March 18, 2007
Scripture:
Scripture:
Ministry:
I’d like to connect three scriptures; one we already read in Exodus 15. It is wondrous to see the Children of Israel on the wilderness side of the Rea Sea. That was the product of redemption, both by a paschal lamb and the power of God; their enemies were killed. This is the first time we hear of singing in the Bible. We read part of this song, coming from a redeemed people. The next scripture is another well-known passage: Psalm 22. Exodus 14 & 15 are a type of redemption; Psalm 22 is prophetic. We know it well and it touches our hearts to see how accurately it portrays the Lord’s work. I want to connect v. 22 with what we saw in Exodus. The tidal wave of God’s judgment has gone over Him and now he sings with His redeemed people: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” Firstly, you will notice that it doesn’t mention singing. But this verse is given also in Hebrews, and there is does say singing. Here again is a tremendous work, through suffering and agony. But this time, it is not on the shore of the Rea Sea, but in the midst of a congregation of redeemed people, that we see singing. How precious to be able to lift our voices in notes of praise this morning! One more scripture, in Isaiah 54; we know Isaiah 53. How well it depicts how He “bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” Here we have the same pattern: they crossed the Red Sea and burst into song; the Lord bore the punishment, and then He and His redeemed sing; right after Isaiah 53, we have ch 54:1: “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.” Here is another redeemed people who sing. In Psalm 22, it was our redemption that we are singing about. This pictures the future, when Israel will again be brought into the land, and they will sing again. Surely we should offer notes of praise to Him. He has given us not only a reason to sing, but also a right to sing. We sing because we have redemption: his precious blood on Calvary.
EG Hymn 331 – For God so loved the world, Prayer • Today I want to begin to look at the phrase, “God is love.” Love produces action. The hymn we sang came from John 3:16, which says “He gave his … Son.” That is an example of an action produced by love. I John 4:8 tells us that, “God is love.” This means that God is not just a loving person; but that He Himself is love. I John 4:7–21 • Vv. 7 & 8—its source—Love is of God. • V. 9—its manifestation—God’s love sent His Son; that was the action we mentioned earlier. • V. 10—its object—We were the ones God’s love was directed to. This is amazing, because we were sinners. • V. 11—its greatness—God so loved us. • V. 12—its perfecting—His love is perfected in us, and because of this we can love others with that love. • Vv. 13-16—its sphere—God showed us His love not only by redeeming us, but also by giving us the Holy Spirit. Also, when we are born again, God dwells in us and we in Him. • V. 17—its security—We know that one day we will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. But because we are in God’s love, we do not have to worry about that time. • V. 18—its comfort—There is no fear in love. • V. 19—its attraction—We live God with a “because of” love. It is only because He loves us that we love Him. But God loves us with an agape love: he loved us when there was nothing to love. • V. 20 & 21—its scope—This goes back to the fact that love produces action. If we love God, we must love others. • I hope by this outline we have been able to begin to see how “God is love.” Next time, Lord willing, we will continue.
Hebrews 13:17–25 • Some of the things we’ve been looking at flow out of the exhortation to go “forth therefore unto him.” Sometimes, it is expressed that the path of separation—separation from the system, mainstream Christianity—is counted as nothing. We do have no continuing city; we are waiting for a city in Heaven. This might sound rather unexciting, but in the next verse we are exhorted to praise, the first part of our worship. Many churches have departments for different social problems, but, v. 16, we should be willing to help each other with our problems; this is the second part of our worship. Where we began today we can look at as assembly order. These principles can be somewhat hard to follow. V. 16 shows our responsibility, but v. 17 shows our accountability. How do we distinguish these? Accountability is upward, to God. Responsibility is outwards, to fellow men. For example, a clerk is accountable to his manager and responsible to his customers. In a meeting, who are we accountable to? God. We are responsible to each other, but that responsibility goes both ways. Sometimes, we may see a problem in others—for example, someone not coming to meeting—and we should ask, have we fulfilled our responsibility to them? But at other times, when we do do our job, we get into trouble—some people do not accept our counsel. Yet when we do try to give counsel, we must remember that we can’t overrule them, I Peter 5:2 & 3. But those who do help will be held accountable by God—not for how the other person took the counsel, but for how you gave it. As the end of the verse says, we should be able to do this with joy. It is not always easy to rebuke someone. That is why there is the exhortation to be submissive. A right spirit is required on both parts. But as we said, this is not easy. That is why v. 18 says, “Pray for us.” The more you try to live for the Lord, the more the enemy will attack you—Paul (if he was the author of Hebrews) knew this. He wanted to have “a good conscience”: he knew what he was delivering was what God wanted, and needed the strength to continue. And at the end of His life, he could say, “I have fought a good fight.” EG Hymn 234 – Saviour, lead me, lest I stray, Prayer