BEING REMINDED

#597.1                                            BEING REMINDED

Scripture  Jude 1-6, NIV                                                                                          Orig. 2/7/1973

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 8/30/1988

Passage: 1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for[a] Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c] at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

Purpose:  Leading a study from the Book of Jude, here seeking to open the minds of the people to draw from its rich legacy in our day also.

Keywords:      Bible Study                 New Testament Characters, Jude

Timeline/Series:         Jude

Introduction

            A concluding quote last week gives us our beginning this week.  From Tomorrow is Forever1, the disfigured father urging own son to enter WWII saying, “Every man opposes the evil in his own time, or else he accepts it.”

            As Jude is calling his people to consider the evils in their midst and to oppose them, so also must we.  Evils are tributary to our own times.  Regrettably, these evils have their source in people who number themselves among the elect.  Are we to do nothing?  Or, are we to uphold our obligation to truth, regardless of opposition?

            John Quincy Adams reminds us of the price of freedom.  He said:

            Posterity—“You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom.  I hope you will make good use of it,”

            Thomas Payne of the same era added another such word.

            “What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.  Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”2

            If freedom is “so celestial an article,” truth both exceeds and succeeds its grandeur.  And if we can lose the one by our indifference, we can surely lose the OTHER by our condescension.

I.          We Were Told All We Need to Know about Author and Recipients.  V1, “Jude, the servant of Jesus . . . , and brother of James, to those . . . called, . . . loved, . . . and kept.”

            Jude, who with James were indeed brothers of Jesus.  Several verses attest.

·         I Corinthians 9:5 NIV, “Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?” 

·         Matthew 13:55,  “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?”

·         Mark 6:3, “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

·         Galatians 1:19, “I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.”

            He is writing to people who are themselves believers.  People, therefore, who ought to be concerned about spiritual things.  People who ought to remember that they were saved from sin, and from hell.  And he reminds them of their appropriate relationship to Jesus:  Who could attest it better than a real brother?  Who could staunch our own prideful acknowledgement of who we are?  Jude, as others of these writers, speaks of himself as a slave.  How do you speak of yourself?

            We learn also a measure of the attitude of this spokesman for Jesus.  V2, “May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied unto you.”  It is a prayer for them to receive.  Mercy—he wants what is best—there is no axe to grind—only to call people to higher commitment; Peace—he knows that there can be no real peace until mercy has done its good, and they must remember that their warfare is not with each other, but with their enemy, Satan:  too much infighting, too much denominational isolation; Love—everything that  issues forth from the believing community is to be saturated in love: ministry, mechanisms of growth, administrative detail, discipline.

            Then, the real spirit of the man is given: v3, “My intention was to write you about the faith we share. Instead, I must exhort you to live your true faith.”

II.         We Must Be Reminded about What We Already Know.  V5, “I will therefore put you in remembrance.”

            They have been reminded of the danger.  It is human in scope.  Regrettably, they have found their way into the church.  Lady Macbeth coached her husband in his treachery to Duncan.  She said,  “To beguile the time, Look like the time — bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue. Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't.” (I.v.62-65)

            The problem is that the enemy has intruded.  People whose first allegiance is to other than Christ and His kingdom:  Not to destroy the church; not to prevent believers sharing with others about Jesus; not to make blatant changes that are easily recognized; but, by degree, to change the focus of attention.

            As insidious as humanism is, we are all still very, very human.  The problem today is to make our churches more people-centered and less God-centered.  If this looks bad in the local church, how about the seminary.

            The essence of the age is originality.  Yes, it is true, the forms must continue to change.  September National Geographic anniversary issue tells of the struggle with change.  But the message must not change.  We have but one.  It of our sin, and lostness.  It is of Christ’s intrusion.  It is of hope and eternal life.

            The person who speaks for the church must speak what Christ spoke.  To deny the word is blasphemy.  To live in other focus is hypocrisy.

III.       Finally, We Will Look Briefly at Examples of Such Deception.  There were people delivered from Egypt whose unbelief destroyed them.  The story is that of Israel delivered from Egypt, at the border of the promised land, but faithless to go forward after the ten spies make their report.  Forty years later people of faith and vision were led into the land.  We may teach our children all we know, see them baptized in water, but if not in the Holy Spirit is only adding fertilizer to the seedbed of apostasy. 

            He gives us the illustration of “angels” who forgot the province of authority.  The occasion is   from Genesis 6:1-4.  Angels, like people, can get out of line, and sin.  What our age hates the very most is to be accused of sinning.  Most of you were guilty of sin before you got out of your house this a.m.

            Let me give you a brief, three-part report  on what the Israelites and angels die.  First, they magnified the enemy.  Hebrews said (Numbers 13:26-14:29) “We are not able, . . . for they are stronger than we.”  How often that is our cherished line.  They memorialized themselves.  They pretended to be overwhelmed by this enemy  (grasshoppers, Numbers 13:33).  They were seeking not more of God, but more of what they were hungry for.  They minimized God.  In fact, they accused God of betrayal.  Numbers 14:3, “. . . the Lord brought  us into this land to fall by the sword.”  How many of us believe that God means us harm?  He means mercy, and peace, and love, but we must mean to be in His will for it to work.

Conclusion

            Let’s close by reviewing what Paul wrote to the Corinthians about dependence on forms of religion.  I Corinthians 7:19, “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing.  Keeping God’s commands is what counts.”

____________________________

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Is_Forever

2 DeMoss, N.L. (Ed.) (1986).  The Rebirth of America. Arthur DeMoss Foundation.   

INTRODUCING JUDE

#597                                            INTRODUCING JUDE

Scripture  Jude 1-25, NIV                                                                                      Orig. 1/31/1973

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 8/25/1988

Passage:           1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for[a] Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c] at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”[d] 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”[e] 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A Call to Persevere

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.[f]

Doxology

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Purpose: Leading a Church Training study from the Book of Jude,  here introducing the material from the background study and opening verses.

Keywords:      Bible Study                 New Testament Characters, Jude

Timeline/Series:         Jude

Introduction

            Letters are important conveyances of communication.  All of us have received letters that had a significant impact on us, and, I suspect, that it has mostly been for good.

            We often hear of some rare performances of public sacrifice, or athletic prowess, or some other such thing gaining the attention of the President.  He writes a letter to express genuine appreciation.  The letter may be folded and carried to the person.  It may be framed and prominently placed in the home.  It certainly becomes a favored memento.

            Many of us have had occasion to write a family member, or friend, far away, some encouraging word.  It may not always be an affirming word, but it is inspired by love, and the deeper impact of personal relationship.

            The letters of the New Testament are written in a similar vein.  They, of course, are written most often to churches.  Otherwise, to leaders of churches.

            Think with me for a moment, what it must have been like to be one of the recipients of a letter like this one.  I shared with some of you last year, the special relationship I had with an old pastor*1 who was a descendant of an early Baptist preacher who worked in north Louisiana, and who was alive before John O’Quinn’s death.  It moves me still to think that I have a direct contact with one so directly connected with that early work.

            [Editor’s note:  John O'Quinn (1808-1898) pastored Big Cane Church in Louisiana and was a maternal great grandfather of Allie Keller b.1883, wife of John Fogleman* b.1877, mentor of my father, Rev. Lamar Skinner.  John O'Quinn officiated the wedding ceremony of John O. Fogleman and Allie Keller.  At Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Pollock, LA, while Dad pastored there, Bro. Fogleman hobbled forward at invitation time, saying, “Young Pastor, if there is anything left, I want to give that too.”2]

            Now, to receive a letter, whether personally, or as here, as a part of a group, from one so directly linked with Jesus, must have made these people give special pause to what was said.  Admittedly, there are those who disclaim authorship by Jude, Jesus’ brother, but the text says otherwise.

