October 12, 2008
Scripture:
Scripture:
1 Chronicles 29:7 - “And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents…” Is that a lot of money? At today’s prices that would come out to billions of dollars. And that was just the gold; there were silver and other things, too. When Solomon built the temple, it exceeded the glory of all the other kings. It was a picture of Christ. It was a costly building. That David could get so much gold was remarkable. 1 Peter 1:18, 19 “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” The temple was made out of silver and gold. How much more precious is the blood of Christ? The value that God puts on the blood of Christ is more than 1,000,000,000s of dollars; for this made God’s house possible. We are part of that House. We are living stones. What a value. What a cost. When the merchant gave his all for the pearl; we think, “That’s a lot.” How do you think he would treat that pearl? We speak of the precious blood of Christ; but Christ treasures us. Ephesians 5 :25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Not only does the Lord treasure His bride, but He is also occupied with it today. He has given us hope, but He also has a hope, “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” No spot, and no aging. May it be so here as it will be there. May the Lord touch our hearts as we think of what the Lord gave for us. May He give us the joy of it now as we have these things before us.
Hymn 31 –Precious, precious blood of Jesus
Prayer
Who was the first man born into the world? We know it was Cain; his parents were Adam and Eve. The second man was Abel, his brother. We have seen how God created the world and how Adam and Eve ruined it; let’s now look at the story of their two sons. Read Genesis 4:1 – 11.
What is happening here? These two boys are born and they grow up quickly in our story. Cain became a gardener, and Abel became a shepherd. They both decided to bring an offering to God; how would they know to do that? They must have seen their parents do it; and they wanted to approach God. Cain decided to do it his own way and offered fruit from his garden. Abel brought a lamb from his flock. God accepted Abel’s offering; He did not accept Cain’s offering, and Cain was upset. Why did God not accept Cain’s offering? When Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the ground; the fruit of it was no longer suitable for offering to God. Why was Abel’s offering acceptable? It is because when Abel offered a lamb, he had to kill it. That is exactly what God had to do to make coats of skin for Adam and Eve. It doesn’t say it here, but Abel had to shed blood to offer that sacrifice. We were reminded of the antitype of this this morning: who is our sacrifice? It is the Lord Jesus.
Blood is mentioned here, but it is not the blood of a sacrifice; it is the blood of Abel. This is the first mention of blood in the Bible, and interestingly, it is not in relation to redemption but in relation to man’s guilt.
So that’s the story of Cain and Abel. They both wanted to approach God, but Cain wanted to offer it in his own way. Cain ended up trying to make his way in the world without God. May we appreciate the Lord’s sacrifice for us!
We talked about how the world would be dissolved in the end times. In v. 12, the word looking is the Greek word prostokao; it means “to anticipate.” The word hasting is the Greek word speudo, which means “to wait eagerly.” The word dissolve is a Greek word luo, which means “to loosen.” The word elements means “something orderly.” Finally, the word melt is the Greek word tiko meaning “liquify.” This gives us a better look at what God has in mind by this verse.
V. 13 starts “Nevertheless.” It also mentions a promise; this is the second time “promise” is mentioned in this chapter. This is the promise of the new Heaven and new earth; at this time, righteousness will dwell on the earth. It is interesting to compare this to the Millennium when righteousness will reign; there will still be evil on the earth, but it will be judged daily. On the new earth, righteousness will dwell on the earth, and there will be no evil. Right now, grace reigns through righteousness, even though there is none righteous, no not one. However, the righteousness of God is unto all, and upon all that believe.
The word look is in vv. 12, 13, & 14. In v. 12, we are told how to look; in v. 13, we are told what to look for; in v. 14, we see the results of looking.
In v. 14, there are four interesting points. The first one is to be diligent. It is so easy to get discouraged, to get sidetracked. We don’t always go on for the Lord. Israel was so often worshiping the Lord and then worshiping idols, back and forth. We can have that propensity too; let us be diligent.
The second thing in v. 14 is to be found in Him in peace. The Lord has given us the settled peace of God; there should be nothing that can “rock our boat.” When the Lord was in the storm with the disciples, He calmed the waves, and He can also bring peace by calming us. In John 14, He gave us His own peace; with that, there is nothing to worry about! Peace is not the absence of trials, but the presence of God through the trials.
The third item is to be without spot; our Christian life should be without spot or wrinkle. The Song of Solomon says “There is no spot in Thee.” God sees us in Christ and through Him we have no spot, but what do others around us see? It isn’t possible to play with tar without getting pitched; fooling with sin is dangerous.
Finally, we have to be blameless; compare the scriptures in Philippians 2: 15 & 16 and I Thessalonians 5:23.
Hymn 312 - Jesus loves me, this I know
Prayer