SERMONS MP3 AND OUTLINE NOTES

      Page 1 (Old Testament)

The purpose of these pages is to provide ideas, guidelines and pointers for the exposition of passages of the Bible. They are not word-for-word scripts. The list will be added to continually. Some sermons have now become available in MP3 Audio. Just click on MP3 Audio.

The sermons on MP3 were preached by John Coekin in St. Thomas's Parish Church, Oakwood, North London

Genesis chapter 1 began with God’s majestic work in the vast universe and climaxed, with the creation of humankind - read v.26. But now in Chapter 2 we have moved from panoramic vistas to a ‘garden in the east’. With the words of 2:4 which in effect mean ’ what came out of’ or ‘here is a fuller development of the story of ..’ the account beams in on the creation of man. This is not a second creation account as some disparagingly maintain - as if Genesis is confused and unreliable - but the theological basis for the existence of man. God made us in a particular way, for a special purpose and in a special relationship.

Even the name used of God has made a significant change. From 1:1 to 2:3 it is simply ‘God’. Now in chap.2 it becomes ’The LORD God’ (vs.4b,5b,9 etc)! This is God’s intimate name YAHWEH. It is with this name that he will reveal Himself to human beings (writing back into the account). READ 4b then to 7. So what do these verses want us to know about who we are?

1. What are we? - We are a special creation

If man was the climax of chap.1, he is now the focus. How did God create him? Was there an evolutionary process? It is very difficult to reconcile the words of v.7 with the idea of a million-year-long process of random development. Or did God take an early form of humanoid and breath a new different human life into him? Whatever we may think about that, we MUST preserve the principle that GOD INTERVENED. Man is special - the result of God’s special purposeful intervention. Surely the phrase in 7b is meant to convey much more than to say man was alive in the animal sense. It is the ‘in our image’ of 1:27. There is no record of God doing any such thing for animals. It means that man is a spiritual being. He is God-breathed, in a special relationship to God.

2. What are we? - We are of the earth

The account is careful to say that we are made of ‘the dust of the ground’ (as the animals in 19a) - of the same atoms and molecules and DNA as the rest of creation. We are a body. We must not take the Greek line that the body is unimportant and inferior to the ‘spirit’. God did not make us like the angels, but a physical body. We must not separate ‘body’ and ‘soul’ - we are a unity. The fact that Jesus rose physically from the grave confirms the goodness of God’s original creation. And our bodies will be preserved at the resurrection - as Paul stresses++ in 1 Cor.15.

Furthermore, God’s positive view of the material earth is strengthened by man’s appointment to work to look after it - v. 15, and to manage the animals as God’s deputy ruler - vs.19+20b.

God’s provides the abundant fruit of the garden vs.9a, 16 - but He also provides for man’s moral well-being too.

3. What are we? - We are morally responsible to God

Read vs.9 then 17. The Tree of Life represents immortality - as confirmed in 3:22. The ‘Tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ represents the right to decide what is good and what is evil. THAT is prohibited to man for THAT is God’s prerogative. If man takes that to himself he will make himself like God - which of course is exactly what he did in Chap.3 and what we have all done ever since - earning God‘s condemnation. From this, only Christ can set us free again.

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GEN.37:1-11 AN UNPROMISING BEGINNING - JOSEPH

I suppose that Joseph is best known today because of his supposed ‘Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ - How many people actually understand that he is a character from the Bible, I’m not sure. And, of course, while the show is great fun, it misses the point of the story in Genesis by a mile. We are going to spend four Sundays in the story so we really do need to know what it is all about. I’ll come to that in a moment. Let’s first sketch the story, look very briefly at some background, and then try to identify why it is important.

The year is about 1700 BC. V.1,2a: Jacob is one of Abraham’s two grandsons. The line of descent has come down through him. He and his expanding family have pitched their tents in Canaan, no longer wandering nomads but settled ranchers with flocks and herds. Jacob has 12 sons but Joseph (no.11) was his favourite. Joseph was very spoilt: conceited and precocious. His brothers hated him. Especially so when Joseph tells them about his dreams in which he appears to laud it over them all. Even Jacob is shocked (v.10). His brothers grasp an opportunity to sell him to Ishmaelite traders and eventually he finds himself a slave in the house of a high official in Egypt. After the official’s wife unsuccessfully tries to seduce him, he is made to suffer unjustly in prison. A long time later he is released when he interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and is given high office in the land, second only to Pharaoh himself. When Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy grain because there is a famine in Canaan, he eventually makes himself known to them, they are reconciled, and the family of about 70 people moves to live in the comparative plenty of Egypt. So what is this? The story of an unpromising teenager who makes good? Well, the progress of Joseph from self-centredness to godliness is remarkable. He becomes aware that God is at work. But there is more even than that we must take into account.

This isn’t just any ancient family! They are the direct descendants of Abraham to whom God made great promises (Gen.12:2,3) - two in particular (1) you will be a great nation (2) ‘in you all the families of the earth will be blessed’. Well, there are just 70 of them so far! And they are very vulnerable to the economic and political conditions around them. Are God’s purposes safe? We might recall the similar situation with Christ Himself. All God’s plans and purposes were vested in Him, and yet He was so vulnerable! The life of Joseph is not a story of human success: but perfectly illustrates the over-ruling providence of God.

God’s purpose was to preserve the line of descent for the fulfilment of his covenant. But it is the way He did it that is so remarkable! He raised up a son (Joseph) out of what-so-far- existed-of-Israel, to be a blessing to a gentile nation, to rule in wisdom, to the saving of life. This not only reflected His promises to Abraham (to be a blessing to the nations), but pre-figured what he would do in Christ! God raised up Joseph as His righteous servant who must first suffer unjustly before he received glory! (Clowney). God made the life of Joseph a sign of the way in which His blessing would ultimately come. All this was very early in the outworking of God’s plan for our redemption, but it already had the hallmark’s of Christ. The godly servant who was despised and rejected would become the rescuer of those who abused him.

Helpful texts: 'The Unfolding Mystery', Edmund P. Clowney, IVP. 'According to Plan', Graeme Goldsworthy, Lancer/IVP. 'The Message of Genesis 12- 50', Joyce Baldwin, The Bible Speaks Today, IVP. 'Genesis' Derek Kidner, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, IVP.

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EXODUS 3:  GOD REVEALS HIS NAME AND HIS PURPOSES

It is a sad fact that many modern Christians do not see much value in studying the Old Testament. They cannot see its significance for their understanding of the New Testament. They have not recognised that there are parallels and patterns in the OT which greatly illuminate and explain what happens in the NT - showing it to be more-profound than we had ever imagined. The OT reveals the character and purposes of God; the fundamental ways in which God deals with mankind; and in essence speaks of the person and ministry of Jesus the Christ who was to come. Our passage  is tremendously significant in all these respects. What would you say were its high points? 

[When starting to study a passage of the Bible, always first look for the 'big point' - the mountain peak of the passage with its out-lying foothills. Some people call the 'big point' the 'controlling point'.  It is the point that influences what else the passage contains.] Surely the big-point in this passage is God's appearance to Moses and God's identification of Himself. The question we must ask is 'Why does God do that?' The answer to that is very revealing.

There is in this chapter a monumentally important development in God’s relationship with Israel. That surely is part of the reason that God exceptionally appears and speaks in person. There must be something very important coming. Read vs.4 - 5 (notice the sign of the great gulf between man and God), 6..7... Who? “my people”. Now that’s the first time God has said anything like that! He repeats it in v.10. He promised Abraham that he would become a great nation (Gen.12) but there’s nothing about such a relationship as this! If we believe we belong to God’s people now it is only because He chose a people for Himself then! This is the beginning of a relationship to which God is going to contribute so much. Notice how He takes the initiative in this chapter? See v.8 "I have come down.." and 14c "I AM has sent me.... Was Moses seeking Him? No! And this simple, uncomplicated declaration (almost in passing) leads to 6:6-8 and 19:5,6.

But God reveals more….

Moses asks who he can say has sent him v.13. God replies…v.14. Can you imagine anything more profound? “I am who I am” ! The God whose existence is determined by Himself alone and who determines His own purposes. He is unique. He is not like any God in Egypt. He is the God who was, and is, and ever shall be; but He is more. Here is not just a notion of static being, but rather of a dynamic, active presence. (Kaiser) And yet He is the God who is willing to be associated with mankind ‘The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob..’ His name summons us to listen. He is orientated towards mankind - a communicating God, a missionary God. A God with purposes for man.

We have already noted that God took the initiative. The Israelites were in a hopeless and helpless situation. They could never free themselves (ring any bells? Eph.2:1,5) God did not bid Moses to lead a slave-revolt. They did not win their deliverance. Not a human weapon was used by the Israelites; not a sword blow struck. God would do it. He said v.8 “I have come down to deliver.. and to bring …to a wonderful land. (promised to Abraham!). But there is more: when they leave they will carry their slave-masters’ wealth! vs. 21,22. And that’s what happened, see 12:35,36. The Israelites did not creep or slink away; they went out in triumph. This speaks of God’s purpose to vindicate His People and points ahead to the vindication of all believers. The world may enslave, scoff, hate and even kill them, but they are God’s People and they will share His triumph. Think of the persecuted Christians of today (and every age); those who are tortured and imprisoned - even executed - for their faith; God will vindicate them. Their persecutors will see that these they made to suffer are God's People after all. They were right and their persecutors were wrong. 

God has formally adopted the people of Israel as His Own; called a man to speak for Him; identified Himself as, not only the God of the patriarchs but also as the self-determining God Almighty - FOR WHAT? - so that His purpose will be fulfilled in the way He wishes.

See: 'The Unfolding Mystery: discovering Christ in the Old Testament' by Edmund P. Clowney, IVP; 'Toward an Old Testament Theology' by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. ,Academic Books.

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EXODUS 11,12. THE PATTERN OF REDEMPTION ESTABLISHED

(A 10-minute sermon)

Two questions: (1) Can the purposes of God be finally resisted? The story of the Exodus tells us they cannot. (2) But can the way to peace and fellowship with God be known? The story of the Exodus tells us it can.

After nine awful plagues, Pharaoh still holds out against Moses’ demands on God’s behalf to ‘Let my People go!’ READ 10:28. Pharaoh still had not understood who this God was. The plagues were not just punishments, they were evangelistic - that Egypt might know that God is God; that Yahweh is the God of all creation - 8:22 ‘that you may know that I am the Lord in this land’! Belief would have been met by mercy and salvation. But Pharaoh and most of Egypt would not believe.

Back in Ex 4:22,23 God made an assertion that is now going to come true - READ. Terrible judgement was about to fall. READ 11:4-7. But how is God going to make ‘a distinction’ between Egypt and Israel? Chapter 12 tells us how God instructed the people so that they could escape the angel of death. READ vs. 3, 5, 7,11-13.

But why do the Israelites need this provision?

As sons and daughters of sinful Adam, even chosen Israel is by nature alien to God’s kingdom. The Passover and the Exodus confirm that to be God’s people, first requires redemption. There is no slipping into the promised land: God’s people must be a redeemed people. Indeed, it appears, God had taken Joseph into Egypt so as to be able to redeem them in a way that would explain redemption for ever. The double event demonstrates the helpless captivity of the human race to enslaving powers of evil and the necessary powerful work of God to bring deliverance. But central to these events is faith in the sacrificial shedding of the blood of a substitute lamb without blemish, delivering them from judgement so they can be free. Thus Passover/Exodus is the defining redemptive event.

A thousand years later John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus, was to declare ‘Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’

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2 SAM.15 'THE CLASH OF TWO KINGDOMS' 

2 Samuel recounts events in the history of Israel, 1,000 years before Christ. The reign of David, God’s anointed king and progenitor of the great king promised in Chap.7, is subject to all the tides of national and international politics, and in our passage we see something very important happening; something that is a hall-mark of the whole of Scripture. We see the clash of two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world and its ways, and the kingdom of God and His ways. That’s how I want us to understand 2 Sam.15. (In the life of Jesus, we see the clash of the kingdom of God with the kingdom of this world and its sub culture of dead religion.)

In previous chapters King David mistakenly did nothing about his sons Amnon who disgustingly raped his sister, and Absalom who then murdered him in revenge. Absalom flees from Court but in chapter 14 eventually worms his way back. It seems there could be trouble ahead.