I.          First, We Must Seek to Resolve This and Other Questions.  V1, “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James.”

            On what basis do we conclude authorship?  Because it is what the text says.  But some would remind us that other letters are pseudonymously written.  Falsely named writings but in this case, a man who offers nothing of himself.  Since “Jude” doesn’t claim Jesus as a brother, should we?  What we note is that he claims to be brother to “James.”  Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 acknowledge brothers James and Jude.  Galatians 1:19 identifies one “James, the brother of the Lord,” prominent in the Jerusalem church.  “James, the apostle”—the brother of John was put to death by Herod Agrippa—Acts 12:2.  Another who was “son of Alpheus.”  I Corinthians 9:5 NIV, “Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?” 

            Why would he have not claimed Jesus?  He did not claim Him in life.  How could he overstate the relationship now?  More than modesty is found as he seems to say, “call me not brother, but slave of Jesus.”

            The time of writing should offer further evidence of authorship.  Some claim that the letter was written during the second century.  A bishop in Jerusalem by that name.  The gnostic controversy peaks.  Late in the first century works better.  Time for Judas to be converted.  Time for the early church to have grown to internal problems.  Time for problems to become serious.  Early enough for Jude to still be a strong vote.  Choose any date in the seventies. 

            We can’t consign a place, but we know about his audience.  They were surely believers—“to those who have been called.”  Klētos--from kaleō--root kal, “call,” “invite,” “summon.” 

            “Sanctified” KJ—does not here appear.  But they are “beloved” agapetos of God. And, “kept”—tetērēmenois –preserved by none other than Jesus.  The believing triumvirate—called, loved, kept.  Past is prologue,  present is providential, future is furnished.

            How do we early perceive the problem?  We note that he does not attack persons.  He identifies the error.  It is human in scope:  “Certain . . . godless men.”  It is abuse of truth: “change . . . grace . . . into a license.”  It is exceedingly dangerous:   “the Lord cometh . . . to execute judgment” (Jude 14).  It is a griefsome burden:  “I was eager to write about the salvation we share.”  It is a burden they must assimilate:  “Urge you to contend for the faith.”

            Now, since the problem is Gnosticism, we must consider that.  Gnosticism—gnosis—knowledge. Peaked in 2nd century, but was a growing problem for 100 years.  It is interesting, and we must not overlook it.  He defines what he fights for more than what he fights against.  Remember the old western where the enemy leaves hat on stick and tries to circle around, and the cowboys are fighting the hat.

            Basically, Gnostics claimed superiority over others.  To them it had to do with knowledge.  Today it may be libertarianism.  Perhaps even pseudospirituality.  There were two separate modes.  Subject the body to severe discipline.  Colossians  2:21, “Touch not, taste not, handle not.”   Matter was evil, they were spiritual.  They could indulge to any [text lost].

            John, Paul, Jude confronted.  Claimed a new theology.  Claimed superior wisdom, insight.  Pretended to be pathologists who could dissect the “word.”  Jude sought to let the truth expose them, and the church take action against them.

II.         The Message to the Believer in This Age.  V3, “It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith.”

            We are so pleased with our faith in  those settled times of ease.  I Timothy 2:1f, “I exhort (same word) . . . supplications, prayers, etc., be made for all men (generic); 2, For kings; and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

            Jude doesn’t call his reader to faith in the good times, but in the bad.  In standing up for right.  In recognizing the evils going untouched.  To be unyielding against those  who would divide and pervert the faith.  To recognize the strong affirmations of faith: “build yourselves up”; “pray in the Holy Spirit”; “keep yourselves  in the love of God”; “be merciful to those who doubt.”

            Many of you saw a film after WWII about a disfigured WWI veteran (Tomorrow is Forever3) who encouraged his son to enter WWII.  The apex was the line:  “Every man opposes the evil in his own time, or else he accepts it.”

            Remember Hamlet’s classic line upon discovery of his father’s murder, and of the complexity of mother and uncle.  “The time is out of joint; O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right.” (I.v.189-190)

Conclusion

            Don’t go to battle with gnostics.  You may see his hat in the rocks and aim all your reserves his way. But he is to attack where we can’t guard.  Remember this:  “To him who is able to keep (us) from falling . . . to the only God our Saviour, be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”                                                               

_____________________

1 https://www.fogleman.org/

2 Email exchange between Fritha Skinner Dinwiddie and Joycalyn Ann Beard Skinner

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Is_Forever

BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH

#746.2                                    BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH                                                        

Scripture  Jude 20-25, NIV                                                                                      Orig. 8/8/1979

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 9/30/1988

Passage: 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.[a]

Doxology

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Purpose: Completing a series from Jude, here sharing with my people the author’s positive charge to them to live their faith.

Keywords:      Book Study                 New Testament Characters, Jude     Faith               Grace

Timeline/Series:         Jude

Introduction

            Jude has spent the first three-fourths of this brief epistle admonishing his readers about what is happening in their fellowship.  There are dangers about, and they must see to them.

            The remaining few verses are to help them to call to mind, “remember” (v17), a few very important things.

            Not only are they to remember, they are to  recall that their remembrance is more than just words.  These are priorities that have come to them by way of the apostles, from Jesus, Himself.  More, they form a message from our Lord  about critical times that have come.  And how they live in those times is of extreme importance.

            Jesus reminds us that such times are on the horizon:

Matthew 24:9, “You will be hated by all nations because of me.”

John 15:18, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

            Peter, in his second epistle, raises almost the same point.  He even mentions “recalling the words spoken . . . by the holy prophets.”  And in the 11th verse of the concluding chapter (2 Peter 3:11) he asks, “since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought [we] to be?”

            Peter and Jude both address their readers in the very same way, agapetos, “beloved.”  They all share a common heritage in Jesus, and that bond is stronger than anything else in their  lives. 

            If we are to be the “beloved” children of God, then we must deal with the things that separate us.  Social values, political issues, variances about the meaning of scripture, but especially in our day-by-day relationships.

I.          He First Establishes the Dominion of Devotion.  Jude 20f “. . . build yourselves up in your . . . faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.  Keep yourself in God’s love.”

            No doubt about it, what we do devotionally is of great consequence.  Our SBC records are replete with proof  of reaching people for Christ who are involved in Bible study.  How many encampment surveys have established God’s call to special service through Missions/Church Training, BYPU/BTU?

            There is serious need in our lives to feed ourselves with spiritual nutrition.  I went to St. Francis for Clergy Health Screening.  The nutritionist pointed out some problem areas.  If it were that easy, I have a nutritionist in my family.  But my problem is, I like hotdogs.

            Jude then instructs them with three criteria.  First, they were to build themselves up in their faith.  No doubt, a  heavy responsibility rests upon those whom God calls.  We are to be part of the cure, not part of the problem.  Ezekiel 33:5f, “If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet . . . I . . . hold the watchman.”  But they were responsible themselves.  The word is “edification.”  Acts 9:31, “churches had rest . . . and were edified.”  It is a slow, deliberate process.  I Corinthians 3:10f, “According . . . to the grace given me as a wise masterbuilder I laid the foundation.”  Ephesians 2:20, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, . . . Christ Himself the chief cornerstone.”  And note it is “most holy faith.”  There is no other its equal.  We are wrong to placate a nothing/everything believing world.  Someone has a sermon on this, “Sentinels in the Night.”  How appropriate.  Remembering the slow, deliberate, care given to this building, we must build on the right foundation.  In New Orleans I watched as construction men added 5 floors to Ochsner Hospital while the hospital was in daily use.

