then allowing the calcium to deposit and solidify layer by layer. These flasks were small with a long neck and often hung around a woman’s neck. The concentrated and expensive perfume was sealed in the flask and removed by breaking the neck of the flask.

 

-In v38 we are told what the woman did. The woman, this prostitute, this known sinner in the city came in and stood at Jesus’ feet. By this time all conversation would have stopped and the whole courtyard would be watching what this woman was going to do next. Why had this sinful woman come to see Jesus?

 

-I don’t think this woman planned on weeping on the feet of Jesus but overtaken with emotion she began to weep and wet the feet of Jesus with her tears. Not having a towel she let down her hair and used her hair as a towel to wipe her tears from Jesus’ feet. She then kissed the feet of Jesus and anointed those beautiful feet, which had brought to her the Gospel of forgiveness from God, with scented oil.

 

-What this woman did to Jesus was an ultimate expression of honor, gratitude, submission, and humility. Letting her hair down in public would normally be considered a shameful act but in this case it was a sign of her great devotion to Jesus. This woman loved Jesus because he had forgiven her sin and given her a new life free from guilt and filled with peace. She wanted to show this love to Jesus in the only way she knew how, by anointing his feet with what was most precious to her.

 

-In verse 39 we have Simon’s response to Jesus and what this woman has done to him. Simon said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” A Pharisee would never allow a sinner to touch him, to eat with him or to even enter his home, for this would make him unclean before God. If Jesus were a true prophet, and that is what Simon is trying to determine, he certainly would know who this woman is and what sort of woman she is and would never allow her to touch him, for that would make Jesus unclean before God. Simon’s conclusion: Jesus is not a prophet because of his lack of knowledge and allowing this sinful woman to touch him. The problem is that Simon examined Jesus according to his own self-righteous standard and not from God’s perspective. There is an important lesson for all of us here.

 

-Verse 40 begins with “Jesus answering him”. Even though Simon has not said anything, Jesus knows what he is thinking and wants to lead him to more understanding and he does this through a parable. “Simon I have something to say to you”. Jesus has more than the parable to say to Simon but begins with the parable. Simon allows Jesus to say what he has to say and addresses him as Teacher even though he has already determined in his own mind that Jesus is not a prophet.

 

-In verses 41-43 we have a parable of two debtors, one who owed a large sum and one who owed a small sum and how both were forgiven of their debt. Jesus asks Simon a question, “Now which one of them will love the moneylender more?” We find our second response in this story. Simon is starting to realise where this parable is leading and answers with “I suppose he who had the larger debt cancelled”.

 

-In verse 44-46 Jesus turns to the woman but continues to teach Simon about God’s forgiveness. Jesus says to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” Jesus is not just asking Simon to consider this woman but to realise what God has done in this woman’s life. How often do we continue to evaluate people as we first knew them and do not recognise the changes that God has made and is making in their lives? Jesus wants Simon to take a closer look at this woman and see that she is not the sinner, the prostitute she once was but a new woman because of God’s forgiveness. All Simon can see is a woman with a bad reputation.

 

-Jesus contrasts the great love this woman has for him with the lack of the ordinary courtesies of a host that Simon has failed to extend to him as a guest. “You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair”. Simon as the host would not be required to wash the feet of Jesus but only to provide water for Jesus to wash his feet. Even this was not provided by Simon. What about the other guests that day? Did they have water to wash their feet or even have their feet washed by one of the slaves? Likely they did. “You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.” We can imagine this woman still kissing the feet of Jesus as he is speaking. Simon was not required to give Jesus a kiss, but kissing Jesus would have recognised him as an honored guest. “You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment”. Again Simon was not required to anoint the head of Jesus with olive oil but that would have honored him before all the guests. Here Jesus contrasts the olive oil Simon would have used to anoint his head with the expensive fragrant oil from the woman’s alabaster jar that she has put on his feet.

 

-In verse 47 Jesus comes to the conclusion and the lesson he has for Simon. The great love of this woman for Jesus is an expression of her many sins being forgiven. By contrast Simon’s cool reception of Jesus and his self-righteous attitude toward this woman and Jesus shows that he has not been forgiven of his sins by God. “He who has been forgiven little loves little”. Forgiven is in the perfect tense meaning “has been forgiven”. This woman is not being forgiven because of her love for Jesus but rather had been forgiven and therefore has much love for Jesus. At some time before this she had encountered Jesus or had heard him speak and had received forgiveness.

 

-We see in the benediction in verse 50 that faith is the basis for this woman’s forgiveness not her expressed love for Jesus. Throughout the NT we find that those who have been forgiven of their sins and know God as Father have a deep love for Jesus and long for his coming to earth in Glory. You can examine your own heart this morning for love for Jesus and see if you have been forgiven of your many sins. Those who have been forgiven of many sins love God with their actions and also with emotions. Does Jesus excite you this morning? Do you love Jesus this morning?

 

-If we go back to this parable and apply it to Simon and the woman, I wonder if Jesus was considering Simon as the one with the greater debt that needed to be forgiven and the woman as the one with the lesser debt. Simon in his deep rooted pride and prejudice and self-righteousness before God was in great need of God’s forgiveness. Outwardly he was certainly more righteous than this prostitute but in his heart his sins were many and needed God’s great forgiveness. Had Simon realised this he would also love Jesus much. Jesus is seeking to bring Simon to salvation.

 

-In verse 48-49 Jesus turns to the woman and once again affirms to her that her sins are forgiven. This pronouncement is not only for the woman but to teach Simon and his other guests who he is. We find in verse 49 the third response in this story, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” Jesus this prophet who allows a sinner to touch him, who is a friend of tax-collectors and sinners, and who forgives sins. Who is this man? Jesus wants Simon and his guests and everyone to seriously consider this question. A right answer to this question would lead them to forgiveness of their sins and to eternal life, and a wrong answer would lead them to eternal separation from God.

 

-The story ends in verse 50 with Jesus pronouncing a benediction on this woman, “Your faith has saved you, go in peace”. Jesus blesses the woman but not Simon. Literally Jesus says, “Go into peace”. At a funeral the benediction upon the deceased was “go in peace” but to a living person the benediction was “go into peace”. This woman was very much alive before God because her sins were forgiven but Simon who assumed God accepted him was spiritually dead and still in need of his sins being forgiven. Jesus called Simon to consider afresh who he was so that he could be forgiven and love Jesus. Forgiven sinners love Jesus for forgiven their sins. May you be among those who love Jesus and look forward to his coming again to establish his righteous kingdom.