The Letter To the Hebrews 10: 19-39 [NLTse]

¹⁹ And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter Heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. ²⁰ By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. ²¹ And since we have a great High Priest Who rules over God’s House, ²² let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

²³ Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. ²⁴ Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵ And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.

²⁶ Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. ²⁷ There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume His enemies. ²⁸ For anyone who refused to obey the Law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the Covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit Who brings God’s mercy to us. ³⁰ For we know the One Who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The Lord will judge His Own people.” ³¹ It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 ³² Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. ³³ Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. ³⁴ You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.

³⁵ So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! ³⁶ Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised. ³⁷ “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. ³⁸ And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”

³⁹ But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.

Good morning saints! Good morning sinners!

The apostle Paul introduces his letter To the Romans, “…to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be saints, His Own holy people.” (Romans 1:6) His first letter To the Corinthians, “…to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be saints, His Own holy people.” (1 Corinthians 1:2) And his second letter, “I am writing to God’s church in Corinth and to all of His saints, His holy people, throughout Greece.” (2 Corinthians 1:1) Ephesians begins, “…to God’s saints, His holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 1:1) Philippians, “…to all the saints, all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 1:1) And Colossians, “…to the saints, God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.” (Colossians 1:2)

In our society, when someone is greatly honored, there is always a reason. It’s because they have accomplished something magnificent or helped in some great endeavor. No one ever gives a high honor and while presenting it says, “This is for you, even though you have never done anything special. We’re giving it to you just because!”

And yet that’s what God has done for us in Christ in making us saints, His holy, set-apart ones.

According to the Roman Catholic Church a follower of Christ is declared a “saint” only after s/he has been recognized as having lived a pious life, defended the faith, and lived worthy of being called a “saint”, lighting the way ahead for others. After such evidence has been given, it then must be proven that since their death at least four miracles had occurred as the result of the faithful praying to him or her. Only if these conditions have been met is the person called a “saint”.

But that’s not what the Bible tells us. “To all of you in Rome who are… called to be saints;” “to you who have been called by God to be saints;” “to all of His saints throughout Greece;” “to God’s saints;” “to all the saints;” as followers and lovers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be saints, and we are saints!

Of course, we may think that because we have never told huge lies or stolen anything of great worth or ever killed anyone or had an affair that, well, no wonder God loves us: Compared with all those being gossiped about and making headlines, we’re doing pretty good!

But our Lord and Savior, the Son of God, sets us straight: “I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the Court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of Hell.” (Matthew 5:21-22) “I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28) “I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! …You are to be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-44, 48)

And James makes it crystal clear: “…The person who keeps all of the Laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s Laws.” (2:10, italics added)

…

The truth is, you and I have fallen into favor. God has chosen us to be saints, His holy ones, because it pleased Him to favor us. And the reason for His favor rests in His grace, not in our amazing lives. Now you and I may truly be nice people, even well-loved, perhaps, recognized by many as godly people… But God’s standard is not what others think, nor even what we think of ourselves. The almighty God’s standard is perfection. His grace and His favor are undeserved, even by the best of us. We have done nothing to deserve His mercy.

…

That’s what we celebrate every All Saints Day. It’s what we celebrate every funeral. It’s what we celebrate every Lord’s Day Sunday (if we would), every time we gather for Worship. It’s why the Christian life is so joyful! (The world celebrates Christmas each December 25^th, but Christians celebrate with that kind of joy every day!) In the coming of Jesus Christ – in His birth in a stable, in His humble upbringing and ministry in an obscure little land, in His sacrificial death, in His resurrection from death! – we have been given a gift that truly keeps on giving. We have been given life. We have been given mercy. We have been forgiven our sins. We have been given right-standing with the perfect, holy One. We have been given sonship, recipients of an everlasting covenant of love.

We are so very aware that we are sinners. But we must let that awareness move us on to wonder that He has given us sainthood!

So let us leave our sins behind, not considering ourselves but keeping our eyes on Jesus. Let’s meditate on all the hostility He endured so that we won’t become weary and give up. In our troubles let’s recognize the Lord’s discipline and not give up when He corrects us, knowing He disciplines only those He loves, treating us as His Own children.

Saints!

Ascription of Praise

Now may the God of peace—Who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with His blood—may He equip us with all we need for doing His will. May He produce in us, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen?

(Hebrews 13:20-21)

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Psalm 68:19,20 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.

We serve a risen Savior, He is alive, He is faithful, you can put your trust in Him, He will not disappoint you. Our God loves us so much! The scriptures tells us in John’s gospel 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Our God loves us so much we read in Rom.5:8 that even when we were his enemy he still sent his son to die for us so that we could have eternal life with him. Eph.2:4,5 says, but because of his great love for us God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you are saved. Our God is a God who loves us so much. Do you know there is no end to how much He loves us? There are no limits to how much he loves us. And our God can not change his mind like we can. He is always in love with us forever. Eph.3:14-19 For this reason I kneel, I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts though faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Wow there is a lot to digest there. It would seem to me there is a high priority on knowing and understanding the love of Christ. I would urge you to find time this week and read these verses Eph.3:14-19 again and allow the Holy Spirit some time to speak to our hearts. The sense I get is that Paul is praying for the body of Christ calling on the Holy Spirit to minister to us that our eyes and our hearts would be open to see how great God’s grace, and mercy and love is hoping that it would cause us to love him back. The scriptures do say that we love him because he first loved us. Paul’s hope is that the church would be rooted and established in his love and that Christ would dwell in our hearts though faith. Do you know what God’s hope is for us? That our heartbeat would be his heartbeat that we would love him as he loves us that we would be hungry for the things of God. That our desire would be to pray always, and trust him and follow him and be able to say as Paul says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And as Isaiah, who said woe is me if I do not preach the word of God. God’s hope for us is that we would be a people of faith. This is the relationship and commitment God is looking for. There is a story that goes like this. A young boy was on the roof top of his burning house and the firefighters were pleading with him to jump but the young boy was afraid and would not jump. His father then said to his son jump into my arms I promise I will catch you and the young boy without hesitation jumped into his fathers arms. This is faith, that young boy knew his father! trusted his father! and jumped! God wants us to know him and to trust him and to obey him. John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them he is the one who loves me. Isn’t that awesome that God longs to be in relationship with us. Paul was hoping that the body of Christ would understand how wide and long and high and deep The love of Christ is because if there is just a tiny understanding of it.. There is love. There is relationship. There is faith. There is power! There is victory.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes there is victory in your life and sometimes there is fear or doubt?