            [Second,] to sustain that building process, prayer was essential.  As cement, mortar, bolts, nails, prayer is what keeps things in focus.  But it is not just any old kind of prayer, but Holy Spirit prayer.  Of the heart first, then lips.  In certification of God’s will.  It is opening our innermost being to God’s searchlight.  It is faith evidenced.  It speaks more to our yearnings than of special words.  It is prayer that doesn’t quit.  It has more to do with spiritual position than bodily posture.  Romans 8:26f “We know not what we should pray for . . . but the Spirit . . . maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

            The third of these criteria is not additional, but confirming.  “Keep yourself in God’s love.”   They are the agapetos.  They are in God’s agape.  Are we?

II.         Out of This Dominion of Devotion Grows an Extension of Evangelism.  We’ve already seen (Acts 9:31) “a church edified, is a church multiplied.”  It is not just for ourselves that we are “edified.”  It is to the end that our lives may touch other lives, creatively.  The implication cannot be overlooked that there is a link between clean lives and faithful witnesses.  It is another of the Christian graces that we are to grow in.  We gain proficiency by our practice.  We touch lives at the level of their own needs.  If you remember Psalm of Confession (Psalm 51), David builds toward what he sees as a certain responsibility.  “I will teach sinners your ways.  They will be converted.  Psalm 51:13, he calls for God to “have mercy . . . cleanse . . . purge me . . . create in me a clean heart.”

            The essential ingredient of need seems to be compassion.  “As you wait for mercy, . . . be merciful.”  KJ uses the word “compassion,” which means to “suffer with.”  Matthew 14:14, “Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed the sick.”  Romans 9:1f, “I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.  For I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren.”

            That compassion is able to recognize differences in people, and the vagaries of their needs.  I Corinthians 9:22, “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak.”  We are to befriend.  We must  hold the line on spiritual values.  We are not to lose sight of hell as the final abode of unbelief.  The Holy Spirit must reap the harvest, but He does so from seed planted in our faithfulness.

III.       He Concludes at the Last with the Foundation of Faith.  Jude 24, “To him who is able to keep  you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” 

            Here is the climax of the message.  Someone calls it “Jude’s Doxology.”  We can lift people no higher than we sense that we have been lifted.  How strongly secure in our faith?  How apparent is our joy?

            We must not overlook the potential to “stumble.”  There  is one thing it may be, and one it may not be.  Christians do stumble in daily life and in testimony.  If we could, we would stumble in  our hold on the Christian life.

CHRIST IS OUR COVENANT

#462a                                    CHRIST IS OUR COVENANT

Scripture  Hebrews 8:1-13, NIV                                                                            Orig. 8/23/1976

Passage: 1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[a] 6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said[b]:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”[c]

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Introduction

            Anyone vitally interested in the activities of our nation today is aware of the disorders in the American society.  Of all of our present dangers, there is one totally disruptive danger that could prove to be our national undoing.  It is a threat that is so all encompassing that it could rob us of the resiliency of recovery that  has been America’s grace.

            It is not the danger of a particular man, or party, being the victor in the 1976 elections.  While unscrupulous politicians are certainly an annoyance, they are not a threat.  Our real problem is not that of continued malcontent in the Mid-East.  As long as the world stands, the threat of decimation is going to hang off the land of Armageddon,  While we have not yet caught our breath in the aftermath of troubles in the Far-East, we need not look upon China’s thread to Southeast Asia as our all-pervading problem.

            Nor are the internal things that toy with America’s heartstrings going to cause us to panic.  Immorality in America today is a cancer and it is malignant, but it is not too late for revival to offer surgical purging. The pseudo-religious perversions in the form of cults have always been present.  They probably will be a viable force until Jesus comes, “and men will know the truth.”  These activities just enjoy the public relations quotient of curiosities.

            All of these things and more are simply the things which divide us.  Our real, all-pervading danger is the division itself.  As long as we address our deepest convictions with the certitude of integrity, and allow all other persons the same prerogative, we have no reason to fear an American wasteland.

            This is to be acknowledged as true in our church life as well.  Real danger to our church unity is not in holding separate opinions, but believing that our opinions make us right, and those who agree, our friends; and those who disagree, our acknowledged enemies, who deserve our total malignment.

I.          Christ is Our Covenant of Forgiveness.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray

            in order to be forgiven.

            we must have already experienced forgivingness.

What is the worst thing that someone else has done?

            stolen some treasure

                  lied against your character

                        or perhaps told the truth

                              insulted a loved one

                                    wrongly accused you

                                          re-kindled some nearly forgotten deed             

Jesus says you have to understand forgivingness

            in order for its full power to embrace you.

It isn’t that easy to forgive—we must first be willing

            and it isn’t to be just so that we can be forgiven

            If we are ever able to make any headway at all in regard to sin, it will be only after we have seen it in the context if God’s forgiveness.  We must discover what our sin cost God personally.

II.         Christ is Our Covenant of New Life.

            The new life comes through faith in Christ.

            Baptism is merely the demonstration of that life.  Romans 6:3, “Know ye that so many of us as were baptized in Jesus Christ were baptized into His death.”

            Death to sin’s condemnation

                  Death to life’s confusion

                        Death to death’s conquest

            Baptism is used in the sense of putting something beneath the waters and leaving it there.  Romans 6:4, “Just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of God the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  There is precluded then, a newness in the life of that one drawn from the baptismal waters.

            We live in a day when this newness is difficult to fathom when we are more comfortable with that which we understand.  Someone has suggested that the confusion of our age is seen in the family seated in [an expensive] house, looking at the Waltons on a $1,000 TV set [and] wishing for the depression.

            GNMN Romans 6:4, “For if we become one with Him in dying, we shall become one with Him in living.”

III.       Christ is Our Covenant of Assurance.

            Have you ever found yourself where you didn’t mean to be?  Soldier on a train but not THE train.  Get off elevator on a floor but not THE floor.  Dr. So and So was my salvation but not THE salvation.

            We need to work with and walk with those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Pastor speaking at State convention warming up to his subject, he overstressed the need “to all stand together and join hands” in commitment to Christ.  From different sections of the arena people began to stand to their feet.

Closing

            At one point in his life, Roger Bannister did what no other man had ever been able to do.  Following a life-style committed to the regimen of becoming a world class runner, he became the first man in history to ever run a sub-four-minute mile.

            Not long after, he shocked the sports world by announcing his retirement.  He no longer had the incentive of a goal to keep him at the rigors of training.  Many men have run faster since, in part because Roger Bannister gave them his goal to pursue.

DEFINING OUR COVENANT

#714                                      DEFINING OUR COVENANT                                                       

Scripture  Hebrews 8:1-13, NIV                                                                            Orig. 8/16/1964

                                                                                                                                 Rewr. 6/2/1978 

Passage: 1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[a] 6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said[b]:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”[c]

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Purpose:          To aid my people in coming to grips with the reason for an open and avowed response to God as Sovereign Lord of the Universe.

Keywords:      Covenant        Response        Worship         Fear                 Trust               Unbelief

Introduction

            Every person in our city who awoke from a night of slumber, awoke to the stark realization of choice.  They, in that fleeting moment, made a decision relative to worship.  Too often, even such a matter of import is made on the basis of our prejudices rather than our principles.

