A WORD OF PROVISION (Third Word from the Cross)
#074 A WORD OF PROVISION (Third Word from the Cross)
Scripture John 19:25-27 NIV Orig. Date 3/21/1965 (3/1980)
Rewr. Dates 3/19/1987
Passage: 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[a] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Purpose: Continuing a series of Words from the Cross, directing our thoughts to the salvation accomplished on the cross by the means of Christ’s gift of Himself
Keywords: Biography, Mary Crucifixion Salvation Blood Christ, Death
Easter
Timeline/Series: Words from the Cross
Introduction
How often, when attempting to console a friend who has lost a loved one are we moved to say, “I know how you feel!”? But we know that unless we have ourselves walked through that “lonesome valley,” we cannot know how they feel.
Even so is any word that reflects on Mary’s feelings here. How do we contemplate the feelings of Mary as she watched Jesus die? Recalling Simeon’s prophecy (Luke 2:35), “a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also,” can we comprehend her feeling? Do you suppose she recalled those words as she looked on?
Hebrew women depended on sibling caretakers just as elderly mothers do today. Perhaps more so. Joseph was surely dead. There were other children, four sons, at least two daughters. But there was only one like her first born. Now she can only stand by and watch.
Jesus is dying; and he is dying the shameful death of a criminal. She had to watch. She felt the same pain that He felt. His blood coursing down the cross was as it were her own. She could see the gaping wound, the trickling blood, the wounded hands and feet, the parched lips and tongue, yet she could do nothing. She remembered, perhaps, a child’s feet, ever-present near her own. She saw in her mind’s eye, the boyhood hands, skillfully learning from Joseph, the trade of carpenter. And every taunt, from the indifferent crowd, tore through her heart like a dagger.
Perhaps she remembered the angel (Luke 2:10), “I bring you good tidings of great joy.” She recalled the shepherds (Luke 2:20), “return[ing], glorifying and praising God.” Were the shepherds deceived, the angel a deceiver? How else to explain this now? The word here spoken was an intimately personal one spoken to His mother, but with deep meaning for all of us.
I. Consider, First, a Provision Centered in Human Need. John 19:26, “He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.” We hear Jesus address an apparent need, the care of his mother in her senescence. She is left in the care of a son of the cross. She was 45, perhaps 50. There were 6-7 siblings (Matthew 13:55-56). Galatians 1:19 speaks of James “the Lord’s brother.” John 7:5: ”5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” At this time, none of the others are followers, and Jesus wants her under redemptive care.
Not only is this a testament to God’s providence, but His foreknowledge as well. John probably outlived all others. Mary will know comparative ease in the distant confines of Ephesus.
It must also be noted that there is spiritual need here as well. It is not as son, but as Saviour, that Jesus reaches out in her behalf. There were those deep forebodings.
Shepherds were already mentioned, as were the angels. The wise men (Matthew 2:11f) were learned astrologers from the distant east, worshiping, gifting. Luke 1:42 is Elisabeth’s Magnificat—“Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”
There were spectacular displays in His life: The Passover pilgrimage when He was twelve; manifestations of healing, teaching. There are stranger forebodings to beset her now. We must see her humanity, so unique, yet still one of us. It is disparaging and dishonest to see her as other than sinner. Jesus must gently remove Himself as son, that she might see Him as Saviour. Ephesians 2:16, “That He might reconcile both [Jew and Greek] unto God in one body on the cross.”
Fine, deeply religious, God-honoring woman that she was, needed not a son, but a Saviour.
II. A Provision Consummated in Manly Compliance. John 19:27, “Then saith He to the disciple, Behold
Thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto His . . . home.” Thus, we concluded Jesus’s intent to see her under the care of a believer.
John had given evidence of the change in his own life. He had been “Boanerges”--son of thunder. He would become “the disciple Jesus loved.” From fisherman to fisher of men. From net mender to knee bender. I John 1:1-2, “1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you . . . .)”
