August 30, 2009
Scripture:
1 Peter 1:2, 3
We need to recognize that Peter was the apostle to the Jews. While he was following Jesus here, he certainly was a Jew. The wonderful thing is that he got saved. He saw the Lord die on Calvary. He saw the Lord after His resurrection and was used to bring the Gospel to the people in Jerusalem. Here is an epistle by one who was a Jew and had been brought under grace. He is writing to Jews who by faith had become Christians; people of his own nation who were now strangers. V2. I was thinking of what our brother mentioned in prayer about the sacrifices. They had to offer them again and again. Under the law there was no peace. But now the perfect sacrifice has been accomplished. God is satisfied; and can now righteously forgive and forget. Now there is perfect peace. That sacrifice has purged our consciences. All sins have been dealt with, so now grace and peace can be multiplied and we can rejoice. The epistle goes on with more. V3. We can see Peter’s joy burst out because of that grace and peace.
Hymn 323 - There’s a Friend for little children
Prayer
We’ve been discussing the little boy Samuel, and we’ve seen how he lived in the temple with Eli, the high priest. Today, we’ll read chapter 4. Read vv. 1 - 3: Samuel was still a young child; last time, we talked about how Samuel grew physically and spiritually. Now, we see that Eli is really the opposite: he is old, blind, and getting away from the Lord. There was no open vision at this time; that means that there was no direct communication from God.
So, as our story begins, we find that Samuel lay down for the night. However, he heard someone calling him, v. 4. He went to Eli, v. 5, but Eli said that he had not called him. So, Samuel went back to bed. Then, Samuel heard the voice again; the Lord was calling him. He went to Eli again and insisted that Eli called him; but Eli said he did not, and sent Samuel back to bed. V. 7 tells us that Samuel did not know the Lord; although he worked in the temple, he had never met the Lord personally. So, again this happened: Samuel heard the Lord’s voice, and went to Eli. This time, Eli realized that the Lord must be calling Samuel; he told him to respond to the Lord if he heard the voice again. In v. 10, Samuel did so: he said, “Speak, for Thy servant heareth.” Then the Lord spoke to Samuel; He told him that He was going to judge Eli and his family for their sin; we read last time about the wickedness of Eli’s sons, and Eli didn’t do very much about that. Therefore, God was going to correct Eli’s family (vv. 11 - 14).
Samuel was afraid to tell Eli what God had told him. When he got up the next morning, Eli asked him what God had said, vv. 15 - 18. So Samuel told him; Eli realized that he hadn’t pleased the Lord, and that what the Lord was going to do was right.
Read vv. 19 - 21: As Samuel continued to grow, God established him. He became a prophet; Eli was a priest. What is the difference between a prophet and a priest? When I asked the boys that question last night, Paul found this definition in a book by Corrie Ten Boom: a prophet has his back to God and his face to the people; and priest has his back to the people and his face to God. That’s a good definition: a prophet gives the people God’s word for them. We can be both a prophet and a priest: we can worship God ourselves, and we can share His word with those around us. Lord willing, we’ll see how God used Samuel in Israel at a time when the people were not following God.
In ch. 4, the Jews had opposition from outsiders; now they are having opposition from insiders, other Jews. The labouring in ch. 4 was good, but now we find that the moral state was not good. This is a reminder that good Christian activity does not indicate a right state of soul.
If Satan can’t get in from the outside, He will try to get in from the inside, and so here we see greed and selfishness among some of the Jews. It seems that some of those who had returned from Babylon had to mortgage their property and rent out their children in order to pay their taxes and subsist. So the other Jews were taking advantage of this situation and loaning their brethren money while charging much interest. The Jews had been in bondage in Babylon, but now they were in bondage to their brethren. The lesson here is that we should be willing to be “Distributing to the necessity of saints” (Romans 12:13). In I John 3:17 & 18, we read, “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
This situation stirred anger in Nehemiah. He rebuked the Jews who were oppressing their brethren; many of them were rulers and nobles. Then he gathered a great assembly and rebuked them further. In v. 8, he pointed out that they were doing the same thing that the heathens did. The Jews couldn’t respond to Nehemiah; they realized they were wrong.
V. 9 : Finally, Nehemiah exhorted the Jews to walk in the fear of God; then he asked them to stop what they were doing (v. 10), and restore the surplus that they had charged their brethren (v. 11).
The Jews’ hearts were touched; they repented of their greed and made right their wrong. Nehemiah called the priests and made the Jews vow not to oppress their brethren any longer. So we see that this was a rebuke well-taken: “all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord,” (v. 13).
Hymn 345 - Jesus loves the little children
Prayer