            To Nietzsche, the worship of God was “a slave morality.”   To Marx and Lenin, it was the “opiate of the people.”  It really doesn’t matter what men such as these thought in their prejudices.  It doesn’t matter that their decision was not indecision but wrong decision.  It does matter, however, what happens to the people of this present age.  We who are beset still, not by indecision but by wrong decision.  To decide not to decide is nonetheless a decision.

            Most of those people who made that decision relative to worship decided against it.  Do they not know that the risen Christ is the One, who, in every age has inspired the nobler actions and energies, even courage, in the lives of people such as they?

            Face it! Part of the blame must lie at the door of the church.  We leave the impression at times that we are a splinter group standing in reaction and opposition to those revolutionaries who would change the world.  Do you not remember?  Have you forgot?  It is the world, secularism, that is reactionary.  Christianity, when authentic,  is the true revolutionary.  The book of Acts calls to us, demanding our attention, and reminding us that the early church was busy, “turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).

            The real church has been seen, not in the regal splendor of Rome, or the orthodox complexity of Brandenburg, but rather, the real church has been seen when simple people committed themselves to a profound Christ, and were willing to pay the price of revolution.  You are one of the ones who showed up for worship.  Why have you come?  Is it as reactionary, or revolutionary?  Is it to stand apart in your own prejudices, or to stand together, with others of like faith?  To stand together means to stand for something, for what Christ wills for us.

I.          We May Define Our Covenant by Pretending to Ignore God.  Hebrews 8:2, Jesus is called “A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”  The implication of this is that our read burden will be to escape man’s debilitating humanist values.  Illustration: We remember that part of the message of Miguel de Cervantes in “Don Quixote” was of a man whose reading encouraged him to be a pretender.  Fancying himself to be a knight, he fought with windmills pretending them to be giants.  He drove flocks of sheep askew, pretending that they were armies of foot soldiers.

            We pretend that Man’s values take precedence over God’s values.  Mark 8:17, “Why reason ye, because ye have no bread?  Perceive ye not yet, neither understand?  Have ye your heart yet hardened?  Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear  ye not? And do ye not remember?”  Beware  leaven.  We forget bread.  

            It was clear at  this point in time the values of the disciples were not those of their Lord.  But see how this clearly changes with enlightenment.  Romans 8:5, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the  things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”

            It is this disdain of God’s values that turned people to other gods.  The ever-present god of materialism.  Illustration: They heed the philosophy of the rich, young ruler.  Be as good as you can, but remember that you have a living to make.  Illustration:  They are  tempted to the arrogance  of wealth such as Ananias and Sapphira.  Earn the respect of others if you can, but remember that respect doesn’t feed empty stomachs.

            Or the orgiastic gods of sensual pleasure.  Illustration: King David’s sensual conduct would have been right at home in this contemporary age.  Anything is all right if it gives me pleasure.  Who cares if another slob dies on the field of combat.  He would die sooner or later anyway.  Finally, however, David’s sin had run the gauntlet of dissolution.  He lied, cheated, committed adultery, and killed, all the while worshipping at the altar of sensual pleasure.

            They all pretended to ignore God.  The rich young ruler acknowledged his paltry goods.  Ananias and Sapphira paid for their indiscretion with their lives.  David faced the searing denunciation of Nathan.

II.         We May Define Our Covenant by Pretending to Fear God.  Hebrews 8:5 “. . . As Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern.”

            Pretense in the fear of God is no better than pretense in ignoring God.  Illustration: In Jesus’ parable, a father gave his two sons instructions. One claimed obedience but did nothing.  The other disdained his father’s instruction, but later did as he was told.

            Let’s be sure that fear is in proper perspective.  Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty  of man.”  Jonah 1:9, “. . . I am an Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.”  Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

            Illustration:  Ann came home deeply burdened about child expelled less than one week before school was out.  They don’t believe the officials will do what they say they will do.  Because their parents don’t do what they say.

            Our text speaks of a Higher Relationship.  Certainly, the scripture speaks of our sin.  The eye of faith sees beyond the sin to forgiveness.  Beyond that even, to deliverance from the burden of sin.

Illustration: God’s idea of relationship is not that of groveling in the grime of sin/confession/forgiveness.  It is, then, not enough to rely on fear.   A later chapter in this Book of Hebrews will tell us of the priest who “stood daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.”

III.       The Only Proper Basis upon which a Covenant with God Can be Defined is the Basis of Trust.  Hebrews 8:7, “. . . If the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” Hebrews 8:10, “This is the covenant that I will make . . . after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds, and write them into their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.

            Trust begins with the integrity of the subscriber.  Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man that he should lie: . . . hath he said, and he shall not do it?”   Psalm 89:1, “With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.”  Hebrews 6:17f, “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:  That by two immutable things, in the which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.”

            Trust continues its claim through the reliability of the Testament.  The Word is from God and His is Truth.  Do we believe, however,  that the Word has been fairly and accurately communicated?  Psalm 19:7, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”  Proverbs 3:3, “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee:  Bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart.”  Revelation 19:9, “These are the true sayings of God.”

            Trust is limited to the volition of the heir of its promise.  The promise says, “ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

            But what are you willing for that promise to mean?

CHRIST’S HIGH PRIESTLY MINISTRY

#176                              CHRIST’S HIGH PRIESTLY MINISTRY

Scripture  Hebrews 10:21-25, NIV                                                                        Orig. 7/12/1964

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 6/16/1977

Passage: 21 And since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Purpose: To call attention to the ministry of Jesus as He labors to bring spiritual nurture into the church life.

Introduction

            There are a few Latin phrases that have weathered both the passing years, and the death of a language.  Though Latin is no longer spoken as a language of communication, and is understood by only a few scholars and intrepid students, those few phrases seem to hang on.

            The Latins said it this way, “Vox populi, vox Dei.”  The meaning is still a popular concept today.  “The voice of the people is the voice of God.”

            I occasionally will see one of those popular youth posters which declares, “If it is true, it doesn’t matter who says it!”  Then, if I remember correctly, one of the Beatles was given credit for that line.  I agree with it completely.  I would also remind you that the opposite is true.  “If it isn’t true, then, again, it makes no difference who said it!”

            While we would like to endorse the old Latin phrase, we know that our endorsement would no more make it true than the popular use it achieved in antiquity, and the zeal of many people today who try to convince themselves of its truth.

            There are many concepts adhered to by people, that just do not declare the mind of God.  We can go to the polls and declare our intent in one mighty voice, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have comprehended and voiced the mind of God.

            We would do well to discover that in the ministry of Jesus as our High Priest, and as God’s High Priest, we have the One who does comprehend the mind of God, and is able to communicate that message to loving and responding human hearts.

I.          His Ministry of Assured Faith.  To deepen our faith: Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

            We are born with the primacy of the natural man.  Romans 8:7f, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

            Who can say when it happens, but we know that it always does.  Maybe a ten-year-old girl who has never been taught to consider spiritual values, yet she disputes the place of underling.  Perhaps an eight-year-old boy with a mother of deep religious faith, and a father interested only in making a buck, and the boy is torn between conflicting values.  Or, say an eleven-year-old, or fourteen, or twenty, whose parents are both deeply committed Christians, and they have tried to lead this child for his good; but the pressure of his peers draws him away.

            We have all been there.  Somewhere, the rose strewn path turned to rocks, and the id, ego, self, took over.

            But the great day comes when we are able to discern the primacy of God’s will over self-will.  Let’s look at this as a priestly function of Jesus.