John would be the one, the only one (?), able to help her keep the perspective of Saviour. Not even His own mother must cloud the issue of who He really is: Son of God, Saviour. Multiple references show John’s insight. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Where John could make such a difference for Mary was in the good news of salvation through the cross. John undauntedly proclaimed Christ as Lord. John only records the interview with Nicodemus. John 3:17, “God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Again, only John tells of the woman at the well. John 4:13f, “Whoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but who drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.”
He tells of the lame man in Jerusalem. John 5:39f, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life . . . . And ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.”
As the family of Christ in the world today, how vital that we proclaim Him Lord, nothing else. John 9:4, “I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is yet day, for the night cometh.” The time comes when the mind is closed against the Lord. Satan works his doom-saying work through sin that clouds the heart to faith. Those who show themselves as Christ’s, show of their Lord.
Throughout history, those times when our Churches have been strongest was when Christ was most clearly enthroned. Mary must not be a detriment by beholding Him as son. How much clearer is our compulsion to proclaim Him Lord?
Church/Lives/Work/Pleasure
Around the world people seek to maintain their status quo, even with guns and tanks.
We are taught to pursue truth. Too many are pathetically like the blind men in the children’s story describing an elephant. One at side, trunk, leg, ear. God’s purpose remains to reveal truth through Christ.
We are facing the corruption of power on a world scale. A historian wrote of the corruption in NYC a hundred years ago. “The good people got tired of being good before the bad people got tired of being bad.”
The Real in our world today is Jesus. The Truth is Jesus. The Power capable of confronting corruption is Jesus. What are we doing about it? He is God’s Son, Saviour, who made provision for the sin of Mary and the Jews, but not for the Jew only and, as well, not only for us WASPS.
Conclusion
A businessman made an appointment to meet with his banker friend. His purpose was to share with his friend of the great estate of Christ to save. As he shared Christ’s love in that He died on the cross to save us, the banker became quite annoyed. “His destiny was in His own hands,” said the banker. “How could Christ’s death redeem me? If I am to be saved, it will be through my efforts.”
The businessman called attention to another man, known to them both waiting to see the banker. “He is coming to tell you of some need. He will press for a loan to meet that need. Will you grant him the right to set the conditions of the loan?” “Absolutely not! I will determine the conditions!” said the banker. “You stand in the same relationship to God. He is the great BANKER. We the poor, helpless sinner. We come to Him for mercy, pardon. Do we presume to set conditions, or do we accept His own?” (251T43p188)
A WORD OF PROMISE (Second Word from the Cross)
#069 A WORD OF PROMISE (Second Word from the Cross)
Scripture Luke 23:39-43, NIV Orig. Date 3/18/62 (3/80)
Rewr. Dates 3/12/87
Passage: 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[a]”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Purpose: The second of a seven part series with an emphasis on the meaning of the crucifixion.
Keywords: Christ, Redeemer Easter Cross God, Word of
Timeline/Series: Words from the Cross
Introduction
It is interesting that the antagonism faced by Jesus was the antagonism of the religious. Oh, there was some of the other kind, but Jesus had been friend to sinners. He was on the cross now to die for sinners. He has taken His place between two thieves.
The religious leaders had been careful to create an atmosphere of suspicion relative to Jesus, and many of the people were afraid to look with openness at what He was doing.
Mark 15:31 “the chief priests . . .said . . . with the scribes ‘he saved others; himself he cannot save.’”
Luke 23:35 “. . .the rulers also scoffed at him.”
Matthew 27:41 “. . . the chief priests mocking him.”
Of these two men with whom Jesus is dying, one “railed” v39 blasphémeó —"to speak evil of.” The other “rebuked” v40 epitimaó—charged.
It was not by accident that Jesus came to die between these two. Two nameless souls, they, who were suddenly thrust into the gaze of eternity. All of Jesus life He had been the friend of sinners. He would not be separated from them in death.
Who they were, no one knows. Bandits perhaps, like those in Jesus’ story of the Samaritan. It has been put forth that they were associates of Barabbas. Insurrectionists, like him. He was the one released by Pilate (Matthew 27:15). The insurrectionist movement was begun to oppose Roman domination but it had degenerated into a habitat for thieves and criminals.