In 1Sam.17 we read about the story of David and Goliath. When David was just a boy his three older brothers went to war with Saul to fight against the philistines and the giant Goliath. Saul’s

army occupied one hill and the Philistine army occupied another hill and there was a valley between them. For forty days and nights Goliath taunted Saul’s army and they were gripped with fear. One day Jesse sends David to find out how the war is going and how his brothers are doing. David witnesses Goliath’s mocking and sees the army full of fear. When David hears a soldier saying what the king will give to the one who kill’s the giant, he inquires about it and his oldest brother’s reaction was anger toward him. When David speaks to Saul he tells him let no one lose heart on account of this philistine, your servant will go and fight him. David also shares with Saul a testimony about himself (to prove the point that he is able to go against Goliath.) He tells Saul the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver my from the hand of this Philistine. Now when David speaks to the giant he says you come against me with sword spear and javelin but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.

Saul and everyone in his army including David’s three brothers did not have the faith to trust God to win the battle for them. All were gripped by fear.

Sometimes there are things in our lives that we go through that we are not able to get victory over and we lose sight of God (sometimes) but that does not mean we do not have faith. I call this the normal Christian life. I call this taking your eyes off Jesus. Remember when Peter said to Jesus if that is you on the lake call me to come to you and Jesus called him to come and Peter walked on water for just a bit until he took his eyes off of Jesus and saw the waves and saw what he was doing and he kind of freak out and probably was saying to himself this is impossible I can’t walk on water and then he began to sink. That’s what happens sometimes. Another example would be how Paul taught in Rom.7 the struggle between the flesh and the spirit. You find yourself doing that what you do not want to do and not doing that what you want to do. So you see this war waging inside you between the spirit and the flesh. These struggles are real. But lets remember there is nothing impossible with God So what made David different from all the rest? His eyes were on the Lord and they remained on Him He was not afraid. There was no fear in him. David knew the Lord Almighty was on his side. He knew by faith God would deliver him from this enemy. He trusted God with his life. He was prayed up! David knew the battle belonged to the Lord. Church remember that no matter what you may be going through God is always with you He knows everything! Cast all your care on him. Trust him. The bible teaches us that perfect love cast out fear and Gods love is perfect. 2 Tim says God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind. God loves us so much he wants more for us. He wants us to live the victorious Christian life and put off the normal Christian life and we can do this through Christ who has given us the power to live such a life. Put on Christ the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in us. There is victory in the Name of Jesus! At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Deut.10:12 what does the lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God to walk in all his ways to love him to serve the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul. This is the heartbeat of God! To love the lord with all your heart and with all your soul.

Finally we come back to our scripture verses John 21:15-18 Jesus said to Simon Peter son of John Do you truly love me more than these? Yes Lord he said you know that I love you. Jesus said feed my lambs.

Again Jesus said to Simon Peter son of John do you love me? Peter said yes I love you Jesus said take care of my lambs. The third time Jesus said Simon Peter son of John do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time do you love me? He said Lord you know all things you know that I love you. Jesus said feed my sheep.

Matt.28:18 Jesus came to them and said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the holy spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

God loves us so much He is asking us the same question today as he did to Simon Peter, do you love me and Jesus answers feed my sheep. And Jesus says a second time to each of us do you love me and Jesus answers take care of my sheep. And Jesus who knows everything asked a third time do you love me and he answers all of us feed my sheep.

Psalm 78:1-7 [NLTse] – A psalm of Asaph.

¹ O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying, ² for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—³ stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. ⁴ We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about His power and His mighty wonders. ⁵ For He issued His Laws to Jacob; He gave His instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, ⁶ so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. ⁷ So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting His glorious miracles and obeying His commands.

If you could only choose one or the other, which of these two would you pick: That your child be healthy and wealthy, or that your child go to Heaven?

…

There are 613 Laws across the first five books of the Old Testament. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are called “The Five Books of the Law”, or sometimes just “The Law”.) One of those 613 Laws is God’s command that the Israelites teach all the Laws to their children and their children’s children after them. This command is given several different times in several different ways across “The Five Books of the Law”, but Deuteronomy 6:4-9 summarizes them all well:

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.^[] You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

I have always loved this command! And yet it’s so strange, too, especially the way some Jewish groups have come to practice it so literally (even in the Lord Jesus’ day): Wearing phylacteries – the little Scripture boxes on their foreheads and forearms – and fastening mezuzot to their doorframes…

Did you know that Exodus 13 says the Passover ritual was also to serve as “a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the training of the Lord may be on your lips” (v. 9)? And later in chapter 13 it says the act of consecrating their firstborn sons to God was to be “a sign on your hand and as an emblem on your forehead that by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt” (v. 16).

On account of our faith and trust in Christ, you and I have been grafted into the remnant of Israel, and called and commanded with all God’s people to have God’s Word on our hearts, and to teach those words to our children – talking of the Lord when we are sitting at home and when we’re walking along our way; talking of God’s Word when we’re lying down, when we’re getting up… We are called and commanded to celebrate our holidays in such a way that they teach of God’s wonders to us and across history, and perform our rituals and celebrations in such a way that God’s wonders are acknowledged and proclaimed…

And yet our loving Father never calls us to something, He never commands us to do this or not to do that unless it’s good for us, important to us. In Genesis 18 we see something of what good and loving purpose there is for us in teaching our children and our children’s children about Him…

The Lord and two angels have visited Abraham on their way to punish the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In verses 17 and 18 the Lord determines to reveal to Abraham what He’s about to do, saying in v. 19, “For I [the LORD] have chosen [Abraham], so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” You see, prior to this, the Lord spoke to Abraham – promised him, assured him – that the Lord would give Abraham so many descendants that they would become a great nation. And He assured Abraham that this great-nation-of-descendants would cause Abraham’s name to become famous across history. And God would bless Abraham’s great-nation-of-descendants, and would make them a blessing, and all the nations of the Earth would be blessed in Abraham. (See Genesis 12:1-3.)

Of course, the great-nation-of-descendants the Lord is talking about are the Jewish nations of Israel and Judah; and the great blessing that bless-ed people brought to the whole world was their Messiah – the Savior of the world! – Jesus Christ.

But notice the Lord’s words “For I [the LORD] have chosen [Abraham], so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” So, the good and loving reason the Lord calls and commands us to pass on His good news and His Way of Life to our children (and to following generations) is so that we can be assured – because the Lord God wants us to have assurance – that He’ll keep every promise He’s made to us. (What a great! what a good God!)

So the Lord isn’t merely commanding us to include Him in all our conversations, and to make all of our holidays and celebrations about Him for the sake of bossing us around. He’s given us such direction because He desires for us to know, to be assured that He will be faithful to us (and to our children) forever and always. He’s telling us that is what teaching does…

This call and command to share the Gospel and teach God’s ways to our children and grandchildren is repeated in the New Testament. Ephesians 6:4 states, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” A parallel passage from Colossians reads, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart” (3:21).