            Jesus has the fullness of divine personality.  Hebrews 1:3, “He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature.” Hebrews 1:3, 10-12, “His place is at the right hand of God.”  Hebrews 1:2, “God has spoken by His Son.”

            He is likewise fully human.  Hebrews 2:17, “It behooved him to be like his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest.”  Hebrews 5:8, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience through the things he suffered.”

            As importance as these two facts are, they alone do not make Him High Priest.  Neither is He such because He chooses to be.  Not even the Son of God can appoint Himself to that sacred post.  The priests die, but not Jesus (Hebrews 7:23f).  Not necessary to sacrifice for His own sin (Hebrews 7:27).  The sin offering never repeated (Hebrews 7:27).  His intercessory ministry (Hebrews 7:25).

II.         His Ministry of  Directed Responsibility—Direct Fidelity.  To provoke unto love and good works. Hebrews 10:24, “Let us consider one another to provoke  unto love and good works.”  The word “provoke” comes from the Greek word from which comes the medical term “paroxysm” or “fit.”  For the Christian, to consider the needs of others is to bestir feelings of affection and good will and a desire to befriend.

            Understand the vital and necessary place of corporate worship.  Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.”  The word from which the Hebrew concept of “synagogue” comes. Also consider Acts 20:7f, “And upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, . . . ;  and continued his speech until midnight.  And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together”  (sunegmenoi).  What is the limit of your endurance as far as your responsibility to corporate worship.  Can the mind maintain any more than what other parts of the anatomy can endure?

            Live in that frame of reference that proclaims the coming again of Jesus. Hebrews 10:25, “. . .  exhorting one another: and so much the more as you see the day approaching.”  If your present circumstance is happy, it is made more so with the awareness that God intends all eternity to be so.  If that circumstance is griefsome, it is made more bearable in the knowledge that God has taken steps to reconcile your burdens.

FOUR INDISPENSABLE THINGS

#753                                   FOUR INDISPENSABLE THINGS

Scripture  Hebrews 13:1-22, NIV                                                                          Orig. 8/26/1979

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 5/24/1989

Passage: 1Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”[a]

6 So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]

7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. 10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.  11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.  18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.

Benediction and Final Greetings

20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

22 Brothers and sisters, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you quite briefly.

Purpose: To share with my people the call of the gospel for believers to know and live by the indispensable mandates of God’s message.

Keywords:      Blood of Christ          Christ as Saviour       Faith               Forgiveness                                                    Sin                               Works                         Revival

Timeline/Series:         None

Introduction

            It never has been easy to convince others, or ourselves, to get involved.  There are times when, after it is all over, we hear someone of lesser heart say, “Well, it is your own fault for getting involved.”  I wonder how many people have said as much about the family fishing at the D’Arbonne spillway last week (5/20).  Going to the assistance of two stranded fishermen, all three drowned.  Too many come away from such as this even more firmly resolved to mind their own business.

            When we enter the electrified air of the New Testament, however, we stumble over a totally different concept.  The chronological accounting of Jesus’ ministry began when He became “involved” at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.  He went from there to Jerusalem for Passover.  In the temple, He found money-changers polluting not only the temple, but the spiritual tone of the people as well.  He drove these men away with a scourge.  He made enemies that day who would dog His trail until they saw Him die on a cross.

            There is no greater sign of  His involvement than that cross.  He came not only to touch the world, but to involve Himself in your life and mine.  Had He chosen not to do so, things would be considerable different for all of us today.

            Getting involved means taking a chance.  There is the possibility of being misunderstood, of getting hurt, even of losing one’s life.   We are told quite candidly “the disciple is not above his master” (Matthew 10:24).  For Jesus, involvement was costly.  What does your involvement cost you?

I.          Without the Shedding of Blood There Is No Forgiveness.  Hebrews 13:12f, “Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.  Let us go forth therefore unto him . . . .”

            It was not God’s view of man that had to be changed.  He had no interest in divesting Himself of His holiness.  He had no intention of compromising His position relative to man’s sin.

            The attitude that must be changed is that of man, himself.  You see, the cross was not to the point of changing God’s mind about us.  Rather, it was to the point of changing man’s view of himself before God.  Man, with his potential to reason, would her be motivated spiritually.

            News articles told of the need of true spiritual experience:  Eddie Tuinman abandoned at rest stop on I-84 near Boise, Idaho (1989/1-11); Pennsylvania teenager who starved to death—Father had $3,700 in tithe money; Steven Stayner—stolen at seven.

            Old Testament law confirms sin’s hold on man, and the issue of blood forgiveness.  Leviticus 16:27, “And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place . . . carry forth without the camp; and . . . burn.”

            The New Testament removes bulls and goats and substitutes the blood of Jesus.  God accomplishes man’s pardoning.  The agent of pardoning is Himself man.  When such a price as this has been paid, who would dare to voice reservations?  Sanctification, then, is not an attainment, it is the state into which God calls us in grace through the blood.

            The place where Jesus suffered was outside prescribed religious ritual.  We still do not find Him by human directive.  It is the blood drawing us outside the camo drawing us to Himself alone.

II.         Without Faith it is Impossible to Please God.  Hebrews 13:15. “By him (Jesus) therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”

            It is more directly said earlier, Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he rewards those who seek him.”  “Diligently” (KJV), “earnestly” (NIV) is not found.  Verb is present participle teaching repeated action, “those who keep on seeking.”

            We are taught that there are two parts to this act of faith.  To believe that God is: childhood teaching, reading, fear/uncertainty, little more than mental combustion.  Agnostic concludes that there may be a God; atheist will sometimes doubt [his] doubt.  I can count the atheists on one hand.  To believe that He is rewarder of those who seek Him: First, He communicates His presence; He is able to bless in personal encounter.

            There is a necessary result of such faith.  Offering the sacrifice of praise.  Nothing changes disorder to order like praise.  Nothing answers enigmas like praise; see Psalm 73 for answers: V17 “Until I went into the sanctuary of God.”  Nothing adds vitality to life like praise.  Understand that such praise is not a passive thing:  Hebrews 13:15, “the  fruit of our lips giving praise”; Hebrews 1:16, “doing good for others”; Hebrews 13:22, “suffer the word of exhortation.”

III.       Without Works Faith Is Dead, (James 2:17).  Hebrews 13:20f, “. . . The God . . . that brought Jesus from the dead . . . through the blood of  the . . . covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will.”

            Faith is born in the heart of the believer at the initiation of God.  It is not accomplished apart from will.  But the initiation is God.  The mark of such faith is confirmed through one’s labors.  It attests  to sufficiency of faith; it affirms the satisfaction of faith.  Matthew 7:16, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”  Titus 3:8, “This is a faithful saying, . . . these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works.”

IV.       Without Jesus We Can Do Nothing.  Hebrews 13:20f “Now the God of peace . . . working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever.”

            I call you to the One who died outside.  Outside the camp of Israel.  Outside understood  religious systems.  Separated from human compromise.

            He is not hiding, but we are too reluctant to seek Him where He is known to be.  The Old Testament goat (scapegoat) was turned loose to be stilled by the hand of Providence.  So the God-anointed substitute in the wilderness away from Jerusalem.  Raised to life again, he transports the believer from sin-death to spirit-life.  Jesus Himself attests to this sufficiency.  John 15:5, “Without me ye can do nothing.”  If nothing significant happens without Him, every sufficient thing happens in Him.  John Newton, the great song writer (Amazing Grace, etc.) late in life memory almost gone, “Two things I remember: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.”