Our chapter has two parts in which we witness the workings of the two kingdoms. So I have two titles which reflect that:

          1. ABSALOM CHALLENGES GOD (Typifying the kingdom of the  world and    its ways)

Absalom sets out to ingratiate himself with the people. He buys a chariot and horses, and a body-guard of 50 men. All designed to make people admire him - ‘wow, there goes Absalom, what a splendid prince he is’. He stands at the city gate when people come for judgement. He listens, agrees that their cause is just v.3a. ..but says David’s system has broken down v.3b. If only he were in charge v.4,5! He behaves like modern politicians; pressing the flesh and kissing babies. He stole the people v.6. He worked at it for 4 years. He lies to David v.7-9. He even uses a bit of religion! But its a trick; he’s going to get himself proclaimed king v.10,11. He even persuades David’s political adviser to join him v.12! Let’s be clear: Absalom is plotting to overthrow God’s anointed King and in that he is rebelling against God. There doesn’t seem to be an ounce of spiritual understanding in Absalom. These are the ways of the world. David hears the news v.13. Its time to go!

          2. DAVID PUTS HIS FAITH IN GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY (Typifying the kingdom of God and His ways)

Faith in God’s sovereignty doesn’t preclude prudence and planning. To save Jerusalem from destruction David decides to leave v.14. Stops at the last house to review his supporters - magnanimous proposal to Ittai the mercenary and his 600 people v.19,20. But like Ruth, Ittai is loyal v.21. The irony is stark. Absalom to whom David showed undeserved kindness (grace) was treacherous, while this stranger, who owed David nothing, stuck with him and accepted the same fate as David - deliverance or doom. Ittai was God’s gift to David.

David has with him Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites with the Ark of the covenant v.24. To have them (the clergy and the symbols) would appear to guarantee David’s restoration. But David will have none of what might seem like superstition or gimmicky; no conning God by pilfering the Ark. He sends them all back vs.25-27. He puts his whole trust in God alone. But trusting in God’s sovereignty doesn’t mean sitting on your hands and doing nothing. He asks the priests to be his spies and send him word of what’s going on vs.27,28.

Then David is devastated to hear that Ahitophel has gone over to Absalom v.31 and prays urgently. And again in the providence of God, an answer appears in the person of an aged counsellor and ally Hushai, who agrees to go to Jerusalem to frustrate the counsel of Ahitophel. It does appear doesn’t it, that when David puts his whole trust in God, God responds?

It is a dark day for Israel. Their rightful king plods up the Mount of Olives weeping (v.30). This scene will be repeated. David’s great descendant, the rightful eternal king of chapter 7, will be seen on the mount of Olives, weeping not so much for himself as for the doom of those who have rejected him. But God is sovereign! And you know what happened!

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In 2 Sam.18  we see the end of the rebellion of Absalom against his father King David. When we saw the beginning of this rebellion in chapter 15 we recognised it as illustrative of the great conflict between the kingdom of this world (and its ways) and the kingdom of God (and His ways) - the continual background theme of the whole Bible. David is God’s anointed king but Absalom has dared to overthrow Him. To seek to overthrow God’s anointed is to seek to overthrow God Himself.

So what is the big picture of this passage? ...surely it is “Yahweh will have His way, no matter what men do.” Walter Kaiser in his book ‘Toward an Old Testament theology says “Although David the anointed one became ensnared in his own lusts, and suffered revolts from his own family, God’s guarantee still held. It was not so much a matter of ‘how David maintained control over Judah and Israel' as ‘how Yahweh controlled human destiny for His own purposes.’ ”

So let’s explore this passage 18:1 - 19:8. David gathers his army of several thousand east of Jordan and a terrible battle ensues - 20,000 die. But notice how little space is given to the battle - a mere 3 verses (6-8). But two other events dominate this passage - the ignominious death of Absalom (9-18) and the grief of David (33 - 19:8).

Re-cap 9-18: Absalom caught in the tree - dispute over killing him - Joab spears him - finally killed - thrown into a pit and covered with a pile of stones - irony of the monument. What can we say about Absalom? A handsome, flamboyant, darling of the people. But a man with not an iota of spiritual understanding. The one who set out to destroy God’s anointed King. Let all those beware, who think they can outwit God, oppose his purposes, or attack His people with impunity. They may for a time be allowed to have the ascendancy, but their doom is sealed. This is a sombre truth, but God’s people have no hope unless it is true. Think of the thousands today who suffer for Christ’s sake. The psalmist declares ‘For the Lord will vindicate his people’ and Paul says in Phil.1:27,28 ‘..stand firm, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the Gospel, and in no way be intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation.’ The burden of our text is clear: there can be no preserving of God’s kingdom unless it involves the perishing of its opponents. There is no salvation without judgement.

v.24 - David waits anxiously at the gates for news of the battle; he can hardly wait to ask the question v. 29 ‘Is it well with the young man Absalom?’ But it isn’t.

David is heart-broken at the death of his son - v.33 ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom....’ But there is more to it than that, much more.

Notice “Would that I had died instead of you’. The writer wants us to hear David’s wailing. When the soldiers heard it they slunk away to their homes wondering what they had won a great victory for. But this is more than a father mourning his son, because David knows that it is his fault! Into his mind are seared the words of Nathan in 12:9,10 after his heinous sin with Bathsheba and murdering her husband Uriah.  David’s grief is inflamed by guilt. Perhaps he wished he had died instead of Absalom because he knew he deserved to die.

David may have been a forerunner of Christ, but he was only a faulted man. His kingdom may have been a picture of God’s spiritual kingdom to come, but it was only a sketchy outline. But maybe this sharpens all the more the reality of the perfect king who was to come, and the unshakeability of the kingdom he would open for us - where there will be no tears, or pain or mourning any more.

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NEH. 8-13: GOD’S WORD DECLARED: 

The Book of Nehemiah is magnificent. After 70 years in exile under God’s judgement, the Jews had been allowed to return to the Promised Land, led by Ezra the priest. But nothing much had happened until Nehemiah the great organiser arrived. Against great odds, Nehemiah lead the Jews in rebuilding the ruined walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days! That’s where we’ve got to at chapter 8.
But God was not interested in just rebuilding the state of Israel: He wanted to re-create a people who worshipped and obeyed him. Nehemiah was exactly in tune with that. So here in Chapter 8 something really remarkable happens. READ 7:73b and 8:1 (p.449).

1. GOD’S WORD GLADLY HEARD

Ezra makes his first appearance in this Book. This was a planned event -see v.4 (‘tower’). But the people wanted to hear from God v.1b ‘They told…’ So, READ v.2,3. Then vs.5,6 This was such an exciting event. But the Law of Moses was written in Hebrew, while many of the people could only speak Aramaic. So it needed explaining - v.7,8. There was such an urgent need to educate the people in God’s law.

The same was true in sixteenth century England when William Tyndale translated the Scriptures into English and was burned at the stake for it; but Archbishop Cranmer anchored an English Bible in every parish church, and Edward 6th appointed preachers to travel the country explaining the Bible. It spiritually liberated the people of England. Now? - we have rejected the Bible and thrown away our inheritance. 

How did the Jews respond to hearing God‘s word?

2. GOD’S WORD DEEPLY ACCEPTED
                                                                                                                                                                

They wept v.9. They were so moved. But Nehemiah reassures them vs.10 - 12. Is that how we feel about understanding the Bible- a great joy? V.13 the leaders assembled for a special Bible study of their own. How much do we look forward to reading the Bible and discovering what God has said and done through Jesus Christ, and how to involve him in our daily lives? Perhaps we never read it! Wouldn’t be seen dead at a home group! To neglect the Bible is to deprive ourselves of knowing what the Christian life is really about. It is so easy to be satisfied with second class Christian life and experience. 
For the Jews of Nehemiah’s day, it spiritually revived them.

3. GOD’S WORD BRINGS SPIRITUAL REVIVAL

They were transformed: they re-instated the Feast of Tabernacles and used it for more Bible Study v.18. Ezra prayed that magnificent prayer, part of which we read earlier - the whole of chapter 9. A prayer of hard-nosed confession and acknowledgement of their nation’s dependence on God. They made a new, written, commitment to live God’s way 9:38 > 10:28,29. This was spiritual revival! 
But this is not just a thing of the past. Today, when people read the Bible and open their hearts, understanding and spiritual life comes in through God’s Spirit. 
When we moved to Australia in 1970, we attended an Anglican church where the Bible was hardly ever explained. But someone started a Bible study. The scales fell from people’s eyes as they understood for the first time what it meant to be a living Christian. The news spread. Bible studies started in churches all over town and people fell into the Kingdom of God as they discovered true Christian life for themselves.
We have to ask ourselves - ‘By reading the Bible, is true Christian life blossoming in our lives?’

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(For a wonderful commentary and application of Nehemiah, read 'A Passion for Faithfulness' by J.I.Packer, pub. by Hodder Christian Books (ISBN 0 340 64209 2) also from Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, 1300 Crescent Street , Wheaton IL 60187, USA.)

The Book of Isaiah is dynamite. Its vision is enormous. It is about renewal on a grand scale. It begins with wicked Jerusalem under God’s judgement and ends with the end-time city of God, the new Jerusalem - picked up by John in Rev.21. But again and again condemnation is quickly followed by the promise of salvation for the repentant. In Is.6 we reach the pinnacle of the first twelve chapters of the Book. In the first 5 chapters Isaiah has described the spiritual and social corruption of Judah, and warned of God’s judgement if they do not repent. But there is an even bigger problem. Judgement may purge away the filth but how can spiritual transformation take place? How is spiritual renewal to be brought about so that Jerusalem and Judah can become the blessing to the nations as declared to Abraham? Please turn with me to Is.6.

Read v.4. On his throne of majesty and power is the Lord = Adonai = Sovereign Master. Exalted in His authority. The time of reckoning has come!. Heaven’s throne room and earthly temple merge - filled with His glorious robe. Who is this? See the contrast here - v.1 King Uzziah is dying in disgrace - and so is Judah, but, end of v.5 - “I have seen the THE KING, the LORD (Yahweh) Almighty! This is who it is!! Vs.2-4 READ. The flaming creatures cover their faces; they cannot look upon such glory. And what is this glory? It is God’s burning holiness, His moral majesty, His radiant purity. (like a million suns)

READ v.3 two lines. First time in OT of Holy, holy, holy. From now on Isaiah calls Yahweh “The Holy One of Israel”. This is God. Before finishing this section I want to show you a fascinating verse, John 12:41. He has just quoted from Is.6 - READ IT! In v.4 the earth shakes: but it wasn’t only the earth that trembled.............

READ v.5. The vision of God does not produce rapture, but sheer terror. Isaiah recognises his own uncleanness: our rebellion has separated us from God. Our lips express what is in our heart . Then something amazing happens. Presumably at God’s command, one of the creatures takes up a burning coal from the altar and flies down to Isaiah. What for?

The creature touches Isaiah’s lips and says .. v.7 Isaiah is cleansed, not by his own efforts, but by the Grace of God. Notice, the burning coal came from an altar, which was associated with sacrifice for sins. There is no forgiveness without sacrifice. The same forgiveness was available to Judah if they would admit their guilt. The same forgiveness is available to us, by the supreme sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, of which that altar was a mere foreshadowing. In Jesus Christ heaven’s throne room and and earth’s temple merge.

Here we have the secret of spiritual renewal and transformation: it must begin with a vision of who God is, with trembling before Him, and with cleansing by His grace.

What a message! - Isaiah’s response? “I will go! Send me!”

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Jesus is our 'Servant King'. See Phil.2:6-11, but he had to be a servant before He could be King! The Jews of his day wanted a conquering king; a second David who would restore Israel. But their Messiah came as a servant - Mark 10:45. In this he was our great Redeemer ('a ransom for many') but also a great example for us (1) as servants of God - 1 Thess.1:9, and (2) as servants of each other - Gal.5:13,14.

But the servanthood of Jesus was not a late development in God's plan. He was designated 'servant' from the beginning and nowhere more clearly than in the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah has been called 'The Prophet of the Gospel'. In our three sessions we are going to look principally at the 4 "Servant Songs" in the send half of Isaiah.  [the section of Isaiah from chapter 40 in its systematic theology of the OT, has been likened to Romans as the systematic theology of the NT. (That is not deny the 'missionary' theme of Romans as it seeks to prepare the church in Rome for its role as the platform for evangelising the western Mediterranean). The Servant Songs are found in the following passages: (1) 42:1- 4 [we add 5-9] (2) 49:1- 6 (3) 50:4- 9 (4) 52:13- 53:12.