Look at the logic of these passages. They say, (understanding that God Almighty is ultimately the Creator of our children, and that He has made all things, including our children, for Himself) these passages say that when parents don’t bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, the result for our children is anger/exasperation! Do you see that?

Our kids were made to know Jesus Christ; they were made to know Him. So when we make our kids education our priority, or their sports, or when we make their clothing or their possessions or their friends our priority for them instead of God, one way or another we’re going to be leaving them angry and exasperated. (And if that doesn’t describe what we’re seeing around us, kids who have more things and opportunities than any other generation before them, and yet a generation that’s frustrated, annoyed, angry… exasperated! I don’t know what does.) When we don’t teach out kids about Christ, whether we realize it or not, we exasperate them.

To shake things up a little bit:

Let’s work to talk about God all the time; to some way or another make Him a part of every conversation we have.

Let’s not exasperate our kids; let’s not have us be what tempts them to frustration and anger because we’ve kept the Lord to ourselves, or decided we should let the church teach them about that.

Let’s be assured of His promises, His assurances, the way He’s promised to assure us when we teach and pass His Gospel and Way of Life on to others.

Let’s make every celebration – birthdays, retirements, baby showers, you-name-it… an opportunity to declare His mighty works and the good things He’s done.

And let’s make every holiday – holy-day – boldly and unashamedly His: Not about trees or elves, but about His birth; not about eggs or bunnies, but about His death and resurrection; not about witches and goblins and darkness, but about men and women and boys and girls who’ve been brought from death to life in Christ; all our holy days for His glory!

Let’s obey the command of the Lord and teach our children well.

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 4:1-16 [NLTse]

¹ Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. ⁴ For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ and one God and Father, Who is over all and in all and living through all.

⁷ However, He has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. ⁸ That is why the Scriptures say, “When He ascended to the heights, He led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to His people.”

⁹ Notice that it says “He ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. ¹⁰ And the same One Who descended is the One Who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that He might fill the entire universe with Himself.

¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, Who is the head of His body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

What we believe matters.

Last weekend, at the direction of the Elders, I drove down to Bethesda, MD to attend a presbytery meeting of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Now, I’ve attended a lot of presbytery meetings across my fifteen years of ministry, and during my years of active service to the church before that. The liberalism of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shows itself in their versions of such meetings, as uuu those who believe the Bible is authoritative and read it fairly literally (like myself and our congregation’s commissioners) are made welcome right alongside those who believe the Bible is more of a guide and read it fairly figuratively and skeptically. The PCUSA sees the Christian faith as a spectrum with evangelicals and conservatives at one end and liberal, all-but-universalists at the other.

The EPC presbytery meeting was not like that: uuu Men and women prayed boldly in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; nobody choked when referring to the Lord with masculine terms; God’s sovereignty and human sinfulness were spoken of plainly. (The Devil even got mentioned in the context of being a true – though defeated – enemy once or twice.)

At PCUSA presbytery meetings uuu there is gentle pressure to embrace unorthodox teachings, to look down on inerrancy and infallibility, and to accept one another’s beliefs as “faithful Christianity” no matter what those beliefs may be! EPC presbyters uuu spoke courteously and respectfully regarding those who believed differently than they, but made clear in their prayers, teachings, sermons, and songs what they believed, and proclaimed it unapologetically!

uuu What we believe matters!

I’ve been preaching these last few weeks through the Essential Beliefs of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and we will be voting in our Congregational Meeting after this Service whether or not to seek admission into that denomination.

If you’ll take out the “Essentials of Our Faith” insert in our Worship Bulletin… Their last two statements of faith proclaim:

Jesus Christ will come again to the Earth – personally, visibly, and bodily – to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20)

The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)

These Essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

(The Essentials of Our Faith, #6 & #7)

There is no promise the Lord Jesus talked about more often than His promise to return: To judge the deeds of men and women according to their faith; to bring this Heaven and Earth of sin and death to an end; to destroy the Devil; and, to establish a new Heaven and a new Earth that will never end. Many who are more liberal and skeptical when reading the Bible believe the Lord Jesus’ promise to return is a merely figurative promise. They believe that through moral teaching, technological and medical advances, and by righting society’s wrongs the church will lead humanity to eradicate injustice, poverty, sickness, and disease, and in doing so establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Teaching morality is a part of the Church’s work in the world. As is showing God’s hand at work in those technological and medical advances that truly are advances. As is promoting social righteousness. But the Lord Jesus made clear His return would be more than merely figurative.

When speaking of His return the Lord Jesus prepared His disciples to expect that others might come and pretend to be Him – miracle-workers, false messiahs, deceitful teachers – but that we should not be deceived! uuu No one out-of-doors misses lightning when it strikes and thunders and flashes across the sky! And just so, the Lord Jesus promises that nobody is going to miss Him when He returns.

What we believe matters!

It matters that we believe the Holy Scriptures “have supreme and final authority on all matters on which they speak.” Those who call themselves Christians, but who don’t regard Scripture as authoritative, live by faith very differently than we do. They don’t have the anchor we have, the solid rock. You see them tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching – every new book, every clever sermon, every captivating thought… uuu And it sure doesn’t promote unity.

It matters that we believe Christ Jesus of Nazareth was and is divine in His origins and nature: “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made.” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you have a problem with Jesus Christ, your Christianity has trouble right in the middle… uuu

It matters that we believe our Good Shepherd actually performed the miracles the Bible attributes to Him. I mean, does He have all authority in Heaven and on Earth, or not? Can He truly save, or  uuu should we be putting our stock in someone else?

It matters that we believe He died and paid God’s just penalty for our sins. We’re sinners! We need a Savior! Without Him uuu we’ve got trouble coming…

It matters that we believe Christ overcame death, truly, bodily. It matters that we believe He was dead and that now we believe He is alive, and with us, always… If His resurrection was faked, if all we have to call upon is the inspiration of a life well-lived almost two-thousand years ago… uuu

Our reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians this morning calls us to, “Make every effort to keep ourselves united in the Spirit, binding ourselves together with peace.” It’s not always easy, Paul is saying. It takes effort: To read the Bible when you have other priorities trying to push devotional time out of the way. Being a part of Bible studies, Sunday School classes, or other small groups so we can “bind ourselves together with others” can take hard work in our ever-busy, wearying world. But that’s what leads to unity: uuu In all our diversity, moving in the same direction, with shared purpose, led by One admiral and king, Who is Christ. Because the diversity in Christ’s Church is only in the diversity of gifts Christ has given each of us for proclaiming the good news and making disciples, not in what we are called to believe and hold dear! The great apostle makes so clear: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as we have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, Who is over all and in all and living through all.”