Conclusion

            Charles Dickens began A Tale of Two Cities1: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything behind us, we had nothing before us, we were all going straight to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

            Dickens lived long before the oldest of us.  The time he described was long before his own time.  But how well it describes this late 20th Century.  The one way out of the inharmonious times that he described, then and now, is Jesus.

            He who calls us to Himself, calls us to commitment.  He reminds us that it is to “total” and not “token” commitment.

Dickens:          https://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Cities-Collins-Classics/dp/0007350899/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=AUTHOR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pXA57NqyaIEUJIlWWpu8sKRjP3DIdZmz442Yo7WR6PdsVce7V-K_W9N7FfF_sYqF2-HPKMKlgoA2puwWfo8G5-PpRwwUR_BewPG3EDElSVnlusR-vran9dRXTNvkkGWlsDd3mLlVbsBajyD9xd6gmxcD05y-NNVuSfb7qyGSA6PJM2QafgzWxokNUfSYLmjOAViGu4sYupJA7iDSnZsxTDDtK9-AxIi3e_iZsKgUXnc._bgOr7wKR-XtD-Sb1u3KpjN6u12K5Dnc_EO4RvBVInk&qid=&sr=

1 Dickens, C. (2013). A Tale of Two Cities. (Reprint). Collins Classics. 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY CHURCH UNDER FIRE

#686                THE TWENTIETH CENTURY CHURCH UNDER FIRE

Scripture  Hebrews 10:25, NIV                                                                             Orig. 12/1/1977

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 1/16/1985

Passage: 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Purpose: To state the three essential criteria for the contemporary believer.

Keywords:      Believer          Evangelism                 Revival           Church                       Worship

Introduction

            One of the great art galleries in our country has a famous painting by G.F. Watts called Hope.  The painting itself may not elicit the interest that has centered around an absurd little story  about the painting.

            To describe the painting is to see a blindfolded woman seated on a sphere with her head bowed, holding a lyre.  She seems to represent human fertility in a shrinking world.  The musical instrument which she holds retains only one string.  The space around the sphere contains one star against a backdrop of blackness.  The artist wanted those who viewed his work to see it as he did.  He therefore labelled it Hope.

Watts, G.F.  Hope1

            The story is about two cleaning women who worked in the gallery.  One of the women regularly cleaned in this part of the museum, the other was on her first round.  When she came to Watt’s display she stopped dead in her tracks and looked with wonderment at the painting.  Finally, she said aloud, “Hope! Hope?  Why is it called ‘Hope’?”

            The other replied, with little wonderment, and probably some agitation, as she turned her attention to the precariously perched figure, “Why, I suppose because she hopes she won’t fall off.”

            There are people around us, some who identify themselves as Christian, who view the contemporary church scene with the same doubtful perplexity.  What does “church” mean?  Has it  become an art-form symbolizing that is no longer meaningful?  Is it only a supplier of sanctimonious symbols?

            The writer of Hebrews sees it differently.  He declares it to be what it is:  What God has made it to be.  It is people, alive in a dead world, with a sense of mission.  It is an awesome explosive power awaiting the torch of commitment.  There are 3 guidelines.

I.          They were to Attend Their Church.  “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.” 

            Though I rule it out, I wonder if boredom was ever the cause.  Or fatigue:  I heard of one pastor who called a meeting of the board following the service.  A stranger was present.  “Sir, we were happy you came, but this meeting is just for the board.”  “I have trouble believing that these people were more bored than I!”

            We are here instructed that our first attitude about our church is faithful attentiveness.  (1)There is a triad of meaning (Romans 3): For worship and praise; for instruction from the Word; for preparation in ministry. (2)Romans 1:21 (Glorified not as God, nor were thankful.)  When these go begging, no matter what other reasons we have, we have rejected our mandate.

            Old Testament—Samuel anointed Saul (I Samuel 12), had the people assemble at Gilgal.  They sacrificed, had great joy in praise.  I Samuel 12:7, “Now, therefore, stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers.”

            New Testament—Acts 11:26, when Barnabas located Paul he brought him to Antioch.  “For a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught many people.  They were first called Christians at Antioch.”

            This “assembly” was essential for empowering in and to service.  The young Indian brave inquired of the steps necessary to become chief. [Some text lost.]  The sacred bobcat:  You must bring down the great white buffalo with your bard hands.  You must wrestle the brown bear [to] win two of three challenges.  Then must come the trials of fire and ice.  The brave interrupted with “What ever happened to wholesome good looks and a nice personality?”

II.         They were to Defend Their Church.  “Exhorting one another.”

            This is akin to paraklētos—“comforter.”  This form is never retrospective, and always prospective.  (Parakaleo.)  It is “beseech, entreat, admonish.”  See Psalm 141:5—

"Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;
    let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
    for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.”

            It guards against the infiltration of error.  II Timothy 4:2-4, “Preach the word; exhort with all  long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they will heap themselves teachers. . . .”  Notice again the charge to exhort, a call to higher living.  Notice the condemnation of “heaping”: Man in Oakdale who enlarged capacity of concrete plant without increasing foundation.

            To defend against worldliness.  II Timothy 4:10 “Demas hath forsaken . . . having loved this . . . world.”  Revelation 3:14, Laodicea—“I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing; thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

            To defend against complacency.  Not enough just not to oppose.  One must take a vital stand.

            To defend against cliquishness.  Like at Corinth, people separate into factions: talents, worldly goods, gifts, pastors.  “Paul is my favorite.”  I Corinthians 3:11, “ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

III.       They were to Extend Their  Church.  “And all the more as you see the day approaching.”

            Which statement he clarifies in the verses that follow.  The example of the Old Testament covenant.  Anyone rejecting Moses died by the witness of two or three.  Rejecting Jesus is rejecting His death, rejecting God’s will, and insulting the Holy Spirit (29).  It is deadly for the so-called believer and unbeliever alike.

            We are to be extensions of our church:  From active participation—worship, study, ministry awareness; we receive the enablement to be Christ’s representative in our community and beyond.

            We might say that through this means we Commend our church.  You commend it first and foremost by your support.  You commend it to the degree that you support it.  What think you of token support to: your job?  Your children’s school?  Your family?  You commend your church by supporting and praying for its leaders.  It is much easier to criticize another than to condition one’s own life to support just causes in Christ.  You commend your church by every positive referral.

Closing

            As the day approaches

***The remainder of this sermon has been lost.***

1Watts, G.F. (2020). Hope. [Oil on canvas]. Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey, U.K. In Reitsema, E.M. Hebrews 11:1—Hope by G.F. Watts, ArtWay Visual Meditation, (16 February 2020). (Original work 1885/1886). https://artway.eu/content.php?id=2901&lang=en&action=show

Hope                https://artway.eu/content.php?id=2901&lang=en&action=show

STRIVING FOR BOLDNESS

#716                                        STRIVING FOR BOLDNESS

Scripture  Hebrews 4:16, NIV                                                                                 Orig. 6/7/1978

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 6/11/1987

Passage: 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Purpose: To acknowledge the opening of SBC, and to speak to our long-standing plan of Bold Mission in reaching out to a lost world.

Keywords:      Christ as Lord            Grace              Revival                       Cross               Mercy                                     Service

Introduction

            The gavel will fall Tuesday morning at 8:30 opening the 130th session of the  Southern Baptist Convention.  The theme of the convention will be “Partners in the Harvest.”  Matthew 9:37-38, Then saith he unto his disciples, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.  Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

            The best example of Bold Mission took place when the First Century church discovered it was to be the agent of gospel proclamation to the world.  What an assignment!  A poor, inarticulate, rag-tag confederation of followers of a man called Jesus, who claimed to be the son of God, expected to impress itself upon a superstitious, pleasure-sated age.  But they did it!  And in such grand fashion that the message they first preached is still being proclaimed accurately, and with power.