In this context, one suddenly faced up to himself, and then his accomplice. This man between them was also dying. But He was doing so courageously. There was even something regal about His bearing. He prayed for the soldiers “Father, forgive them.” For His antagonists among the leaders and on-lookers, “Father, forgive them.” He suddenly perceived Jesus to be, not an enemy, but a friend. It is that awakening that has brought untold millions to the awakening of faith over the centuries. He no longer saw a cross, but a throne; not thorns about His brow, but a crown; the blood he saw no longer meant death, but life.
I. In This Context, We Must Note First a Promise Defied. V39 “And one of these criminals blasphemed him saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself, and us.”
This man seems almost to believe. We know that Jesus could have done so. Could relieve them of this dying sting. But this man! Can he believe this of Jesus? Like so many, his first thought is of his fleshly body, not his eternal soul.
His anger at being here confuses the promise.
Anger is not of itself a bad thing.
James 1:19 “be slow to anger.”
Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry and sin not.”
Matthew 5:22 “Whoever is angry without cause.”
Anger, and the anguish it espouses, can be a good thing for the believer. Emily Brontë wrote in Remembrance—“Once drinking of that divinest anguish, how could I seek the empty world again?” Anguish, you see, can be an ally leading to honesty, and faith, and Christ. And not that only, it is the truest friend of repentance.
But this man’s anger and anguish turn to arrogance. He stands ready to sacrifice everything to his own self-interest. Proverbs 26:12, “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.”
Anguish, born of arrogance, will find no relief. Not unlike Oscar Wilde in his poem Ballad of Reading Gaol,
“The vilest deeds like poison weeds bloom well in prison air;
It is only what is good in man that wastes and withers there:
Pale anguish—anguish—keeps the heavy gate, the warder of despair.”
I Peter 5:5 “. . . All of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.”
II. Notice Now a Promise Subscribed. V40 “But the other answered . . . 42 Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.”
Some who had approached Jesus, and some at the cross now, insisted on some sign of power. Just a sign, Jesus, and we will believe: Many in the world today, some in this room today.
But Jesus had spoken all that there is to say. “The only sign that you will be given is that of Jonas”: a sign of death, a sign of submergence and submission, a sign of dependence and selflessness. And too many of us, like too many of them, will have none of it.
“Give us something to help us remember Golgotha.” Give us proof or forget it. Write out a check for the bottom line.
Here was one man who needed no further sign. I remind you, it was not death that converted him. It was life, Jesus’ life. He saw through new eyes. In fact, he saw through no eyes at all, but through his heart. John 6:40, “This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life.” John 4:42 (Samaritans) “We have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
He, here and forever, makes himself accountable to Christ. Have we done so? You and I? “Well, no,” you say, “But I am not a thief.” When you keep for yourself, what belongs to another, you are a thief. This has nothing to do with possessions. It has to do with us. We belong to another. But we selfishly, greedily withhold what He desires the most: ourselves, our friendship, or time and presence and growth.
III. There Is a Final Element to the Promise. It Is a Promise Supplied. V43 “And He said unto him, Truly I say to you that today you will be with me in paradise.” It was a promise of compassion. Without hesitation the promise is made for Jesus recognizes faith. He opens Himself to the hurting offender. The one who sincerely seeks will always find. He will find all that he wants and more.
But it is essential to see Himself as He is. If we would know Jesus, we would, as well, know our sin, our need. In that comprehension of self, Jesus stands the more revealed. Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour, and I will give you rest.”
As it was a promise of compassion, it was also a promise of comprehension. Jesus meant every word that He spoke. It was a promise of God’s blessing. He didn’t have much of that left. For us, it is a promise of life purpose.
It was a promise of forgiveness. Story of adoptive parents who used an old, tattered, dirty pair of shoes to remind the child from what he came as discipline. Our heavenly Father does not bring out the tattered memories of the past, but promises that through Jesus “our iniquities He will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34).
It was a promise of death-watch. Jesus has already told them to weep not for Him. He will next “commend” His spirit. He has spoken to the thief urging upon him this new life.