What we believe matters! And it always will until uuu, and I quote, “until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”

The Book of Acts 2:38-47 [NLTse]

³⁸ Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” ⁴⁰ Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

⁴¹ Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

⁴² All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

⁴³ A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

I’ve been preaching through the essential beliefs of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church these past few weeks. (If we’re going to join that denomination we better make sure they believe as we do, and vice-versa). The Essential for this morning concerns the doctrine of the Church – “Ecclesiology” – and states:

The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the return of her Lord…

 (The Essentials of Our Faith, #5)

The Church. Some people look at the Church today as “a necessary evil”, saying that God never intended hierarchies of leaders, and non-profit organizations, and long sermons and disciplinary actions, and Session meetings or committee meetings or congregational meetings… Such people often say that God never intended such things, but that this is what modern-day Christians have made of it all.

I wonder if such people have ever read their Bibles? Elders were the Lord God’s idea, as were Deacons, and Pastors – Teaching Elders – are an aspect of gifts the Holy Spirit gave the Church. Acts 15 records the organization of the early church and the business of the very first General Assembly meeting. The Gospels and Acts are filled with long sermons, as a matter of fact Paul says in one way or another across his many letters, “Woe to those Christians who don’t preach the gospel!” The details of disciplinary actions are discussed in Old and New Testament passages… And as for meetings, our reading this morning from Acts states that “all the believers met together in [the same] place and shared everything they had… They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in [each other’s] homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals [together] with great joy and generosity… And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved!”

When people criticize the church they are revealing much more about themselves than they are about Christ’s people here in the world. Because, though far from being perfected, the Bible tells us that the Church of Jesus Christ has been God’s plan, is God’s plan, and always will be God’s plan, even after Jesus returns to make all things new. The Bible calls the Church of Jesus Christ the fellowship of the “called out” ones. ???????? is the Greek word most often translated “church” across the New Testament, and its verb-form literally means “to call out”. Not to “cry out” or “shout”, but like calling someone out of playing a game because it’s time for dinner. We have been “called out” from the world – “called out” from living like the world lives, “called out” from the priorities the world promotes, “called out” from involvement in the activities the world says are important – we have been “called out” from the world to be a part of the life of God in His Church.

So what is the Church? The Bible speaks of Christ’s Church as being a kingdom: The Kingdom of God; the Kingdom of Heaven. “You will be My Kingdom of priests, My holy nation” (Exodus 19:6) the Lord spoke to the newly freed slaves that were the tribes of Israel at Mt. Sinai. The Lord Jesus’ very first sermons proclaimed, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matthew 3:2) We are not Christian-Americans, as though we have added Jesus to our identity as Americans. No, we are God’s holy nation, and we are dwelling as foreigners far from our heavenly home here in America. Our laws, our policies, our attitudes are not to be those of the United States. We are citizens of Heaven, and our king is the King Who is over kings and presidents and congresses, and we live according to the Way He has set before us in His Word.

…

What is the Church? The Bible speaks of Christ’s Church as being Jesus’ body still here in the world. “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4) the Lord Jesus said from Heaven to the apostle Paul (before Paul had become a Christian and was on his way to Damascus to imprison the Christians there). Notice that the Lord didn’t say, “Saul, why are you persecuting My people” or “My Church”. No, He said, “Why are you persecuting Me?”

After his conversion the apostle Paul writes in his first letter To the Corinthians: “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit… Our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where He wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 18-20) The Church isn’t buildings or programs or books, it’s us, all of us who are living our lives by faith in Christ, together. And none of the parts of our bodies aren’t important; and none of the systems of our bodies get to take time off. We’re all needed: Each of us contributing our part, serving in our role, doing our duty, as the Holy Spirit has called and equipped us.

…

What is the Church? The Bible speaks of Christ’s Church as being God’s Temple here on the Earth: “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16) And from Ephesians: “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through Him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by His Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22) We’re citizens of Heaven, and together we are the Lord Jesus’ presence here in the world. But it’s not just up to us and our intellect and abilities: We are His Temple; God lives in us! What we do we do by His guidance and His power; the Father and the Son live in us through the Spirit.

…

What is the Church? The Bible speaks of Christ’s Church as being God’s family: “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10) For “when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the Law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the Law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children. And because we are His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s Own child. And since you are His child, God has made you His heir.” (Galatians 4:4-7)

We are His family: The family of the Most High God. Like any family, the Father would have us look to Him and trust Him to provide for us, His family. And as we – the members of the family – grow and mature, He looks to us and equips us to join Him in providing for the household, for one other in our needs, along with Him.

…

What is the Church? The Bible speaks of Christ’s Church as being a “priesthood of believers”: “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s very Own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) Our role, our calling here in this life, isn’t just to be a store clerk or a truck driver or a student or a business manager or a nurse or a soccer player or even just a dad or a mom or a kid (though those may be some of the hats we wear day-to-day). No, Christ’s Church, whatever we do each day, our role, our calling here in this life, is the task of “reconciling people to [God]. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

…

What is the Church? The Bible speaks of Christ’s Church as being Christ’s bride: “As the Scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the Church are one.” (Ephesians 5:31-32) Our Lover, our Lord, our great Deliverer, our Savior, our Father, our Friend… has made a deal with us, an everlasting covenant: A covenant instituted by the sacrifice and blood offering of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Himself. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will never abandon us or disown us. He will never renounce us or relinquish His claims to us. He will never give up on us or turn His back on us. He’s promised. He’s committed.

…

So, who are we? We are Christ’s Church! Citizens of Heaven living in a strange land; we are our Savior’s continued presence among our neighbors and co-workers and friends each day; we are empowered by the same Holy Spirit Who brought order to Creation and brought Jesus Christ back from the dead; we are sons and daughters of the Most High, members of God’s Own household, dependent upon Him to provide for us, and providing for each other out of the abundance He provides to us; we are set here in the world, in our schools, workplaces, and communities, to call people to repentance and faith in Christ and back to God; all the while knowing that our Christ is ever faithful, and forever committed to us.

Paul’s Letter To the Ephesians 1:22-2:10 [NLTse]

^1:22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the church. ²³ And the church is His body; it is made full and complete by Christ, Who fills all things everywhere with Himself.

^2:1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. ² You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. ³ All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

⁴ But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, ⁵ that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) ⁶ For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. ⁷ So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

⁸ God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. ¹⁰ For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.

These past several weeks I’ve been preaching through the “Essentials of Our Faith” of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. If we are going to join that denomination we ought to be certain our beliefs match their beliefs.