Isaiah is prophesing in the 8th Century before Christ: see 1:1. In 721 BC the Northern Kingdom of Israel was over-run by the Assyrians and the population largely carried off into exile, never to return. Those who remained intermarried with the Assyrians, forming the Samaritans. Hence the antipathy between the Jews and the Samaritans (John 4:9).  The southern Kingdom of Judah continues under both good and bad kings until it too is conquered by Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar who devastated the land, destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and carried off the people in two droves in 597 and 587. The ten years between were occupied by the rule of Zedekiah a puppet king in Jerusalem, who despite warnings from Jeremiah connived with Egypt to fight Nebuchadnezzar whose retribution was horrific. This was God's punishment on Judah for failing to keep His Covenant (See Deut. 28:36,37). Now they had nothing - the Temple in ruins, Jerusalem razed to the ground and they weren't even living in the Promised Land anymore! But God had another rescue, another 'exodus' in mind.

Inspired by God's Spirit, Isaiah from Chapter 40 onwards brings the Good News of deliverance and what God is going to do. See Is.40: 1,2 and 3-5. Great news. Now 43:1-7 'I have redeemed you' ... . Then in 44:28 God says He is going to use Cyrus the pagan king of Persia to 'Shepherd' them and bring about the restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple. 45:1-4 describes how God has anointed this gentile conqueror to do His work... 'for the sake of Jacob my servant' (45:4). These words take us back to 41:8-10. Israel should have been God's servant.

So chapter 40 onwards is rich with the greatness of God, the deliverer; of His salvation; of the call to His servant Israel to serve Him again. And woven into this is the inspired prophesies of the Messiah - at first indistinguishable from Israel, or from Cyrus even, - but emerging as the One who is to come. So OT scholars have identified the four "Servant Songs" which gradually reveal the 'Servant of the Lord' who is to come.

"Here is my servant" it begins, by comparison with the previous verse 41:29 which speaks of false gods. So who is this servant? In Acts 4:27,30 where the early church rejoices at the release of Peter and John, in a prayer of praise they twice refer to 'your holy servant Jesus'. Where did they get that description from? 

In Isaiah there have been previous references to God's servants but here something special is happening. 

'It is like a sudden blast of the trumpets or roll of drums in an orchestral work. We immediately sense that a climax has been reached, or that a significant change in the tempo or direction of the work is about to take place, and this is certainly what happens here.' (From 'The Message of Isaiah' by Barry Webb, The Bible Speaks today. p.170)

Every phrase or verse says something significant. In v.1  we note that this servant is the one whom God will 'uphold'. Jesus had no earthly advantages. His first days spent in the stable of an inn were to typify His earthly position: brought up in an obscure unknown village: unlearned (John 7:15,16); He mixed with the poor and publicans and sinners. He was vulnerable. What if He had caught a fatal disease? No, says God "whom I uphold". 

The words in Is.42 pile up "my chosen in whom I delight". Note Mark 1:11, God's words at Jesus' baptism "with you I am well pleased" surely carry the same intention. 

"I will put my Spirit on him" - in connection with this, see Is.11:1,2 then Luke 4:1,14,18 and Acts 10:38a.

"he will bring justice to the nations" He will bring to all the knowledge of God's law, and the judgement and justice of God - see Is. 2:2-4.

In Is. 41:25 - 29 we hear the sound of the tramp of armies, the shouts of victory, the tumbling of thrones, the trembling of the priests of false idols. But now a quiet voice (42:2,3) and utter gentleness. Jesus was never sensational or ostentatious. He was humble, mild and gentle, full of compassion. The smouldering wick refers to the near-eastern saucer lamp with oil and a wick in one corner.  It is almost out, flickering. Any minute it might just go out. These are people, badly used, exploited by the world and its systems; damaged, hurt and vulnerable, almost snuffed out.  But the servant is so gentle that under His hand the flame grows brighter for He is able to give them new spiritual life. He came in weakness to minister to the weak. He was no superman, but a servant of all. And no matter what it takes v.4 "he will not falter or be discouraged" (John 17:4).

In v.1 God has addressed us; now the God who is lauded as creator in v.5, addresses His servant in v.6. He has been called in righteousness ie from out of God's righteousness and to declare that righteousness. He is to be a covenant (God's approach and commitment to man on God's own initiative) see Jer.31:31,33,34. Once to Abraham and David, now to all through His servant. (see second Bible Overview)

In Gen.12:3 Old Israel was to be a blessing to the nations, but they failed. Jesus the new Israel would not fail. The New Covenant in His blood is secure because of His complete obedience to God's Law. 

He was to open blind eyes (v.7) - both literally and figuratively. We are reminded of Matt. 11:2- 6. John the Baptist new his Isaiah - 'Are you the One?' But also of John 8:12 'to release prisoners. Romans 8:2 - to free from sin and death. 

Verse 8: God is supreme and He is demonstrating it as He moves nations, to bring about the eventual restoration of His People. Back to 40:9-11 and on to 43:3 - speaking interchangeably to Israel and His servant Messiah. God is declaring new things (42:9) and 43:19. Restoration is on its way.

From 49-55 we enter the 'Book of the Servant'. No more mention of Cyrus or Babylon. Not much on the wonders of creation or the falseness of idols. The emphasis is on restoration and rebuilding (new creation): about returning form exile - spiritual as well as political. If we were in any doubt before, this is dispelled as the servant himself emerges from the shadows - and He speaks 'Listen to me all you nations' (49:1). The Messiah addresses the world. He looks beyond the nation of Israel. Israel was by now so inward looking that they themselves could not be the instrument of God reaching out to all mankind. And their inwardness was to get worse: the gentiles had no place in their thinking about the coming messianic age.

See 44:2 'The Lord.. he who made you, who formed you in the womb. God will not choose just the best man He can find to fulfil His purpose. He will send a man. He so to be the One whom God sends into the world to accomplish what He has set out to do since the foundation of the world. John 17:24 .. Eph.1:4,5. He is called like a prophet (Jer.1:5), the greatest missionary who was ever sent anywhere. He was given his name before his birth 49:1c - Matt.1:21-23 then  Is.7:14  and  9:6.

49:2 'He made my mouth [ie my speech] like a sharpened sword' (Mark 1:22, 15:5 etc) - a symbol of power and decisiveness. see Jer. 23:29, Hosea 6:5 and finally Rev. 19:15a,21. In the meantime Heb. 4:12,13  -  Matt.7:28 -  John 6:63. 

'He made me into a polished arrow'  and 'concealed me in His quiver.' The servant waits - hidden! A well-crafted arrow that could be relied upon to travel straight to the target. Sharpened and polished! Even after his birth the servant of the Lord was hidden for 30 years. He lived among ordinary people: played among them, grew up among them, worked among them -  and they did not see what was before their eyes. But oh how he learned, how he was honed and polished through those years of human life. He learned about life and death, about relationships, about love and hate, about strength and weakness, about plenty and need. But even at the tender age of 12, his mission broke through the ordinariness of life (Luke 2:46- 49). He demonstrated that he was urgent to be about his father's business. But God held him back a further 18 years! But eventually .. John 12:23-27. This was the hour of his act of supreme servanthood and it was to be his glorification (23) - 'even death on a cross!' (Phil.2:8).

49:3 The servant reports what God said to him. Addressed to Israel, harking back to Israel's true role, but now embodied in the person of the messiah. I his perfect keeping of God's Law, Jesus became to New Israel. And through his imputation of his righteousness to us, we are incorporated too. But the servant's task is not a comfortable one (v.4). Like Jeremiah and Elijah he feels cut-off  from his people  Luke 13:34 . He has laboured in vain, spent his strength for nothing. Chapter 53 is going to drive this home. Or has he? God himself is his vindication (4b and c). Finally vs 5,6 return to his task .. to bring back, to gather -  AND to be light to the gentiles! Gal.3:27,28.

Here we begin to see more clearly the suffering that the servant must endure, but God has given him important instruction and gifts (v.4): to be able to instruct in the ways of God. Morning by morning God prepares him for teaching God's wisdom to men. 

Vs.5,6 - He has the gifts of meekness and obedience. John 17:6- 8. 

V.7 - understanding  that disgrace will only be in the eyes of men, not God: determination 'set my face like a flint'. 

vs. 7-9 - the confidence that God is with him in his work and ministry. 'He who vindicates me is near'. Who is my accuser? - let him come! Who will condemn me? (for the believer after him, see Romans 8:31-35).

V.6 might refer to a Babylonian coronation ritual in which the king is ritually beaten and humiliated, his beard pulled and his clothes torn; then to be triumphantly reinstated and crowned. Matt. 26:67 (by the religious people), then 27:27-31 (by gentiles). The shame of Is. 50:6 is short-lived: he will be vindicated.

The One who was so despised, whose face dripped with other men's saliva, is the Lord of all!

Here we are in the Holy of Holies of Isaiah. There can be no doubt that it speaks of the messiah: even the Jews accepted that. It is widely quoted or alluded to in the NT. It is interesting to note that it was Is.53 that was being read by the Ethiopian eunuch - and that Philip clearly saw it as referring to Christ. The whole passage is in 5 stanzas...

 52:13 - 15: 'The ultimate triumph foretold'.  Despite what happens to him during his ministry, the servant will prosper (alternative meaning - see footnote). V.13 reminds of Phil. 2:9-11 where the suffering servant is given a great name and great honour. The Jewish 'Midrash' says ' He shall be exalted above Abraham, he shall be lifted above Moses and be higher than the ministering angels.' This is new revelation - v. 13 the Servant is to be exalted and lifted up .. but the suffering is to come first v.14. Many are to be appalled (RSV astonished) at him. His suffering is to be so intense as to be disfiguring, he is unrecognisable as God's servant. Is this the man who spoke gently to the crowds? who took children on his knees? who had compassion on lepers and touched them? 'Surely not - it must be someone else!' But (v.15) [Hebrew uncertain] he will 'startle' (RSV) the nations. But perhaps 'sprinkle' is right as he is purifier. Could the man on the cross really have had so much influence on the nations down the generations? Who would have thought it? Rulers will be dumb founded. 1 Cor.1:18-29 - the foolishness of God confounds the wise and powerful. 

Can this man be the messiah? The Jews seek a conqueror. Has the mighty God spoken through such a man as this? Can any good come out of Nazareth (John 1:46)? By a tender plant - so easily trodden upon? A dead root out of dry ground? he appeared to be nothing special; born in a cowshed and brought up in a humble home, why should we even notice him (John 1:10,11)? There was no glory to attract us to him! He was man who associated with outcasts, sorrow, sickness and grief. Why should he command our respect?

Oh God! What have we done? We crucified him for blasphemy and it was the truth all along! Faith dawns. Surely he has born our griefs and infirmities (Matt.8:16,17), yet we thought ...? So he was wounded for our transgressions; bruised for us. He took our punishment on himself. He substituted himself for us! Lev.16:21,22. While we strayed, God in his mercy laid our iniquity on him. Matt.9:36. 

The prophet takes up the story of the undeserved suffering of the servant. John 10:18; 19:11a. 1 Pet. 2:22-24. His own generation - who should have recognised him from this very passage put him to death. He gave his life; no one took it from him. Pilate was surprised that Jesus did not mount a robust defence against his sentence. V.9 an innocent man - he was crucified with criminals and buried in a rich man's tomb.

The work of the servant was not his own plan, except in so much as the persons of the Trinity always work together. 2 Cor.5 "God was in Christ.." What happened was wrong by any standard of human justice, but in the doing of it, the justice of God against sinners was satisfied. This was sovereign grace. The servant's death was an offering for our sin and guilt Lev.16:15,16, and there will be many re-born to eternal life as a result of it. He is redeemer, reconciler and justifier v.11. Acts 13:38,39. V.12 'Therefore' God says 'I will give him ..'  1 Pet.1:10,11. The One who suffered and died will reign in triumph Rev.5:8-14. 

To these 4 songs may be added 61:1- 3 which does not use the word 'servant' but which is the passage from which Jesus himself quoted and preached at Nazareth (Luke 4:18,19). The reaction of his hearers amply fulfils what Isaiah has prophesied. In this passage (Is.61) he is now God's anointed preacher, not only bringing freedom and release to the captives of sin and death, but also proclaiming God's wrath (the day of vengeance), while assuring those do believe that they are "oaks of righteousness" planted by the Lord to - amazingly - display his splendour. Thus the work of the Church.  

Recommended books: 'The Message of Isaiah' by Barry Webb, The Bible Speaks Today, IVP. ISBN 0-85111-167-X. 'The Prophecy of Isaiah' by Alec Motyer, IVP, ISBN 0-85110-647-1.