            Dr. James Stewart, in his book, “Heaven’s Throne Gift1,” raises this very question. “Was it the 120 disciples in the upper room?”  If that is the case, then we need expect no more such days until we are sure we have people like those people.  He continues, “Though it is true, . . . there were fervent earnest prayer meetings, when the disciples prepared their hearts for the coming of the Spirit, nevertheless, it was the glorified Son who prayed down the Spirit.”  He concluded, “I would not, for one single moment, minimize the necessity for our own heart-preparation for the fullness of the Holy Ghost in our lives, but I am zealous for the honor and glory of my blessed Lord, when I state unequivocally that it was in answer to His prayer that the Spirit came.”

            Because He is still Lord, such bold striving is yet called for, as His prayer remains still for His people to touch the world.

I.          Such Bold Striving Begins at the Altar of Our Crucified Lord.  “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.”

            We must first locate this “throne of grace.”  We spoke last week of Paul’s message to Colossae of God’s “mystery.”  He spoke also to the Christians of Ephesus of the same concept.  “mystery, . . . hid from the beginning of the world” now “made known” (Colossians 1:26f), (Ephesians 3:11) “according to the eternal purpose which he proposed in Christ Jesus” (3:12) “in  whom we have boldness” (3:21) “unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.”

            The Hebrew writer speaks unalteringly of this.  “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into [the] holiest by the blood of Jesus.”  That throne of grace, then,  is the altar of the crucified Jesus.  The Pentecostal church found power there.  Understand: Not speaking denominationally.  Any denominational power broker is a target for Satan’s wiles and human indiscretion.  In that church, struggling, poorly equipped, thought by some to be culturally deprived, were the people of Pentecost.

            God has not changed, and Jesus continues to pray for His church.  Our power is still at this altar, at the cross.

            We must grasp that this is not a “once-for-all” altar. We are to come again and again.  Translated correctly, the passage says “Let us keep on coming to this throne.”  Strange: We keep on “going” to our diversions.  Text: compels us to keep “coming” to Jesus.  Why many sacrifice textual preciseness.  We are to find daily camaraderie with our Lord at His altar-throne.  

            Therein is Pentecostal power.  It has to do with the quality of our coming.  It means coming with full confession of sin.  Psalm 51:3, “I acknowledged my transgression.”  Daniel 9:4, “And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession.”

            It means coming in a truly worshipful spirit.  Seeing myself as I am, and being sorry.  Seeing God as He is, and being glad. 

            Read William Temple’s definition of “worship.”  

“To quicken the conscience by the holiness of God.

To feed the mind with the truth of God.

To purge the imagination by the beauty of God.

To open the heart to the love of God.

To devote the will to the purpose of God.”

II.         Bold Striving Discovers the Believer’s Guarantee of Mercy “that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help.”

            Mercy is the key by which the door to grace is opened.  The two concepts may appear indistinguishable.  Grace describes God’s attitude toward the law-breaker and the rebel.  Mercy defines God’s lovingkindness towards those who are in distress.  An often-used phrase  in New Testament is “mercy and peace.”  (I.e., I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, II John, Jude, Galatians.)  “Mercy” is the act of God.  “Peace” is the resulting constraint in human hearts.

            Thus, there is this two-fold activity of God.  To bring people to embrace the truth: Grace.  To sustain those who have embraced:  Mercy. 

            John Bunyan2 tells the story of his life and conversion in “Grace Abounding.”  As he listened to a sermon from Song of Solomon 4:1, “Behold, thou art fair, my love,” he could not wait for the preacher to conclude.  All he knew, all he cared to know, was that God loved him, and told him so.  Imagine, such a witness coming out of the sensuous Old Testament story.  There is the boldness of the word.

            Ann was struggling through days just before surgery a few years ago, and shared a passage that she happened upon.  Isaiah 43:2, “When thou passeth through the waters I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle thee.”

            The greatest, boldest witness that can be expressed today, is the witness of God’s mercy as it is sustained (kept operable) in our lives.  In The Ebb-Tide3, Robert Louis Stevenson has one character to say, “Everything’s grace, we walk upon it, we breathe it, we live it and die by it, it makes the nails and axles of the universe.”

            John 1:16, “From the fulness of His grace, we have all received  one blessing after another” (and find grace to help in time of need).

III.       Bold Striving Rejoices in the Power Available to the People of God.

            Assessing needs, we see a world struggling through the quagmire of its own self-seeking.  Problems of American foreign policy are often laid at feet of greedy bureaucrats.  Problems of third-world nations struggling under the influence of politicians not statesmen.  Problems that befoul our constitutional democracy by greedy merchants of human flesh.

            A Christian must be a giving person.  My church the first, best instrument of my trust.  I must pay better those who work, and do a good job for me.

            Alexander Solzhenitsyn has written with deep insight of the tragic lack of political/intellectual freedom in Russia.  He addressed the graduating class of an Ivy League school (Harvard?), and spoke just as deeply, and just as insightfully, of the “indulgent” freedom that he has found in America. 

            Assessing needs, God  has called His church to address itself to world problems with the gospel.  The heart of the problem is that we live in a secular society.  60/65% of Americans hold church membership.  Little  higher in Bernice.  38% of ours attend less than once/month.  No cause for back-patting (91 of 306).  Most of 91 have not been.  Many of 306 are on slippery edge.

            Arthur Rutledge (former Home Mission Board): “There is little opposition to religion, but if church attendance statistics are an accurate barometer, only a minority of our people take religion seriously.”  Harvey Cox reminds us (The Secular City4) “Secularization simply by-passes and undercuts religion and goes on to other things.”

            Assessing needs, the church will not ever be any more than the BOLD STRIVINGS of its people.  We can exhaust our energies in power struggles.  We can be what we are, the people of God.

Conclusion

            Howard Snyder deals with this very thing in The Problem of Wineskins5.  He says he is optimistic, that we have cause to be enthusiastic.  I agree!!!    

Stewart:           https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/heavens-throne-gift/7602396/item/31142524/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pmax_high_vol_frontlist_under_%2410&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1oe40fyLiQMV9rBaBR2WDhn5EAQYASABEgJFbfD_BwE#idiq=31142524&edition=14591579

Temple:          https://muddlingtowardmaturity.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/01/william-temples-definition-of-worship-.html

Stevenson:      https://www.amazon.com/Ebb-Tide-Trio-Quartette-1894/dp/B0D2XJJ9B3/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ERWMLICHMLVA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CxXKbCyAlbpIy3olmTPlQ6w8MitTaNrBt-HmY706rmjGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.UbW1NRKdBtIWqjrapyhwGFPZJyoCvmUEeFLvquHhClw&dib_tag=se&keywords=ebb-tide+1894&qid=1728858819&s=books&sprefix=ebb-tide+1894%2Cstripbooks%2C155&sr=1-1

Harvard:         https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/a-world-split-apart

Cox:                https://www.amazon.com/Secular-City-Secularization-Urbanization-Theological/dp/0691158851/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1HOHWEZQODA4T&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ycDERKLtAHqdoP9173fofBU6ek1w297WPhohF72zVykvhoh6aGj75as9_zihAhYfqpoZW2n6KHpxOpFDwzmJkEtdhSJCq9KUgF1E6YKC3b5MyLnHzFoyd5igavLLI02fQXCJCIXWUTRstmEZPlv13-2XnSV4Qr4YuCC3hX2JGlFpgIVCIraM-X4AhfIZX4mM68oD367uTbbgvJYsWRyxako7zqovqzLhoj2i_qRGjxI.N6t6X8b0JpQ8nNzwNvFiM_nWMwVyEXzW0JUBxWSV400&dib_tag=se&keywords=harvey+cox&qid=1729262772&sprefix=harvey+cox%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-2

Snyder:  https://my.seedbed.com/product/the-problem-of-wineskins-40th-anniversary-edition/

1Stewart, J. (1971). Heaven's Throne Gift. Christian Literature Crusade. 