It was finally, then, a promise of salvation. Heaven is a place. It is immediately accessible. It is presided over by Christ. It is a place for sinners.
Conclusion
Thus, Jesus herein sets His final seal of satisfaction on what He had given His life to fulfill and declare: “This day thou shalt be with me.” It is not fantasy, but reality.
As declared by James S. Stewart, “The Life and Teaching of Jesus” (p. 170), “. . . that in a single moment from the dust heaps and cinder heaps of life any ruined, hopeless soul, bound in affliction and iron, may pass straight to the perfect release of forgiveness, and wear the white robes of a saint.”
A WORD OF PRAYER (First Word from the Cross)
#068 A WORD OF PRAYER (First Word from the Cross)
Scripture Luke 23:33-34 NIV Orig. 3/11/62 (2/80)
Rewr. March 4, 1987
Passage: 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
Purpose: Beginning a series on the words of Christ from the cross, and therein to speak to my people about the prayer of Jesus, and his role as intercessor.
Keywords: Christ Mediator Easter Prayer
Timeline/Series: Words from the Cross
Introduction
There is no better place to begin a study of Jesus’ intercessory prayer on the cross than to examine other places where we find Jesus engaging in prayer. Clearly, his prayer-life and his spiritual purpose are tied strongly together.
Go, in your mind’s eye, and take a position where you can view Jesus at prayer. Go first to the Jordan and watch His baptism. Luke 3:21f “As Jesus was baptized and prayed, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit came in the bodily form of a dove.” God crowns Christ’s surrender in death with the dove which is the symbol of peace.
Then in the wilderness view him praying and fasting. In Matthew 4:1f the devil sought to tempt Jesus to find a less painful way, and less effective, to work at the objective of God. It was through prayer and fasting that Jesus achieved.
Observe occasions when Jesus was beset by weariness. He sought a place of prayer. Mark 1:32f “And at even . . . they brought unto him all that were diseased, . . . and all the city was gathered at the door. . . . And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” We have different ideas today about “resorting,” but for Jesus it meant “to pray.” When Jesus ministered to the needs around Him, He gave of his spiritual vitality and strength. It could only be reclaimed in communion with God the Father.
On the occasion when the apostles were called, Luke 6:12f, “ . . . he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day . . . he chose twelve.” How much of this dependence and helplessness on the part of Jesus must we see revealed before we reckon with our own dependence?”
So, now at Calvary, the crowning achievement of Jesus’ life, and again, we find Him at prayer.
I. The Word of Prayer Speaks First of Priority. V34 “Father, forgive them.” This crisis hour requires strong intervention. Pain seems to bring out the best in people who are the more oriented to it. We who seldom experience it are more taken with self-pity. Too easily accepting sin likewise creates a fantasy of rationalization.
There is a correlation between suffering and sin. It is not always the sinner who suffers. The sufferer is not necessarily the one who has sinned. Behind it all is grace, pointing us through the crisis to forgiveness and peace. Here is Jesus, suffering unto death. His suffering is sin-related, but it is not His crime being exorcised on the cross. He chooses to submit to the will of God that we, you and I, might know His strong intervention in our behalf.
Such suffering, related to the will of God, has eternal consequence. Philippians 3:10 “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable to His death.”
The priority of the moment is that this historical event must express the ultimate will of God. We betray ourselves doctrinally by over-zealous denominationalism. Christ died for our sin is priority. Satan tricks us morally with issues: equality; sexuality; drugs. Being morally right delivers not from sin.
Thus, in prayer on the cross, Jesus teaches us this tremendously important lesson of priority: His determination to do the will of God. Luke 22:42 “Not my will, but Thine.” John 1:13 “Born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, nor . . . man, but of God.” Jesus sought for all to know that the Father was to be trusted.
Paul admonished Ephesians (6:4) fathers, and Christians in general, that they were to be related to their children in trust.
The means of forgiveness is set forth. We must know of “the more excellent way.” We must know that it is attainable: by whom, through whom. We must know the cross is the means.