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ISAIAH 49:1-7: THE POLISHED ARROW

The marvellous thing about Christmas is that it can be understood in the simplest terms by children, and yet what happened - God coming to us as a child - is so profound as to stretch our minds to the limit. (Not that children always get it right --funny story) So I thought this morning we’d try and dig deep. And where best to do that, than back in Isaiah. You know, Isaiah is a wonderful book - written about 700 years before Jesus was born - and yet woven into its immediate application to that time, is, by inspiration, the foretelling of One who is to come who will be God’s living message to all mankind. So come with me to Is.49 (p.689). (My heart is pounding)

1. THE SERVANT SPEAKS: LISTEN!

In the second half of Isaiah a shadowy figure appears from the wings, but who is it? Here in chapter 49 this servant speaks, but we still don’t know who he is. He addresses the world (1a). God is going to do something new to bring salvation to mankind. But He will not just choose the best man he can find, He will send a man 1b. Who is it? Could this be the ‘Immanuel’ of 7:14 READ or the child of 9:6 READ - sounds like a King! Is it he!

The servant goes on (49:2) ‘He made my mouth like a sharp sword.’ He was to declare God’s message. In Mark1:22 it says of Jesus ‘They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority.’ So what is the servant’s name? V.3 READ - But this is not the race of Israel, it’s a person. He is to be the embodiment of all that Israel was meant to be, but failed to be - He was going to be the ‘New Israel’. God’s supreme witness to the world. And yet there is a note of despondency -v.4a he will not be welcomed - thus Isaiah foresaw a servant with a real human nature tested like we are. But there is something else.

2. THE SERVANT IS HIDDEN

Go back to the second half of v.2. READ. He was born a baby in a remote backwater. Oh! there was a bit of a commotion at the time, but it soon subsided. He grew up silently in Nazareth: no-one knew who he was. He was hidden, as it were, like an arrow in God’s quiver, waiting to be launched into action. During thirty years he was honed and polished by everyday human life. He lived among plenty and need, life and death, love and hate, strength and weakness. Every experience polished him so that he could bring the message of God into the condition of men. He was to be the most accurate arrow that ever flew: he would hit the target perfectly and accomplish all he was given to do.

3. THE SERVANT IS REVEALED

Then one day, God reached into His quiver, took this supremely prepared arrow, fitted him to His bow and .. (Mark 1:) “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near: repent and believe the good news.’” And we discovered that his message was indeed for the world - back to Is.49:6 READ . Did Jesus not say ‘I am the light of the world’

So was He received? No! 49:7a READ. The nations would not listen: the people milling around the shops this Christmas will not listen!

But he has not finished with us yet! 49:7b READ. The Day is coming when Christ returns and then the nations will prostrate themselves before Him. For he is the polished arrow that will not be deflected.

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EZEKIEL 4,5: THE COMING DISASTER

The book of Ezekiel is certainly an extraordinary book: but there, Ezekiel himself is an extraordinary man. But the book isn't primarily about him, not even about the fortunes of Israel, but about God. The question is "What is God doing?". We have leaned already that God is punishing Israel for being a rebellious people - or more fully,  see 5:5,6 - a very serious matter.  Despite the warnings of many prophets, sent by God to warn Judah to remember God's covenant and live by it,  the people and its leaders had permitted injustice and corruption on a grand scale - AND the worship of foreign gods in the Temple!

In 597 Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, carried away 10,000 of the best people (including Ezekiel) into exile in Babylon, and put Zedekiah on the throne in Jerusalem as a puppet king. But he was weak and despite the ministry of Jeremiah connived with the Egyptians to challenge Nebuchadnezzar, who in 587 laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed it. Our two chapters (4, 5) . But the question remains. What is God's purpose?

1. THIS IS JUDGEMENT WITH A VIEW TO SALVATION

There can be little doubt that unless God intervened, the covenant religion of the Hebrews would have died out: where then God's God's plan of salvation? Was this Plan A which had failed? Moreover, God's reputation among the nations was at stake. So drastic refining discipline was required. Israel had been so privileged (Rom.9:4) But God's end view was always going to be re-building and restoration. To the Israelites the loss of the Temple and there glorious Jerusalem could only mean that God had deserted them. And in fact, at this point He WAS their enemy! But take a few moments to glance at the page titles in your Bible as the book proceeds. See the last verse 48:35b. God has restoration in mind.

2. FOUR ENACTED SIGNS

Sadly, if there is an over-arching message in chapters 4 and 5 it is 'You haven't seen anything yet!' God instructs Ezekiel to enact 4 visual aids

First 4:1-3: He dramatizes the military siege of Jeruslaem

Second 4:4-8: He portrays the punishment of Israel, first lying on his left side and then on his right. The meaning is not obvious, but what is clear is that God's discipline is binding and inescapable. (v.8)

Third 4:9-17: Ezekiel is told to prepare inferior food and live on a meagre diet - signifying th famine that will beset Jerusalem.

Fourth 5:1-4: Instructed to shave his head, Ezekiel is told by God how to to dispose of his hair as a prophecy of how the people will die. But note that a few are saved v.3 the 'remnant' who will return and start again. All-in-all a terrible prospect - all because

3. 5:5-17 GOD IS NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH

Israel's enemy is not Nebuchadnezzar, but God! see 5:8 and 11. Since the people refused to be an example of righteousness and godliness, they would be an example of chastening. God is insisting that HE WILL BE GOD AND THEY WILL KNOW IT! Note 6:7b -  repeated 70 times in the book.

To us in our day the image of an angry God is totally out of fashion. and difficult to comprehend for many. The problem today is that people have no difficulty in believing in miracles or the supernatural, what they cannot grasp is that God might be offended by their rebellion and sin! God's anger is not arbitrary or capricious; it is a personal quality without which God would cease to be righteous. It is as permanent an element of His nature as is love. Paul puts it directly in Rom.1:18 and 2:5. He says the same in Eph.2:3. Christ is the only one who can deliver us from this wrath Rom.5:9. God's desire is to save - look ahead to Ez.43:1- 5.

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EzEKIEL 34:11-31  THE PROMISE THAT GIVES HOPE

Ezekiel chapter 34 is an absolute stunner. In it we are going to meet the tender character of God AND we are going to see as clear as a pike-staff the centrality of Jesus for God’s purposes for His Kingdom. Is that enough to excite you? It does me! Let’s first tune in to its history.

Ezekiel is with the the first wave of Hebrew exiles in Babylon, deported from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar 12 years earlier. Bad news has just come - Jerusalem has finally been destroyed - 33:21(p.834). Why has God let this happen to their beloved Jerusalem and their temple? In Ch.34 God tells them that a turning point has been reached .....

First, speaking figuratively of them as bad shepherds, God condemns the rulers of Judah for their appalling lack of dedication to Him. They have led His people to compromise their faith with idolatry - resulting in war, social injustice, corruption and misery. Read vs.1-6. So, God’s severe judgement has fallen! So what is God going to do? He is going to shepherd His people Himself. vs.11- 16a.

In the short-term God restored the people to the Promised Land, but no longer with kings, and in a society which rediscovered His written word (lead by Ezra and Nehemiah). But God had a long term plan too - for .......

It was some time ago while studying John 10, where Jesus says “I am the good shepherd” that I became mesmerised by the question “Why did Jesus call Himself ‘The Good Shepherd’?” Why didn’t He say “I am the best shepherd”? But the trail led to this chapter and I was amazed by what I found. Look at vs.23,24: King David had been dead 400 years, so who is this? Who is this person through whom God is going to shepherd His people? In John 10 Jesus is saying “That’s me” - “I am The (Good) Shepherd of Ezekiel 34”. “I am the one through whom God is going to open His kingdom and shepherd His people.” That’s the measure of the greatness of who Christ is. Don’t let’s miss it! Jesus is the entire focus for all that God wants to do. This is God’s plan, He has no other. We need look nowhere else. This is Jesus of Nazareth - the messiah king. But there’s more - He will herald ......

God declares His commitment of peace and security v.25 and goes on to vividly describe the future kingdom of which the Christian era is a mere foreshadowing. Read vs.25-31. This is the peace and security of soul to which faith in Christ introduces us. Believers in the shepherd king have it now only in part, but one day will enjoy it in its fulness. Let Jeremiah have the final word Jer.23:5.

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EZEKIEL 37:1-14 THE PROMISE OF A NEW START

How is it possible for anyone to make a new start with God? How can anyone begin to relate to God, even if they have previously hardly taken account of Him at all? On what basis can God take us on? What do we need to realise before this can happen? Ezekiel 37 gives the answers to these questions. But some might object 'Why go to such an ancient book for an answer?  Answer - because God has always  related to people by the same principles and here it is very graphic! The background is that the people of Israel (or more correctly, 'Judah', the southern part of the land previously occupied by all Israel) have so deserted God's covenant with them that, after many years of pleading in vain through His prophets, God has brought in Nebuchadnezzar to conquer the land and carry the people into exile in Babylon. God's purposes here are constructive. It is an awful experience for Israel: their beloved Jerusalem is in ruins, including the temple. Where is Yahweh now? But through the experience God will bring them back - His plan is salvation.

Here now in chapter 37 we have come to the well-known vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. The valley was full of dry bones - like a fallen army. Who are they - or were they? In v.11 God tells Ezekiel that these bones are the whole house of Israel! The Lord asks Ezekiel a vital question in v.3a "Son of man, can these bones live?" In desperation Ezekiel replies (3b) "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know". He's right. In God's full answer which takes us through to v.14, two principles emerge which show how new spiritual life can come about. These principles recur throughout the Bible.

          1. NEW LIFE OUT OF HOPELESSNESS

The situation is hopeless. The nation is dead. But there is another prime example of this situation back in Genesis in the life of Abraham. God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation: but humanly speaking this was impossible. Abraham and his wife Sarah already very old indeed. Paul in Romans 4:19 says that Abraham was as good as dead and Sarah hopelessly barren. So where was this new nation to come from? The answer was, of course, that God wrought a miracle; the miracle of bringing new life out of deadness and hopelessness - eventually Isaac was born to them. But this is not an isolated OT idea. In the NT Paul speaks of it in very similar terms. In Eph. 2:4,5 he says we were dead, but God made us alive. It is not what we do that brings this miracle of new life, it is what God does. He brings life out of death and hopelessness. Here in Ez.37 the same principle is at work. It will be God's work to raise these bones to life - see Ez.37:5,6. So see what happens in vs.7-10! But there are vital things that must happen.

          2. BOTH THE WORD AND THE SPIRIT

Notice God's specific instruction in v.4 "hear the word of the Lord". The bones cannot rise unless they hear the word of God. No more can any person become a Christian without hearing the word of Lord. In our context that means that people must hear the message of the Bible, in particular the message about Christ. Now, there may be exposure to the witness of the lives of Christians - seeing authentic Christian belief and virtue in action. But the unbeliever must hear the unambiguous word of God somehow: preached in a sermon, clarified in a home group, or explained by a friend. There is no rising to new life without hearing the word of the Lord.

But there are two vital components, not just one. How can dead bones, or people dead in their transgressions and sins (Eph.2:1), hear and understand the word of God? The answer is in v.14 "I will put my Spirit in you and you will live..". The word of God cannot be understood without the Spirit's help. Dead bones and dead people need to be regenerated by God's Spirit. So our concern for the unbeliever must from our part, include taking them to hear God's word and ardent prayer to God for His Spirit to be at work. There must be both word and Spirit. We must not emphasise  one to the exclusion or diminution of the other. It is so easy to go to extremes: resulting in lifeless orthodoxy on one hand, or so-called Spirit-driven experiences with little attention the word of God on the other.

So whether it is back in the time of Ezekiel or this very day, a new start with God is only possible when dead people hear the message of Christ and are regenerated by His Spirit.

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Dan. 3: Faith in a Pagan World: THE GOD WHO HAS TRUE FOLLOWERS     

The situation isn’t exactly parallel, of course, but in our passage in Dan.3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego must have wondered what had hit them when they were arrested and charged with not worshipping the new idol Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Let’s turn to Dan. 3 (p.836) v. 1, 6, 7b, but our 3 friends, committed to God’s commandment, declined to do so and were arrested v. 12b … then v. 13-15.

