Today’s sermon was based on Solomon, found in 1 Kings 3. God came to him in a dream and asked Solomon what he wanted from Him. Solomon answered: “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (v. 9) This answer pleased God and He blessed him good and hard. (vv. 10-14) So hard in fact that Solomon eventually let his pride and power get the best of him. The title for this sermon was: Solomon’s Choice, Me or We? It was a very good sermon and one you’d do well to watch till the end.
We are in John 8 and Christ is at His work. As stated in the scripture, after spending time at the Feast of Booths and at the temple where He cried out “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38), He then traveled to the Mount of Olives. I have always been curious as to just where all these places are, like the Mount of Olives and such. I have been told by those that have been to the Holy Land that it is a rather compact area where Christ did His work in Jerusalem.
The Mount of Olives is located at number 11 on the map and the temple is at number 1, which is really hard to see and is directly below the Mount of Olives with a large wall around it. So, Jesus spent the night up on the hill and then walked down to the Temple, early in the morning and began to teach. (vv. 1-3) All the people came to Him and this was when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery, which we covered last week. I am not sure why that passage, verse 3 to 11 of John 8 is not found in the earliest manuscripts, but it is possible that it was part of the oral teaching of that time and it is in keeping with the teachings of Christ. If you are troubled by it, ask God for greater understanding of His Holy word. And understand, that if you were to remove this and a few other grammatical errors from the Bible, it would not change the content of the message one bit. Let God handle the details and you won’t go wrong.
Jesus is at the temple, teaching and said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (v. 12) This caused the Pharisees to dispute with our Lord. They said to Him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” (v. 13) Jesus answered them, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” (vv. 14-18)
These Pharisees were very righteous, in their own eyes, but had no love in their hearts for any but themselves. When this rabbi comes along and performs many signs and wonders, and then calls them to account for their wretched sinful ways, telling them straight out, they judge according to the flesh, which we have numerous examples of, they hated Him for showing them what was in their stone dead hearts. What about our hearts? We are very quick to judge, are we not? A simple trip to Walmart and how many times did you judge what happened before you? I am not saying we should not have a discerning mind, but where is the Love in your heart for your fellow man? I include myself in this and it troubles me. We are steeped in sin and this book from which I am teaching, calls us to account, does it not? Nobody likes their sins pointed out, but you have to recognize that you are a sinner before God before you can repent. This is what the Pharisees refused to do in their Lord’s very presence. Instead of repenting, they plotted to kill God. The hubris of man knows no bounds. We see it today, writ large across the news. The Pharisees trusted in themselves and their twisted understanding of the scripture.
They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” (v. 19) A more valid question they should have asked themselves is “Who is our Father?” They deceived themselves with a confident reply of Abraham. (Matthew 3:9) Which is where their pride lies, that which they belong to. In actuality it was satan, the father of lies.
Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” This seemed incredulous to these prideful men. How could this simple carpenter tell them anything about belief? Blinded by their pride is something that can be seen down through the ages. It seems to never go out of style.
All these things were spoken in the treasury, part of where these Pharisees held their true power over the people, but no one arrested Him, because his hour had not yet come.
The application of this lesson is to not bind yourself to satan, recognize your sinful state and know who your true Father is. For most of those in this once great nation, it would be satan. The good news is your God sent His only begotten Son to die on a cross and be raised again for those that would believe. Believe in Him that is the light of the world and apply yourself to that belief. Repent your sins to the Father, then Accept, Believe and Continue. How you continue is reading from this book He wrote for you. Consider it homework for the soul, keeping in mind that His Holy Word is not meant to tickle your mind in entertainment but to educate you and guide you to a greater understanding of God and what He wants from us. Which is what a penitent sinner should thirst for and not be cajoled into.
From MacArthur’s Devotionals: Righteousness begins with salvation and continues in sanctification. Only after you abandon all self- righteousness and hunger for salvation, will you be cleansed from sin and made righteous in Christ. Then you embark on a lifelong process of becoming as righteous as Christ—a process that will culminate when you are in His presence fully glorified (Rom. 8:29-30; 1 John 3:2). There’s always need for improvement in this life (Phil. 3:12-14), but satisfaction comes in communing with Christ and growing in His grace.
You can know if you’re hungering and thirsting for righteousness by asking yourself some simple questions. First, are you dissatisfied with your sin? Self- satisfaction is impossible if you are aware of your sin and grieve when you fall short of God’s holy standard.
Second, do external things satisfy your longings? A hungry man isn’t satisfied until he eats. A thirsty man isn’t satisfied until he drinks. When you hunger and thirst after righteousness, only God’s righteousness can satisfy you.
Third, do you have an appetite for God’s Word? Hungry people don’t need to be told to eat. It’s instinctive! Spiritual hunger will drive you to feed on the Word to learn what God says about increasing in righteousness.
Fourth, are you content amid difficulties? A hungry soul is content despite the pain it goes through because it sees every trial as a means by which God is teaching greater righteousness. If you react with anger or resentment when things go wrong, you’re seeking superficial happiness.
Finally, are your hunger and thirst unconditional? The rich young ruler in Matthew 19 knew there was a void in his life but was unwilling to give up his possessions. His hunger was conditional.