You’ll find these “Essentials” on the tan insert in our Worship Bulletins. Will you take it out and set it before you? …

As I preached about several weeks ago, the opening paragraph stresses what the founders of the Protestant Reformation called “sola scriptura”, that the Holy Scriptures are our final authority for faith and practice – that is, for knowing what God would have us believe and knowing how God would have us live out those beliefs in our daily lives.

The heading numbered “1” affirms the mystery of the Trinity: That God has revealed Himself across history to humanity in three distinct Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – but that God remains one deity.

Heading number 2 affirms the full humanity and full deity of the Messiah, Christ Jesus of Nazareth, upholding His miraculous conception and virgin birth, His dying to pay the penalty for human sin, His resurrection and defeat of the powers of death, and His ascension to God’s throne and ongoing ministry on behalf of us, His followers.

#3 affirms the Person and work of the Holy Spirit guiding and empowering individual Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ as a whole to continue the work and ministry of Jesus here in the world.

And #4 is the “Essential” we’re focusing on today:

Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God’s free grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, thereby justifies them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life…

(The Essentials of Our Faith, #4)

This “Essential” focuses on salvation: Who can be saved, and how. To use the words of the Protestant Reformers, we read that God’s salvation is “sola gratia”, by grace alone: Salvation is God’s free gift – crediting us with Jesus’ righteousness (as though we were without sin) all on account of our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And yet this is only for those who are “born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ.”

Our reading from Ephesians speaks about being “born of the Holy Spirit”. Paul writes,

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.”

The apostle is saying that, before we became Christians – obeying God and following Christ – that we obeyed the Devil and lived in sin; that the Devil is the spirit that directed us when we refused to obey God, when we lived following our passions and desires. And that that remains true for all those who living apart from Christ.

But Paul goes on: “But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead… For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”

So, although we were living lives of death apart from Christ, God raised us from that dead-life and gave us a new life when we began trusting Him in Christ. “Born of the Holy Spirit” we have a new life, a new heart.

This can be seen in the life of one of the so-called “Church-Fathers”, a famous sinner, pastor, and then bishop named Augustine immediately after he found the Lord. An English minister, F. B. Meyer, tells Augustine’s story this way: “Augustine was swept as by a mighty current between two women, his mother, Monica, a saintly woman, and another woman, Augustine’s mistress, who had fascinated him almost to damnation. His life hovered between these two just as your life hovers between Christ and Satan,” Meyer writes. “Sometimes Monica attracted him Heaven-ward, and then the evil influence of this other woman dragged him to the very pit of the Abyss. The conflict was long and terrible, and Augustine was like a chip upon the tide, swept backward and forward. But when the Lord shined into Augustine’s heart through the words in Romans 13:14 – ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ – everything changed.”

F. B. Meyer continues, “Instantly Augustine arose. He had made his decision. He had counted the cost. He told his friend [of his decision for Christ], and they went and told Monica. And Monica was glad. The next day he went down the main street of [his city]. As he did so, he met the woman who had been the fascination of his soul for evil. As he met her, she said: ‘Augustine, it is I!’ But Augustine replied, ‘Yes, but, it is not I,’ and he passed her and was saved.”

I experienced this myself in one of the pastors of a church I was a part of growing up. Pastor Doug always stressed the importance of small groups in helping us grow as Christians: Helping us learn about the Bible; offering support in living this new kind of life; and for praying and prayer. Everyone knew that keeping each other’s confidences was key to small group success. Except that a member of Pastor Doug’s small group got mad at him (for some reason I can’t recall), and he left the small group and the church and began to blab all of the pastor’s dirty laundry around to anyone who would listen – inside the church and out: All the ways Doug had been before coming to Christ, and the things he’d done, being passed around like trashy gossip.

Some of the leaders told him what was happening, hoping to come up with a plan for shutting the guy up. But Doug had them leave the guy alone: “That’s just the old me,” I remember him saying (or something like that). The person he’s talking about and slandering doesn’t exist anymore. I’ve been made new in Christ!

Like Augustine did, you may be here today struggling with a sinful life. You may even be, right now, in the middle of hearing two voices speaking within you. One saying, “Open to Christ! Open to Christ!” but the other saying, “No, not now, wait for another day.” Acts 26:14 records what the Lord spoke to Paul when Paul was feeling confused and conflicted about what to believe. “Saul, Saul,” the Lord Jesus said to him, “why are you persecuting Me? It is useless for you to fight against My will.” And addressing this very conflict, in 2 Corinthians 6:2 Paul himself declares, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

You don’t have to wait for another day. Don’t think that you have to clean up your life before you can come to Christ. Salvation is God’s gift – “sola gratia” – remember? Just as you are,

this moment,

    in the midst of all the fears you’re facing inside you,                and all the fighting going on outside,

                    Christ will come into you,

                            and not only forgive you,

but change you from within

and give you a new heart.

By opening up to Christ, your “old I” will become a “new I,” and you can say with Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

The Prophet Joel 3:9-16 [NLTse]

⁹ Say to the nations far and wide: “Get ready for war! Call out your best warriors. Let all your fighting men advance for the attack. ¹⁰ Hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors. ¹¹ Come quickly, all you nations everywhere. Gather together in the valley.”

And now, O Lord, call out Your warriors!

¹² “Let the nations be called to arms. Let them march to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I, the Lord, will sit to pronounce judgment on them all. ¹³ Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the winepress is full. The storage vats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people.”

¹⁴ Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the “Valley of Decision”. There the Day of the Lord will soon arrive. ¹⁵ The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine. ¹⁶ The Lord’s voice will roar from Mt. Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the Earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a strong fortress for the people of Israel.

Visions, dreams, and prophet’s words across the Old and New Testaments provide glimpses and give details about the End of the World. It’s a hot topic today – whether serious or joking – people are talking a lot about the End of the World, or Judgment Day, or call it what you like… Christians don’t have all the answers about these things, but we do have much to share with a confused and frightened world.

According to our reading, the Prophet Joel makes clear that it is the Lord Himself Who will bring about the End, orchestrating all the nations of the Earth to send their armies against His chosen people, “Jerusalem”. Our Father in Heaven even commands the nations to give training to their most unskilled “weaklings” so that everyone can be a part of the great army coming against His Church.