Let’s briefly mention three of the idols that have been set up in our society (1) the god of consumerism has been persuading us to buy, buy, buy. The result? - debt, debt, debt. (2) The god of personal choice has all but destroyed objective morality - you can do what you like, and (3) the god of secularism is driving all Christian thinking out of our state institutions, morals and education. All the signs are that it is going to get worse - which will, sooner or later, put us on the spot

For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that time had come. Their answer to Nebuchadnezzar is remarkable - see vs.16-18. They were prepared for deliverance or death. Perhaps you are facing an issue at work or at school - if you take a Christian stand you may suffer for it - lose friends, suffer financially or be denied promotion. But we must do what is right! Are we committed enough to God to take a stand, or to support others who take a stand? How will we hope to be steadfast on that day of challenge?

Did you notice what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said ? ‘If our God who we serve is able to deliver us..’. . So strong is their sense of the greatness of their God, of being involved with Him and He with them, that they cannot imagine that it would be right to obey this pagan dictator. They were in awe of their God! It wasn’t a question of compromise - oh go on! worship the idol, it won’t hurt - God knows your heart. They took seriously the injunction (Deut.6:13) to ‘Fear the Lord your God, and serve Him only’. Their God and ours is not just one among many - He is the Living God . And we who have tasted the love of Christ, should even more STEEL ourselves to stand for Him, no matter what it takes. But there is more to see from our passage

Two vital things to note: (1) God was with them vs.24,25 and He will be with us! In view of all that Jesus said, can we doubt that? (2) It had a profound effect on Nebuchadnezzar v.28 - the uncompromising witness of Christians has often led to the saving of their persecutors. The man of pride and fury has become the man who recognises the greatness of their God. What a demonstration this chapter is to us all! Be strengthened and encourage for the hard days.

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THE BOOK OF JONAH - CHAPTER 1

Jonah and the whale must be one of the best known stories in the OT. But unfortunately this is often the only level at which the Book of Jonah is known at all, which is a pity because it has some very important things to say to us. Some people regard the Book only as a parable because of the improbability of Jonah being swallowed by a fish and surviving (although that has happened since to someone else). But if we accept that God can do miracles then why jettison the Book? 

1. SO WHAT IS THE BOOK OF JONAH ABOUT?

Read v.1,2. The main subject of the book is not Jonah, nor even the great Assyrian city of Nineveh, (its ruins today are on the Tigris opposite Mosul in Iraq). No! the main subject is God. The message of the book is that God will have mercy on who He wants to see 4:11. The rank wickedness of gentile Nineveh appalled Jonah - how could God possibly be merciful to them (4:1,2)? This is an enormous shock to Israel! And when later the Ninevites showed themselves ready to repent of their wickedness, it shamed Israel - God‘s own People - who were continually stubborn and faithless. 

So the bottom line for the Jews reading this, is that God wants gentiles to share in His grace too - a lesson, if you remember, that Peter later found very difficult to learn (Acts 10) when God asked him to teach the gospel to a Roman centurion and his family. 


2. BUT WHAT ABOUT JONAH?

He is a believer: he can say his creeds. But, like Israel - whom he represents -, he does not understand how God’s grace works, either in terms of its extent (to whom God will be merciful), or in his own responsibility to proclaim it. So he sets out for Tarshish instead of Nineveh (v.3). 

But are we any better? Let me ask us all to be honest. Is anyone beyond God’s mercy? Is there someone to whom we do not witness or for whom we do not pray because we believe they will NEVER EVER respond? And (more difficult) can someone be too wicked to receive God’s mercy? Do you believe it would be right for God to forgive the most horrible serial child murderer who repents, and take him into heaven? If we have difficulty with any of this, then we have Jonah’s problems, and, I would suggest, we have not understood either our own obligation, or the extent of the punishment Christ took on the Cross! 

3. IN CHAP. 1 GOD CATCHES UP ON JONAH

The story is clear enough. In a terrible storm the sailors demand to know who he is (v. 8). He says he serves the creator of the earth and sea: so they are even more fearful of what he could have done to make the God of the sea so angry. Jonah acknowledges his guilt (v.12): but he does not repent and determine to do what God wanted. He commits suicide - he offers to be thrown overboard: that’ll put paid to him going to Nineveh. But God is in control. It was HE who brought the storm (v.4) and now HE acts to save him (v.17). God’s plan will not be obstructed by anyone! 

Two thoughts to carry with us (1) God hasn’t wiped his hands of disobedient Jonah and (2) we have good reason to be very thankful that God is determined to save who he will! 

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JONAH 2: DELIVERANCE, THANKSGIVING AND FORESHADOWING 

This is our second sermon in the Book of Jonah. Briefly the story so far: God called Jonah to go and preach repentance to the great and wicked Assyrian city of Nineveh(1:2). However, Jonah declined God’s call and took ship for Tarshish. A mighty storm blew up and the ship was almost wrecked. The sailors believed that someone on board had angered their god. Eventually Jonah owned up and offered to be thrown overboard. (v.12). So at last they did and the storm ceased. ‘Poor old Jonah, that’s the end of him’ - by no means! [Sports quiz, with what happens next.] God has a plan and Jonah is part of it.

1. A MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE

Of all the things that could have happened this must be the most extra-ordinary (1:17 and 2:10). But this book of action is about God’s actions some of them miraculous. He called Jonah in the first place (1:1); He hurled the storm at the ship (1:4); He provided the great fish to swallow Jonah (1:17); He told the fish to spew him out again (2:10). But why? Because it was God’s firm intention to save the gentile Assyrians. As we learnt last week, the message of this book is that God will have mercy on who He wishes. It is a reminder of God’s promise to Abraham that through him the nations would be blessed: it confirms at this early stage - 800 yrs before Christ, that the Kingdom of God will be open to all. However, notice: God was being both sovereign (towards Nineveh) and personal (towards Jonah). We ought to find that very re-assuring. If God were sovereign but not personal, we could have no assurance that He cared for us as individuals. If He were personal but not sovereign, we could have no faith that He is almighty God and can overrule our circumstances. 

2. A PSALM OF THANKSGIVING

We need not suppose this psalm in its finished form was composed in the stomach of the fish; but certainly its sentiments originated there. In his appalling situation Jonah opened his heart to God. He had refused God’s call, but when (2.2) HE called on God, God heard him and answered. ‘I cried and you heard’. In v.3 He recognized the sailors actions as from God and it was God’s waves that overwhelmed him. V.4 - ‘I am not fit for your presence.’ READ vs.5,6,7,8. V.9 ‘I will sacrifice to you and make up for it.’ Notice v.8: Jonah is convinced that God is God, there is no other. Those who serve other gods are denying their true loyalty. Here was God’s mercy; demonstrated to Jonah and re-assuring to us. 

3. FORESHADOWING OF CHRIST

One day, 800 years after this, the Pharisees demanded from Jesus a sign that he was the messiah (Matt.12:39- p.12). Read v.38-40 - a reference, of course, to his resurrection > that would be THE great sign as to who He was. (But note v.41 too - if the story of Jonah is fiction, Jesus’ assertion would be meaningless and easily refuted). 

So here in Jonah, we have a primitive foreshadowing of Christ. Like Jesus, Jonah was (or became) a preacher of repentance. Like Jesus, Jonah sacrificed himself in the place of others (the sailors) so that they would live. And just as Christ’s resurrection made salvation and life available to all who believe, so Jonah’s deliverance made repentance and forgiveness available to the Ninevites. The parallels are not exact, Jonah did not die, but nonetheless Jonah pre-figures Christ.

Surely we can echo Jonah’s words v.9  ‘Deliverance belongs to the Lord!’ Agreed?

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JONAH 3: NINEVEH REPENTS AT GOD’S WORD 

As we leave chapter 2 we are faced with the same question we had at the end of chap.1 What IS going to happen now? Is the expedition to Nineveh all over? After all, God is under no obligation either to the Ninevites to offer them repentance or to foolish Jonah to use him. But God hasn’t given up on either of them (reassured?) - He calls Jonah a second time ….Remember this is a book about God and His actions.

1. GOD’S MESSAGE IS PROCLAIMED

Jonah no doubt took a long time to recover from his ordeal but this time he obeys God‘s call - although not altogether wholeheartedly, if we take note of 4:1,2. He is still upset that God could offer His grace and mercy to such wicked gentiles. Moreover, Nineveh is a large city - although the reference to its huge size may include provincial minor towns. So what is Jonah to do exactly? Well, (1) he is to ‘go’ - it was quite a journey to Nineveh - in a foreign land. They will not hear if he does not go! Jesus said ‘Go‘. (Is there anyone here who ought to be thinking seriously about ‘going’ to serve God?) (2) He must take God’s message - v.2 ‘the message that I will tell you’. Neither Jonah nor we have any licence to proclaim anything other than what God has said (Bible). (3) Jonah was to preach with urgency v.4b. Are these urgent days, would you say?

2. THE NINEVITES REPENT

The message spread like wild-fire! Vs.4b,5. The Ninevites were pagans, no doubt with many gods, but they took this message very seriously. What happened is not to say that they became mono-theists overnight nor that they now embraced the covenant faith of Israel. But their repentance was authentic enough for Jesus to say that on the Day of Judgement they would rise and condemn the unbelieving Jews. (Matt.12:41) 

The news reached the king v.6 resulting in his own repentance and a royal proclamation v.7 - with an admission of guilt v.8 end. Interestingly in v.9 the king acknowledges God’s sovereign freedom, as did also the ship’s captain in 1:6 and the sailors in 1:14. This is a sophisticated understanding of God, basic to OT theology, but it is an irony that it is found on the lips of heathen, while Jonah, representing Israel, finds it difficult to accept. God is dealing with Nineveh in exactly the same way as He deals with Israel! For example, in the Book of Joel, the prophet warns Jerusalem of pending doom - see Joel 2:12-14 (p.862). READ - note the acknowledgement of God’s sovereign freedom in v.14. Thus Nineveh repents and ….

3. GOD CHANGES HIS MIND!

Read v.10. What does it mean ‘God changed His mind‘? Isn’t God unchanging? In 1 Sam.15:29 it says ‘the Glory of Israel will not recant or change his mind; for he is not a mortal that he will change his mind.’ The OT does not flinch from teaching both that He is unchanging AND that He is responsive to His creatures, as here in Jonah 3:10. God’s warning of judgment is conditional on them continuing in wickedness. But He is consistent! He responds to wickedness with judgement but with grace and mercy to repentance. 

The Ninevites had trembled at God’s word: their response to one man’s preaching in such a place as Nineveh is a continual encouragement to us and wherever the Gospel is preached.

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JONAH 4: THE SCANDAL OF GOD’S GRACE

We are now nearing the end of our studies in this little gem of a book. It has been a living drama in which the chief role has been God’s - and the final chapter is no exception. As we pick up the story we find Jonah, not for the first time, in a bad state. The Ninevites had believed the warning he had pronounced on God’s behalf - to repent of their wickedness. So was Jonah pleased? Oh No! He was angry, very angry. 

1. THE REASON FOR JONAH’S ANGER

‘I told you so!’ he declares to God READ v.2. Jonah knew his Exodus - he quotes God’s own description of Himself in Ex.34:6. Israel had much cause to be thankful that God was like that! God had acted in compassion to them many times when they did not deserve it. So why is he so upset to see God’s grace in action now? It was Nineveh that was the trouble. Assyria, of which Nineveh was an important city (later its capital), was a constant threat to the Northern Kingdom of Israel where Jonah lived. God’s attitude to them was, in Jonah’s estimate, regrettably weak. He is so upset he prefers to die v.3.

What Jonah really cannot grasp is that undeserved grace is truly undeserved. That is the point of Grace: if there were an iota of deserving it would not be Grace.

2. GOD ALONE HAS THE ‘RIGHT’

In v.4 God directly challenges Jonah’s attitude ‘Have you any right‘. But Jonah hasn’t given up. He goes outside the city (v.5), finds a good vantage point and waits to see what God will do to Nineveh. After all, they really do deserve it don’t they? Then God (yes its deliberate not a chance event) enacts a strange drama with a vine! V.6 ‘God provided a vine ..‘ to shade him. Jonah was pleased. Then (v.7) God provided a worm that destroyed the vine. And God provided a hot east wind so that Jonah was baked and wanted to die. Then God challenged Jonah again ’Do you have the right ..’
That’s the point of course. Despite his stubborn assertion that he does have the right (v.9b), Jonah has no right to complain either about God’s giving and taking of the vine, or of God’s forgiveness of repentant Nineveh. God must be sovereign. God must be God and man must be man. It is God who has the authority. 