Christ will fully satisfy every longing of your heart, yet you will also constantly desire more of His righteousness. That’s the blessed paradox of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. “Copyright 2007, Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission.”
So where are you in this respect? Are you hungry for His word, do you seek His Peace and Joy, knowing that prayers and repentance will bring blessings upon you? Or do you find it a job to read from His Word and have chosen to rely on the mouthings of man to keep you in good stead? If you find you lean a bit too heavily to the man side of things, there is still time to repent and pray to the Father. He wishes none to be lost. (2 Peter 3:9) Get busy, there is no time to lose. Start with your Pastor, or Deacons of the church you go to. If you find you’ve chosen poorly and do not go to a church that expounds from the Bible, contact our pastor Aaron: pastor@firstbaptistgrovecity.org and he will be glad to talk to you. You can even contact John MacArthur from Grace Church: letters@gty.org. Do any or all of these things but don’t sit on your hands. Accept, Obey and Continue or get ahold of someone to help you out. And yes, you can contact me also: rb3@americanloon.com.
Today’s sermon was from 2 Samuel 1 and titled A Man After God’s Own Heart: Hearing With the Heart. An interesting sermon on David and how he became King. We also had Zach & Julie Anderson, missionaries who have been on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for the past 20 years. Zack came up and talked with us and shared a couple of very interesting stories. It brought to mind that we, who have been so blessed by our Creator, to be the richest nation on earth, have squandered that blessing and kicked He who created all, out of the majority of our lives and take all that we have for granted. We, who are steeped in sin, think we are the master potter and by our own hand we create what we are. To which I can only reply “REPENT SINNER! FOR THE END IS NIGH!
Seems appropriate, no?
I grew up reciting the Lord’s Prayer, which is also called the Disciples Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15). In our Lutheran Church, we said it every Sunday and you knew after that had been said, you’d be in the parking lot within 10 minutes. I have fond memories of saying that prayer. It always brought a familiar comfort and that is a problem. When we do something like that with great regularity, we cease to use it as a prayer and just enjoy the feeling of everybody saying it together. In the Baptist church we now attend, that prayer hangs on the east wall, but we rarely say it. It was told to me by Pastor Pete that the reason for not using that prayer was to not take it for granted, to actually use it to pray to God which is what Christ had meant when He gave it to the disciples. It should be used as a framework for how we pray to God. The devotionals I read every day from Grace Church had this recently:
The implications of the Disciples’ Prayer are profound and far-reaching. An unknown author put it this way:
I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself in a spiritual, watertight compartment. I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child. I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there. I cannot say “hallowed be Thy name” if I am not striving for holiness. I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful day. I cannot say “Thy will be done” if I am disobedient to His Word. I cannot say “in earth as it is in heaven” if I will not serve Him here and now.
I cannot say “give us . . . our daily bread” if I am dishonest or an “under the counter” shopper. I cannot say “forgive us our debts” if I harbor a grudge against anyone. I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately place myself in its path. I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I do not put on the whole armor of God.
I cannot say “thine is the kingdom” if I do not give to the King the loyalty due Him as a faithful subject. I cannot attribute to Him “the power” if I fear what men may do. I cannot ascribe to Him “the glory” if I am seeking honor only for myself. I cannot say “forever” if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by the things of time.
My hope here is for you to look at how you use this prayer, given to the disciples and to us, and if you have fallen into the trap of just speaking these words with no more meaning than ordering fast food at a drive up window, stop right now and repent to God. Renew your relationship with He who created you and strive to be Holy because He is Holy. (1 Peter 1:16)
We are finishing up John 7 this week. When Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’”, (v. 36) the people began to talk among themselves. Some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? (vv. 40-41). Most all of them were following Him for the spectacle of healing and supernatural acts. Of the comment about Galilee, Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers has this to say: It has often been asked, sometimes in the spirit of objection, sometimes in the spirit of inquiry, how the Apostle, if he really knew the history of our Lord’s birth at Bethlehem, could record these questions without a correction. But in these verses he is giving the feelings and opinions of the multitude, and it is a mark of the truthfulness of his narrative that he gives them just as they really occurred.
The scripture states that there was division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. (v. 43) The temple police who had been sent to arrest Jesus came back to their masters, the chief priest and Pharisees were incredulous and very angry with them for not arresting Jesus. You see, those sent to arrest this Son of Man had been amazed at what they heard. “No one ever spoke like this man!” they exclaimed, when asked why they hadn’t arrested God. (vv. 45-47)
The Pharisees answered back to them “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” (vv. 48-52) Interesting that Nicodemus, after his shocking encounter with Jesus, (John 3:1-15) has the courage to speak out with those that would kill He who has come to redeem those that would believe.
Verse 53 states that “They went each to his own house”. And here starts a part of the scripture that I have struggled with. In most new translations of what I read, that being the NASB and ESV, this part of the scripture is listed with an asterisk and brackets: [The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.] This is what’s known as “The Woman Caught in Adultery”
Here it is:
[[8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]
The lesson here is, now that you know of your sins, that you are held to account and convicted through the scripture, go now and sin no more. Believe, Obey and Continue. Do this and you will have eternal life. Or put more directly: Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is our only hope. So go forth and act upon that knowledge. Believe, Obey and Continue.