II. The Word of Prayer Speaks Next of Persistence. V34 “Father, forgive them.” Here is a beautiful illustration of the expressiveness of the Greek language. The English translates, “Then said Jesus.” The Greek, however, contains intense repetition. “He kept on saying, over and over, ‘Father, forgive them.’” As He completes this death-dealing passage through Jerusalem: “Father, forgive them.” His hands and feet are nailed: “Father, forgive them.” The Cross is roughly seated, “Father, forgive them.” Of the jeering crowd, “Father, forgive them.” Of the gambling soldiers, “Father, forgive them.” And the disciples would never be able to forget this scene at Calvary.
Such persistence is typified by His fellowship with the Father. Jesus was content to do the will of God. In Deuteronomy 3:25f, Moses sought to go over the Jordan—God said to Moses, “Speak no more unto me of this matter” (wroth). In Jeremiah 20:7, Jeremiah’s dreams of awakening were quashed. “I have been made a laughing stock all day long.”
Jesus encourages us to this same fellowship with the Father. Samson is an Old Testament example. Judges 16:28 “Give me strength only this once, O God, and let me at one stroke be avenged on the Philistines for my eyes.” A New Testament example is Stephen: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Acts 7:60.
We must also note here for whom Jesus prayed: those believers with breaking heart who accompanied Him here; but as well, the soldiers, the temple police, gloating Sadducee, and grimacing Pharisee; Roman and Jew alike; and for us today, South African of Cape Town or Soweto, Lebanese, of whatever extraction. God seeks our forgiveness and Christ arranged it. The them is us, and we must pursue it.
III. The Word of Prayer Speaks Lastly of Performance. “Father, forgive them. We are guilty beyond measure.” Our guilt is multiplied. We are guilty of sin as charged. Matthew 15:18 “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.”
We are made twice guilty when we pay only lip service to the Christ of the cross. I Peter 4:13 “Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”
The real performance of our lives revolves around the cross of Jesus. Do you understand why He went to the cross? Do you understand it was with your sin (not sins) in mind? Can you grasp that unless you allow His death to cover your sin, nothing else ever will?
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb is spilt.
Dark is the stain that we cannot hide, What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide; Whiter than snow you may be today.
Grace Greater than Our Sin, #164
The prayer of Jesus performed one thing more. It eased the agony through which He was going. It was not the agony of raw nerves, untended wounds, or insult, or indifferent masses, then and now. It was the agony of separation from the Father.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne, Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare, By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
Sweet Hour of Prayer
Lest we forget, nothing shows His consciousness of His Sonship like this prayer: God’s will first, and dealing with man’s sin effectively.
What remains is obedience on our part.
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***
A WAY HOME
Orig. 10/6/63 Rewr. 12/28/75
Passage:
Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless,
our mothers are widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over us,
and there is no one to free us from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
feverish from hunger.
11 Women have been violated in Zion,
and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.
13 Young men toil at the millstones;
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped their music.
15 Joy is gone from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are faint,
because of these things our eyes grow dim
18 for Mount Zion, which lies desolate,
with jackals prowling over it.
19 You, Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do you always forget us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
renew our days as of old
22 unless you have utterly rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.
Keywords: Grace
Introduction
Have you ever been at one of those places in life where you were so far from home that you thought you would never get back? It didn’t matter whether it was in actual miles or in emotional separation, you just could not sense a return.
One of the burdening experiences of King David’s life was in regard to the old home place. He spoke to some of his captains about his desire for a drink of water from the wells of home. He discovered later that these men went at great peril to themselves to satisfy this need in their king.
Someone has characterized the whole of Hebrew history as a series of varying relationships to God in which they are at home only when they are at home in Him. There were pictured three distinct phases in their emotional relationship with God. The three phases were (1) rejection—leaving home; (2) repentance—yearning for home; (3) restitution—finding their way home again.
