May 6, 2007
Scripture:
Ministry:
A connection between a couple of verses comes before me. We’ve read the first, in John 1:14: “And the Word was made flesh.” In Philippians 2, right before the verses we read, we would read about the humbling that this was to the One who was called God the Son. He humbled Himself, He became man. Think about what that meant to Him, stooping to leave His glory and to take up what He had never had, a body. He was made man, a creature that had sinned. “The Word was made flesh.” I want to connect that with II Corinthians 5:21—“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” In this verse, the stoop goes ever further; not only is He made flesh, but also sin. Not only had He not been sin, it was totally against his nature. He was made sin for us. Oh, Beloved, we can go to Bethlehem to see Him made flesh; we can go to Calvary to see Him made sin. He knew no sin, but was made sin, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Yea, indeed, “Worthy of homage and of praise”!
EG Hymn 309 – I think when I read that sweet story of old, Prayer • Last time, we talked about how the Israelites had built the tabernacle “as the Lord commanded Moses.” Once everything was in order, what happened? The cloud came and dwelt over the tabernacle. That cloud was a visible sign of God’s presence. This cloud was also a guide to them; when it moved, they moved. How long did they follow that cloud? Did they continue to follow it? Well, we know the story of how they came to Kadesh- Barnea and sent the spies in. Ten of those spies discouraged the people, and told them that they couldn’t conquer the land. So God had them wander about in the wilderness for forty years, until everyone over twenty years old (except Caleb and Joshua) had died. Let’s look at the end of the journey. Read Deuteronomy 31:1–5. Here we find that Moses is talking to the Israelites. He told them that he was going to die, and Joshua was going to take his place. For all these people, this must have been frightening; ever since their parents had died, Moses had been like their father; he would answer all their questions, settle all their disputes, fix all their problems. He was the one who spoke to God. But v. 6 is a precious promise; God would be with them; He would strengthen them. Than Moses tells Joshua that he would be the next leader. In v. 14, God tells Moses to call Joshua and go to the tabernacle. When they are there, the cloud descended onto the tabernacle. It is still with them, forty years later. God would be with then through all their battles, if they are faithful. The promise he gave them is still good for us: “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
I Peter 1:1–9 • Last week we mentioned that the sanctification spoken of in v. 2 is not our practical sanctification. In scripture, practical truths are opposed to positional truths. For example, in Ephesians 2:8 we read, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” That is our positional salvation, by the blood of Christ. In Philippians 2:12, we read, “work out your own salvation.” This is our practical salvation; these passages are not contradictory. Our positional sanctification, which is what we are talking about in v. 2, takes place when we are saved, while our practical sanctification should go on in our daily Christian walk as in vv. 15 & 16. We can use the example of a thermometer: it always stays in the same place on the wall (positional) but the temperature goes up and down (practical). Now, v. 3 starts out as a blessing to God. But how can we bless God? We can’t in the way He has blessed us, but it is a form of worship. We find from this that the Lord Jesus had both a Father and a God. As “Son of God,” God is His Father; as “Son of Man,” God is His God. When the Lord was on the cross, He used both these terms in addressing God. We find ourselves in the same two relationships toward God; as the Lord said to Mary, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” The words “according to” are interesting. Those words were used in v. 2, but this time it is to His abundant mercy. The Christians Peter was writing to would have been thankful to be reminded of that mercy. Mercy had saved them from Egypt when they were looking to their hope of the Promised Land; now abundant mercy was bringing them to their new hope. We have this mercy too; it is through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. If he had only died for our sins, that would have been the end of the story. But he rose again, and now we have a living hope of an inheritance that is reserved in Heaven for us. An inheritance comes to you because of a relationship with someone. Usually that person is dead, but in our case, he is alive. A man once told the story of how a friend who was about to die had willed him something he wanted very much. But his friend ended up getting better and as of when he was telling the story, he hadn’t received his inheritance yet. Another friend of his put him into his will, but when he died, the executors of the will didn’t give him his inheritance. He said that if his friend were here, he would have made sure he got that inheritance. One inheritance he didn’t get because the person didn’t die, the other because the person wasn’t alive. We have an inheritance because the Lord has died, and He rose again to make sure we get it. It is kept for us, who are kept for it. EG Hymn 361 – There is a happy land, Prayer