(I use the term “Church” liberally here, because every writing and prophecy across the Old Testament (as well as the New) is fulfilled in Christ: So those Jews and Israelites who will enjoy God’s “refuge” when the fullness of these events come to pass will be those who’ve finally recognized and received Jesus of Nazareth to be their Messiah! He knows what each person needs to recognize and receive Him, and He is faithful and true to all! Glory to His name! J)

The Revelation to John, like the Prophet Joel, also envisions a worldwide gathering against God’s People (16:14, et al; pg. 973): “The rulers of the world gathered for battle against the Lord on that great Judgment Day of God Almighty.” (And then there’s a parentheses statement reminding Christ’s People not to lose heart when they see these things happening around them, because Jesus has promised He will come unexpectedly to save us! And He promises we will be blessed if we are ready and living for Him, even when everyone seems against us and all seems lost!)

The Revelation goes on: “And they gathered, all the rulers and their armies, to a place called Armageddon in Hebrew. (Ar is Hebrew for “hill” or “mountain”, so Armageddon is “Mt. Megiddo”,  a hill in northern Israel where several decisive Old Testament battles took place, as well.]

Through the Prophet Joel, the Lord says: “Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the winepress is full. The storage vats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people.” And The Revelation pictures this, too (14:19, et al; pg. 973): “So the angel swung his sickle on the Earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. And the grapes were trodden in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 1600 stadia long [that is, 180 miles] and as high as a horse’s bridle.”

Some End-Times scholars believe this will be fulfilled during some future time when all those who’ve trusted in Christ will be living together in Jerusalem and/or Megiddo (though Jerusalem and Megiddo are 50-60 miles apart). And they believe that when that happens, the military power of all the nations will come against God’s People gathered there. And when all seems lost, Christ will come.

Along with many others, I believe this is too literal an interpretation of events that the Bible plainly speaks of as being symbolic. I believe that wherever we are – here in Milford; in Jerusalem; Megiddo; Kenya; Pakistan; Melekhova, Russia – wherever Christians reside, that we will be persecuted, attacked, and/or come against by all the peoples of the Earth. This may take the form of military attack, legal actions, social pressures, etc…

However and whatever, I believe these End-Time images are describing a time of oppression and persecution against Christians that the Church has never known. (And that’s saying something!) But that these End Times will result in many coming to know, love, and follow Christ as they see us standing firm – by His grace – and by our faith overcoming the world’s attacks… And, again, when all seems lost, Christ will come for us!

If you’ll take out the insert from our Bulletins titled, “The Essentials of Our Faith”… Let’s read #3 together.

The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption…

These Essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

(The Essentials of Our Faith, #3)

Our reading from the Prophet Joel ends this morning saying, “The Lord’s voice will roar from Mt. Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the Earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a strong fortress for the people of Israel.”

[Show “We Will Rebuild” slide]

Even with all the inconveniences many have faced because of the recent storm, what we’re experiencing by way of earth-shakings and roarings from Heaven in Milford these days hardly compares with what we’ve been talking about and just read. Of course, Christians living up and down the East Coast, or in New Orleans or Haiti or Japan might believe these shakings and roarings are going on right in their own backyards!

I don’t have firm answers for you about God’s calendar for these things. But I do want to remind you that we Christians know the One Who’s bringing this world to its end. He has revealed His love to us, we have received His love and seek day-by-day to return His love, and we’ve received His Spirit of adoption into His divine family. This One Who’s bringing about the End of the World is our Father: He’s even asked us to call Him, “Abba! Daddy”!

And in calling us and adopting us and giving us His Spirit, He is wanting us to be a part of the shaking and roaring He’s bringing about; to be a part of the End of all things, and of drawing all peoples to Christ.

Now, the Old Testament and New Testament writings are filled with mundane and wonderful deeds God’s People were able to do when they were called and adopted and given His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord gave a man named Bezalel great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts to lead the craftmen of Israel to build the sacred furnishings of the Tabernacle. (Exodus 35:31) The Elders of Israel were able to preach and prophesy with great power for a time when the Lord gave them His Spirit. (Numbers 11:25)

Othniel, the first Judge of the Tribes of Israel, first showed some ability as a military leader in order to win the right to marry the lovely daughter of Joshua’s friend, Caleb. But after God’s Spirit came upon him he led all Israel to great military victories over vastly superior enemies, and to forty years of peace! (Judges 3:10)

Gideon, too afraid of the Amalekites and Midianites to act publicly, always carried out his acts of sabotage and defiance at night. But then the Spirit of God came upon him and he began a revolution that brought the People back to God and regained Israel her freedom, once again. (Judges 6:34) Jephthah, another Judge, was a social outcast, but the Spirit of the Lord granted him great influence over all the leaders of Israel. (Judges 11:29)

The Spirit of the Lord gave Samson such strength he torn a lion’s jaws apart as if the lion was a baby goat! (Judges 14:6; 15:14) The Holy Spirit gave him matchless strength, uncanny fighting ability, and supernatural protection from his enemies. (Judges 14:19)

2 Chronicles 20:13-15 shows the Spirit of the Lord falling upon a simple family man, giving him courage to speak to a frightened king, and his words encouraged the king and the leaders of the country to trust God and take decisive action for Him.

Bringing good news to the poor, comforting the brokenhearted, proclaiming release to those held captive, … all these acts are enabled only by God’s Spirit. (61:1) And the Bible tells us the Spirit of God takes us places God wants us to see, and shows us things we can’t otherwise be shown. (Ezekiel 3:12, et al)

But maybe you’re just a kid! Or maybe you’re feeling too old. Well, the Prophet Joel in another place from our reading this morning (2:28), shows that the Spirit of God is for male and female, young and old alike. His Spirit enables women to become pregnant without men. (Matthew 1:20) (That’s how Mary got pregnant, by the Holy Spirit.) And the Holy Spirit’s power is what raises people from the dead. (Romans 1:4) No activity is impossible with the Holy Spirit of God!

And if we’re a part of Christ’s family – the Church – then we’ve been given the Holy Spirit, when we responded to God’s call, first believed, and were adopted by Him! But are we using the gifts and talents we’ve been given for Christ’s glory? (The Essential we read says that’s a work of the Holy Spirit in us.) Are you crafty? Or perhaps you’re a great craftsman? (Like Bezalel.) How can you use your talents and abilities and giftedness to draw people’s attention to Jesus? How can what you make, what you do, how can you use your influence to make Jesus look attractive to others?

Or maybe, like Othniel and Gideon, you have some ability that’s made a difference in this or that area of your life, but you sense that God is calling you to expand your influence – from your home to your neighborhood? Or from your workplace to across all Milford? Is the Lord calling you to take your love for Him out from private actions to be more bold?

Maybe you’re not part of the “in” crowd, and so you don’t think you have anything to offer that anyone would want. Well, if you’re in Christ you are God’s “in” crowd! Give your life to Him today! Like Jephthah, let’s see how His Spirit can take those who are last and make them first when we live our lives for Him!

