September 28, 2008
Scripture:
Turn to John 12:20: “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.” Maybe we can relate to these Greeks. This was a time when they were not among God’s chosen people, the Jews. However, this answer came from Jesus, vv. 23-24 ”The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” These Greeks had no right to have anything to do with God, but Jesus was looking onward to the time when the work would be completed that could bear much fruit. The work of Calvary was not just for the Jews, but for ‘whosoever.’ It’s precious that we are invited to look at the Lord. That’s how it started, “There’s life in a look”. But it’s precious to be able to continue looking; and look into the glory of the One who went to Calvary to bring us into a place of blessing.
Hymn 370 – Yield not to temptation
Prayer
Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden. We are introduced to the Garden in Eden in Genesis 2:8. In v. 9, we are told what is in the garden: firstly, we are told that every tree that is good to look at or good for food could be found there. Then, there were also two special trees: the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Where was the tree of life? It was in the midst of the garden. We aren’t told where the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was. Usually, when you are planning a garden, you put the most important piece in the center of the garden. We can tell what is in the center of God’s mind: it is the tree of life.
Read ch. 3:1. Now we find that there is a creature in the garden that is speaking from the enemy. We know that God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die. The serpent questioned what God said. In vv. 2 & 3, Eve answered the serpent. But notice what she said: she said that God forbid them to eat from the tree in the midst of the garden. Is that true? No, they could eat from the tree of life. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Eve was talking about; it appears that she had thought about that tree so much that she had put it in the center of the garden in her mind. She also said that they were not to eat from it “lest they die” … maybe.
Vv. 4 & 5—The serpent lied to Eve, saying that they would not die. He told them that God was holding back something good from them. So, v. 6, Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Part of what the serpent told them was true: now they knew the difference between good and evil and they knew that they were evil. That’s when they tried to hide themselves, which we talked about last time. I wanted to go back and look at this part of story because we can learn an important lesson from this: Eve thought about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so much that it became the center of the garden to her, and it wasn’t hard to get her to eat from it when she thought of it that way. We can do the same thing: if we dwell on a temptation long enough, it won’t take us much to make us yield to it. May we be careful where we set our minds.
We talked last time about the scoffers, who didn’t want to know the truth. They were willingly ignorant of the Word of God, which is the means of our salvation. One of the examples of what they deny is given to us in v. 5. The waters talked about here mean both the waters that covered the earth before day 3 in creation and the waters that flooded the earth at the Deluge. The flood divides the “world that was” and the “heavens and earth that now are.” After the flood, God promised not to judge the earth with water again; but there was no promise saying there would never again be judgement. There will be, and it will be by fire. But by denying the fact that there was a Creator, a creation, and a flood, the scoffers can deny the fact that there will be another judgement. Many in high places of authority have abused their position and been tyrants. It is frightening for them to think that they will be judged for what they do, and those in positions of power we will so much more responsible. It isn’t really surprising they want to think there isn’t a coming judgement.
We know that the world was created by the word of God, and that by His word the flood destroyed the earth. The coming judgement will also be by the word of God. And God will judge in his perfect time. The scoffers say, “Where is He?” Our answer can be, “What’s your hurry?” The thing to note here is that God does not deal in time; He is a Being not constrained by time. It’s imposible for us to understand, because we are used to having a past, present, and future. But God is eternal and has no such bounds; and He will act when He sees fit. In Heaven, too, there will be no time, no night, no need for the Sun. We will have no need to “recharge,” but will always rest with the Lord. Extending the day of grace shows God’s long-suffering; He does not want any to perish, but would have all men repent. Notice, every person does need to repent to be saved; it can be done no other way. We should be grateful that we have been able to hear the glad tidings and be saved.
V. 10—The day of the Lord is a period of time that begins at the rapture and ends after the Millenium, at which time the day of God (v. 12) starts. During the day of the Lord, He will rule the world and judge evil on a daily basis. At the end of that time, the Lord will hand the authority to His Father, Who will melt the old creation and bring in the new one.
V. 11—This verse gives us a good practical exhortation to end on. Since a judgement is coming, how should this effect our personal lives? If all our treasures are laid up on earth, they will melt. But we should be laying up treasure in Heaven, where it will never be lost. We should be occupied with the Lord and be living for Him. Peter has mentioned many ways we can either live for the Lord or live for ourselves. There was a young man who went to university to be a civil engineer; but after he was finished, he went to China to be a missionary. He said, “Why should I build bridges that will be destroyed when I can save souls that will live forever in Heaven?”
Hymn 341 – Jesus bids us shine
Prayer