2Bunyon, J. (1666). Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: A Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ to His Poor Servant. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

 

3Stevenson, R.L. and Osborne, L. (1894). The Ebb-Tide.  William Heinemann.

4Cox, H. (2013). The Secular City.  Princeton University Press.     

5Snyder, H.  (2017.) The Problem of Wineskins. 40th Anniversary Edition.  Seedbed Publishing.

ENTERING HIS REST

#083                                             ENTERING HIS REST                                                              

Scripture  Hebrews 4:7-16, NIV                                                               Orig. 2/16/1964; 8/1970

                                                                                                                  Rewr. 4/1975; 11/4/1989

Passage: 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”[d]

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[e] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Jesus the Great High Priest

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Purpose: Sharing a message aimed at our extensions of ourselves that deplete our spiritual vitality.

Keywords:                  Sovereignty                Suffering

Timeline/Series:         Sequential

Introduction

            Did you ever find  yourself over-extended?  Judith Viorst1 wrote about her experience in a book entitled How Did I Get to Be Forty and Other Atrocities.  She called it her “Self-Improvement Program.”  “I’ve finished six pillows in Needlepoint, and I’m reading Jane Austen and Kant, And I’m up to the pork with black beans in Advanced Chinese Cooking.  I don’t have to struggle to find myself for I already know what I want.  I want to be healthy and wise and extremely good-looking.

            “I’m learning new glazes in Pottery Class, and I’m playing new chords in Guitar, And in Yoga I’m starting to master the lotus position.  I don’t have to ponder priorities For I already know what they are: To be good-looking, healthy and wise.  And adored in addition.

            “I’m practicing my serve with a tennis pro, And I’m practicing verb forms in Greek, And in Primal Scream Therapy all my frustrations are vented.  I don’t have to ask what I’m searching for Since I already know what I seek.  To be good-looking, healthy and wise.  And adored.  And contented.

            “I’ve bloomed in Organic Gardening, and in Dance I’ve tightened my thighs, And in Consciousness Raising there’s no one around who can top me.  And I’m working all day, and I’m working all night to be good-looking, healthy and wise.  And adored.  And contented.  And brave,  And well-read.  And a marvelous hostess, and bilingual, Athletic, Artistic, . . . . Won’t someone please stop me?”

I.          Rest Must First Recall Surroundings.  V7, “Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying . . .

Today,  if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”          

            It is interesting that half the verses in this chapter speak of a coming rest.  Vv 1,  3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11.  All but v9 are katapausis, “to cease for rest, repose.”  V9 is sabbatismos, “a sabbath rest.”  There remains a rest beyond imagining for “the people of God.”  Remember sabbath rest in terms of people who labored.  Listen to some of the old spirituals to fulfill the picture.  The idea is not so much cessation from all activity, but orderliness, tranquility.

            We must rightly understand the need for rest.  God is the source of cohesion.  Colossians 1:17, “By Him all things consist.”  Satan is the source of confusion.  I Peter 5:8, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  The world was not and is not a world of disorder by design.  The problem is a sin problem. Generic man has a weakness of self-will.  Whether an original Adam/Eve. Whether there was a composite human beginning.

            Every corruption of this cohesion results from man’s separation from his roots.   Several years ago PBS did a series called “The Ascent of Man.”2  There was little reckoning of spirit. Generic man picked himself up and discovered ways to conquer dissenting natural forces. 

            The “naked ape’s” potential to recover is amazing.  Most that we must recover from is self-afflicted.  Man’s mind has conceived tv.  It influences us to abuse our bodies and each other to an inestimable degree.  War is pictured as a vested, patriotic duty.  Only the suppliers of war-material gain.

            We must stop where we are, gain insight into ourselves, and heed another voice.  John the Baptist had this in mind in John 1:23.  “I am the voice of one crying . . . .”  The Psalmist found his refuge (Psalm 46).  “Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

II.         Rest Next Recalls Sovereignty.  V16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

            The invitation to such sovereignty is extended to all.  We are encouraged to come boldly.  The inclination is to fear.  The invitation is to dialogue.  Paul uses the word to the Ephesians (6:20).  “Pray that I may (speak boldly) for which I am an ambassador in chains.” 

            A missionary tells of an African who was brought to a leper hospital.  Life was saved, lost hands, became a believer.  Stayed to work with other lepers.  Read Bible by breathing pages.  Thank God for my leprosy.  It brought me to the hospital.  Hospital brought me to Jesus.  WOV John 3.

            But, it is an invitation that must be claimed.  We can do little to change the skeptic.  But with most of the lost known to us, it is intimidation.  God is viewed as a much-rebuked child sees his parent.  We can change this by helping such people grasp God’s openness. 

            A great gift of sovereignty is ours.  We have recourse to the king.  At Sinai, God resided behind the clouds only Moses could penetrate.  By Jesus’ day, He withstood the people from behind Holy of Holies curtains.  Vice President Quail has a heavy schedule of appointments, but his children have access to him anytime.  Moreso, back during the Kennedy years when John John had run of White House.

            We are recipients of an invitation drawn up in mercy.  It is mercy that we are to expect.  There is no reason not to be confident.  Faith demands it.  In Christ, the tribunal is negated.  Imagine yourself before court.  Imagine [Jim] Bakker’s feelings upon hearing sentence. He had so compromised himself, he imagined those things his right.

            In Christ, to a throne of grace. (Rest.)  To refuse it as it is thus offered is to see it become a judgment seat.

III.       Rest Then also Recalls Struggle.  V9f “There remaineth therefore to the people of God a sabbath-rest.  For he that is entered into his rest, . . . hath ceased from his works, as God did from his.  Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.”

            There are few of us who have never doubted.  Some have had due cause to cry out, “Where is God?”  They have seemed beset by trial as prey is stalked by predator.  There is a fitting example of such struggle from God’s own Word.  Story is told in Psalm 73 (Asaph).  Any person whose faith totters under the duress of cold fact and grim reality.  “But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped.  For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  They are not troubled as other men, neither . . . plagued.”  He perceived injustice, as if it were from God.  “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.”

            His cynicism is for the ears of God alone.  He will not offend others because he may be in the wrong.  “If I say I will speak thus, Behold I will offend against the generation of thy children.”  In this struggle, he is helped to see the real burden of forsakenness.  “When I sought to know this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God, Then understood I their end.  Surely thou didst set them on slippery places.”

Conclusion, added by editor:

23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Links 

Viorst:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204351.How_Did_I_Get_to_Be_40_Other_Atrocities

Bronowski:     https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Man-Complete-BBC-Region/dp/B000772842

1  Viorst, J. (1976). How Did I Get to Be Forty and Other Atrocities. Simon and Schuster.

2  Bronowski, J. (1974). The Ascent of Man.  Little Brown & Co.