Has God made you a warrior, like Samson? Has the Lord given you great compassion for the poor, the brokenhearted, those captive… Follow your passion! Lift us Jesus in the battle! Lift up Jesus as you care or heal or help. Don’t say, “No.” And don’t take “no” for an answer! If you believe God has given you a passion you have, and you can glorify Jesus in that passion, pursue it: Move wherever you have to move; reorganize your life however you have to reorganize it (seek the Lord’s guidance and the counsel of wise Christians, as you do, of course); but let what He’s put in you by His Spirit be your occasion to raise up His standard – His flag, His cross, His good news, His way of living – and wave it and wave it and wave it!

Living your life for Christ – an offering to God through Christ – may not result in any kind of greatness or glory that the people of this world or our culture might recognize. But our Father recognizes it. And by His grace, those around us in His Church notice, too.

But as the Lord brings about the End, roaring and thundering and shaking Heaven and Earth, drawing near to Him and being a part of these roarings and thundering and shakings with Him… He will always be our refuge, always our strong fortress… That nothing can ever shake… Forever.

 Ascription of Praise

Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.

(The Revelation 7:12)

“Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He Who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into Heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.”

Preaching through the “Essentials of Our Faith”, we encounter the Person of Jesus for the very first time with these words: “Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh…” There is much for the believer and the one seeking God in these few words: First, that this “Jesus” is the Christ of God, the long-expected Jewish Messiah Who would save God’s chosen people from their enemies; second, that this same “Jesus” is the living Word of God, all of the Holy Scriptures incarnate, come to life on Earth in human flesh; and, third, that this “Jesus” – Who was born a little more than 2,000 years ago in a land called Judea, a province of the Roman Empire, while a king named Herod the Great was ruling Judea and an emperor who called himself Caesar Augustus was ruling most of the known world – that this same “Jesus” existed as someone or something else before He was born, since it says, “Jesus Christ… became flesh…”

Going back to the idea of being God’s Messiah, if you want to open your Bibles to Psalm 2 you can see something of what the Jews were expecting as they waited for their deliverer. Psalm 2… (pg. 432)

“Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the Earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against His Christ. [“Christ” is the Greek word for “Messiah”, which in Hebrew means, “anointed one”.] …

“But the One Who rules in Heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them… For the Lord declares, ‘I have placed My chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on My holy mountain.’

“The king himself proclaims the LORD’s decree, saying: ‘The LORD said to me, “You are My son. Today I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole Earth as your possession.”’”

If you’ll keep the Psalm open in front of you you can see that in their Messiah – their Christ, their anointed one – the Jews were expecting someone who would be their king, an unconquerable military leader, and ?someone whom God would make to be “His Son”. And the Bible tells us, and this Second Essential affirms, that this Jesus, Who existed with God – as God – before God began creating anything, came into the world to be this king: God with us, but human flesh; and God’s words – the fullness of His divine heart and mind – miraculously born into humanity through a virgin, named Mary, from a little Galilean village called Nazareth.

The Essential goes on to enumerate several miracles that are essential to our faith as Christians, if we’re going to call ourselves “Christians”: That Jesus’ birth was a miracle, that is, that the only male involved in His conception was God the Father through the dynamic ministry of God the Holy Spirit; ?that Jesus’ execution on a Roman cross was not a travesty of justice but God’s plan since the beginning to – Himself, in Jesus His Christ – serve the death penalty for humanity’s sin; and, ?that Jesus didn’t – in fact, couldn’t – stay dead, but that He conquered death and showed that – as God’s King – His Kingdom had authority, even over the Land of the Dead itself!

In our modern day there is much skepticism regarding such “miracles” as these. For instance, people say that, likely, Mary became pregnant by some secret boyfriend or a charming Roman soldier… But that’s not a new claim. The Gospel of Matthew records for us that that’s what everyone who heard about Mary’s pregnancy thought! And because of that, Mary’s fiancé, Joseph, could have sentenced her to death because of it. But Matthew records that “Joseph was a righteous man”, and so chose to have her “put away quietly” so as not to disgrace her. (See Matthew 1:18-25) It wasn’t until an angel visited Joseph in a dream that he became convinced that Mary’s “story” of her divine pregnancy was true!

Today scoffers will say that human beings are all basically “good” people, so that God needing to send someone to be sacrificed for our sins is cruel and foolish, and that what happened to Jesus was merely one of the many recorded injustices of Roman rule.

And yet the entire book of Leviticus addresses willful sin and unintentional sin and even sin that people can be completely ignorant of: And how each of these types of sin – even committing acts we didn’t know were wrong! – require a sacrifice to atone for it.

And the Old Testament prophets go on and on about the sinfulness of humanity and the need for a redeemer… Turn in your Bibles to the Prophet Isaiah, 53… (pg. 570) Verse 4 says: “…we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins…” And, hardly a human screw-up, farther along in v. 10 Isaiah goes on to say, “…it was the Lord’s good plan to crush Him and cause Him grief. Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants…”

You can hear skeptics claim that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, but that His followers merely took His dead body from the tomb and hid it. But that’s nothing new. The Gospel of Matthew records that ancient critique, and reveals that the Jewish priests who had sentenced Jesus to death were the first ones to come up with it! And how they even bribed those who’d been set to guard Jesus’ tomb to spread it around! Dr. Luke in his gospel goes out of his way to show how after rising from the dead that the Lord Jesus was more than a disembodied spirit, and yet more than merely a physical man: He was able to eat, be touched, that His wounds were still visible, and yet that He could appear and disappear at will! (See Luke 24:13-49) The apostle Paul even writes that “more than 500 of His followers at one time” saw the Lord risen and alive!

And yet, even after seeing Him, watching Him, listening to Him, and even touching Him after He was raised from the dead, Matthew records that “some of them doubted.” (Matthew 28:16-17)

The Bible goes on to tell us that “the same One Who descended is the One Who ascended” (Ephesians 4:1-10) back into Heaven and perfect unity with the Father, with all authority over Heaven and Earth, and that from there He intercedes for us, and sometimes confronts us (as He did the apostle Paul on that “Road to Damascus”), and exercises His absolute authority so that all things work together for our good, so that we grow up and grow holy and grow perfect until we are – finally – just like Him!

Magic tricks, once we learn the trick, make us smile and laugh at our limitations and ignorance. As we grow and interact with the world we begin to understand, more and more, the mechanics that make our mysterious machines function. God gives us understanding (we call it “science”) behind the wonders of His universe… Likewise, I believe there will come a day when – in the new Heaven and the new Earth, outside the confines of Time and Space in Eternity, face-to-face with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit – we will be given comprehension of the workings of miracles, and we’ll laugh and find joy in our limitations and ignorance.

