December 28, 2008
Scripture:
Ministry:
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” This morning we’ve been reminded of God’s glory. When we read this verse, we see that this glory is God’s standard. Everyone has been measured against this standard. And all have fallen short of it. We can’t comprehend that glory in all it’s holiness and radiance. Yet, this is God’s sentence to man. The answer to this sentence in Romans 8:28 *“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.** ”* God had a purpose, even for those who didn’t meet His standard. The purpose is in the next verses: *“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. *Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” We can’t even understand the wonders of that glory, to think that we’ve been brought into it!! We share that glory as co-heirs. It is only possible through the work that was accomplished on Calvary, by the One who came and took our place so that we could have His. It lifts our hearts to praise and honor this morning.
Hymn 351 – One door and only one
Prayer
We’ve been looking at the story of Noah’s ark. Read Genesis 6:14 – 16. That’s all we know about the ark that Noah built. From the dimensions (450 x 75 x 45 feet), we can see that it is a long and thin boat. We also learn here that it had 3 storeys. We also read about pitch; what’s that? We know that Moses was put in a small ark daubed with pitch and slime when he was a baby. Pitch was either a resin or bitumen that would make the ark waterproof. Interestingly, the Hebrew word translated “pitch” here is elsewhere translated “atonement.” When the Israelites sacrificed animals to the Lord, the blood covered them from God’s judgement: it was their atonement. The pitch on Noah’s ark kept Noah from the judgement waters of the flood.
If we were to give this ark a name, what would we call it? We could call it the “Salvation.” One thing we haven’t talked about yet is the door. When you have a door, you have an inside and outside. Having an inside and outside of the “Salvation” reminds us of the Lord. He said “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). Through faith in the Lord’s work of the cross, we can enter that door, and receive salvation. Who was saved in the ark? We know that only Noah and family were saved from the flood. However, Noah preached for 120 years; many people could have been saved. Similarly, salvation is to “whosoever will.”
We saw how that as soon as the Lord’s people began His work, the enemy was activated. It’s interesting to look at the children of Israel before and after they went into captivity. As we have seen here, they have come back and are building the temple, but they are not called to exterminate the other peoples around them as they were when they first came to Canaan. When God has to step in because of sin, though there may be repentance and restoration, things will not be like they used to. The Jews were building under a Gentile king in a land that was taken over by Gentiles. What does this teach us? We strive to live as they did in Acts, but we have lost so much over the ages that there are so few today. We don’t live in the day of the apostles: we live in a day of ruin. We should be sad, for the Lord’s sake; but we can also rejoice in the fact that the Lord gives us much blessing: it is still a foretaste of home.
There’s an amazing difference between the end of chapters 3 and 4. At the end of the third chapter, they had great joy; at the end of the fourth, they have been stopped by the enemy. We saw the 4 tactics of the enemy and looked at the first last time; the second was intimidation, by accusation. In writing the letters, they made out as though they were building the city; largely, they were really building the temple. It’s the same for us: Satan brings many false accusations to uproot us in our faith. We find that they write two letters: the first is to Ahasuerus, but that does not seem to have effect. Then they wrote to Artaxerxes (who ruled for a short period after Ahasuerus); he gave them the permission to make the Jews stop. They did so, with force and power. The Jews must have had a lack of faith here: for 15 years after this they did not work on the temple; they built their own homes. You would think that they would try to set the record straight, that they would explain to Artaxerxes that they were building by the request of King Cyrus. What do we do when the enemy strikes? How do we maintain ground? The Jews lost the focus of their building, and the enemy got in. If we are active and resisting, the enemy won’t have anywhere to get in. We know from our study of Peter that suffering is a part of the Christian path and we shouldn’t allow it to keep us from obeying the Lord. We must keep our eyes on the Lord. The truth He has given us should be a priority, treasured and kept safely.
Hymn 28 – O what a Saviour is Jesus the Lord
Prayer