The book ends with God’s stunning reply…

3. GOD’S MERCY IS HIS TO GIVE

READ v.10. God had the first word in this book 1:1 ‘Go…’ He now has the last word. And a pretty confounding word it is too. You Jonah want me to be inconsistent. You want me to be forgiving and compassionate to Israel but the opposite to Nineveh even though they have repented. I will not be inconsistent. ‘Should I not be concerned about that great city?’ - a city in moral darkness (‘who cannot tell their right hand from their left‘). It is in God’s gift to be forgiving. The amazing thing is not that God forgives in the way He does, but that he finds it possible to forgive us at all, in view of man’s profound rebellion against Him!
See Rom.9:14-16.

God’s anger and condemnation are serious. But amazingly God is concerned to save people from His own judgement. The cross of Christ demonstrates this beyond contradiction. This was the means by which God’s justice was satisfied. God’s justice is never compromised. As we saw in our study of chapter 2, there are here in this book faint foreshadowings of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Only what Christ did has solved mankind’s problem of guilt before a holy and moral God. There is no other way, no alternative way, accept by faith in Christ. No basis of birth or race or respectability or effort - only submission to Christ. He will not accept us on the basis that we aren’t too bad - ‘after all, we are only human.’

God’s undeserved grace is truly undeserved. 

                                        (With acknowledgements for some pertinent points to Matthew Roberts)

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1 CHRONICLES 13:1-14 APPROACH THE KING WITH REVERENCE

Before we turn to our passage, I think I ought to say a few words about the Books called ‘Chronicles’. In our Bibles the two Chronicles books are grouped with the other books of Samuel (1&2) and Kings (1&2) which tell us the history of God’s dealing with Israel. But in Jesus’ day Chronicles was at the end of the OT because it was the last book of the OT to be written - about 400 BC - after the Jews had returned to Palestine from their exile in Babylon. You may remember that as a judgement for their disobedience to His Covenant with them, God allowed Israel to be overrun by Nebuchadnezzar and most were taken into exile. After 70 years Cyrus King of Persia allowed them to begin returning to Palestine. But once they were back rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple, and re-establishing their national life, they needed to learn lessons from the past, particularly where they had gone so terribly wrong. So the Chronicler, whoever he was, wrote another version of their history, sometimes just copying sections of Samuel or Kings, but selecting and emphasising episodes that had a special message for the Jews rebuilding their religious community. So we are to expect a very special message from our passage in 1 Chron.13. 

As we join the story David has recently united Israel under his rule having led their forces in decisive victories over their enemies. The chapter opens with David enthusing the people to bring the Ark of the Covenant to his newly-established capital - Jerusalem.

In case you are not clear what the Ark of the Covenant was here is a quick explanation. It was a rectangular-shaped box made of acacia wood about 4ft long (1.22m), 2.5 ft (72cm) wide and the same deep. It was completely overlaid with gold and the top consisted of a solid gold slab mounted with two winged cherubim facing each other. Inside the box were the two tablets of stone inscribed with the Ten Commandments, a pot of Manna and the rod of Aaron. But its most important role was in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, where it represented the presence of God and where as ’the mercy seat’ was the place where God came down on the yearly Day of Atonement to witness the sacrifice for the sins of the People.

LET’S READ THE PASSAGE. 

The background: Since the days of Moses, the Ark of the Covenant had been the symbol of God’s presence with his People and went everywhere with them. But for last 20 years it had been almost completely forgotten. But now, what the newly united nation needed - was the Ark in Jerusalem. My first title …

1. ENOUGH TO MAKE THE PEOPLE DANCE AND SING

So what’s going on? David presents his idea very seriously to everyone - with great enthusiasm (vs.1-3) David called Israel together for this great event. And everyone responded (vs.5-8) with equal enthusiasm! There was something about the Ark, or what it represented, that excited them. There was going to be a wonderful carnival procession as the Ark was paraded the 10 miles up to Jerusalem. No wonder the people danced and sang for joy (v.8)! 

2. BUT SOMETHING WENT UNEXPECTEDLY AND HORRIBLY WRONG!

Read vs. 7 and 9,10. What went wrong? Uzzah touched the Ark and dropped dead! At first David was angry v.11 - understandable don’t you think? He was doing his best to put the symbol of God’s presence at the centre of the nation’s life - then this happens! The celebration was in ruins. But note how does David’s response change v.12 Fear of God - he, David, had got something wrong and he was fearful. But they must all have been asking the same question - Why? So what had really gone? David realises that God had originally given strict instructions about how the Ark was to be moved and he had forgotten about them….

3. GOD GIVES THEM (and us) THREE IMPORTANT LESSONS 

What did the writer of the Chronicles want his readers to learn, and what are we to learn? …

First; when God gives a command about something, we ignore it at our great loss! 
God had instructed Moses that the Ark must never be touched by anyone because it represented His HOLINESS - His untouchability, His ‘Otherness’. It was to be carried by inserting poles into rings fixed to the four corners of the Ark- not put on a cart - even a new one (v.7). And only the Priest and Levites could carry it. This instruction and even the design of the tabernacle (and the temple) with its great curtain separating-off the Holy of Holies, taught them that God was unapproachable. Only a blood sacrifice - and eventually only the sacrifice Christ made - could bridge the gulf. God was not to be trifled with. So David and his advisers were guilty of rank carelessness and disregard for God’s holiness. We cannot expect blessing if we ignore what God says. 

Start with an inadequate grasp of the holiness of God and everything else will go wrong. 

Unless we grasp the holiness of God we will never seek His forgiveness. Unless we grasp the holiness of God we will not care how we live our lives. We will not understand how much our sin offends God.

Later, David realises all this, and puts it right (see 15:11-15). How strong is our grasp of the holiness of God and what it demands of the way we live? Where do we find that God commands or instructs us? - in the Bible. What does God instruct us about in the Bible? ….. 10 commandments, NT teaching about purity, money, marriage, anger, sex, faithfulness, humility, idolatry etc… In fact about every aspect of life. So what is really our problem? - unbelief - we simply don’t trust God to know what‘s best for us..

Second: the fate of Uzzah is a terrible warning against over-familiarity with God.
In our day, the laudable desire to make church more attractive to outsiders has put us in danger of trivialising God. The ‘Hi God’ culture. We must be careful not to lose our reverence for who God is… almighty, holy, pure, majestic, glorious -- unreachable by us, except through Christ. So how do we think of God? See 2 Cor.7:1 p. 179 How will a better grasp of this change your approach to living as a Christian? And mine.

Third: although the Ark was to be viewed with AWE, it also represented God’s grace and blessing. 
See what happens in v.14. Blessing - because the Ark also represents God grace. The Ark was a reminder of God’s never-failing covenant of love and care for His People. …shown in Jesus Christ. 
So these are the principles that the Chronicler wants the Jews to learn - and so must we. 

One final thought: despite all it stood for, the Ark was only temporary. 

The Chronicler’s readers didn’t have it; we don’t have it. But all it taught lived on. The Jews were called on to live by faith in its message without seeing it in the temple (the principle of faith not sight) - until the Day came when all it stood for came in a Person - Jesus Christ.

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GOD CALLS MOSES: EXODUS 3:1 to 4:17

This morning we are in the ancient book of Exodus. Why (1500 BC)? To deepen our understanding of God, that’s why! We all need to capture afresh the importance of the first 5 books of the OT, in preparation for the Gospel in the NT. It is in Genesis that we find the ‘Good News’ of God’s foundational promises to Abraham. It is here, in these ancient books that we first meet redemption, atonement, covenant, salvation, substitutionary sacrifice for sin, and forgiveness. It is here that God progressively reveals who He is. It is here that God first adopts a People and teaches them how to live …all as a glimpse of what is to come finally through Jesus Christ -God‘s final revelation. 

1. GOD STEPS OPENLY INTO HISTORY

In our passage this morning God steps openly into history: it is a key moment in God’s revelation of Himself, both to old Israel and for what He is going to do in the NT era. As Christopher showed us last week, God has been working in the background all along, but now Exodus 3 is ‘a defining moment’: it is epic and breath-taking. The Israelites have been in Egypt for 400 years, most of them in slavery. There has not been a word from God for all that time. 
For Moses, it is a shocking encounter with God. He has been living quietly in Midian for about 40 years. He is no longer the self-confident, impetuous man who killed a Egyptian (2:12). But, out with the sheep one ordinary day he saw a bush, aflame. It wasn’t unusual in the dry heat for bushes to spontaneously ignite. But this one was different - it wasn’t consumed! Moses went to look. Often in Scripture, fire represents the presence of God - and sure enough God speaks to Moses vs.4,5 (read). 
But why has God appeared? - vs.7-8a. God is on a rescue mission - to redeem His people from slavery and take them to a good place of new life and freedom. - Remember the NT parallels? Jesus said ‘He who sins is a slave to sin; but if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’ 
But back in Exodus 3 - who is this God who speaks?

2. GOD IDENTIFIES HIMSELF

In vs. 9,10 God tells Moses what He wants him to do! Read. Moses’ response is two questions; v.11 ‘Who am I?’ (read) and v.13 ‘Who are you?’ (read). AND GOD SAYS ..vs.14,15 (read). ‘I AM WHO I AM’ or as in the footnote ‘I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE’. THIS is the uncreated, self-determining, sovereign God - Is.44:6; Jesus said ‘I am’ John 8:56-59a. But also this is the missionary God who involved Himself with mankind - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
But how did Moses respond to this incredible encounter with the living God? Human faithlessness is never hard to find.

3. THE VERY RELUCTANT MESSENGER

Why! he gave all the same faithless excuses we use for not telling people about God’s rescue plan. Ch. 4:1a - ‘they won’t listen‘. v.10 ‘I don’t know what to say’ v.13 ‘please send someone else’. We can only imagine the colour draining from Moses’ face as God rebukes him in v.11 ‘Who made the human mouth? Is it not I the LORD?’.

But God reassures Moses, as He does us. 3:12 ‘I will be with you’. 3:18 ‘they will listen’. 4:12 ‘Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.’ 
Jesus said ‘Go into all the world and I will be with you always.’ Moses did go with God’s message. So be encouraged; God can use reluctant people. 

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EXODUS 16: BREAD FROM HEAVEN: (with John 6:25-40)

For those who want to serve God, one of our chief concerns must surely be - how to keep our faith and trust in God strong - especially when facing adversity. None of us knows what is going to happen to us in the future. Will our faith and trust hold? How strong will my faith and trust in God be in the final days of my life? And yours?
In our chapter, Ex.16, the people of Israel were certainly facing adversity; at least a million of them were in the desert about 6 week’s trek out on their escape from Egypt. And their food had run out. So vs.2,3. So what would God do? 

1. FOOD FROM HEAVEN

God had brought them out of Egypt; out of wretched slavery. Couldn't they trust him to see them through?  But despite their ungrateful spirit, God was gracious and provided for them - vs.11,12 then -15. But God did not always deliver them from their troubles. The Israelites were going to have a very difficult time on their travels, but in their need they would learn lessons that prosperity could never teach them. 

But these are strange happenings aren’t they? The quails were probably migrating flocks dropping exhausted at the end of the day. But the manna? v. 31 looked like coriander seed, white and tasting of honey? It is not uncommon for Tamarisk trees and insects in the Near East to exude globules of sweet resin in the morning. But the volume (feeding a million every day) and the extent of this provision of manna - forty years until they were in the Promised Land - makes it truly miraculous. But there is more to this than settling the Israelites’ hunger. There was another significant purpose here and we find it explained, not in the Book of Exodus but in Deut. 8:3 . Please turn to it. Read it. ... not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'!

2. WORDS FROM HEAVEN

So here’s a paradox! God provided bread in order to teach them that they were not to live by bread alone, but by His words! Back in Ex.16:7 Moses and Aaron called the manna ‘the glory of God’. But Deuteronomy is stressing that the glory was in the powerful ‘word’ of God that commanded it! Just to dip into the NT for a moment - Remember in Matt.6, the centurion’s faith when he said to Jesus ‘just say the word and my servant will be healed’. Jesus called that trust in His word - ‘Great faith’! 
Many today are looking for true spirituality, and there is lots of psycho-babble around to help them. But invariably they look inside themselves, and sometimes we Christians fall for the same trick. But we will never find it in ourselves, but in ‘every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord’. When some of the Israelites were obstinate and disobeyed God’s word of instruction and tried to keep some of the manna overnight, it went mouldy - as God said it would. God never wastes a word; His every word counts. I remember the minister in a previous church we were in, saying that 99% of the people who came to him for help were in trouble because they had disobeyed what God says!

3. TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN

One day some men came to Jesus and demanded a sign that He was the Messiah. (2nd reading John 6) They said (v.31) ‘Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness’- challenging Jesus to equal Moses. But Jesus replied - read John 6:32-34. What did Jesus mean? Is God going to rain-down another bread (a ‘true’ bread (v. 32)) like the manna, that will give spiritual life to everyone? No! Jesus went on to say v.35 ‘I am ..’ 

At the beginning of his gospel John declares Jesus to be the ‘word’ of God, meaning that He ‘reveals the nature’ and ‘expresses the message’ of God to us. And here Jesus Himself claims to be the word from heaven. So if we are to ‘live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord’ then we must live by God’s ultimate word - Jesus Christ. He is the source of true spiritual life and strength. Like mountaineers buffeted by the winds of disbelief, opposition and suffering, we must never lose our grip on the word of life, Jesus Christ, and His words of salvation, command, and wisdom.

So we must be the captivated disciples of Jesus; ardent students of His every word and of the Apostles He taught and appointed. Remember Mary and Martha; Mary chose what Jesus called ‘the better thing’ when she sat listening to his words instead of helping to get a meal. So, to keep our faith and trust strong, especially in preparation for adversity, we must never take our eyes off the words of God; Jesus the living Word, and the Bible the written word - where it is all recorded for us. Let’s ask God to help us do that.

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PSALM 32: THE JOY OF FORGIVENESS

There can be no doubt that Israel’s famous King David was a man after God’s own heart. And yet there was an occasion when he committed an evil and shocking sin which had serious repercussions for him and Israel. David’s terrible mistake is the background to Psalm 32. In it David tells us what he discovered about God [screen-‘How wonderful it is to be completely forgiven by God‘] Let’s look at the psalm.

1. FROM TORMENT TO JOY 

He begins with an exuberant word ‘happy’. He has discovered what it is to be forgiven by God. The relief he feels is so overwhelming that in vs.1,2 he describes what has happened to him in four ways (1) his ‘transgression’ - his breaking of God’s law - has been cancelled (2) his sin has been ‘covered’-hidden from view (3) God no longer reckons it against him - Paul quotes these vs. in Rom.4:6-8 (p.150); God now reckons him righteous. (4) he has been cleansed - no deceit in his heart. Then later he adds a fifth - see end of v.5. He no longer FEELS guilty, because God has said that he will forgive those who confess their sin and turn to back Him. 

These days I think we have a very poor sense of the seriousness of sin. But went through torment about it. While he kept it to himself he became ill with worrying v.3. No sleep; worn out. He couldn’t escape it v.4. It was as though the heavy hand of God was pressing him down. Then the deadlock was broken….how? 

2. GOD RESPONDS TO FAITH

v.5 ‘[But] then….’ See the route to forgiveness? - acknowledgement (5a) > openness to God [no pretence any more] (5b)> and confession (5c). And, addressing God (5d) David says in wonderment, thankfulness and relief ‘you forgave the guilt of my sin.’ David discovered God to be a gracious forgiving God. The NT declares ‘But God proves his love for us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us’ (Rom.5:8). David thinks about us in v.6 and recommends God to us all v.7. ‘Turn to this God’ he says ‘to find deliverance and security.’

But God hasn’t finished when he has forgiven David. He speaks vs.8,9 ‘You’ is in the plural: God is addressing all who turn to him. Forgiveness is not the end, it is the beginning of a remarkable relationship; God will instruct us, teach us and advise us - with his loving eye upon us. Our duty is to listen, learn and walk with him.

3. BUT IS DAVID’S EXPERIENCE OUR EXPERIENCE?

The relationship that begins at forgiveness is expressed vividly in v.19b.
I wonder if all of us here know this to be true for us? It is so easy to just get by with a low level of Christian experience instead of the real thing. So easy to miss the fullness of what God has for us. Let me illustrate this. [Diagram of circle representing true Christian experience. A line travels up to the circle but just touches it as a tangent - representing those who just touch the faith by doing the things Christians do, but somehow never enter into the full experience of a relationship with God for themselves.] We may even be regular at church, but somehow there is something missing in our relationship with God. Other people seem to have something we don’t; what is it?

The NT teaches us that the surest way we can enter the circle is by a deliberate act of commitment in which we confess that we have left God out of our lives, turn to Christ for forgiveness and commit our lives to him. [Second diagram. The same circle with the line tangential to it. But now there is a second line which breaks into the circle and enters it. Against the second line is written ‘A deliberate act - 1. acknowledgement of sin 2. submission to Christ as saviour  3. commitment to a life in the service of God‘] 

Ask someone on the tangent line if they are conscious of God at work in their life and they will be very unsure what to answer. Someone on the line into the circle will say 'yes'. Ask someone on the first line if they are sure they are going to heaven and they will answer ' I hope so'. The person on the other one will say they know they are'.  

 When we do that we shall enter into the relationship that David speaks of. In case there is someone here who hasn’t taken this deliberate step, I’m going to say a prayer that you could say phrase by phrase in your own heart. 

Almighty God / I confess that I have not lived my life under your rule / I understand that Jesus Christ can save me / from the guilt of all my sins / I want to submit myself to him / as Saviour and Lord / please forgive me and change me / Amen.          (/ indicates break for reading phrase by phrase)

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2. The Over flowing River But it isn’t just Syria that will fall to Assyria - so will Israel. They had rejected alliance with Judah (the R. Shiloah) their fellow worshippers of Yahweh (6), and instead allied themselves with foreigners; Syria. Now Assyria - pictured as the great R. Euphrates would over-run them. It happened - Israel disappeared from the face of the earth. BUT it wouldn’t stop at the borders of Israel, it will sweep on into Judah (7,8) - but not to their complete destruction. It will only be up to their neck (8) they will survive for a second chance. 200 years later after even Judah had not repented, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and the 70 year exile began. Notice the recurrence of references to Immanuel. This is the people of Immanuel (7:14); there will still be some faithful people from whom Immanuel will come. In 8 he God refers to the land (people) as ’Immanuel’. In 10 (end) ’God is with us’ = Immanuel. God’s plan to reveal Immanuel will never be defeated. He will refine Judah by exile.

1. Motyer: 'The Prophecy of Isaiah' IVP.

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If ever there was a passage of Scripture which challenges the assumptions of our generation, Psalm 90 is IT. It does two things (1) it confronts our modern lazy disregard for God, but also (2) it points the way for anyone who is dissatisfied with that and seeks a living relationship with God. You’ll see what I mean.

The psalm has four sections: (name them)

The Psalm begins with a statement of faith .‘Lord, (= ‘Sovereign Ruler’) READ v.1. Although the Lord is his Ruler, the writer has enjoyed Him as his ‘dwelling place’ or ‘refuge‘. He has sheltered under His wing: known His care and guidance. But who is this ‘Lord’ - just a tribal deity? No! v. 2 answers (READ). He is the eternal God. But modern western man, in an act of rank impertinence, is determined to keep this God out: out of the story of our universe and out of his life. But, says the psalmist, it’s not as if God is not already placarding His displeasure at our rebellion. In v.3 as good as quoting Gen.3:19, Moses makes physical death a deliberate act of God.

Mankind in all its pride is humiliated by death. We think we are the kings of the earth but God ‘sweeps us away’ v.5. We awake hoping the world will be a better place today v.6a, but by evening we know it cannot be v.6b. But why is it like this, and why is man so transient?

Because we are by nature under the wrath of God v.7,8. God is not unjust: nor is he fooled. Note the strong language. But what does modern man say? He says ‘I don’t know if there is a God? I don’t know if it is even possible to know if there is a God. And I don’t think it matters one way or the other. If there is a God, I’m not accountable to Him; it doesn’t matter how I live’. Modern men and women do not understand that their wrong-doing offends God. How strikingly different are the words of this Man

of God. He understands what the modern world does not want to see. Read v. 9-11.

So what does someone do, who wants something better than this? He says ‘I am not at home in all this. I want to belong to something better than this world can offer. I want to discover the Lord as my dwelling place’ He seeks the grace of God. So READ v.12 onwards, (commenting), … see how the morning of v.14a (awaking to the certainty of God’s loving purposes) compares with the morning of v.6 (hope with no future) … cf. v.14b with v.9... In v.16 the believer longs to see God’s work and has an expectation that God can make even his works worthwhile: no more meaninglessness v.17. His hope is in the eternal God.

So how can we escape the grip of this world which is under the wrath of God. How can we experience the life-changing power of God in our lives? Jesus Christ claimed that he came to do both of those things. Listen to what he said - John 5:24 ‘I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed from death to life’ and John 8:12 ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.‘ Where is your dwelling place, your refuge from God’s anger?

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PSALM 139: ‘Such Knowledge Is Too Wonderful for Me’ (Study rather than sermon notes)

This a is a remarkable psalm, combining as it does, a vision of the magnificence of the true God and a description of the true believer’s response to Him. The clue to what’s going on may be in vs.19-22. It appears that David is under attack from people who hate God and hate him. Frightened, he pauses to consider how secure he is with God on his side.

David is absolutely overwhelmed by the greatness of God and realises that this must have a profound effect on him in his personal life. This God knows him through and through, and so he must live his life taking God into account at every turn.

So in our study we have to think in two dimensions - what is this saying about God and what difference does this make to me? All the time we need to think how the revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament applies or expands what it says here.

Let’s now read the whole Psalm

How well does God know David (and therefore each of us) and in what specific ways? Do you welcome this or does it threaten your sense of privacy or independence? Does this knowledge of God turn us into robots without free will - or how should we understand it?

How ought this section to influence our prayer, especially confession - and particularly liturgical confession in church?

David isn’t trying to escape from God but realises … what? At times our shame about something we do or the way we live might make us want to hide from God or pretend He doesn’t know. How can the Bible help us here? See John 6:66-69, 1 Cor. 6:19,20, Ps. 51:10-12, 1 John 1:8-10, Eph. 3:17b-19. And back in our psalm please note v.10.

How does David know God so well? What do these verses say about the value of human life? How do they speak to modern ethical problems like abortion and euthanasia? On the basis of these verses how would we sensitively advise a pregnant woman who believes that the child inside her is disabled in some way?

Consider vs. 18,19 especially the last two lines of v.18. What do they say to us?

Suddenly and surprisingly, from deep intimate thoughts David seems to have become aggressive. Why might that be? He seems to be motivated by zeal for God rather than spite. See Ps. 101.

Read John 15:18-20. Why do people, authorities and governments often hate Christians? Does Jesus’ teaching throw any light on how David feels?

But finally we must see how David’s thoughts turn back to his own heart - vs.23,24 and back to vs.1,2. What does David realise?

What is the ‘way everlasting’?

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NUMBERS 14:1-25 PENITENCE IN PRAYER

As I walked away from the counter I realised that the shop had charged me the full price for the china set, instead of the 50%-off sale price. So I went back and after 10 minutes of re-entering everything into the till, it was arranged that I would get a refund on my card. But there was one word the shop assistants never used? Can you guess what it was? “Sorry”. Have you noticed that people these days are very bad at saying ‘sorry’. But, you know, we Christians ought to be very good at saying ‘sorry’, because we - of all people - should be very conscious that we are constantly failing God and need to say ‘sorry’ to Him.

That’s why, as we begin a new series on prayer, our subject is ‘penitence’. Penitence?? what’s that? It’s not a word we use very often. Penitence is ‘a feeling of intense regret or remorse for our sin against God, with the intent to do better.’ In our private prayers when we apologise to God for something, or, for example, in the confession, when we say we are ‘truly sorry for our sins’, what should be in our minds and what right of appeal do we have?

Well, we are going to look briefly at this subject using the passage of the Bible that …….. read earlier - Numbers 14:1-25 (page 137). BRIEFLY TELL THE STORY from the spies (chap 13).. then Read 14:1- 4. Dreadfulness of vs. 3c and 4. They preferred slavery to trusting God. Hear the NT in Heb. 3:12-15. This is a turning point in Israel's history.

Notice the response of Moses and Aaron (self-humiliating submission to God) and particularly of Joshua and Caleb - Read vs. 5-9, then v. 10. They tore their clothes & were appalled by this rebellion against God’s holiness. The outcome of this wasn’t going to be good. God couldn’t let this pass. Such ingratitude! They owed God everything. See how God responds in v.11 (NIV ‘contempt’). Hear Hebrews again in 6:4-6. So let us understand too, that our sins are an affront to God’s holiness. Perhaps that will deepen our remorse. ‘Lord, I’m so very sorry - I’ve done it again - that evil thought - lost my temper - hurt the people I love most - judged someone else - fell for that temptation…..’ King David understood this. Hear him in his penitence following his adultery with Bathsheba Ps. 51:1-4. Someone has written ‘Let us cease our ridiculous excuse-making and lame efforts at self-justification - and just admit we know our sin.’ It is always better to say sorry to God as soon as our Spirit-sharpened consciences alert us.