James G. Elliott, the Kansas-born playwright, tells an interesting story about his return home. He had left the Kansas plains as a young man and had gone to the big city intent on making a name for himself. Only after achieving a measure of success for himself did he long for home once again. He made his plans. He let his people know he was coming because they just might want to honor a local boy who had made a name for himself. The train stopped at his little Kansas town, and he went to the door of the train and couldn’t believe what he saw—nothing. The mayor was not there. No bands were playing. There was not a single person at the station to welcome him home. He dejectedly went to the baggage office to claim his luggage, and as he approached the station master, the old man looked up, recognized him, and said, “Hello, George! Going somewhere?”
What better time than the advent of a new year to consider this that was Israel’s plight, which is also our plight? They thought they were going somewhere only to discover upon getting there that they had rather be where they had been before.
I. First, Then, Consider the Rejection. Now it really doesn’t matter whether in actual fact God rejected them, or whether they just felt rejected. The end result was the same. We have good reason to believe that God doesn’t isolate himself from His people. Rather, by our sin, we so cloud and compromise His majesty and authority, we lose our sense of His presence.
Israel sensed this separation in the loss of their valuables. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. Understand that this means more than commodities. This is more than just a criterion of political prominence. Their very birthright and inheritance as the people of God seemed to vanish.
It is more than coincidence that this is mentioned first. America comes to the very eve of her bicentennial year with a profound sense of losing some of the very things that have made us.
We were guaranteed freedoms four: Speech, Religion, Press, and Assembly. Yet we seem ready to sacrifice all of these, so long as we retain freedom to acquire.
The second step in Israel’s plunge to oblivion was in that the fathers ceased to be the dominant figure in the homes and spiritual lives of the people. V3 “We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are widows.” There is a larger spiritual context for this in that they had lost the spiritual fatherhood of God. But in everyday terms the fathers had capitulated to the political system that controlled them. They were lackeys to foreigners and, as such, had lost their vision.
It appeared in cartoon form but really wasn’t very funny. Two young mothers were talking. “I finally figured a way to balance our budget, but I can’t get Tom to take a second job.” Israel had sacrificed the spirit for the flesh. V6 “We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.”
Are we giving the hand to pleasure and reaping the fruits of licentiousness? Are we giving the hand to a guaranteed income and showing the signs of greed and indifference? Are we giving the hand to the status quo and distorting our own witness as Christians?
H.L. Mencken wrote: “The cosmos is a gigantic flywheel making ten thousand revolutions per minute. Man is a sick fly taking a ride on it.”
II. Whether the Rejection is Real or Felt is Academic. The Real Issue has to be “What Is the Reason?” V7 “Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have borne their iniquities.” Sin has captivated their hearts and they are not able to come to terms with guilt and responsibility. Did you read the top New Orleans news stories for last year? Almost without exception they speak of evil deed and corruption. Sin is not just the lifestyle of the grossly immoral.
The arrest rate is 3 out of 100 citizens. Rape is up 10%, murder is up 6%, aggravated assault 7%. Narcotics addiction may be a half million. Divorce since 1970 is up 25.7% while the marriage rate has increased only 2.8%. There are 200,000 more outlets for alcohol than there are churches. Gambling is in excess of $30 billion. There may be as many as 40 million children with no religious instruction. The cost of crime is five times the amount of money spent on education.
III. Consider the Restitution. What was it the prophet said? V21 “Turn Thou us O Lord, and we shall be turned.”
Repentance. I do not believe that man can or will take the first step. God has already taken the first step.
Reaction. When we ask God’s help it always comes. We must realize our inability. We must yield.
Restoration. Verse 22 is the saddest in all the Old Testament. “But Thou hast utterly rejected us.” It does not have to happen this way.
Closing
Nothing between my soul and the Saviour, naught of this world’s elusive dreams.
I have renounced all sinful pleasure; Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between.
Nothing between my soul and the Saviour, so that His blessed face may be seen.
Nothing preventing the least of His favor; keep the way clear! Let nothing between.
Nothing between, like worldly pleasures, habits of life, though harmless they seem.
Must not my heart from Him ever sever; He is my all, there’s nothing between.
Nothing between my soul and the Saviour, so that His blessed face may be seen.
Nothing preventing the least of His favor; keep the way clear! Let nothing between.