Until then, our Daddy in Heaven calls us to live by faith, believing that – and let’s join in reading the Second Essential together: “Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He Who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into Heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.”

Ascription of Praise

To the God of all grace, Who calls you (and me!) to share His eternal glory in union with Christ, be the power forever!

(1 Peter 5:10-11)

As we consider leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination (called the PCUSA) to join with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church denomination (called the EPC), last week I began preaching through what the EPC calls the “Essentials of Our Faith”. These are statements of faith the EPC believes are non-negotiable. And for the EPC to be a good home for our congregation we have to be in full agreement with each of these statements.

If you’d look in your Bulletins and take out the insert titled, the “Essentials of Our Faith”… Let’s look at #1 together:

“We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever! …

[And if you jump down to the very bottom of the page…]

“These Essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith.”

(The Essentials of Our Faith, #1)

The foundational paragraph we read and preached through last week focused us upon the Scriptures. This week’s “Essential” is about the Trinity.

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity was established in the earliest centuries of the Church. We are monotheists, which mean we don’t believe in a whole bunch of different kinds of gods – each with their own area of sovereignty and authority – no, we believe in one God, Who made the universe, and Who keeps the universe going by His almighty power. The Bible makes that clear. And yet the Bible also makes clear that God has shown Himself to human beings in three distinct ways across history: As a holy, perfect Being, completely separated from humanity – us here on the Earth, Him separated from us in Heaven; ?as the Man, Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, but Who claimed and proved Himself to at the same time be the Son of God; and, ?as a Spirit – a holy ghost – Who could come upon someone to give them special power and ability for a time to handle a particular task, and Who could also go within someone to speak God’s words to their hearts, convince them of their sinfulness, bring them to faith in God-the-Son, Jesus, and also to grant them special powers and abilities so they could live according to their faith in Jesus and so they could be comforted and spread that faith to others.

One God Who has shown Himself to human beings across history in three different ways: Tri/3; unity/1; Tri-unity; Trinity – that’s where the word comes from.

Now, before I go any further I want to point you all to the excellent sermon Elder Steve Davis gave on “The Trinity” this past May. There’s a lot of teachings about the Trinity I’m not going to mention here since it would only duplicate Steve’s excellent presentation. (And you can find the sermon on our website, FirstPresbyterianMilford.org, clicking on “sermons” in the left-hand column.)

In trying to help people comprehend the idea of “Trinity: 3 persons, yet all of the same substance” pastors and teachers have talked about water – how water can be solid-ice, liquid-water, and airy-steam, 3 different manifestations and yet all one-and-the-same substance, H2O/water. Likewise people have talked about human beings being heart & mind + physical body + life-giving spirit, 3 different parts and yet all necessary to make up one human being… But, of course, none of these truly shows the Trinity: Since the water comparison makes it seem that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all have very different functions from one another (which isn’t true), and since the human being comparison makes it seem like the persons of the Trinity all get added together to make up God (which isn’t true).

Looking at their distinctness, the Bible shows us:

• The Father to be the One from Whom the Son was begotten (“begotten”, not made), and from Whom the Holy Spirit proceeded. The Father is the only One Who knows when the Last Day, the Day of Judgment, of this Age will be;
• The Son is distinct in that He is the One Who became a man and died for us and rose from the dead. The Church also is His presence on Earth, continuing His work, now that He has ascended to Heaven; and,
• The Holy Spirit is distinct in that He prays with us and within us, He gives specific talents and “fruits” to the people in the Church, and He helps to maintain truth within the Church.

And yet, though distinct, and having revealed God to us in distinct ways, each of the Godhead is fully God. For instance, if you’ll open your Bibles to Philippians 1:2… Paul writes, “May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.” The Father is specifically identified as “God” here. If you’ll turn to Colossians 2:9… The gospel of John begins saying, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” (1:1, 14) Colossians 2:9 summarizes it this way, “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.” So the Son is specifically identified as being “God”, as well. And now to Acts 5:3… We read of the apostle Peter’s rebuke to a member of the Jerusalem church: “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” So Peter charges Ananias with lying to the Holy Spirit, that is, lying to God. So the Holy Spirit is specifically identified as “God”…

Turn to Isaiah 64:8, if you will… The prophet says, “And yet, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are the potter. We all are formed by Your hand.” So the Father is credited with creating. And yet turn to Colossians 1:15… “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on Earth.” So Jesus the Son is credited with creating. And now turn to Job 33:4… Where Job confesses: “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” So the Holy Spirit is credited with creating.

And one last example, turn to Jeremiah 17:10… Speaking on God’s behalf, Jeremiah says, “But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives.” The Father searches the heart. But turn to The Revelation 2:23… Beginning in the middle of the verse, the Lord Jesus says, “I am the One Who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.” So the Lord Jesus searches the human heart. And 1 Corinthians 2:10 says, “…God revealed these things by His Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.” So the Holy Spirit searches hearts and reveals deep secrets.

God has shown Himself to humanity through the ministry of three different “persons” – God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit – and yet each “person” is credited with the same activities of God: Creation; searching hearts; all the works of God.

Of course, the Lord Jesus is the Once Who has created most of the stir. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit show themselves across the pages of the Old Testament, and nobody accused God of being “two” there. No, it’s God showing Himself in Jesus Christ that has created such a stir, even causing people to ask: “Then was Jesus talking to Himself every time He prayed?” (Which is really a great question. It’s thoughtful, insightful…) And Paul’s Letter to the Philippians gives us a picture of how this wonderful mystery could happen…

If you’ll go to Philippians 2:5-11… Speaking of the Lord Jesus, Paul writes: “Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Lord Jesus “gave up His divine privileges” and became a man, an ordinary infant, boy, and man who – to quote Hebrews – “faced all the same testings we do, but did not sin.” (4:15) And during His baptism, when – like a dove settling upon Him – He was baptized by the Holy Spirit, He was at that time empowered by God-the-Holy-Spirit, and only then did He begin His ministry and miracles and works of power…

Let’s go back to the “Essentials of Our Faith” insert… Let’s read #1 together:

“We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!

Amen?

Except for any of you who may be visitors among us this morning, all of you know that the Session of Elders is leading our congregation to be dismissed from the Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination into membership in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church denomination. As a part of this change it is important that we, as a local church, know as much about the denomination we are hoping to join – the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the EPC – as we can so that we don’t merely move from the fire into the frying pan, but from an association of churches where we clearly don’t fit into an association that shares our understanding of the Scriptures, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and the identity and freedom we have as saints and sons & daughters in the Kingdom of Heaven and the household of God.

Read more…