V.13-19. Moses recites to God what God has done for Israel by His Grace - his undeserved kindness to them. Out of his ‘steadfast’ covenant love for them vs. 18,19. God’s reputation among the nations rests upon His acts of Grace. What about us? God’s supreme Act of Grace was the death and resurrection of His one and only Son Jesus Christ. We cannot appeal to anything about ourselves or our good deeds or our acts of devotion, even after we have become Christians. We are never more acceptable to God than when we put our faith in Jesus and His works for us. We can contribute nothing to our forgiveness from God. The Cross is our only appeal. So does this mean that the Christian life is just one long misery of saying sorry to God.? No, it doesn't because our sorrow for sin is always laced with our utter thankfulness and joy that we are serving a gracious and merciful God (v.18) who is totally FOR us. We are much more sinful than we ever imagine, but we are far more loved than we ever imagine too.

So what happened to Israel? Hearing Moses appeal, God did not destroy them, but he forbad that generation to go into the Promised Land. Their sin had consequences. God gave them what they wanted - almost . He turned them away from the Promised Land back into the wilderness, but not to Egypt. They wandered for 40 years in the desert. Only Joshua and Caleb went in. The absolute holiness and majesty of God demands the punishment of sin. The great gospel news is that Jesus Christ took that punishment for us. That is our only appeal and what a wonderful one it is!

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2 SAMUEL 7:18-29 DAVID - ADORATION AND PETITION

Is there anything you like so much that you might even say you 'adore' it? Food perhaps - strawberries and cream, egg and bacon, curry(?): or a place - Venice say; or something like walking through autumn leaves. But what about when two people adore each other with deep love and admiration? Listen to Solomon adoring his bride in Song of Songs 4:1-3. But what does it mean to adore God? This morning we are going to meet King David pouring out his heart in adoration to God. Turn to 2 Samuel 7:18-29 (p.290). [Absence of notes in the service sheet] David’s adoration falls into three parts …

This is one of the Bible’s most important chapters. David has become a great King. He has driven-off Israel’s enemies. But at the beginning of this chapter David recognises that while he lives in a cedar palace, God is only poorly honoured with the Tabernacle Tent they used in the wilderness. He wants to build God a temple. But through vs. 5-17 God tells David He doesn’t want him to build Him a temple, on the contrary, He - God - will build him a house, by which - with a delicious play on words - he means a dynasty (House of Windsor). Moreover v.16 QUOTE! This is God committing Himself to a covenant promise that a descendant of David will be an eternal king - see vs. 12,13! (OT Covenants - my website) WHO is it referring to? It cannot be his son Solomon, he died: and the earthly kingdom did come to an end! This offspring is the Messiah, the Christ who was to come! David doesn’t understand this, but he adores God’s for His Grace to Israel, and to him and his descendants- vs. 18 - indeed he came for nothing - a shepherd boy, the youngest son of an obscure rural family. He's overwhelmed.

But are we any different? Nobodies called by God - aren't we? Perhaps we also need to recall what God is doing for us now? He is hearing our prayers from heaven; the very hairs of our heads are numbered; he is our refuge; his everlasting arms are holding us: he is ministering to our needs by His Holy Spirit whom He has given us; He is guarding our hearts and minds with ‘the peace that passes all human understanding’. Quote John Newton p.142 ¹. But there is even more for David to adore God for ….

Read vs. 22-24. They owe God everything. He redeemed them from slavery (v.23) and adopted them as His own (vs.24). But it’s exactly the same now for us who believe in Christ. He has done the same - he has both redeemed us from the wrath to come and adopted us as His own. Grounds for adoration? Tell me, how did you come to faith in Christ? Every one of us has a different story, but in every case God was at work! We owe God everything. 

Read vs.25 and 28. With confidence based on what God has done and is doing, David prays about the future ‘you have promised this good thing’. What future good things has God promised those who believe in His Son? Listen to John 6:35, 37, 40. And 1 Peter 1:3-5. Our inheritance is being kept for us, and we are being kept for it. Are our hearts so hard, that we are not moved to adoration by these promises? ²     Let's resolve to include a prayer of adoration in our daily prayers this week.

1. 'This is the God whom we adore. This is he who invites us to lean upon his almighty arm, and promises to guide us with his unerring eyes. He says to you "Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed, I am your God; I will strengthen you, yes I will help you, yes I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness."  Letters of John Newton, Banner of Truth Trust, p.142.

2. A Prayer of Adoration:

Almighty God, heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all things, we pour out our hearts to you in adoration, thanksgiving and praise for all you have done for us, continue to do for us and will do for us according to your promises in the Scriptures.

We are grateful beyond measure for the gift of your one and only Son who died that we might be forgiven for our debt of rebellion against you, who rose from the dead to open the door to eternal life and who returned to your right hand to rule and to look after us from heaven.

We thank you for your Holy Spirit whom you have given to indwell us, to inspire us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, to empower us for right living, and to deliver us to heaven.

And finally we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your promise of our escape from your wrath, expectation of heaven, and of a welcome into your presence - not because of anything we have done or try to do, but only for the reason of Christ’s death on our behalf. To you be all the glory, majesty, power and rule for ever and ever. Amen.

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But there is even more to it than that. This psalm vividly contrasts the two men Doeg and David - one has no consciousness of God and is only out for his own advancement. He will do anything, no matter how wicked, to achieve that. The other is God’s man, with a deep appreciation of what matters most - his commitment to God because of God’s unfailing love for him. His troubles provoke David to examine and declare where his heart is.

1 SAMUEL 26: FAITH GIVES HOPE

Before we begin to examine this chapter more closely, it will be helpful if we recognise that the second half of 1 Samuel has an over-arching theme. Here it is - just six words - ‘God has promised David the Kingdom’. It began in 16:13 when Samuel anointed David as the successor to Saul. So everything we read about after that must be understood in relation to that promise.

In particular, that promise should determine David’s conduct, strengthening within him an expectation (hope) that it will come to pass.

But there is a reminder to us Christians here too - at two levels:

1. Whenever the subject of ‘kingdom’ arises in Scripture we should sit up and take notice. Why? because the Kingdom of God is the overall subject of the whole Bible. See Matt.3:1,2, Mark 1:15, Acts 1:3 and Rev.11:15.

2. We too live under the promise of a Kingdom: Luke 12:32, Col.1:13. We should live according to that promise and in us it should strengthen our expectation (our hope) that we shall see it happen.

SO with our chapter this evening - where we find David on good form - acting in accordance with God‘s promise. He isn’t always on good form - as we shall see when we just dip into Chapter 27 - but in chap 26 he is consciously relying on God’s promise.

The story of this chapter has 3 main features which we will explore. It describes the second opportunity David had to kill Saul. The first was in chapter 24, when Saul accidentally went into a cave where David and his men were hiding. This time the contact is deliberate. Let’s follow the story through its main features:

1. David suffers the malice of those who don’t want him as king.

The Ziphites have reason to fear David as King because some of them had once already betrayed David to Saul (23:19). So they do the same again. Read vs.1,2. You know, there will be opponents of God in every generation. A current example is the new Philip Pullman film ’The Golden Compass’ (1^st of a trilogy) which as been summed up as ‘atheism for children’. Pullman himself declares that his purpose is to ‘undermine Christianity’ among the young and ‘kill God’. That’s pure malice! Such are the arrogant opponents of God! … Let’s continue the story

2. David’s faith in action

Having confirmed that Saul and his men are indeed encamped, David went to see for himself read v.5. David takes Abishai down into the camp, read v.7. Abishai sees the opportunity v.8. But David says ‘No’ read vs. 9,10,11. This is David at his best - recognising the sanctity of the King’s Office and relying on God to keep His promise. Remember the theme?

Well you know what happens. David takes the spear (irony 19:10) and the water jar, climbs to the other side of the valley and calls out to Abner the Commander who should have defended Saul. Saul recognises the voice…and we get the third main feature of the chapter…

3. David’s sermon.

David appeals to Saul vs.18,19 (don‘t read) - why are you hounding me (18); men are even trying to eject me from the promised land (19)? Saul admits to David’s innocence and his own folly read v.21. Then David’s insight is truly revealed - v.23a; righteousness and faith-fulness (being full of faith) go together - you can’t have one without the other. (St. Paul could have written that!) Finally, Saul acknowledges that David will succeed (‘triumph’ - NIV).

So everything is alright ever after is it? No! In the next chapter David backslides. By his actions he makes himself abhorrent to the people of Israel. Even when he eventually becomes King and Israel enjoys security and prosperity such that later generations look back at it with envy, even then David shows himself to be seriously flawed. So that drives us to look for a better King; a Son of David; one that is not flawed; one who will do God’s will perfectly; who will show Himself to be the rightful King; who has opened the Kingdom of God to those who believe in Him. Hebrews 12:28.

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PREPARING FOR VICTORY: JOSHUA 5

If your experience and observation of life is the same as mine, I am sure you will agree that we can sometimes be faced with very big challenges! They can come from a wide range of sources: from our workplace, in our careers, in relationships, in the family, worries about money, a big decision to make, a threatening medical diagnosis, and others. Just keeping going is sometimes a challenge! As Christians how can we be better prepared for such challenges and better able to cope? I think Joshua Chapter 5 this morning can help us. This chapter isn’t often preached on because the ones either side of it are much more dramatic - 24 on crossing the Jordan and 26 on the defeat of Jericho. But there are three very significant events in chap.5 which have important things to say to us.

Joshua and the people of Israel were facing a huge undertaking. They were poised to begin their conquest of the Promised Land. They had seen God part Jordan for them - but now they had to do something. This was the biggest challenge they had ever encountered.

1. Vs. 2-9 Protecting our Relationship with God

The people of Israel were in a special covenant relationship with God, but they had squandered it 40 years before by refusing to let God take them into the Promised Land then. As a result they suffered God’s judgement of wandering in the desert. God didn’t abandon them but their relationship with Him was seriously damaged eg the covenant sign of circumcision, had been suspended. But God has told them now they should put that right again. Hence the circumcising of all the males, described in vs.2-9.

I think this very significant event reminds us believers, who live under the new covenant through faith in Christ, just how important our personal relationship with God is. Anything that damages that relationship is to be avoided at all costs/if at all possible - any undertaking, involvement, association or friendship. There is nothing so precious our daily living as our personal relationship with God. We should be protecting it, renewing it and developing it all the time. To face the challenges of life, we need our spiritual ‘larder’ to be well stocked - (image: our ‘larder’ is where we keep our supplies for daily living. There we will find our flour, sugar, tins of food, pasta and so on. When they run low we put them on our shopping list for replenishing) What might be on the shelves of our spiritual larder? Eg Our understanding what God is like, and what it is to be at peace with him; knowing how to use the Bible to help us; grasping what God’s love and grace mean; our habit of prayer; knowing others will pray; verses committed to memory; examples of others who have persevered; our trust in God for our future. All these will sustain us. We can do this by diligently reading our Bibles, coming to church regularly to worship God, fellowshipping with other Christians, soaking-up Bible teaching at every opportunity. Paul said ‘Let the word of God dwell in you richly’ and he really meant it. For example, listen to Ps.103:11. So when life challenges us we have supplies to draw on. Listen to 1 Peter 5:7.

2. Vs. 10-12 Remembering our Rescue by God

But something else had been suspended during Israel’s wilderness wanderings - The Passover - the celebratory meal that reminded them of their rescue from slavery in Egypt. So in v.10 it was celebrated for the first time in 40 years! READ IT Remembering how God had rescued them would strengthen them for the battles ahead. The signal to us is clear. We must keep looking back to Christ’s great redeeming act for us. Heb.12:2 [Say together] How often do you think about it? And God has not only redeemed us but will always provide: that is what vs.11,12 are about.

3. Vs. 13-15 Recognising our Reliance on God

The final action of the chapter: Joshua has a vision READ vs.13,14. God’s commander is there (Is it the Son of God?) sword in hand. It is God’s war; He fights for them. The old Negro spiritual says ‘ Joshua fit the battle of Jericho’ but of course he didn’t; God did. Joshua and Israel just walked in over the broken down walls! Joshua must submit to him and trust him. And so must we! Hear Paul in Roms. 8:31,32 and Phil.4:13.

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